...well this place sure died

[NoshpalStefan]

Let's not get sentimental here, rather let's just do something about it. We just need to do two things, fair and simple:

 

1) [For Everybody] Make new members feel welcome and critique their stuff while giving them hope that they will succeed with perseverance;

2) [For the Mods] Fix this place. Redesign it. Ask for help from others for the design, if necessary, but you have admin status. Not us. Get on it.

[Night]

I think we can all agree that getting more noobs / trolls is not the way to resurrect this site. It just isn't. It's much better to have a thread with one serious response than with a dozen spams. I don't think that we can argue there.

 

But half of the new members coming here actually want to seriously post cards and discuss things, but as it was utterly and blatantly overstated, they feel intimidated because either most of the experienced members are being elitist, or no one actually gives a crap about commenting. Everyone does need some critique. Even if it's of approval. Even if someone just posts "Nice balanced effect, I give it ____ out of 10" it will give the member some self-esteem and reason to stay. I know it's a stupid thing to do, just saying two lines, but it's enough to stop another piece this site crumbling. If you can leave a serious critique on a card, then great. If not, just leave a two-liner. It's spammy and wrong by many, but it helps members. If a card is outrageously stupid, as it often it, just tell the person shortly that they should post something more serious and be done with it.

 

And I'm going to reiterate on my previous pot - YCMaker / Mods, try to revamp this site. I know it most recently was, but you don't just need to change the design of the site or add new categories, it needs a stick driven through it's newer concepts and brought back to something basic, and then to start from there. Each site requires this as time passes. I hope you will consider it. I know that being a mod is no easy job, and that most if not all of you have other obligations (school, work, family, etc.) - obligations that I would never consider asking you to put aside for this. But, if you do have the time, if you can spend some more time on this site to redesign it, then please take it in consideration. If not, we'll surely see the slow decay of this site and eventual death (apologies for such a morbid description).

 

I'll do it.

 

I've already hinted at a possible redesign prior. 

 

The only thing is, I've no idea what you actually have in mind. You say we should redesign the site, by not simply redesigning the actual layout design? 

Elaboration would be optimal. 

 

My nigga idk if you've noticed but some of these mods don't give a shit either.

 

Case in point being Yankee sitting on his ass crying about a "dead" site that he obviously he could attempt to do something for.  No offense.

 

You want mods to do something?  Get rid of the useless ones, appoint fresh ones in their stead.  Night, LZ, Flame Dragon (can't remember if he's still a mod but I do remember he was good.), and Opal can stay as far as I'm concerned.  Idk about most of the others but it's clear some care more about bitchin' than they do trying to actually do some good.

 

Basically this. 

I'm never one to purposefully throw people under the bus, but honestly, only 30% of the current staff actually do shit. 

 

No offense to you, but of all the people, what do you expect me, a member with a little over 200 posts, to do about it? I don't know which mods give a crap and which ones don't. I'm saying what the people are supposed to do, not which people will do it.

 

That attitude will get you nowhere. 

 

Before I became a moderator I was simply just a Showcase dweller who literally never left that section in the 4 years I've been here. Unlike almost every other staff member I didn't get the position due to popularity or recognition. I decided I would become a moderator and so I became one.

[Eury]

>this place sure died

>76 replies

 

lolwat.

 

This forum isn't that dead bro. Was it more active 3 years ago? yeah. But is it dead now? Far from it.

[NoshpalStefan]

I'll do it.

 

I've already hinted at a possible redesign prior. 

 

The only thing is, I've no idea what you actually have in mind. You say we should redesign the site, by not simply redesigning the actual layout design? 

Elaboration would be optimal. 

 

 

Basically this. 

I'm never one to purposefully throw people under the bus, but honestly, only 30% of the current staff actually do shit. 

 

 

That attitude will get you nowhere. 

 

Before I became a moderator I was simply just a Showcase dweller who literally never left that section in the 4 years I've been here. Unlike almost every other staff member I didn't get the position due to popularity or recognition. I decided I would become a moderator and so I became one.

 

Where I am currently it's rather late, but I'll propose a design in the next few days, since I do have something in mind. But bravo for actually being someone who cares about this site.

 

Furthermore, I did not suggest any of this to gain admin or member status. I love this forum. I've loved it since I joined with my other profile back before 2010. I hate to see it fall and dwell into the pits of hell like other unworthy forums - because that is exactly what it is not: an unworthy forum. This forum is as worthy of life as any other.

