Post by Nobody No-One on May 24, 2019 12:59:16 GMT -5
You know, I like this site, I really do, but the past month I've been looking at it and starting to take a more critical approach to it.
Let's be brutally honest; this site is dying. It needs help. After spending a year away from the RP and also checking out different RP sites, something has to change. So... I want to help. All of this is completely optional, and whatever the moderators and admins wanna do, I'll accept it.
The most important thing a site has to have is impression. I asked a few of my friends who RPd before what their initial impression of the site is:
Basically this is just the general consensus of my friends. They all agree that right now it's cluttered. In order to fix this sort of thing, there needs to be reorganization of the boards and the rules, and the descriptions need to be trimmed out. There's a LOT of them. It's worse that this RP is extremely broad in its setting and includes all of the Whoniverse, all 50 years. It gets overwhelming to newbies.
The site layout could use a much needed update. The layout hasn't changed since... before I even joined, like in 2015. Instead of having all the rules and announcements on the page right there, and having so many OOC boards that we really... don't use in favor of the chatroom off to the side, hiding them and linking them on the sidebar off to the left where people's eyes will be automatically drawn to is the best option. Discord Widget is okay since we're forced to use that at the moment, but Discord has a lot of features including use of subcategories that we could abuse for OOC activity. It's a tool that can be used to bring people in. Discord is hip, new, and popular. I highly recommend using it for OOC instead of the board itself. That way things are trimmed down even further.
The second is the Rules:
Call me a rebel. After RPing solo for a few years rules are starting to become a bit of a put off. RPs have become less of a public official thing and more of a group get together. New people joining in have to be treated as if they're part of the group, therefore the rules have to be quick, snappy, and personable.
I've always had an issue with the rules being too detailed, I don't remember if I've actually mentioned it in the past though I recall I had once and backed off on it, and it looks like my friends also agree with that sentiment. The friend above, PaperLaur, is mostly blind.
Rules update are pointless if you're already listing what rule changes there are in green. That's also an issue I find myself because if you need to highlight what you changed, then already there's too much text to read. The rules also need to be displayed in a place that is also easy to access and if you wanna trim down OOC, then linking the board on the sidebar is just as good, if not even better because people will see it.
Finally... Members.
Members are the core of an RP. It's what keeps it active. I don't need to say that, though, lol. But I also feel like there's been a lack of members coming in because of a few things:
The older members were always a bit focused on each other more than actually welcoming new members in. It used to not be a problem back in 2015 but over the years I noticed it became a big, big problem. I don't want to point fingers but we have had small groups of people who have had done a bit of... picking and choosing?
If I recall correctly this is an all skill level based RP, as long as you write a paragraph. But I feel there's a subtle nose turn to people who write shorter responses over the years and as someone who has RP'd with people who do both long and short responses, I never had a problem with quality. Not to mention, telling people how to improve their writing in an RP where there's people who may not always be the best whether they are nonnative english speakers hoping to improve their writing, or people who have actual writing disabilities. Let them learn on their own and also let them have fun without feeling like they need to be perfect at absolutely everything.
If this is a professional, fully literate RP then it should be stated as one. If not, we gotta lower our standards.
Finally... Proboards is a nice site but it's old news. I mentioned abusing Discord's status as the hip new thing, it should also go to show that abusing other major forms of social networking to get people will also be a major plus. Advertising on Twitter and Tumblr are still big hits. Recruit people. Ask em if they're interested. Get engaged. RP with other people here. Administrator activity with the people and RPing with them is exceedingly important and if admins cannot handle it anymore then you gotta get new ones. I'm sorry but it's technically a job. You can't abandon the job.
It's time to get out of the past, and time travel to the future. That's what I believe.
Anyway sorry if this went long winded, but there's a lot of things I wanted to get off my chest.
Let's be brutally honest; this site is dying. It needs help. After spending a year away from the RP and also checking out different RP sites, something has to change. So... I want to help. All of this is completely optional, and whatever the moderators and admins wanna do, I'll accept it.
The most important thing a site has to have is impression. I asked a few of my friends who RPd before what their initial impression of the site is:
Basically this is just the general consensus of my friends. They all agree that right now it's cluttered. In order to fix this sort of thing, there needs to be reorganization of the boards and the rules, and the descriptions need to be trimmed out. There's a LOT of them. It's worse that this RP is extremely broad in its setting and includes all of the Whoniverse, all 50 years. It gets overwhelming to newbies.
The site layout could use a much needed update. The layout hasn't changed since... before I even joined, like in 2015. Instead of having all the rules and announcements on the page right there, and having so many OOC boards that we really... don't use in favor of the chatroom off to the side, hiding them and linking them on the sidebar off to the left where people's eyes will be automatically drawn to is the best option. Discord Widget is okay since we're forced to use that at the moment, but Discord has a lot of features including use of subcategories that we could abuse for OOC activity. It's a tool that can be used to bring people in. Discord is hip, new, and popular. I highly recommend using it for OOC instead of the board itself. That way things are trimmed down even further.
The second is the Rules:
Call me a rebel. After RPing solo for a few years rules are starting to become a bit of a put off. RPs have become less of a public official thing and more of a group get together. New people joining in have to be treated as if they're part of the group, therefore the rules have to be quick, snappy, and personable.
I've always had an issue with the rules being too detailed, I don't remember if I've actually mentioned it in the past though I recall I had once and backed off on it, and it looks like my friends also agree with that sentiment. The friend above, PaperLaur, is mostly blind.
Rules update are pointless if you're already listing what rule changes there are in green. That's also an issue I find myself because if you need to highlight what you changed, then already there's too much text to read. The rules also need to be displayed in a place that is also easy to access and if you wanna trim down OOC, then linking the board on the sidebar is just as good, if not even better because people will see it.
Finally... Members.
Members are the core of an RP. It's what keeps it active. I don't need to say that, though, lol. But I also feel like there's been a lack of members coming in because of a few things:
The older members were always a bit focused on each other more than actually welcoming new members in. It used to not be a problem back in 2015 but over the years I noticed it became a big, big problem. I don't want to point fingers but we have had small groups of people who have had done a bit of... picking and choosing?
If I recall correctly this is an all skill level based RP, as long as you write a paragraph. But I feel there's a subtle nose turn to people who write shorter responses over the years and as someone who has RP'd with people who do both long and short responses, I never had a problem with quality. Not to mention, telling people how to improve their writing in an RP where there's people who may not always be the best whether they are nonnative english speakers hoping to improve their writing, or people who have actual writing disabilities. Let them learn on their own and also let them have fun without feeling like they need to be perfect at absolutely everything.
If this is a professional, fully literate RP then it should be stated as one. If not, we gotta lower our standards.
Finally... Proboards is a nice site but it's old news. I mentioned abusing Discord's status as the hip new thing, it should also go to show that abusing other major forms of social networking to get people will also be a major plus. Advertising on Twitter and Tumblr are still big hits. Recruit people. Ask em if they're interested. Get engaged. RP with other people here. Administrator activity with the people and RPing with them is exceedingly important and if admins cannot handle it anymore then you gotta get new ones. I'm sorry but it's technically a job. You can't abandon the job.
It's time to get out of the past, and time travel to the future. That's what I believe.
Anyway sorry if this went long winded, but there's a lot of things I wanted to get off my chest.
