Forum

I recently (in fact I'm still doing it) an exercise of writing, personally, to the LJN members who I haven't seen on the forum for a while.

It's taken quite some time but I've learnt a great deal and received som excellent feedback.

Many members told me that they read our Saturday newsletter every week and consider it to be a very strong feature of LJN.

Many members told me that they read the forum regularly but don't always log in.

Some members told me that they are just too busy with work and family life and don't have the time of energy to spend time on their computer in the evenings.

Curiously I go a couple of comments along the lines that some of the opinions expressed from time to time are so inaccurate or misleading that they don't want to get involved in the thread.

Personally I don't see same problem with topics and I can quickly make my own mind up whether there's a strong consensus of positive opinion or whether a lone or a couple of dissenting voices are off-track.

But here's the rub: getting involved is exactly what anyone should does if they feel a topic is sending out the wrong message. The more involved members get the more accurate and stronger the information gets.

Have a read of this post: The Minority Opinion Becomes Fact When You Don't Participate - http://www.feverbee.com/2013/12/the-minority-opinion-becomes-fact-when-you-dont-participate.html

The author is specifically talking about how companies deal with negative comment on social media but I do feel, nonetheless, that the message he's trying to put across is a valid one at all levels.

The post explains a little more about what I've said above and this bit, especially, resonates 'When you don't participate in popular communities in your field, people accept the information from others as fact. Or to put it more bluntly, if you don't tell your story, someone else will."