So this forum's existed for almost two years now. I'll be honest with you: You're the best-behaved group I've ever seen on an online forum. I can vanish for two-plus days - with the only other staff member on a plane out of the country - and not worry about a blowup occurring. The scarce drama we've had has always been smoothed over quickly, and most of the time the atmosphere is friendly and laidback without being spammy and stupid. And while we're not very active, we've kept chugging along somehow, and we've done some fun things and collaborated on lots of constructive projects.

Since it's summer, which is generally the most active time for forums like this, I thought this would be the best time to discuss some of the issues relating to our future. I'm not going to have a formal vote, but I would like to seek member input, since I think you're sensible enough to handle some degree of democracy.

I. Adding a main site
Since the time we first became active, various members have discussed creating some sort of main site to complement the forums. I know I could provide a decent amount of content, like mirrors of my MFGG games and strategy guides, and perhaps the photo galleries that I've never bothered to upload anywhere. I'd also be willing to host stuff for other active members, if anyone's interested. Chances are I'll use a free site designer unless someone wants to chip in to buy a real domain. No guarantees I'll be motivated to actually do this, however.

II. The shoutbox
I like some aspects of the JaxBoards shoutbox - it makes it fast and convenient to post things that have a very short expiration date. However, a lot of things I see in the shoutbox deserve an actual topic in the appropriate forum, since the chat logs move quickly, and useful or funny discussions are often left behind and forgotten. I've toyed with the idea of hiding the shoutbox for a day or two just to see if doing so would boost activity in the actual forums, although it's more likely I'll just post a topic reminding people to make a topic about anything that's important or lengthy (despite the hypocrisy of me telling people that!)

III. Our memberbase
Practically all of our active members post actively on MFGG, especially now that most new JaxBoards forums are being created by other MFGG members and we're no longer getting in new people from other JaxBoards like JaxSupport, SSF, OT Sports, or ODSC. The good news is that unlike MW, MFGG has a steady stream of new members, and lots of people find this forum through my not-so-subtle signature link. MFGG is basically a pleasant place - the very worst you ever encounter are immature but benign middle-schoolers. However, I wouldn't mind attracting quality members from other sources - although that's hard to do since MFGG is the only place in the online world where I'm really active, and few other members have invited anyone to join lately. I can tolerate this place being an "MFGG 2," but I believe we could better differentiate ourselves from similar forums if we could achieve a more diverse memberbase.

IV. And last but not least...
As you may know, Vitiman recently created his own forum, which has generated roughly the same amount of activity as this forum and has a very similar purpose - basically, to create a place for off-topic discussion, non-game art, and other things that don't belong on MFGG, but without the spamminess and nastiness that have dominated certain other forums. Vitiman discussed the possibility of merging this forum and MFGG^2, because they probably cannibalize each other to some extent. I don't think such a plan is viable - Vitiman wants to use phpBB, and I think most of us like JaxBoards, and I think he wants a slightly more free-spirited board than this one in terms of things like unfiltered profanity. However, I'd like to see what you folks think before I make a final decision.

And to eliminate any chance of confusion: No drastic changes will happen without advance warning and an opportunity for community input. If you've got any ideas, questions, or comments, please post here, or send me a PM or IM if it's something of a private or personal nature.

I'm Bibby, and I approved this message.
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Edited by: Bibby, Jul 23rd, 2012 @ 4:04 pm

I like the idea of having a main site for this place,
I never did get to see it the last time,

I kinda like the shoutbox, Its actually part of the reason i like this place so much,
I wish MFGG had one of these,

All i can really suggest for the memberbase is to be patient i suppose, I know bibby team shows up in google searches,
Wish i had more to say their,

Not so sure thats the greatest idea here,
this place is yours after all, and its unique in its own way,
I dont think it would be doing either forum any good to merge.

All that being said howeverm
It is, in the end, your decision to make, Ill make no attempt to stop whatever you may choose to do.

I'm pretty sure that Vitiman's forum while it had a general chat and off-topic forum of sorts that was missing from MFGG for more than two years, it's a Mario fangaming centric forum and is best suited to be MFGG's successor, sprititually and physically. This forum, however, like the Minus World, would be more so of a general convo forum but with the prescense of some MFGG members showing off their work here and there in this forum as well as a better alternative to the Minus World when it comes to the community. I think this forum is fine at it is, and does a better job at being a general convo forum than the Minus World as it attracts some members recently and the general atmosphere is more friendly here according to my assumptions about here and VinnyVideo and the members of his forum's testimony about the Minus World. So it wouldn't make much sense merging this forum with MFGG^2 considering of the two different centricities like with MFGG and the Minus World which defines their purpose.
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Edited by: TDW, Jul 23rd, 2012 @ 6:38 pm

A "mainsite" of sorts for Bibby Team could be pretty cool. I think it's one of those things that you'd want to do a good amount of brainstorming for first, as it could also be pretty useless. Creating something that's both useful and fun should be a priority, otherwise it could just be something that doesn't really add anything.

