Poll: Reasons for Not Contributing

What Discourages You from Contributing?

  • I don't feel that I have anything to add

    Votes: 72 52.6%
  • I don't think I will learn anything from participating

    Votes: 3 2.2%
  • I'm new and/or shy about sticking my neck out

    Votes: 23 16.8%
  • I'm not a subscriber and don't have access to some of the content

    Votes: 11 8.0%
  • I find the topic too complicated or confusing

    Votes: 5 3.6%
  • The topic doesn't interest me enough to join in

    Votes: 23 16.8%

  • Total voters
    137
  • Poll closed .

Miradeck

Personally, I'm new and therefore still gaining insights and reading up to learn from others' experiences and therefore less inclined to post my own interpretations for fear of misleading others. For a start, my experiences are not a lot to begin with hence that's also why I don't comment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Debra

.... I notice that the OP hasn't come back to their thread, despite direct questions being asked.
Which is what causes me to feel ignored, and why I rarely post in threads anymore, directly answering the question.

I don't mean for that to be a personal attack, either. It is what it is. I know that life gets in the way.

What about time zones?

Not responding for a day or two seems perfectly fine to me.

I get irked if someone hasn't given feedback in a reading thread but is participating elsewhere. The mods are great about reminders to give feedback. If it takes a few days to get back to the forum with a response, that's fine with me.
 

violetdaisy

I agree with the time zones thing, except when someone has been skipped, and then days have passed.
 

Isobel Gaudie

Hi,

I'm a newbie. Had been lurking into this community for about year till I signed up for an account.
As a new member one gets overwhelmed with this huge amount of information gathered in here. I found myself binge reading, still do. That's first stage I guess, probably not uncommon.
Getting of the fence and contributing to threads was a bit of a jump for me and still is. One can feel pretty humble reading all those brilliant replies by experienced members that are filled with knowledge to the brim.
It's a matter of insecurity and the need to get accustomed.
Also not to forget about a certain language barrier other new members might have as this is an international forum. Understanding, reading a language is often not an issue for people, but writing in a foreign language can cause sweaty pants.

These are my 2 cents.
 

LoveLight&Peace

Generally, I don't comment because:

~the topic doesn't interest me

~there is a huge wall of text that I'm not up to reading through

~someone else has already stated what I was going to say

On the rare occasion that I find myself feeling like there is something that I can contribute, I do.
 

Barleywine

May I ask, is this increasing number of new members based on forum stats?

No. it's purely anecdotal based on the number of "New Member" posts. I've been informally watching the trends for going on six years, and we seem to be having an "uptick" at the moment.
 

Barleywine

Hmm, I didn't come back because I was waiting for something to "come back to" (that is, votes).

I didn't recognize that "feeling underappreciated" would be a common reason for not participating, but in retrospect the number of mod reminders to respond could be an indication of that. I also didn't think the "intimidation" factor would be a big one, unless it's buried in the "I'm too shy" selection.

My personal beliefs about on-line reading aren't intended to be a personal attack, either. I've been doing this stuff for almost 45 years now, and I have some strongly-held opinions about technique.
 

Barleywine

Another reason - (is this linked to "I don't have anything to add?") - could be "I've said this before". I have seen repeated threads come up, repeated themes and I have commented elsewhere so I don't bother repeating myself, although I'm sure I have repeated myself in a number of threads.

I often feel this way, but then I recognize that it might be a new member who hasn't poked around in the old threads, so I'm usually charitable unless I go to the trouble of finding and posting the links rather than commenting specifically.
 

Barleywine

In all honesty, I don't find many of the topics all that interesting. But this is more to do with me having been on this forum for over 10 years now and having seen the same topics come up again and again. I do read them, but it takes me ages to construct a response so I tend not to bother.

I never look at the 'Using Tarot' forum - it drives me up the wall. All those questions 'Can the xxx mean so and so?'. I know it's helpful for some, but I just feel like saying every time 'what does it mean to YOU'.

I have to agree that all of the "What does this card combined with that card mean?" questions in Using Tarot are a bit wearying. My usual (unposted) reaction is "C'mon, think about it a little bit."
 

Barleywine

I go through phases. I've been posting a decent amount recently (I think), but a month ago I barely even visited this site.

For me, the sheer number of threads to sift through is overwhelming, and I end up losing track of what I've commented on and what I haven't. It's difficult to keep up a dialogue like that (there are one or two that I remember well enough to keep tabs on). That's probably the biggest reason. Once I've found an interesting thread, I then have to read through all the other responses, and by the time I get to the end of some of the longer ones, it's been pretty well talked-out (like some others have already said, I'm more likely to contribute when less people already have). So, to sum up: lots of sub-forums - lots of threads - lots of comments - so much to take in I don't feel like adding to it.

I'm more a reader than a writer at heart, anyway; I learn best by reading and internalizing; I joined this site to learn.

Also, I see that a lot of people feel judged, and that's sad.

I'm also seeing that "Too much content" and "Not enough time" should have been on the list.