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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2020 2:23:10 GMT -5
anyone got any ideas on how to make it alive again?
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Post by Leapkit on Oct 6, 2020 2:24:56 GMT -5
i'd suggest necromancy but sand made it illegal
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2020 2:40:58 GMT -5
why do old posts exist then?
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Post by 🆉🅴🅻🅳🆁🅸🆂 on Oct 6, 2020 5:54:22 GMT -5
Necroposting is against the forum rules. Do not necropost. Staff is doing their best with what they’ve got. Unfortunately forums aren’t as popular as they used to be back in 2010-2014.
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Post by Sand on Oct 6, 2020 10:28:43 GMT -5
I mean there’s always the options of doing ads through ProBoards. I think we’ve thought about it once or twice, I just haven’t really weighed if that’s something we should try or not. We do what we can and Mint finds affiliates for us which is a huge plus.
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Post by Sand on Oct 6, 2020 10:29:07 GMT -5
i'd suggest necromancy but sand made it illegal When did I ever do that?
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Aromantic
Altair
2020 never existed
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Post by Altair on Oct 6, 2020 10:44:26 GMT -5
So can we do necromancy?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2020 11:03:54 GMT -5
Sign me up for necromancy if we can
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Asexual
#07B04C
star_black.png
Name Colour
Ṣanɗypaw™
The Shiny User
🎵Guess that's just the way it goes, easy come, easy go🎵
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Post by Ṣanɗypaw™ on Oct 6, 2020 11:16:14 GMT -5
Yayyyy, necromancy! Wait, is Sand going to ban it now since it was brought up? *is suddenly worried*
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Post by 🆉🅴🅻🅳🆁🅸🆂 on Oct 6, 2020 12:57:12 GMT -5
I mean there’s always the options of doing ads through ProBoards. I think we’ve thought about it once or twice, I just haven’t really weighed if that’s something we should try or not. We do what we can and Mint finds affiliates for us which is a huge plus. The affiliates are very helpful. As for the ads, would it be cost effective? This can get expensive, and quick. Granted, I know numbers can be shifted around. But, that's still going to be real expensive for one or two people to take on alone.
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Post by Turin not Torino on Oct 6, 2020 14:59:44 GMT -5
Pretty sure the candy game is going to liven things up a bit, or at least it has in forum games.
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Post by Numquam on Oct 6, 2020 15:15:56 GMT -5
Forums in general aren't doing so hot compared to before ;__;
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Post by Sand on Oct 6, 2020 18:45:49 GMT -5
I mean there’s always the options of doing ads through ProBoards. I think we’ve thought about it once or twice, I just haven’t really weighed if that’s something we should try or not. We do what we can and Mint finds affiliates for us which is a huge plus. The affiliates are very helpful. As for the ads, would it be cost effective? This can get expensive, and quick. Granted, I know numbers can be shifted around. But, that's still going to be real expensive for one or two people to take on alone. Looking at my medical bills, then seeing PB's ads prices... Might just forget that idea and throw it into the trash. Numquam has a very good point though; forums, in general, are like a dying breed. On the other hand, we are lucky we hit 400 posts a day at average. Is it slow here? Yes, I would say it is. However, trying to fix that seems difficult to do, at least in my opinion. Maybe it's because I have no experience with marketing. It's not impossible, we've been able to up the post numbers before. Turin also has a point with the candy hunt, it does move our numbers. That's a plus. So, I'm thinking I'll just google the world's most basic question and see what kind of feedback I can find. If we already check some boxes there but don't check others, we can aim for them. I've also thought about doing social media accounts to promote, but is it worth it? Would it get us traction?
