Forum Inactivity?

[Jeev BM Veteran]

So, yeah, the forum is becoming well, inactive in my opinion. Signatures aren't being posted up as frequently as they used to, and really the only active topics are those What are you wearing, What are you listening to etc. topics. It is of course understandable if people are just busy with their real lives, but I'm thinking we should do something about the recent drop in activity.
I was thinking maybe we could make some banners, userbars, signatures, whatever you want, sort of advertising Blue Munka. They could be added onto your signature on other forums. Also, perhaps a different variety of events, as SotW seems to be dying. Starting up the Munka Mile again would be fun.
Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

[Plague BM Veteran]

I don't even make anything like that anymore. I stop by BM every day tho to check how everything is.

[drivel]

I think it's time to make a shift into other topics.

[Snipe BM Veteran]

Uhhh... Signatures on top???? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[drivel]

I mean add new topics, not rearrange them.

[Kryppers BM Veteran]

I think we need to advertise the munka.

we rarely get anyone new joining up and posting regularly.. and with such a small active populace of regular posters.. it begins to stagnate. It happens to a lot of small online communities.

so get advertising.. get the new folks in, make sure they've got plenty to do.. with competitions and such.. and watch the post count rise

[drivel]

Advertising might help a little, but it won't make the problem go away. The core members of the community need to post more often, but that's hard to do when most of us haven't done very much graphical work lately, which is why I think we need other topics that people are interested in posting to.

Suggest new topics in this thread.

Personally, I'd like to see a Web Design section. I had another idea, but I can't remember it right now.

[Jeev BM Veteran]

I took a look at the Forum Index page and noticed the Market is still here. Since there isn't a credit system anymore, is there any more reason to keep it up?
Edit: Eh, actually I suppose it could be kept as just a requesting forum.

[drivel]

Credits aren't permanently dead, I'm just not in a hurry to bring them back until there's a better use for them. :x

[Snipe BM Veteran]

tbh, I HATE the new skin... Like.. HATE with a PASSION.

lol.

I would have to suggest just pretty much what other people recommended. Move the name tags to the left, put the SotW signatures on the top, get the credit system up & running. And the activity might rise ridiculously...

[drivel]

Honestly there is no option for us to go back to the old theme. If you don't like something about the new theme... tell me what's wrong with it.

If you're using IE6 and you're complaining about the random bordering, I recently discovered that on my own since no one ever reported it and I'll fix it when I have time, but it's gonna be pretty hard since the CSS sucks on this theme.

[Snipe BM Veteran]

It's too messy, tbh.


It's just... Not the first thing I would like to see when I visit a GFX site.

[eclipse. BM Veteran]

I don't quite see how it's messy. .

I dunno what we could do for the inactivity. Maybe some sort of gift competition.

[MoGiT BM Veteran]

It's too messy, tbh.


It's just... Not the first thing I would like to see when I visit a GFX site.

what are u talking about? i dont see a reason to hate this skin :/

atleast state a reason then


btw web design section sounds good.. and uhm maybe some more tutorials?

[.zoot]

I highly doubt inactivity is a result of the sites appearance. It's not nearly bad enough to deter people in my opinion. In fact, I would think the opposite. In my experience, I find people are more likely to go to a site that is different than the norm... sites with some sort of gimmick, etc... Though I admit this new look took a tiny bit of adjustment, I don't think it's hindering our population at all.


To be honest, I havn't been around that much lately, nor have I done much in terms of graphics. I mean... I'm around, and I read the forums... but most of the time I just read and don't post unless I have somehing productive to post. I've been working alot of hours lately, recently moved into a new place, and am trying to squeeze in the rest of my life to my schedule.

I can't think of any real reason why our site would be so inactive, except for that reason itself. It's inactive BECAUSE it's inactive. Unfortunately, the problem with a site full of people who make sigs, sigs, and more sigs... eventually you've just seen everything and it turns into a site dedicated to just showing off your latest sigs. Sadly, the majority of sigs out there are just thrown together... take a render, make a background, throw it together with some effects and text and voila... a sig. Very rarely do you see something that was NEW. Such is just the life of this kind of site.

