Some Suggested Reading

[Koby]

I’d like for you to take the time to read a couple topics I’ve posted on the forum, sourced from torrentfreak about some of the latest things going on around the world with filesharing. Things certainly aren’t looking good and it has me really considering getting out before things turn even worse.

• Pirate Bay Verdict Signals Threat Of Huge New Anti-Piracy Campaign
  
  
• Feds Seize Sports Streaming Domains in New Super Bowl Crackdown
  
  
• Hong Kong Mulls Copyright Crackdown
  
  

and that’s just the icing on the cake. Much more has happened or will happen.

It looks more likely like filesharing will either slow die out as the risk become to great, or sink back into hidden/lesser known methods such as IRC. Which speaking of IRC, we’ve been testing a bot on our channel @ irc://irc.rizon.net/Kametsu. So check it out, and see how it works. We might end up doing away with downloads on the site and offering them exclusively through bots on the IRC channel. However to continue to do so would require purchasing new bots and such (the current bot is only for testing and is owned by BreAKDoWN).

If you need help with figuring out IRC, several members have been working on some guides on the forum here so check them out.

[† Emotional Outlet]

Yeesh. That's all very frustrating. People are pretty resilient, though, so I'm sure they'll find ways around it like you said. God, I wish they'd figure out something more refined than just throwing around boulders.

My only concern regarding the use of IRC is whether it's going to suck away members from the forum like the chatbox pretty much does already and render the forum even more inert. I have no interest in the downloads so I'm rarely, if ever, going to be seen over there. And I think it's that fact alone that kind of has me worried, because I'm in the minority. If leechers and people here primarily for the downloads are what keep the forum standing, what effect would it have if they don't have to come to the forum in the first place to get their downloads?

[/Chicken Little]

[Koby]

My only concern regarding the use of IRC is whether it's going to suck away members from the forum like the chatbox pretty much does already and render the forum even more inert. I have no interest in the downloads so I'm rarely, if ever, going to be seen over there. And I think it's that fact alone that kind of has me worried, because I'm in the minority. If leechers and people here primarily for the downloads are what keep the forum standing, what effect would it have if they don't have to come to the forum in the first place to get their downloads?

Well it'd keep the leechers pre-occupied, while also maintaining a reason for word-of-mouth advertising which could bring in the leechers non-leeching friends, as well as maintain a reason for many of them to donate to continue to be able to pay the expensive server bills (although a bot would add to the cost). Besides most of the downloaders come from English-Dub Kingdom rather than the forum, and doing away with downloads would mean doing away with EDK which is over 50% of our traffic. Many of the forum members found the forum through EDK first so essentially it'd mean taking EDK's traffic to the IRC and hopefully still allow us to bring people from EDK/IRC to the forum.

Since coming back online there really hasn't been much of any actual decent posting going on the forum as it stands currently. Yes there is some, but the biggest portion of posts have still been the one-liners that simply answer the topic but give no basis for their opinion/answer or reasoning.

We still have no activity what-so-ever in the Seasonal Anime section nor the regular Anime section that have any healthy discussions either and since returning our online logins per day have dropped nearly 40% and our visitor numbers have still been declining.

If we don't do something it's only a matter of time before I'm forced to close the CB and eventually possibly even the dead forum.

[† Emotional Outlet]

Oh dear. I really wish there was a way to push people towards posting in the forum and having discussions. I've been trying to pull up and post on older threads that I find interesting, but I feel bad when I see my name everywhere, haha. It's really, really weird to me that people are treating the forum as a place to dump opinions and not as a place for discussion. Like, I've already tried twice to talk about the Hunger Games, but people just do the hit-and-run opinions and then I feel like a doof because I look like I'm a tryhard.

In a best case scenario, people would realise the position the forum is in and make an effort to get out of the chatbox rather than wibble about how they think they don't have anything important enough to say to warrant posting on the forum. If the worthless posts saying, "I LIKE BANANAS" are still standing, then the things they're saying in the CB can stand in the forum as well. In a slight worse but better than worst case scenario, the CB would close, people would instead start talking in the forum.

