cr47t Posted November 7, 2021 Report Share Posted November 7, 2021 i know it seems rather unfitting that i'm making this post, since i rarely post, but let's see where it goes. i'm sure a lot of us who still come here would want ycm to still be alive as a forum (no doubt the card maker will bring in users indefinitely, but the forum is another matter). this is not meant to be a "ycm is dying and here's why!" thread but a "how do we keep ycm on life support?" kinda thread. should we host more forum events? should we connect the cardmaker with the forum more directly? should we introduce more of engaging site material for newcomers so they become mainstays? (idea behind lattermost is if we can't keep the current ycm community alive we can at least set the stage for others to start a new gen, excluding NCM) i'm just tossing around ideas here, and i don't know the solution (otherwise i wouldnt make this thread) but i would like to ask before we start, please don't make this a defeatist thread; the goal is to provide a solution to keep ycm alive for at least a lil longer until @Flame Dragon or @YCMaker or another mod can do something more substantial than we ourselves can do. (if you are flame or ycmaker, if you have any thoughts, please share them to us) now, let's discuss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayfield Lumina Posted November 7, 2021 Report Share Posted November 7, 2021 I'd like to start by repeating something that I've been pointing out since a year or so: the hope of YCM lies in the newbies. Newbies join and innocently post their cards or leave a comment here and there in the miscellaneous subforums. What they normally receive in exchange is silence. Sometimes you see a newbie introducing themselves in the respective section, and if they're greeted at all, it's because Tinkerer or I notice and go say hi, perhaps someone else. What I'm trying to say here is that YCM has become a place in which in many cases people only mind their own business and pay little to no attention to the newbies as if they were of little importance. Then these newbies leave because nobody cares. I don't understand the reason of this apathy. We all have IRL stuff to do, few free time perhaps, so I'm not asking everyone to stay attentive to every post and interact with every person, but how come a nice and honest introduction is not replied to by 10 or more people? Do you know how long it takes to enter the thread and type "Hello and welcome, make yourself at home"? It drives me crazy, man. IDK, probably this is not the kind of thing you wanted to discuss as you seem to be asking for something more positive or constructive, but I'm saying all of this because in my opinion, what YCM needs the most is a change in attitude from the root, a honest interest in helping each other out, and probably it won't matter how many changes in aesthetic or new features the site can receive, things won't improve much until we decide to care for the other. But well, let's say that we can make use of certain tools to make the site a more appealing place for newbies (and veterans alike) to stay and keep the activity up. Nyx made this thread with the intention to implement QoL features that would improve the site's experience. https://www.cardmaker.net/forums/topic/408852-a-few-more-changes-i-propose/#comment-7192030 You can see a list of things here that we all would love to have. Usergroups, a Profile Music Theme, Pinning Threads, a nice coloured name, changes in header image or username, etc. I also asked for the addition of a new kind of reaction to play with. What else could be done? Holding more contests with officially designated judges? More events? IDK, but none of these suggestions have gone through. We... just wait for a sudden miracle to happen, as usual, while praying to Arceus that somehow Nyx, who has served as a wonderful mod and has been trying to selfishly improve the site in many ways gets the power to do so, but as things stands... welp, you know the deal. No trust, no game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow Posted November 7, 2021 Report Share Posted November 7, 2021 it is afloat, that's what I'd describe it as if you want it to THRIVE, well, to be blunt, forums aren't really in a position to thrive these days it's doing fine, for a forum, but that's about it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cr47t Posted November 13, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2021 On 11/7/2021 at 6:43 PM, TheImmaculateDreadLordCowCow said: it is afloat, that's what I'd describe it as if you want it to THRIVE, well, to be blunt, forums aren't really in a position to thrive these days it's doing fine, for a forum, but that's about it well, that depends on what thrive means. i don't expect ycm to become this haven it was before all the shit went down that might have damaged ycm's activity. i just want the activity to go up to a both sufficient and realistic degree, if possible, or at least not sink to fatal levels. like @Rayfield Lumina said (and i agree with this) this will likely mean more interaction with newbies to help them form a new backbone to the site community now that ncm took most of it away, but my mind is frozen on what exactly can be done to help with this, which is why i started the thread (to hear from others and maybe work on a solution together) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flame Dragon Posted November 14, 2021 Report Share Posted November 14, 2021 I have to agree with Cow. A large part of the issue is we have SO many other places to talk about things online now that forums really aren't the types of hubs they use to be. I also think that in general as a forum for Yugioh first and foremost we also kind of live and die by how that is doing. My VAGUE understanding is the game is kind of not in the best spot, but I honestly have NO idea how it has been fairing since I haven't kept up with it for like a decade. Past the niche we hit, Card Making, is likely FAR more casual than you'd expect and those kinds of people aren't likely to join the forum in the first place. I do agree with Rayfield that the best way to try and grow the forum's user base is with engagement for the new members, but with only have a couple dozen active people here, and even that doesn't really translate into tons of posting, that is difficult. