The online message board decline

Originally posted by Korto Vos
Right, but that's the problem. There aren't enough new personalities, and that has contributed to less daily posts and topics.

Maybe forums in general haven't declined, but KMC Forums certainly have. Perhaps the decline of the Star Wars forums was inevitable, but that was also due to many of the active posters getting banned or leaving forever.

But thats a product of everyones different situations and reasons for not posting in certain forums.

The Star Wars forums are not as active because there is nothing left to dicuss (the saga is completed) and a EU film project is largely dependant on the actors from the OT( who either would be against it or incapable of returning) so no more films can be made. And, you are going to get the same thing with other franchises when they've run their course, its just the way of things.

If anything blame the movie companies for not making anything new, or making reboots and remakes and prequels which lead to two things that can kill discussion. Firstly it puts people into different camps, it gets tribal and almost no-one is immune to this; and secondly it keeps a insanely popular franchise idling along which goes nowhere but it sucks dry any publicity that a fresher movie project needs.

I think the reason for lack of posters has to do with too many genre specific forums rather then having a single forum where everyone can come together. If you look at the Movie Forum for example you have the General movie forum but then immediately after you have a list of movie title specific forums like: Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Pirate of the Caribbeans, transformers and so on. Do we honestly need to give each movie an individual forum? 😬

The same thing with Star Wars it should all fall under a Sci-Fi General forum and not give it an individual forum. The key is to increase traffic by getting people in one place rather then spread out and making it seem like we have few posters which in turn turns off new comers when it looks sparse.

I think this is the main problem from the Movies, Sci-Fi and the RPG threads you only need one main RPG section for people to post in not individual forums for harry potter RPG, Star Wars RPG and so on.

I think you all get where i am going with this.

Originally posted by Nietzschean
I think the reason for lack of posters has to do with too many genre specific forums rather then having a single forum where everyone can come together. If you look at the Movie Forum for example you have the General forum but then immediately after you have a list of movie title specific forums like: Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Pirate of the Caribbeans, transformers and so on. Do we honestly need to give each movie an individual forum? 😬

The same thing with Star Wars it should all fall under a Sci-Fi General forum and not give it an individual forum. The key is to increase traffic by getting people in one place rather then spread out and making it seem like we have few posters which in turn turns off new comers when it looks sparse.

I think this is the main problem from the Movies, Sci-Fi and the RPG threads you only need one main RPG section for people to post in not individual forums for harry potter RPG, Star Wars RPG and so on.

I think you all get where i am going with this.

Originally posted by Lord Shadow Z
But thats a product of everyones different situations and reasons for not posting in certain forums.

The Star Wars forums are not as active because there is nothing left to dicuss (the saga is completed) and a EU film project is largely dependant on the actors from the OT( who either would be against it or incapable of returning) so no more films can be made. And, you are going to get the same thing with other franchises when they've run their course, its just the way of things.

If anything blame the movie companies for not making anything new, or making reboots and remakes and prequels which lead to two things that can kill discussion. Firstly it puts people into different camps, it gets tribal and almost no-one is immune to this; and secondly it keeps a insanely popular franchise idling along which goes nowhere but it sucks dry any publicity that a fresher movie project needs.

I agree, there isn't much to discuss nowadays. But that alone shouldn't have caused the mass departure of many regulars, nor the lack of newcomers.

I think the reason for lack of posters has to do with too many genre specific forums rather then having a single forum where everyone can come together. If you look at the Movie Forum for example you have the General forum but then immediately after you have a list of movie title specific forums like: Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Pirate of the Caribbeans, transformers and so on. Do we honestly need to give each movie an individual forum? The same thing with Star Wars it should all fall under a Sci-Fi General forum and not give it an individual forum. The key is to increase traffic by getting people in one place rather then spread out and making it seem like we have few posters which in turn turns off new comers when it looks sparse. I think this is the main problem from the Movies, Sci-Fi and the RPG threads you only need one main RPG section for people to post in not individual forums for harry potter RPG, Star Wars RPG and so on. I think you all get where i am going with this.

Thank you. This is what I meant when I stated points 3 and 4 in my earlier post.

