Hi all, I know it's summer and we're all off in twenty different directions some of us have kids home for the summer, some of us are kids home for the summer, some of us are hosting multitudes of kids for the summer, some of us are moving, some of us are just getting older 
etc..
But I've noticed that the board activity except for the monthly feature has slowed down.
So I'm putting it out there to you, what would you like to see, what would make you drag your very tired but to the computer at the end of your very long day to stop by.
I'm all ears
Deb, I think you're fighting an uphill battle here, unfortunately. Vacations, kids home, all those things keep people more occupied than (gasp!!) this board!! That's the long and short of it, I'm afraid. Never fear, I'm sure that there are a few of us who will be joining you throughout the summer, although I'll confess I don't normally check in with anything but the fiction book club. I don't know what you can do to perk up participation - monthly coupons? free coffee?? ;-)
shadowcat80 wrote:
I am so busy right now. I am working full time over the summer for more money before Dall semester. I am still trying to review graphic novels at the time and I'm reading a deeper darkness but the quote button doesn't work well on a nook or smart phone which why I haven't answer the questions you posted. I am loving it though I just got to part two of the book.
Stephanie, thanks for your reply and for your participation on the board, really as much as you can is great.
I do hope you get to take some time for yourself this summer and play a little
thank you so much for all you contribute to the forum
Deb, the Fiction General monthly Book Club sessions you moderate (so beautifully!) are the only active fiction book club sessions I see anymore. I am not an active Facebook fan and I use GoodReads only to track books. I found B&N Fiction General through a link from ClubNOOK where I first began online bookclubbing. (ClubNOOK's last active--and active is a gross overstatement-- discussion of a fiction book was Oct. 2011! ) ClubNOOK and a new NOOK forum are also asking people for suggestions about attracting more members to book clubs, so online participation for everybody seems to be slowing down.
Fun Thread(?): Summer Travels in Fiction--a place to post a picture or two of the location you are currently visiting in fiction. (For instance, I would post a pix of the taj mahal because I just arrived in India with one of the characters from Marriage Plot. (I might also post a pix of the US Capitol or the Washington Monument for A Deeper Darkness.) This could be Summer Fiction Travel Postcards--Pix of the taj mahal and this text: "Hi, I'm Mitchell from The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. I just arrived in India where I'll be spending my summer trying to forget Mandy, the girl I always thought I would marry. Larry, my college roommate, is supposed to be joining me in India in a few days. I just left him in Greece with his boyfriend! Boy was that a shock; I never knew he was gay!" Or the text could be simplified and formulaic: "Wish you were here!" Mitchell from The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides (I love the pix you post with our monthly readings.)
I would also be interested in a couple of new "book club" threads under Fiction General which I will outline below. I hesitate to mention these because I don't even know if I, myself, would have time to participate each month; and I fear that with current active members already spread so thin, new "club" threads might split the current club membership. But here goes .. .
1. Fiction Bargain NOOK & Book Club--Each monthly title would be selected from the previous month's NOOK Daily Finds or other bargain (under $5) NOOKbook selections. Since the NOOK Daily Find bargain price is only good for one day, members who wanted to participate would need to check-in each day to an on-going thread to see if the Daily Find were a recommendation for the next month's read. Since the Daily Find is always a nonagency title, NOOK owners who miss it could use a coupon to buy a Canadian K version and DTB readers could purchase a used paperback version. Of course, check-out from the library would be an option for everyone. (Pro points: Bargain price seemed to be the top consideration for book selection at ClubNOOK for a while, so there might be interest(?). Recently I have seen at least two good fiction Daily Finds a month. If it caught on, this would have members checking in each day until a book were chosen.)
2. "And the winner WAS . . . " Book Club-- There are so many award-winning fiction books each year. Each month the club would choose (member vote from a list of fiction award winners?) an award winning book from a given year, say 2000.
