50 replies to this topic

[Selena]

http://legendsallian...eral-discussion

 

You can check it out here. Unobtrusive on my end.

[masterofwind]

Either move to proboards or redit.

[Xkeeper]

I guess I picked a bad time to show up again, huh.

 

I wrote a lot of words about this sort of thing a few months ago. I've had my own community for just as long, and it's basically ended up the same way as this one, over a period about as long. (It even at one point had an attached website that was regularly updated, but that stopped in 2002 and it just had inertia... I inherited the community around 2006)

 

 

I don't really have any suggestions for ways to help, but some thoughts:

 

 

- Is moving to Proboards really going to do anything? While having an absentee host for the board now can be a little frustrating, it feels better (to me) to have it in the hands of someone who is human and isn't going to suddenly decide to upend things on you for profit. (Plus, no ads...)

 

- The forums might be out of date, software wise, but at the same time, does it actually make a difference? I haven't come across anything here that would be a game-changer if it was suddenly updated, and everything seems to be working okay without issues...

 

- Moving to a new forum in general will make it harder for people to follow along to the new place. It might feel refreshing, but (after having to do this many, many times) moving breaks everyone's muscle memory and makes everything feel really unfamiliar. Even at the best time, having to migrate everything meant only about 80% of people followed (and often much less)

 

- Facebook and Reddit aren't really replacements for long-form discussions like this, though Reddit is a little less awful. But forums have an advantage in that you keep everything in one place, as opposed to (e.g.) tagged posts or multiple subreddits. Forums also have the advantage of not having those stupid "likes" or up/down votes. (Getting comments or posts downvoted is a great discouragement to posting again, too...)

 

...

 

Short version:

 

The downtime was bad, but I feel like it's a solvable problem. Moving to another forum means losing all of the history and information here, and with how old this place is, that's a lot -- when I came back it was comfortable seeing things basically exactly how I remembered it. Social media is a terrible to have a community, if you want any sort of large discussion or organization.

 

For activity, forums in general have been dying out... without a real focus, there's no real draw, either, since there are hundreds of general-purpose forums out there.

 

 

 

I'm sorry I can't offer any concrete advice. I was never a big part of this forum, either, so it's hard for me to really understand everything.

 

 

 

(Edit: on a side note, the Proboards theme is ugly and hard to read. I'm sure it's just a temporary thing, but...)

Edited by Xkeeper, 07 August 2016 - 06:08 PM.

[Selena]

Yes, that is just the default theme. The board is only up for testing purposes -- any real designs would not be implemented until launch.

[Delphi]

I'm in favor of a move to proboards and the whole gaming clan thing that Toan brought up.

And since we're not limited by "do we want to take attention away from Zelda?" like we have been in the past i think it'd be fun to integrate things like Workshops. We have a lot of very talented people on the forum, some actually having jobs in popular media, and it might be nice to have hangouts for things like wrighting just to discuss the concepts of writing. Workshops for YouTubers or reviewers to just hang or possibly even get advice on how to get started.

We still have our safe corner of cyber space that I think LA has evolved into over the years, especially as we've all grown into more (hopefully!) emotionally centered adults and tackle bigger, badder issues like we see in the Milk Bar that can also remain private and semianonymous. We've talked a lot about death of family members, mental illness, finances, all these adults fears that you can't really voice IRL sometimes and are way too personal to attach to your real name like on Facebook.

Anyhow that's my two cents. I like our safe corner of cyberspace always being there when things get fucked up IRL.

[Egann]

So the forum was easy to set up. Good.

 

The limiting reagent on our growth will be a blog or content stream which has to attract web attention. Have a solid product? Web traffic will follow So...who's got content? GG mentioned his reviews before, so I guess I'll share next.

 

 

The past two years I've dropped my writing projects and been working on paper RPGs. Specifically, I've been trying to design mechanics which make the RPG session sound less like a generic D&D game and more like an audio drama. Considering both long-video entertainment AND video game LPs are on the rise, I think the internet is now ripe for a tabletop audio drama.

 

I have plans for a Star Wars gray jedi campaign set just after Episode VII, and also a Parasite Eve campaign.

 

I've been trying to talk my group into playing with this, recording it, then throwing it online. So far getting players together to play has been like herding mosquitoes. 

 

Also, the other GMs in the group are fantastic. Last week we played Delta Green--modern day Call of C'thulu. The elder god ate our identities because my character was a revived Otzi. Key failing? He didn't know the nursery rhyme "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt."

[Green Goblin]

ProBoards says they feature smilies, though it doesn't specify if you can have custom ones. I might just reserve the LA name with them and poke around a bit. If we end up not going that route, I'll just close the account down.

