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How do I know if a member is reading our content

 

I have 20 or more relatively new members (in the last 12 months say) who generally do not contribute. How do I know whether they are even reading our content or otherwise ? Its always the same people who contribute (give or take a little) but our activity tab doesnt show when a member reads content only if they ever contribute - barry?
 

Why is it any business of yours if they are reading messages?? Is there a requirement for membership in your group to participate publicly?


?>....doesnt show when a member reads content only if they ever contribute


_._,_._,_
 

On Sun, Feb 16, 2025 at 05:47 AM, Barry wrote:

I have 20 or more relatively new members (in the last 12 months say) who
generally do not contribute. How do I know whether they are even reading our
content or otherwise ?
You don't - unless they happen to reply

Its always the same people who contribute (give or take a little)
That's how it usually is, so what? Nobody likes to see the inbox filled with inane messages from dozens or hundreds of people.

groetjes/?is, Ronaldo
 

Barry
?
Another way is if someone ¡°likes¡± a post.?
?
We have 1,254 members, of which probably 25 actively post.?
 

If you have a free group with limited membership, and perhaps a waiting list, you would want those on the list to participate or leave so that others can join.
?
Steve M?
 

(I find the framing of that question a little off-putting...)

I am owner of several groups that are relatively small (10 to 20 members).? These are *participatory* groups, like teams.? While we don't specify how much people must participate, no member is allowed to just lurk.? (Of course, we don't really need a mechanism to show us who has read emails, since we can tell who isn't participating.)

From: "Sarah Shapiro via groups.io" <sarahseventytwo@...>
To: "GroupManagersForum" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, February 15, 2025 11:50:34 PM
Subject: Re: [GMF] How do I know if a member is reading our content
Why is it any business of yours if they are reading messages?? Is there a requirement for membership in your group to participate publicly?


?>....doesnt show when a member reads content only if they ever contribute


_._,_._,_

_
 

I consider on balance that it is my business to know who is just watching our group as opposed to being positively involved. We are not restricted in terms of numbers of members, because we are a specialist group with a specialist interest. We have only 160 members.
?
Of those numbers maybe 15-20 hold it all together at most. The efforts of those to keep it going is therefore considerable. We see on average 100 posts per month. If I knew who the watchers were, as opposed to the contributors - I'd ask them to leave, its as simple as that. This being on the basis of it being wholly fair on those that contribute - who wants to talk to no-one - barry.
 

On Sat, Feb 15, 2025 at 11:47 PM, Barry wrote:
How do I know whether they are even reading our content or otherwise ? Its always the same people who contribute (give or take a little) but our activity tab doesnt show when a member reads content only if they ever contribute
It's a legitimate question, for sure.

Personally, I feel that posting might be a contribution, while reading is not. It's in fact difficult to see how reading messages could ever become a logged activity. Just because a message was displayed on the screen doesn't mean it's been read. And a substantial fraction of members don't read their messages online at all. Confirming that an email was sent to them is just about the best you can do.
?
We have only 160 members.
?
Of those numbers maybe 15-20 hold it all together at most.
My experience is that in any given group/club, 10% of the people will end up doing 90% of the work. Groups.io is not an exception.
?
Regards,
Bruce
 

One indication is the delivery mode.

If they get no emails (or special only), I suspect they are not really interested - or only want to be members to occasionally post - "write only".

If they get a digest or summary, I assume some reading interest.

And why would someone continue to get single emails, at least on a reasonably busy list, if they don't read them?

Not perfect, but an indication me thinks.

AllTheBest.

?¡°Anyone who believes in unlimited growth is either a madman or an economist¡±. -Kenneth Boulding
? ? ~Mike


On Sunday, February 16, 2025 at 09:02:53 AM EST, Bruce Bowman via groups.io <bowman46118@...> wrote:


On Sat, Feb 15, 2025 at 11:47 PM, Barry wrote:
How do I know whether they are even reading our content or otherwise ? Its always the same people who contribute (give or take a little) but our activity tab doesnt show when a member reads content only if they ever contribute
It's a legitimate question, for sure.

