The two major factors here are undeniably seasonality and the platform change. We experienced a similar lull when we moved to Huddler in 2012. A move of that nature creates a search penalty, so it's more difficult for people to find their way to the site, and there's always an adjustment period with new software.
Many, if not all, of the other former Huddler sites are experiencing similar impacts on traffic and engagement.
This is normally a slow time of year for NT regardless. Things usually ramp up as the holidays approach and big sneaker releases occur. December and January tend to be our busiest months.
For whatever reason, yesterday in particular was slow. Today's traffic has been pretty much normal for this time of year.
I can appreciate that the prevalence of "megathreads" can create the appearance that there's less activity or diversity, since you're seeing the same posts over and over again, but it's a more complicated issue than just "get rid of all threads once they become popular." That solves a cosmetic problem (the persistence of old threads on the front pages), but I'm not sure that it would meaningfully improve discussions on the site. Megathreads benefit participants from an alerts standpoint because they're easy to follow. Users are less accustomed now to refreshing a forum every few minutes to see what's new. If you're part of a huge discussion, you can be notified when there's new content for those topics of interest. Would it be nice if everyone checked out the new threads? Yes, and we try to encourage that now by highlighting newly created threads on the front page of the site. At the same time, we don't want to be heavyhanded in forcing users out of threads they enjoy. Different people have different needs.
We could consider breaking up threads so that a new one must be created every calendar year, but that's already largely the case in the Sports & Training forum. There are season threads for each major sports league, then offseason threads or postseason threads.
Nothing prevents anyone from creating a separate thread just to discuss one sports trade or one news item, so you have to wonder why that is. If the megathreads work for people, if they enjoy them, why are we breaking them up, exactly?
We started NikeTalk under the adage, "better to light a candle than curse the darkness." The same sentiment applies to new topic creation. If there's something you think warrants a separate discussion, outside a "megathread," go for it! If anyone gripes and tells you "this belongs in the ______ thread," ignore it or report it for removal.
I think there's value to both megathreads and more individual topics. Those are threads anyone can create.
Most of those in this thread are longtime community members. You have friends here. You can @mention other users you think would be interested in your new thread. Get them involved. Encourage lapsed members to start posting again. If it's a thread you think I'd like, @mention me, too.
I've seen several users making a regular effort to create new topics.
SC kid
comes to mind. If you appreciate these efforts, support them and match them.
The people in this thread alone have the power to reshape the face of the General forum on a day to day basis. Don't forget that. If five of you decided to start a new topic every other day, that would make a significant difference in shaking up the appearance of a given forum as just having the "same old threads" day in and day out. At the same time, it doesn't take anything away from anyone else.
NikeTalk is what we make of it.
