Do we actually need all this extra horsepower?

[Shawn]

I realize that, for a while, this board was really soaking up the bandwith, and it made sense to switch over to a server that offered us as much space and bandwith as possible. But now? I'm looking at the forum statistics and it looks like we're getting an average of 10 threads a day, across all of the forums.

Episode 3 is about 6 months away, and that's sure to drum up more traffic. But for how long?

I'm not necessarily suggesting that we go back to a smaller hosting package. The first time we got a busy week, we could be in trouble. But as it stands now, it seems like we have bandwith to burn.

I'm thinking that it may pay to branch the focus of the forums out a little more; Maybe slowly make this more of a general discussion board with a Star Wars theme. I know we're already kind of leaning this way, but I'd like to further emphasize this.

What I have in mind is to make the forum more entertainment centric. I'm thinking about pushing forums like the BO Discussion to the forefront. The Portal hardly gets used, so I was thinking that we could get a few staff writers together to publish full reviews on the front page. Maybe do the same for games and other entertainment mediums. And I'd like to consider actually doing a bit of advertisement/PR for the Portal page, so that the reviews actually get read. If we start doing regular reviews, we could submit them to rottentomatoes.com and other similar sites.

This isn't meant to repalce the Roleplaying scene in any way whatsoever. I just see a lot of potential going to waste. We're losing our older members and not seeing too many new members coming in.

On a somewhat related note: What's the word on Fansgrog? I've been wanting to help drum up interest in the Dark Side forums by torrenting up a few things, but I don't know of any safe public trackers to use.

[Dasquian Belargic]

What I have in mind is to make the forum more entertainment centric. I'm thinking about is pushing forums like the BO Discussion to the forefront. The Portal hardly gets used, so I was thinking that we could get a few staff writers together to publish full reviews on the front page. Maybe do the same for games and other entertainment mediums. And I'd like to consider actually doing a bit of advertisement/PR for the Portal page, so that the reviews actually get read.


I think this sounds like a great idea, and agree that rolepalying is really slowing down, so it would be a good idea to branch out a bit.

[Shawn]

For a better idea of what I have in mind, I was thinking about duplicating the format used by sites such as www.shacknews.com, www.bluesnews.com, and www.ve3d.com. To that end, it would be necessary to trim the objects on the portal page and maybe give it a different default styleset.

[Morgan Evanar]

eerr something

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I think that this is a good idea. :):thumbup Because, you're right, and also roleplaying isn't going to last forever( no matter how hard I try! ) , but the board and discussion can. We've had RPing members "leave" but they still stay around and chat in the discussion forums.

[TheHolo.Net]

As far as downgrading our hosting package/bandwidth I really see no reason to at this time. It is actually cheaper here than it was at our previous host and moving this site is no easy task because our DB does put a strain on most host servers in this or lower price ranges.

As for changing things up some, I like the ideas I am hearing so far, but as far as Portal style goes I rather like having it set up to work with multiple styles, but am in no way saying that its layout and content cannot be modified, which can be done pretty extensively with the existing vbPortal. I am also very much up for having the default (non logged in) style changed to something different. Our default style is rather passé and not that attractive to me any longer.

The ideas I am hearing about shifting focus and trying to get movie and/or game reviews up on the portal I also like very much.

As for contributing new ideas right now, I'm not really the best person for that. I am super busy trying to get my finances and my job situation all straightened out. I am thankful that this place is supporting itself financially right now via the Supporter accounts and RP group forum fees.

[imported_Eve]

I like the ideas for sure, and its quite a good idea to start thinking about these things now. It's good and responsible business.

I think Daily updates to the Portal are VERY significant in our success and membership - its our first point of contact.

[Shawn]

Originally posted by SWFans.Net
As far as downgrading our hosting package/bandwidth I really see no reason to at this time. My point was more that we have bandwith to burn at the moment. Downgrading would be a pain in the ass and could bite us back the first time we need it.
I like the ideas I am hearing so far, but as far as Portal style goes I rather like having it set up to work with multiple stylesI was more thinking along the lines of a different default style that the unregistered members will see.Something very clean and easily readable. Also, I was thinking about cutting it down to one sidebar. The current layout of the portal can be a bit imcomprehensible. I talked to s'Il last night about the possibility of doing another styleset for us.
Originally posted by Eve
I think Daily updates to the Portal are VERY significant in our success and membershipExactly. I think having some kind of daily content is crucial to staying afloat. Reviews seemed rather natural, since that's always in style.

I was also thinking about rearranging the forums a bit. Merge related forums, get rid of unused forums, etc.

[imported_Eve]

RE: Reviews and News at the Portal Page:

We've had people do reviews and news before. Sooner or later we lose the committment. I worry that someone will keep up on this. They don't now.

Rather than have one person, I suggest a news team. Maybe they split days. They don't get any mod rights (unless they're already a mod). Maybe also a group of elite reviewers for movies, books, comics, or games (and these could be the people most active in the forum). They don't need to do homework - we just use their review threads as content for the Portal.

Hell, we can post news from another site as long as we site the site. Even this is better than posting nothing in the Portal.


EDIT: Yay, I finally made it to 1000 posts. And its only been three years. :rollin

[Shawn]

I basically agree with you. There will need to some "homework" assignments for new material. We'll definitely need to recruit people for various sections. Ideally, someone who buys a lot. ;)

I figure that, after we get well established, we can start requesting review copies of movies and such, which will make it much easier. Until then, we'll just need to find someone who sees a lot of movies and can write good reviews. :)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I can review books. I read a lot of books.

