Increasing use

JonClarke · 2011-12-31 21:31:53

Things are stil very slow at present. Not surprising consider the time the forum has been down, but still disapointing.

How can we im prove tghis? I note there is a lot of traffic on the Mars Society Facebook page. Can some of that be diverted here?

Adaptation · 2012-01-01 16:43:25

Go back in time, prevent the mars ending computer crash. Also why did it take so long to come back?

We used to have quite a few search engine bots logged in all the time and we got very good search engine responses for many terms - that's what first attracted me, can we get that turned back on?

Last edited by Adaptation (2012-01-01 16:45:31)

JoshNH4H · 2012-01-01 23:09:00

Adaptation- Unfortunately, that's a bit of a chicken-and-egg type problem, seeing as the search engine bots were attracted by significant amounts of traffic as well as fairly high post rates, and once we have those back we'll get more search engine hits etc.

I know that there is a plan in the works to send out an email to all of the users who were registered as of 2008 (e.g., everyone registered as of when the email will be sent out) though I don't know how that's proceeding. JoshCryer or Jburk would be the one to talk to about that one.

I think it makes a lot of sense to post about the newmars forums on TMS's facebook page. After all, we are their forum. Something to definitely talk to jburk about (he's TMS's webmaster, so he presumably has some jurisdiction over the facebook page).

RGClark · 2012-01-02 09:50:41

Great to have NewMars back. About increasing traffic the problem is probably due to most people not knowing it's back. I didn't until a couple of days ago.
A few ways to increase traffic:

A strong way would be for the administrators to send out a group email to all the subscribers before the meltdown.
For us members, on the other forums we contribute to we could include pointers to some of ours or of others interesting postings on NewMars.
I also like Jon Clarke's suggestion to mention it on the Mars Society Facebook page.

Bob Clark

JoshNH4H · 2012-01-02 14:19:42

RGClark, as I said before a mass email was being planned at some point, though I don't know how that has been progressing seeing as I would think that it would have been done already. I do think that over time traffic will pick up as people check and see that we're back up. That said, new members are every bit as welcome as old and things like posting on TMS's facebook page are a very good idea.

JonClarke · 2012-01-02 16:49:53

I have certainly mentioned it on the facebook page. Lot's of interesting discussion, by people who did not used to post here. Of course like all Facebook discussion it is too brief, too hard to keep track of, and too ephemeral.

Adaptation · 2012-01-03 00:15:24

I think your political views are wrong also some possibly racist religious comment and my car brand is the only one people should purchase.

Flame wars will increase the post count (^_^)

SpaceNut · 2012-01-03 21:04:44

Flame wars never do much for anything but cause people to fade away from posting....

Adaptation · 2012-01-03 22:05:32

SpaceNut wrote:

Flame wars never do much for anything but cause people to fade away from posting....

Would you sugest the use of spam bots instead, those count as posts right?

Surly you can detect the sarcasm.
And I wouldn't be surprised if search bots are smart enough to detect spam infested boards and downgrade there status for search results.

SpaceNut · 2012-01-03 22:28:56

Just saying what happened in the past as a result of these flames but yes sarcasm is sometimes not easy to percieved....

Marsman · 2012-03-01 19:43:57

I do remember talking about this subject long ago but no one really responded, I guess because I'm viewed as from a "rival" group. But look, we are all in this together. Mars is in our hearts and we all want to see it happen. To give you some background, and understanding, MarsDrive has often been called a "virtual" group, and that's ok (though not totally accurate). As such, our experience is in this area.

My own history was that I started as an admin at Red Colony forums but their admins left and the spam took over so I shut it down sadly. They had a forum that was active with hundreds of members and thousands of posts. (3 times more than Marsdrive). Luckily MarsDrive had a forum so we continued on, but we also got attacked a few years back and after painstakingly building our posts to some 3000+ and members, we lost it all in an attack. We were offline for only 3 months but for a small group it almost killed us off totally. It was hard to come back, and we never quite did, but when we did I ensured we were secure and all backed up.

New Mars is much bigger though. And the time away was 3 times as bad as us. And you have lost 3 years of records and still have an unreliable login system etc. What built this place and all those elements are no longer here. The other point is, Facebook is the future of these types of discussions. Forums allow for more in depth stuff, but Facebook is where most people are at now. Most Marsdrive stuff goes on there now too. Unless you get all those elements back in place, and the lost posts (and 3 years of lost stuff in this place is bad), it's not going to come back guys. I hope it does, but I think people have moved on.

SpaceNut · 2012-03-01 21:10:52

Unfortunatey I miss those many meaningfully made posts (5000 +) as many contained lots of useful data for getting mission to succeed for mars....
About another 1000 were lost on the 2 crashes that MarsDrive had and possibly another 1000 + on Red Colony....

