Flooding Latest Activity with Chit-Chat

[BearBear]

Hey yall,

I have a question/poll (if it works).

On my last forum (that sadly died 2014-2022 RIP) there was a very active thread basically similar to the other chit-chat games but like your actual chat it was a free place to exchange ideas, vent, show off unrelated nonsense and generally be friendly but that was permanent in that you could link to a specific post and never refreshed (unlike your chat).

A friend of mine is too intimated to post in a new thread and would rather talk informally in that kind of "anything goes" thread that obviously respects forum rules (as much as humanly possible ofc).

Here's the issue, it floods "latest activity" while never appearing on "new posts" so it overwhelms latest activity making it hard to see bumps and new stuff from other games but also then is kind of ignored by anyone who just looks at new posts.

Also you couldn't subscribe to it nicely because it would flood your little bell thing (if it works properly also gets traffic.)

I talked to the staff about it and they didn't say no, I tried it a little and it no one cared, but let me know with your vote or comment whether you think it's a fut for this forum or not.

If you say "no" I'd appreciate reasoning but you're not obligated to and it won't bother me if there are nos. Also if I get nos then I'll drop it even though it's not breaking any rules obviously.

 

[pmmg]

Generally, I dont mind the game threads, but I tend to tone them down if a serious topic comes up. And I appreciate your asking.

My experience here is that they dont take off, but...

As with anything, test small, if it becomes a problem, the community can kill it.

Sorry your friend feels intimated. I've never actually eaten anyone on the site.

The weekends are pretty quiet around here. If they flooded the weekend queue, I doubt it would matter. If it brought more ppl into the site and the topics started to grow, it might even benefit more ppl. Who knows? I think I would be more happy with more topics hitting the boards, more occasional stories to review, and more things like contests or prompts for those interested. I dont mind doing a flash fiction thing once in a while. Too long, and I will pass for my larger story, it gets top priority on my energy, ATM.

Here, I have never seen anyone complain about the boards being too full of a thread, but I have seen it on other sites. There is a saying, pigs get fat and hogs get gored. Which loosely means, get to crazy with it, and it will get unwanted attention.

What was the other place that died, and why did it die?

 

[BearBear]

This sort of thread gets a lot of attention from those who are, for whatever reason, unwilling to make their own threads and as you should know I'm not one of those people. If it works successfully it does provide a "safe space" for random and unimportant discussions. Sometimes the discussions go deeper and are helpful and on topic to the forum, but that's rare.

The issue with chat is the non-perminance. This sort of thread works well for tagging and discussions that are more personal but not personal enough to go into DMs and I am one of those people who don't like DMs.

Art, poems, general blogging if whatever is happening in your life, the same kind of discussions would happen here but the history is all saved.

It acted like a kindergarten for development an informal comfortable place where people could mingle freely off topic.

What was the other place that died, and why did it die?

The site in question was meditation related and somewhat personal. The techniques were esoteric introspection that worked rarely and only for certain individuals and therefore could never be mainstream. Some struggled for years with little to no result. I can say for me, it turned my life around and was intensly powerful in so many ways. I am legend. It was somewhat cultish but I fought the doctrine for years. In the end, there were so few regulars, many who didn't interact directly anymore, that discussions on important things ended completely and like a brown dwarf the dying embers of a lifetime of work dwindled leaving only this one thread which stayed active. I haven't seen a new member for a very long time. Supposedly the Discord os still somewhat active but in the nature of that beast, truly it is the land of angsty, edgy, often suicidal teens who are overwhelmingly LGBT+, which I didn't mind but I am not, so I can never truly "fit in" under the current culture. (Also I had my fill of suicidal angsty edgelord teens).

Honestly this thread may be just a friend and me reliving the good old days in 5 minute bursts and if it was only us then it wouldn't work as intended.

Anywho, we'll see.

 

[pmmg]

It is my experience, that forum sites tend to attract a lot of good members and have a type of golden age, but after period of time, it frays and declines. Eventually leaving a graveyard with a few of the old active members still lingering but not having anything new to say. So, it kind of withers on the vine. Reading in past posts, It seems to me MS was very active around 2013, but had at least one period of members moving on from the site. There seems to be a good group now, so we'll see how long it goes. I would not be upset if the site was more active.

I cannot speak for everyone though. And I am not in any type of site leadership. I would suggest post it up, and if the site does not like it, we'll find out cause they will complain. Never hurts to test something new. Just to keep it if its not working.

 

[Queshire]

Eh? I rely on the new posts section rather than latest activity so I don't mind personally.