I mean, when Apollo was talking about his story and people were coming up with names for him. That can be in a thread, not only making it easier for him to look back and be like, "Oh yeah, those were the names I liked", but also offering the chance for other people who were not around at exactly that time period to partake in the conversation. I feel like a total idiot that I even have to point that out, but I worry that people might not be taking that concept to heart.

I would really hate to see the forum close. And I don't want to feel like the only one that doesn't want it to close down. =(

[Xanodus]

You took most of the words out of my mouth, EO. If this is what is happening now... I wouldn't doubt for one moment that most of the filesharing sites will shut down. :/ I also don't want Kametsu to shut down, so you areb't the only one!

[thegenius05]

Thanks for the information

[DrumRoll]

I propose removing all anime downloads until this all blows over (will it?)

I like the idea of an IRC bot, and a tight-knit group of downloaders.

As for the drop in members etc I'd say thats only natural in the current state of things. I first came to this site looking to download, then ended up staying. I this ACTA thing goes away then people will come back.

[CardGames]

If this doesn't confirm the start of worldwide dictatorship I don't know what will.

[Bane]

i think we need to keep hanging on as long as possible, once time passes people will return. its just the shock tactics at work scaring people away from file sharing

[† Emotional Outlet]

Except just hanging on isn't really going to do much at all. Wish in one hand...

Activity begets activity. People may come back (god knows I do it often enough), but if it looks dead, they aren't going to be terribly interested in hanging around for long. I remember coming back once and the whole place was abandoned--Koby was somewhere else in the universe and the only people who seemed to be around were annoying spammers.

The download void left by recent litigious activity will be filled in time, but sitting around and waiting for it to be filled isn't going to achieve anything. Sitting around and waiting for people to be more active isn't going to do anything. Unfortunately, I don't have any brilliant ideas that would turn the situation on its head.

Could we do another PMYC contest? Close the CB for a week, hide all the forums, and make people POST POST POST. One section for random crap, another section for free discussion. But, more likely, it'll backfire heavily. Sigh.

[† Anras Rune]

EO is right. When Koby regulated the CB last time, all hell broke loose. Some members just flipped out, some started complaining among other things... Tis a shame, as he did it due to shit that happened in the CB, to stop fighting....*sighs*

I have always been an advocate for either regulating the CB more, or completely removing it altogether, especially if it'll boost forum activity. The IRC bot would probably be a good idea, as it'll mesh the community together a little bit...just as Drum said. A torrent tracker would be good too....might help out but it ain't neccesary. Meh, if folks ain't going to make the effort to post, folks shouldn't get to dl imo...

[DrumRoll]

maybe you should have to buy a day ticket into the DLL section with gil. No posts no gil, no gil no ticket, no ticket no downloads.

It would increase the value of gil as well.

But, meh, whatever. Its like people have already stated. There will be a fuss no matter what you do. perhaps push kametsu more on EDK, ween people off and onto the forum.

[† RazorDan]

I can't really add much more to what you guys have said. However, I do have some thoughts. As most people know, I've always been someone who is active in the creative sections, be it GFX, Art and Lit or RP, as well as the community sections where we discuss anime and manga. So, I suggest we focus on these sections whilst the downloads are inactive. Back when I was a relatively new member, it was these sections that made me wanna come on Kametsu and it was these sections that made me think of the forum as a community.

In terms of members, do we want quantity or quality? Do we want loads of 50-100 post members who stay in the DL section or hang around the CB? Or do we want a smaller group of members who have over 300 posts and participate in all sections of the forum? Maybe we could go extreme and get rid of downloads all together and just keep the loyal, community members. Just some thoughts of mine

[Koby]

aybe we could go extreme and get rid of downloads all together and just keep the loyal, community members. Just some thoughts of mine

This may sound rude/harsh compared to what I mean... but

Problem with this is like 95% of our so called 'loyal community members' are mostly lazy non-posters who just lurk the CB and rarely interact in the forum or outside of their circle of friends. It's our base members who are doing more harm than the leechers at this point because we can't convert leechers if our regulars are inactive to begin with. The leechers are just about the ONLY reason I haven't shut this place down due to inactivity, because the inactivity of the regulars have made me really think of this as a possibility.

