Ok, let's assume that IF has put us out to pasture. It's not the end of the world so let's stop dwelling on it and do something positive. The way I see it the death of Orbit made alot of people sad...but it really had no major negative impact on the forums. If anything, it got rid of alot of the headaches. The major blow to the forums was the IF crash. We can no longer sit around and hope for them to fix the problem. If they fix it then bless them, if not then we need to be in a position where it's not a huge deal.

A very large portion of what I would refer to as the "Solid Members" of TCG are still on these forums, currently. The problem is that we've basically got 3 to deal with now.

1. The Active: If you fall into this catagory then congratulations. Good work.
2. The Lurkers: People who, if you check their information, were on the forums roughly 10 minutes ago...but haven't made a contributing post to these forums in weeks. If we're going to pull ourselves out of this rut then we're all going to have to be active.
3. The Lost: Solid Members who are out there, but haven't been to TCG in a while because of the whole IF Crash. Most of you are in contact with them through other avenues...so get them back.

Right before the Crash we had gone through multiple threads in the various forums on how to improve and expand the forums to cover for the loss of Orbit. It's true that most of this information was lost in the crash, but the fact is that all that talk is useless if we, the membership, aren't going to bother to use the forums we have. To be perfectly honest with you, I find it hard to get excited about volunteering extra work to revampa nd add to these forums if nobody is really using them....and I'm sure I'm not the only person in "The Higher Powers" that feels this way.

While I'm ranting, I would like to take a momment to thank those who bothered to participate in my attempt at a contest to help these forums. As far back as June we've been noticing that there are a large amount of people who complained that we didn't do enough contests and such...and when we did them these same people didn't bother to participate. As a member of the Contest Committee I would encourage people to express their interest in these kind of things if they are sincere in their interest...but fi we're going to go to the trouble of putting together large and elaborate projects then please at least try to partciptate. The smilie contest got very few entries(even after the extensions). I'd love to do more things like this, but I'd also love to see people try. The idea behind this project was to, over time, replace over half(gotta leave the super basics) of the Clickable Smilies list with the creations and contributions of the members of TCG. It would act as a unique thing that we had which other forums did not have(well, until they copy us of course). My point is...if you like contests and things like that then say so and when they come along participate...if you don't then tell us that too. The Higher Powers cannot read minds. You have to give us input.

Ok, so that's alot of information to process....so I'll sum it up in a super short version.

1. If you're being a lurker...POST.
2. If you know solid members who are not here anymroe....GET THEM BACK.
3. It will take all of us to make this work. Once we're active THEN we can talk about additions, modifications, new forums, and all that jazz.
4. If you want contests, features, and whatever then ask....but be prepaired to take advantage of these things you asked us for when we give them to you.

Ok, that's about it. Thanks for taking the time to read this post....now find a thread that you're interested in(or make one) and Contribute. :angelic:

We're going to make it through this, but it's not going to happen if we do not work together...ALL OF US. ;)

12 views in less than half an hour and not a single reply....

Yeah, I'm doubleposting, but this time it's important. This is exactly what I'm talking about. At the very least post that you read the blasted thing. :P

I too agree that the drop in activity here is not because of the closing of Orbit, but because of the crash of IF. In an attempt to regain the members that we have lost, you could always send out a mass email just letting everyone know that we are still here, and that we miss them. Sorry I didn't participate in the smilie contest, but I have absolutlely no clue on what I'm doing when it comes to stuff like that. I have no idea what programs to use for what, what programs I need to have, and how to utilize the different tools. I hear what your saying though.

^_^

okies

Meh

I definatly think there is a lack of people who actually post. Unfortunatly I don't talk to any of them.

Yeah it's time more me to stop being lazy and post like the way I used to post.

We are also starting to get tons of guest on again, I am going to try to figure this out and then focus on what is bringing them here.

:lol: well you all know I was used to post a lot, but nobody replied :lol:

We must all hang together, or we shall all hang seperatly.

Enigma's right on this one >_>

The only real active forum, as far as I can see, is the Visual Media and Computer Graphics section. Over half of the members that USED to post here left/are lurking, as Enigma said. I suppose it's the loss of Orbit that semi-killed the forum, but the crash finalized it.

We also have to keep in mind that right now a lot of people are heading back to school. This could cause a lot of lurking or inactivity from members because the real world demands more of their attention.

True. However I do remember these forums more active even during the school year than what they have been lately.

if you can give me a short list of the lost i can talk to them on aim or yim

like i am going to try to spike x to get him back

Maybe we could get more people to be active if there was an official TCG contest neopets rewards (I could donate 50,000 neopoints)? Or, maybe if there was an update on the co: tcg website people would come back? :boxer:

Yeah I'm down for a Neopets contest. I have some extra money and items lying around I could contribute. I definitely think that would cause more activity. People used to love the Orbit contests so why not make them love Neopets ones.

that would be some of my doing, i post the TCG link on NA comments from time to time... ^_^

also i can reattempt to getting Nexis back, we are in the same clan after all on NA.

Enigma is correct like everyone has been saying. Everyday i am on here and i see the same people on the top 10 posting list. Most of the time its Malach. Come on guys you have to give this guy some credit for all he's doing. His wife is injured and he still comes on and is more active then everyone, post wise.

im willing to dedicate a lot of my time to organize contest and im spreading tcg news to be active again on aim and liek im saying im willing to organize contest for neopets and anything else

Also if i can get permission to start the sig contest again and if not me a mod or admin because that will bring a substancial (sp?) amount of people left

You know I've noticed that you also have to keep in mind the nature of individual members. There are people like Malach out there who have lots of ideas and opinions and he likes to share them with everyone. Then there are others out there who like one particual section of the board and for the most part you can find the vast majority of their posts there. Then there are the "lurker" members who are on and paying attention to the going on's of the forum but rarely post because they don't have anything they feel is worth saying.

