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Post by Teal on Dec 30, 2010 18:06:19 GMT -5
Yes I'm relatively new here but over the several months of being a member here I've seen that not enough effort is being put into reviving this place. The activity here sucks and seeing how the Role Playing board is supposed to be the most popular section of this forum; in fact only half of the initial amount of participating members in my RP are still actively participating...something needs to be done.
I suggest we come up with more threads. Even though this is a forum about Yoshi we need to go beyond that. Let's talk about other popular things more often like the hottest games right now or an interesting movie you think everyone should see. It doesn't need to be Nintendo related. I suggest we have a "Forum Games" board where members can just goof around doing "Nickname the above poster" and "Count to a million." It can get as popular as the Role Playing board...just something that works as a magnet giving members more reasons to come back. Maybe they will find an opportunity to reply to or create a new thread. The staff can make it so "posts in this board don't count toward your total" if you're worried about that. I know that some members here would like to just post something random. I know it might sound like a stupid idea to some of you but if it would make members come back and do something then I think it's worth a try.
I think one of the reasons why members are discouraged from creating new threads is because of the possibility of duplicating a previous thread...but it would be like what...2-3 years ago since that one was created? I know this board has an extensive history but I'm going to create several threads and I'm sure some of them will be duplicate threads. I don't care if they're duplicates, people's values can change over a few years especially since many of the members here who had registered here as teenagers have since become adults. If your answer hasn't changed, just post the same answer again. We need SOME KIND of activity here.
Moreover the Yoshi Cafe and General Gaming Stuff boards are dominant with threads and posts. We should all start considering if our thread would remotely relate to the other boards. I think having new posts across several boards looks better than having just 1-3 boards with all the posts.
No I'm not a staff member here and I haven't been here as long as most of the members here but I still don't want to see this board die down. Yes I apparently caused a member to leave this board entirely but I'm willing to make up for it. I'm hoping I can get some posting trends (not just threads) going on here. It's a well known fact that I missed out on a lot from this forum which makes me sad but there isn't anything that can be done about that. Lots of good memories here but they're not my memories but I still want some activity here. Affiliation with YAF doesn't seem to be progressing so other things need to be tried.
Perhaps someone is willing to make signature tags? So that members can put them in their signatures on other forums they visit?
If you don't want this board to die off then please say something in this thread. Have any other suggestions that haven't been tried yet?
Okay...my rant is over.
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Post by Moot on Dec 30, 2010 21:10:43 GMT -5
I've invested far too much time in this place just to see it die completely, but apparently I'm the only one on the board staff left now who actually gives a crap about it. I know Yoshiken is busy with college or work or whatever, but I have no idea what everyone else is up to. For all I know they just got bored of the place. In any case, it's not like we're left with any active Admins to actually do anything that needs doing.
Unfortunately one of the problems with YC is that we're good at coming up with ideas, but when it comes to actually executing them everyone suddenly goes quiet, as you might have noticed in that YC Revival thread. It also happened with the ill-fated YCNN which is still linked to in the banner rotation for some bizarre reason. On the subject of Forum Games, we actually used to have a board for that but that place sucked all the activity from everywhere else, so it was eventually closed. As far as I'm aware it hasn't been deleted or purged, so if anyone gives a damn an admin I could probably bring it out of mothballs and reopen it. I'd like it if the entire board got some more activity, the RPs around here used to be pretty good as I recall even though I wasn't a part of many of them. Almost makes me wonder if it is worth purging the entire board, or just archiving the entire thing so we can make a fresh start, but I know how much of a pain in the arse it is to get a forum going from scratch.
I'd still love for this affiliation with YAF to go ahead, if only to put history behind us - apparently Soul still holds a grudge or something, but in any case he doesn't even visit his own board now despite making a big show of it back when the crap hit the fan.
I would love it if any Admins would prove me wrong and confirm they still give a crap about YC, but I'd settle for taking an Admin spot just so we have actually have an active Admin hanging around.
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Post by Enrique on Dec 30, 2010 22:25:23 GMT -5
In the five and a half years of my membership here at YC, I will say that this is far from the first call for more activity on the board. There have been periods where the board has been very active, and periods where it has been more or less a ghost town, as it is now. At the moment, the different core cultures of YC have either gone off to other venues, stopped convening for one reason or another, or left the community altogether.