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Asexual
#07B04C
star_black.png
Name Colour
Ṣanɗypaw™
The Shiny User
🎵Guess that's just the way it goes, easy come, easy go🎵
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Post by Ṣanɗypaw™ on Oct 6, 2020 19:16:06 GMT -5
The affiliates are very helpful. As for the ads, would it be cost effective? This can get expensive, and quick. Granted, I know numbers can be shifted around. But, that's still going to be real expensive for one or two people to take on alone. Looking at my medical bills, then seeing PB's ads prices... Might just forget that idea and throw it into the trash. Numquam has a very good point though; forums, in general, are like a dying breed. On the other hand, we are lucky we hit 400 posts a day at average. Is it slow here? Yes, I would say it is. However, trying to fix that seems difficult to do, at least in my opinion. Maybe it's because I have no experience with marketing. It's not impossible, we've been able to up the post numbers before. Turin also has a point with the candy hunt, it does move our numbers. That's a plus. So, I'm thinking I'll just google the world's most basic question and see what kind of feedback I can find. If we already check some boxes there but don't check others, we can aim for them. I've also thought about doing social media accounts to promote, but is it worth it? Would it get us traction? In my Instagram bio I have a link to WG, but I doubt anyone who follows me has ever checked it out. (none of my friends are Warriors fans)
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Post by 🆉🅴🅻🅳🆁🅸🆂 on Oct 6, 2020 20:34:01 GMT -5
The affiliates are very helpful. As for the ads, would it be cost effective? This can get expensive, and quick. Granted, I know numbers can be shifted around. But, that's still going to be real expensive for one or two people to take on alone. Looking at my medical bills, then seeing PB's ads prices... Might just forget that idea and throw it into the trash. Numquam has a very good point though; forums, in general, are like a dying breed. On the other hand, we are lucky we hit 400 posts a day at average. Is it slow here? Yes, I would say it is. However, trying to fix that seems difficult to do, at least in my opinion. Maybe it's because I have no experience with marketing. It's not impossible, we've been able to up the post numbers before. Turin also has a point with the candy hunt, it does move our numbers. That's a plus. So, I'm thinking I'll just google the world's most basic question and see what kind of feedback I can find. If we already check some boxes there but don't check others, we can aim for them. I've also thought about doing social media accounts to promote, but is it worth it? Would it get us traction? Yeah, I feel like their advertisement pricings are crazy. Numquam is right, and like I mentioned before, forums were a hit in like 2010-2014 (maybe '15) but since then they have gone downhill. Please also keep in mind that on the old forums, the actual Warriors books advertised the message boards. Now, they do not, because we, well, aren't the "official" site. Events like the candy hunt bring up numbers, yes. The Fanatic Challenge brought up numbers for a little bit as well. Secret Santa. I think if we can make events like these more regular we might have more activity. But, more prizes will need to be added into the loot pool. Example being Turin already having the prize reward offered and needing another prize. A poll can be made to see what users would like to see as prizes. While doing this, utilize forum and Google analytics to see which events are more popular than others. This way you can expand on what the majority of people like. As for social media, you could. It might work. Tumblr is the most used based on previous polls made on this site. But another poll should be taken to see the current popular platform. I would say try it and see where it takes us. It wouldn't hurt. Another good thing to look at is marketing/promoting. I do have 3 more suggestions. 1) We have affiliates, and we are on their affiliate boards. I've reviewed this thread. I think that if we allow this, it would not hurt to ask the staff on our affiliate websites to see if we, too, can advertise once every "x" amount of days. We have a lot of affiliates - Mint might need help on that. Get a group of people whose specific job is to recruit new people. I'm not saying to poach from other sites, but to have a certain people recruit from certain forums or servers. To elaborate: Mint oversees/manages said "recruiters" and gives them certain places to go to recruit people (once said affiliate staff has given permission to us to advertise). So Person 1 could recruit on Affiliates 1 - 7, Person 2 recruits on Affiliates 8 - 13, etc. I know that seems overly elaborate and all but it may help offload some of the stress on staff. 2) Send an email blast in the ACP. Admin > Members > Email Members > Send to everyone I would do this as a last resort so it doesn't sound desperate. I'd use this for a "big" update. Example (and more suggestions), a brand new contest coming, a brand new forum theme, a forum redesign (boards and categories + themes + profiles) or something of the sort. Don't send an email that's like "hey we are dead please come back". It will backfire. 3) Expand the forum contents. Right now it's Erin Hunter related, primarily. Expand it more to incorporate other authors or topics. I know it started as just Warriors. But, again, forums aren't a hot topic anymore. If you can expand the fanbase you may be able to attract more people and thus have more activity. Just my two cents and suggestions based off prior experience. Also, if you need me to elaborate on anything, please ask.