Also domains are pretty cheap, hosting is another issue but you can find pretty cheap hosting depending on what your goals are. There's also plenty of free stuff such as Google Sites.

I'm not a big fan of shoutboxes personally, so in the past I've tried similar things to the stuff you're suggesting. I wouldn't really recommend closing the shoutbox down for this place, but you may want to do something to encourage more in-depth discussions to be made into threads.

Not really sure how to draw people in from all different places. If you figure it out, be sure to tell me

As for the merger idea...

When the old MFGG forums split, it opened up an opportunity for communities like this to exist. MFGG could focus its efforts towards catering to the fangames and related threads, and other places would be able to spawn catering to desires to have a "community" aspect and other things MFGG doesn't really do. Even if there's some overlap between these branch communities, as long as they're not exactly the same I think they're of some value to have. If one place becomes the de facto MFGG community hangout, it might end up developing the same problems the old MFGG forums had in time, while giving people plenty of options in regards to what community to join would keep not only different options available for people to join what community they like, but make it plausible to create their own branch community if a niche isn't being filled- I remember there being plenty of places that aimed to branch off from the old MFGG forums but it never really worked out- the way things are now gives those places a chance to grow on their own I think. So I really wouldn't recommend or want a branch community that aims to rule them all.

if that makes any sense lol, I'm actually having a hard time putting my thoughts into coherent sentences

Mainsite content
Thanks for the input. I've begun thinking about the layout for a mainsite, and I've discussed possible content worth including. I've thought of seven things:

• Pages for the better-quality games I've made
  
• Mirrors of my old video games strategy guides
  
• Photo galleries I've never posted anywhere (which could attract a very different kind of audience)
  
• Music remixes
  
• Art, particularly art from people who are more skillful than I am!
  
• Concept art and character sketches, especially if the RPG project develops further
  
• Game Maker tutorials, like the ones Dazzle's been working on; this could also help drive new traffic to MFGG
  

I have no interest in making a mainsite of the kind that's supposedly being developed on MW - a really complex system for a community where hardly any of the members are interested in actually contributing anything. Instead, I'd like to create a mainsite that's simple and practical, and I'd like for it to have a fresh, fun, quirky vibe. If any of you have stuff you'd like hosted, I could make that a reality as well. And if you have any ideas that you'd like to see implemented, please let me know!



A little more on attracting new members

Attracting a diverse audience is no easy task; cities, neighborhoods, social clubs, churches and religious organizations, and businesses have spent tons of marketing dollars trying to attract people from a wide range of backgrounds and a wide variety of interests. Experience shows that this is easier said than done! I can think of five ways to attract new members, some more viable than others.

1. Invitations. More than half of the members here were invited by me or by one of the first dozen or so members. This is probably the best way to get new members, and hand-picking gives you the most favorable odds of attracting talented people who become positive contributors. If you know any fun people, whether online or in real life, don't be afraid to invite them! The worst thing that'll happen is they won't be interested, and the second-worst thing is they'll join, post an intro topic, and never log on again. Neither fate is exactly disastrous, and the best possible outcome is we'll get a new member who becomes an active contributor.

2. Untargeted promotion. When I join another forum, I usually place a link to this site in my signature or on a "personal site" field. MFGG is the only place on the Internet where I'm active or influential enough for anyone to notice these links, but signature links are another effective way to get new visitors. Feel free to do likewise, as long as you're promoting it on a quality site where you have a good reputation. Some people have even been known to stick business cards on bulletin boards at schools or local businesses, although such untargeted advertisements are likely to be ignored (or attract potentially undesirable audiences if you're not careful). Paid advertising also falls into this category, not that I'm going to go that route.

3. Search engines. For sites that have lots of useful content, like MFGG, a big chunk of your members might join after finding your forum on a Google search. While JaxBoards forums show up in Google searches, and the BT Forums rank high for many searches, the only random member ever to join was Lilypop, and she never posted (and I'm still not sure she was a real person). An even more extreme example would be MW, which has great SEO but has landed few, if any, members from searches. You also don't have much control over the kinds of members who find your site through search engines.

4. Mergers. Merging with an existing forum is also an option. While I don't think we're going to be merging with MFGG^2, at least while both forums remain semi-active, merging is one way to grow a community in certain cases (although one must proceed with caution, for assorted reasons). Besides Vitiman's board, the only other forum I know that might be worth merging with would be GDA, and there's little point since GDA can go months without new posts.