3. First Look Book Club--Please bring this back!
Just thoughts, Deb. Probably not even worth 2 cents. 
whiteginger wrote:
Deb, the Fiction General monthly Book Club sessions you moderate (so beautifully!) are the only active fiction book club sessions I see anymore. I am not an active Facebook fan and I use GoodReads only to track books. I found B&N Fiction General through a link from ClubNOOK where I first began online bookclubbing. (ClubNOOK's last active--and active is a gross overstatement-- discussion of a fiction book was Oct. 2011! ) ClubNOOK and a new NOOK forum are also asking people for suggestions about attracting more members to book clubs, so online participation for everybody seems to be slowing down.
Fun Thread(?): Summer Travels in Fiction--a place to post a picture or two of the location you are currently visiting in fiction. (For instance, I would post a pix of the taj mahal because I just arrived in India with one of the characters from Marriage Plot. (I might also post a pix of the US Capitol or the Washington Monument for A Deeper Darkness.) This could be Summer Fiction Travel Postcards--Pix of the taj mahal and this text: "Hi, I'm Mitchell from The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. I just arrived in India where I'll be spending my summer trying to forget Mandy, the girl I always thought I would marry. Larry, my college roommate, is supposed to be joining me in India in a few days. I just left him in Greece with his boyfriend! Boy was that a shock; I never knew he was gay!" Or the text could be simplified and formulaic: "Wish you were here!" Mitchell from The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides (I love the pix you post with our monthly readings.)
I would also be interested in a couple of new "book club" threads under Fiction General which I will outline below. I hesitate to mention these because I don't even know if I, myself, would have time to participate each month; and I fear that with current active members already spread so thin, new "club" threads might split the current club membership. But here goes .. .
1. Fiction Bargain NOOK & Book Club--Each monthly title would be selected from the previous month's NOOK Daily Finds or other bargain (under $5) NOOKbook selections. Since the NOOK Daily Find bargain price is only good for one day, members who wanted to participate would need to check-in each day to an on-going thread to see if the Daily Find were a recommendation for the next month's read. Since the Daily Find is always a nonagency title, NOOK owners who miss it could use a coupon to buy a Canadian K version and DTB readers could purchase a used paperback version. Of course, check-out from the library would be an option for everyone. (Pro points: Bargain price seemed to be the top consideration for book selection at ClubNOOK for a while, so there might be interest(?). Recently I have seen at least two good fiction Daily Finds a month. If it caught on, this would have members checking in each day until a book were chosen.)
2. "And the winner WAS . . . " Book Club-- There are so many award-winning fiction books each year. Each month the club would choose (member vote from a list of fiction award winners?) an award winning book from a given year, say 2000.
3. First Look Book Club--Please bring this back!
Just thoughts, Deb. Probably not even worth 2 cents.
ginger, these are GREAT ideas.
I will check w/my boss at B&N about the Nook club because I don't want to infringe on another forum on the board. Last year the General Fiction club did host a Pubit author, but only because I wanted to spotlight Pubit, so even though it was only available e-wise I still don't think it stepped on any toes.
But "The Winner Was" suggestion is great
Thank You so much
Cool, keep the thoughts coming
barry2B wrote:
Hi Deb,
I also try and stop in here everyday although I don't post unless I have something to say! I have noticed activity is down across the boards ( I stop at the Community Room, Nook 1st Edition, NookBooks, Fiction General Discussion and Mystery. I am loading up my TBR pile for vacations in August and October! Did I mention that I LOVE my Nook!
I think it is tough to keep things active here when you can finally go outside and do things there as well. Speaking of which, I'd better get to my mowing!
And I'm very greatful that you do stop by Barry, and I do realize that summer is our slow season as well so
thanks
now go mow
also if you're a dad have a great dad's day too!!
