Is ShiaChat Dead? What happened to everyone?

[Guest flowergirl]

I have noticed that not many topics get posted anymore and not much activity is going on.  Why is this? 

[Berber-Shia]

Bad design, better alternative sites, not so many young people.

[Guest Curious]

8 hours ago, Guest flowergirl said:

I have noticed that not many topics get posted anymore and not much activity is going on.  Why is this? 

All the good Sunni debators get banned…….it then gets boring…..history of sc.

[Abu Nur]

26 minutes ago, Guest Curious said:

All the good Sunni debators get banned…….it then gets boring…..history of sc.

Shiachat site quality does not depend on Sunni/Shia polemic debates. Rather it is the active users and intectual content that lack here. It is very sad situtation, because it would be very great if many intectuals (from shias and sunnis side of course too) can join and discuss about all different subjects of Islam such that many will benefit from it.

[Uni Student]

48 minutes ago, Berber-Shia said:

not so many young people.

how do we change this

[Berber-Shia]

36 minutes ago, Uni Student said:

how do we change this

In my opinion you can't. Most of them are used to big sites/platforms like Reddit and Discord where you can be part of multiple online communities with one account. Whereas forums like SC require you to always make an account for each site.

[Haji 2003]

52 minutes ago, Berber-Shia said:

Whereas forums like SC require you to always make an account for each site.

But you may not want your Reddit account that speaks about Shia/religion related issues to also be discussing other matters as well.

[Uni Student]

1 hour ago, Berber-Shia said:

In my opinion you can't. Most of them are used to big sites/platforms like Reddit and Discord where you can be part of multiple online communities with one account. Whereas forums like SC require you to always make an account for each site.

this is true but having a forum specifically for shias has been very useful for me personally in gaining a better understanding of certain topics relevant to my life. i think it may also be an issue of people being unaware that this forum exists 

[Haji 2003]

On 2/4/2022 at 12:56 PM, Abu Nur said:

Rather it is the active users and intectual content that lack here.

There are also various dichotomies that need to be addressed.

1. Intellectual debates are good in theory, but what gets more viewers and comments are the more click-baity material
2. Often when anyone searches google for a religious issue with a Shia angle, an old Shiachat thread will pop up. I don't have the traffic data, but perhaps some people visit, read a thread and move on
3. Due to Islamophobia some people will be wary of registering/using this site
4. It's less acute now that we have stricter controls, but previously anyone looking at the site may have thought that it was not one you would want your parents/children to see.

[Phoenix110]

Aye. Is the chat gone? Perhaps made it a bit more lively...

[Laayla]

^^^  the chat room is working.

Can anyone look at the statistics to see the past two years was there an increase of traffic and activity or less?

Just curious to know the numbers during the shutdown of covid.

M3 Salamah, FE AMIN ALLAH 

[islamicmusic]

The admins could check Google Analytics results to see what keywords the visitors search most and end up here and etc. So we can talk about those topics more.

Also which threads on SC are visited more. So we revive those threads. Thanks.

[Laayla]

Please share the results publicly.  

[Cool]

On 2/4/2022 at 4:20 AM, Guest flowergirl said:

I have noticed that not many topics get posted anymore and not much activity is going on.  Why is this? 

Salam!!

Probably because of the reason that most of the senior members are busy in their daily tasks, they are no longer interested in debates or discussions on the matters which they have discovered as truth. 

I don't know as to why new generation seeming to be less interested in joining this forum which is specially developed to increase their know how of religion. The rate at which new members are coming to this website is quite disappointing. 

Seniors need to guide their younger fellows to this website where they can involve in healthy discussions about everything and thereby learn specifically about the religion. 

[Laayla]

Bismehe Ta3ala 

Assalam Alikum 

I beleive the educational level has dropped significantly with the youth and they are consumed with applications that lower there attention span. There are many factors that also contribute to the decline of visits and posts on SC, but the aforementioned reasons came to mind first.

I don't know how to use the analytics, otherwise I would like to know what are the search options people come here for.

M3 Salamah, FE AMIN ALLAH 

[Lion of Shia]

It seemsShiaChat is slow these days, What happened toallthe users, i dont see many people on anymore. Where have the people went, i only see a few nowaday as compared to the many back in the day, have they all quit, what happened, what do you all think?

[Zane Ibrahim]

It does seem that way, doesn't it? There seem to be many people signed up to ShiaChat but not many active users. Here's a topic that you might find interesting:

 

May Allah bless you and give you Jannat al-Firdaus.

[Hameedeh]

Of course ShiaChat is not dead. For some people, it is hard to find time to participate at ShiaChat. Many are at work, at school or taking care of sick family members. We are still in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some are watching news channels. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is on their mind right now. 

If they are on TikTok, God help them break free from that addiction. 

[Sabrejet]

Shiachat has been banned in Pakistan for quite a while now, so the users from here can't access this website like they used to. It might be the case in some other countries as well.

