We're all in a leaking ship, and it's about time we fixed it.

[jobonline20]

that was just an idea, i don't have internet atall but still get on here from workplace internet or cafe's (though i don't do much other than lurk). i thought it would let them get to know members better by posting when their download rights are taken away for less posts.

 

may be limit new members posting areas, like only in the balambe cafe, since most of the regular members usually hang out there, maybe tech and gaming sub boards included.

[Sunlight]

Limiting sections to new members isn't a good idea. While the intention is to bring them to where the main members are, new members don't always know that and they may take it the wrong way. For example, if the debate section was cut off to new members until they reached a certain amount of posts, they might try and take a look in the debate forum, and when they see that they're not allowed, they may think it's silly. Perhaps that new member could have provided a good argument in one of the threads.

 

When it comes to creating a welcoming environment to new members, it's not always something that is added or subtracted from the current state of the board. I remember reading somewhere in this thread that a lot of people here like to keep to themselves or something and people generally don't talk to each other. There's nothing you can add or subtract to fix that; If you want people to interact with each other, it's something they have to decide to do. From what I can tell it doesn't go deeper than that.

 

"How do I break from my closed-in habits, dear Sunlight?" This is actually quite easy. Drop a private message to someone who you think you might get along with or that will at the very least be interesting to talk to that you still haven't interacted with much. Say hi, ask how they're doing, inquire about their lives; Show interest. If they don't show it back, that's one person that doesn't want to talk and you move onto the next one. Sort of the same goes for posting in threads. If you see a post that is fairly well written or has something interesting about it, reply to it. Try and start a conversation with that person, and you never know, it could lead to your next best friendship. Whether it does or not, it also shows that this forum is a warm, welcoming place full of people who actually have interest in each other.

[DuLake]

Yeah, I'm with Sunlight. The only sub I really check is Art and Lit, and sometimes Mako (though there hasn't been enough controversy to lure me in recently), and I'm sure it's the same for a lot of people (I'm guessing, since I don't recognize half the people in the top posters list). You start bottlenecking the forums you can post in -- no matter how noble the reason -- and you're going to cut something someone cares about.

 

That said, there are entirely too many subforums. A fair amount of topics and posts are made each day, but it looks insignificant because they're all spread out. I've seen forums with only five members that seemed twice as active simply because it was more condensed. Granted, the forums all make sense objectively, so combining them could be a pain, but I think it would brighten things up quite a bit.

[Renzourin]

I'm not sure that would be a good way to encourage people to post more, say you loose internet for a couple weeks like I and some other have before, or other matters require you to have no contact with a computer for weeks, you would loose your crusader + status not because you were inactive but because it was something you couldn't control. Still I guess it is not like it is really hard to get the status back, but if it is something that requires an admin or mod to give to an account then wouldn't this create more work for them that isn't really necessary?" J_lord

 

no not really lord, changing anyone back to Crusader plus would take less then 2 minutes in all reality log into admin panel, find user, click rank from drop down box, save thats about all it takes, unneccessary work? yeah it can be but easy enough that i dont think that the staff would mind terribly having to do it on occasion

[† Mute point]

I think that forcing people to post every week in order to keep access to the downloads would be counterproductive. Yea, it might make them think "Hey! I should actually be a part of this!" But it's far more likely to make them think "I need to post again? Fine... *find random thread related to something the don't even like* *Posts "I like this." and now has downloads again.* All fixed!"

 

One thing I'm trying to do, whether it works or not, is bring people from other media outlets that I use, or even people I actually know over here. I know it won't solve the main problem of a perceived unfriendly atmosphere, but it will bring in more people, and the potential for donations... And since I generally only make friends with friendly people, it will increase our friendliness score. (If that isn't a thing, it should be!)

 

I am also going to be doing a bit more exploration on the site. Outside of my normal hangout areas. That way when someone has a question, I can answer it. I still won't be an expert on what downloads work and what ones don't, and probably won't know what anime people are talking about when they start asking about the one with the thing and the other stuff... But at least I'll know where to look to find out about it!

[† Emotional Outlet]

Dropping a PM isn't so easy when we cannot PM new users!

 

But I understand the sentiment--I don't always go out of my way to interact with people, but I try to be inclusive when I see them in a conversation and welcome everyone (well, everyone who posts their own topic) personally. I don't think the intent is to change people who are naturally quiet/withdrawn and make them talkative, but to create an environment where, if you wanted to have a discussion, you feel safe and welcome to do so.