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Post by Brownie on Oct 6, 2020 20:42:14 GMT -5
I mean I pulled a few people from places like Ao3, ffnet, even youtube Warriors communities that are still going strong. A lot of them don't even know this place still exists.
I don't do much work over there, but I'm starting to do more writing and more art, so maybe putting out there as well and drawing in that way could be a good way to get people around here. Kinda like social media, but in-fandom so to speak. People there are obviously interested in a) warriors and b) community aspects, so they already eliminate two big reasons one wouldn't join a forum.
it's also partially inactivity here as well. I lurk a lot because the things I follow aren't updated often or it takes a lot of time to build up a discussion because some days it feels like only mint exists on the forums lmao
a lot of things I post looking for discussion get like, 50 views and no replies and i really have no pride so i doublepost often (or pages of just self-chatter, see any otw or even fanfic page) but it is really hard to get anything started on here and that may be fixed by more people but it's also fixed by just... people actually posting instead of lurking. I think half the reason the old forums did so well is because people didn't care about posting half-baked replies or looking silly and people now want to have 'meaningful' discussion and end up not saying anything at all.
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Non-binary
dal
and even all the smiles on kid's faces bring you pain, when you think of what they'll face
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Post by dal on Oct 6, 2020 21:15:00 GMT -5
i agree with 🆉🅴🅻🅳🆁🅸🆂, i think expanding out the off topic discussions area would be pretty helpful. as for expanding the forums generally into other areas, main concern for that is just what fanbases would be expanded to.
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Post by ash on Oct 6, 2020 21:37:55 GMT -5
we could expand to include wings of fire maybe?
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Post by mintedstar/fur🦇 on Oct 6, 2020 22:11:16 GMT -5
Well! Nice to see this discussion again. I'm always very invested in such conversations. Note that I've actually been under-the-table saving up for advertisements, but I suppose if better suggestions arise are probably better to try. I like 🆉🅴🅻🅳🆁🅸🆂's suggestions. For starters, I would say working on the first suggestions would be more productive while if the last suggestion is on the table then it should be discussed and plotted out to make such additions smooth. As for what to include, if the forums were expanded, I would suggest Wings of Fire, since it is already written by an Erin Hunter anyway and the fandom usually includes commonalities (and the original WoF forums were taken down as well, so they're probably looking to rehome). As for the affiliates, I do want to do more with them. Not only advertisements, but several have expressed interest in having cross platform activities and other ways to get both member bases actually interested in each other. Not to use the word 'snipe,' but if we were looking for more users, show the community would be a fun endeavor. I think other activities would also be really fun. If anyone had any ideas for them or some which they'd like to run (or find someone else to run), then I would really, really be interested in hearing them.
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Post by Sand on Oct 6, 2020 22:56:38 GMT -5
🆉🅴🅻🅳🆁🅸🆂 I like your ideas! I'll try to respond but right now my brain is mush from my new med, so anything I'd put together wouldn't make sense.
