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Post by LittleAriel on Apr 4, 2012 18:47:50 GMT -5
Hello to all you faithful followers of all things Little Ariel!! I've been gone for quite a while and so I'm a bit behind in goings on here. Seems we've lost our main Moderator Jazzy. Although she has stopped by here as recently as Mar 13th, she hasn't posted anything in over two years. Thing is, as we get older, sometimes we just don't have as much spare time anymore to keep up with the things we love. I'll be checking in here often, going forward, and so please feel free to contact me anytime about anything. If by chance you are interested in helping to maintain and oversee this wonderful board, please PM me and let me know. Have a GREAT Ariel year!!  :'( Mike |
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Post by alan on Apr 6, 2012 20:36:46 GMT -5
Just looking at the staff list, there's been at most 10 posts made by all of them within the last two years. And some haven't been around in the last month, let alone year s. Then again, it's not like this place is used too much as of late so it's not as if there's lots of need for so many staff members. Sad to say, about 90% of this place could be put into the "The Sunken Ship" section. I'm not too sad but it's kinda disheartening to see 100+ views on topics in the "All Things Little Mermaid" section but no replies. I know people have read them, it's just no one has the time to respond. Perhaps listing some of the things that one would do? What needs help? maintenance? overseeing?... because, as far as I can tell from having been here since Sep '11, there's been no need. I am very much around but, other than moderating, I don't think I could really do anything. I am not tech-savvy at all. - I do have this radical idea of suggesting to change the structure of the forum by "upgrading" to so it's more "modern". I put those words in quotes because I don't really know what I mean precisely, but I do know that using this forum has a different feel and look than other ones I've come across. to me, it doesn't seem like a modern 2012 forum for it seems more like a 2006 forum. (But this "old'ness" might be for the best and might be the reason why there's not much need for moderation/administration) Of course this is just a thought that I'm placing out there and I'm not even about to support it because I don't have those years of history and the personal connection to the forum that much older members probably have. |
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Post by LittleAriel on Apr 6, 2012 23:50:24 GMT -5
Thanks Alan. You could be right.
I will be advertising this forum on my LittleAriel site where I know it will get some hits, maybe regenerate interest here. We'll see.
As for this looking like 2006, yeah, probably it does, but I suppose that's better than looking like the 80's LOL
Okay, so I'll see what I can do about the look this weekend.
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Post by alan on Apr 7, 2012 0:51:11 GMT -5
1) I will be advertising this forum on my LittleAriel site 2) where I know it will get some hits, maybe regenerate interest here. We'll see. As for this looking like 2006, yeah, probably it does, but I suppose that's better than looking like the 80's LOL 1) This forum has been around for a long time and has many luxuries that are related to searches. For example, when I first joined, I think I did something as simple as search "Ariel forum" or "Little Mermaid forum" on google and this is the first thing that came up... thus I doubt it's not interest or advertisement. If there was some sort of statistical thing that could show the keyword searches that bring people to the forum, you might want to put that in the title? For example "LittleAriel forum for Ariel the Little Mermaid"? I don't think it would do much more than it's already done though. 2) When I look at the 20 most recent posts on the forum, they actually go back about a week. The combined total of posts of all the members of this forum in a week is less than how many posts another thread in another forum might get in a day... it's really just lack of current posters. I think the biggest interest generation would be the 3D release in Sept and that's why I suggested perhaps making the forum look more 2012 since newer (and younger) posters might come to the site. Having been brought up in more user-friendly and more "sleek" forum designs, they might find this place rather clunky or old. One aesthetic thing is the difference between right-angle corners and smooth corners. Another thing might be the column widths as it doesn't seem to change according to size of width (it makes that horizontal scroll bar). There could also be structural changes as there might be too many sections and thus current topics even though there are hardly any might be spread too thin. Modern-day users like to customize their own forum by making so they can see how many topics in a thread or how many threads in a page, etc. I haven't extensively searched for such things on this forum so they might actually be there? Anyways, new members who have had modern-day forum experience who come here will instantly realize they won't have the same flexible user-friendliness nor the visual appeal as they are used to. Yet, another thing I find, which is probably solely psychological, is that the Sunken Ship section that holds 60%+ of the posts had its last post in mid-2009. I might make post counts there hidden or something just so it doesn't look like the 'golden age' of this forum is already gone. |
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Post by Kimberly on Apr 7, 2012 17:01:17 GMT -5
Just looking at the staff list, there's been at most 10 posts made by all of them within the last two years. And some haven't been around in the last month, let alone year s. that's not true I have more then 30 over the last two years. |
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Post by alan on Apr 8, 2012 4:23:40 GMT -5
Just looking at the staff list, there's been at most 10 posts made by all of them within the last two years. And some haven't been around in the last month, let alone year s. that's not true I have more then 30 over the last two years. Actually doing the calculation, you're very much correct. I'm very sorry. (I much have been estimating or guessing an number for emphasis or been plain stupid) There's not very much statistical information on posters on this forum. I know on others you can see average post a day, amount of posts during a certain month/year, amount of 'current'/'active' members, etc. But, either way, I think the general idea still stands: the average amount of posting for each of most posters let alone mods/admins for the last few months/years is probably well under 1 post a day. If I included the range to be the last two years and not their entire history (Apr 2010 to now), I wouldn't be surprised if it was even below 0.5... in comparison to other forums, even slow small ones, this is really low. |