There was, once upon a time, a Forum Games section here. Eventually, it became something that a number of people were not particularly proud of, as people tended to just post garbage in the Forum Games section rather than engage in useful conversation. And one day, it was locked and hidden from view. Personally, I wouldn't be opposed to reopening the Forum Games section if we could come up with interesting puzzles to supply it with instead of the tired old "Count to 652651650695132460543216516354" like stuff. The Yoshi Cafe and General Gaming Stuff are the dominant boards because they were intended to be general places where conversation can happen. The other boards specifically call for art, writing, or role playing. The former two mainly diverted to other sites, and role-playing has gone in and out of popularity here.
As much as an affiliation with YAF is interesting, I am a little skeptical on how will it would work. YC and YAF come from the same blueprint, and it's hard to see if potential new members will be willing to come to YC from the main YoshiArt pages when they can stay at YAF and do the same functions as they would at YC (albeit with different people). We'd have to bring something completely different to the table. Unfortunately, if there's something I'm not, it's being creative. Hopefully, someone can think of something interesting.
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Post by Zyph on Dec 31, 2010 2:10:35 GMT -5
Well then... Forum Games sections... I wonder if that does come back, what kind of threads will come from it. I'm not opposed to it either, but I do hope that whatever comes from there doesn't go overboard. As far as trying to bring something completely different to the table... I'm trying to think what can be done... As of right now... I think I need to step up more... I did try to bring some activity making this activity thread here and there... And yes I'm still drawing that YC group picture, it takes a long time... I think I should consider posting up even sketches of my art just so we get the art threads up and alive a bit, hopefully others following suit to keep it active. Let's see what I can do as a member to try and get YC a sort of a jumpstart: 1) Finish my 2nd YC Banner I am working on to replace my first. ( Draft) 2) Post my sketches both Yoshi art and Other art, even though they may not be finished 3) Put up something in the fanfic section, such as my story fragments, even though they may not be so great 4) Start another RP in the RP section, so as to give a variety of what kinds of RPs are active in YC. 5) Post more, say something in the Yoshi Fan Journal for example. For now that list I made is doable for me... I hope I can think of something more... But others should act too, not just a very few. |
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Post by Digi on Dec 31, 2010 2:12:39 GMT -5
I do miss the Forum Games board. Though it was sort of stealing other topics' thunder, it was a good place for activity. If it could be opened back up, I'd be up for a bit of silly fun during my daily lurking.
A bit of thread necromancy could also spark some activity, though it may go against board rules. With newer members there could be more contribution to the original discussion and I feel it's worth a shot. Though which topics are resurrected is another issue.
I also find it to be a shame that that Art boards are dying, especially since that's what drew me here in the first place. Because this year's Secret Santa was off-board, the activity seems even lower this year. (Not that it was a bad idea for a cross-community board.) I never really draw Yoshies these days, but if it can spark up a reaction I can dive into a Nintendo fan art run or a request run, something of that nature.
The YAF affiliation would be great just to bring more members over. I figure the concept of just "talking with other people" is appealing enough to make it work, after all forums are made to discuss topics with others. But then again, who knows until it happens/if it happens..
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Post by Zyph on Dec 31, 2010 3:15:39 GMT -5
Yeah... I also find it a shame that the Art boards are dying. They used to be the sections I like checking out everyday in YC... And it is not only just the pictures I like seeing in those art sections, but also the comments! One of the things I'm interested is seeing what others say about the art posted... Lately whenever art is posted up, pretty much barely anyone makes comments about it. It makes it seem no one cares if art is put up here.
As far as the YAF affiliation goes... I am also skeptical about it. Sure we will get new members but one thing I hope to see is people who are really really new, as in they weren't part of some Yoshi community before for a long time and is just fresh to the Yoshi fandom.
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Blitzzoshi
Yoshi
Much gratitude, Anjil.
Posts: 291
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Post by Blitzzoshi on Dec 31, 2010 6:09:48 GMT -5
Believe me, I would love to see this place prosper again, so I'll see what I can do. Once the Cross Community Secret Santa is officially over, I'll discuss the future of YC live with the remaining staff (there's at least four or five staff members who still pay attention to this place, believe it or not), and with any other regular members besides me who might be interested.
In the meantime, like I've mentioned before, I think projects (EG. more art trade events) would be a great way to spark some activity.
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Post by emvee on Dec 31, 2010 6:22:41 GMT -5
I've been here for a good while (four years, tomorrow) and activity seemed fairly more common back then. Over the years, things simply became too stale, and everything had already been done. I honestly want to see this place come back to life, but in its current state it just isn't going to happen. A lot of people want this board to be about Yoshi and solely Yoshi, but there's only so much that can be said about Yoshi.