Originally posted by quanchi112
I agree to this to the nth power. This would bring the board together and get rid of some of the boards which really don't need to stand on their own.

Those two people could easily be part of a bigger general forums with more traffic and be a voice among many with various different people talking about different movies and not just one movie. hell, putting everyone in one place allows for people to view other threads that they might not normally go looking for and actually post in it.

Originally posted by Nietzschean
exactly. I mean that is why we have threads, if someone wants to talk about transformers or harry Potter they can make a thread inside the Movie Forum rather then it having a stand alone Harry Potter or Transformers forum.
People do get tired of talking about a single movie and with a thread it can be kicked down and brought back up when need be and allow others to post other movie threads titles to talk about. But, if you give it an individual Forum it has nowhere to go and once people get tired of it they leave and now you have an abandoned forum that depresses and turns off people when they see no one or one or two people talking inside of it.

Those two people could easily be part of a bigger general forums with more traffic and be a voice among many with various different people talking about different movies and not just one movie. hell, putting everyone in one place allows for people to view other threads that they might not normally go looking for and actually post in it.

I also liked the idea of an all versus board which is how most sites do it anyway instead of having varying different vs. sections. Then I know other fellow comic book readers would weigh in on movie battles they are unaware of simply by not seeing them in the movie versus forum.

I am not a big fan of all versus forums since i have seen what places like comicvine can become and the quality of posters that it attracts. Like someone said earlier Quantity isnt always quality.

I guess with strict moderation it can work but i see moderators having a hard time telling the difference between fanboys, trolls and flamers the idea in itself might also turn off vet posters and have them leave for greener pastures to other sites.

My biggest fear is that this site grows rapidly and turns into a Pg13 disney like forum ala Comicvine with poor subjective moderating of posters or that online gender specific cliques form pushing out certain posters out of some highschool knee jerk reaction response, its a nightmare. *temple rubbing*

Originally posted by Nietzschean
I am not a big fan of all versus forums since i have seen what places like comicvine can become and the quality of posters that it attracts. Like someone said earlier Quantity isnt always quality.

I guess with strict moderation it can work but i see moderators having a hard time telling the difference between fanboys, trolls and flamers the idea in itself might also turn off vet posters and have them leave for greener pastures in other forums.

My biggest fear is that this site grows rapidly and turns into a Pg13 disney like forum ala Comicvine with poor subjective moderating of posters. Or that online gender specific cliques form pushing out certain posters, its a nightmare. *temple rubbing*

Originally posted by Korto Vos
Right, I understand. However, a larger forum population usually points to a stronger, thriving message board. People want a forum in which if they leave for a day, half the threads will be full of new posts.

sure, but it also points to an almost insurmountable amount of useless fluff

this forum, especially the general discussion forum, attracts a much higher caliber of poster than you see on most public discussion forums. in fact, there is nearly a vetting process for new members, as older members (myself included) do seem to act very skeptical toward new people. I am entirely in favor of this, because it honestly does stop the GDF from being a forum of celebrity gossip or random nonsense. I have found very few places where a thread like mine about Saudi Arabia and Bahrain would attract much attention at all, and it is now several pages.

you might have a point if you are referring to specifically the movie or comic forums, but the GDF here is probably at a good number. Too many people, and it simply will be full of the spam and nonsense one sees in youtube or other comments. It simply invites people who don't have much to say to say it. The way it is now, we have a good number of very intelligent people with various slants and biases, and it is very interesting to see how those play out. I also have a feeling that most of the people I'm talking about would feel the same way, and you would be destroying this awesome population of high quality posters for a large number of uninteresting ones, as I really wouldn't spend much time on a forum full of, to be crass, ignorant children.

Originally posted by Korto Vos
Besides, with proper integration, all new users will feel right at home and contribute to the quality discussions we have here.

LOL?

you want to big brother the forums? you want a form of "new member" integration? can those of us with seniority vote on who we let into the tribe? because, I can't think of anything that is going to attract people like moderators holding their hands and easing them into participation [sic], or previous members feeling like they are forced to play with the newcomers...

I think that type of policy would actually kill what the point of a discussion forum is for in the first place. It is a free exchange of ideas and opinions, not a pre-school playground where we want lots of kids running around screaming and having fun.