As for welcomed Ideas I have felt that its the topics that one has of interest that makes or breaks how you feel on any forum...and how one puts thoughts from one to the other for continued discussion in a topic...

Last edited by SpaceNut (2012-03-03 13:09:22)

louis · 2012-03-02 19:41:12

Marsman wrote:

I do remember talking about this subject long ago but no one really responded, I guess because I'm viewed as from a "rival" group. But look, we are all in this together. Mars is in our hearts and we all want to see it happen. To give you some background, and understanding, MarsDrive has often been called a "virtual" group, and that's ok (though not totally accurate). As such, our experience is in this area.
My own history was that I started as an admin at Red Colony forums but their admins left and the spam took over so I shut it down sadly. They had a forum that was active with hundreds of members and thousands of posts. (3 times more than Marsdrive). Luckily MarsDrive had a forum so we continued on, but we also got attacked a few years back and after painstakingly building our posts to some 3000+ and members, we lost it all in an attack. We were offline for only 3 months but for a small group it almost killed us off totally. It was hard to come back, and we never quite did, but when we did I ensured we were secure and all backed up.
New Mars is much bigger though. And the time away was 3 times as bad as us. And you have lost 3 years of records and still have an unreliable login system etc. What built this place and all those elements are no longer here. The other point is, Facebook is the future of these types of discussions. Forums allow for more in depth stuff, but Facebook is where most people are at now. Most Marsdrive stuff goes on there now too. Unless you get all those elements back in place, and the lost posts (and 3 years of lost stuff in this place is bad), it's not going to come back guys. I hope it does, but I think people have moved on.

Why isn't Marsdrive's Facebook site open to non-Facebook users?

I was never very keen on the Marsdrive name myself. I don't think it projects anything and I haven't really found Marsdrive very receptive to new ideas.

I used to enjoy Red Colony because it had a very clear colonisation focus to it.

We may soon be entering on a new era in the next 2-5 years when Musk announces a specific Mars mission. At that point we can expect there to be a real upsurge in interest, but also at that point Musk will be embarking on a well resourced effort and non-professional speculation may become less relevant.

Marsman · 2012-03-14 16:37:54

The facebook site is open to everyone Louis- http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/4184149761/ It's listed as "public", and that's all it allows. Facebook is the place to be now for outreach and I must say we have had much more activity and responses there than any of our other sites or groups by far. As to the name "MarsDrive" it was meant to convey "the drive to reach Mars", a forward looking, driving force behind key steps to get humans on Mars. We do have a very specific focus now- getting that first human mission to Mars, and we have closed in on two final designs we are working with to merge together. Plans for colonies, terraforming and advanced transportation ideas are welcome there but as they are not our focus, it might seem they get ignored at times.

But we are not about trying to cover every possible aspect of life on Mars like The Mars Society, because we believe and know that that first human mission is STILL the hardest step and should not be assumed that it is just going to "happen" one day. TMS and RC have such a broad focus and that's fine, but ours is honed in on that area. The only other area we do add some focus to is cheap space access ideas because obviously if spaceflight is cheap, so will colonization of Mars be etc. As to Elon Musk, he will provide the hardware for the mission but he won't be paying for it. I'm sorry if it comes across as we are unreceptive to new ideas, because I for one can say that quite the opposite is true.

We are always entertaining new ideas and thoughts. But one thing we do ask is that if people have new ideas, that they follow them through and take the lead themselves as we are a volunteer organization. Just throwing an idea at us but then expecting us to take it up is irresponsible and unrealistic given our direction, structure and focus. The same would apply to TMS and other Mars groups. I know when people come in and propose their "grand colonization plan" and get ignored it frustrates them and perhaps makes them think twice about staying with us, but all I can say is this- we have a website, our vision and mission are clear enough and we even have a mission design group that is active offsite. If you join us without reading through those materials or you don't want to send us an email asking us anything specific, how can we help you? One of my pet peeves with all space groups is when people barge in from the outside with new ideas etc but they won't commit their own time or money or resources to pursuing that idea themselves. Trust me, we are not short on ideas. What all space groups are short on is money and human resources.

So as to purpose, look at it this way:

The Mars Society: Human Mars programs (in general), funded by NASA (as a general strategy) and research projects here on Earth
The Mars Institute: Small scale outpost R&D projects
The Mars Foundation: Phase 2 Settlement Plans
MarsDrive: First Mission (private) & Cheap Space Access
The Mars Initiative: Funding Ideas and public fundraising for first mission

If you are focused on colony stuff, there are plenty of people and groups you can join for that. But if you want us to focus on that first giant leap, MarsDrive is the place to be. We have a focus, we even have a design, and the business case is being built. And we are always open to new thoughts and ideas, as long as those are given in the understanding that if they don't fit our focus we may not jump on it immediately

John Creighton · 2012-03-14 20:26:12

Marsman wrote:

The facebook site is open to everyone Louis- http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/4184149761/ It's listed as "public", and that's all it allows. Facebook is the place to be now for outreach and I must say we have had much more activity and responses there than any of our other sites or groups by far. As to the name "MarsDrive" it was meant to convey "the drive to reach Mars", a forward looking, driving force behind key steps to get humans on Mars. We do have a very specific focus now- getting that first human mission to Mars, and we have closed in on two final designs we are working with to merge together. Plans for colonies, terraforming and advanced transportation ideas are welcome there but as they are not our focus, it might seem they get ignored at times.

