What Should We Do?

[[Celestic]]

Well I care, and I think the other two who posted in it too. You're always telling me to be positive, be positive silly!

[[Moonwatcher]]

I literally hang my head in shame.

I should take some responsibility for the decrease in activity here at Aelyn. I was one of those who kept saying to stay active; promising to never leave and always come back. I'm not one who usually ditches a site that I've become so attatched to. There are so many reasons to leave, and yet so many more to come back.

Which I have.

Whether or not you decide to scoop me back into the administration here at Aelyn or not is up to you Sway, and you, Celestic. I know I've let you two down the most and I've come back with my tail between my legs. I'm sorry.

I've thought long and hard about why I might have left. Being in highschool, there's always the hectic business of life but joining a site, especially roleplay, is dedication. I shouldn't make up excuses when I was just being point-blank lazy. Perhaps I felt that with only a few members doing all the work, it just wasn't FUN anymore. We need some fresh faces, creative writers, dedicated members... That's all the site needs. I guess that depends on if you, Sway, decide to create a new forum. I know a new forum easily attracts new and able-bodied writers.

xx Moon

[>>Sway<<]

Celestic: I'm talking about how most of the posting, once again, has been done by you and me... How this topic has been up for a while and while I appreciate members posting in it, its only maybe one or two posts, compared to our several posts. That's not showing me interest in the forum or wanting to keep it alive, its showing me that they MIGHT stick around (Even if they said otherwise) and that they MIGHT be willing to keep the place alive. I mean no disrespect to anyone, and I want you all to know that, its just from an administrative standpoint and creators standpoint, that's the message that's getting put out by this. More active posts, especially in posting about the fate of the forum, would show more dedication and want to be a part of it.

Moon: I'm glad that you're posting again. I really am. As for a leadership position, I'm going to be far stricter on those who get them... meaning they will have to follow EVERY rule posted for both RP, OOC and Staff... That being said, they will also have to show some amount of dedication on some standards that I will personally come up with before they can even apply. I created the world of Aelyn WHILE I was in school... I know the hectic life it can take from you, but I found time to dedicate, between HOSA, Drill Team, Color Guard, working 30+ hours at Wal-mart, Raising my two younger brothers, Homework and even starting an Environmentalist club. Not to mention taking advanced classes... I know High School life is hard, trust me! I also know that between all that, I still kept a social life as well as maintained the forum at least on a minimal scale. It is possible, it just takes, like you said... Dedication. I've dedicated so much to this forum and to close it down would be the last thing that I want to do.... However, if that's what it takes to get a point across... if that's what it takes to keep the RP that I love to do alive, then that's what I'll do. I would rather not close Aelyn down, but I'm getting to that point where I almost don't care anymore... that I think it would be better to throw in the towel on Wolf RP All together and start new elsewhere...

That's why I posted this topic, to get input and opinions from the members. We've had 5 total posts in here from members, I believe... and out of those 5, 3 of them have posted only once or twice really... That's not dedication to me. Dedication would be trying everything they can to get their voice heard, to get their points across and to keep things alive... If that dedication can be shown for Aelyn Reborn, then we'll keep things, but if everyone feels starting a new forum is the way to go, and would like to follow to a new forum, then that's the course we'll take. To add to that, if we start a new forum, I WILL NOT be starting another Wolf RP. I've stated it before and I'll state it again now... This will be the last "Aelyn" wolf RP that I ever do. So if this dies, so does the world I created for it.

[[Pokeapache]]

Feb 25, 2012 12:30:19 GMT -6 >>Sway<< said:

I mean no disrespect to anyone, and I want you all to know that, its just from an administrative standpoint and creators standpoint, that's the message that's getting put out by this.

[[ I had nothing more to say on the matter, I said all I had to say and adding on more of the same thought wouldn't help the thread, it would be running in circles.

Also, I'm at a period in my life where I have all of the freetime and no structure. You'll notice that I'm a LOT more active when I have NO freetime, because I'm a lot more organized.

These days I'm more likely to go ahead and surf tumblr for 7 hours straight. It's really, really hard for me to remember to check and reply and think about what I need to get done because I don't really NEED to get anything done. ]]

... Regardless

I've loved roleplaying with all of you, and I'll follow wherever this goes, I love roleplaying with everyone here.

... And I really have said all that I want to say about the site.
It's not going to change unless we get new people,
and... well.. maybe we do need a new site.