I guess I don't agree with your premise. More people will not make the caliber of conversation better. For those of us who want to actually discuss important topics, and we don't mind waiting a couple of days for well thought out answers, larger numbers are not going to produce better results, in fact, they will almost certainly ruin what is enjoyable about these forums in the first place.

Originally posted by Nietzschean
I am not a big fan of all versus forums since i have seen what places like comicvine can become and the quality of posters that it attracts. Like someone said earlier Quantity isnt always quality.

I guess with strict moderation it can work but i see moderators having a hard time telling the difference between fanboys, trolls and flamers the idea in itself might also turn off vet posters and have them leave for greener pastures to other sites.

My biggest fear is that this site grows rapidly and turns into a Pg13 disney like forum ala Comicvine with poor subjective moderating of posters or that online gender specific cliques form pushing out certain posters out of some highschool knee jerk reaction response, its a nightmare. *temple rubbing*

I think an All Versus Forum with two sub-forums of Comic Book-specific and Star Wars-specific would be ideal.

This site was much more vibrant and entertaining with more users, even if 'sides'/cliques formed and trolls and flamers were present. I trust the moderators to do their job and members to prevent KMC from turning into a "PG-13 Disney-like forum."

Originally posted by inimalist
sure, but it also points to an almost insurmountable amount of useless fluff

this forum, especially the general discussion forum, attracts a much higher caliber of poster than you see on most public discussion forums. in fact, there is nearly a vetting process for new members, as older members (myself included) do seem to act very skeptical toward new people. I am entirely in favor of this, because it honestly does stop the GDF from being a forum of celebrity gossip or random nonsense. I have found very few places where a thread like mine about Saudi Arabia and Bahrain would attract much attention at all, and it is now several pages.

you might have a point if you are referring to specifically the movie or comic forums, but the GDF here is probably at a good number. Too many people, and it simply will be full of the spam and nonsense one sees in youtube or other comments. It simply invites people who don't have much to say to say it. The way it is now, we have a good number of very intelligent people with various slants and biases, and it is very interesting to see how those play out. I also have a feeling that most of the people I'm talking about would feel the same way, and you would be destroying this awesome population of high quality posters for a large number of uninteresting ones, as I really wouldn't spend much time on a forum full of, to be crass, ignorant children.

LOL?

you want to big brother the forums? you want a form of "new member" integration? can those of us with seniority vote on who we let into the tribe? because, I can't think of anything that is going to attract people like moderators holding their hands and easing them into participation [sic], or previous members feeling like they are forced to play with the newcomers...

I think that type of policy would actually kill what the point of a discussion forum is for in the first place. It is a free exchange of ideas and opinions, not a pre-school playground where we want lots of kids running around screaming and having fun.

I guess I don't agree with your premise. More people will not make the caliber of conversation better. For those of us who want to actually discuss important topics, and we don't mind waiting a couple of days for well thought out answers, larger numbers are not going to produce better results, in fact, they will almost certainly ruin what is enjoyable about these forums in the first place.

NO, that's not what I meant. When I said "integration," for lack of a better term, I just meant welcoming a new member and "vetting" them, as you mentioned.

Sorry, I did not mean anything "Big Brother"-like at all.

EDIT: What I meant in general is that it's very possible to increase our population while still maintaining high quality. I'm not saying we should a million members like Gaia Online, but we definitely can have a lot more than we have and still maintain the quality here.

Originally posted by Korto Vos
I think an All Versus Forum with two sub-forums of Comic Book-specific and Star Wars-specific would be ideal.

This site was much more vibrant and entertaining with more users, even if 'sides'/cliques formed and trolls and flamers were present. I trust the moderators to do their job and members to prevent KMC from turning into a "PG-13 Disney-like forum."

Originally posted by Korto Vos
NO, that's not what I meant. When I said "integration," for lack of a better term, I just meant welcoming a new member and "vetting" them, as you mentioned.

Sorry, I did not mean anything "Big Brother"-like at all.

EDIT: What I meant in general is that it's very possible to increase our population while still maintaining high quality. I'm not saying we should a million members like Gaia Online, but we definitely can have a lot more than we have and still maintain the quality here.

