Houses

[Snow_Crystal]

It would be really nice to be able to see what the activity is like on all the houses I think. That way you can decide which one you want to be a part of.

[Scellanis]

How do you propose to measure 'activity' though...other than what you can already see on the main page which includes number of members (through looking at the usergroup), number of threads and posts and also how often the new post indicator flashes for the house.... (requires scrolling down to look at the houses everytime you visit to see if they are orange)

[Un'Anima Persa]

yeah, how would you?

You couldnt look in the houses, as it defeats the purpose!

[Snow_Crystal]

I dunno - I was thinking a list for each house like a summary somewhere...

House Name
Number of Members and
Number of Posts in the last 4 weeks?

[Scellanis]

I suppose that could be possible but it would require Paul to invent a way to make the forum software calculate the number of posts in the last 4 weeks because it would be hell trying to count it manually...

[Un'Anima Persa]

I personally think that for now it should be as it is.

Maybe just explain to the new people how to get to the list of the members of each house?

and maybe explain what the orange blink-y thing is for (as not everyone reads the bottom of the forum)

[Scellanis]

I suppose if you tell everyone how active each house forum is you may actually condeme the most iactive houses completely because who will join a house that the forum says is not active....

Just because the house forum may be inactive doesn't mean the house is inactive, the members might be really active in the rest of the forum but your way of measuring activity would say the house was dead and so it would never get new members to bring the activity back to the house forum.

Plus, it may encourage spamming inside the house forums in an attempt to make houses look more active than they are.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

It may encourage spamming... but then guess what? Once it's made to look more active, the spamming would then invite the new memebrs.

The spamming would then abrubtly stop because the new members wouldn't tolerate it. That would be one solution.

Unfortunately, spamming is annoying, pointless and bad for a forum, and nobody should be doing it.

Besides, if the forum was that empty nobody would be there to spam anyway.

And of course, it wouldn't be worth it because they would more than likely be banned, and would never get to see the forum again, let alone take an active part in it again...

So yes, it may encourage spamming.
But anyone with brains or common sense would figure out that's not the way to go.

[Scellanis]

If my active Hufflepuff were to spam the Hufflepuff forum to make it look more active I wouldn't report them and get them banned so loose them...I'd probably join in....it doesn't take much to set me off...

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

And even if it was you could say it was a sacrifice for the greater good!
I think it's clear that Gryffindor is the most active house by a mile form where I'm standing, anyway.

Don't know why...

[Scellanis]

because all the good main characters in the books are in gryffindor/were in gryffindor....then slytherin gets people because they have snape, voldemort and draco and then ravenclaw gets everyone else because the book either ignores Hufflepuff or people in the book make nasty comments about getting sorted into it.

[Un'Anima Persa]

Really, I was debating on Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

I decided to go with Ravenclaw, solely because that is what all of the personality quizzes I'd taken had shown.

I regret making my decision that way now, because I see what a difference a few months can make to your personality (The tests now show that I am a Hufflepuff...)

I Suggest going to the house with the members you get along with (or have differing opinions with), as both ways make for interesting conversation and both ways will almost absolutely ensure a good time there.

I didn't go by what was in the books, as it didn't really matter here. What matters here is what type of conversations you like to have, and who you have those types of conversations with.

[Asphodel]

I don't think the conversation is really "different" between houses. I think it's just the kind of people you want to be around.

[Phoenix in the Ashes]

I, er... posted a reply to UAPs comment a few days ago... I can't remember exactly what it was...

The thing is, the house common-rooms are only there because it's fun to have them.
They could just as easily have been called:
Giraffe House
Dog House (ha ha)
Rat Room
Tiger House

So what influences peoples decisions in going into the house? The titles, partly.
If you named one house "Pink House" the number of males joining probably would drop, however fractionally.
The second influence is obviously, as you've pointed out, the people.

But: If everybody in the world jumped off a cliff, would you jump off the cliff with them, or die of lonliness in a year?

Personally I think we're over-dramatising it.

It's just a one in four choice. Just depends on your personality and whether you'll feel better about yourself if you pick a popular house or try to make an unpopular house better.

[Asphodel]

Yeah, the thing is some people think that they will find people of their personality in their house. But it really doesn't matter, it's just a title they want to give themselves.