 

 

I don't know what specific niche focus we could have. Grouchy Senior Millennials? Mortgages and Killstreaks? 

 

Mortgages and Killstreaks isn't bad, actually.  Maybe something with some alliteration, like "Mortgages and Multikills".

[Twinrova]

I have my award-winning personality.

[DarkJuno]

I've been wondering about this for awhile. LA means a lot to me, through all the highs and lows, some self inflicted and others not. I know I've been, shall we say, a divisive member at times before mellowing into whatever I am now and everything in between, but this place has oddly been a constant in my life for years now, and while I like having it around, yeah, I don't know if just having it here for the sake of it being here is worth it or doing it justice. 

 

Really just going to parrot what everyone else says - we need new members and consistent, on-going content provided by said members to keep the place alive. But as pointed out, yeah, most of us are older folks - I myself turn 32 this September (side note: still really weird to write out my age and see it starts with a 3) and most everyone else isn't that much younger. While we're all fairly nerdy and geeky and like games and genre stuff, we are also a little older then the "hip" stuff going on right now, unless all of you are secretly Minecraft or Five Nights At Freddy's Youtubers/Twitch streamers. While it would be an idea to have the place be the old style of gamers who like the stand by genre's and franchises, that just might stifle growth as much as what we're doing now. As much as I want to do the crotchety old man thing and yell about those damn kids being all insufferable with their Clash of Clans and other mobile games, we do probably want to be open to it along with the stuff we already typically like here now.

 

I'm not going to pretend that I can contribute a TON to the new boards like I did way, way, way back when LA was an actual site and I had my weekly NRR post on the dot every Friday, but I've been toying with wanting to just WRITE stuff on a regular basis, and I could totally do it, albeit on probably not a good enough schedule to help. I've sorta tried, like when I wrote up my series of being forced to watch all the Fast & Furious movies last year, and began to scan and post all those deranged old Ninja Turtles stories I drew as a kid. Honestly, what helped with those was that I just did it for fun and didn't force myself to do more then just put it out there, so it didn't start to feel like I had to deliver like NRR and those last awards turned into. I'd punch it up and be a little more jokey, but as a "Here's my hopefully amusing thoughts on this franchise" set of posts, that sort of thing from different people might be something. Obviously, anyone who would want to go beyond and do video, or stream, or whatever would all be included. Heck, I've been tempted to get a twitch account and stream my bungling attempts to take down people in Hitman, but I didn't think it'd be worth it. Honestly, if people focus on doing something they want to and have fun doing so at whatever level of commitment regarding editing or post production, that would help a lot of people, self included, keep consistent provided they have time and desire to do so in the first place.

 

I like the idea of all of us saying we're part of LA, but at the same time, would that really work, and would it attract the right kind of people? I mean, of course, assholes will show up no matter what, and that might just be something we have to deal with as part of the deal to get activity around here, we'd just have to be vigilant about it without turning into me about taking people down if need be.

 

I'm just babbling now, but I don't know. I'm all for a change, and there are great ideas here. As for RPing.......I'll happily hand that over to someone else, as if that needs to be said. It's just not in my wheelhouse anymore, despite the small amount of desire I have in me to still do so, but I know it won't happen with me. 

[LoreleiRaven]

 

ProBoards says they feature smilies, though it doesn't specify if you can have custom ones. I might just reserve the LA name with them and poke around a bit. If we end up not going that route, I'll just close the account down.

 

 

I don't know what specific niche focus we could have. Grouchy Senior Millennials? Mortgages and Killstreaks? 

 

Mortgages and Killstreaks isn't bad, actually.  Maybe something with some alliteration, like "Mortgages and Multikills".

 

 

Multikill Mortgages 

[Selena]

I might be able to do some Let's Play videos or occasional live streaming -- provided my internet allows it. I could do reviews, too, though my genres are mostly strategy, survival and/or horror, and action RPGs. With some shooters scattered in there every now and again. We could have people specialize in different genres, maybe. Our gaming tastes are pretty diverse.

 

 

DJ, you could be our version of Waldorf and Statler. 

[DarkJuno]

It's kind of my own fault for cultivating the grumpy guy in the corner persona, but if I was it'd be done kinda jokey and over-the-top since I'm way more mellow and even keeled nowadays, much moreso then back then when I kept claiming to be normal and centered. I mean, I made a lot of jokes at the F&F movies expense, but other then the second one I actually didn't hate myself while watching those movies. Even when I do trash a movie -glances at BvS- I do have fun doing it and try to keep the jokes match what I actually say instead of going out of the way to point at this or that silly thing that I never actually address. 