Now the ultimate goal that we have in mind is to get this place back to being a successfully active forum with a decent sized membership. What this entails is trying to get some of the forum alumni to come back and to recruite some new members, and what we keep asking ourselves is how do we manage this? A lot of people keep saying contests which is a good idea, but we run into a targeting problem. Every contest that I've heard so far has a target group due to skills and interests. So the real problem that we need to overcome if we go with the contest route is creating a contest that is challenging/interesting enough and has the ability to get the attention of EVERYBODY. This includes the people who seclude themselves in one section of the forum, the lurkers, and potential new members.

Exactly!

Well, Setafox, im working on a salution and posted Phase I of it in the Art Forums

=D

Well, I'm sorry for my Inactivity. It's just school has gotten a hold of me ever since the New Year, Since baseball conditioning has finally started. But the most reason as to why I have been Inactive, Is that I cleaned out my cookies over Christmas break, And I sort of forgot my password here at TCG. :P I thank Creator for helping me get back Into my account. Invisionfree Boards have all dropped the Inactivity here In the past while, Especially the Orbit related ones. So, It may be hard to get this board back active and all, But If we all come together, We could make It happen.

If you all need my help getting the board back to where It was at one time, You could just drop me a PM. I'm glad to be back, And hope we all can come together and make this happen. ;)

i come when i can and post if i got an opinon. not much to post anymore... -_-

LOL!!!!

well blind glad your doing ok....

as for me if there was a NA section right now i GUARANTEE 10+ active members.

i know alot of people on NA, like Sai, Raizen, Jedo, Yokutai, etc. who may like to join TCG if there was a NA section and Theninja seciton. just my thoughts on getting this board better.

NA woulds bea good rum, i I recall, even Conan plays NA XD But he movd, havent talked i awhil.

thats correct, his name is Nexis_op there and hes actually in the clan im in, so is Voltei ^_^

you should try it again Naruko, i can help you with teams if you want?

NaH, im starting my own project,have ajob, school, etc. ot muhtime fo NA

Conan_Edogawa is Nexius, yu sre?

Nexis_op i am sure of it, thats his name on the clan forum and in his player card here (siggy)

I don't think we need to focus on old members as much as we do with new ones. Theres a reason they left. They may come back one day but who knows if that will ever happen. We need new members. We need to lure them in. The Orbit forums brought in a bunch of new members. If I recall we had at least one new member a day(some stayed for about a day too.) They then branched out into the other areas. Gaming, Art, etc. I have no idea what to do to lure them in but I think thats the thing we really have to focus on.

I think the NA board is a good idea to get new members. There are a lot of members with that stuff in thier sigs. But I have been busy wioth end of semester stuff and finals. But in 2 weeks I should be back to normal activity, although I'm usually not as opinionated as some people. I post what I can.

An NA board would be nice, as much as I despise that game. But to each his own, I suppose. An Xbox 360 subforum would be nice >_>

i would like to say that i have begun recruiting members for here that like NA.

its gone good, maybe when there is enough members from NA here i can make a topic about glitches that i have the best grasp on.

I think that this thread diserves a good old bump.

Ok, so Invision hung us out to dry. At least we now know and can acknowledge and move on from it. It's one thing to say something cheeseball like,"You can expect big changes...blah, blah blah, blah blah blah," but, you know what, it's so much easier and more effective to just speak with the actions instead.

This might take a few days to complete so what you see is nowhere near where we plan to be at the end of the road...but it's a start. The 1st thing I've done here is....drat....baby is awake and needs me. She's working on her 1st two molars...which means I'm doomed. I'll try to edit this later and do more work later. Just pretend this is one of my longwinded threads, that you learned alot, and that came away with this feeling more positive about the whole mess....cause The Higher Powers will be making that pretend a reality ASAP. :angelic:

Something that I think we should consider is the layout of the forum. To allow easier access to other areas of the board, perhaps we should make the Cartoon Orbit section we have now into a sub forum since it's just sitting there, and nobody can post in it (except the General area). Then if we move some of the subforums we have now onto the main page, it would be alot easier for everyone to access their favorite areas of the forum. I'm not suggesting moving all the subforums we have now to the main page since it would be a bit much, but more of the active areas should be moved.

Edit:

Wow I was in the middle of posting this when the other areas of the Orbit section I were talking about were removed :huh: . :elephant: - Wierd!

:lol: The higher powers are reading your mind Venk.

I think I can help you with this. I depends on the refresh rate of your internet browser. Many of them are set for 18 - 24 hours. So, if you were on last night before EZ changed stuff, and came back within that time frame after he changed stuff, you will not see any changes unless, you refresh your screen, or post something (which automatically refreshes the screen).

I have this exact problem with my website clients. I will email telling them I updated their site, they go there and don't see the changes, and email back. I tell them to refresh their browser, lo and behold, the changes are there.

Now some site are set to automatically refresh your browser everytime you go there. Invision is not one of them.

And now you know, cause knowing is half the Battle.



BEHOLD THE POWER OF MALACH!

i tinhk a problem is that my name doesn't stay logged in, and then i can't post, and i'm just like, it'll take too long and don't post

if you could keep names logged in always it might help

Mine is always logged it, it depends on you internet settings