Topic: How engaging was the forum without signature campaign? - page 3. (Read 537 times)

I wasn’t opportune to join the forum earlier but with what we have seen when we check the post history of some past members that are not active and some reputable members of today in the past, there are a lot of spam in the forum even when the signature campaigns were introduced to the forum; although the signature reduces number of spam’s due to the payment and if you didn’t make quality posts you will not get paid, then the merit system is what eradicate spam in the forum because you need to rank up before enrolling in any signature campaign.
In general, signature campaigns have positive impact to the forum because it keeps some members here and provides more traffic to the forum.

If Signature campaigns are no more in this forum, many forum users will leave because some of us earn for a leaving through the payment we receive in our respective campaigns.

Many Members would not Post much if at all, many of them would quit definitively.

On the other hand, I really believe that Signature Campaigns did good to the quality of Posts.  While I see many Members simply being echo chambers of other Members, there are many who write constructive ideas and Posts.

I would imagine the Forum would look so much simpler without the need for constructive Replies.  Have you ever seen the Comments section in a Reddit Thread?  That is how I imagine Bitcoin Talk Threads would look like.

I have noticed that when a user is involved in a signature campaign he is regularly active in the forum and regularly posts qualitatively from active to active in the forum but when that user is kicked out of the campaign or when that user's campaign ends he is seen not to be regularly active. A user becoming irregular due to not being involved in a signature campaign means that when the forum is without a signature campaign, the number of posts in the forum will decrease significantly and new members will not be very interested in increasing their account rank. Maybe a lot of bounty hunters will work here if the bounty campaigns are running but without the signature campaign most users will be irregular and won't post as much as before.

Then in 2017, ICOs brought many spammers, bounty hunters to the forum. There was a spamming endemic in the forum back then before theymos asked community opinion, solutions and merit system was launched. After that kick-off, stats of new users, new topics, new posts dropped dramatically.

Time Series on monthly statistics of forum (new users, new topics, new posts)
Rank and merit system changes

You are actually right about the old timers' interest and focus as I have seen few threads involving their discussions. But I want to add that it is not entirely correct that the early people were not motivated by money because you cannot define Bitcoin without associating it with money. The right thing to say is that the traffic of the forum grew as Bitcoin became valuable. In other words, as people began to see rise in Bitcoin from a few cents to single digit, double digits and so on, more people began developing interest in Bitcoin. Those focusing on the tech were actually there and most of them ended up mining Bitcoin which is still a way of making money. Some got Bitcoin through faucets and donations and when they share their testimony, more people created account and became curious on how to earn Bitcoin.

Today most of the ways people earn Bitcoin are no longer happening so we now have services that are supported by Bitcoin such as exchanges, casinos and others and they run their marketing through signature campaigns so people will join because it is an opportunity to earn. If you remove money from the equation even from the beginning, here will become a ghost land unless maybe there are some sort of entertainment like games that will still keep some here. Meanwhile, anyone who loves Bitcoin actually love money because Bitcoin is money.

If the company's signature ceases to exist on the forum, then, in order not to guess what will happen, you can return to the origins of the forum and check the accounts of those interested in the development of Bitcoin. The same as now, you can check old accounts. Sometimes the history of the forum is so interesting that you can see people there who could become millionaires today, but ignorance of the value of Bitcoin influenced them to sell a very large amount. The old-timers who came to the forum at the very beginning were enthusiastic, and their posts were quite interesting to understand that all the newcomers were interested primarily in Bitcoin and not in the financial side of the forum.

There are very few users who were active then and are still active, and besides, I honestly doubt that they would get involved in this kind of discussion and share their experiences.

The forum then, as now, was a place for discussion and exchange of information, and later something new appeared in the form of signature campaigns. This must have motivated many to register here and must have ensured that this forum has been popular all these years.

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It would be demotivating for many, there's no doubt about that - and all those who are there just because of signature campaigns would probably disappear within a month. Money is a great motivator, but if it is the only one, it can be an aggravating circumstance for many - it is not difficult to conclude who writes only for money, and who is there for some other reasons.

I don't know about the origin of the forum and how it has been of the past if it started with or without signature campaigns but all I know is that this bitcointalk forum is a platform designed to educate Bitcoin and Crypto enthusiasts as a term of discussion.
Also in discussion to varieties of economy, politics and Societies etc.
At all course, it is a free learning institute where one was ought to pay before signing in to the forum considering the vision and impacts of the forum but it was an opened source free.

But I can only guess that signature campaigns was introduced in the forum as rewards or encouragement to respective and qualified quality poster who had earnestly been contributing to the Speculations awareness of Bitcoin and their creative ideals of how to enhance the Crypto industry.

This alone is Worth compensating qualified members because they sacrifices lot of time and knowledges of educating one and the other.


In essence, the forum will still be a better place without signature campaign as most persons as I am came to the forum to acquire Bitcoin knowledge which is enough golden opportunity as it is all free of charge and then as I advances staying in the forum I was discovered that there is a functionality like a signature campaign.

In our localities, there are people wanting to learn about Bitcoin and or crypto currencies so, referring them to the forum would still keep the forum boom active because the primary initiation of users in the forum was not in expectation of joining campaigns or gets paid.

In terms of discussion involvement in this forum before there was any campaign, I think it is still the same as now, although there is a slight difference, namely that there are no ties to the campaign rules except the forum rules themselves. And for everyone I think if they don't participate in any campaigns they are just free from the mandatory posting work so they can post whenever they want without having to look at the time and so on. So I think that the campaign is a positive thing because it can invite more people to join this forum.

Maybe the impact is that it will be a little quiet for old users or it will also be quiet for attracting new users because there is no income they can expect from this forum other than just knowledge and interesting discussions from many people. Now I personally am starting to see and feel this when there are several signature campaigns that ended and were banned by the forum this year, but this certainly won't stop those who are used to posting on this forum from continuing to discuss as usual.

First signature campaign started on June 12, 2011.

Here's the forum stats before signature campaign.


https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=stats

As you can see the highest new topics, new posts, new members and most online happened during June, 2011. Before that the number is low, even though it's not make sense to evaluate the forum traffic during early phase since Bitcoin is really new thing and it keep growing.

You need to evaluate the forum traffic when Bitcoin is nothing new anymore, so we can know how many people are actually stay in this forum, not just being curious.

The best answer is waiting a reply from user that registered before June 2011 since they know what the forum likes.

Low quality posts were more before signature campaign began but spam was less. After signature campaign was getting many on this forum, spam increased. But most people that are spamming are people from bounty campaigns. But reputable members post quality increases and they are in signature campaigns.

You can easily know this if you study the accounts of those that are not in a campaign after a campaign ended or the person is removed. You will notice that the person will not post like before. Posting will significantly reduce and some people will not visit this forum again.

I'm curious to know this, how was the forum before signature campaign became a thing in the forum? I know it's possible that a lot of people are active almost everyday on the forum and are iether engaging in real discussions or sometimes trying to meet up with thier post requirements and a lot of others like myself whose journey is still at the development phase would want to get some sort of encouragement that will keep us going with or without being a part of any signature campaign.

I just want to know, what was the engagement like in the forum discussion before signature campaign and how has the Advent of signature campaign affected the forum? Is it positively or negatively?

Should there cease to be signature campaign on the forum, what's likely the effect it will have on an average member of the forum?