But, maybe we should combine both plans, Oscar. Have a PM to let them know to make an intro page. But, also, maybe add just a few restrictions, like only being able to view the HM info stuff and make an Intro page. That way, they can still get the info they want.

I still think that another thing we need to work on is bringing older members back. That's why I think an HM graphic page designing contest would be great. There are lots of people here that are great with graphics, and I think the current "front page" just needs a little jazzing up. Maybe themes that change periodically? Like summer, spring, winter, fall? That way it doesn't just look like brown-blue-building everywhere.

Forcing people to do anything is annoying. And I don't see the point of restricting the HM info or anything. That's just flat-out manipulation, and that's not nice. Besides, if they can't see how warm and fuzzy we folks are from the beginning, they might have less of a reason to join. And some people may be willing to stay and socialize and whatnot, but they are just too lazy or shy to make an intro.

What I suggest is that people keep an eye out for new members, like at the bottom of the page where it tells the newest member, and give them a warm greeting on the comments page. It shows you care enough to bother, and it isn't automated.
But that's just my opinion.

Also, we can't make older members come back. But we can do stuff to the site that could encourage people to want to come back.

But I do like the idea of HM graphic design contest. That is something that would really encourage more activity and even non-graphic designers love to vote and whatnot. And the idea of changing the theme for different seasons is also pretty cool. It'd keep the place from getting dull and also give members something to look forward to.

Well, what's a way to nicely encourage people to make an intro topic? I think a flashing arrow pointing to Empty Spaces saying "New members, please introduce yourselves here" seems a little bit too much.

I agree with Jitter. Don't force people to make an introduction. It's mean and unnecessary. Some people get posting without bothering to make an introduction.

Oscar, your first post was about butter, wasn't it? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalaexdee.gif)

Well, how do you suggest we encourage people to post more often, or at least become frequent visitors..... I think some people actually just look at the information, maybe say a word or two, and then never return because they think that the only stuff here is about HM, that there's no real "social section" or spots on the site where you can say stuff about whatever you want.

Maybe there could be a way to design the site where you can easily tell the difference between the "social section", the "information section", the "veteran section", and the "other section". Y'know, other than brown everything.

People will post if they want to. Introduction threads really aren't worth much to people who didn't come to socialize. If the people came to this site to socialize, they will. Some might not be interested in socializing whatsoever, and honestly only come to find info. We can't make people post more often or become more frequent visitors, it's up to them. All we can do is make this site more enjoyable to be on.

It's quite obvious which areas are social areas and which ones are game-info related. People can read, so we don't need to color code it. Once again, we just need to make the site more enjoyable and worth hanging out on. (Which it is, we just need to make it more so. And make it more obvious to newcomers.)

Also, the AMOUNT of posts isn't the issues. It's the quality of posts. I could posts tons if I wanted, but I only post if it's worth it, since I'm lazy. I don't respond when I have nothing to say, either. So this site needs stuff to respond to.

I made some fake backgrounds and a fake front page, just to see what kind of stuff I could come up with. I think my graphic designing skills aren't that great. It's mainly to show the differences between what's already up here, and what an amateur can create with GIMP.

current front page background:

(IMG:http://www.ranchstory.co.uk/dev/background.gif)

What I threw together:

(IMG:http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz114/HSGisME123/rsbgFP.png)



Current forum background:

(IMG:http://www.ranchstory.co.uk/forums/style_images/rs/clouds2.gif)

What I threw together:

(IMG:http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz114/HSGisME123/clouds.png)


ideas anyone? Graphic design contest is the best idea I have so far. and now my brain is empty.

Your idea for a Graphic Design contest is a good one, in my opinion.

Maybe we could have a theme contest? People suggest different themes, then we make an anonymous poll. (Or everyone could email someone their vote.) And then we'd have a theme decided. Anyone can suggest a theme.

THEN we have a Graphic contest for that theme? This is where the Graphic designers take part. You wouldn't have to make everything, 'cuz it'd be a waste of your time if yours didn't win. So we'd start off with a sample, let's say... a banner and background. It'd give people the idea you have in mind, and also the color scheme, and they can decide which idea they like the best. And vote. (Anonymously, of course. c:) And whoever wins can design the site. Of course, they could probably use help with that.

