Doug is right. We have done just a little research into model railway forum behaviour worldwide and the broad picture is that in all cases 80% of forum members rarely contribute if at all. It would be nice to think that Model Rail Forum eventually bucks this trend. Also, forum sites appear to have at least as many visitors as they do members.
So a typical site with 330 members (Model Rail Forum
) will normally have in addition at least 330 visitors who are aware of the site and pop in from time to time.
And 20% of 330 is around 65 members who have made a contribution.
Now as Model Rail Forum grows then the number of members making a contribution will grow.
However article writing is a separate activity altogether.
It does take a little more time than posting a message in a topic. However, once an article is prepared and published it is there for life for all visitors now, and new visitors in the future, to review and look at. Unlike articles in a monthly magazine, articles on the internet are always freely available all the time and therefore the big benefits of the internet for publishers and article writers are the permanency of it and the ease of access.
The best form of article is therefore one that can be used as a reference time after time. So if anybody has any specialist knowledge that they would like to share then why not write an article and get your name in the lights? And if you show a talent for writing articles then it can lead to even greater things!
We have got some very interesting things lined up for December and January as a result of certain people reading articles that we have published at Model Rail Forum. You could share in this adventure!
Happy modelling
Gary