 

Forcing people to post wouldn't be cool, but maybe having a reminder at the top of the page like, "Hey, Emotional Outlet! You haven't posted in six years! How about checking out this week's hot topics?" And then I'll go check out the hot topics and post my little heart out.

 

Is that an option on this software? I don't know. I know other forum software can do it. They also have things like usage stats, which is not a feature I'm requesting, but I like to see charts telling me that I am on the forum at two in the morning too much.

 

===

 

I also agree we have a lot of subfora. Squishing a few together and giving them fresh descriptions might be helpful and minimise the amount of wandering a person has to do. I'm totally cool with doing the mundane work of sorting and organising threads if necessary.

 

That said, I don't really have any ideas for a makeover other than to 86 the Gaming Realm subfora and give the subfora new descriptions. And put pink butterflies everywhere.

 

But really, more skins would be neato.

 

===

 

I drop donation requests in the newsletter, but who knows how useful that is. I also told people to do their taxes, so hopefully no one in the US is in trouble with the IRS. I think being more public with the need for financing and giving people reasons to donate might help. Like maybe a little graphic that pops up at the side of the forum when mid-month passes that has our monthly goal on it? Then people will see it and be like, "WHOA, THE FORUM NEEDS MONEY, I GOT TEN BUCKS".

 

I mean for most people, no news is good news, so I can see why donations may not be flowing from here as much as is desired.

[Koby]

Dropping a PM isn't so easy when we cannot PM new users!

I'd like to enable this because it's extremely useful towards helping new members and making them feel welcome from the beginning, but it's too easily abused by spambots who join and simply mass-pm advertise crap. We can't moderate PMs so that garbage goes unmoderated and can often get out of control due to lack of reports about it because members simply delete or ignore it rather than report it. Is Visitor Messages also disabled for new members? I can't remember.

Forcing people to post wouldn't be cool, but maybe having a reminder at the top of the page like, "Hey, Emotional Outlet! You haven't posted in six years! How about checking out this week's hot topics?" And then I'll go check out the hot topics and post my little heart out.

Is that an option on this software? I don't know. I know other forum software can do it. They also have things like usage stats, which is not a feature I'm requesting, but I like to see charts telling me that I am on the forum at two in the morning too much.

We had notifications like that on vBulletin, but I don't think IP.Board does. It might, I'd need to recheck but it's possible it might be a modification. So hopefully it's there. I'd like to see a charts page similar to what SMF that gives data of stuff such as user whose on the site the most amount of time, top thread starter, etc.. I don't think a mod exists for that though and it's definitely not a default setting.

But really, more skins would be neato.

Find or have someone design us a nice light skin.

I'd love to have our old vBulletin skin that I designed back, but I haven't had the time to finish it up. I had been working on converting it, albeit with quite a few changes due to the differences in software, but haven't had time to work on that in months.

[† Emotional Outlet]

Visitor messages go okay, but I don't know if they actually know those exist. The notification should show up, and I have left them messages on their profile, but I've never gotten a reply.

 

I know some places allow for people to receive and respond to PMs sent by staff only, but I don't know if this is software specific. Or maybe I made it up in my head. I was talking about this with IP at the meeting, and we came up with maybe having a shared staff email (like staff at kametsu.com) that we can use to reach people? It's kind of a last ditch effort and really silly for small stuff, but. [shrug]

[Koby]

That's actually a pretty good idea. I'll look to see if they have a mod for allowing PMs to/from staff while disallowing the rest.

[Hawkester]

I also agree we have a lot of subfora. Squishing a few together and giving them fresh descriptions might be helpful and minimise the amount of wandering a person has to do. I'm totally cool with doing the mundane work of sorting and organising threads if necessary.

 

I still agree with this. Back when I lived in the Forum Games section, I would tell myself "Alright, I'll hang with the rest of the forum now", start posting in other sub forums and I would be immediately discouraged, trying to find some threads where I could get some discussion going among the hundreds of threads in the tens of sub forums.

 

I remember that forum that I was on before Kametsu (which was like a year or something ago, I think), we managed to have some good discussions mostly because we didnt have our opinions spread out across hundreds of threads, similar to what someone said on the first page of this topic (I can't remember who, I was skimming to catch up)

[Pinkie Pie]

What about we actually start RPs instead of just talking about it tho?