But this way, everyone can get involved.

That's what we really need. A way for everyone to get involved. You idea for organizing this is really quite good. We just need to get it under way and create deadlines and stuff like that. I just notice that it's contests like these that really get the whole site together.

I'm pretty good at organizing stuff like this. *points at fuchsia sprite medal* So I'd be happy to get it started. Just let me know if you guys are all really up for it... not that we really have anything to lose if I make a theme suggestion thread right now. :3

Might as well make one. >B] *gets to work on that* A deadline, huh? Hmmm... well, for suggestions, I'd say 2 - 3 weeks from now. It depends on how many suggestions we get within the first week or so. So I could add a deadline later after I make the thread.

Edit: Wait, don't we need a certain Head Honcho's approval before we can do this? We are changing the site, after all...

Glad to see people in the graphics contest already. A few things for the community to do together would be great, which leads me to my next question.

Are most of you relatively free/ out of school or close to being out? I know Darth would probably post about it later, but because I'm so anxious I just wanted to get an idea on when we could do another HM Group Play. Been wanting to do one for a while (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalaexdee.gif)

Oh and Rebecca I really like the clouds you made. Wouldn't mind seeing those put up.

As far as I know, most of us are out or will be within the next week or so. I'm not out just yet, but I will be in a week.

Uhhhh. I dunno. I could try to help out with the layout. But I don't understand-- are we expected to use original content( as in make yourself-- like the header are original sprites, I think. ) ; or can we use an image and just credit the source?

As for revival:


Really, Idelers has a lot of good points.
Also, I think our best bet is probably focussing on RF: Oceans while cleaning up the other sections.
Like, making a guide like Ushi's Animal Parade one.
Also, as of right now:
22 guests, 4 members, 1 anonymous members.
There's people visiting. We just need them to register and start posting.

Crystal: Yes, yes it was. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lalaexdee.gif)


Rebecca: Wow, I really like those clouds, too. I think it'd be great if we could change the appearance of the forums from time to time. I know that won't really attract new members or anything, but it'll be nice.

The graphic contest sounds like a great idea! You could PM Jason, Jitterbug? Or maybe he'll see this in a little bit.

I do think that having these big community events help bring in activity from all the current members and that's always fun, even if it doesn't last forever.

As for welcoming new members: I guess just making sure to post in all introduction topics or posting a nice comment in someone's page helps. I think that's how I made Zen post. I told her she should post around (or something similar to that) and she did.

Oh any member reaching out to newbies helps a ton. Helps get them to post for sure. Helped me to start posting anyways.

Another thing I kinda wanted to start again is Werewolf. Not sure if we have enough people around for that though. Or if it necessairly helps activity where we want it, but it does keep people around normally.

Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but isn't Jason a graphic designer that could? If he's not busy he could essentially turn what we give him into the new layout right? Oh and Flap, original creations are what I had in mind, since most sites do it that way, and RS has always had that original feel.

Then I can't do it. Hahh. I can't draw/do pixel art. :c

I'm not very good with graphic design, so I won't be able to take part in the design bit, but I'd be happy to start welcoming new members on their page to sort of encourage them to stay (subtly, of course.)

I'll be out of school on the 24th (of June, of course. lol), but I'll be having a lot of free time now though since I don't study and all the projects we have left to complete are all in-class and pretty much done, anyway. So either way, I have a lot of free time.

Seem I like the coziness of the forum, and right now there's only so many frequent members, and I chat with quite a few of you pretty often. Seeing a lot of new members will be really odd for me, since I'm used to things being tight-knit and cozy. However, if the numbers keep dwindling, then we may find many of us have left (even more than now), and the site will be TRULY dead. And that would SUCK. So I think we have to think about the directions we take. Having a lot of people here is good, but taking away the cozy feel is bad, so I like the idea of site-wide contests and group events that can encourage people to stay AND to keep things nice and close.

In short: me gusta.

Blah, I agree we clean up the HM sections.

... I know that was mentioned somewhere.

You notice after a certain amount of time that some of the games just don't get talked about anymore. Hero of Leaf Valley comes to mind.

