Responding to @PipMeHappy feedback from the Forums Feedback thread
Can you expand on “website loyalty”? I know we missed the opportunity to do more interviews will long standing members (or any members for that matter), and it’s something that is planned to return. We’re also planning to do member of month recognition based on member votes on topics and replies made during the month. But I understand the need and desire for recognition and even an infrequent thank you. It’s something we didn’t do a great job at, and there’s room for improvement.
As for stickied threads, I can’t say we never did that for anybody, but understand the value in doing that more often for super quality and highly rated discussions.
We’ve had a quite strange experience with several members who were Honorary FX-Men, who contributed immensely and were very valued by the majority of the community. But there came a turning point in their time here, where unreasonable demands were made and ultimatums given to us, or rules not continuously followed, and a sense of entitlement and elitism surfaced. This happened even with encouragement and praise from the staff before all this peaked. So we’ve tried not to publicly favor specific members and praise praise praise. Because in our experience, it’s never turned out well. Perhaps we’ve gone too far in staying hands off in handing out recognition and honors and relying too much for members to find that on there own, in what they do, and how the evolve, and what they receive from other members.[quote=“PipMeHappy, post:15, topic:104670”]
let us say someone got all the badges (similarly to the FX-Men Honorary Member status): what next for them?
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I imagine this really depends on the person. We feel the biggest draw to any community is the sense of community and the relationships and friendships you develop. Those can exist and you can engage in those relationships regardless of how far you progress in obtaining badges or reaching post count milestones or any other status level. And then there’s the educational value in being part of a community striving to learn or get better at something. Most people, I imagine, who only come for reasons of learning, will leave as soon as that stops.
We know that losing members is a problem, but something of a natural evolution or progression with forex trading. We’re a beginner forum, operating in a field where it is difficult to be successful if you don’t put in the time and commitment to learn and practice and test, and read, and understand some times complex economic situations. Even for the experienced trader it can be tough to be consistently successful. And the most successful traders who venture here, as @o990l6mh mentioned in another thread, eventually leave because of their success or they find the educational value here is lacking. I also think @o990l6mh made many great points about what keeps people interested in forex trading and learning about it here, but also what can lead to someone, even long term members, leaving. There are so many factors that lead to someone’s interest in a thing, and everything we do here is only one aspect affecting their desire to stay or stick with forex trading. There are definitely more things we can do to keep members feeling welcomed, recognized and happy to be here.
To that end, thank you for your candid feedback. It makes the Forums a better place to have members provide constructive criticism. I’d also like to extend a handshake and giant bear hug to you, for your contributions over your 4+ years here. You’re sitting at the top of our regular member’s post count with over 5200 posts. That’s a great accomplishment!