 

Anyway, thinking over it a bit more, would a podcast be a thing people might be interested in? I mean, I have a terrible voice, and my own interests might just be totally uninteresting without someone to bounce off, and timing everyone together and editing it all into one would require possibly a greater time commitment then anyone has, but that might be a thing to help prop the site up. A lot of us have had some interesting conversations about shows and movies here, and that could work well, maybe narrow it or widen it topic wise? Something to maybe think over.

 

Streaming, my internet is fine, but the only thing I can stream through is the PS4, which is why I threw something like Hitman out there. It might be boring unless I get a microphone, but even then I might not have much to say, but, maybe?

[masterofwind]

If we get into the streaming area, I can contribute some to that.

[Egann]

So, this is a bit of a wild hair...but since TGWTG largely shut down Blistered Thumbs...we might actually be able to buy the division off Channel Awesome. I seriously doubt an inactive property like Blistered Thumbs is worth that much more than pocket change.

 

EDIT: So after a moment's thought, the customer good will is probably worth a few grand. Still, this is the kind of thing Kickstarter is made for.

Edited by Egann, 07 August 2016 - 09:11 PM.

[Elvenlord]

Well, as far as content goes, my brother and I do have a youtube gaming channel, but I'm not sure if they would be a good fit or not. It's primarily his anyway.

[Twinrova]

HUGE FUCKOFF FLAW ABOUT PROBOARDS:

 

 

Your signatures are NOT unlimited

 

 

can't  shove a whole bunch of my own GARBAGE at the end of my own POSTS  thought we were in AMERICA

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I'm mostly kidding I don't actually care that much pbbttt)

Edited by Twinrova, 07 August 2016 - 10:42 PM.

[Nevermind]

We need to start pairing off and having children.

They are the future of LA.

[Twinrova]

Do we have to hand down our accounts as our legacies? Screw jewelry, this account has thousands upon thousands of posts, son.

[Sir Turtlelot]

My two cents.... again.

 

I'm much more in favor of moving to ProBoards over Reddit, since it would be much more like the LA we all love and know. There's always been something off-putting about Reddit to me, I can't really explain it, I suppose I just prefer more traditional message boards and forum set ups. I'm also against going to Facebook exclusive.

 

HOWEVER, we do need to decide as a community to pick one over the other, unless the other is just used as another bunker styled backup site, as we really can't afford any divides in the community at this point, considering how small we've become already. We need to focus our efforts into the same plan.

 

 

As for our re-brand, I suppose our focus really always has just been nerd culture in general, with a slight Zelda flavor mixed in. I would still love for LA to just be a community in which you can talk about anything and everything, but perhaps going forward we could become a more gaming-centric site, but still maintain our other current sections for more off topic discussions, like Movies/TV, Literature, and another Milk Bar.

 

Speaking of other content, a IRL friend and I are currently in the process of filming our first few LPs for a new gaming YouTube channel we are planning to launch later this year. I had always planned on having a link to LA in the video descriptions as a "Fun place to hang out and talk about games", but if there are others of us doing gaming YouTube channels as well, we could build up our own small Legends Alliance network to promote one another, and have it built around LA itself. We keep the capture card and microphone at my house, so I could also jump in on doing livestreams, podcasts, and/or reviews as well, if the rest of you would be interested. I actually did my first podcast with my friend over last E3, and I rather enjoyed it, so I would definitely down for doing some more.

 

Another area that has been mentioned, but I think needs more attention drawn to it, would be trying to build up another Writing Guild here on LA, as I know for a fact there are many very talented writers in our community. I've been making a legitimate effort to get myself back into the hobby after having done absolutely nothing in it for the past few years. I'm actually doing a lot of planning for a Pokemon fanfiction I've been kinda doing/not doing for the past however many years, and I was planning on posting it to Bulbagardens, since I know there aren't too many Pokemon fans here. I had thought about posting to both sites, maybe even posting on LA a few days/week before I post anywhere else, that way I could contribute to a new writing section. I would suggest the other writers of LA to maybe share stories they've posted elsewhere to a new section as well, to help foster a new writing section.

Edited by Sir Turtlelot, 07 August 2016 - 10:48 PM.

[Nevermind]

Do we have to hand down our accounts as our legacies? Screw jewelry, this account has thousands upon thousands of posts, son.

I'm not sure I wabt to dump this legacy onto my heir. They will definitely have to grow into it.

[JRPomazon]

Oh dear, I've been away too long and the discussion has exploded all over the kitchen. Goodness me.

