Good suggestion swetha but i feel it could be made half monthly contests....

Weekly contests enables members to get cash and extra points every week. Monthly contest will reduce the benefits to one fourth. The problem is not periodicity. This is lack of interest. Even some of the best participators in GD have stopped contributing in GD. I doubt if increasing the period to one month revive the interest. In the current GD, there are only two active participants.

I request all members to actively participate in the contests. These actually help to enhance writing skill. There should also be serious discussion in other posts. Otherwise this will be reduced to mere chatting.

I feel that lack of interest cannot be revived by prolonging the period. One week time suffices to write comments on a topic. Weekly contest gives members four opportunities whereas monthly will give only one opportunity in a month to win cash and extra points.

I agree that extending is embarrassing. I do not favor extending the contests. It will be better to announce result even if there is less participation. Possibly, topics selected are not interesting enough to members. Hence, I propose that members be asked to suggest topics for discussion. The topic in which more members are interested could be selected. I remember that the participation in the topic on World Cricket tournament. The amount of award was also increased in that.

I think Gulshan is right. Prolonging the period of contest is like moving one step backward.In today's scenario all the websites are concerned about increasing the traffic via participation.But reducing the frequency of contests will act negatively. We should rather be concerned about making more members active and attracting new members.Right now I can see 530 guests surfing our website. So the day is not far when participation and traffic both will increase.We have to innovative in devising new methods to attract readers and participators and not backtrack.

I suggest that the moderators should compulsorily prepare for the topic and write minimum three posts.

There were some members regularly participating in GD. I request them to kindly give their comments and suggest how to increase participation in GD and also what made them move away.

I also request leaders in weekly contest to take more interest in GD and give their valuable suggestions. There are ten leaders every week based on highest participation. Their participation and valuable suggestions will also help improve GD.

Active participation by moderators and other active members will definitely revive the GDs.

Ya,its a good idea to make more members to get participated.Thank you for sharing.

Thank you all for your suggestions.

Probably we are doing it since long time and members might feel it as routine task. Why should we fill new wine into the same bottle and makes it taste better :) . Any suggestions/ideas?

Already we are seeing less participation in GD and caption writing contest, if we still lengthen the process means it will definitely be a failure..

Ever since I joined this site in the inital months I remember that I would compulsively follow the GD thread with interesting comments and counter-comments.Although I won't credit them with higher intellectual quotient but the point which needs stressing was the outpouring of interest- sheer youthful vibrancy in GDs by the participating members which I sadly note missing completely today.Let us all go deep into the reasons and find out the answer. As far as suggestion to make weekly contests into monthly ones I would argue that acceptance of such a proposal, as many knowledgeable members already pointed out, would be tantamount to setting the clock back! Let us keep in mind that reproduction or replication of news item would not bring traffic to our site unless these are smartly titled, analysed and made content-rich. GDs are excellent opportunities for yongsters preparing for jobs or entrance exams. for higher studies.The site also benefits tremendously in the form of enhanced traffic. Here I completely agree with Gulshan who has very wisely stressed the role of moderators who pilot and guide such GDs. Timely intervention by moderators with expert comments, useful pieces of statics and witty and humorous asides can make any GD a huge draw. Thank you, Swetha for initiating this thread and thanks are also due to Gulshan,Rajesh and others!

Chinmoy, Gulshan,

I agree with you, healthy participation from both moderators and the members would definetely put the discussion live. From my side, I will participate in GDs from next one. I will ask others as well but it depends on individual likes and I cannot force them. Hope they are reading this thread.