I've proposed many ideas about switching the board's focus while not abandoning the idea of Yoshi themes, but they've all be shot down. I've suggested breaking away from YC and YAF and making a community out of those still around, and that was also shot down. I've even suggested a board purge, so that things would be fresh while keeping the same board AND the same focus, and that was shot down.
As moot said, there's no lack of ideas, but lack of action, I'd say. YCNN was a good idea, but it lacked one thing: guidelines. No-one posted in it because they didn't know what would be considered relevant, and didn't want a bunch of people breathing down their throats about how it wasn't relevant to Yoshi, despite most likely being relevant to the community reading the blog posts. The podcast too was a good idea, but also lacked structure. There was a demand for content, but no guidelines for it. Many who were involved were just told to "do something interesting" for the cast without really knowing what would be relevant. I mean, yeah, I can come up with content, but what good is having a podcast without a theme or purpose? It just becomes a bunch of guys rambling about cookies for a half-hour.
Affiliation can help, but there's a problem -- both sides have a large amount of important staff members who have thrown the sites to the side. Either way, nothing can really be implemented or done because apathy runs wild (oh hi oxymoron).
Really I don't think anything will be done or change until certain things are addressed, certain prides are swallowed, and certain compromises are made. Given the situation I honestly don't see it happening.
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Post by PinkFloydYoshi on Dec 31, 2010 7:40:13 GMT -5
The biggest thing we lack is something new or a board feature not many boards have that makes taking part fun. Both the YCNN and the YC Podcast were excellent ideas, not many other communities have a bi-weekly podcast so maybe we could focus here? We should probably introduce an order of discussion though because members might get excited about us discussing something, and be disappointed when we don't actually reach it. This is one I've been thinking about over the last few months: Monthly charity gaming runs. I see this more around special charity events like the BBC's Children in Need, and with the power of Ustream behind us and services such as justgiving.com, there is nothing stopping us from hosting a monthly charity fundraising event using games as our interest engine. This also has the added benefit of others getting involved with the community as there are plenty of people out there among the gaming communities that will quite willingly get involved in these types of events. The biggest problem which has already been mentioned aplenty is that nobody wants to step up to the plate and run these things. I'm already covering Blittzoshi's Secret Santa now, but not much is involved in running it, like many activities. It's just that the people running them lose interest, and once that happens people start to wonder what happened. Our biggest problem is a horrible lack of communication. Nobody talks. Until a thread like this one pops up evidently! As before, I have always supported an affiliation, but that ain't happening thanks to Soul's cantankerous attitude, so how about we move on and begin doing things ourselves? First step to correcting this, is picking an idea. Second step is who runs it? Settle that, then it's up to the person running the event to put wheels in motion, or seek the assistance of someone who knows the technical aspects of that event. We've got an abundance of talent on this board. There are people who are experts in writing who could be useful in putting literacy based events to play. Experts in digital art and drawn art that could put their talents toward the execution of art contests. Experts in technical fields who can run streamed events and put together network games. Shouldn't people who step up to the plate be talking to these people for advice on running a successful event? As already said though, it's this abundance of apathy. This is dead easy to get around, it's just nobody wants to run an event. Why that is though, is anybodies guess. Addendum: It's new years night tonight, how about we do something in time for midnight? |
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Post by Moot on Dec 31, 2010 12:52:05 GMT -5
I just remembered those weekly AIM chats we used to have. I don't know what happens these days with people in regards to IMing each other but every week or so a bunch of people would get together in an AIM chatroom and just talk about a bunch of junk for however long people hung around for. We could probably do that now via IRC as #yc is still going, but I know people thought that IRC was taking away activity from the board itself.
That could also probably link into the YCast some how provided there's some actual structure involved instead of "let's talk about a bunch of stuff and see what happens!" Because last time we tried that we got about 5 minutes of content, 3 minutes of me being an idiot between edits and god knows how long talking about biscuits.
I might start hosting a Minecraft server again if interest warrants it - With this new box I should be able to keep it running most of the time so uptime shouldn't be an issue there, and I know I got some people from here in on it. I doubt many people here paid for it so Survival multiplayer is probably out of the question, but as far as I know you can still play the Creative mode for free via minecraft.net.
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Post by andrevus on Dec 31, 2010 19:45:01 GMT -5
I really think we should do something too about the forumst themselves.