Quite frankly, if we're still focusing mostly on the Wiki, then we need to continue switching everything over, and just leave the HM sections as a sort of discussion forum. For, say, if you look and can't find something, or even as a suggestion sort of thing if you think of something that should be added to the Wiki that you couldn't find, or an idea to make something pop out more so other people can find it.

This forum has always seemed to me more community based than HM based. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but to balance that just a bit would be nice. Working together for a common goal is always good, in my opinion. :)

Edit: As for when we get out, I'm already out... *smartpersonftw* But I don't really have access to a computer. If any of ya'll need me, I suggest you harass Rebecca profusely so she can harass me to get on. D:

I love the brush look. I think it is a direction people should consider when doing the graphics. However I'm not sure if as community the design should sway away from the official style of Harvest Moon to much? or maybe?



I'd recommend learning- or just mucking around for the heck of it. It's pretty funky. I love sprite based stuff, I feel as if they will always be different and give the artists "soul" into the work much more then 3D models or other types of graphics.



I agree, but more in general, the whole forums. I look down the forum page and it goes on pretty far. I imagine a new user who wouldn't know where to go would be even more lost.

I propose that all we need really are:

Billboard:-
- Announcements
- Empty Space
(I'm unsure as if we really need a whole section for the Wiki? Maybe a thread somewhere else?)

Ranch Story Events could also become just one section under the billboard or a thread somewhere. Its not really that populated, and I imagine offical events would be better used in the announcement section, and unoffical ones elsewhere?

Ranch Story Social:-
- Town Square
I also think we could remove the Polls, Forum Games and Matters of the Misguided or make one section for them. They are really "unprofessional" types of things, and community wise can usually get to messy.

- Mature Issues

- [Entertainment] - I feel as if we should cut this up and make it into either one forum section in the social area, or convert it to down to two which seperates other entertainment and video games. I doubt we really need a section for Nintendo and Pokemon, and while major pulling factors from the community, I feel as if they set an unfair distinction from what the forums are really about if we keep adding forums like that.

- [ Any Colour You Like] - Either stay in its current state, or merge both together and put it under the social section. While a good thing to have- we don't particuarly have a huge creative community. We can get by, but its really not a factor to the forums.

- Train Station [Harvest Moon]:-
I feel as if this needs cleaning up the most. I feel as if we should copy how http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums/ aranges their Zelda stuff. In that they have it under the consoles, a general section and a future section, as well as handhelds been a seperate arangement. While we shouldn't do that 100%, we should look at how they arange their stuff and apply simular here.

As for special, I'm really not sure what it really supplies us a community- however I'm not against it staying, same as the Archives- I feel archives are an important factor in the forums life, and for reviewing past major events to the forums.

-----

As for the main site, I'm quite confused, what is the sites primary objective now- the site- or the wiki. I feel as that as a community we should decide if the main site really does anything which the Wiki doesn't and see why it doesn't and if it can be put into the Wiki. I feel that the Wiki should be the main center of the site along side the forums. As this site has been a community based site, rather than admins powering the content like other sites. I think that the sector that says otherwise- the main site, which lacks in content and links mostly to the wiki, should be eliminated. We should then consider how the Wiki can be set up to be useful to our members and semlessly intergrate through the forum and provide users once on the wiki a good ammount of information.

I don't know I think the main problem is just that HM just isn't as popular as it used to be and that is the main draw to the site so as a result we are just seeing much less traffic.. People just want their new fancy shooters now-a-days. I almost want to say that we should add more discussion forums outside of HM to draw in more people but that defeats the purpose of the site. Another new site I went to was primarily a Blazblue site then it started to die a little so the owner of the site gave another member of the site permission to start add Melty Blood to the site which I was alright with but as a result all the Blazblue people left and Melty Blood kind of killed itself and now the site is dead.

Though at this rate I doubt this site can actually die because we've going strong for years now but sometimes forum sites focused on less popular games are destined to be less popular because of the main draw. But honestly I don't even come here for HM stuff anymore. I come here for the cool people and how chill everybody is here. Its a nice brake from other sites with constant flame wars and mass trolling.