 

Thank you for taking the initiative.

[A.Prime]

A quick question: Do the Mods have access to administration panel? If you do, do you have access to every tool of Admin CP? Cuz, if you do, you are equal to Admin! O_o'

[~ P O L A R I S ~]

[quote]

A quick question: Do the Mods have access to administration panel? If you do, do you have access to every tool of Admin CP? Cuz, if you do, you are equal to Admin! O_o' [/quote]

 

Unfortunately admins are much more powerful than mods as demonstrated in YCMaker vs. Crab Helmet.

[A.Prime]

So how they are going to redesign the forum?

[Nathanael D. Striker]

Unfortunately admins are much more powerful than mods as demonstrated in YCMaker vs. Crab Helmet.

 

Seems that you weren't around when Pika (Hatcher) found the secrets of Admintality (pun on Immortality of you can't figure it out >>). So yea, welcome to the new age of YCM.

[~ P O L A R I S ~]

That doesn't change that YCMaker can get rid of mods but they can't get rid of him. :/ And yeah, wasn't much of a pun but thanks for trying.

[NoshpalStefan]

Just as an FYI for anyone interested, however few that may be, I am in the midst of writing / plotting of how the forum should change. I know most will probably spit on my initial concept, but all I ask is for you to keep an open mind. I am going into this a clean slate - no background of websites or their design, so all you'll see on the concept is my creativity. If something I mention is technically impossible to do, then I immediately apologize for suggesting it. I'll post my thoughts in a couple of hours at most. Night, you are currently the only mod who has replied to me with the willingness to implement a redesign, so my following message with the concept will be veered mostly towards your attention.

[NoshpalStefan]

Well, without further ado, after several hours of writing, I think I came up with some sort of concept. If you don't like it, feel free to tell me why, because I do find it to be the beginning of something new - perhaps not much, but something. Thank you for taking the time. Here we go:

 

 

YCM Redesign

 

 

I would like to mention that this is a draft. It might not prove to be the most fruitful in terms of enriching the site. However, bear with me, go through the entirety of the post, and then either praise it, spit on it, or just offer how it should be changed. Without further ado, here is my abundance of ideas on the changes necessary for YCM.

 

1) Card Making Engine

 

This is the most essential and most difficult and time consuming to implement, but it has to be done eventually. Our Card Maker is clearly three things that it shouldn't be: dated, glitchy, and dull. We need to get rid of all three.

 

Firstly, it needs to be rid of its primary template and go in a more interesting direction. I believe this will help bring people from YuGiCo, a site known for its spectacular template, to this site. And nit the forget they have the Xyz template. We utterly need that.

 

Secondly, it is indeed glitchy. The image codes are often malfunctioning. People experience this quite often. How do we expect people to make cards here when, I shall mention again, YuGiCo does not experience such problems as frequently?

 

Lastly, it is dull. This idea will seem strange to many, but it's worth a shot: people want diversity. Yes, they want to create cards that look as realistically as possible. But that in itself becomes dull. We need to implement different fonts, different text color, different effects. These three aspect combined together would surely begin a strong revolution on YuGiCo. And no, I do not hate YuGiCo, but currently they are winning in the Card Making aspect. We need to switch that.

 

2) Profile Editing

 

After talking about the most cumbersome aspect, let's hit a much lighter side of the site: profiles. By this I mean to start getting with the times on the Social aspect. I realize a lot of us here are Geeks and have AIM or MSN. That is clear to me. But a lot of us also have Tumblr. And Reddit. And a lot of the other well-known sites that are shown in this era of Social Networking. I'm not saying to get rid of most of the field, such as MSN and AIM. But clinging on to them and not adding new ones is like that stubborn college student who made too many friends on MySpace and now refuses to go to Facebook. Those times are over and we need to accept it. Let us not become that college student.

 

3) Social Media

 

Seriously, whoever did not consider this aspect in these days is blind to today's world. This is the era of Social Networks. We need at least a specific group of people who care for YCM's Facebook and Twitter page alone, not to even get into sites like YouTube, Tumblr, and Reddit. We need to appoint Creative people to run those sites efficiently and regularly. We need to step out of our Geek uniforms and start acting a bit more advanced.