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Post by Kimberly on Apr 8, 2012 10:26:18 GMT -5
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Post by LittleAriel on Apr 8, 2012 15:06:55 GMT -5
Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. Some good ideas. I've started out by adding a BIG link to all the heavily visited LittleAriel.com pages. Let's see if that brings in some guests/members:  You can see it here: www.littleariel.com/games.htm and www.littleariel.com/games2.htm and www.littleariel.com/coloring.htm and www.littleariel.com/links.htm I've also switched the LAF skin to the original default which I created WAY back when. I'll be tweaking it as the days go by to try and get a more modern feel if possible. If you just swam by and are reading this, but haven't joined us yet, please feel free to come aboard A lot of work has gone into this forum, and I'd hate to see it fade off into the sunset, so I'll be here to continue what I started and let's build a big Ariel community together :'( ...and, have a GREAT Ariel Easter!! |
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Post by Kimberly on Apr 11, 2012 20:08:04 GMT -5
littleariel i sent you a pm
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Post by LittleAriel on Apr 12, 2012 23:39:54 GMT -5
littleariel i sent you a pm Got it... thanks  |
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Post by Arielgal on Apr 22, 2012 15:05:18 GMT -5
I'm not a mod but I used to be and would like to help |
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Post by LittleAriel on Apr 24, 2012 12:48:53 GMT -5
I'm not a mod but I used to be and would like to help Thanks, Jamie, and now I re-dub thee, Moderator  Let me know if there is a particular board/boards you'd like to moderate. :'( |
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Post by Arielgal on Apr 24, 2012 23:49:47 GMT -5
YAY! Thanks SO much, Mike! <3 I'll take over the Jodi board, and the Grotto with care |
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Post by LittleAriel on Apr 24, 2012 23:58:23 GMT -5
YAY! Thanks SO much, Mike! <3 I'll take over the Jodi board, and the Grotto with care You're all set!! And thank you  Would someone like to take the TLM Series board? |
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Post by solarlunarxiii on Apr 25, 2012 3:24:26 GMT -5
Oh my gosh the new layout!! @_@ It's awesome!
I would love to be a moderator here, though I guess I still am fairly new since I joined around February. But if you're still looking for a spot let me know ^^
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Post by LittleAriel on Apr 25, 2012 20:46:14 GMT -5
Oh my gosh the new layout!! @_@ It's awesome! I would love to be a moderator here, though I guess I still am fairly new since I joined around February. But if you're still looking for a spot let me know ^^ Certainly, if you feel comfortable, please pick a couple boards you'd like to take care of |
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Post by Kimberly on Apr 27, 2012 23:48:55 GMT -5
I'll take care of the boards that don't have mods until you can fine some if you like.
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Post by alan on Aug 6, 2012 17:21:18 GMT -5
Just wondering if there's been any more activity since this Apr discussion? - At the time I write this the Last 20 posts goes back to July 19. As for Aug 6 that's 0.42'ish posts a day. All posters don't even make half a post/day in the forum. It's almost as if 'current' members are ones who have made any posts in the 2012. I can hardly compare that to any other forum that are actice. If an active forum is a place where posts are made then a place where posts aren't made is an inactive forum. Although, yes, you do need to be here to make a post, just being here isn't enough. Posts feed of each other and it's just not happening here. Members being online is sporadic and a week can go by without missing anything. It's like being in super-slow motion. Even that suggestion thread has nothing after 4 months. So either no one knows what to do or doesn't care or something else |
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Post by Jerry533482 on Aug 7, 2012 2:00:42 GMT -5
Maybe we should have some sort of activity or something where at least 10 members would have to be on board and post in quick succession for several days. Not necessarily a fanfic, but something that involves discussions!
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Post by alan on Aug 8, 2012 4:23:28 GMT -5
Maybe we should have some sort of activity or something where at least 10 members would have to be on board and post in quick succession for several days. Not necessarily a fanfic, but something that involves discussions! That could work or plan a time for an "online forum reunion" where multiple users are online and can get responses in real-time. It's sorta like most other forums I suppose? Aren't they all just a conversation via posts? As of now the conversation reply duration is way too long and, although I don't know how often "active" users login to this site, I wouldn't be surpised it it's every couple of days to once a week. People probably don't post or visit solely because they know that they'd mostly won't get a reply soon, if at all sometimes. Regardless of what that stat is, the fact still remains that what's been happening for months now isn't really working and unless something changes for the better it's only going to get worse. I'm sure many are waiting and hoping for the TLM 3D release to bring activity but that's over a year away. The forum could be even more inactive by then. (maybe, not sure though) And, yes, people are busy with their own lives and whatnot - but so is everyone else on other active forums. For some reason or another they make time to visit and login and post. The forum is prioritized in how they spend their free time... LittleAriel forums has all but lost that. Looking again at the last 20 posts, only 5 members have multiple posts in that period (yue, eric, jerry533482, solarlunarxiii, alan (myself)). If we could get 3 or 4 of those posters to be online for the same 1 hour we could have a "The Little Mermaid Chit-Chat thread of (date)" where we just talk about whatever relates to the little mermaid. It would at least show that members are not only here, but also posting. People might actually also want to contribute to next time's date. - also, maybe very unpopular, but I would sugget cutting down on how many mods we have - or at least 'unmod' those who haven't been posted or done anything for months let alone for 2012. Other than the fact we don't need so many, it also might make it less intimidating to new posters. |
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:'(
