Getting New (Non-VDex) Members

[Wyndi]

I've been seeing concerns from various people (including myself) lately about general inactivity and how to get more people to join, so I've been thinking over things a bit. I feel like member count is at a standstill at the moment since we've (intentionally or not) branded ourselves as a new place for former VDex roleplayers to hang out, and by that definition, sooner or later, we will hit a cap simply because there are no more former VDexers to join. And unfortunately, because all of us at the moment are former VDexers, I feel that might drive any new non-VDex members we have away - it can be difficult joining a forum where there's already a pretty well established community.

So two ideas:


Highlighting a Key Feature

What makes RS unique other than its members? What can we offer that would make people want to join if they don't know any of us? (Even though we are pretty great on our own, I agree.)

Almost all of us have two interests in common: Pokémon and roleplaying. Would it be possible to expand these two sections so that they'd be the "main draws" of the forum, so to speak? For example, if we gave roleplaying its own subforum rather than putting it under the Creative subforum, that alone would give the roleplay section more importance. (Then subsections for the subforum could include character creation/profiles, ooc threads, wanted threads, Pokémon roleplays, non-Pokémon roleplays, etc.)


Advertising

Mini and I were discussing this last night - once we figure out who our target audience is and what our best points are, it might be worth posting about our forum in resource boards just so we can reach a larger amount of people. Otherwise, things like our tumblrs (easier since it wouldn't necessarily require graphics, and you can make the text more personal) and forum signatures would be our options.

If people agree to this and need an image to use, kismet, would it be possible to provide us with a smaller version of the forum banner?


Anyway, these were just ideas I was sitting on, and please voice your own if you have any. I'm hoping new members will solve the inactivity problem, because it's clear that people are still coming to the board every day to check on things - it's just that there's been nothing for them to post about.

[mdf2711]

This is a great point Wyndi and I'm glad you mentioned it. To do my part to promote, I've added a link in my Tumblr description to the site so people can view it from mobile and desktop versions. I also think your thoughts on moving the roleplay section to its own area isn't a bad idea at all though we'll have to discuss it with Jaime before going ahead...though I must admit, I'd be sad to see it separated into subtopics like you described solely because I've always hated to see RPs that separate things so messily by area and stuff and that just seems similar to me (though if I'm the only one with this opinion I'll adapt of course) but I don't think separating OOC and RP threads would be an awful idea and then we could have a wanted thread...though profile threads haven't been a thing with our style of RPs for a long time so I dunno if that's even a relevant idea. And separating by type of RP might get...messy? Do you think? Maybe not...hmmm...but we need a fourth thing because otherwise the desktop version of our site's layout looks wonky with odd numbers so...hmmm...and then we need something to place into Creative in place of the RP boards.

I definitely think your ideas have merit, Wyndi dear, but the effort to migrate all the topics will need some time to be realized though if others agree this is a good idea then I'm sure I can make the time to do so.

And I truly like the idea of advertising so if/when we could get on that with some kind of organized system, that would be great. Also, I know I've blogged about this on Tumblr before and I think drac reblogged it but maybe it might be a good idea to make one post and have all of us reblog it. It might get more attention that way if we combine the power of all our blogs to get the notes and follower count necessary to attract new people to click the link and discover our forum?

[Wyndi]

Yes, JJX will have to approve everything - I didn't mean to sound like I wanted everyone to just go ahead and start rearranging things on their own, sorry. Everything I suggest is ultimately dependent on his opinion, and we should respect that.

If we don't want to separate by type of RP (I just suggested it since Pokémon RPs are the predominant ones, and this forum is sort of a Pokémon forum anyway), then we could do:
- ooc threads / wanted threads
- roleplay threads
- character threads (people can start profile threads so they can have all their character profiles in one place for easy access, or can ask for help or critique in regards to new characters or character development)
- (I had an idea for this last section last night, and now I can't remember. Please hold.)

As for the Creative subforum, perhaps we could move the forum games section into the Chatter subforum? That would bring the number of sections in that subforum down to two again.

re: moving topics Oh, shoot. I was under the impression all mods had thread-moving privileges so we could all help out (since I wouldn't have suggested the endeavour otherwise), but GLs can't, can they. Sorry, I didn't realize. otl

re: tumblr post Yeah, that's probably a better idea than each of us posting on our own. Once we get things worked out about what we want in the post, I can start it if you want?

[mdf2711]

Actually, none of the Elite Four besides myself are supposed to even have access to that ability (Spesh might still though for beginning site editing purposes) but I can manage all that. The problem is that moving the Games to Chatter then will lead to uneven number because the odd number currently in Chatter is plotted for the eventual addition of our Foreign Languages board. So then we go back to unevenness I do actually like the idea of everyone having their own personal threads for characters and such. We might still choose to have them in our OOC threads but this way you can just look up a character by user or view other characters by an RPer you admire or something. And it could also give you the freedom to continuously post things related to your characters or if some people like, you could chat with the characters outside of the RP or something or link to Tumblr or other characters/RPs you use on other sites~ It's a neat idea. Though I'd still prefer an even number. So that means adding a new thread for Creative and RP...we just need to decide what to add. Try browsing other forums and getting ideas from that? Also, I'm fine with you starting the note originally Wyndi as long as we all make sure to link to it and reblog somehow~

[Wyndi]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to give anyone the brunt of the workload. Plus I know you're already so busy....otl

I forgot about the foreign languages board! Ignore my suggestion then.

re: the characters section Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking! A lot of us have so many OCs that it'd be nice to have one spot for everyone to keep track of and interact with them (especially if said characters wouldn't normally be able to interact, etc.).

I will do some brainstorming and get back to you on ideas for subforums, don't worry! o7

And yes, when the post goes up, I will link to it here.

[Mini]

Okay, adding my two-cents in here. First off, I want to say that if there are concerns of activity on this forum, discussing such a big issue should be brought up somewhere like the Announcements or where we’re discussing this (the Suggestions forum), not brought up off-handedly in a roleplay ooc. It’s not really the proper forum (excuse the pun) for such a big discussion that involves all the members of the board. Not all of them are in the roleplaying forum/in all the roleplays. I’m glad both Wyndi and I stalk threads so it can be brought up in a more proper discussion where everyone can get involved.

Advertising is so important for forums to survive. Yes we drew from VDex, but that doesn’t have an infinite amount of people to come and join and keep the site going, we need to advertise if we want more activity. Tumblr’s definitely a good option, there are plenty of advertising tumblrs there and if we all reblog an ad, it’ll definitely help. I know I mutually follow a bunch of pokemon & rp people so that could help. There are also plenty of resource forums out there - a lot focusing on RP that I know from my years of adminning and roleplaying on said forums, there might be some sections for a more general board like Remember Shedinja. Maybe kismet could whip up another banner or a small image for advertising purposes, if not I’m sure we can all band together and make something for ad purposes.

Re: Characters section I am ALL about that. That sounds like a lot of fun, really! It’d be nice for us to all have a spot for everyone to keep track & interact with each other’s OC’s outside of roleplays. Also, the subforum idea is a good one, as well. I know it’s probably a little more work, but it’s definitely nice and organized when it’s all done.

[Wyndi]

Okay, I finally remembered what my idea for the fourth subforum in the rp section would be: resources. Not just your basic how-to-make-OCs and writing resources (although that would probably still be the main focus), but research references for background information such as cultures and languages, and commonly needed knowledge such as first aid, blood loss, and basic psychology. It might be a little messy, but we could probably just group references by topic (and have one topic per thread).