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Post by VanillaOrchids on Oct 10, 2008 15:41:35 GMT -5
I am not too concerned with the fact that activity has been down lately but I am curious what you all think would help get people participating more.
Now, I understand that some of the suggestions that were previously made I did not do because well, how is colored names and custom titles going to get people to participate? They aren't bad ideas though, I just think they should be earned in some way.
So ... any ideas?
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jenna
Full Member
Posts: 249
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Post by jenna on Oct 10, 2008 15:43:39 GMT -5
Agreed, I don't need a custom title or a colored username to get me to post.
How about like, contests? Those are always fun, and not just graphic contests? I think the reason it's been kinda dead is because of school and stuff like that, because it didnt use to be this way and school is getting harder and people are having to get jobs.
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Post by Remixed on Oct 10, 2008 17:12:06 GMT -5
When I had my graphics site open, I had an amazing idea which worked wonders.
There was this board called "Challenges". Every week, I would do a make a different challenge. Now, the challenges ranged from making a signature with certain requirements, making a basic web page, etc. etc. Just fun ways to try getting your graphics skills up. People did it. Oh, and if people did it before the next challenge went up, I gave them points (1 point meant 1 star, 5 points meant 5 stars, etc. etc.) and those points were added to their profile for them to use however they wanted (custom titles, etc. etc.).
It was a great idea... I just didn't have my forum open long enough to really get it popular.
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EDIT: Also, maybe move the graphics request board to the "Help Center" category? That is sort of what it is... and then it would catch more people's eyes if it was in a category with only 2 boards.
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jenna
Full Member
Posts: 249
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Post by jenna on Oct 11, 2008 13:07:17 GMT -5
EDIT: Also, maybe move the graphics request board to the "Help Center" category? That is sort of what it is... and then it would catch more people's eyes if it was in a category with only 2 boards. I'm not trying to be mean or anything but it absolutely erks me when people request graphics for a forum that you KNOW is gonna die. And, VO, I've seen the stuff you do, and it's always great... I mean you're so talented with signatures/banners and I'm so.. not. Ha. I just mean in my opinion, I don't think people should join simply for a request. Of course, it would get more people to join but, then VO and everyone would be filling out graphic requests left and right for forums that either wouldn't survive or the people would just request it, then leave, come back when they wanted something new. Maybe something like, 10-20 posts per graphic requested? Thats a rule on a lot of forums and it usually works...
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Post by minnie on Oct 11, 2008 15:31:34 GMT -5
I am not too concerned with the fact that activity has been down lately but I am curious what you all think would help get people participating more. Now, I understand that some of the suggestions that were previously made I did not do because well, how is colored names and custom titles going to get people to participate? They aren't bad ideas though, I just think they should be earned in some way. So ... any ideas? I think we should make an icontest where you choose a theme and each of us creates a 100 by 100 pixel image each week. It's a lot of quicker than larger images and be judged on your creativity and originality. That would be the reason why members are struggling to get their large images done because of the time and effort it receives. I also think a reward system should be made since a lot of members think it's fair that they receive some kind of recognition such as banners made from VanillaOrchids. The icontest was a popular challenge in other forums and they have less time and effort to make a creative piece, look at my signature for that example and you can observe it. When I had my graphics site open, I had an amazing idea which worked wonders There was this board called "Challenges". Every week, I would do a make a different challenge. Now, the challenges ranged from making a signature with certain requirements, making a basic web page, etc. etc. Just fun ways to try getting your graphics skills up. People did it. Oh, and if people did it before the next challenge went up, I gave them points (1 point meant 1 star, 5 points meant 5 stars, etc. etc.) and those points were added to their profile for them to use however they wanted (custom titles, etc. etc.). It was a great idea... I just didn't have my forum open long enough to really get it popular. ------- EDIT: Also, maybe move the graphics request board to the "Help Center" category? That is sort of what it is... and then it would catch more people's eyes if it was in a category with only 2 boards. That's the reason why people aren't participating because of the time and effort it receives, but I think the reward system that consists of points will be a great idea.
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Post by VanillaOrchids on Oct 13, 2008 17:14:38 GMT -5
Thank you guys for the suggestions. I know that I have some questions regarding the suggestions so I will get back to you with those in a bit.