We can keep and maintain as is the Off Topic, General Discussion and Religion Forums.

Sci-Fi Forum(star wars, star trek, Andromeda.. etc etc)
Movie and T.V. Discussion Forum( all movies).
Anime Forum

vs forum can have subsections
Comic vs forum
Anime vs forum
Movie/Television vs forum
Mix Genre Forum

these are just my thoughts and examples.

Originally posted by Nietzschean
Hopefully they can moderate large numbers of people especially when you have online cliques who form solely to conspire with a single poster b/c they dont like a post and want to get him or her banned. That is what i see in large places like Comicvine it is like Lord of the Flies on redbull.

LOL, your analogies are pretty hilarious. But seriously, that won't happen here. Flamers will get banned, and junior members actually wanting to contribute and be part of this community won't engage in that type of stuff.

I think the easiest thing to begin help increase traffic is to merge the movie forums subsections. The General Fiction and sub forum, Sci-Fi and Star Wars merged into a single Forum.

We can keep and maintain as is the Off Topic, General Discussion and Religion Forums as is.

Sci-Fi Forum(star wars, star trek, Andromeda.. etc etc)
Movie and T.V. Discussion Forum( all movies).
Anime Forum

vs forum can have subsections
Comic vs forum
Anime vs forum
Movie/Television vs forum
Mix Genre Forum

these are just my thoughts and examples.

That's one way to do it. But ultimately, a forum reorganization is dependent on higher level management, meaning an active administrator with the input of moderators.

The All Versus Forum that I have personally proposed needs to be cross genre ONLY.

We already have specific genre versus forums for:

-Comic books
-Anime
-Star Wars
-Movies and telemovies
-Video games

Anything less than cross genre only would ensure mass confusion and chaos. Discussion of the All Versus Forum should be discussed in the apprpriate thread, though. I apologize for my being off topic.

Originally posted by Impediment
The All Versus Forum that I have personally proposed needs to be cross genre ONLY.

We already have specific genre versus forums for:

-Comic books
-Anime
-Star Wars
-Movies and telemovies
-Video games

Anything less than cross genre only would ensure mass confusion and chaos. Discussion of the All Versus Forum should be discussed in the apprpriate thread, though. I apologize for my being off topic.

YouTube video

There's no point at the moment to determine a specific forum structure.

Instead, this thread is about the decline of message boards, specifically geared to the decline that this once bustling place enjoyed.

Based on the responses on the first page, and posts by other users that I've seen, there seems to me that there is this acknowledgement that KMC is nearing its end-stage.

It seems evident to me that something must occur to change this mindset. The most obvious reason would be greater activity. So there should be a focus to aim for greater activity.

Originally posted by Korto Vos
There's no point at the moment to determine a specific forum structure.

Instead, this thread is about the decline of message boards, specifically geared to the decline that this once bustling place enjoyed.

Based on the responses on the first page, and posts by other users that I've seen, there seems to me that there is this acknowledgement that KMC is nearing its end-stage.

It seems evident to me that something must occur to change this mindset. The most obvious reason would be greater activity. So there should be a focus to aim for greater activity.

I like to throw the blame around but I hear that isn't nice. I just checked out the Gaia online and well this site can learn a lot of things from other sites with how to attract members.

Originally posted by Nietzschean
what do you suggest, a bunch of random post from members in hopes of attracting visitors?

I like to throw the blame around but I hear that isn't nice. I just checked out the Gaia online and well this site can learn a lot of things from other sites with how to attract members.

I have already my given my thoughts as to what I think should happen.

Members here have to decide whether they like KMC exactly the way it is now, or rather try a forum reorganization project and a push to attract new membership in the hopes of increasing overall activity.

Originally posted by Korto Vos
I have already my given my thoughts as to what I think should happen.

Members here have to decide whether they like KMC exactly the way it is now, or rather try a forum reorganization project and a push to attract new membership in the hopes of increasing overall activity.

Originally posted by Nietzschean
Even if the majority wanted to push for a change it wouldn't help because we don't have an active administrator to help start the change, I don't think he be willing to even share admin rights with one or two active global mods..

Right, but that push for an active admin or a global mod depends on the members' drive for a change.