Long time coming, and a return. Options

[Peter]

Hello everyone. It's been quite a while since I've posted on this forum (four years almost to the date from my last new topic, and just shy of three years since my last post. I absolutely adored this forum to no end, mostly because the community was one I was very familiar with (Jason knows what I'm talking about).

I sort of removed myself from the forums due to some growing up I had to do on my part, and slowly but surely found myself being a lurker. Now, after lurking for almost a year, I've finally decided to make another post and say hi. :)

I've been watching some of what's been happening, but I'm incredibly out of the loop. I started my 'come back' of sorts by catching up with Jason, and seeing what the state of things were. I also had messaged DPB on Steam a few times, just asking how things were. It's unfortunate that it's so desolate, when back before it used to be such a thriving community. One of the things I enjoy doing is taking projects like this and giving them direction in hopes to revitalize them back into a thriving community. I've done things like this in the past, and my most recent endeavor was with www.gamentrain.com, a website dedicated to gaming and fitness.

I'd like to do the same with this website, but not without properly understanding what's going on (and if that's something everyone else here would like to see). Obviously if there is no interest in keeping a site like this going, then it doesn't matter what I say or do, it simply won't go anywhere.

Before I get into any of that though: how the heck is everyone? Who is still regularly visiting? Who's only kinda sorta visiting? Lurkers, I know you're out there, who has been lurking. Catch me up on what's been happening, both personally and in the forums, if you'd like.

As for me, between the time I left, and now, I have graduated college with a degree in Business Management (go me). :) I was working at The Home Depot at the time, but found a job in my field doing entry level business analyst work within 3-4 months. It was with a healthcare firm that was local to where I lived. I did that for about a year and a half, and then took another position (within the same firm) as a project manager for an application they were developing to manage stroke patient care. This is where I started getting some of my project management experience, and realized that I liked doing that kind of work.

After another year and a half, we had finished the project, and it was about that time that I secured another job working for the largest health/well-being and sports nutrition firm in the nation (see: GNC). I am located right in their headquarters building, doing more PM work, as well as some database administration things, budget stuffs, and all kinds of jobs like that. They brought me in to do what I have been doing pretty much since I started working: look at something that exists today, and find ways to improve on it.

That's work life stuff; personally, I've still been doing a ton of gaming. You can usually keep up with my gaming endeavors here: www.backloggery.com/peterthomas6 and other miscellaneous things to keep me busy. There was a summer where I started taking lessons to play the cello, I bought a ukulele, took a cruise to the Bahamas, and so forth. I'd be happy to write more, but I feel like I've yapped your ears off for now. I look forward to hearing from you all soon.

Take care,
Peter

[Gear]

Welcome back! To be honest I don't remember ya. ^^; I was a long time lurker and then started my attack of posting on this forum. I'm an illustration student and just love drawing. Been on a Harvest Moon/Rune Factory binge for a while now.

Anyways like I said before welcome back now the forum is a tad more active. ^^

[Mizukithepanda]

Hey Peter, I remember you, though we never actually spoke back in the day.

As for what happened... all of the big dramatic shit that went down three years ago aside, mostly it's just dwindled gradually. Saffy ran a lot of people off with his actions, many people either started lurking or just stopped visiting altogether, and most new members would join up for a little while, but not stick around. Right now we don't really have anyone dedicated to getting new information on the Harvest Moon and Rune Factory games, so if people come here looking for information, they don't get nearly as much as they hoped.

At one point, before Saffy left, there was a new main site in the works, but that was completely scrapped and there's been nothing since.

Honestly, right now I'm not sure what can be done to revitalize the place. I think, if anything, we need to focus on getting new members instead of getting old members to return, but even if we suddenly had a new flow of HM information and a shiny new site, that may not be enough.

[Peter]

Gear - Your name looks new to me as well. :) Glad to have you regardless, and thank you for the welcome.