 

4) The Shop

 

This might also seem very trivial, but we need to add more items to the shop. No person goes to the shop to buy a name change or to get banned for one day. Not to talk ill of the handicapped, but that truly is retarded. We only have six items in the shop. Six! No one buys things because there's nothing to buy.

 

Now, I had a somewhat radical idea for the shop which might not flow well with most, but I consider it to be a good idea. All over YCM I see really talented artists showcasing their art which probably took some time to make. Well, why not this. Everyone sells their art for points in the shop. This would be something along the lines of you showcase 2-3 images on the item's description, and if the buyer likes them, they pay like 100-150 points or more, depending on the seller, to buy it / download the files.

 

Now, I also realize that this might obviously lead to piracy, as it does with movies. But, unlike movies, we have more control here. The seller will keep a file of all the people he's sold the item to, and if someone uses his images and is not on the file list, then he should be banned for some time - not too much time, but some.

 

Ultimately, this will destroy a large part of the Creative Commons sections, such as the Graphic Shops and Graphic Showcase - but that's kind of the point when completely redesigning a website. We need to cut out as much as we can and still retain the same functionality - something I believe that this idea will accomplish.

 

5) Get rid of the status bar

 

Honestly, who here thought the status bar was a good idea? The whole point of having a forum is for people to... that's right! For people to make posts! Why on earth would we need something that defeats that purpose? In short, get rid of it.

 

6) Add themes

 

This is the least important of them all, but asI suggested, the people like variety. It is surely a lot of work to implement new themes, but the more themes, the most fun the people will have.

 

7) Get rid of the Online Users feature

 

In all seriousness, who actually goes to see which users are online? If you want to know if a user is online, then go to his profile and check, simple as that.

 

8) Tidy up the site

 

Every time I scroll down to the bottom of the page, I see things such as "Last visit", "Time now", "Queries", "Gzip", and something else. Who honestly gives a crap about those? I don't mean to pry but it makes he website look as if it is in beta, when it so clearly has been around for seven years. Get rid of those or put them in less noticeable place.

 

9) Advertising

 

I realize this is a touchy subject. And I realize that everyone hates adds. But for the future of this site, we need at least minimal advertising. This is, admittedly, a debatable thing. So, this is not mine to so easily convict. I shall let the members decide whether it is essential for our site growth.

 

10) The actual Forum reconstruction

 

This will be, undeniably, the longest and most important point. All remaining nine are worth little to nothing if this one and the first one aren't prioritized. This is the forum reconstruction. What I think should be gone and what should, which sub-forums should be blended and which should be completely annihilated. Without further delay, allow me to begin.

 

a) Creative Commons

 

I have decided to begin with this one mostly because I stuck a serious stick through its heart under the Shop suggestion.

 

I) Creative Writing

 

It should definitely keep its Creative Writing section. It is, without a doubt, the main or essential part of the CC. However, it needs some decent expansion brought to it. We need to divide the CW section into several parts: Mystery, Fantasy, Romance, Horror, Literary, and Fan Fiction. For those wondering what literary is for, it is for all the stories that just focus on life's great questions aka my favorite kind of stories.

 

II) Graphic Competitions

 

This should, I think, remain as it is. However, as aforementioned, the graphic shop and showcase should be replaced with The Shop. Furthermore, the Competitions need to be expanded into 1V1, 2V2, 6V6, and the normal 8 person free-for-all contest. This would bring more variety and more member strategy, as the 2V2 and 6V6 ones would require members to debate on several images and through combined thinking to choose an image; aka, it isn't one member's thinking, everyone is included in the thought of the final project.

 

III) Role Playing

 

Unless anyone wants to add something, I'd leave this as it is.

 

b) Multimedia

 

I believe, even if this isn't a major change, we can go from 5 sub-forums to 3 on this one, as it makes it a bit concise.

 

I) Music

 

I can't say much here, this sub-forum will be about music.

 

II) Literature

 

This will be divided in three: Works of Fiction, Works of Non-Fiction, and Poetry. I suggest this to make it more concise for people.

 

III) Videography

 

This will actually include Video Games, Movies & TV Shows, and Anime / Manga. A slight problem I would find here that Manga might belong in the Literature section more, but for now I can't suggest dividing it from Anime, as the two go hand in hand.

