What Should We Do?

[>>Sway<<]

So I'm noticing that nothing is going on, even after my mass e-mail. What should be done? If I start contests or anything that I suggested I start and no one is on to participate, its a worthless effort on my part, is it not? I want to know what we can do to fix things. If we think that we can't get on to post at all, let me know and I will stop trying to put so much effort into the forum. If you want to make things work and want the forum to stay alive, let me know that as well and I will put 110% into keeping the forum alive. I can't do it without the help of the members... without YOUR help!

Anything we could try to get the forum active would REQUIRE members to be active themselves. I can't exactly start a plot or a contest or anything of the like if its only me participating. It makes it tiring and discouraging to do so.

So, this topic is more or less to see who is active, who wants to help and who thinks we should just call it a good run and go our separate ways. If this forum tanks, I might consider making a new forum of a different genre if anyone would be interested, and if that's the case, we can discuss that all here and anyone who wanted to be involved could take part.

If we do close down Aelyn, the forum will remain accessible to all members and available for new members to join if they so choose in case the forum gets a spark of activity or something, but I will not be putting so much effort into it that could be going toward more productive things.

If we keep Aelyn open, I promise to keep things updated better and provide more fun for the members as well as new surprises and whatnot around the corner! I honestly have a lot of great ideas, it just takes the effort of the members to help me out.

[[Celestic]]

The problem is that the members currently aren't active at all or put in little to no effort. We need to actually recruit (no offense) non lazy members who actually care about the well-being of this site. Of course we don't get any member feed back on anything, and if they become staff members the come up with some ridiculous excuse as to why their (difficult) lives are getting in the way. Sorry, I'm really bitchy right now and that seems like the best explanation as to why the members here aren't making any effort -- it's laziness.

[>>Sway<<]

And if that's the case, then I don't see the point of continuing. You can't really change lazy... or even a genuine lack of interest, which I think is part of the problem.

The current Challenge is to recruit active members. 500AT for each member you recruit. There are some minor requirements the member must meet, but otherwise you get the tears.

The only problem with getting things going is the lack of activity. I'm ready to throw in the towel, as I've exhausted myself some days trying to keep the forum alive. I've spent hours trying to change things, to improve things, to give the members what they want and get nothing for it in return. The revamps don't seem to help anymore, the activities, contests, events and the like don't help anymore... I'm running out of ideas, options and enthusiasm... The lack of interest is really pushing me to the point of throwing in the towel and having us all move on to go our separate ways. That is the point that I'm at right now based on prior experience, knowledge and actions of the forum.

[[Celestic]]

Feb 18, 2012 10:50:15 GMT -6 >>Sway<< said:

And if that's the case, then I don't see the point of continuing. You can't really change lazy... or even a genuine lack of interest, which I think is part of the problem.

The current Challenge is to recruit active members. 500AT for each member you recruit. There are some minor requirements the member must meet, but otherwise you get the tears.

The only problem with getting things going is the lack of activity. I'm ready to throw in the towel, as I've exhausted myself some days trying to keep the forum alive. I've spent hours trying to change things, to improve things, to give the members what they want and get nothing for it in return. The revamps don't seem to help anymore, the activities, contests, events and the like don't help anymore... I'm running out of ideas, options and enthusiasm... The lack of interest is really pushing me to the point of throwing in the towel and having us all move on to go our separate ways. That is the point that I'm at right now based on prior experience, knowledge and actions of the forum.

You're right, we can't change that -- those people have to change that demeanor but if we're dealing with teenagers that's probably not going to happen sad to say.

In order for activities, contests, and events to work we need reliable members so our problem is either 1) Not recruiting enough people or 2) Not recruiting the right people. What did the old Aelyn and MR have (regarding members) that Aelyn Reborn does not have? There has to be some sort of commonality.

[>>Sway<<]

Dedicated members. A time when Wolf RP was more sought for. I think a lot of it is just a genuine lack of interest and lack of members to recruit.

Its not the fault of the teenagers... Its not based on age or gender or anything of that sort... its based solely on who has the time to participate and actually will (As some of our members in the past have been in their 20s and have lost interest or "lacked time"). Its not a certain age group that's the issue, its the general genre as a whole I think... which is why if we do close down Aelyn, I will take ideas as to what kind of forum members would like to participate in if I created a new world for everyone to take part in, kind of bringing new members in as well as bringing old members along with us to still have some of the dedication to something that's new, more popular and potentially more interesting to people today.

