jtrain609
Antisocial Monster
I hadn't been around for so many years, so I feel a bit weird making suggestions for how to go forward with your website. It's like walking into your house and suggesting a bathroom model after I haven't seen you for 10 years. But, if you asked what kind of tile you thought would look good, I'd tell you... I mean you did ask...
I am teaching at a college program, and my boss works in career development. So I'm seeing the newbies to this industry, their enthusiasm, and how they get information. There is a thirst for it. I just don't think they have the desire to weed through a lot of "stuff" to find what they need.
If I was running the website (and I'm not lol), I'd keep the forums going for now. However, I'd cut them down a lot, and definitely get rid of the lavatory. Too many people might stop by and read a few things completely unrelated to aviation that they don't agree with and get turned off forever. That's unfortunate. I'm sure after a week everyone who likes to argue in the lavatory will have found a new Reddit or Facebook group to pontificate about politics.
Next step: Make a Discord. Link it from the forums.
You can build announcements (things like job fairs, recruiting events, etc.), resources (links to manuals, books, good websites, etc.), chat pages (maybe even make an "off topic chat" so people can argue, but those will stay contained and people can easily avoid clicking on it). Even more great would be voice channels. Hold "chat nights" with a couple airline pilots to chat and answer questions from newbies. How cool would it be for some private pilots to get on Discord on a Saturday night and talk to three or four actual airline pilots? Most of my students have never actually talked to one. Sure, there might be some goofballs that come by and ask ridiculous questions, but maybe they are in need of some mentorship.
Discord actually has forums, but I like the format here better. What I do like about their forums is you can sort by topics. So you could put "airlines" or "corporate aviation" and "military" and it'll filter threads on only those topics. For you Derg, I think it might be a refreshing project to tackle something new to build from the old. Make a QR code for the Discord that we can save to our phone, so I can tell a student "here, scan this and join in, these people can answer some of your questions." Maybe some people here might enjoy doing some help for a few students who have questions about cross-country flight planning and the E6B? Like a virtual office hours?
Maybe it'll flop. But I'll say my students talk a LOT on Discord in the Aviation Club, and do a lot of sharing on their class groups on Signal. They're looking for something like JC, message forums are just sooooo 2003.
Just an idea.
@derg I think Matt is right about this, open a discord server. It's all the rage with the kids these days and if you want to meet people where they are, this is an excellent idea.