Post by Shou Ryuunosuke on Dec 24, 2010 4:47:02 GMT -5
Hello everyone I'm Shou Ryuunosuke AKA Kidradd342 on Chatango. First things first, I love the look of this site so far... except for two things. 
Total Members: 9
Active Users In The Past 24 Hours
2 Staff Members, 1 Member, 4 Guests
Shou Ryuunosuke, Akiza Izinski, Genkishi
Now what I want to do about this is share with the staff and members some knowledge that I have with RP sites. I've ran over several rpg sites and I've been a member of over a dozen. So here are some suggestions for you guys. ;D
1. Add a General Discussion Board
This may not seem important but it really, really is. A G.D. board allows members to discuss and talk with each other, which will show off their personality. What happens with this is that a member will often find a personality that they really like and will keep coming back to meet with that member, and of course there is an obvious advantage with that.
1a. (To the Staff) Post a discussion in the General Discussion Board.
Try and remember this: 0 Posts is a TURN OFF. When a guest visits your forum and lurks around and sees 0 Posts (anywhere) it makes them think that this forum isn't very active and that it never really got off the ground. Eliminate those thoughts by immediately posting whenever you create a new board. In this case the first discussion should be something that you think the members of the forum will want to talk about, something Yu-Gi-Oh! for instance or a recent event.
2. Add a Forum Games Sub-Board to the General Discussion Board
Forum Games is another (fun) way to keep members coming back onto the board. Forum Games can be anything from "Post a picture of yourself" to "Rate the avatar of the member above you." Be sure to remember suggestion 1a, "0 Posts is a TURN OFF", so post a forum game as soon as it is made.
3. Add a RANDOM/Spam Sub-Board to the General Discussion Board
This is another way to keep members coming back and to show your guests that the members are pretty light-hearted. Some members enjoy this more than Forum Games. Remember 1a.
4. Add a Suggestion Board
A lot of members have something to share (like me) or contribute to the site. If you have a suggestion board up and running then they'll be encouraged to post their ideas. In this case 1a would be better left ignored.
5. IMPORTANT Add some RP areas! IMPORTANT
I can't stress this enough. Members are creating awesome characters and they don't have a place to RP them. This is pretty disappointing for some members who may have joined to RP and not so much duel. Two essential areas are New Domino City and Satellite.
6. Add some new dueling areas
Abandoned Houses and other things are pretty good and all but some characters might be from a more dignified place and may want to to duel somewhere a bit more official. Also be sure to try and encourage Turbo Dueling with some of the New Dueling Areas. Here are my suggestions: Abandoned Field, Public Stadium, The Park, Abandoned Street.
7. Add a Introduction Board
This will allow new members to say, "hello", and hopefully get a warm welcome. When they receive a good welcome, new members are definitely more inclined to stick around.
Well that about wraps up all the suggestions I have for now but before I finish this post I'd like to give a few tips to the staff.
1. Stay Active!
If you guys don't already, you should at least be checking in on the site a few times a day.
2. Strive for this Golden Rule
"Last Updated Topic should always read TODAY"
3. Be a manager
I don't mean just keep the rules in check but I mean the staff should be starting all kinds of events and RP around the site. If you open a thread and no one comes then try PMing a member directly and try to get some interaction between their character and yours.
I used to run a Megaman RP Forum a while back. I was the only administrator left on the forum and we had only a handful of members but still that site ran for years because I kept coming up with new events and made lots of character interaction. My proof? As an experiment to test my member's self-sufficiency I decided to have a temporary leave of absence of one month. When I came back the site was deader than a rock.
4.
Using smilies is important because over the internet, other people cannot discern the "tone" or state of mind you had while writing your post. Smilies help you by providing a nice little face that can be used to let other users know your state of mind."
I hate you
I hate you
I hate you ;D
See the difference? You got three totally different vibes just because I added one of those simple smilies to the end of it. Try and use smilies often but not so much that there is one at the end of every sentence, just try reading it aloud and decide for yourself wether it needs smiley to clarify your tone.