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cr47t Posted November 14, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2021 27 minutes ago, Flame Dragon said: I have to agree with Cow. A large part of the issue is we have SO many other places to talk about things online now that forums really aren't the types of hubs they use to be. I also think that in general as a forum for Yugioh first and foremost we also kind of live and die by how that is doing. My VAGUE understanding is the game is kind of not in the best spot, but I honestly have NO idea how it has been fairing since I haven't kept up with it for like a decade. Past the niche we hit, Card Making, is likely FAR more casual than you'd expect and those kinds of people aren't likely to join the forum in the first place. I do agree with Rayfield that the best way to try and grow the forum's user base is with engagement for the new members, but with only have a couple dozen active people here, and even that doesn't really translate into tons of posting, that is difficult. you're probably right about ycm rising/falling with ygo, but i don't know how its doing either since i havent played since the locals closed to covid, and the couple dozen people - the following may be due to me not venturing out of general much or just a bad estimate on my part, but it feels like less than a single dozen lately, and i dont recall the active members overall top 50, so i'm not shooting for that. again, i'm willing to hear and help with anyone wanting to come up with possible community solutions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flame Dragon Posted November 15, 2021 Report Share Posted November 15, 2021 12 hours ago, cr47t said: you're probably right about ycm rising/falling with ygo, but i don't know how its doing either since i havent played since the locals closed to covid, and the couple dozen people - the following may be due to me not venturing out of general much or just a bad estimate on my part, but it feels like less than a single dozen lately, and i dont recall the active members overall top 50, so i'm not shooting for that. again, i'm willing to hear and help with anyone wanting to come up with possible community solutions. It is really hard to measure the impact COVID has had on CCGs. On the one hand people have spent over a year not really being able to go out and play with others, but on the other CCGs in general are doing really well and single prices for a bunch of different games have been climbing. I actually am kind of curious though how Yugioh has held up over the last 18 months. As for the members it is very possible I'm over estimating how many active people are here. I'm just going on what I see in the status feed since that is honestly one of the more activate areas on the forum and is where the most people are likely to be commenting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryusei the Morning Star Posted November 16, 2021 Report Share Posted November 16, 2021 Christ, I WISH the last few months hadn't been such a cluster fuck I'd love to post more (not that one person can turn it all around) Cow is right, but we can still keep this place as a little niche club Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zamazenta the OS-Tan Fan Posted November 16, 2021 Report Share Posted November 16, 2021 YCMaker arin't even trying I've been here for 1 year (almost) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayfield Lumina Posted November 16, 2021 Report Share Posted November 16, 2021 12 hours ago, Zefra Zamazenta said: YCMaker arin't even trying I've been here for 1 year (almost) To be fair, there was a brief period of time when he became active and made the new card maker available, that, I recognize. He'd listen to people and corrected some bugs here and there. I mentioned before that I requested for a new kind of Reaction, and he did ask what I had in mind when I brought his attention to that, but sadly never replied when I showed him my idea. In Nyx's thread, he did mention that some changes were possible and said " feel free to post here any plugins that you think would be beneficial to the community, and I'll take a look". While this last is... positive in general terms, I wish he was more proactive since the requests are clear, and probably not many of us are knowledgeable of "plugins" or that kind of forum features to be able to go look for them. Since that post I'm quoting... welp, he did add the feature to modify the card footer in the Card Maker for signed-in users. Which happened Sep. 29. Silence since then, and most unfortunately, silence in this thread despite having been tagged. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryusei the Morning Star Posted November 16, 2021 Report Share Posted November 16, 2021 YCMaker was on literally 6 hours ago, what are you guys talking about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow Posted November 16, 2021 Report Share Posted November 16, 2021 12 minutes ago, Ryusei the Morning Star said: YCMaker was on literally 6 hours ago, what are you guys talking about What Rayfield is referring to is them not actually responding to things, not them not being online. Them being online but not saying anything doesn't help. Most of the time they'd reply it'd be 2 things 1. Someone says something about ycmaker and them replying to say "no i'm here" 2. Someone makes suggestions and they, as Rayfield said, will say "I'll look into it" or "Tell me more" and then nothing else I won't say they don't also sometimes fix things but it's a lot less than people were hoping for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryusei the Morning Star Posted November 16, 2021 Report Share Posted November 16, 2021 11 minutes ago, TheImmaculateDreadLordCowCow said: What Rayfield is referring to is them not actually responding to things, not them not being online. Them being online but not saying anything doesn't help. Most of the time they'd reply it'd be 2 things 1. Someone says something about ycmaker and them replying to say "no i'm here" 2. Someone makes suggestions and they, as Rayfield said, will say "I'll look into it" or "Tell me more" and then nothing else I won't say they don't also sometimes fix things but it's a lot less than people were hoping for Oh you mean it that way. Yeah. I assume he's doing back end stuff. Forum seems to be smooth atm But yeah agree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DifferentDimensionVanessa Posted December 20, 2021 Report Share Posted December 20, 2021 Without getting into all the suggestions on what a forum should do to retain members; you've gotten into that already... A forum isn't going to be known to people without notable users, and recurring promotion on more successful platforms, which then brings people here to go down the rabbit hole. I don't see any of the work on this forum on YouTube or other sites. When I was much younger and new to many sectors of any online community - so young I couldn't even make an online account - I only found forums because of their mentions in the comments of YouTube videos or from it being the work in a YouTube video itself. It makes you want to go to the source of the work to go down the rabbit hole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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