Ryan_G wrote:Sorry if anyone takes what I said the wrong way, I wasn't meaning to step on anybody's toes. I think what I was trying to say, is that in general the participation across the boards seems to be down. Now it seems like a few boards have a loyal following, but others just languish. In the past, and the past is always better in memory, people seemed to spill over more and the boards seemed to be more active, even during summer. Useres were starting their own threads more often that what seems to happen now. I'm not sure if there is anything to be done about it though.
When I first started on here a few years ago, boards like Classis, Literature by Women. Current Events, and a few boards that don't even exist anymore (which I think is a shame too) were always hoping. It just seems that.... actually I'm not sure what I'm trying to say. Can we just pretend I never opened my mouth :-)
elaine_hf wrote:
Ryan_G wrote:I just wanted to say and that I have absolutely no ideas :-) I guess I was away for too long and not that I'm back, I have noticed a huge difference in the people who are here and how the conversations flow. I think we someone need to get people like Choisya, Everyman (can't believe I'm saying that), RTA, Deb, Kathy, and others who used to be everywhere. Not sure how to do that though. One of my resolutions was to make sure I came by here more often, so you can count on me stopping in most days.
Hi Ryan,
Wonder if you could be a little more explicit about the differences between the participants now and those in the past, as well as the conversation flow issue. Some of us are, I suppose, relative newcomers, although we've been reading with Deb for some time now, and I'm not certain I understand the issue. But if there's something that's a problem, I'm sure we'd like to fix it.
Thanks, Elaine
Ryan, I understand where you're coming from. Back in the day I could spend hours jumping from board to board to board just trying to keep up with all the new threads and posts. Most days I couldn't even keep up and just chose what was most important or what I had time for. It seemed there was never a dull moment and all the key players you mentioned were a big part of it. I'm not sure exactly what the difference is between now and then or how to get it back to how it used to be. Maybe people are just busier now than they were back then. I know I am!
I think the bust part may have a lot to do with it. I know I got really busy about a year into having my own blog and I was having to choose where to spend my time. Then after the update they did a while ago, I had so many issues loggin on, I quit even trying. I missed it here though, which is why I'm making more of an effort to come by.
aprilh wrote:
Ryan_G wrote:Sorry if anyone takes what I said the wrong way, I wasn't meaning to step on anybody's toes. I think what I was trying to say, is that in general the participation across the boards seems to be down. Now it seems like a few boards have a loyal following, but others just languish. In the past, and the past is always better in memory, people seemed to spill over more and the boards seemed to be more active, even during summer. Useres were starting their own threads more often that what seems to happen now. I'm not sure if there is anything to be done about it though.
When I first started on here a few years ago, boards like Classis, Literature by Women. Current Events, and a few boards that don't even exist anymore (which I think is a shame too) were always hoping. It just seems that.... actually I'm not sure what I'm trying to say. Can we just pretend I never opened my mouth :-)
elaine_hf wrote:
Ryan_G wrote:I just wanted to say and that I have absolutely no ideas :-) I guess I was away for too long and not that I'm back, I have noticed a huge difference in the people who are here and how the conversations flow. I think we someone need to get people like Choisya, Everyman (can't believe I'm saying that), RTA, Deb, Kathy, and others who used to be everywhere. Not sure how to do that though. One of my resolutions was to make sure I came by here more often, so you can count on me stopping in most days.
Hi Ryan,
Wonder if you could be a little more explicit about the differences between the participants now and those in the past, as well as the conversation flow issue. Some of us are, I suppose, relative newcomers, although we've been reading with Deb for some time now, and I'm not certain I understand the issue. But if there's something that's a problem, I'm sure we'd like to fix it.
Thanks, Elaine
Ryan, I understand where you're coming from. Back in the day I could spend hours jumping from board to board to board just trying to keep up with all the new threads and posts. Most days I couldn't even keep up and just chose what was most important or what I had time for. It seemed there was never a dull moment and all the key players you mentioned were a big part of it. I'm not sure exactly what the difference is between now and then or how to get it back to how it used to be. Maybe people are just busier now than they were back then. I know I am!