[† RazorDan]

well, you said it, I agree. Didnt want to mention it myself, but we do only have a core of a handful of people who regularly post. By loyal community members I was talking about people like Shazi, Rune, Mae etc. They're in the CB a lot, but they are also regular posters. I could name a few other people considered popular or loyal when in fact they are just CB regulars. Then you have the people who just stick to the forums and rarely go on the CB. People like Hicks and lemmingslama, who I would consider loyal members. Fact is Koby, I agree with you and I believe, unfortunately, that Kametsu is dead. The regulars of the past have moved on, and I must admit, I doubt we could survive, not that that will stop me from contributing, that's just how I see it.

[† Anras Rune]

hm...have to agree with razor on this one. it'll be difficult getting folks to post without completely removing distracting factors from the site. I don't think i've downloaded from the site in ages, even when we had the old index. I have always been a torrenter at heart. But I know I often get distracted by the CB, hell I think I'd be one of the few that'd admit it. There are some very interesting people who frequent the CB, which is unfortunatly the reason for the CB's popularity. If the CB was gone completely, it would be missed by many yes, but the health of the forum as a whole is more important than the cb itself. Basically, what I'm trying to say Koby, is I think you shuld take the risk, do something radical and be damned with the consequences. I know I'll stick by here CB or no CB and if there are people that truely can't live without it, then use the IRC.

[lemmingllama]

I dont know if I can really comment about it since I dont use the CB at all, but I think that it should go. The CB basically just takes away from the threads. Ive seen people post threads then people talk about the thread in the CB and dont even bother to post it in the thread itself. So I feel that its likely that people will use the forums if the CB is gone, and if they dont then as Rune said, there is the IRC as well

[Koby]

That's also part of it. The biggest majority of the topics discussed in the CB would be better suited on the forum itself in the first place. A CB is an extension of a forum, intended for only small talk that wouldn't fit on the forum but instead the people who use it completely forget about the forum.

I've actually been considering removing staff members who aren't active in the actual discussions and slowly hiring new staff that would be capable of doing the job. The staff can't do their job if they don't actually browse the forum. It'd probably cause a lot of hurt feelings but I'm really considering it.

[Bluenoser]

Well, I can't speak to the chatbox issue either as it is not my cup of tea. I've looked at it from time to time and said hello a couple of times, but really, it is too abbreviated a forum for my style of commenting (long winded). I do know I plan on sticking around as I have, but I am not one to speak to something (mind you I read a lot more than I comment on here) unless I have something to say about it, and I tend to be attracted to more serious conversations than to frivolous ones as a matter of personal taste (not saying anything is wrong with frivolous conversations, just that they are not to my taste most of the time is all, there is much to be said for diversity after all). Now, I started here because of the download opportunities for English dubbed for my wife, but I started to comment because I wanted to contribute something back to the forums for providing such as well. I would be very saddened if the downloads had to go away as well, but I would still stop by to check for conversations that catch my interest/appeal (and I suppose I would have to relearn how to work with IRC too, I haven't touched that since the world wide web GUI interface caught on, its been a couple of decades now...LOL), once I give my loyalty to someone/something I don't retract it easily either, and this place, the people here who frequent it, the staff who help run it and of course Koby whose site it is have all given me a lot of reasons for that loyalty, but one of the biggest for me was the decency, civility and courteousness I found in general from Koby/staffers and uploaders like Sicka and TCL (before he was targeted), a forum site with that kind of people running/working it was and is for me a major attraction.

So I plan on sticking around whatever you end up doing while there is a forum to stick around to Koby, and while if downloading has to go away I know it is not you and yours to blame but the wider reality involved and not hold it against you nor will that stop me from continuing to contribute my humble contributions to your forums while they are there. Take that for whatever you find worth in it from someone who is not seen as a regular poster/staffer.

[DrumRoll]

The site needs to cut out the fat, then we'll see if it sinks or swims. I haven't used the CB in months, just does not appeal to me.