What is the impact/reach of Kzone?

[Bubba]

I was going to post a q to the admins asking what info they'd be willing to share on number of... is it unique visitors? not page views, but how many new people come on here for info.

You've posed an interesting question, twilkas, one that apparently the admins have chosen to ignore. Of course as a private "company" they are well within their rights to keep their "skier visits" number to themselves. Views, is an irrelevant number. All you have to do is hit reload and the count goes up (as does the Bubba's, et al, bill for the server). All we can do is accept at face value their claims that Kzone is successful. They did, after all, "invest" in the fancy new phpBB software a while back. One does have to wonder if the visits over at AZ strictly related to Killington posts outnumber all the visits at Kzone. I'm sure the admins will insist that they are number one, but without the numbers, we are pretty much in the dark.

I highly doubt we get more visitors than AZ, TGR or other nationally oriented boards but we do get our share. More importantly, it's the people who read the board and are influenced by the openions expressed here, whether for or against some of the decisions that have been made in the past year and a half. Those people, be they just local residents, town officials, regulars on the hill or the occasional visitor are the ones who influence ski area behavior. Management may choose to ignore the message board but they've clearly gotten the message about Killington's early opening culture. Management may choose to ignore the message board but the town's Selectboard and Planning Commission heard the messages loud and clear and that feedback has reached the admin building as well as Utah. Being vocal with your opinions is a good thing, as long as the opinions are expressed clearly and without the personal attacks that some here like to throw out.

[Geoff]

Views, is an irrelevant number. All you have to do is hit reload and the count goes up (as does the Bubba's, et al, bill for the server).

Any web hosting service gives you the number of discrete IP addresses that have hit your site. They also tell you which ones are automated web crawler. The admins have a pretty good idea how many machines have hit KZone.

I doubt that most occasional Killington skiers know anything about KZone. I'll bet the percentage that have season passes is much higher but most of those don't engage in the internet community and rarely read the message board. 95% of the stuff on the board is complete crap and the tone of most of the posts is far too negative to attract a lot of people. I'm still blown away that the moderators allow personal attacks like Humpty Dumpty's constant tirade against Finn. Little wonder the tone of the board is negative and it has a bad reputation as a bitch-fest around town. I think the negativity detracts from the overall influence of the message board on things Killington since it chases a lot of people away.

[Bubba]

Views, is an irrelevant number. All you have to do is hit reload and the count goes up (as does the Bubba's, et al, bill for the server).

Any web hosting service gives you the number of discrete IP addresses that have hit your site. They also tell you which ones are automated web crawler. The admins have a pretty good idea how many machines have hit KZone.

I doubt that most occasional Killington skiers know anything about KZone. I'll bet the percentage that have season passes is much higher but most of those don't engage in the internet community and rarely read the message board. 95% of the stuff on the board is complete crap and the tone of most of the posts is far too negative to attract a lot of people. I'm still blown away that the moderators allow personal attacks like Humpty Dumpty's constant tirade against Finn. Little wonder the tone of the board is negative and it has a bad reputation as a bitch-fest around town. I think the negativity detracts from the overall influence of the message board on things Killington since it chases a lot of people away.

I agree on the tone, but it's part and parcel of the laissez faire approach we've tried to take which was an outgrowth of the way the old Killington chat was run. As admins trying to moderate the board, we're caught between those who want to simply play in the sandbox and those that want to use it for kitty litter. Finding the middle ground is and always has been difficult. We're open to suggestions.

[Geoff]

I agree on the tone, but it's part and parcel of the laissez faire approach we've tried to take which was an outgrowth of the way the old Killington chat was run. As admins trying to moderate the board, we're caught between those who want to simply play in the sandbox and those that want to use it for kitty litter. Finding the middle ground is and always has been difficult. We're open to suggestions.

How would you feel if somebody attacked you continuously like Humpty attacks Finn? I don't understand this weasel 'middle ground' thing. You are not doing the right thing and a lot of people either completely avoid the message board or don't take it seriously because you continue to avoid doing the right thing. When Steve Wright ran the Killington board, do you think he would have allowed it? No freakin' way.