Also, sometimes life happens, and people take breaks for some reason or another.

[123SlaveOfAllah]

Youth of this generation are more comfortable will fast platforms like Facebook/ Instagram. Even I had trouble understanding how to use SC. This may be a cause as well.

[Borntowitnesstruth]

It's not dead, but it has become slow. It might be that most of the users have cured their curiosity.

[notme]

7 hours ago, Borntowitnesstruth said:

It's not dead, but it has become slow. It might be that most of the users have cured their curiosity.

Sorry. I been super busy. I check in when I can. 

[Uni Student]

7 hours ago, Borntowitnesstruth said:

It's not dead, but it has become slow. It might be that most of the users have cured their curiosity.

yes most of the philosphical/religious/social discussions and issues that caught my interest have been talked about so i feel theres not much left, but i do try to answer questions or contribute now and then

[Borntowitnesstruth]

14 hours ago, Uni Student said:

yes most of the philosphical/religious/social discussions and issues that caught my interest have been talked about so i feel theres not much left, but i do try to answer questions or contribute now and then

It's a good platform for newbies. I don't think that it will lose its significance because when I post a religious query in Google whose answer I require, I often get link to shiachat.

It will keep spreading knowledge to the youth until its owner changes his/her mind to close this website.

[Nadeemsayyed110]

I have logged in after 1 or 2 years.

I would have logged in earlier most of the time when I am inactive I forget my credentials so to be able to access shia chat again I will have to figure out

My email id (by accesing the website on browser)

If I get it, Reset my password to new one

I feel very lethargic to do this so my inactive period increases although I go through post anonymously.

We are still on a website I would think that if we also have the option of shia chat app we will see that more people are active as it's the go to thing now a days.

Also the dev team should if possible send a reminder email with subject "we miss you" to users let's say who have not logged in from last 45 days with a missing message and especially resetting credentials link should be in the body also an interesting post from platform can be added with a  message that we miss your replies.

We see this kind of reminder emails from paltforms like Facebook, twitter etc.

Edited February 27, 2022 by Nadeemsayyed110

[Meedy]

5 hours ago, Nadeemsayyed110 said:

Also the dev team should if possible send a reminder email with subject "we miss you" to users let's say who have not logged in from last 45 days with a missing message and especially resetting credentials link should be in the body also an interesting post from platform can be added with a  message that we miss your replies.

We see this kind of reminder emails from paltforms like Facebook, twitter etc.

I completely agree with this. Sending such reminders may bring back some of the users or make them more active.

[Guest Test]

On 2/4/2022 at 7:20 PM, Berber-Shia said:

Bad design, better alternative sites, not so many young people.

Salam! With better 'alternative' sites, do you mean sites directly competing with Shiachat or generally? If competing, then what alternatives are there to Shiachat?

[Reza]

On 2/4/2022 at 2:47 PM, Berber-Shia said:

In my opinion you can't. Most of them are used to big sites/platforms like Reddit and Discord where you can be part of multiple online communities with one account. Whereas forums like SC require you to always make an account for each site.

Those sites may be more widely known and accessible, but Shias are still a niche community in those places. The “discussions” there in terms of Shia matters/perspectives aren’t necessarily of great quality.

What those sites do have is an extensive pool of content that non-Shias and non-Muslims provide, which can keep people engaged and distracted for longer periods of time. That endless feed is the draw in.

ShiaChat cannot and shouldn’t compete with these platforms on that level, but have its own identity and its own draw in. There is a certain experience here that cannot be replicated on the big platforms, and we all know this.

[islamicmusic]

Agreed. But just a suggestion, can we have some other subforums to attract people?

I have been browsing other muslim forums for a few days to see what they have and we don't.

And I see that, subforums like "Introduction to Islam" ,"Islam for nonmuslims" "Chat with a Muslim" and "Reverts Forum (How I Became Muslim)" have more views. Most of the threads there are copy pasted blog posts but they are the ones getting visitors to the forum (their online viewers are shown on subforums, so I can see that). I think it would be great if we had one subforum like this on shiachat.

It is not just only for nonmuslims or nonshias. Sure they can benefit from that. But we can also benefit from it. Because, most of the time, we don't appreciate the greatness of Islamic Beliefs. Rather we need to hear the stories of once outsiders to realize it.

Just a suggestion.

[Reza]

If the few big contributors take a break or leave, we are impacted more severely. ShiaChat does not have endless content creating minions to fill in the gaps. We’re a mom and pop store, not Walmart. 
 

Whenever our heavy hitters come back, you see things spike up. It’s a natural cycle.

For me personally, and for many years, whenever a big current event happens, ShiaChat is still one of the first places I go. There are people here I want to hear from before anyone else. And these occasions tend to be a high point in the cycle too. 
 

Also, this is such an exciting opportunity for anyone to become a big influential contributor. There’s an open lane for anyone. Where else can you get this much power and influence? Anywhere else you’re a drop in the bucket.