[[Celestic]]

Feb 18, 2012 11:07:38 GMT -6 >>Sway<< said:

Dedicated members. A time when Wolf RP was more sought for. I think a lot of it is just a genuine lack of interest and lack of members to recruit.

Its not the fault of the teenagers... Its not based on age or gender or anything of that sort... its based solely on who has the time to participate and actually will (As some of our members in the past have been in their 20s and have lost interest or "lacked time"). Its not a certain age group that's the issue, its the general genre as a whole I think... which is why if we do close down Aelyn, I will take ideas as to what kind of forum members would like to participate in if I created a new world for everyone to take part in, kind of bringing new members in as well as bringing old members along with us to still have some of the dedication to something that's new, more popular and potentially more interesting to people today.

I honestly don't think it's the genre. I've seen other boomingly active wolf roleplay forums that have been working out just fine. People claim to not have time but dammit, make the time. Heavens knows I make time, and could honestly make more time. It's just the level of importance to them that makes it complicating -- so then the question would be how can we make Aelyn important enough for them to actually participate and stay participating?

[>>Sway<<]

I honestly see no way to make it more important. We can't force people to participate, we can offer new things and whatnot for them, but even that doesn't work.

The forums that are booming and active have the dedication to the members and forum that we lack, not to mention, many of them have been around FAR longer than Aelyn has... they're more established and have members that care what happens and try to keep it active. I also think that its the genre, as more and more sites I see popping up are fewer and fewer Wolf-oriented sites. They're geared to different Genre's, or even specific fandoms.

[[Celestic]]

Well I don't know what to say then. I don't think creating a new forum would be practical since in the past every time we've created one they've gotten perpetually more inactive and we lose the dedicated members we had. I think our best bet is making Aelyn more inclusive of other fantasy creatures (dragons, gryphons etc etc) that way if people want they can roleplay or interact with one of those creatures. If that makes sense. XD

[>>Sway<<]

I don't want to do that though, it detracts from the original idea of Aelyn. Allowing other creatures and whatnot into the world would inevitably not make it Aelyn... even its name would not work with the vision I have for the forum. Aelyn is wolves... its a wolf RP forum and beyond that, allowing a plethora of other creatures would hinder the idea, the history and the like that is Aelyn. Not to mention, creating a whole new forum is far easier (to me) than reorganizing and rewriting and making room for the other landscapes, worlds or what have you that would have to come with new characters.

I know there are ways to bring in other creatures if needed and if we ultimately wanted to do that, we could... but then the rules would have to be rewritten, new restrictions would have to be placed, new lands/areas would have to be created or gotten rid of... all in all, its creating a whole new forum anyway. It seems like a lot more effort to revamp/change this forum rather than just make a new one.

If we ultimately, AS A FORUM, want to allow new elements such as other creatures or whatnot to the forum, I'll give it one last go, but I only see it as a wasted effort as I don't think it will make much difference, honestly, based on past experiences. I've done EVERYTHING the members have asked for, and even still there's no show of increased activity or anything.

[[Pokeapache]]

Feb 18, 2012 11:32:27 GMT -6 >>Sway<< said:

Not to mention, creating a whole new forum is far easier (to me) than reorganizing and rewriting and making room for the other landscapes, worlds or what have you that would have to come with new characters.

If you recreate the site, I'll rejoin. Just so you know, I thought this might be vaguely important.


I've been incredibly lazy / busy (as in, when I'm not lazy I'm busy with other things) ...

If we did make another forum perhaps we could have a completely destruction of all of the packs. Because that's what happened, and it makes since with the plot so far. Everything is falling apart around every wolf.

And yeah, there's no making these members we have active. There is just no way. I've seen you try and it just doesn't work. We need new people, and a new forum with a shiny GRAND OPENING sign is the best way to get people interested. I just don't join sites and stay active with a community that's been around for a long time. I love brand new sites, they feel like they have so much more potential.

More than anything I think you need to be open to as many ideas as possible. ... If you want it to be strictly a wolf site, that's fine of course, I think that's important, but I think the powers should start coming back. That was part of the fun of the old site, all of the crazy cooky powers and having only alphas (who ended up hardly active) with partial powers didn't really work?

Maybe have people create wolves without powers, and have one of the Ancestor gods meet up with RANDOMLY CHOSEN WOLVES to give them RANDOM POWERS. That could be interesting. Have those powers have a chance to be taken away if the wolf doesn't do certain things incharacter, like pray or spread word of the ancestors? ... Something interesting, something DIFFERENT, you know?