Or maybe make a profile-type thread about real life, maybe? Where are you from? What's your job? How old are you? What's your first name? Is it okay to refer to you by it?

[DuLake]

Yes! RPs. I want to do one! I totally don't feel experienced enough to run one though. Really, I just want to do more creative writing, haha.

 

 

 

Anyhow, I feel like the biggest thing anyone can do to improve Kametsu is just be active. I mean, we can talk about how Koby should do this or that, but it takes fifteen posts to be top poster, about 4 to make the list. Koby, EO and leechers are the only other people who have been up there consistently -- I've been watching. Not to be a dick or anything, and I'm not trying to throw it in anyone's face, but all it really takes is a few more of us making ten posts and new one topic a day and all of a sudden Kametsu is booming, and it's a lot easier than reinventing the wheel with new content or marketing schemes. Sorry if that came out rude, just my two cents. :/

Edited April 28, 2013 by DuLake

[† Emotional Outlet]

No, it's okay! Definitely, one of the best things we can do is just be active. Recognise that we've been standing still for a while, that we've been in a slump and we've been stuck in the mud (which is what this thread was meant to do), and then just... move. Make an effort to be friends and get to know each other instead of keeping each other at arm's length all the time.

 

The biggest thing for me was that there was always this overwhelming negative energy about the forum that made me reluctant. I felt it when I came back not too long ago.

 

I know a lot of people have strong feelings about the chatbox, but the chatbox--followed by the subsequent backlash over its removal--made it difficult for me to get back into the community. I don't like chat rooms. I feel invisible in them, like if I don't already know people inside, I'm just going to be ignored. I made an effort to integrate myself into the chatbox community, but I felt like I had to try really hard to keep on people's good side. I know people had positive experiences with the chatbox, which made me feel even more guilty.

 

The forum just had this strange cutthroat and competitive atmosphere. I hope that with some renewed interest in the community, coupled with taking a good hard look at the things we've been letting slip by for so long, we can clear out that atmosphere. It's evident I'm not the only one who's felt uneasy or uncertain on this forum despite spending a decent amount of time here.

[DrumRoll]

I skipped a few pages but read the Op and a few succeeding it. In my opinion the forum. from a technical standpoint, is very well done, no qualms there. However, I have found some aspects of the community to be a little...lacking (and I am as guilty as any other I admit).

 

Firstly, for a forum there seems to be precious little....discussion. All the activity seems to take place in the games thread, especially that insipid 'good vs evil' thing. Nothing against it, just that people are content to dither away the time doing something so unrewarding is a mystery to me. You know, why not spend more time talking about anime!

 

Also, I gather the feeling that the mods are a tad over zealous at times and this has led to a rather rather 'reserved' community, with people choosing to 'flag' a post rather than post a response, even arguments are discussions. In fact that's predominantly what they are. Remember that this forum is one of many, many others. If it seems too clinical people may just pick another, or get 15 posts and whore the download section.

 

although, the forum has many, many good points and many good members. Would like to say more but have to go to work....on Sunday:(

[† Emotional Outlet]

I don't really understand why people seem to think negative interactions are somehow vital to a forum experience. It's an unavoidable part to be certain, but it's not like if we just fight more often in thread, this place will be awesome to be at. And it's not like anyone is calling for the forum to become the land of Care Bears.

There is a forum I visit from time to time that is literally built upon the concepts of "more fight" and "zero moderation". I don't post there very often. There are useful things on that forum, but it's a community where stringing up idiots and newbies publicly for asking simple, if oft repeated, questions is a normal Tuesday afternoon. They have mods, sure, mostly to move and merge threads. They urge people to fight and humiliate users who make mistakes same as anyone else. That just isn't a place where I feel safe or welcome, and I'm not certain emulating that environment would be a good idea.

We rarely get reports about things that aren't outright spam or dead download links. In the time I've been a mod, I've seen maybe one report come out of the Mako Reactor about an abusive post. I don't think I've ever seen anyone report that kind of thing elsewhere in the forum.

In fact, when I stepped in to stop people from dog-piling on a user, there were no reports for bullying or even the fact they were hardcore derailing the thread. It's outrageous to me that no one would report that. That kind of behaviour isn't conducive to a forum environment.

