Facebook Group

Dlilly

Honored Member
It seems like most people are on dog training Facebook groups nowadays. My suggestion is that you make a Dog Trick Academy group on Facebook. It could be a place where we can do stuff that might be considered spam on the forums, like share pictures of our dogs and just give updates. It also might bring some traffic to this website. Like, if a question is asked, someone can give them a link to a thread from DTA forums or your blog.
 

brody_smom

Experienced Member
It seems like most people are on dog training Facebook groups nowadays. My suggestion is that you make a Dog Trick Academy group on Facebook. It could be a place where we can do stuff that might be considered spam on the forums, like share pictures of our dogs and just give updates. It also might bring some traffic to this website. Like, if a question is asked, someone can give them a link to a thread from DTA forums or your blog.
I think we already have so many forums on here that are rarely used. Look at the latest posts on some of these. They haven't been used for ages. At any given time, there are way more guests on the forums than members, so I think it is more up to the current members to be active on the forums to keep the content attractive to new members. I had been away from the DTA for a few months in the fall, and when I came back, there were hardly any new posts. As far as I have seen the only things that are considered spam is people joining so they can try to drum up business for pet insurance or real estate or something along those lines. There are plenty of places on here for photos and updates. No one is very strict about what you can post and where, as long as you are respectful and are espousing the Positive Reinforcement methods.

Personally, I am not a big fan of "the facebook", and I know quite a few people who have fallen out of love with it lately. I only use it to keep track of my immediate friends and family (people who I know in real life!), my local NHL team, and a few other businesses, but even those send me email newsletters on a regular basis, so facebook is a little redundant.
 

MaryK

Honored Member
I think there is a use for a FaceBook page, somewhere where lost dogs, dog's in urgent need of a foster home, etc. could be posted. I know on my page I get a lot of urgent need postings, so having somewhere to spread the word would be quite useful.
 

brody_smom

Experienced Member
I think there is a use for a FaceBook page, somewhere where lost dogs, dog's in urgent need of a foster home, etc. could be posted. I know on my page I get a lot of urgent need postings, so having somewhere to spread the word would be quite useful.
Members here are from very different locations, though. I doubt any of us could offer much help in one of those situations. Many areas have facebook pages for those specific needs. I used one recently to get help when I found an injured dove in our driveway. Even Craigslist is very useful for those types of things.
 

MaryK

Honored Member
Members here are from very different locations, though. I doubt any of us could offer much help in one of those situations. Many areas have facebook pages for those specific needs. I used one recently to get help when I found an injured dove in our driveway. Even Craigslist is very useful for those types of things.
I realize that but that is also why it would be good to have a FB page where we could post such things. Personally I've found Craig list to be somewhat open to scams etc.
 

Dlilly

Honored Member
Dogster.com recently announced that they're closing down their forums so that shows that forums aren't really that popular anymore, and they had a good amount of members on there. That's why I suggested it, because this forum isn't as active as it was before and there isn't a sign of it getting active at the moment. I love this site, but I think something big needs to happen change on here, adding a FB group could be a small change.
 

running_dog

Honored Member
I think that the way to make the site more active is to post more messages and respond quickly to messages that are posted. Facebook generally takes traffic away from the forum/website side of things rather than driving people the other way.

Coming up to Trick Challenge deadlines the site always goes a little quieter - because we are concentrating on our dogs and videoing but that doesn't mean the site is not active it just means that we are taking the forum into the real world which after all is what we are supposed to do.
 

brody_smom

Experienced Member
I think that the way to make the site more active is to post more messages and respond quickly to messages that are posted. Facebook generally takes traffic away from the forum/website side of things rather than driving people the other way.

Coming up to Trick Challenge deadlines the site always goes a little quieter - because we are concentrating on our dogs and videoing but that doesn't mean the site is not active it just means that we are taking the forum into the real world which after all is what we are supposed to do.
I couldn't agree more. Those of us who are active don't need to look for ways to make it more active. (Hint, hint, Dlilly!:))
 

brody_smom

Experienced Member
Dogster.com recently announced that they're closing down their forums so that shows that forums aren't really that popular anymore, and they had a good amount of members on there. That's why I suggested it, because this forum isn't as active as it was before and there isn't a sign of it getting active at the moment. I love this site, but I think something big needs to happen change on here, adding a FB group could be a small change.
There could be many reasons for a forum closing down, but one forum closing doesn't mean that all forums aren't popular. It is up to the members to keep adding useful and interesting content, even if no new members join. Have you been visiting the forum yourself, Dlilly? I haven't seen any posts from you lately. Have you been reading and not commenting? That kind of "activity" doesn't do much for a facebook page either. Making comments, starting threads, even "liking" other peoples posts makes us feel part of the community.
 

running_dog

Honored Member
Rather than spreading us out more by adding Facebook I personally would prefer to see some of the forums consolidated - eg/ the 9 dog training forums might be better merged into just Tricks Training, Dog Sports Training, Other Training and Solving Behaviour Problems, that way the activity in each forum would be greater because it is spread out less and that activity has the potential to generate more interest and activity...
 

southerngirl

Honored Member
Rather than spreading us out more by adding Facebook I personally would prefer to see some of the forums consolidated - eg/ the 9 dog training forums might be better merged into just Tricks Training, Dog Sports Training, Other Training and Solving Behaviour Problems, that way the activity in each forum would be greater because it is spread out less and that activity has the potential to generate more interest and activity...
I agree. Some of the forums should be merged, because they are barley used.
 

brody_smom

Experienced Member
I agree. Some of the forums should be merged, because they are barley used.
Also, I realized after running_dog came back and started the training challenges, that the forum called "Training Challenges" was about motivating each other to try to train our dogs the same trick at the same time, i.e. who wants to do a training challenge? Until then, it seemed it was about problems we were having with training specific tricks or behaviors. At least, that's the way I understood the title.
 

southerngirl

Honored Member
Also, I realized after running_dog came back and started the training challenges, that the forum called "Training Challenges" was about motivating each other to try to train our dogs the same trick at the same time, i.e. who wants to do a training challenge? Until then, it seemed it was about problems we were having with training specific tricks or behaviors. At least, that's the way I understood the title.
Jean started it off as him posting challenges... but after only a few he stopped and no one else picked up on the challenges until Running_dog
 

running_dog

Honored Member
I think we may be getting fewer people through at the moment because instead of people who search for dog trick academy being brought straight to the portal they are taken to a page where the forum is a small button in a top menu bar.
 

southerngirl

Honored Member
I think that Protection training and dog biking and carting should be removed, because they are sports and there is already a category for it.(dog sports). Instead of General dog training and Obedience training maybe combine them to Dog Training. And also with running dog's idea having it open straight to the forum page. and members can advertise DTA themselves by putting it in the description of videos, writing about it of FB pages, suggesting it to friends who have dogs... and so on.
 

running_dog

Honored Member
Even when the Dog Trick Academy Forum page opens (and if we post the link we should always make sure it brings people straight to the forum) all most people can see is Introduce Yourself, Meet the Dogs, Off Topic and right at the bottom Training Challenges. I can't help wondering how many people who hit this page actually scroll down beyond Meet Training Partners and actually find the rest of the dog training forums.
 
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