I agree with most of you and while im not much of a man of action myself we do need to do something literally "anything" to get us off the ground again.I remember back when i weren't even a member i was still lurking around a few years ago there were threads that almost blew my mind (i was just too shy to join and post in it) while i agree with the "Forum Games" idea the usuall count to X game or the "Ban the poster above you for reason Y" game gets stale quite fast like most forums i visited.The podcast i loved and i would like the idea of bringing it back (even would try to join in too) but still without advertizing it not many people will notice it and that means we're back to square one.Not wanting to be a pessimist but even though you guys said "we're good at coming up with ideas" i don't see much of it either.
I almost forgot the edit button and made a double post.
Seeing that as i type this post theres 4 yes FOUR members online we should put a shoutbox into the front page
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Post by Anjil on Dec 31, 2010 23:34:34 GMT -5
Oh, I miss those! But back then it didn't seem like those long chat sessions were taking away from board activity, but seemed to promote it. Maybe it's because there were more active members back then? In the last year, I sensed a bit of hostility between some members, so I felt hesitant about joining the IRC chat. It also felt a bit clique-ish, but that might just be me.
Yeah, Kurtis still dedicates a considerable amount of time to this forum. With the semester over 'til mid-January, he'll be more active once we're home from California. I'm out-of-the-loop, so I don't know what admins still stick around. As for the ones who don't anymore, why are they still on staff?
I plan on being more active in the new year. For some reason, my general activity on the internet (save for Facebook and Twitter) dropped considerably this last year, probably due to a sudden change in lifestyle. I hope to change that, though!
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Post by PinkFloydYoshi on Jan 1, 2011 8:36:07 GMT -5
In the last year, I sensed a bit of hostility between some members, so I felt hesitant about joining the IRC chat. It also felt a bit clique-ish, but that might just be me. You're spot on, this occurred right at the beginning of the year and couldn't have helped either YC or Yoshi Lore as my board was involved. It shouldn't have happened and the people involved disappointed me, I didn't expect I'd ever reach a position where I'd have to sack a staff member for breaking trust, I thought I could trust everyone. As I've said plenty in the past, can't we all just get along? I lurk every day, no reason not to as I have my own boards to run also. I don't keep an eye on the ticker at the bottom though, so as to who isn't sticking around it's anyone's guess, but it should be mentioned that few of the staff (in general) are probably celebrating the new year with other relatives. They may reappear after the 4th when work begins for the vast majority of the world again. As for why they are still here, well, it's got to be a majority vote with the board manager having final say. There is a process to go through. It might be long winded, but it ensures that the process is fair. Sorry I keep harassing your Chocobos, ever since a friend of mine introduced me to that darn game my Facebook activity shot through the roof and has for the vast majority of the time revolved around harassing people's Chocobos with brushes and treats! Raising Chocobos in Chocobo's Crystal Tower is a load easier than it was raising them in Final Fantasy XI (took months to raise one)! Any event we put on means it'll get discussed on the boards, both before and after. The monthly charity fundraising idea has the added benefit of creating all before, during and after discussion topics. We'd have people vote for a game to be completed over the course of 48 hours (a weekend) which is live-streamed. During the stream, chat occurs on the board itself. After the stream people can discuss how badly or how good the player of the game played, and how much was raised and the benefactor. I've run charity fundraising events locally in the past and have successfully raised £4,500 for the local air ambulance services. Of course, the things I did to get that were numerous, but the best one was an auction with the best choice of person running it to add a hilarious twist to it. The pub quiz bought in a lot, but the auction trounced it big style. Charity fundraisers have the added benefit of also being tweeted by people, and then retweeted, and others getting involved, and then retweeted again. @ashens has tweeted a few gaming related fundraisers and it's precisely that sort of exposure we need, Ashen has 8,400 followers, that is exposure of gargantuan proportions! He's not the only one who can give us exposure if it works, there is a plethora of other gaming enthusiasts that would also like to get involved too, and the beauty of JustGiving is that no money is handled by anyone but JustGiving themselves, so there is no way of fiddling it to be beneficial to anyone else but the chosen charity. Twitter would become an excellent tool in helping us promote this type of event. Who wouldn't advertise a charity fundraiser? You know why that happened though right? We didn't think of subjects we could actually discuss for long periods of time, so I'd like to give this a try again. It's been years since I hosted a chatshow (I assume few remember the Strangie interviews I did live - which I can still do by the way) but I can do this again so long as people are willing to give it a try? How about we spend now to the coming weekend planning, and this weekend we actually do it? I'm willing to invest the time to make this work, but a chatshow is not something I can run by myself. I need others involved! I can run both Garry's Mod and Left4Dead 1&2 servers, I have a server dedicated to this purpose which only me and a friend use. I think I can host 4 people on it before my internet connection becomes unstable, I've not fully tested. I'm willing to put it to use though. Again, it also relates to anyone with an XBox LIVE gamertag. Anyone up for a Co-op of Reach? |
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Post by Teal on Jan 1, 2011 16:58:56 GMT -5
I'm glad I was able to get something restarted here even though I'm not a staff member. Let's all make it a goal this year to re-spark the activity here. After winding down from New Years I'll see what I can do.