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Post by .:SquEWHeeT:. on Oct 14, 2008 22:38:23 GMT -5
Well I think the main reason why people join now is to get GFX made. Well I would try to make your site more like DeviantArt kinda like what I am trying to do to my site. Cause see on my site I haven't put this on there yet but I am going to make a section where If you own a business or you want a design for a T-Shirt or something then you can request for one and then I would sell that design to your for a decent price. And If you have people that wanna help you out and make a little cash also you can say like if you Donate 5 dollars for hosting I'll allow you to design some things for people and then you can give them a profit off of what they make after they sell the design to the customer. I know that kinda sound dumb but I was thinking about doing that on my site. I was really thinking about making business cards and selling them for pretty cheap. This is just a IDEA!!!!
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Post by VanillaOrchids on Oct 17, 2008 13:44:38 GMT -5
How about like, contests? Those are always fun, and not just graphic contests? What kind of contests specifically? When I had my graphics site open, I had an amazing idea which worked wonders. There was this board called "Challenges". Every week, I would do a make a different challenge. Now, the challenges ranged from making a signature with certain requirements, making a basic web page, etc. etc. Just fun ways to try getting your graphics skills up. People did it. Oh, and if people did it before the next challenge went up, I gave them points (1 point meant 1 star, 5 points meant 5 stars, etc. etc.) and those points were added to their profile for them to use however they wanted (custom titles, etc. etc.). It was a great idea... I just didn't have my forum open long enough to really get it popular. ------- EDIT: Also, maybe move the graphics request board to the "Help Center" category? That is sort of what it is... and then it would catch more people's eyes if it was in a category with only 2 boards. I had been thinking of something like that (challenges) to get people to do something graphically that they may have never done or whatever. I actually started the " How would you do it?" thread as like some sort of challenge but that fizzled out because it got to the point where no one wanted to try. Did you incorporate some code to show points in profiles or was it just a chart you made up? That's not a bad idea ... about moving the graphic request board. It was just that I originally didn't have that help category. LOL I have to say though, it is a little irritating that some people may just come here to request graphics and then do nothing else to contribute to the site. So I think it may be a good idea to maybe re-evaluate the rules of that board. lol
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Post by Remixed on Oct 17, 2008 20:57:35 GMT -5
I had been thinking of something like that (challenges) to get people to do something graphically that they may have never done or whatever. I actually started the " How would you do it?" thread as like some sort of challenge but that fizzled out because it got to the point where no one wanted to try. Did you incorporate some code to show points in profiles or was it just a chart you made up? That's not a bad idea ... about moving the graphic request board. It was just that I originally didn't have that help category. LOL I have to say though, it is a little irritating that some people may just come here to request graphics and then do nothing else to contribute to the site. So I think it may be a good idea to maybe re-evaluate the rules of that board. lol The "How Would You Do It" is a perfect example. Sure, there were only a few people that did it every time, but if even just one did it then that would be a success (in my opinion). I had a table chart in the header of the board. Then get to movin'! Yeah, I know that is irritating. I always liked the "10 posts to Request" rule on certain forums... maybe expand that a bit more. Maybe for each request, you have to have 10 more points. Then you could easily keep track with that in their account notes.
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Post by Jin Oh on Oct 19, 2008 8:35:58 GMT -5
To the #1:
VO, I believe that many is off because of school and such, as Jenna said, but Shadow Designs' also taking my time. When your forum is competing with the other big forums then it's hard to keep up activity. SD is also fighting with that problem.
I think that due to the many competitions and challenges the activity has been kept allright, but it's not fantastic. We've recently had 4 years anniversary, and a release of both a video and a new website and then a lot of member suddenly were active again.
Maybe some news will atract members?
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Post by VanillaOrchids on Oct 20, 2008 11:49:49 GMT -5
I'm not trying to compete with the large graphic forums though.
For the most part I just thought, if anything, that this forum might be helpful to people. Mainly as a way for people into making graphics to learn a thing or two. Granted, I didn't have a plan of what I was going to do with the place because, well, I didn't know I was going to use it for anything more than a test board.
I've actually thought about re-designing the forum already since I never really did finish it. LOL
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Post by ⌠Sweet Nightmare⌡ on Oct 20, 2008 19:21:51 GMT -5
I like the contest idea, but maybe an open contest? For members to showcase any talent they have. You'd just give us a theme, nothing too big((we could test this with 'Halloween'; that's what my English class is doing, we went ahead and started studying Gothic literature for Halloween)), something that could have several ways to interpret it, and we could just do something we relate with the theme, whether it be a graphic, writing, coming up with music, just something. Kind of like a site-wide talent show. I know this forum's about graphics, but it'd be fun to see what else the members could do, I think.
((Although I think the reason people aren't on as much is because of school. I know that's why I'm not on as much anymore.))
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