Events

[Cello]

I notice that there are (or used to be, rather) temporary event planner ranks, but you don't really see very many events going on around here anymore.

Sure, with B2/W2 being revealed there were a couple of threads getting people hyped about the information, or lack thereof, but those seemed more like your average poll threads than events.

What i'm getting at is how often does event planning go on in staff discussions these days?
After reading Toujour's post in the DCC yesterday about how users are posting only to answer current topics and moving on rather than discuss topics with other users, I began to get that vibe from all of the sections, as if the majority of topics are becoming polls.

Have you guys looked into the possibility of getting forum event planners to do regular forum events? I mean, just because it's not a holiday doesn't mean there can't be some kind of event going on for the users to take part in.
You could do fun little hide-n-seek things on the forum where you have to find something, there could be puzzles, ask the staff, or even a friendly forum takeover by a goofy alien of some sort (You could count Lerroux, but that was more stressful than it was fun).
I was actually thinking about creating a template for a weekly forum newspaper featuring fun little member tabloids, a "post of the week" section featuring a bunch of funny posts around the forum, advertisements for weekly happenings in certain sections, crossword puzzles, and funny little advice columns, all while allowing some of the users to submit their own content like comics.
I understand somebody has probably already did the "community newspaper" a thousand times over, but... well I have nothing more to say on that statement.
In return for participating you could always offer emblems or a small prize of some sort... though I doubt the staff would go that far for events.
This could really help to get members interacting a bit more rather than them feeling obligated to just answer a mess of polls around the forum.

I'm probably barking up the wrong tree on this, as i'm probably just going hear a bunch of "Meh, nobody is going to participate," but still, you guys should look into more event planning. Get some blood pumping around here and be a little spontaneous!

Just something to think about. Y'know? Yeah, you do.

 

[Oryx]

Generally the sections individually are up to plan their own events. For example, right as B2W2 were announced the B/W section was celebrating the 1-year anniversary of B/W being out in America and had a few events going on and such. There's my PG event right now, and there are regular things that go on in quite a few forums like the Poem of the Month. There are also lots of holiday events (there's an Easter egg hunt coming up actually haha), and the GT over the summer. I'm always up for more events though, because most sections don't have many at all, it's the exception rather than the rule xD;

Re: Emblems - Mods can have any emblem they need uploaded with no real "do you really need this?" check so I doubt having emblems would be an issue to anything haha.

I'm all for the weekly newspaper. I know I've heard that it's been done before, but it hasn't been done outside of ROM Hacking since I joined, so I'm biased and wanna see it tried again xD;

Okay uhh hope I replied to everything haha

 

[Nihilego]

yes. agree. so much. especially in oc&d, a forum supposed to be about discussion, i've noticed how more or less everywhere is turning into ovp and while shining raichu and sammi are probably totally fine with this, i'm not, and i'm sure a lot of people aren't.

...and while idk how events could remedy that issue it's still a legitimate one and i'm glad you raised it. regarding events, it's a great idea and we could definitely get some emblems going for that pretty easily - as toujours said, it's just a matter of asking an admin to get the emblem uploaded for us; usually, there won't be any massive discussion needed.

iirc jon / mr cat dog used to do stuff like this in culture & media with review contests or something like that. is that the sort of thing you were thinking of? idk how well they worked but if memory serves they did get a little bit of extra activity going around there and brought people tighter together and stuff which can only be a good thing. although making a community newspaper or something like that would be a rather large task and i imagine it'd take a number of people to get it done, i can see that having a similar effect.

i hope people will actually be enthusiastic for this sort of thing. i know i'm up for it.

 

[antemortem]

I like the idea of having a completely separate group (if that's what you were intentionally implying) for event planning and presentation / carrying out, because the main core staff already have so much to do, so having other delegated people to run those sorts of things might help everyone out.

I don't have much to say on possible events, considering I'm not a very creative person, more of a meat and potatoes type of person who likes to gather information and whatnot.

 

[Cello]

I'm mainly looking at regular events as a way for the forum users to perhaps feel a little bit more involved with the community and staff as a whole rather than just being cooped up in a couple of sections every time they visit.
Lately when I visit I kinda just check OCD, then blankly stare at the PC homepage for something to do, realizing I've already put my two cents into most of the active threads haha.

I've noticed a couple member complaining about a lack of activity lately. I don't really think it's a lack of activity so much as there's really a lack of things to do.
Sure, there's not much to do on a forum besides post, but that doesn't mean you can't be a little creative and come up with some activities to get the users a little more involved. :P

As for the newspaper, I don't think it would be too much trouble personally. If I were to create a template, all I would have to do is modify the template whenever a new one was to be created.

@Minzy
While this wasn't really so much of suggestions as it was just more of feedback on the lack of activity, it would probably help if there were a few individuals who would plan some events regularly. According to Touj though the staff are responsible for events to their respective sections, so really it's up to them.
As for forum-wide events, maybe the staff could get together as a whole and throw some stuff together? :3c

 

[antemortem]

I've noticed a couple member complaining about a lack of activity lately. I don't really think it's a lack of activity so much as there's really a lack of things to do.

I agree wholly. Though, they are one in the same. If there's not a lot to do, there's going to be minimal activity, where if there's more things to do, there's lots of bustling activity. So, there's little activity because of this, which can be remedied rather easily by just putting together more things for every part of the forum.

As for the newspaper, I don't think it would be too much trouble personally. If I were to create a template, all I would have to do is modify the template whenever a new one was to be created.

The CSS for something like a newspaper template would be rather easy, if I recall correctly.

 

[Oryx]

The actual activity levels in each forum every week to put together a comprehensive newsletter is where the effort would come from, not the template itself tbh. ;o Although even that could bring the community together, if you did something like taking an active member that week and having them write something interesting that happened in that section, then it's less effort and more community-building as well.

Just a thought.

 

[Mana1]

The actual activity levels in each forum every week to put together a comprehensive newsletter is where the effort would come from, not the template itself tbh. ;o Although even that could bring the community together, if you did something like taking an active member that week and having them write something interesting that happened in that section, then it's less effort and more community-building as well.

Just a thought.

I think section-newsletters would be a great idea for most of the sections - others might find it easier to do kind of a spotlight idea, highlighting a new/interesting thread and sticky-ing it for a week or so. The spotlight could be from recommendations from members who often post in that section and things so it's not so much up to the mods to read through lots and pick.

 

[droomph]

So like a Thread of the Week/Month/Whatever.

Yeah, I remember one from the RH forums. Yeah, so this guy wanted suggestions on this new thingamobober that he was going to make, so he made a thread saying "Hey guys. Do you like Exhibit A

-Picture of his program in action-

or Exhibit B?

-Picture of his program in action, but modified-"

I think stuff like that should deserve some extra attention, like mayyyybe a sticky?

And then if it's not that we should have, like, a reaaaally interesting topic. I dunno.