[>>Sway<<]

I agree we need new people, but I have no clue anymore how to get them. I advertised, Listed us on various listing sites, affiliated, linked back... the whole nine yards and we haven't seemed to get anyone new from it. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know... I would like to keep Aelyn alive, but if it turns out we, as a majority, think we can't do that, we should start brainstorming our other options.

[unoppo]

I really have no idea as to how to help bring more people into Aelyn (believe me I have tried) I really don't want to louse this sight because I do enjoy the interactions I have from ya'll. Though I was looking at the sight and I notated that a lot of the post were waiting on the same few people in order for them to press on and I think mabby this may a part of the problem in that the sight may be far to dependent on this few people but as to how to apoch this problem I have no idea and I will be looking into it but there is no simple solution or sliver built that will fix this over night but we must try

[>>Sway<<]

What few people are we waiting on? Perhaps if they're called out it will help them realize they're holding things up? I know that if I'm supposed to be replying to a RP, sometimes I lose track with what ones I'm involved in and whatnot.

[angel61]

I will help ;D 8-)

[>>Sway<<]

Glad to know. Thank you!

[[Celestic]]

Feb 24, 2012 22:12:20 GMT -6 [Moonwatcher] said:

I literally hang my head in shame.

I should take some responsibility for the decrease in activity here at Aelyn. I was one of those who kept saying to stay active; promising to never leave and always come back. I'm not one who usually ditches a site that I've become so attatched to. There are so many reasons to leave, and yet so many more to come back.

Which I have.

Whether or not you decide to scoop me back into the administration here at Aelyn or not is up to you Sway, and you, Celestic. I know I've let you two down the most and I've come back with my tail between my legs. I'm sorry.

I've thought long and hard about why I might have left. Being in highschool, there's always the hectic business of life but joining a site, especially roleplay, is dedication. I shouldn't make up excuses when I was just being point-blank lazy. Perhaps I felt that with only a few members doing all the work, it just wasn't FUN anymore. We need some fresh faces, creative writers, dedicated members... That's all the site needs. I guess that depends on if you, Sway, decide to create a new forum. I know a new forum easily attracts new and able-bodied writers.

xx Moon

It's good to see you again Moon. While I agree that having only a few members doing all the work makes it less fun, having a staff who participates can help alleviate that feeling. We need all the help we can get which means we all need to invest our time in some advertisement outside of Aelyn.

[>>Sway<<]

Ultimatum time. If I don't get some responses soon that do any/all of the following, I'm throwing in the towel.

1. How can we make Aelyn active again, aside from just TALKING about bringing in new members?
2. If we CANNOT figure out how to make Aelyn active again, do we want to start a different forum?
3. IF WE DO start another forum, what genre would people be interested in? (I was thinking Supernatural/Mythological-oriented... Werewolves, Vampires, Fairies, Elves, etc... gives a WIDE variety of things for people to play).
4. Anything else you'd like to add.

I WANT EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO KEEP AELYN ALIVE TO RESPOND TO THIS, ADDRESSING EACH NUMBER INDIVIDUALLY! Show me that you want Aelyn to stay alive. If I don't get AT LEAST THREE RESPONSES BY THE END OF THIS WEEK (3 March 2012), then I will be closing Aelyn down.

The responses should be enough for us to go off of to decide what we should do about Aelyn. Anyone interested in keeping Aelyn alive should WANT to post and WANT to give input, as much input and as often as they can. Those who wish to start another forum should also say so and go into detail. Those that don't care, just keep what you're doing and ignore this entire thread.

I don't mean to come across as rude/bitchy/what have you, but if we can't keep ONE OOC TOPIC alive, with at least ONE POST A DAY, how do we plan to keep an entire forum active and welcoming?

[unoppo]

Like I have said be for there is not silver bullets that will fix all our problems but I think we should look into pattering with a sight called gaiaonline.com the vast majority of the sight is post by post RPGs and they may be able to help us

[>>Sway<<]

I've never liked Gaia.. I tried it once but it didn't really click with me. If people want to try advertising on there, go for it.

[[Celestic]]

1. How can we make Aelyn active again, aside from just TALKING about bringing in new members?

Well bringing new members is the most important thing since we don't have any....left exactly. Though I will say that our problem, and I stated it before is the type of members we have. Most of the people we have here or have had on the last Aelyn were NOT dedicated members. They would post a couple things and then leave out of boredom or just leave because their terribly busy lives took them away from us. We need to recruit members who aren't like this.

Another thing? I think the problem is that our plots, or our half-thought plots are so scattered that people can't advance their characters or anything. Aelyn Reborn has been here for over a year now and there is literally no wolves re-finding their powers or anything. If we sped things up a bit and gave more people something to grab a hold of plot-wise, we would probably keep more people.