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Post by Sand on Oct 7, 2020 0:18:09 GMT -5
Looking at my medical bills, then seeing PB's ads prices... Might just forget that idea and throw it into the trash. Numquam has a very good point though; forums, in general, are like a dying breed. On the other hand, we are lucky we hit 400 posts a day at average. Is it slow here? Yes, I would say it is. However, trying to fix that seems difficult to do, at least in my opinion. Maybe it's because I have no experience with marketing. It's not impossible, we've been able to up the post numbers before. Turin also has a point with the candy hunt, it does move our numbers. That's a plus. So, I'm thinking I'll just google the world's most basic question and see what kind of feedback I can find. If we already check some boxes there but don't check others, we can aim for them. I've also thought about doing social media accounts to promote, but is it worth it? Would it get us traction? Yeah, I feel like their advertisement pricings are crazy. Numquam is right, and like I mentioned before, forums were a hit in like 2010-2014 (maybe '15) but since then they have gone downhill. Please also keep in mind that on the old forums, the actual Warriors books advertised the message boards. Now, they do not, because we, well, aren't the "official" site. Events like the candy hunt bring up numbers, yes. The Fanatic Challenge brought up numbers for a little bit as well. Secret Santa. I think if we can make events like these more regular we might have more activity. But, more prizes will need to be added into the loot pool. Example being Turin already having the prize reward offered and needing another prize. A poll can be made to see what users would like to see as prizes. While doing this, utilize forum and Google analytics to see which events are more popular than others. This way you can expand on what the majority of people like. As for social media, you could. It might work. Tumblr is the most used based on previous polls made on this site. But another poll should be taken to see the current popular platform. I would say try it and see where it takes us. It wouldn't hurt. Another good thing to look at is marketing/promoting. I do have 3 more suggestions. 1) We have affiliates, and we are on their affiliate boards. I've reviewed this thread. I think that if we allow this, it would not hurt to ask the staff on our affiliate websites to see if we, too, can advertise once every "x" amount of days. We have a lot of affiliates - Mint might need help on that. Get a group of people whose specific job is to recruit new people. I'm not saying to poach from other sites, but to have a certain people recruit from certain forums or servers. To elaborate: Mint oversees/manages said "recruiters" and gives them certain places to go to recruit people (once said affiliate staff has given permission to us to advertise). So Person 1 could recruit on Affiliates 1 - 7, Person 2 recruits on Affiliates 8 - 13, etc. I know that seems overly elaborate and all but it may help offload some of the stress on staff. 2) Send an email blast in the ACP. Admin > Members > Email Members > Send to everyone I would do this as a last resort so it doesn't sound desperate. I'd use this for a "big" update. Example (and more suggestions), a brand new contest coming, a brand new forum theme, a forum redesign (boards and categories + themes + profiles) or something of the sort. Don't send an email that's like "hey we are dead please come back". It will backfire. 3) Expand the forum contents. Right now it's Erin Hunter related, primarily. Expand it more to incorporate other authors or topics. I know it started as just Warriors. But, again, forums aren't a hot topic anymore. If you can expand the fanbase you may be able to attract more people and thus have more activity. Just my two cents and suggestions based off prior experience. Also, if you need me to elaborate on anything, please ask. Good point, we don't have the official site's support so finding us is like a needle in a haystack unless someone's from the OG forum or was directed here by a friend/someone else. I agree with that, we'll need to fit in more events and find a way to expand on prizes. Because at some point, we'll reach the limit on prizes and we will have to get creative somehow and some way. I'll put up a poll for the social media thing and see where it lands. From there, we can figure out what accounts need to be created for our social media "presence." Will look at the marketing/promoting site rn. 1. I'm down with that, but I'll leave the decision up to Mint. She knows more about the affiliates than I do and I think she handles it very well. 2. Definitely gonna use that as a last resort. We have announcements that work okay (I think) for now, so if necessary, I'll utilize the email members button if we're doing new things that require such usage. 3. Honestly, that might be a good idea. We can expand into Wings of Fire soon, I think. I know people like that series + it's by a former Erin so like... why not? As for other topics or authors, I'm wondering which ones would attract the most popularity. We could always put them as a sub-board in OTD since that seems like a good place for it.
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Post by mintedstar/fur🦇 on Oct 7, 2020 0:29:48 GMT -5
Ah yes! As for affiliates, I am more then willing to take on stuff regarding that! I can get up a topic searching for volunteers of course (I think I'd probably wait til November to do so, since we have events and things in October). It'll also give me time to look out and see which of our affiliates are good with advertisements and which are not. I know that some allow them every x amount of time so long that we also have a place to advertise, but I'll have to consider how we'd handle it on our end. A lot of our partners are also Discords who do not have advertisement places, but that isn't to say that contacting other servers for events or brainstorming things of the like wouldn't be fun.
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Post by 🆉🅴🅻🅳🆁🅸🆂 on Oct 7, 2020 0:33:20 GMT -5
Wings of Fire has been asked for since early 2016. As Mint pointed out, if we can direct their fan base here....more activity. As for the other fandoms, make a thread asking which fandoms users would like to see incorporated on this forum. Then, make a poll with the answers given to see which one is more popular.
