i just launched a site and over a hundred people joined right away and the test users including aliases are very busy, but it appears that all of the new users are still in wait and see, sort of browsing extensively, but not posting yet. does anybody have any experiences with how long or what type of transitions to expect as users go from viewing to participating? in my own experiences, i usually peruse the site extensively before interacting, especially if there's a lot to read already...kind of like catching up.

If you just started the best thing is to open up a few diferent browsers (IE, Netscape, Opera, etc.) and create different accounts and start chatting between those fiction charactors. I suggest different browsers because they store cookies at diferent places. This only needs to be done at the the first days or weeks -depends on how many visits you get, people like to see the place is active. If there is only one or two posts you wonder if it is worth it, after all, who is there to reply? Once people start seeing their replies get answered, they will come back, others will notice, and will post as well...

Mateo Byler
CruceDeCaminos.com

Mateo is absoluelty correct: post using different usernames (just try not to have long conversations with yourself--your friends might start to wonder []/w3timages/icons/wink.gif[/]). Also, do not forget to switch off the IP number display--otherwise it'll be easy to figure out your ruse!

Socrates
ForumExperts