 

c) YCM Central

 

My idea of the Yugioh Card Maker forum, this will be where all the news, suggestions questions, etc will go, just with a better name than simply "YCM". To be honest, the only change I'd make here is get rid of the Introductions section (I'll put in another place that I think might be better) and just leave it with the three:

 

I) News

II) Questions & Help

III) Comments & Suggestions

 

The only real change I can think of, if people agree on this, is to make a two more sections, one entitled "Moderator Chat", in which only moderators are allowed and where they discuss about whatever they so choose, such as problems surrounding the site or something along those lines. The fifth one, but I doubt anyone would actually vote for this one, is what I want to call "The Life Of YCMaker". This is not here because I have some sort of fanboyism for YCMaker, but rather because I think that people might be interested in listening about the life of the creator of the site. This section will, of course, only exist if YCMaker decides to give a crap about it, and ultimately it will be like his blogging playground.

 

d) Leisure (Other)

 

Whether you decide to call it Other or something else (my quick thought provoked me to "Leisure"), this will include the Introduction section, General, Clubs & Organizations, and something I call Newbie Central, where members under 3 Stars can go and also talk about anything (this is the counter to Moderator Chat). I know that Newbie Central's description is that of General only for new members, but the concept is to be a club for new members, all other trivialities can be considered and debated. All posts in the Leisure / Other section will of course not count towards the actual posts.

 

e) Card Making & The TCG

 

This is my idea of a blend between the TCG forum and the Card Making forum. It may seem a tad cluttered at first, but bear with me. As you'll notice, I've gotten rid of some of the rather unncessary sub-forums:

 

I) Card Making

I - a) Realistic Cards

I - b) Pop-Culture Cards

I - c) Card Sets (this will be meant for both Pop-Culture and Realistic sets)

 

II) Yugioh Trading Card Game

II - a) Card Discussion

II - b) Deck Lists (Two sub-genres, Advanced Format and Traditional Format)

II - c) Format / Ban List discussion

 

f) Contests

 

I am supposing that you'll be guessing why I have placed this as a separate genre. My idea of contests varies quite a lot from what we had until now, as exhibited below.

 

I) Card Contests (the regular deal we had until now)

II) David And Goliath - This is a rather strange and risky idea I have, but the entire idea is, once every two weeks or once every month, a moderator is picked at random along with a new member (three stars or below) who has been shown showing promising work on this forum, and they have a 1V1 contest with the new member's rules. If the moderator wins, I don't suppose much should happen - both shake hands and admit to a good fight. If, however, the new member wins, some sort of prestige award should be given to him / her (not anyting of the moderator status sorts, but something, like an abundance of points should be given. I believe this to be an interesting way to spice things up and to somehow differentiate between the talented or good new members. I also realize many members will disagree with me on this idea, but I suppose that is what this post is supposed to be - an invitation for criticism.

III) War Of The Giants - basically the same as David and Goliath, only with two moderators rather than a new member and a mod. I have no real idea for the prizes of this one, but the concept is here.

 

That is my design thus far. Suggestions 2 - 9 advocate towards getting new people to join, whereas the first and last suggestion are pointing to how to manage the forum varied and spicy so that the new members don't leave. A big part of the new members not leaving should also be to act towards them with kindness unless they themselves start acting like a-holes first. In which case, I'm hoping we can implement some sort of advanced banning process in which those who act that way are banned for a couple of days (although that might be rather harsh). Perhaps, as each member signs in, there should be a paragraph of large-font text explaining that they should act with kindness but also with contructive criticism / they shouldn't lash out for no reason. And for anyone who does, a certain ban might be in place.

 

All of this which I am saying will require heavy monitoring, I suppose. So yes, we need to choose moderators who are willing to do their job, even if it is for one hour a day, to check this forum and monitor the acting of members. But present the members with the text of how they're supposed to act. Because I assure you, no member actually want to read blocks and blocks of texts with rules pertaining as to how to act. That just scares people away. And if someone wants to / needs to become a mod, make some sort of test. Don't just rate on popularity. At least an array of questions of how the moderator would act in a certain situation, something. And if the moderator is acting differently when such a situation presents itself, remove him from the throne. I believe this to be the only sure-fire way of good moderators taking over the forum.

 

Thank for your time and please add more to this concept (is it good, bad, etc.). I didn't present much new material, but I did present enough of my reasons as to why this concept needs to be implemented.

[Aix]

We can't remove the ads, btw, there's no way YCMaker would agree to that.