[Dark_Angel13]

There is a forum I visit from time to time that is literally built upon the concepts of "more fight" and "zero moderation". I don't post there very often. There are useful things on that forum, but it's a community where stringing up idiots and newbies publicly for asking simple, if oft repeated, questions is a normal Tuesday afternoon. They have mods, sure, mostly to move and merge threads. They urge people to fight and humiliate users who make mistakes same as anyone else. That just isn't a place where I feel safe or welcome, and I'm not certain emulating that environment would be a good idea.

 

 

Sounds like a pretty messed up forum imo and I really don't want this place to become like that, sure we have our handful of silly newbies who do things but no one deserves to be blatantly humiliated for it. I'd like the forum to be a welcoming place rather then just a usual daily check to see who responded to this or to that and then bugger off. 

 

On the matter of discussion YES we need more of it, I swear some members don't feel welcome here but also they're bored out of their minds because nothing new or interesting is going on on the forums or at least not something everyone can get in on. So might have to find a few more things that please the entire public and everyone can get involved on them, I have no ideas for it right now but I think it's a good idea nonetheless.

 

I almost left the forums about 3 months ago maybe just because it was getting dull but I stayed because well this is my internet home lol but it hasnt changed much really. Still posting in the same threads, the occasional new one pops up and then gets buried by the old ones again and then it's back to the old boring posting all over again.

 

Anyway that's my little rant and my semi idea for saving the forums lol, only thing I could really think of for my idea was a gaming group, Breathless' youtube channel suggestion and idk there are streaming channels for things. This is an anime forum so I guess if people were interested we could all get together while someone hosts anime on a streaming channel, it'd be like going to the movies with a group of ppl lol. Idk if that's a good idea but it's an idea nonetheless 

[† RazorDan]

I totally agree on the discussion issue. Anime discussion is one of my favourite things to do and we definitely need more of it. I also agree with the cut throat negative atmosphere point. However, nowadays, I see a lot of new and friendly people on Kametsu and I honestly believe that atmosphere has mostly gone.

[Koby]

What it basically comes down to is everyone needs to be active. Posting threads like this typically gets no where. I've seen the same thing time and time again. One member feels the board is keeping inactive/stale so they make a thread to bring it to everyone's attention, but then they too are a contributing factor as to how it got to this point. Not saying it lies solely on one persons head, but rather the community as a whole. Make it a point to find something to post at least once a day. We have enough regulars visiting each day that if the majority were to just make a single worthwhile post; we'd be getting upwards of 200 new posts a day and surely discussions would merit responses. Activity begets activity. We can sit here all day complaining about this or that, bringing up this or that, coming up with solutions to this or that, but it's that one simple ideal that matters the most in shaping the community into what everyone wants. Activity begets activity.

I think, I'm going to remove the 15-post requirement and make it a simple 1-post requirement where they're required to post an introduction thread and then they'd have full access to the forum. Hopefully by adding postcount back to SeeD Hallway and giving more emphasis to new members welcoming, we'd see people return to being friendly door greeters, open the forum up faster to new members, and make them feel more welcome from the get-go. It'll hopefully reduce the one-line spam from leechers in the discussion threads and open the door for more heavy discussions about everything.

Go around and talk each week about your favorite tv show, comicbook, etc. Surely you watch or read something that is released on a weekly basis. Discussing that weeks release, about what happened, your thoughts on it, etc... really opens the door up for a higher quality discussion (and more discussions) and gets everyone to interact on a weekly basis and coming back for more!

[lolrawr]

All the activity seems to take place in the games thread, especially that insipid 'good vs evil' thing. Nothing against it, just that people are content to dither away the time doing something so unrewarding is a mystery to me. You know, why not spend more time talking about anime!

 

Lol people seem to hold such a strong opinion of the GvE thread.  

 

I remember there was a Status Update from someone who said something similar like you.  I'll say what I said again, posting in the GvE thread does not detract me from posting anywhere else.  It literally takes me like 30 seconds to post there so I don't get why there's this whole you could use that time talking about something else thing.

 

Believe me, if I see a thread where I want to say something, I'll say something.  The GvE thread doesn't hold me back from that.

[DrumRoll]

I would have nothing against the GvE thread, should there be more active posting elsewhere in the forum, however, there is not as of late. But as Koby said, this is not helping the situation. People contributing to the newsletter are helping the situation, people starting new threads are helping the situation.

 

BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD I NEVER WANT TO SEE 'IS HOTD A GOOD ANIME?' THREAD EVER AGAIN!

 

now I'm off to post somewhere:)