Personally, I feel that posting might be a contribution, while reading is not. It's in fact difficult to see how reading messages could ever become a logged activity. Just because a message was displayed on the screen doesn't mean it's been read. And a substantial fraction of members don't read their messages online at all. Confirming that an email was sent to them is just about the best you can do.
?
We have only 160 members.
?
Of those numbers maybe 15-20 hold it all together at most.
My experience is that in any given group/club, 10% of the people will end up doing 90% of the work. Groups.io is not an exception.
?
Regards,
Bruce
 

Why? Most groups include some who ask questions and others who try to answer those questions. Both of those 2 groups we could call ¡°contributors¡±; the rest might do neither but they still like to learn from what the others post. What is wrong with that?

Otto

On 16 Feb 2025, at 13:23, Barry via groups.io <supermarine1931@...> wrote:

I consider on balance that it is my business to know who is just watching our group as opposed to being positively involved. We are not restricted in terms of numbers of members, because we are a specialist group with a specialist interest. We have only 160 members.

Of those numbers maybe 15-20 hold it all together at most. The efforts of those to keep it going is therefore considerable. We see on average 100 posts per month. If I knew who the watchers were, as opposed to the contributors - I'd ask them to leave, its as simple as that. This being on the basis of it being wholly fair on those that contribute - who wants to talk to no-one - barry.
 

I don't concern myself with who is reading messages and "participating".
However, once a year I ask members to "opt-in" to stay on the list. This might?be difficult for those with large memberships.
My group is small so the member count floats between 70 and 100.? If someone "opts-in", I know that they are interested
in staying on the list. I'm ok with lurkers.
 

On Sun, Feb 16, 2025 at 08:25 AM, Mike Hanauer wrote:
If they get no emails (or special only), I suspect they are not really interested
Or are reading online, as I do.
?
Duane
--
Lots of detailed information can be found in the Owners Manual and Members Manual.
 

Hi,
if you want to take this 1 step further, you can charge for membership, and remove anyone from your group who doesn¡®t pay. You could give a discount to ?contributors¡° (those who post) or grant free membership to them, based on the activity log.
But I consider it my own private business when I read a message/contribution or if I ignore it. I would consider an automatic check a breach of privacy.?
WhatsApp has such a mechanism, but that¡¯s a chat system, and even there you can decide not to make that information visible to others.?
Thomas
 

Thankyou for your wide ranging views - obviously there is no direct way of knowing which members just read the forum postings only - barry
 

On Sun, Feb 16, 2025 at 06:26 AM, Maclean Kirkwood wrote:
once a year I ask members to "opt-in" to stay on the list.
I do the same thing, but I do that every few years. My group is small too with maybe 100 regular members, and once it builds up to 200 to 250 I know after the purge it will go back to around 100 again. Many people join to see what the sight is about, then never come back again for whatever their reason., and never unsubscribe. I understand this because there are sights I have joined years ago, but still go back after a long time being gone just to see what has been happening. I suspect based on my own experience, some sights with huge looking memberships numbers, would actually be much smaller if they did a purge.
?
Don G
 

On a group that I co-own, the founder was upset when someone who recently joined didn't contribute and was concerned that?he might not even be reading postings. In fact, I? pointed out to him that several people whom we both know who are experts in the subject matter monitor the group ("lurk", as one of them put it) but don't contribute. Somehow he didn't feel the same way about them.?

I really could not fathom why he was upset about this. If a lurker leaves, or a member doesn't even lurk, it doesn't make him more invisible. They don't?affect anything that?the active participants are doing. He eventually accepted my way of thinking.?

I can understand it better if it's a free group about to reach its 100-member limit,?or if there are enough silent participants to?seriously?affect the?membership charge for a large paid group. But aside from that, as far as I can see, silent viewing, non-viewing and leaving the group all have absolutely?no effect on?what active participants are doing and getting from the group. Someone said it's unfair if someone hangs around and doesn't read postings, but the original poster felt it was fair if they do read postings but don't contribute. I just don't see the difference.?

-P.