I joined anyway. Things seem to be picking up on this forum. I'm not much for facebook forums. I'm more of a news feed person on facebook.

RGClark · 2012-04-04 12:16:48

SpaceNut wrote:

Unfortunatey I miss those many meaningfully made posts (5000 +) as many contained lots of useful data for getting mission to succeed for mars....
About another 1000 were lost on the 2 crashes that MarsDrive had and possibly another 1000 + on Red Colony....
As for welcomed Ideas I have felt that its the topics that one has of interest that makes or breaks how you feel on any forum...and how one puts thoughts from one to the other for continued discussion in a topic...

I saw you had over 5,600 posts Space dude, dating back all the way to '04. I think most of these older posts dating back to before the crash have been recovered based on the fact that I was able to view several of yours going back that far by clicking the link under your profile for your prior posts.
NewMars was indeed a great repository for information about achieving manned Mars missions, and a relatively well frequented one based on the number of posts. I think it can be well frequented again because the interest in achieving manned Mars missions, I believe, will again be renewed by Elon Musk making it a key objective for his company over the next decade.
It will be realized it is an achievable goal when SpaceX achieves first the goal of cutting the costs to LEO by two orders of magnitude by reusability. I believe such cuts in the cost to space are indeed reachable. Then when this is reached it will be understood that the cost for a Mars mission will be similarly cut, bringing it well within a range that we can afford.

Bob Clark

SpaceNut · 2012-04-04 20:16:28

For those that do not have a facebook account or not logged in when opening the link it takes you to the login page...

RickLewis · 2012-05-12 13:21:47

I posted a handful of times pre-crash. I'm delighted to (belatedly) discover that the New Mars Forums are up and running again. Well done!

idiom · 2013-06-05 14:11:16

I'm back.

JoshNH4H · 2013-06-06 05:53:15

Hey idiom how goes the rocket?

idiom · 2013-06-06 06:13:59

Well... Funding is still an issue. I have an N-Prize entry however. The work on the concept did yield a novel rocket engine design however. I had a lot of projects on, but I have more time now for these things.

JoshNH4H · 2013-06-06 18:37:19

Well I do hope to remain up-to-date on whatever you would like

RGClark · 2013-06-07 06:59:48

RickLewis wrote:

I posted a handful of times pre-crash. I'm delighted to (belatedly) discover that the New Mars Forums are up and running again. Well done!

Well back Rick.

Bob Clark

RGClark · 2013-06-07 07:03:55

idiom wrote:

I'm back.

Welcome back.

Bob Clark

SpaceNut · 2019-04-12 15:54:37

Seems the only increase in membership has been through spammers leaving junk for mods and admins to cleanup.

Its time to make a few more Mod's Jim in hopes of covering the day hours.

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#1 2011-12-31 21:31:53

Increasing use

#2 2012-01-01 16:43:25

Re: Increasing use

#3 2012-01-01 23:09:00

Re: Increasing use

#4 2012-01-02 09:50:41

Re: Increasing use

#5 2012-01-02 14:19:42

Re: Increasing use

#6 2012-01-02 16:49:53

Re: Increasing use

#7 2012-01-03 00:15:24

Re: Increasing use

#8 2012-01-03 21:04:44

Re: Increasing use

#9 2012-01-03 22:05:32

Re: Increasing use

#10 2012-01-03 22:28:56

Re: Increasing use

#11 2012-03-01 19:43:57

Re: Increasing use

#12 2012-03-01 21:10:52

Re: Increasing use

#13 2012-03-02 19:41:12

Re: Increasing use

#14 2012-03-14 16:37:54

Re: Increasing use

#15 2012-03-14 20:26:12

Re: Increasing use

#16 2012-04-04 12:16:48

Re: Increasing use

#17 2012-04-04 20:16:28

Re: Increasing use

#18 2012-05-12 13:21:47

Re: Increasing use

#19 2013-06-05 14:11:16

Re: Increasing use

#20 2013-06-06 05:53:15

Re: Increasing use

#21 2013-06-06 06:13:59

Re: Increasing use

#22 2013-06-06 18:37:19

Re: Increasing use

#23 2013-06-07 06:59:48

Re: Increasing use

#24 2013-06-07 07:03:55

Re: Increasing use

#25 2019-04-12 15:54:37

Re: Increasing use

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