Surveying currently active GCers...

[John]

I am in the midst of a fairly big project revitalizing GreekChat. Been working on that goal throughout the majority of 2024.

As I mentioned back in March, there were many things to do, much of which I completed. Most of that is behind the scenes and not really noticeable on the visual side of the site. Those projects have included dealing with various issues impacting the site as well as extensively modifying GC's hosting environment, server equipment, server software & all that entails, web hosting setup, email server software, DNS stuff for email, cleaning up IP addresses, security aspects, programming, testing & verifying everything, etc, etc. And lots of learning along the way.

But there is still so much more to do.

Part of this GC revitalization project also involves revitalizing activity on the site, which is the main point of my posting this survey today.

Question 1:

Maybe more for those of you who were here on GC back in the day when the site was much more active: What issues do you feel contributed to the general decline in activity on GC?

Question 2:

And for all currently active GCers, what do you think is needed in order to revitalize / significantly boost activity on GreekChat?

I have plenty of my own thoughts & ideas regarding all this. I'm genuinely interested in learning what your thoughts are.

Please do share your thoughts on these issues as they may impact the future direction of GC.

Thank you.

[Cookiez17]

I have not been around enough to be a long time GCer, but for question 2, it just needs to be said that this place is a good place to learn about overall greek like and learn about the system as a whole. There isn't a better source on the web in terms of stories/info since many other Greek life oriented sites are mainly gossip and rankings. I even linked this site to a sorority chat I joined for a place for reliable info, and many of the members lurk here.

[cheerfulgreek]

It seems to me that there were some early GCers that had a pretty big following, who no longer post. Some of them were banned, while others left for other reasons. And then, when that happened, it seems like it began to slow down. I left like in 2016 because I had a lot going on, but when I came back a few years later, it wasn’t the same. But about a year before I left, I noticed a decline when the more liked GCers were no longer posting. I could be wrong, but that’s just my observation.

Also, when I joined this site purely by accident, there were a lot more random, current events, and fun topics that were being discussed, and those more liked GCers were either posting on those threads or starting them. Again, I could be wrong, but that’s just my observation.

[TLLK]

Originally Posted by Cookiez17

I have not been around around enough to be a long time GCer, but for question 2, it just needs to be said that this place is a good place to learn about overall greek like and learn about the system as a whole. There isn't a better source on the web in terms of stories/info since many other Greek life oriented sites are mainly gossip and rankings. I even linked this site to a sorority chat I joined for a place for reliable info, and many of the members lurk here.

I'll second Cookiez17's view that this site is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to know about the truth about Greek Life.

[Phrozen Sands]

I second that emotion, CG. I came late to the board, but still around a time when greekchat was still poppin, especially with D9 members. It was a lot more topics to post about on here than just Greek life, which is what I think kept folks around. As was posted recently on the 25 years of GC thread, folks on here, including me have our favorite GC members to chat with. When those favorites leave for whatever reason, their “friends” generally eventually leave, too. There’s still a few people on here I like and enjoy conversation with, but if they leave, more likely than not, I won’t have a reason to hang around, especially without D9 members posting. D9 members pretty much made up this site, to a degree IMO. There’s only a couple of us now. Every now and then, three. We kept this site poppin, no doubt.

It’s going to be hard to get it back to the way it was when I joined because of so many other social media platforms.

[navane]

Kids these days are on TikTok. They prefer to receive information in an entertaining format in 60 seconds or less. In very broad terms, many original GCers left because they've moved on on their lives (they got older) and the younger generation has not arrived to backfill in what is seen as an ancient social media format.

[honeychile]

I think many of the earIy Greek Chatters moved on to Facebook, after fIirting with the Iate MySpace There are GC oriented pages, and the comment of "Is GC stiII up & running?" is often heard I foIIow four of those pages, and have to beIieve that there are more

Yes, my keyboard isn't working properIy - hoping to get a new Iaptop soon!

[FSUZeta]

We had quite a bit of traffic back in the day and were the go to site for NPC rush information. We had many rushees and moms who also shared rush experiences. At some point a group of GC’ers began to bully posters and a lot of posters seeking rush info or wanting to share their rush experiences stopped posting. These bullies then turned on fellow GC’ers and picked on them, causing some of them to leave. About the same time another Greek site was launched. I can’t help but wonder if it was not created in part because we would not allow trash talking chapters or listing chapters in particular order of popularity, something that site is noted for. That site gets lots of traffic, but hateful comments are the norm there. In addition to that site, I agree that we compete with YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and FB groups.

[*winter*]

I don’t think it’s anything someone did, or didn’t do. It just seems that forums (unfortunately) are becoming outdated. The main people who came every year and started topics were people joining in college- and those people use different types of platforms now.

This probably isn’t very helpful, since idk what could really be done to make the forum more active. Sorry

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by navane

Kids these days are on TikTok. They prefer to receive information in an entertaining format in 60 seconds or less. In very broad terms, many original GCers left because they've moved on on their lives (they got older) and the younger generation has not arrived to backfill in what is seen as an ancient social media format.

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

We had quite a bit of traffic back in the day and were the go to site for NPC rush information. We had many rushees and moms who also shared rush experiences. At some point a group of GC’ers began to bully posters and a lot of posters seeking rush info or wanting to share their rush experiences stopped posting. These bullies then turned on fellow GC’ers and picked on them, causing some of them to leave. About the same time another Greek site was launched. I can’t help but wonder if it was not created in part because we would not allow trash talking chapters or listing chapters in particular order of popularity, something that site is noted for. That site gets lots of traffic, but hateful comments are the norm there. In addition to that site, I agree that we compete with YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and FB groups.

I am in agreement with these reasons for GC losing traffic.

It reads to me, from GC user names and/or stated fraternal affiliations, some greek groups that used to have many posting GC members simply no longer have members posting here (or it's down to a very limited number). I can't say with any certainty whether or not their particular greek groups began discouraging members from posting on public internet blogs/pages.

*winter*, I beg to differ with you. There were truly past GC posters who bullied other members/posters, definitely causing hard feelings among, and some permanent exits by, decent GC folks.

[carnation]

FSUZeta is right. Bullying, which extended into real life, drove many posters away.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by carnation

FSUZeta is right. Bullying, which extended into real life, drove many posters away.

AbsoIuteIy!

[Phrozen Sands]

I don’t understand how somebody can get bullied on a message board.

[Titchou]

One, who shall remain nameless, used a screen name that was a variation on a TV show at the time. It was easy to guess what state she was from...and it happened to be mine. She said enough things that some people sort of got into it with her. I was one. she and I attended the same college but at different times. she figured who I am and made comments about what the people where I worked would think of what I was posting if she sent copies of it to them. We then went on a mission and found out who she was. After I made a comment that her family looked lovely at her daughter's wedding in a picture on her FB page, she pretty much went away.

[Low D Flat]

One way of bullying: People can respond to everything you post with hostile lies about you, so you can't participate in any conversation without the thread turning into a pile-on.

I left for years.