Mizuki - I definitely remember seeing you around. Glad to see you're still here. I got from reading the posts the gist of something big happening to have Saffy leave, and a lot of the folks that I remember seeing around (Lindy, Oscar, Chicken, TB, Hasfusel, etc.) don't seem to be around anymore. Whether the two are related for each individual person is neither relevant nor important though.

Forums always seem to have a larger turnover (that is, members who register but don't stick around) and there's always going to be a group who simply register FOR that information. But I never stuck around due to the information, despite it being nice. I stuck around because the community was a blast to be around. I think that if there's a desire to bring back that community, then the forums could definitely see activity once more.

I'd be willing to hash out a workplan on a 'what needs done and when' kind of basis, and the information you've provided is extremely pertinent. Obviously one of the biggest things is finding folks who are either playing these games and know them well, or folks who have a strong love for the series. However, it's hard to say whether or not that needs to happen first, or if some internal cleanup should happen first. Does the site need revamped? Is it too dated? Those are just a few of the many questions that I have going forward.

It's great to hear from you. I'm glad you're still around. :)

[Darth-Paper-Boy]

Hey, welcome back!

For the site status, it's as Mizuki states. For the most part, our major site contributors who supplied all the good information and were die-hard enough fans to translate Japanese news or even import the JP versions and get information early. Once they left, really I think the only time I saw new members comment on our own stuff was when I got the RF and HM art books and posted some scans. The rest just kinda popped in, maybe made a "I'm new!" topic and then left forever. Since then I've seen those posted around elsewhere without reference, which has made me think about putting a little un-intrusive watermark whenever I do the next batch or something. Whenever that is. There may also be an issue of how new members work as well, since ever since there was a deluge of spammers we've started having to verify every poster and it seems to confuse people a lot.

As for myself, I only kinda hang around. I come by and post new info every so often or anything relevant to discussions that are happening, but usually nothing going on is anything I'm relevant to so I just sorta make hit-and-run posts.

[Charmy]

THIS IS SO COOL REVITILISATION I'M DOWN I'M JIGGY I'VE GOT THE 411 (whatever that means).

I like to work on the wiki and I'd love to translate information but my Japanese skill isn't that good yet and I'm busy with school and right now I'm in Japan so I won't be posting as actively until January again got to go bye nice to see you. :0

[Jason]

Hey Peter, welcome back! Long time man, it was good catching up a little over PM.

As far as what happened here.. I have to agree with everyone.. all of the die hard contributors moved on and that's when the site started to suffer. Saffy was also very chatty and was great keeping the flow of discussions and topics rolling. He was the life of the party and was very social and active everywhere and always coming up with new goofy things that would get members talking.

What we need:

• Someone who can be the life of the party as mentioned above.
• Graphic Designer: The site's design could use a revamp, but we don't want just any graphics designer or even a very talented generic designer. No. We need someone who is great at design AND really knows and loves the games. They need to know how to pull and re-create elements from the games and can basically ignite the love for the games in everyone who merely looks at the design.
• Japanese text translator: We need info before it comes out here in the US. This was huge for getting traffic. This persona needs to be able to get very far in the game and know how to get to every scene or fetch all the ingredients to cook all the recipes. It would also be very preferable if this person was savvy with emulators and can take screenshots.
• Die hard content contributor - Someone who owns every guide there is, knows everything about every game, and is great with writing.

I'm sure the above can even be divided further and other roles added.

I will say though, and believe it or not, but the wiki gets a lot of hits. I believe that even with just content, we can get a lot of members and old members to come back just by focusing on content alone.

That's my two cents for now. :)

[Peter]

Darth: Thank you. :) It is good to be back. This time I'll be here for the long haul.

Charm Charm: Thank you, and as always it is great to see you. I understand being busy so you just focus on your school work. There will be plenty of time to help when you are more available.

Jason: Always a pleasure sir, and thank you for the great feedback.

