Big or small?

[Kiss x Miz]

I just found out we haven't had a new member in 2 months now and I've been thinking about this a lot.

Would you rather keep Arpegi as it is now, a small secluded community with not too much activity..

or try to gather people to make us a big name among forums, most likely coming along troublesome people and losing the "privacy" we have now, but increasing activity.

[Mr.PowPow]

I think expansion is the only way to keep this place alive. John Paul Satre once said "Hell is being locked in a room with your friends", how long will it be before we are absolutely sick of eachother and want to gouge eachother's eyes out?

Even if there were a substantial amount of more members, we could still always have our little original posse, but just amongst a wave of other people as well.

[O:\msg]

I prefer big.

[dark 5FVD]

meh keeping the site alive is important yes.
but i think if it's too big ... i don't really know.

[Kiss x Miz]

We don't really have a lot to advertise about yet to get outsiders here, do we?

What would make you join a forum if you knew absolutely nobody?

[Mr.PowPow]

What would make you join a forum if you knew absolutely nobody?

downloads, thats a sure thing. But unfortunately that wont be allowed by Jonez, even though its practically the best thing to do.

Other than that? Very few things you can do, we don't have much to offer as we don't have anything to set us apart from the thousands of other SMF forums. So we'd have to rely on complete luck that someone would want to join and stay, and most people wouldn't stay in a forum this small without something keeping them here.

If we want to have so much as a flicker of a chance, we need to ditch this plain SMF look, its way too common. We need a better site design and we also need to actually give our forum some shape, what are we? At the moment we are just a general forum, we don't really specialize in anything.

So in short, either downloads or having to really put some effort into this place.

[senpai_FisT]

Best thing we can attract people is with creative stuff, but there's deviant art for that, so no. The only other thing is forum RP'ing I guess.

[Toffee]

We could sell "Men of Arpegi" calendars. Each month will feature tastefully semi-nude pics of msg.
In all seriousness though, I'd like it if there were a bit more people. I agree that anything short of downloads won't get us much notice.

[Light]

More members mean I might have to actually work

I wouldn't mind making the forum a little bigger, but yeah, let me be the third person in this thread to say that it would have to be either downloads or something really special to help new members find the place and actually want to stay. Also, haven't we had this discussion before?

[Kiss x Miz]

More members mean I might have to actually work

I wouldn't mind making the forum a little bigger, but yeah, let me be the third person in this thread to say that it would have to be either downloads or something really special to help new members find the place and actually want to stay. Also, haven't we had this discussion before?

Not on this particular topic.
I'd like to see if there is a way to continue Arpegi at this size, or if it is necessary we should grow.

Could something special make everyone want to return every day?
If we were able to use downloads, what would they be?
A game?

[Mr.PowPow]

I think if we were to offer downloads then anime would be a good way to go, its the kind of crowd we want to attract (if we are sticking with the whole roleplay theme) plus the anime craze doesn't seem to be dying down that much, at least not significantly. Hipsters download the old classics and newbies watch the more newer series, so its a pretty active area to get into.

Though if we were to offer games, I think we'd be hitting a little too close into Romu's playing field. Unless we do something to set us apart from them. Although Romu does offer anime (at least to my knowledge) it doesn't really define them, so I think thats still a safe area to go into.

However we could also offer OST to both anime and normal movies alike, or just music in general. That is an extremely active area to go into, however not exactly the safest. But its worth considering if we want this place booming with activity.

Needless to say, if we offer something to new members that they enjoy, then they'll come in the hopes that they'll obtain more of it.

[Kiss x Miz]

Though if we were to offer games, I think we'd be hitting a little too close into Romu's playing field. Unless we do something to set us apart from them. Although Romu does offer anime (at least to my knowledge) it doesn't really define them, so I think thats still a safe area to go into.

I was thinking about our own games or small games that deserve more attention.

[NekoJonez]

What would make you join a forum if you knew absolutely nobody?

downloads, thats a sure thing. But unfortunately that wont be allowed by Jonez, even though its practically the best thing to do.

*Cough* Illegal downloads isn't allowed good sir.
Don't won't to loose Arpegi and such for hosting illegal stuff. Never said anything about legal downloads like wallpapers or self made RPG's/games

However we could also offer OST to both anime and normal movies alike, or just music in general. That is an extremely active area to go into, however not exactly the safest. But its worth considering if we want this place booming with activity.

Nope.
Unless the OST's are made by yourself.

[BloodcatNS]

Then what do you suggest? We're running out of ideas. :/

[Light]

I'm gonna guess downloads aren't going to be an option unless we start hosting Arpegi ourselves.

We could try creating one big game together but going by how many "community" projects were started and didn't even get pass the idea stage, I wouldn't count on it. Doing things individually have had pretty much the same result, at least on the larger scale of things.

So yeah, back to square one.

[Mr.PowPow]

Well when everyone was talking about downloads, pretty much everyone meant the illegal kind. Because they are the only ones that will bring activity.

I'm all for making some stuff together but like Light said, it just never works out. The illegal downloads are simply the most effective method and at the moment, probably the only method we can rely on. But I guess thats all up to you.

[NekoJonez]

My answer to illegal downloads is no. I don`t wamt to go to jail on a young age. Nope. Nope. Nope.

It actually prefer it small. We are like a family & all that. Also we should try to invite more friends of us to make the family bigger.

[Apokura]

I'm fine with it being small. Big isn't always better. Then again, I wouldn't mind if Arpegi grew.

Gotta say, I think the "Men of Arpegi" idea would attract a lot of people. o-o

[NekoJonez]

I'm fine with it being small. Big isn't always better. Then again, I wouldn't mind if Arpegi grew.

Gotta say, I think the "Men of Arpegi" idea would attract a lot of people. o-o

I am 100% agreeing here.

We build our community out of friends and such.

[Light]

How many friends have we invited and actually stayed active until now, exactly?

[BloodcatNS]

How many friends have we invited and actually stayed active until now, exactly?

Two. I'm counting the ones that didn't come from RomU but still post. The first joined few days ago. The other one lurks and posts occasionally.

[Mr.PowPow]

Well in this case, then Jonez has already sealed the deal that its going to stay small. Because it sure as hell won't ever be big unless there are downloads. So yanno, thread solved.

How many friends have we invited and actually stayed active until now, exactly?

Two. I'm counting the ones that didn't come from RomU but still post. The first joined few days ago. The other one lurks and posts occasionally.

I actually invited around about 3 or 4, neither of them stayed despite being into forums.