Improving the value of the forum to active BBT members

[viktor 2]

Hi all

I'd like to make some open suggestions to increase the value of these forums for BBT members. Primarily, the message is inteded for Andrew, BBT mods and all BBT staff in general, but I would also be interested to hear other members' thoughts on this (which would also lend weight to the suggestions). 

These forums have been bugging me. They could be (and I thought they would be) a large part of the value of being a BBT member. The main chatroom is ok for quick on-topic questions but not for longer questions that need context, or to open a discussion, and honestly, unless the question is very on topic it'll probably be missed/ignored. The mentorship webinar chatroom is more likely to get a response even on random questions, but again only short questions, and they are only a couple of times a week at times that often don't suit, and the questions usually don't need an immediate response anyway. 

The forum is the perfect tool for this, but, how to put this delicately, it's half-dead. Many (most?) question go unanswered and there's not much activity here. These two factors causes a vicious circle, which reinforce each other. Honestly, if I have a question which isn't suitable for the chat room (too long, off-topic to whatever's currently being talked about) I don't feel there's any good way to get an answer. Direct email to BBT mods may work (haven't tried, and usually it's better for these to go on the forum anyway, for other members to benefit). Posting a question to the forum usually doesn't seem get a result (I've only tried once or twice, but it's clear from other users that new posts usually don't get responses). Any other channels I missed?

This is a shame, Elite BBT membership isn't what I would call cheap and it would be nice if BBT staff tended to the forum. So here are my humble suggestions to incease the value of these forums for all BBT members. Hopefully someone sufficiently influential will read them.

1) Close them to the public. They should really only benefit BBT members but not random people not willing to become a member. Only members can post anyway. And the members-only channel is the biggest by posts anyway. I would suggest that becoming a member at least once get you lifetime read access, but to have write access you need to be a current member.
2) Have BBT staff maintain, respond to the topics or make sure the relevant BBT mod responds if it's a question for them. There isn't that much actvity here so I don't think anyone would be overwhelmed by this. In this way they could be the main channel for getting answers to questions not suitable for the chatroom. 
3) Simplify the structure. Personally I think there are too many channels/sub-channels and it's easy to get lost, not know which you should post in. Also too many channels to monitor for people actually interest in the conversations.
4) Maybe we could leave ONE channel open to the general public for reading (if someone really wants the world to see their question even though the world can't respond). It may also be useful for SEO, BBT PR, a marketing channel for BBT to encourage people to join. 

Point 2 is for me the most important, since it's the main one that could turn this almost ghosttown into a active place. And it's the one that would change the mindset I (and maybe others) have: I have a question but there's no point asking in the forums since it's unlikely to get a response and it's not suitable for the chat room so I guess I'll just have to figure it out myself... (for which of course BBT membership is not necessary 😉 )

The forums seemed to be more active in the past (Kyle and his hotkeys also got a lot of discussion), but alas no longer. 

Anyway other suggestions welcome (or disagreement), I am genuinely interested if I'm in a minority who is bugged by this.

Thanks
V.
 

[peterB 327]

as you know 90% of traders fail so 90% here do not care at the end.

new people asking the same questions not searching the previous posts does not help it either

but you are right it lacks moderation and also activity from other members. people get used to communicate through different channels on social and do not see the value in some archived and searchable content as everybody spits at you his own problem and expects an answer now.

i offered to be a mod of this place years ago as i used to be the top content poster for years anyway but here we are in 2024 and things are same or worse as they used to be in 2018.

most of the stuff posted here is obsolete anyway as the video links have changed and the dastrader stuff went obsolete a year ago after they did new functionalities

[viktor 2]

Hi Peter

I did notice that you are one of the top content contributors (maybe the top one), and I assume you're neither a mod nor staff. But you hit on a point that most content is obsolete and useless - so my proposal is to "archive" it, and create a new "simplied" structure, and thereby make this a legitimate channel for (paying) members to interact with their community. 

Yes, I know forums are often "rubbish tips", but most forums are free and full of trolls. BBT membership is not free, we pay (sometimes a lot) to be here, and I think a service from BBT to its members could (should) be to moderate the content, answer questions, etc. If people spit their problems at you or don't bother to search, fine, but BBT should be able to employ half an employee to interact with these people, keep content fresh, point people to answers in the previous post, keep people in check if they get nasty, etc.

My point is, the forum in its current state is not useful, but it could be, since it is the only "community-native" channel for more than one sentence discussion. If the forum is to remain a rubbish tip, then just close it, and also advise what channel the members could use to get support that doesn't fit into 160 characters. I don't know what other social channels to use - comment section in YT is no better, Twitter (X, whatever) the same...

