Why are the Community Forums - Expatica > Belgium so lifeless?

The Netherlands forums seem to be really popular amongst the expat community there.

Strangely, the Belgium forums just don't seem to attract the same number of posters (or do we have more lurkers than contributors?)

Am trying put out as open-ended a question, as possible!

Maybe most expats have such a marvelous life in Belgium that they don't feel the need to moan, whinge and rant, like the expats having the unfortune to live in the Bog, I meqn the smelly Swamp called The Netherlands!

And maybe there is less dogpoop in Belgium to complain about?

And, in any case, the supermarkets, the food, the restaurants, are much better than in Holland!

Possibly true. The NL/Germany forums have their fair share of ranters. As long as it's keeping crime off the streets, the forums are doing their job there ()

Most people I meet in BxL are expats of a sort, but they don't really seem to require access to expat resources. Could it be because Netherlands has a higher percentage of frequently moving expats, while Belgian expats tend to stay on longer

I’m purely hypothesizing here. My opinion isn’t based on facts of any sort!

The Expatica Belgium forum has historically gone thru 'phases' where there is lots of activity for a while then things seem to die off for a period of time. The biggest cause of this recent die-off was the change-over in the website (leaving the forums down for the better part of 10 days and also the lack of a Belgian newsletter since shortly before the change over occurred. The newsletter was designed to remind expats that the site was here & open for business and it would provoke some additional traffic. Expatica is just now getting back to sending out the newsletter so hopefully this will generate some interest.

A lot of the old crowd, and by that i dont mean old as in "age", has moved on to other things or left the country. There are still a few around like dumblonde, diZZy, phlegmie, maciamo, belgophile, ventho, quickie, Camilla etc that are still around but post infrequently now. Expatica would like to get those posters back as they were / are a strong source of knowledge about the country and expat life in Belgium but Expatica also realises that times change and they will need to attract 'new blood' if they want this site to survive.

To me, there are two reasons

First, many expats in Belgium, expescially Brussels are diplomatic people. They will not come to this website

and Second, American companies are very active in Holland due to the history. There are tons of expats from America, Canada, U.K and other English speaking countries. For sure, our French expats from Belgium will not come to this website often to discuss in English.

Voila

Maybe the sites reflect the countries? Belgium is OK for living, but quite quiet and dead. (If I could poke it with a stick to see if it was still alive, I would.) NL provokes a lot of people into really hating it, and they need a place to go, so they're quite active. France? I dunno, I'm not moving there.

I think its because....
What was the question again ?

Hi all,

I agree that the BE forums are a bit stagnant compared to the lively NL forums.

I want you to know that Expatica is working on marketing our site in Belgium more actively, which will help our forums out a lot. One of the main reasons they are slow is becuase not enough people in Belgium know about us. We aim to improve this in 2008.

I'll keep you posted.

Jami Davis
Online Community Manager

well looking at most of the meet up or expat websites, NL forum is always more active then their neighborhood. but anyway Good Luck!

Maybe it is because everyone doesn't know about the site or maybe it is just because they are all too busy figuring things out for themselves BxL!

______

For my two cents as to why people don't post so much on this site: I used to post much more than I do now on the BE site and I think it is because many well-intentioned people come on as new members and ask a question or post a complaint, if for no other reason than to have a wee rant or express frustration about one thing or another. This is not normally received in a very tactful manner by many of the long-timers on this site, and it wouldn't cost a cent to be a little more supportive and less defensive about good ol' Brussels while trying to appear 'cool' to each other.. Without getting specific with names, I have seen many responses that are sarcastic, derisive, downright insulting, and frequently argumentative. This is neither constructive nor positive and is often self-righteous and cynical. I myself could write a book on some of the difficulties of being an expat in Brussels - and I may yet. Suffice to say that I think some of the responders who have been here a long time can be much more offensive than some of the locals who can take us or leave us - maybe they would preferably leave us, but for the most part, I have had some good experiences here mixed with terrible ones, which you can have anywhere.

In having been in both BE and the NL, I much, much preferred A'dam to Brussels for so many reasons they are too numerous to mention here. That's just an opinion - not a fact - so, oh well! Before you tell me to a. just leave the country or b. shut my mouth - I'm just responding to the thread from my personal view.

(to Jami) My earnest belief, however, is not that the expatica website changed so people went away. It's mostly that some of the long-time responders that are occasionally helpful but often unfriendly and arrogant in tone have driven people to stop bothering to post.

For what I see in Brussels is that expats stick to their own community and are happy with just that. This is maybe also the reason why Brussels is so dead. Communities have a great time amongst themselves!? The community provides all the answers, so a forum is not needed.

I did not see that in Holland. Nationalities intermingled and that made Amsterdam vibrant and alive...to me.

@kama
I also noticed a certain negativity in the Netherlands forum so it can't be just that. But however negative they are about Holland, the members are very helpful. So maybe that's best combination is unhappy talkative and helpful people. Not happy people (or so unhappy they fly home out of Brussels every weekend)

Expatica forums seem to go in cycles.

