Omei has been checking into why why there are not more people participating in the forum discussions. Here are some advice on how to change that for the better.
- Ingame feed for the forum
- Mail subscription to the forum (daily or weekly digest)
- Mail subscription to the WIKI for new articles
Here is the chatlog from today with suggestions for how to improve the use of the forum:
Omei: Eli (Change of topic), I did a informal pole past night of why more people weren’t participating in the recent forum discssions. …
Eli Fisker: Oh, let me hear
Omei: Seems the concensus was that most people don’t even look at the forums unless you recommend something to them. 
Eli Fisker: Lol
Eli Fisker: Omei, then I will immediately recommend everybody to look at the forum at least once a day
Eli Fisker: Actually I do have a suggestion that could help with that
Omei: It may have to be a PM to each, repeated every day.
Eli Fisker: Instead of like now we only get mail subscriptions of the posts we actually subscribe to
Eli Fisker: one should have the option to get a daily or weekly mail with headlines for the current topics
Omei: Someone (Jieux?) suggested having a bot for it.
hoglahoo: so do I. If we could regularly and actively see how forum discussions help us, we might be more inclined to participate more often
Jieux: We have a tradition to nag until desired result is achieved… I recommend this.
Eli Fisker: That would be better than messages
Omei: Maybe a little blurb underneath the chat window saying "Latest forum post: “Blah blah blah” by lLittleCheese, 2 minutes ago.
stlnegril9: I have a tradition of looking at my older posts in forums and wondering what in the world I was thinking
Eli Fisker: Lol, Omei on your daily pm to each
Eli Fisker: Omei, that could work
Eli Fisker: The timing is a fine idea
Eli Fisker: However I do like the mail idea also
Eli Fisker: More ideas on how to get people to become more aware of the forum and use it?
Eli Fisker: (I think it took at least 3 months for me playing to realize there was a forum and a little more for me to check it daily
Eli Fisker: Omei, I’m considering bringing up that forum thing
Eli Fisker: and mention your idea
Omei: Not my idea, but I liked it. Could use it for the wiki, as well
Eli Fisker: Yes, that is an excellent idea
Eli Fisker: I would like that as well
Eli Fisker: as I forget to check for new articles
Eli Fisker: Will make wiki more active too
steven123505: wait…we have a wiki?
Omei: Steven, you didn’t know? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EteRNA
steven123505:
steven123505: i knew we did, just all of the new guys say it
Omei: I know you knew.
steven123505: i know you knew that i knew
Eli Fisker: