As a facebook user, I must admit that is primarily how I interact with other LDWA members. For a start (and this is probably other facebook users way of thinking) I am on the site every day so it is much easier to just pop onto the LDWA page to see whats going on rather than head over to this page, try to remember my login details and then find that many posts havnt seen any activity for months, so I don't really bother anymore.

I've noticed the facebook page increasing in activity over the last few months, many new members joining, particularly runners I might add who are after a cheap, cake filled event as opposed to their commercial trail races costing in the regions of £30 upwards. Not sure this is how the LDWA wants to proceed, but that's a different subject.

Basically, I think whether you like it or not, facebook is always going to be more active because its easier and quicker to interact and certainly a lot busier. People also seem to make other LDWA friends on there and meet up with them at events.

Hi There , I'm new to all this but I would urge you not to go down the Facebook path. I enjoy the forum environment and am a bit surprised it seems to be a bit less utilised than others I have been on. a lot of people see the forum as a social place , just to say Hi , or discuss those flogged to death topics. Occasionally something new comes along. Sorry , just my tuppence worth

Ref the number of people who turn up on walks BBN have kept record attendance sheets of attendees with emergency contact phone numbers for some years. This was something introduced during my national committee time. It also gave non LDWA members temporary insurance cover. I wonder if any other groups could use this method of recording attendances?

Vermuyden Group have a stalwart few of us who attend the monthly meetings. The agenda is usually all over n done within half an hour.
The evening is usually an excuse for the 'older members' to catch up and have a pint.

Our group walks tend to fluctuate between 8 hardy souls to the heady heights of 26. I'd say nowadays (were an ageing group) it depends on the mileage!!! Now were not quite Ramblers....

Vermuyden (S.Yorks) group are my local group and i love em all to bits. The monthly meetings are a giggle and the group walks are a good social. I use the other LDWA challenge events as just that, a personal challenge.

Am i alone in using the LDWA like this??

On a more serious note, I would ask local groups how they think the health of their group is...ie how many attend socials, what's the trend; are walks better attended now or not. I think we should keep records of walks and those that turn up...

I enjoy the forum, and I have found it most useful. I have mentioned before, that I think it would be helpful if posters were able to edit their own posts, just to collect spulling mystiques.

Thank you Simon for the work you do. Much appreciated.

Peter

Folks,

Thanks for your input - it looks like people still like the Forum and so it's probably worth trying to make it more user friendly.

Simon.

Straying somewhat off the original topic, I would like to say that I welcome the forum and somewhat regret that a separate site was set up for the Valleys 100 forum - it's yet another site to have to remember to visit, when it would have been more convenient for the 100 to have had its own forum within the LDWA forum list. If the whole issue is being reconsidered, perhaps this could be thought about for future years.

Thank you, Simon - that was helpful.

Armorel,

We've had a presence on Facebook for some time. If you go to the LDWA homepage you'll see the 'Find us on Facebook' icon on the bottom right of the screen. If you click on this you’ll be redirected to LDWA Facebook group. Note that you have to join the LDWA Facebook group first to access the content. I'm sure something we put something in Strider at the time when this was set up in 2012, but I'm not 100% certain.

John,

Thanks for your feedback. It's that time of year where the Internet Sub Committee (ISC) meet to decide how we will spend next year's budget and I'm keen to know if we need to enhance the forum. A couple niggles have been pointed out to me over the years and I know people struggle to upload Photos, GPX files, Results etc. and this maybe an area we can look into if people are still using the forum in anger.

Please don't go down the Facebook route. I have resisted getting involved as I don't want everyone to know all my personal information. Besides, I am told you need friends so I may stumble at the first hurdle.

I for one never knew there was an LDWA Facebook page (how do we get to know about it - I don't think I've seen it mentioned in Strider?). In fact when I looked on Facebook just now all I found was a few paragraphs about the LDWA taken from Wikipedia - no sign of any discussion (although I see that some local groups also seem to have Facebook pages). Is it the local pages that are being talked about here, or is there something more general?

...Also I think a lot of people are using the LDWA Facebook page.

Which leads nicely onto the question: What future developements should the ISC make to the forum if any? Or should we just use Facebook?

Simon.

There are a multitude of reasons why few people post. Half probably don't know their password and don't know how to get it (contact membership secretary). Others don't want to express an opinion on anything without the comfort blanket of a pseudonym. Additionally, there are only so many topics that can be covered by a walking forum and the old favourites (cows, gear, blisters etc) have been flogged to death. I applaud your efforts to provoke discussion though!

Janet - my post referred to the few people who are "active" on the Forum, I've often used my column in Strider to try to get more interest in posting; sorry it was blunt and ambiguous perhaps. I have nothing but admiration for the stalwarts who keep our Events and Socials so successful.

John I never said the forum is worthless - I thinks its useful for exchanging views and information and it can be a bit of fun. However I thought your post gave a false and rather insulting impression that there is only a handfull of people who care about and contribute to their local groups and to the organisation at large - when we both know that members are organising local and challenge walks, planning and organising Hundreds, gathering information on long distance paths, - the list goes on and on.I think we should be proud of what LDWA members contribute.

Well, 26 is quite close to 30 isn't it? And why are you posting if it is so worthless?

This weekend there are 17 group walks and 1 challenge walk. At a conservative estimate about 30 members are involved in organising events for their Local Group and for the whole Association.Thats what I would call "active members" This sort of committment is repeated by members every week throughout the year. A rather more valuable contribution than posting on a forum.

Last post in Local Groups was in June and clearly no-one gives a stuff; we have 7500 members and perhaps 26 who are active..