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Post by 🆉🅴🅻🅳🆁🅸🆂 on Oct 7, 2020 0:38:08 GMT -5
Ah yes! As for affiliates, I am more then willing to take on stuff regarding that! I can get up a topic searching for volunteers of course (I think I'd probably wait til November to do so, since we have events and things in October). It'll also give me time to look out and see which of our affiliates are good with advertisements and which are not. I know that some allow them every x amount of time so long that we also have a place to advertise, but I'll have to consider how we'd handle it on our end. A lot of our partners are also Discords who do not have advertisement places, but that isn't to say that contacting other servers for events or brainstorming things of the like wouldn't be fun. I’d recommend making a thread sooner than later. You’ll have to filter through a lot of people. I’d also think of ways to prove the work is being done (screenshot of recruitment message, etc). And to make sure recruitment messages aren’t being deleted by staff, and proving to be a non-“profitable” affiliate
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Post by Sand on Oct 7, 2020 0:39:38 GMT -5
Wings of Fire has been asked for since early 2016. As Mint pointed out, if we can direct their fan base here....more activity. As for the other fandoms, make a thread asking which fandoms users would like to see incorporated on this forum. Then, make a poll with the answers given to see which one is more popular. What I'm thinking for adding WoF: put it with the other Erin Hunter Books? It would go above Bravelands because it came out before those... correct me if I'm wrong. So many polls, I like it. As for what people would like here fan board wise, I'll put the topic in OTD and pin it. I originally thought to put it in Message Board Discussion but that thing's dead.
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Post by 🆉🅴🅻🅳🆁🅸🆂 on Oct 7, 2020 0:46:34 GMT -5
Wings of Fire has been asked for since early 2016. As Mint pointed out, if we can direct their fan base here....more activity. As for the other fandoms, make a thread asking which fandoms users would like to see incorporated on this forum. Then, make a poll with the answers given to see which one is more popular. What I'm thinking for adding WoF: put it with the other Erin Hunter Books? It would go above Bravelands because it came out before those... correct me if I'm wrong. So many polls, I like it. As for what people would like here fan board wise, I'll put the topic in OTD and pin it. I originally thought to put it in Message Board Discussion but that thing's dead. I think that’s a good idea. WoF came out before Bravelands, yes. MBD really is dead. When adding the WoF board, maybe look at all the boards and consolidate what you can? Like MBD, Warriors Memories, and News & Announcements can all be put into 1 section with sub boards. And maybe moving forum rules so it’s easier to find/access? I was actually looking for them the other day and was like “wait where did it go”. Just suggestions.
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Post by mintedstar/fur🦇 on Oct 7, 2020 1:01:43 GMT -5
Ah yes! As for affiliates, I am more then willing to take on stuff regarding that! I can get up a topic searching for volunteers of course (I think I'd probably wait til November to do so, since we have events and things in October). It'll also give me time to look out and see which of our affiliates are good with advertisements and which are not. I know that some allow them every x amount of time so long that we also have a place to advertise, but I'll have to consider how we'd handle it on our end. A lot of our partners are also Discords who do not have advertisement places, but that isn't to say that contacting other servers for events or brainstorming things of the like wouldn't be fun. I’d recommend making a thread sooner than later. You’ll have to filter through a lot of people. I’d also think of ways to prove the work is being done (screenshot of recruitment message, etc). And to make sure recruitment messages aren’t being deleted by staff, and proving to be a non-“profitable” affiliate Alright, I will do so as soon as I get some words together/time. And I agree about the checks and balance system. I'll work something out.
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Asexual
#07B04C
star_black.png
Name Colour
Ṣanɗypaw™
The Shiny User
🎵Guess that's just the way it goes, easy come, easy go🎵
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Post by Ṣanɗypaw™ on Oct 7, 2020 11:10:21 GMT -5
I would love a Wings of Fire board. So many good things to discuss in that series.
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Post by Sand on Oct 8, 2020 0:19:27 GMT -5
I'll try to get the WoF board up by October 31.
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Post by mintedstar/fur🦇 on Oct 8, 2020 0:34:58 GMT -5
A spooky board. >:3
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