Forum usage, who's really on here?

[#1]

I just clocked the current pn forum user breakdown from the bottom of the forum
180 guests, 15 users and 2 hidden.
I wonder how many of these "guests " are genuine potential customers and how many are bots.
My question is if these are genuine potential customers how many are being put off pn due the rising number of complaints posted on the forums.
Have pn seen the envisaged uptake in new customers?
Or
Have a the posts about the massive degredation of service come back to bite.
Sadly I have noticed a reduction in forum support to.
Podam

[#2]

That's a very good question and it's now 200 guests, 15 users and 5 hidden. When you think about it, it must have some effect, but I suspect not to the benefit of Plusnet!

[#3]

I guess many people like myself don’t bother to login unless they are going to post and therefore appear as guests.

[#4]

Well I must admit for services of this kind after using this forum I always see if can find a forum connected to the service I'm think about and take a look.

[#5]

"support" forums are generally going to contain posts about people who have problems.
you don't often get someone posting to say everything is a-ok.
basing an opinion on what posts you see in a support forum is generally going to give a skewed inaccurate result.

[#6]

That's very true chenks76, but I'd say depending on the number, frequency and nature of these would give the reader an insight in to the problems that they might experience themselves if they are looking to become a customer and if the same approach is taken on other ISPs sites then it would be easier for some to make a decision as to whom they would choose as a supplier.

[#7]

unless you knew the total amount of customers, the total with no problems, the total with problems who posted and the total with problems who didn't post then you can't make any sort of accurate judgement at all.

[#8]

The trouble is potential customers can add up negative thread titles and reach the wrong conclusion.
Reading the detail of the thread often reveals a problem solved....but they don't go that far and are left with a bad impression.

[#9]

@chenks76 Nope, that it also very true but as I made no mention of accurate...
People in the real world don't really care about that. You go to a shopping website for example to buy item X and see the reviews for it, if they're in the negative chances are you'd buy another product. But if they are in the positive you're more likely to buy the product even though you don't know how many units were sold, nor the number of faults unrecorded, or any other number of variables. All you see is product X has got a general thumbs up, so that's good enough for me.
@Strat Good point.

[#10]

maybe it's good enough for you, but not for me 
i tend to read what the reviews actually say. negative reviews on amazon/ebay are not always about the product but the person not knowing what the product actually was before purchasing and complaining about it not doing what they thought it did.

[#11]

Again I have not made any mention about my own approach to this, I never said anything about this being my approach so 
But as regards amazon eBay et al, not everyone has the time, or inclination to read all or any reviews, I would suspect the majority would go on the start rating alone.
As regards the negative reviews I'm not to sure I agree with you there. If someone is that stupid to buy product A thinking it's product B then they should have their Credit / Debit cards taken away from them and the backs of their legs slapped repeatedly!

[#12]

you said....

Quote from: Mook

so that's good enough for me.

was that the royal "me"?
but if the "public" base a product on the start rating or thumbs up rating without actually reading what it says then more fool them.
what if it has 100% thumbs up, but they are all fake?

[#13]

Yes, but in the context of the user who is currently on the website at the time.

[#14]

Your both right. For instance for amusement is sometimes like to check reviews on TripAdvisor or similar for places (hotels or resteraunts or airlines) I am familiar with. They largly reflect the characteristics of the reviewer as said.
With websites like this forum I look for the "feel" making my own estimation of the author, member of staff or regular helpful poster.
I am sad that the "feel" of the Plusnet forums is not as good as it used to be. PN seem to have a policy of distancing themselves from the active customer to be more mass market than niche operator. Gone are the days when PN senior managers were active here  

[#15]

Quote from: Razorback

I guess many people like myself don’t bother to login unless they are going to post and therefore appear as guests.

That could help to explain it, I was surprised by just how few registered users were showing as being online (and, more worryingly) just how few staff appear to be online - recently I've seen several occasions when no staff are showing as online during normal business hours.