[MarieM]

I agree on the tone, but it's part and parcel of the laissez faire approach we've tried to take which was an outgrowth of the way the old Killington chat was run. As admins trying to moderate the board, we're caught between those who want to simply play in the sandbox and those that want to use it for kitty litter. Finding the middle ground is and always has been difficult. We're open to suggestions.

How would you feel if somebody attacked you continuously like Humpty attacks Finn? I don't understand this weasel 'middle ground' thing. You are not doing the right thing and a lot of people either completely avoid the message board or don't take it seriously because you continue to avoid doing the right thing. When Steve Wright ran the Killington board, do you think he would have allowed it? No freakin' way.

I think "middle ground" is good in theory, but Geoff is right about the personal attacks. I am continuously
amazed at those particular posts from Humpty.

He says Steve Wright wouldn't have allowed such things. I think it's an issue that goes beyond Steve Wright or ASC or the KillingtonChat. Many of you who read this board also read other forums of similar types whether ski-related or covering other topics. Would such postings be tolerated in those forums?

[SkiDork]

Would such postings be tolerated in those forums?

The answer is yes and no.

On AlpineZone: NO

On TGR: YES

[rogman]

[spanky]

Moderation... Damned if you do and damned if you don't. I'm actually in favor of a more moderated board. I think there are other ways of moderation we (as a community) can look to use. Each user has the ability to flag a message that they find inappropriate. It's not used too frequently, but I think if users were to start consistently "requesting" more moderation via this method, we'd be inclined to moderate more.

Additionally, some forums have a rating/karma system where users rate each other. I think something like that would be helpful as well.

Contrary to me claiming I'm Humpty (I think he's pretty funny most of the time), I'm also against the use of aliases or logins that just attack other users. Personally, I'd like to see a clamp down on that as well. BTW, Humpty is not an alias as far as we can tell.

Another thought I had would be to separate the Ski/Snowboard/Killington related posts/topics into a separate more moderated forum and then keep a separate forum (like TGR padded room) for the rest of the noise.

Regarding the traffic numbers, we have a variety of metrics that both our hosting provider and third party solution give us. Like Bubba said, I doubt we have the traffic of sites like TGR/AZ, but I'd say we have a good volume.

[HelmetCam]

I think the negativity detracts from the overall influence of the message board on things Killington since it chases a lot of people away.

+1

I've turned people onto this site only to hear later they were turned off by all the crap.

[Geoff]

Contrary to me claiming I'm Humpty (I think he's pretty funny most of the time), I'm also against the use of aliases or logins that just attack other users. Personally, I'd like to see a clamp down on that as well. BTW, Humpty is not an alias as far as we can tell.

I think Humpty is funny. I just think it's unnecessary to constantly flame one message board member. ....though I guess I'm guilty of it with SkiingSnow.

[Skibumtress]

I have to agree with Geoff, HelmetCam and Marie.

It really does become a PITA sifting through all the BS in a thread only to find four pages later it never went back on Topic again.

I do like SkiDork's idea of the Padded Room like TGR has.

[SkiDork]

I have to agree with Geoff, HelmetCam and Marie.

It really does become a PITA sifting through all the BS in a thread only to find four pages later it never went back on Topic again.

I do like SkiDork's idea of the Padded Room like TGR has.

That was Spanky

[Mister Moose]

Since there doesn't seem to be much interest in the admins policing the site, why not just limit each IP address to a maximim munber of posts per day, say 5. That would cut down on a lot of noise, and make a number of people think about what they are going to write about a little more.

[SkiDork]

Since there doesn't seem to be much interest in the admins policing the site, why not just limit each IP address to a maximim munber of posts per day, say 5. That would cut down on a lot of noise, and make a number of people think about what they are going to write about a little more.

skiingsnow? That you?

[Skibumtress]

I have to agree with Geoff, HelmetCam and Marie.

It really does become a PITA sifting through all the BS in a thread only to find four pages later it never went back on Topic again.

I do like SkiDork's idea of the Padded Room like TGR has.

That was Spanky

My bad.

Allow me to rephrase:
I do like Spanky's idea of the Padded Room like TGR has.