Thanks

[TraderChrisNWA 0]

11 hours ago, peterB said:

as you know 90% of traders fail so 90% here do not care at the end.

new people asking the same questions not searching the previous posts does not help it either

but you are right it lacks moderation and also activity from other members. people get used to communicate through different channels on social and do not see the value in some archived and searchable content as everybody spits at you his own problem and expects an answer now.

i offered to be a mod of this place years ago as i used to be the top content poster for years anyway but here we are in 2024 and things are same or worse as they used to be in 2018.

most of the stuff posted here is obsolete anyway as the video links have changed and the dastrader stuff went obsolete a year ago after they did new functionalities

Peter, how do we find the new DAStrader stuff?  Is there any new content available?  I'm a new trader (full time) and have been scouring both the forums and the main site (education center and downloads) trying to find info.  I'm not seeing much.  There's a TON of value of being part of the community, even outside of the forums, but how does a new trader get help going?  As someone who takes this a lot more seriously than the majority of new traders, was hoping to see more engagement and fresh materials, which would better justify the cost of membership.  

[viktor 2]

PeterB is not a mod or staff, just a normal trader like you and me. He just happens to be the most active person here.

Regarding your question about "new DAS TRader stuff", what do you mean? There's not much going on here in the forums as you can see (which iwas my gripe above given the cost).

Most content of value is on the main BBT side. For example there's a lot of content in the Education center, including somes stuff about setting up DAS Trader, and the Download, but you already mentioned these. You need to put the time and effort in,  play around with setting in DAS, and need to work a lot of things out yourself over time by e.g. watching the mods trade live and see how they use DAS and if they do something in DAS that piques your interest, ask in the chat (sometimes you need to ask multiple times since questions often get missed in the chat flow).  Whether it's worth the cost, you have to judge that for yourself, personally I'd say yes for at least one year (and longer if the chatroom suits you, since that's the center of the community really), specifically if you got a discount membership (which are offered quite frequently). On the other hand, if this forum was actively moderated and tended to by BBT staff, I'd say a resounding yes!

Other than that there's these resources:

• https://www.dastrader.com/documents/DasManual.pdf
• https://dastrader.com/documents/HotkeyCommandList.pdf
• https://dastrader.com/kb-category/platform-questions/
• https://traderpeter.substack.com/s/dastrader-hotkeys
• https://forums.bearbulltraders.com/topic/716-das-dynamically-calculate-shares-on-risk-or-risk-hot-key-configuration-updated-91019-v21/

That's what I've used so far and become reasonable competent (at the technology). 

 

Edited June 20, 2024 by viktor

[viktor 2]

Welp, it seems the forums have spoken.... and the word is "        ".  Shame. But at least I know now, the forum is practically dead.

[Matt 8]

Interesting reflection. Even though the forum is dying, it remains a source of information for me. It's here that I discovered Kyle's hotkeys, for example. But as mentioned, I prefer the chatroom or even Discord for getting answers. It's a shame because other people might have the same questions as me.

[Brendon 146]

My two cents, recently I have found the forum quite useful for meeting local traders (Seattle area) and to organize meetups. 

[viktor 2]

Hi Matt, Brandon, thanks for your reflections.

Matt, yes, the Kyles hotkeys post is useful for many people (including myself). But it's something like 5 years old now - could (should) be converted into a static resource on the main site. 

Brendon, yes, I noticed your recent conversation in the Seattle BBT area. But it's in a minority of converesations that get any useful response. 

Even this thread is in that minority now, I supposed 😉

Nevertheless I stand by my point, that for the the cost of member, BBT staff should actively manage the forum, respond to people, ask BBT mods to respond when a topic is suitable or meant for them. I think participation would then snowball when other members see the forum is alive and well. 

[viktor 2]

7 hours ago, Matt said:

Interesting reflection. Even though the forum is dying, it remains a source of information for me. It's here that I discovered Kyle's hotkeys, for example. But as mentioned, I prefer the chatroom or even Discord for getting answers. It's a shame because other people might have the same questions as me.

Matt: Discord? There's a discord for getting answer from BBT? Got a link?

[Matt 8]

https://discord.com/channels/710117888392036392/805816070068895774

 

You will see that the Discord channel is not active as the Chatroom. Nice reversal call room however. But carefull some of the call are bad! ;)

[wis3135 4]

I’ve been wondering about a Discord server too since it didn’t seem like the forum was all that active (link above didn’t work for me) but was told it’s not very active either. I get that most of the activity is in the chat and webinar rooms, and when I looked back at the membership tiers, the forum isn’t even advertised as a resource.

So I guess I shouldn’t be disappointed that the forum isn’t as active as I hoped it would be. But I’m wondering if it makes sense to archive the new member thread so new members don’t gravitate toward it? Or maybe pin a post guiding folks to use the chat room to introduce themselves?

[elel 1]

As a brand new member, I was also disappointed to see how dead the forums are. I wasn't even aware there is a Discord.

 

[Matt 8]

In French, we have an expression: the forum is like "a Spanish inn." This means that we find there what we bring to it. It is up to us as BBT members to make it more lively.

[xoxoCindy 1]

+1 I was also surprised to see that the forums are pretty dead.  Yes, we need to be proactive as members, but as a community organizer myself I do agree that someone from BBT should be owning moderation and keeping the forums alive with posting events, news, sparking engagement, making sure that questions are responded to in a timely manner, etc.  

Can someone from BBT chime in here if the forums can be supported by someone from BBT?  The whole thing about membership is to not trade alone.  If I miss the chat room, it looks like those aren't archived, so I look to the forums for support as well.