Moving To A New Forum

[butthead aka 216]

well like freebase deli said and you echoed the google ranking is what really hurts. i was a part of a forum for over 10 yrs that eventually fell from the google rankings )not sure how that worsks) and over time it just became a ghost town as people got older and got other priorities and left and there were no new members to kind of take their place in activity. now there is like 1/10th the activity and i still stop in from time to time and theres only a handful of regulars left and never anybody new that sticks around.

i see ppl use this site for differnt reasons, i come here and dont take it real serious and just post in my journal and browse for new music and post whenever i want but some ppl use it differently like trolheart who makes a ton of blog journals for instance or crazed who avoids the lounge so like latelust said i think a lot of ppl dont have that big of issue and just wanna come here and throw down some thoughts.

maybe u already said but i dunno what features u want i mean i know from what u are sayin that admins arent around but is there anythin real drastic hat u want that the admins wont do???????

[Guybrush]

Originally Posted by 216

maybe u already said but i dunno what features u want i mean i know from what u are sayin that admins arent around but is there anythin real drastic hat u want that the admins wont do???????

Here I've mentioned a blog part of the site, a chatroom, an internet radio station that members can do shows on. I'm sure we could think of other things as well.

I think that creating the right environment is crucial to creating the sort of community you want. Let's say you want to encourage people writing to writing band articles, album reviews or doing album clubs. You should make the environment so that it rewards these things. Right now, in order to find out what's written in a journal, you have to find the journal. Instead of members writings being actively promoted by the site, it is hidden. What if it was presented someplace else where it was easier to see?

Basically, a new site gives possibility of new features and increases the possibility to mold the MB environment into a place that rewards the things we like. The community should change over time in response, making it easier to get involved with other members . A new site could make the MB experience more rewarding overall, especially for those who contribute the most like moderators (who would have more control over the site), those who like to write longer pieces and those who actively try to involve the community, f.ex by album clubs or members compilations. My feeling about present day MB is that if you invest a lot in it, you don't get much back and sooner or later, you may feel disillusioned as a result. I would like for that to change so that the more you put in, the more you feel rewarded.

[djchameleon]

Originally Posted by tore

Here I've mentioned a blog part of the site, a chatroom, an internet radio station that members can do shows on. I'm sure we could think of other things as well.

I think that creating the right environment is crucial to creating the sort of community you want. Let's say you want to encourage people writing to writing band articles, album reviews or doing album clubs. You should make the environment so that it rewards these things. Right now, in order to find out what's written in a journal, you have to find the journal. Instead of members writings being actively promoted by the site, it is hidden. What if it was presented someplace else where it was easier to see?

Basically, a new site gives possibility of new features and increases the possibility to mold the MB environment into a place that rewards the things we like. The community should change over time in response, making it easier to get involved with other members . A new site could make the MB experience more rewarding overall, especially for those who contribute the most like moderators (who would have more control over the site), those who like to write longer pieces and those who actively try to involve the community, f.ex by album clubs or members compilations. My feeling about present day MB is that if you invest a lot in it, you don't get much back and sooner or later, you may feel disillusioned as a result. I would like for that to change so that the more you put in, the more you feel rewarded.

Everything I bolded can easily be done here. The only thing with the blog section is that it doesn't have it's own separate area to showcase people on a front page but Trollheart took up having a weekly feature section for the journals. All it takes is initiative. At one point in time, I had the idea of doing the internet radio station with MB members but I didn't follow through with it properly. When I first came out with the idea, I was pretty new at the time and I would have probably gotten my thread deleted. I recruited a few people behind the scenes through PMs but they weren't as interested as they claimed and when I set them up with all the details for the stream that I had they never showed up for their scheduled slots.

I remember you going through this idea before but it's just not going to work imo. Also you seem to be focusing on the wrong thing. If you are passionate about something you will do it regardless if you get rewarded or not. Your main focus on being rewarded seems misguided. I know that's why you stopped writing a journal and made an exodus at one point in time. You didn't feel rewarded for all the hard work and contributions you were making to MB just to have the admin turn a blind eye to minor features that could easily be activated.

[butthead aka 216]

chameleon i think u are wrong for your 'how dare you type of attitude, of course tore wants a rewarding experience. for you to act like he is 'misguided' for wantin to be appreciated for his time or effort or work or whatever i just stupid man, everyone likes feelin appreciated and tore is sayin that with a new site appreciation can be shown and recieved easier

[TheBig3]

Originally Posted by Burning Down

Then I'm not sure if Trollheart's idea of a moderated suggestions thread would be much better in that case. It's kind of like those comment/suggestion boxes you see at restaurants saying "Tell us how we did!". I never see anybody filling those things out because nobody can be sure their suggestion is being taken into consideration by the corporation.