5. Fake accounts. Some schizophrenic administrators who have nothing better to do with their lives have been known to create a few fake accounts to generate activity. The BT Forums aren't inactive enough to justify this, besides the ethical quandary of this strategy.

Obviously, it's better to have a few good members than a truckload of bad apples. However, I think this place would be more fun with a larger number of active members, and I'm afraid that activity might grind to a halt the way it did last winter if we don't grow a bit more active.
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Edited by: Bibby, Jul 29th, 2012 @ 6:14 pm

Bibby

Mainsite content
Thanks for the input. I've begun thinking about the layout for a mainsite, and I've discussed possible content worth including. I've thought of seven things:

*A little more on attracting new members



I have no interest in making a mainsite of the kind that's supposedly being developed on MW - a really complex system for a community where hardly any of the members are interested in actually contributing anything. Instead, I'd like to create a mainsite that's simple and practical, and I'd like for it to have a fresh, fun, quirky vibe. If any of you have stuff you'd like hosted, I could make that a reality as well. And if you have any ideas that you'd like to see implemented, please let me know!



A little more on attracting new members

Attracting a diverse audience is no easy task; cities, neighborhoods, social clubs, churches and religious organizations, and businesses have spent tons of marketing dollars trying to attract people from a wide range of backgrounds and a wide variety of interests. Experience shows that this is easier said than done! I can think of five ways to attract new members, some more viable than others.

1. Invitations. More than half of the members here were invited by me or by one of the first dozen or so members. This is probably the best way to get new members, and hand-picking gives you the most favorable odds of attracting talented people who become positive contributors. If you know any fun people, whether online or in real life, don't be afraid to invite them! The worst thing that'll happen is they won't be interested, and the second-worst thing is they'll join, post an intro topic, and never log on again. Neither fate is exactly disastrous, and the best possible outcome is we'll get a new member who becomes an active contributor.

2. Untargeted promotion. When I join another forum, I usually place a link to this site in my signature or on a "personal site" field. MFGG is the only place on the Internet where I'm active or influential enough for anyone to notice these links, but signature links are another effective way to get new visitors. Feel free to do likewise, as long as you're promoting it on a quality site where you have a good reputation. Some people have even been known to stick business cards on bulletin boards at schools or local businesses, although such untargeted advertisements are likely to be ignored (or attract potentially undesirable audiences if you're not careful). Paid advertising also falls into this category, not that I'm going to go that route.

3. Search engines. For sites that have lots of useful content, like MFGG, a big chunk of your members might join after finding your forum on a Google search. While JaxBoards forums show up in Google searches, and the BT Forums rank high for many searches, the only random member ever to join was Lilypop, and she never posted (and I'm still not sure she was a real person). An even more extreme example would be MW, which has great SEO but has landed few, if any, members from searches. You also don't have much control over the kinds of members who find your site through search engines.

4. Mergers. Merging with an existing forum is also an option. While I don't think we're going to be merging with MFGG^2, at least while both forums remain semi-active, merging is one way to grow a community in certain cases (although one must proceed with caution, for assorted reasons). Besides Vitiman's board, the only other forum I know that might be worth merging with would be GDA, and there's little point since GDA can go months without new posts.

5. Fake accounts. Some schizophrenic administrators who have nothing better to do with their lives have been known to create a few fake accounts to generate activity. The BT Forums aren't inactive enough to justify this, besides the ethical quandary of this strategy.

Obviously, it's better to have a few good members than a truckload of bad apples. However, I think this place would be more fun with a larger number of active members, and I'm afraid that activity might grind to a halt the way it did last winter if we don't grow a bit more active.

I already posted a sig of the bibby team forums on MFGG to attract members to join here, ill do so the same on some other sites im registered on.


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Edited by: TDW, Jul 29th, 2012 @ 6:46 pm

About mainsite hosting
Xepher.net looks like a good place to host a main site; I've seen at least one old MFGG member (Cammiluna) with a site there, and I think it would suit our purposes nicely. You have to complete an application to join Xepher, but judging from my recent conversation with the site's administrator, I think it would be accepted. If anyone has any alternatives for hosting, speak now or forever hold your peace.

http://www.000webhost.com/

I have a 000webhosting account. uhh theyre kinda strange, they shove some javascript into every page you upload, i dont know what it does. maybe its just analysis stuff but idk kinda sketchy

I've been making steady progress on touching up my collection of old photos, for which I'll eventually create a gallery on the main site. I'm probably about two-thirds finished with this leg of the project.

I'll create a main site development topic eventually, but in the meantime: What would be the best way to tag these pictures so you could search for images containing a specific tag (fangames, flowers, football, food, etc.)? I don't want to create a super-complicated system for organizing this site, but if there are any scripts or anything that might be useful, let me know.