2. If we CANNOT figure out how to make Aelyn active again, do we want to start a different forum?

I've thought about this a lot over the past few days and I'm gonna flat out say no. (my opinion though) How many more Aelyns, and more themed boards do we have to create until we throw in the towel? Sway hunny you keep putting all your energy into a site with the designing, the creation and it pretty much all goes to waste because people don't participate. I think we need to focus our resources here, we need to focus on not thinking in a "CANNOT" way and start thinking in a "CAN" way.

3. IF WE DO start another forum, what genre would people be interested in? (I was thinking Supernatural/Mythological-oriented... Werewolves, Vampires, Fairies, Elves, etc... gives a WIDE variety of things for people to play).

Notice previous response.

I hope my post doesn't sound bitchy or anything, and I know you're going to say like you always do that, "Celestic, RP forums function differently than forums like yours, etc etc etc." Yeah, they might be more focused on constant participation but like any site if there is not an active staff there isn't going to be an active membership. That is our primary problem and it stems from the type of people we attract. We need to go for an older audience who has a better knowledge of dedication.

I think we could do 10x more social-networking advertisement on places like Facebook. Hell advertising everywhere, not just on other RP sites.

[>>Sway<<]

Well bringing new members is the most important thing since we don't have any....left exactly. Though I will say that our problem, and I stated it before is the type of members we have. Most of the people we have here or have had on the last Aelyn were NOT dedicated members. They would post a couple things and then leave out of boredom or just leave because their terribly busy lives took them away from us. We need to recruit members who aren't like this.

Another thing? I think the problem is that our plots, or our half-thought plots are so scattered that people can't advance their characters or anything. Aelyn Reborn has been here for over a year now and there is literally no wolves re-finding their powers or anything. If we sped things up a bit and gave more people something to grab a hold of plot-wise, we would probably keep more people.

How do you propose we find members that fit that specific category? I need more than just the type of members we need, I need to know HOW you plan on getting those members.

As for the plot, I've mentioned different ways of doing that, I've PUSHED wolves into those ways, created wolves JUST for that reason... those posts get ignored. No one cares to respond to them and if we don't have anyone being active, then they're going to continue to get ignored. I have done everything I can aside from saying "Poof, everyone has their powers back", which I won't do. We got rid of them because 1) No one used them, or they were getting WAY too ridiculous and 2) The last MAJOR plot we put in KILLED the other forum... because wolves weren't wanting to interact with each other. Its not a matter of plot, if you ask me. Its mainly to do with the members and a lack of motivation... which if that's the case, then I'm not going to put forth the effort that I do anymore.

RPing is one of the ONLY outlets I have anymore, which is why I'm pushing this issue. If we don't get the input and participation in THIS thread, how can we expect participation and input ANYWHERE else? A lot of people agree that sometimes a brand new, shiny forum brings in new members and gets everyone inspired... Its worked in the past, but I won't do another Wolf RP Forum if this one tanks.

I've thought about this a lot over the past few days and I'm gonna flat out say no. (my opinion though) How many more Aelyns, and more themed boards do we have to create until we throw in the towel? Sway hunny you keep putting all your energy into a site with the designing, the creation and it pretty much all goes to waste because people don't participate. I think we need to focus our resources here, we need to focus on not thinking in a "CANNOT" way and start thinking in a "CAN" way.

Oh, trust me... I have thought that way since the beginning... I've put forth the effort to try to get members to participate. I don't think I have anymore "CAN" in me to give without a little boost of hope from THE MEMBERS.

I hope my post doesn't sound bitchy or anything, and I know you're going to say like you always do that, "Celestic, RP forums function differently than forums like yours, etc etc etc." Yeah, they might be more focused on constant participation but like any site if there is not an active staff there isn't going to be an active membership. That is our primary problem and it stems from the type of people we attract. We need to go for an older audience who has a better knowledge of dedication.

I think we could do 10x more social-networking advertisement on places like Facebook. Hell advertising everywhere, not just on other RP sites.

I have advertised out my ass and back, and on more sites than just Facebook, other RP sites and the like. I've listed our page in Search Engines, created hash tags, posted on Forum Directories, mentioned it to people IRL... the works.

How do you plan to get an older audience? I don't think age is the issue, I think its just a general lack of interest or motivation. Older people generally don't participate in Wolf-oriented RPs... that's more for a younger crowd anyway... Older people tend to gravitate toward more mature themes, which this forum is not listed or labeled under... which is another reason I thought about making an entirely new forum.