That was suggested? That's horrific.

Whats the point of doing that? Are we really going to be burdened by someone posting the same suggestion again? Yowza.

And while I'm on a rant, how long have the edit buttons been gone from threads in the moderated forums? (e.g. Spill your guts)

[Astronomer]

Originally Posted by TheBig3

And while I'm on a rant, how long have the edit buttons been gone from threads in the moderated forums? (e.g. Spill your guts)

Hrm I'm not sure but I hope the edit feature stays, I was a member of another forum and they removed the edit feature completely. I wanted to edit one of my posts as it had some information in it that I didn't want broadcasted on the internet anymore, so I PMed one of the mods and they were like "Sorry, we do not allow editing on the forum anymore." I was pissed.

[djchameleon]

Originally Posted by 216

chameleon i think u are wrong for your 'how dare you type of attitude, of course tore wants a rewarding experience. for you to act like he is 'misguided' for wantin to be appreciated for his time or effort or work or whatever i just stupid man, everyone likes feelin appreciated and tore is sayin that with a new site appreciation can be shown and recieved easier

I don't think you understood what I was trying to say. Or maybe we just believe in two different things fundamentally but I feel like if you love doing something then all the time and effort that you put into it doesn't need rewarding. Doing the work is reward enough. If you are only doing something because you want to be rewarded then that's what I'm calling "misguided"

[Guybrush]

Originally Posted by djchameleon

I don't think you understood what I was trying to say. Or maybe we just believe in two different things fundamentally but I feel like if you love doing something then all the time and effort that you put into it doesn't need rewarding. Doing the work is reward enough. If you are only doing something because you want to be rewarded then that's what I'm calling "misguided"

By your logic, why bother writing on a forum at all? I mean, if you love writing album reviews, why not just write it in .txt files and save it on your computer?

I don't want people to have to love writing album reviews for it to be rewarding to do. The whole point of writing on a forum is to share so why not share more? Should being a contributor here only be valid to the most passionate of us, those who might as well write in those .txt files? If that's how high the bar's gonna be, that basically means less people will do it. And the whole argument was about making more people do it more often. How do you manage to think of an idea like a site showcasing the hard work of its members as if it's a bad thing? To describe the goal of making an environment more nurturing towards productivity as misguided sounds like .. you're missing the point.

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by tore

. Right now, in order to find out what's written in a journal, you have to find the journal. Instead of members writings being actively promoted by the site, it is hidden. What if it was presented someplace else where it was easier to see?
.

I'm not ignoring the rest of your post tore, I just didn't want to quote the whole thing when this is the part that concerns me.

I don't know if you are aware, but I have put in a lot of time and effort making a special thread which not only updates everyone on who's writing journals and what they're writing, but takes a somewhat humourous and light-hearted approach to the whole journal thing (humour got a little out of hand though, had to dial it back) and also encourages others who haven't already started journals to try it. Finally, I focus every week on a new and an old journal that's being written.

I think, without being smug or arrogant, that the members' journals section is getting a lot more publicity now than it was last year, and some of this has been down to that thread. A direct result of this can be seen in the amount of both new journals starting up and older ones which had been left to rust being picked up again. In my own little way I hope I'm responsible for, or have contributed a little to that, and I would have to take issue with the above statement. Sorry, but I think whereas people who didn't maintain journals before may not even have been aware of the section, a lot more now are.

EDIT: Apologies, DJ: I see you brought this up already. That's what I get for rushing through the thread! Still, my points are I think valid and expand on what you said, but thanks for mentioning the thread anyway. Appreciate it.

[Trollheart]

Originally Posted by TheBig3

That was suggested? That's horrific.

Whats the point of doing that? Are we really going to be burdened by someone posting the same suggestion again? Yowza.

And while I'm on a rant, how long have the edit buttons been gone from threads in the moderated forums? (e.g. Spill your guts)

The only reason it was suggested, Big3, was as an alternative to setting up house elsewhere, as tore wants to. I also don't think there's a need for it, or that it would work, but it was just saying "would this not be better if you have to do something?" rather than "wouldn't this be cool?" Which I do not think it would. As someone noted, suggestion boxes rarely if ever work.

Reminds me of my favourite scene from a TV show called Newsradio, where they got suggestion boxes in. The two best notes from it were "We need more notes for suggestions" and "Help! I'm trapped in a suggestion box!"