All: I know it probably seems overwhelming right now and this would be a big undertaking, but it certainly isn't impossible. With the wiki being such a big hit, we already have a great starting point. Next time I'm at a computer (how times have changed) I will start a thread elsewhere to get all of this organized and start brainstorming some ideas. I still will very much welcome any ideas or volunteers to assist, but if not, that's okay too. This place was fabulous at its peak and there is absolutely no reason why it can't be fabulous again.

Thank you all again for the welcomes, and of any more ideas come up, please feel free to drop me a line. :)

[Twilight Wandere...]

Dang look at how hawt that RF4 section is on the wiki. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/monster.png) I'll get on that.

PETER. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? Good to know you're moving on up in life. :B I myself graduated highschool in spring of last year and am now pursuing a BS in Criminal Justice with a minor in Information Assurance (computerrrss).

Been kinda lurking a little bit, if by lurking you mean signing on every once in a while or so. But since finals are over I should be around more often.

Hope you stick around. :B

[Peter]

Hiiiii Twiiiii. :) Long time no see.

Sorry I've been gone so long, but my intentions are to be here for a long time now, if not for good. I'd like to see this place back to it's former glory, and I don't think we need anyone to do that but a few dedicated faces.

I wish you all the luck on getting your college degree done. :) It'll be challenging, but I'm sure you'll be able to handle it just fine.

Talk soon.

[Sessy]

Hey there, everyone! It's been such a long time :)

Peter just let me know about the post on the main page about my book-- thank you so very much for the mention :)

Hopefully I can come back and join the community once more. I miss the days at Ranch Story! Like I said before too, I wouldn't mind translating some stuff if anyone would like it.

See all you around more hopefully!

[Twilight Wandere...]

Your book sounds soooo good! I've been following the facebook for it for quite some time now. :D

I hope things are going well for you. :) We'd love to have you back!

[Darth-Paper-Boy]

Yeah, we've been keeping track of it as it progressed! Seems like everything's going super-awesome. I just wish I had a Kindle, since that was the only way I saw to order it at the moment.

edit: Oh, right. The translate-y thing. Yeah, for the most part it'd just be helpful to have someone translate new information as it comes out on the newest game right now. We're typically just going off of what other sites say if they bother to get around to it at the moment. There might be some other stuff, like I think some things in the Harvest Moon art book, but I'm not entirely sure. I need to start scanning that thing again...

[Sessy]

Oh it's actually not out on Kindle yet. The publisher is taking forever to get it going.... and we had to move the release to February because that was the only time we could hold the event at Whimsic Alley. But thank you guys for tracking it :) I'll let everyone know when it's available <3

[Charmy]

Yaaaaay, another one. :D

Good to see you posting again Sessy. :)

[Peter]

Sessy: Glad to see you on the boards so quickly! It was no problem, really. I heard nothing but fond things, and I remember you back when your username was fully written out! So, it was the least I can do to reach out to you. And look, cross promotion! :D I'm sure we'll be in touch soon.

Darth: This was all you for making that post about her book, so while I'm sure everyone has been following along, it was the post that let me know y'all were serious about reaching out. So I did. :)

Charmy: Hoping that we'll see many more in the near future!

[Sessy]

Also I don't know if anyone's on tumblr here, but I'm much more active there than anywhere else.

Here's my blog:

http://tanpoponoko.tumblr.com/

Fair warning though, there's a LOT of Madoka Magica stuff there (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalaexdee.gif)

[Darth-Paper-Boy]

Waaaay ahead of you on that. Though I guess I haven't actually signed into that account since the new Tumblr thing started...

[Marie]

お久しぶりですね！

Thank you for reaching out to us, Peter! And hello again, everyone. =D It feels nice to lurk around here again. It kind of feels like home!

I would love to help out with translation and writing. I have the time, and enough stamina to do some work. I'll certainly give it a shot!

Sessy: Congrats on getting your novel being published soon! That's really cool!

[Charmy]

My thing won't let me write Japanese. ;m;

But yeeeey! Hello to you too, Marie. :D