People could always buy specific powers once the site gets going and people get paws. But make the random element something for people to get interested in.



errmm what else did i want to comment on

The problem is that the members currently aren't active at all or put in little to no effort. We need to actually recruit (no offense) non lazy members who actually care about the well-being of this site. Of course we don't get any member feed back on anything, and if they become staff members the come up with some ridiculous excuse as to why their (difficult) lives are getting in the way. Sorry, I'm really bitchy right now and that seems like the best explanation as to why the members here aren't making any effort -- it's laziness.

This right here is pure truth. Absolute, pure truth.

I'm probably the, what, maybe third or fourth most active member and I haven't posted since last month? Maybe even December. I have free time.

We need new members. We need members that want to roleplay with each other and us and keep us interested.

We need a reason to post that's better than just pawpoints. We need a reason to want to post and that simply is just going to be general interest and a lack of laziness.

It's not your fault Sway. It never was. It's just... We need better people.

And I'm not going to say no offense or sorry to anyone.

Because it's true and they all know it, and I know it.

So... there's my two cents I guess.

[>>Sway<<]

I'm glad you're on board. If we decide to keep this site, it will remain Wolf (Or so I'd like) but if we create an entirely new forum, it would be open to any members who want to join it to help decide what we do with it.

Now, I can put forth some plots or push our current ones farther along if needed, that's no problem. The only problem is getting people involved. I'll gladly start bestowing powers upon wolves, which is what part of our plot is moving toward, wolves getting powers. I could tie it into the wolves that are storytellers and allow them to have powers to demonstrate the will/power/pure awesomeness of the Ancestors? Wolves that begin to believe or whatever in them can start sporadically getting their powers all at once or have them start slowly, and that could be all left up to chance if needed. It would give something to RP with beyond just the wolf itself and put more into the plot, if that's what we want to do. The only problem is getting members involved/active again/etc. I'm willing to give it one last effort if I can get enough participation.

[unoppo]

The only form of Internet is my phone and I still log on2 or 3 times a weeks. My biggest problem is this I have one creature and though I should be helping with the ooc post ( which I know I haven't and I need to talk to sway about that) but the two or three post I'm envied in haven't had any one on them scene early jan. I know one is dealing with a death so I hold no grudges there but the other two relay hinder on one person as of now and I think that there is some sort of unspoken rule that you must be part of the pack or thinking of joining the pack to interact with it. I have looked at the loner lands and there is next to no one in them and I think that is do to the misconception that you have to join a pack in order to play. Now as to what should be done about this I think that we need to revamp endorsement ( I have yet to see any form from any site talking about us) so in a scenes part of the blame can be placed on laziness of others but I think that the mentality of Aelyn as a hole may also need to shoulder some of the blame

[>>Sway<<]

Well, in the previous version of Aelyn, we were overrun by loners and had very few pack wolves... so I'm not sure that's the real issue. I think the main issue is a lack of interest/motivation/members that are willing to dedicate time to it.

I'm to the point and am strongly considering creating an entirely new forum and throwing in the towel for Aelyn. I've gotten people logging on every day, but not doing anything at all, OOC or otherwise. This just shows that no one is really interested in working to keep the forum alive.

So, now comes the next question, what ideas do we have for an entirely new forum/genre/etc.

Here are some of my thoughts:
- Shape-Shifter
- Mythological Creature
- Something involving all of the above (Vampires, Werewolves, Faeries, Elves, Dragons, Witches, etc)

I like the idea of something totally original. I think that if we had something original and with a large variety, people would be more interested in taking part. I also think that those interested could create whatever they wanted, and have it start out with one power (Unless its the leader of a specific area, then they could have two) or something along those lines if they're a magickal creature. If they're something like a shape-shifter, it could be an added ability while they're in their human form or something. Just a few different takes on what is out there.

[[Celestic]]

I don't think we should completely ditch Aelyn yet until we ascertain for sure what the problem is. For the past 2 sites you've created Sway, we've had issues with getting people to stay. Maybe we should establish stronger friendships with our members? Instead of making the staff and users feel so separate.

[>>Sway<<]

I was friends with most of the members. I always make them feel welcome. Its not anything like that. Its a genuine lack of interest/time/dedication/whathaveyou. This thread itself proves that not really anyone cares whether or not Aelyn lives.