Many gaming clans/groups have a section in their forums for GRAPHICS WORK... it's not the main purpose of the site, but just tht alone does everything this site does. So it begs the question, "why come to BM?" I'm not trying to criticize the site or any of the members, and I am not claiming to be outside of the norms that I have mentioned... but that's just the reality of it, it seems.

[drivel]

BM will never die, everyone is just busy lately.

[eclipse. BM Veteran]

Yeah!

Long live BM. Lol.

What happens when Drivel gets too old to admin it?

[drivel]

There isn't much the staff can't do with the new moderator controls.

[Virus BM Veteran]

The thing thats killing it for me is the profile stuff on the right and the recent topics at the bottom of the portal.

Possibly no forum icon, but I rarely used that.

[Kryppers BM Veteran]

if we're suggesting new topics and such.. can we get the SotW up and running again? maybe make it biweekly open comps for a while.. just to get back into the swing.

I wonder, is it possible to automate the SotW Drivel? if the site has a calender that records events and birthdays.. perhaps it's possible to get it to make posts at regular intervals.

of course.. the voting poll would probablky have to be editted manually.. I don't think it'd be too viable to drag the entries off the previous thread and paste them into a new one.. but if the thread is generated.. a mod could come along and put in the entries.

I think that'd be fun purely because then we could get to name the AI


I'd like to see some new challenges running regularly.. photo edits and such.. I know some have been done previously. But I've not observed anything recently.


Perhaps if a good game engine is found.. we could set up a BM community game project.. I'd love to help run a BM design team for game graphics.

[drivel]

- I don't run the SotW, but if Symbolic doesn't come back soon I'll probably put someone else in charge.
- I don't know of an easy way to automate the posts.
- Game engine, but they don't recommend using it until the security flaw is fixed http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopi ... 0&t=543821

[Kryppers BM Veteran]

I meant something a little less forum based.. I'm still not sure how exactly that game functions..

sort of like the playerworlds system I used a while back to produce zelda esque games.. although playerworlds sucked.. only 2 frames on animation.

with the combined BM graphic and interweb genius.. I'm sure we could knock up something simple and fun pretty quick.

[MoGiT BM Veteran]

i can probably make a mod for automatic sotw if u guys want..would be kinda cool

[Ermine BM Veteran]

If I'm being brutally honest, I think it's silly to let Symbolic run the SOTW, and to have not stepped in on the many occassions he forgot about it, or did a repeat of a not so long ago topic ... I mean, this isn't againt Sym in the slightest, I just feel it's a bit unrealistic to expect a member of the forum to be able to run this every week ... surely it would be the job of a mod to step in such occassions

Whilst being in an honest mood, the reason I've stopped taking much part in BM is partly because I'm busy, but mostly because the place isn't exciting enough, and the posts not interesting enough, for me to want to post. I mean, I've been here a while, and I know some of you guys quite well now, and I came here more for the chatting than the graphics ... but if I were a new member, I would feel rather outcast, and very uninterested by the whole thing ...

Unfortunatly, for all my moaning, I am clueless as to what should be done next. Bringing back SOTW, a reliable one, would be a good start Bringing back the Munka Mile, would be fun too. I must be honest (again!) at this point, that you are all probably unlikely to see me on here much again ... What with having moved on from the computer graphic side of things ... but I'll try and think up some good ideas to bring this place back to life ...

And, just before I forget, Mogit, Snipe has a reason to not like the site, he expressed one of them, so be a bit more open minded

Peace out

[Jeev BM Veteran]

Does anyone think that our Portal Page needs to be more...attention getting? Like perhaps a flashy banner or something?
Also I think that the Top Posters box should be removed. Honestly, i doubt it's going to change who the top 8 are any time soon, plus half the people on there seem to have disappeared.

The thing thats killing it for me is the profile stuff on the right and the recent topics at the bottom of the portal.

Possibly no forum icon, but I rarely used that.

I'm fine with the profile on the right. Sure, it's an adjustment you need to make, but it's not groundbreaking to me. I'm used to it now, and really couldn't care less about where it is now. As for the recent topics thing, isn't that being kinda picky?...