I also see a lot of movies. :p

[Dasquian Belargic]

I <strike>download- err...</strike> listen to lots of music? If we were planning to have a music section, of course. We should have a video games one too, definetly :D:thumbup

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Originally posted by Shawn
I figure that, after we get well established, we can start requesting review copies of movies and such, which will make it much easier. Until then, we'll just need to find someone who sees a lot of movies and can write good reviews. :)
OMG WHY DID WE BAN JONLB!?!?!? :cry


;)

[Shawn]

Hah! The thought had occured to me. However, his kind of reviews aren't the ones I'd like to see this site associated with. We don't need 12 page diatribes that can't get to the point.

Edit: Is there a way to back up the current portal layout so that I can toy around with it?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

CMJ might be a good reviewer, but I'm thinking we'll need more than one for movies. I see a lot of movies too.

were we thinking weekly updates? Or..?

[Shawn]

I was thinking more along the lines of daily updates. You're a good choice for movie reviewer, given the volume of movies you see. Do you think you could maybe write up a sample review for a recent movie and PM it to me?

As far as forums go, here's what I had in mind: SW Films can be merged with the BO forum. EU, Collecting and the Misc forum can be merged into a General Discussion forum. OOC should be used for RP discussions only; The usual banter can go in the General Discussion forum (I admit, I'm not so sure how well this one will go over). The FAQ threads can be stuck at the top of the Communications forum.

We could allow comments (replies) in the Portal forum from unregistered users, so people could leave feedback to the articles on the front page.(This is do-able, right?)

We should probably trim the Dark Side forums and rearrange their focus. Depending on how much traffic Fansgrog can handle, I may look into setting up a private torrent tracker when I get a new job. If we can get a steady flow of stuff being posted there, it could offer a real incentive to get a Supporter account. I'm just not sure how comfortable Ogre would feel about that, though.

None of this is set in stone: Just ideas I've been tossing around for a while. I think this will also help the RP community, since more new posters equals more new potential RPers.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I am all for most of the changes. I would wait to merge the SW films with entertainment till after Episode 3. I figure Box office would get crowded if we did that now (I am really think about in 3-4 months when we start getting trailers and stuff). After the movie hits and maybe in August or so, it doesn't really matter any more.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

:D I saw Wimbledon last night, for free, and saw 25 people get kicked out of my movie. It was awesome. I'll PM a review to you shortly.

And Carr, I think that he meant to spread out the entertainment forums more, not condense them...?

edit: NM :o I need to read posts more thoroughly.

[JMK]

I dig most of the proposed changes, but I kind of agree with Carr on waiting until after Episode 3 has died down before merging the SW film forum with the B.O. forum.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah it will work then. Unless you want to create seperate areas like a Sci-fi/fantasy section or something.

[CMJ]

I'm up for writing (some)reviews. I see alot of movies - whether in theatres on later on video. How in depth do you want them? I know you don't want a Bowen type of thing, but I usually just post my initial thoughts in the forums, and that is below just about any review standard. ;)

I'm sure I'd have a blast doing it, I just wouldn't want to get stuck writing them all day every day. ;)

[Shawn]

I'm going to come up with a general guideline for the reviews shortly. I'm hoping I can catch Ogre at a good time to mess with the portal page, since I've never touched it.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Originally posted by CMJ
I'm sure I'd have a blast doing it, I just wouldn't want to get stuck writing them all day every day. ;)
Unless maybe we got paid per review. ;)

The one I sent you, Shawn, was just an off the cuff last minute one, and since I've never done one before, I am certainly open to suggestion.

[TheHolo.Net]

Originally posted by Shawn
I'm going to come up with a general guideline for the reviews shortly. I'm hoping I can catch Ogre at a good time to mess with the portal page, since I've never touched it. Weekends are generally the best time. It might work well if you make a photoshop sketch of your layout plan and send it to me. As for messing with the default style, it can be backed up by downloading the style before making changes to it.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Any word on this?

I think that separating out a few forums, like the Box Office and other Discussions forum, would be a good idea. For instance, we *could* have a World Politics forum, which isn't asking for much more trouble than we have already. We already allow political threads, as long as they're civil. This way people who want to avoid political discussions completely don't have to avoid the B.O forum. (I haven't had any complaints or feedback that anyone actually does this.)

We have a gaming forum already, which is pretty successful. I think adding game reviews and CD reviews to our list of reviews could mean that we might possibly have a new review posted up nearly every other day, if we had enough people to keep it up.

Possible review submission/posting plan: we could write up reviews whenever we see/do/hear something (we being the authorized contributors), and then Shawn/Eve/Ogre would post them up whenever they like. So there isn't a deadline so much attached to saying that we are a reviewer for Sw-fans... with the exception that we at least write two reviews a month?

Although, if everyone writes a review for the same movie, then you'd have problems.

We could also try to do a "he saw/she saw" type movie review, with a female and a male perspective of the same movie. Although, the girls here don't really have the average American Woman's taste in movies.

[Shawn]

I'll finish a mockup page tomorrow and post it, and I'll see if I can bug s'Il into doing a styleset for it. Then we'll go from there.