Adapting the boards for a broader audience Options

[Psykopath]

This has been brought up a lot recently with the revived push for new members.

Too many random BS posts (be it crude, sexual, etc.) are flooding the boards in random places. Certain threads are understandable (like in LR&AR), but to post about "tit hats" in a "Letters of Recommendation" thread is getting annoying.

I understand that this is the internet, yadda yadda, and I don't necessarily mind random crude humor...but we will not attract new members by continuing such childish e-behavior.


BUT!!!... we mods have been chastised in the past for doing such things as controlling excessive language.

SO, what's it going to be? Free for all and no new members?
or
Mods keeping things as the rules say & have a more friendly messageboard to attract newer members?

This post has been edited by Psykopath: Sep 29 2007, 12:09 AM

[TetraGrammaton C...]

the likelihood of attracting random people to the boards without advertising is very low.
however, it would be more successful for members to get their friends to use the boards. that way, they would already know someone inside the madness, to whom they could address questions about specific oddities.

honestly, randomness and lack of topicality is rarely going to thwart member potential. the only case where this idea seems plausible (and moddable), would be when a new person makes a more serious thread that poses a specific sort of question/request. i would think that only a really sensitive person would leave because they feel they are not welcome.

more personally, i feel that the boards have been quite boring lately.
the average person sees a forum as a place for request for information and discussion. most people do not think of small boards like these as a fun, social outlets. there are many people at tech who have no idea what a forum is. the people who do know about forums are generally already members of much larger forums, to which they devote most of their time.

again, the only way to increase membership that seems viable is personally recruiting non-forum friends.

and stop fighting about petty stuff, especially in the moderators section. if you want to have a fight, have a big fuck-all one in the public section. then maybe we can recruit people on drama.

This post has been edited by TetraGrammaton Cleric: Sep 29 2007, 12:27 PM