Anyway with that I believe I'll end this post. If you've read this far then thank you for your time, I appreciate that you respect me enough to read through this giant wall of text!
Sincerely,
Shou Ryuunosuke
Total Members: 9
Active Users In The Past 24 Hours
2 Staff Members, 1 Member, 4 Guests
Shou Ryuunosuke, Akiza Izinski, Genkishi
Now what I want to do about this is share with the staff and members some knowledge that I have with RP sites. I've ran over several rpg sites and I've been a member of over a dozen. So here are some suggestions for you guys. ;D
1. Add a General Discussion Board
This may not seem important but it really, really is. A G.D. board allows members to discuss and talk with each other, which will show off their personality. What happens with this is that a member will often find a personality that they really like and will keep coming back to meet with that member, and of course there is an obvious advantage with that.
1a. (To the Staff) Post a discussion in the General Discussion Board.
Try and remember this: 0 Posts is a TURN OFF. When a guest visits your forum and lurks around and sees 0 Posts (anywhere) it makes them think that this forum isn't very active and that it never really got off the ground. Eliminate those thoughts by immediately posting whenever you create a new board. In this case the first discussion should be something that you think the members of the forum will want to talk about, something Yu-Gi-Oh! for instance or a recent event.
2. Add a Forum Games Sub-Board to the General Discussion Board
Forum Games is another (fun) way to keep members coming back onto the board. Forum Games can be anything from "Post a picture of yourself" to "Rate the avatar of the member above you." Be sure to remember suggestion 1a, "0 Posts is a TURN OFF", so post a forum game as soon as it is made.
3. Add a RANDOM/Spam Sub-Board to the General Discussion Board
This is another way to keep members coming back and to show your guests that the members are pretty light-hearted. Some members enjoy this more than Forum Games. Remember 1a.
4. Add a Suggestion Board
A lot of members have something to share (like me) or contribute to the site. If you have a suggestion board up and running then they'll be encouraged to post their ideas. In this case 1a would be better left ignored.
5. IMPORTANT Add some RP areas! IMPORTANT
I can't stress this enough. Members are creating awesome characters and they don't have a place to RP them. This is pretty disappointing for some members who may have joined to RP and not so much duel. Two essential areas are New Domino City and Satellite.
6. Add some new dueling areas
Abandoned Houses and other things are pretty good and all but some characters might be from a more dignified place and may want to to duel somewhere a bit more official. Also be sure to try and encourage Turbo Dueling with some of the New Dueling Areas. Here are my suggestions: Abandoned Field, Public Stadium, The Park, Abandoned Street.
7. Add a Introduction Board
This will allow new members to say, "hello", and hopefully get a warm welcome. When they receive a good welcome, new members are definitely more inclined to stick around.
Well that about wraps up all the suggestions I have for now but before I finish this post I'd like to give a few tips to the staff.
1. Stay Active!
If you guys don't already, you should at least be checking in on the site a few times a day.
2. Strive for this Golden Rule
"Last Updated Topic should always read TODAY"
3. Be a manager
I don't mean just keep the rules in check but I mean the staff should be starting all kinds of events and RP around the site. If you open a thread and no one comes then try PMing a member directly and try to get some interaction between their character and yours.
I used to run a Megaman RP Forum a while back. I was the only administrator left on the forum and we had only a handful of members but still that site ran for years because I kept coming up with new events and made lots of character interaction. My proof? As an experiment to test my member's self-sufficiency I decided to have a temporary leave of absence of one month. When I came back the site was deader than a rock.
4.
Using smilies is important because over the internet, other people cannot discern the "tone" or state of mind you had while writing your post. Smilies help you by providing a nice little face that can be used to let other users know your state of mind."
I hate you
I hate you
I hate you ;D
See the difference? You got three totally different vibes just because I added one of those simple smilies to the end of it. Try and use smilies often but not so much that there is one at the end of every sentence, just try reading it aloud and decide for yourself wether it needs smiley to clarify your tone.
Anyway with that I believe I'll end this post. If you've read this far then thank you for your time, I appreciate that you respect me enough to read through this giant wall of text!
Sincerely,
Shou Ryuunosuke