 

I can't say either way whether or not I approve of a new hosting forum, subreddit or facebook exclusive option. I know next to nothing about most these things. What I do know is that facebook conversations are hard to track in large amounts and reddit gives you the option to downvote people's opinions. Those two factors alone I feel are trouble waiting to happen. So it seems the only real choice is ProBoards because it's keeps the format the same but gives us a chance to drastically update our appearance.

 

As for attracting folks, the two most notable elements (to me) in LA have been Gaming and Creative Expression. We all like video games, despite the fact that so few of us get to play them as much as we'd like to these days and I can tell from the RP and Chronicles stuff that we have the means to create entire worlds. Combine some of those elements together, we get the Grand Tournament that I have hosted here for years (shame we never did finish that War of the Roses). That being said, I believe we should redirect our new focus on being a place where folks can find groups to play together with. Be it on Steam, consoles or even on the boards themselves, whatever you have time for. I remember playing Pokémon with Goblin and Vet all the time, the unofficial official Pokémon league stuff, the LotR guild, literally organizing Yu-Gi-Oh! matches over AIM, etc. There are people who want someone to play with, folks that aren't just randomly thrown together with each other. That's the place we can make to bring folks in, that's our pitch.

 

I love this forum. It's been my homepage for years. I don't post as often, as is the case for so many of us now a days but this community has actually survived longer than many of us ever considered. Perhaps we can use Facebook or social media to bring people in but I like the idea of possibly using our own endeavors to bring people in. I wish I had a clearer idea about how we could use that to increase our numbers again.

[Selena]

Oh. I could maybe do a regular serial about "Adventures in the Wasteland" -- showing my Survival mode roleplay run through Fallout 4. Which has been modded for added coolness. Not following the main story, just wandering around doing side missions and exploring. Sort of like how we used to do that Young and the Breastless serial waaaay back in the day, sort of. If anyone would be interested.

 

Adrienne's also a really good Overwatch player and has been thinking about doing some livestreams.

[Nevermind]

Oh man if I had the free time, I'd totally do my indie horrors.

Or ME3 multiplayer shenanigans...

Edited by Nevermind, 08 August 2016 - 10:48 AM.

[Jasi]

I don't really like the idea of moving to reddit either, but for the record, I'm pretty sure you can disable downvoting in a subreddit, but even if we were to allow downvotes, I'd like to think we have enough good faith in each other not to downvote one another just for having a different opinion. Downvotes should be saved for stuff that truly doesn't contribute. This doesn't really play out that way on reddit largely, but in a niche community like ours there's no reason why it couldn't work that way.

 

That said I don't really want to move to reddit for other reasons, mainly connecting my main reddit account to LA, or having to maintain multiple accounts.

[Selena]

I was toying around with this for a central website. This is very much a default theme and would in no way reflect the finished product: http://legendsallian...legendsalliance

 

We could use that for featured content -- reviews, stuff we've created, really good LPs, etc. For the member directory, I figured it'd be a good idea to link to people's personal youtube channels, twitch accounts, or blogs. Plus a link to your forum profile. Posting social media info would be completely voluntary. Nobody would show up on that page unless they wanted to be there. I know some of you really like your privacy.

 

This builder is structured to where we can have any number of contributors. If we decide to go with a central website, I can grant anyone login access.

 

If we want our own domain name:

 

All free website builders usually require a premium fee -- which is roughly $100 a year, no matter which service you're using.

 

* legendsalliance.org is currently unclaimed. 

* legendsalliance.com is currently owned by Khuffie and redirects straight to the forums. 

 

If he'd be willing to part with the domain, then might mitigate losing older members who are checking back in after a 5+ year hiatus. Assuming we do end up switching to ProBoards, which seems like the light consensus so far. We're mostly divided between that and staying where we are.

[Jasi]

I like it!!

 

fwiw I got my personal domain for $26/year through Wordpress. idk if that's some kind of extra special discount or what?

[Selena]

Personal blogs are usually cheaper than actual websites. Wordpress has a pretty similar pricing structure for full websites, unfortunately.

[Oberon Storm]

Whatever happens I vote we kill Contro.

[Twinrova]

You can get really cheap domain names through Google.

 

 

$12/year: https://domains.goog...ndsalliance.net

Edited by Twinrova, 08 August 2016 - 03:00 PM.

[Selena]

Yeah, there are some cheap places to get domain names for $10 or less, but the web hosts don't seem to allow linking your site to that url without going premium. We could do that, but we'd have to get a private server and build the website from scratch, I think. Unless someone knows an alternative. :\

 

 

Whatever happens I vote we kill Contro.

 

 

But..... but I don't understand, that's where you've made most of your posts???