Dutch Shepherd Forum

From month-to-month the Photo Contest thread generally receives the most views, but the actual number of members who vote is quite low. I can't seem to wrap my head around why.

Please take a moment to check all that applies in the poll. You can also leave additional feedback by commenting in this thread OR if you don't want to publicly share, shoot me a PM or email.

Thanks - Michael

I guess the preliminary results are that nobody votes for anything

I assure you that your selection is completely anonymous.

Even if it were possible to know who selected what, I am REALLY looking for open and honest feedback.

Thanks.

I plan on voting monthly but am new so have only been here for one month of voting.

centrop67 wrote: ↑Fri Jan 26, 2018 12:46 pm I guess the preliminary results are that nobody votes for anything

I'm new on here with Sadie so I will definitely start posting a picture and voting

I'm not active enough here, don't consider myself /really/ part of the forum's community, so I tend to stay to the outskirts

montecarlogirl87 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:22 pm ... don't consider myself /really/ part of the forum's community

You've been a member for almost 4 years, and you have 100 posts.

How can you not consider yourself part of the community?

It's okay, though. I appreciate your feedback. If there's anything I can do to help you feel more involved. please let me know.

centrop67 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:03 am

montecarlogirl87 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:22 pm ... don't consider myself /really/ part of the forum's community

You've been a member for almost 4 years, and you have 100 posts.

How can you not consider yourself part of the community?

It's okay, though. I appreciate your feedback. If there's anything I can do to help you feel more involved. please let me know.

It's not any slight on the forum (or the members), but many of you know each other from countless interactions here and have established (online) relationships, I tend to stay to the sidelines and most of the time don't have much to add to the conversation because my girl isn't the norm, I don't work/sport with her and she's a giant couch potato

montecarlogirl87 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 01, 2018 11:20 pm

centrop67 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 01, 2018 1:03 am

montecarlogirl87 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:22 pm ... don't consider myself /really/ part of the forum's community

You've been a member for almost 4 years, and you have 100 posts.

How can you not consider yourself part of the community?

It's okay, though. I appreciate your feedback. If there's anything I can do to help you feel more involved. please let me know.

It's not any slight on the forum (or the members), but many of you know each other from countless interactions here and have established (online) relationships, I tend to stay to the sidelines and most of the time don't have much to add to the conversation because my girl isn't the norm, I don't work/sport with her and she's a giant couch potato

I feel sort of the same way. I do always participate in the photo contest but don't post much otherwise anymore. Xander is my have fun, be active, play around dog. We do silly searches for his babies and hotdogs but nothing for competition or whatever. Just fun games at home. He is fine with that and he has his "job" finding his babies that I hide and watching over his grandma and herding his balls around the yard which he is really good at. But it's nothing exciting like some of the members do (which I think is awesome, just not for us). Plus he is not the standard looking DS. He's fuzzy and hairy. Lol. But he has character and has won a couple photo contests. But I stay here to read the posts and see the awesome dogs that the members have and try to learn something. And of course I love all the puppy pics. Lol.

I wish people like you two would post more. In all reality, they can be just fun dogs too. I do many sports with ICE but he is also my pet. He can give 100% in bite work and then lay on the couch with his head in my lap. That's what it is all about, give them the mental and physical exercise they need and enjoy them as your buddy too.

ICE wrote: ↑Fri Feb 02, 2018 1:54 pm I wish people like you two would post more. In all reality, they can be just fun dogs too. I do many sports with ICE but he is also my pet. He can give 100% in bite work and then lay on the couch with his head in my lap. That's what it is all about, give them the mental and physical exercise they need and enjoy them as your buddy too.

I agree completely!

ICE wrote: ↑Fri Feb 02, 2018 1:54 pm I wish people like you two would post more. In all reality, they can be just fun dogs too. I do many sports with ICE but he is also my pet. He can give 100% in bite work and then lay on the couch with his head in my lap. That's what it is all about, give them the mental and physical exercise they need and enjoy them as your buddy too.

I also agree, unfortunately in some circles (I haven't run into that here specifically) there are people who will attack others for having a 'pet' dutch... I don't advertise it here, but I'm the one who started the Non-Working DS group on FB basically because of that

this is probably the safest place you will find to talk about your dog. We do not care if they are a pet or work. I like to hear both. I used to do Ringsport with Thalie, but now they are both pets. I love to see stories of bite work, or play. I do not frequent the FB dutch boards for that reason, they are so mean and unforgiving.

Here, your dog can do anything, all we want are pictures.

I was reading an early post by the original owner of the site, and it's funny that he started the site as a "test" and just kind of let it run.

I am good with all discussion whether serious working or pet goofiness.

You know working dog people are secretly chuckling in the background at the derpy Dutch Shepherds, right?

Just don't try to make them admit it.

Personally, I am highly envious of those getting the full working potential out of their dogs.

And, I'm not afraid to admit it.

I am loving the feedback! I still can't get people to vote for anything, but dialogue is good.

Keep it coming...

Michael...how many people are active on this site in any given week? Compare that to national voter turn-out for elections. You may be asking too much from the get go.

TimL_168 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 03, 2018 6:26 pm Michael...how many people are active on this site in any given week? Compare that to national voter turn-out for elections. You may be asking too much from the get go.

Well, as someone who has been on this site for about 7 years, its very slow compared to what it used to be. Michael took it over (YEAH!!) There were breeders, a lot of people who did work their dogs, and many who didn't. We are working on keeping it a hoping place and having more people hang out here.

I was just saying that people in general seem to be disconnected from their environments. I've read that there was a lot of grumbling and changes around the time that I first joined(or shortly before?). I'm sure as long as we keep adding new content, things will come around again.

The numbers aren't off the chart. However, I don't understand how something as simple as clicking a box to vote for a photo is so low. In fact, it's usually between 9 and 15 members that vote from month to month.

For those that just scan the discussion and never post, it should be a no-brainer. It's a chance to give an opinion totally anonymously.

A review of activity shows that approximately 50-75 unique members visit the site per month. There's a ton of guest (non-member) activity as well. In total, we received over 168,500 visits last year.

I get that not everyone posts. I am thankful to those of you that do.

We'll NEVER compete with Facebook, but that's okay.

We have unique content, content that's not just discussion, content that can be easily searched, and content that can evolve with time. And, unlike Facebook, the content can be searched through Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.

Montecarlogirl87 is probably giving me the key. Most of the members who lurk and don't post probably feel disconnected. I just need to find a way to re-connect them (sounds easy right?)