On Sun, Feb 16, 2025 at 2:01?PM Don Grass via <dgrass1=[email protected]> wrote:
On Sun, Feb 16, 2025 at 06:26 AM, Maclean Kirkwood wrote:
once a year I ask members to "opt-in" to stay on the list.
I do the same thing, but I do that every few years. My group is small too with maybe 100 regular members, and once it builds up to 200 to 250 I know after the purge it will go back to around 100 again. Many people join to see what the sight is about, then never come back again for whatever their reason., and never unsubscribe. I understand this because there are sights I have joined years ago, but still go back after a long time being gone just to see what has been happening. I suspect based on my own experience, some sights with huge looking memberships numbers, would actually be much smaller if they did a purge.
?
Don G
 

Do lurkers increase the efforts of the 15-20 active posters? Would purging lurkers improve the list for posters? In general, I don't see the harm in people subscribing but not posting. In fact, I wish more people exercised restraint in posting, asking themselves whether everyone on the list needs to see what's about to be posted.? That would reduce the number of "Me too", "Yes, please post that" and "Thanks" posts -- which are mostly just noise.
?
?A specialist group with a specialist interest seems a good place for aspiring and new specialists to learn about your specialized interests, which seems useful. I'm on many lists, some general and some specialized. Some are for fields where I worked for many years -- I mostly lurk on them but occasionally post answering/asking questions or commenting on discussions.
?
On the many lists I own, I see the same ratio posters/subscribers as you describe -- and see nothing wrong with it. In fact, it's common across lists; it's the nature of communities -- 80/20 rule strikes again. Unless there's some reason to restrict what's posted to people actively posting -- why care about it?
?
On Sun, Feb 16, 2025 at 08:49 AM, Barry wrote:

I consider on balance that it is my business to know who is just watching our group as opposed to being positively involved. We are not restricted in terms of numbers of members, because we are a specialist group with a specialist interest. We have only 160 members.
?
Of those numbers maybe 15-20 hold it all together at most. The efforts of those to keep it going is therefore considerable. We see on average 100 posts per month. If I knew who the watchers were, as opposed to the contributors - I'd ask them to leave, its as simple as that. This being on the basis of it being wholly fair on those that contribute - who wants to talk to no-one - barry.
 

I do wish that folks wouldn't try to impose blanket judgments universally.? There are other perspectives.

For many/most groups lurking may not make much difference -- however, IMO, that depends on what sort of group it is.? Some here appear to view groups as sorta like social media.? But others of us have different uses.? Here's an example that I would guess doesn't match hardly anyone else's:

Many of the groups I am an owner of are "consciousness work" groups.? (These fall within the personal growth realm.)? Everything in that organization is considered an opportunity for growth and learning, whether it's supporting one's transformational work, being a team member, or stepping into a leadership role.? In such groups, it's energetically funky if someone who is a member of such a group isn't active (or even seen).? This even applies to our work teams.? (I won't go into how collective energetics works.)

And there's always the notion that the observer, merely by the act of observing, affects or alters the thing being observed.

So, depending on what sort of group it is, "silent viewing, non-viewing, and leaving the group" can all have different effects, regardless of whether you can perceive them.

Yours,
Cal

From: "Peter S. Shenkin via groups.io" <shenkin@...>
To: "GroupManagersForum" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2025 2:36:57 PM
Subject: Re: [GMF] How do I know if a member is reading our content
On a group that I co-own, the founder was upset when someone who recently joined didn't contribute and was concerned that?he might not even be reading postings. In fact, I? pointed out to him that several people whom we both know who are experts in the subject matter monitor the group ("lurk", as one of them put it) but don't contribute. Somehow he didn't feel the same way about them.?

I really could not fathom why he was upset about this. If a lurker leaves, or a member doesn't even lurk, it doesn't make him more invisible. They don't?affect anything that?the active participants are doing. He eventually accepted my way of thinking.?

I can understand it better if it's a free group about to reach its 100-member limit,?or if there are enough silent participants to?seriously?affect the?membership charge for a large paid group. But aside from that, as far as I can see, silent viewing, non-viewing and leaving the group all have absolutely?no effect on?what active participants are doing and getting from the group. Someone said it's unfair if someone hangs around and doesn't read postings, but the original poster felt it was fair if they do read postings but don't contribute. I just don't see the difference.?

-P.

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