[A.Prime]

In my opinion, the old site of YCM was better than this one. And by that I meen the forum platform. This one is IP boards. Back then we used myBB.

[Nicο]

We can't remove the ads, btw, there's no way YCMaker would agree to that.

I believe the part on advertising was that we needed at least minimal advertising, not none. I'm of course in agreement here, though.

 

In my opinion, the old site of YCM was better than this one. And by that I meen the forum platform. This one is IP boards. Back then we used myBB.

I don't exactly care too much since I don't find myBB bad, but I've been on YCM much longer than any other forum, although that isn't as much as most people, since I've only ever been on here with IP .Board. Even though I was never there for the "old YCM" I stuck with YCM during the last massive change there was, and though this would be an even greater change, I would still stay. I realize most people prefer it the old way, but I'm don't really think we can get YCMaker to change it back though, and I'm pretty sure we need him to do that. I think.

 

 

 

This isn't exactly my area of expertise, but I assume there are some people who want to talk about other card games, and that doesn't seem to be included here.

[Miror B]

In that case, are you the ONE who can tell what people want? I'm just saying that some people standar want feedback to improve etc etc...

All I'm saying is that people want what they want. I'm not giving out specifics because I don't know who wants what.

Some want feedback.

Some don't care.

Some want to troll.

Some just want their ideas to shine.

None of us are anyone to say what people want. And I never tried to state what people want.

[~ P O L A R I S ~]

That was quite the labour of love, Frequent Writer. I'm impressed by how much more you seem to care about this place than all the people with fifty times your posts.

[NoshpalStefan]

Once more, I had an old profile on this site. I've technically been here for about 3-4 years. I love this forum to death, if that is a correct expression to use. 4 years ago, I was extremely asocial, so this site really helped me speak if nothing else. Sure, a lot of people were terribly harsh, but better harsh than nothing. If it wasn't for this forum, I would've been terribly depressed and lonely. What I wrote wasn't just a labor of love. It was my duty. This forum saved my life. I would never leave it to slowly decay and die.

[~ P O L A R I S ~]

I love this forum to death, if that is a correct expression to use.

NOPE, INCORRECT. BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT. Prepare for indefinite detainment and torture. If you'd like to file a complaint, you can't, so forget about it.

[NoshpalStefan]

But, in all seriousness, Night, I don't know what your situation is currently - I don't know if you have enough time for this forum, as I am sure that your family, friends, job, and other actual problems come first - but I would be immensely grateful if you could reply, if nothing more, to my concept and your thoughts on it.

 

I really hate to play any metaphorical card, and I don't want to whine, but I did spend some time on the concept, key word being "some". So, in short, reply whenever you can.

[Night]

Frankly there are far too many issues that hinder any actual progress from being made. 

 

The biggest being the fact that I have very limited experience in coding. Also, while having more administrative power, I don't believe I have as much as the Supers.

Don't think I've disregarded this however, I've been contemplating plausible scenarios in my head since I first read your proposition.

 

Allow me to discuss a few things in the Mod forum prior to doing anything brash. 

[Smear]

YCM has ads?
I've been using adblock for way too long. o-o

[Nathanael D. Striker]

YCM has ads?
I've been using adblock for way too long. o-o

Only in the cardmaker, as far as I can tell. Guests must deal with more than that, if I remember.

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

As much as I like the idea of getting rid of the status bar, it helps members like me either vent about their daily life, just talking to random strangers on the Internet, or generate traffics to their topics by linking them. Making a daily topic about my work place and all of its shenanigans would no doubt constitute as clogging and/or spam.

[Kyng's Old Account]

As much as I like the idea of getting rid of the status bar, it helps members like me either vent about their daily life, just talking to random strangers on the Internet, or generate traffics to their topics by linking them. Making a daily topic about my work place and all of its shenanigans would no doubt constitute as clogging and/or spam.

Not if your topic is meaningful, and has values for discussion.

[NoshpalStefan]

 Night, I am absolutely not rushing you, I had just hoped to hear that my post was not in vain.

 

Furthermore, Arin, that's the thing, for anyone wanting to vent about personal problems, there can be a sub-genre or post like that in the Other forum, but the status bar is just unnecessary in my opinion.

 

Furthermore, I realize this won't be a one night change, but what's important is for the seed to get its inception, and all that remains has time as an ally.