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Post by Anjil on Jan 2, 2011 0:19:54 GMT -5
I personally like the idea of re-creating old threads, simply because oldbies have gone and newbies have arrived. Newer folks weren't around for those threads, and there are such few veterans now that it would hardly be bothersome. We don't necessarily have to start posting in a 4 year-old thread, but rehashes of old threads can spark more conversation. Also, I miss the YC oekaki! (Yoshikaki?) I think it'd be a fun little diversion for the artists around here. The Daily Yoshi Drawing thread seemed to attract a fair amount of activity, so I don't see how an oekaki can't. Haha, no problem! I think you're the only friend of mine on that app who tends to their Chocobos about as regularly as I do.  I hope you enjoy my daily golden feathers! |
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Blitzzoshi
Yoshi
Much gratitude, Anjil.
Posts: 291
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Post by Blitzzoshi on Jan 2, 2011 1:05:30 GMT -5
The Yoshikaki fell off the face of the Internet. Maybe Pink could bring it back online.
I'd actually love something that would help me practice my art skills. I mean, I already have Glorious Trainwrecks for regularly creating terrible action-oriented Chip's Challenge ripoffs in Klik & Play (as well as practicing game design).
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Post by PinkFloydYoshi on Jan 2, 2011 7:58:53 GMT -5
Also, I miss the YC oekaki! (Yoshikaki?) I think it'd be a fun little diversion for the artists around here. The Daily Yoshi Drawing thread seemed to attract a fair amount of activity, so I don't see how an oekaki can't. I can bring that back, I was asked about it a long while ago but I've no idea what happened to the backups I made, so I'll just bring a new database up a little later today and set it back up with a new skin to boot. If I remember rightly, we used Wakintaki Poteto which is apparently still being kept up to date! I'll make it available again a little later today and stick it on the new backup system to make sure it doesn't do another vanishing act! I'll re-announce it in the ticker at the top when it's ready. Oh gosh I do, I've been saving them up for another slot on the farm! How are you getting them? I can't for the life of me figure out how to earn them without buying points, but I have a feeling that's the idea. :s Addendum: It's up! yoshikaki.yoshicurio.com |
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Post by Matoking on Jan 2, 2011 12:30:13 GMT -5
I might start hosting a Minecraft server again if interest warrants it - With this new box I should be able to keep it running most of the time so uptime shouldn't be an issue there, and I know I got some people from here in on it. I doubt many people here paid for it so Survival multiplayer is probably out of the question, but as far as I know you can still play the Creative mode for free via minecraft.net. Minecraft server sounds like a good idea, SMP would be awesome but I think Creative is ok too. |
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Post by g!rl_k.s.a. on Jan 2, 2011 17:11:27 GMT -5
I might have an idea on how to save the forum. What about just one general topic where we can talk about whatever we want in particular that seems interesting at the time. Like maybe a topic where anything can be discussed, as one single topic.
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Post by Anjil on Jan 2, 2011 18:29:03 GMT -5
Oh gosh I do, I've been saving them up for another slot on the farm! How are you getting them? I can't for the life of me figure out how to earn them without buying points, but I have a feeling that's the idea. :s I get all of my feathers just from visiting my friend's farms everyday. A new feather appears on each farm every 24 hours. And luckily, they're there whether the friend is active or not! I have a bunch of friends who started farms but stopped shortly after.  Huzzah! ;D Also, this is out of nowhere, but what happened to the little banner at the bottom linking to Yoshi Lore? I was thinking YCNN, YCast (if those two are being started up again), #yc, the Yoshikaki, and any other affiliates or extensions we may have in the future could all have a small banner of their own and be linked down there, just so that users don't need to go digging through the forums for them. |
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