If you join a forum and the people are welcoming, friendly, chatty and informative - you'll probably come back.

If you join a forum and there are a couple of 'bolshy b*stards' who snipe at anything anybody says which they don't agree with, individuals who think that their viewpoint is the only one worth listening to, then eventually you - and the existing members - will leave.

That's nothing to do with Expatica - it's the way people behave.

Expatica (bless their little cotton socks) don't make the forum work. they provide the medium on which we - the people who post here - make the forum work.

If Expatica Belgium isn't working, that's because people aren't posting. If people aren't posting then that's either because they can't be bothered, or because they're pis*ed off with somebody who has tried to put them down.

I started posting on this forum about 5 years ago. I met a number of people (both electronically and in the flesh) who made my stay in Belgium much more pleasant and far more interesting than it otherwise would have been.

(The rules haven't changed - you too could do exactly the same)

I moved from Belgium to Germany and eventually made similar contacts (through the Expatica forum there.)

I went away - and a year and a bit (and a new Grandson) later, I'm back. I'm not in Belgium, I'm in Germany (but a number of my friends and acquaintances are still lurking/active on this forum, I visit Belgium from time to time and I look forward to renewing old acquaintanceships.)

If the Expatica Belgium forum is dormant (I doubt it will ever die - not as long as the Expatica team keep the website going anyway) then the 'Wake-Up' call is in your (our) hands.

This forum could be far more lively than the NL forum. (Like it used to be) - All it takes is for people to post here.

A few basic (commonsense) rules (Not Expatica rules, just commonsense):

1. Opinions are like arseholes. Everybody's got one, everybody is entitled to his /her own.

2. Discuss. Argue vehemently if you will (that can be fun) but don't denigrate or 'put down' the person you're arguing with.

3. If you're in the wrong -and particularly if you know you're in the wrong - don't be afraid to apologise. (Been there, done that, made a right prat of myself - apologised and nobody gave a damn.)

Swallowing one's pride may be hard, but it's a damned sight easier than losing one's friends.

So what is wrong with this forum, then? Why don't 30 of you answer me and prove to everybody that the answer is 'Nothng'?

ok....manuel de vol de basse la 'attitude'

The Belgian forum (as is the German forum) is in changeover mode. Lots of the old posters have moved on to other things, some have left the country and some of us have just become a little senile & forgot what we were doing here. I see a few new posters appearing with the intent of injecting some life here and there is a few spots of success. It's going to take a little time and some interesting comments to get things rolling again.

btw...good to see ya back!

Plus a few years ago there were fewer fora/websites that were interesting enough to waste your time on. Now there's a forum for about anything you can think of.....and great quality. The expat forum was good in 2003, but it's hopelessly out of date now. Style wise, graphically, but more importantly the navigation. It's takes effort to browse the forum. And that's a killer.

But then again, I do see old style fora which still have a very significant userbase......

LMFAO!

Baise mon cul!

'la attitude'!

Je m'appelle:

'Manuel de Vol à Basse Altitude'

My attitude has nothing to do with it. - Though people's attitudes may deter others.

There are bugs in this website - bugs which simply shouldn;t exist. I'm logged on (and I can post on this forum) but when I tried to post on the Germany forum I got an error message which suggested I wasn't logged on ...

If you want to make it really difficult for me to post on the German forums, Oh Expatica, I'll wimp out and give in.

I tried to post 3 items tonight. That's enough effort for one night ... maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

Or maybe not.

I have the same thing happening to me!!! But I thought that was the Telenet connection. It always sucks between 17:00 and 20:00. Ans I never have the problem in NL with UPC.

But aside of that, the forum is IPB. Quite a proven platform, so unless there is an error in the database or piece of incorrect code added in, it should be working perfectly. I saw a new version is coming out this year with a few nice options. Hope they will upgrade Expatica too...ok off-topic.

It's slow, I remember vBulletin had some kind of clean-up/optimize database function in it. IPB must have one too. Anyway it's a pity it takes them so long to optimize the forum. The rest of the website is pretty good. It only takes a few minutes to change the forum setup. They could start with Belgium, nothing to lose.

I have the same thing happening to me!!! But I thought that was the Telenet connection. It always sucks between 17:00 and 20:00. Ans I never have the problem in NL with UPC.

But aside of that, the forum is IPB. Quite a proven platform, so unless there is an error in the database or piece of incorrect code added in, it should be working perfectly. I saw a new version is coming out this year with a few nice options. Hope they will upgrade Expatica too...ok off-topic.

It's slow, I remember vBulletin had some kind of clean-up/optimize database function in it. IPB must have one too. Anyway it's a pity it takes them so long to optimize the forum. The rest of the website is pretty good. It only takes a few minutes to change the forum setup. They could start with Belgium, nothing to lose.