For the Growth of Arpegi

[NekoBot]

As we all know Arpegi has been in existancce for 4 months and it i pretty exclusive and has done ok as a forum based website. But the issue is that the only members are familiar faces from romU with ssome notable exceptions.

So after a time the sae faces get old and the thrill of the site deminishes a little. Sso how do we make the site progress? This thread is strictly for the discussion of site progression.

So how do you fill a community thats ok and make it fuller and more diverse? We need new faces. New members. Andd we need them to stay!

As we know there have been members who have been accepted into this community.... but more often then not those new peope leave! Its frustrating for all of us but even more so for the admins and mods.

As a regular forum based forum the only draws to the site are events, competitions, roleplay, and spam.

As you know I am in the process of making numerous events and you should also know the lack of interest in the graphics competition is frusting to Lght and the participants because there are only a few people posting entries. The roleplay is excellent but only a portion of Arpegis memers participate so that leaves spam. As the admins let us know they dont like it in the wrong places.

So how do you keep the newbies to stay around long enough for us to hook them?We need new draws to keep them here.

As Pew told me before downloads are probably not the way to go so maybe a onsight arcade  would be benificial.

The above is not the only thing that can be come up with. This is very important for Arpegis growth. As an avid Arpegian I want to see something ive dedicated so much time to florish. So lets begin this discussion.

[Cupcake Fury]

I agree, if only we had corriger...

[NekoBot]

After this discussion is well underway i will add pollable items to the thread

I cannot stress the importance off this topic and again for anyyone out there I will not tollerate spam on ths topic

[Noob]

I think we should advertise somehow. But not by spamming it on other forums/everywhere. We need more people, I agree with that.

[NekoJonez]

I think we should advertise somehow. But not by spamming it on other forums/everywhere. We need more people, I agree with that.

[NekoBot]

But once here whats going to keep them here? The curremt draws have not been overall successful for new members

[Toffee]

Realistically speaking, this forum doesn't really offer anything to draw newcomers and keep them here. I mean, the main reason (I believe) Jonez and Mizari created this forum was because RomU deleted the roleplay thread and the RPers there had nowhere else to go. Now, I'm not saying that I'm not grateful (which I REALLY REALLY am, RomU is full of nothing but self-righteous, pretentious trolls), but the bottom line is, this forum was made for a specific number of people for a specific purpose.

I initially toyed with the idea of adding more reviews to the site which may add some more activity, but seeing as writing reviews takes time and a bit of dedication, not everyone has the opportunity to write them.

I do agree that we need this site to grow, but the way I'm seeing it, short of hosting ROMS, Anime or Manga, this site will remain a secret.

[Light]

We can always convert the forum to a specialized one, like a RP forum or a graphics forum or whatever, but we'd have to find something that everyone here can agree on.

Also, that way we can target a specific type of members to invite here, instead of going all over the place.

[Toffee]

I think that's a bad idea. Converting the forum to one theme will only alienate more members.

[Noob]

I think that's a bad idea. Converting the forum to one theme will only alienate more members.

This. Not everyone RPs and not everyone s good with graphics.

[NekoBot]

But could we get away without downloads?

I respect what you say and I'm very sure tthats a large part of the reason for the sites existance. Im not trying to take anyone place if anyone is thinking that..... what if new members find that although the site was interesting after the first week they failed to have a reason to stay?

By proposing this thread I sttick my neck out and the result may be bad. But what happens to me doesnt matter. The point is that if we dont expand the same 50-60 common members may be the only people you see everydy.

This site may be primarily by recommendation but remember that you can also find us on google. Technically any randdom person could stumble apun Arpegi. If they do will they stay?

I persoally dont think that downloadables are our solution to a new draw

[Noob]

what if new members find that although the site was interesting after the first week they failed to have a reason to stay?

This has happened a lot, look at people like Nekovampire-Rin, Uratar (http://www.arpegi.be/index.php?action=profile;u=414) nosoupforyou (http://www.arpegi.be/index.php?action=profile;u=102) and the list goes on. All of them were active for a very short while before leaving.

[Light]

I think that's a bad idea. Converting the forum to one theme will only alienate more members.

That's why I'm saying we should find a theme all of us can agree on. Afterwards, we could invite more members here by joining and becoming a part of other forums or sites with a similar theme as ours.

Not everyone RPs and not everyone s good with graphics.

I never said it had to be one of those two.

[Noob]

I think that's a bad idea. Converting the forum to one theme will only alienate more members.

That's why I'm saying we should find a theme all of us can agree on. Afterwards, we could invite more members here by joining and becoming a part of other forums or sites with a similar theme as ours.

Not everyone RPs and not everyone s good with graphics.

I never said it had to be one of those two.

I was giving examples. It's hard to think of something that we could all agree on though.

[Toffee]

Rest assured, NekoBot, that no one is going to hate you for pointing out this obvious issue with the site and doing your best to try and fix it. In fact, you deserve a commendation for all your efforts, if for nothing else than having the courage to say what everyone else is thinking.

Now, back on topic, I also agree that downloads are not the best solution. We'd only get members whose only posts will be "WHEN DIS DOWNLOAD COME!?", "WAI NO DUMP YET!?", "GIMME AP NAO!!"

[NekoBot]

Thats the thing. Members live Nekovampire-rin came and went beecause of a lack in something. Thats why w need new hooks.

As for a theme that might work maybe but arent the themes fine as they are? The boards are clearly labeled. The new members just find no interest in whatw ccurrently offer. If we could get them to stay longer they might come to like whats here but they need things or something to make them stay before they relise what they like.

[Noob]

Rest assured, NekoBot, that no one is going to hate you for pointing out this obvious issue with the site and doing your best to try and fix it. In fact, you deserve a commendation for all your efforts, if for nothing else than having the courage to say what everyone else is thinking.

Now, back on topic, I also agree that downloads are not the best solution. We'd only get members whose only posts will be "WHEN DIS DOWNLOAD COME!?", "WAI NO DUMP YET!?", "GIMME AP NAO!!"

It would also increase site costs, and yes, we would get immature people like that.

Nekobot- Good job for making this thread. A lot of people, as Toffee mentioned, were thinking the exact same thing, myself included.

[NekoBot]

Even current active members I guarente you eventually get bored so the issue also extends past ne members but also current active members

[Noob]

Even current active members I guarente you eventually get bored

To be honest, I've had this feeling before. Seeing the exact same 13ish people everyday on this forum, in the same threads. I have invited a few friends, but none of them really forum, like died3000.

(Off topic, who is Ruben07)

[NekoJonez]

About Ruben07... Take a guess... I invite you... Please do.

[NekoBot]

Statistically if you look at Arpegi last month was the worst month weve had so far but the most page veiws were on that month. That means that members looked about the site but were not necessarily active. This I suspect is because of exams but it is still something to point out. The lack of active activity (post and thread wise) show that members either did not have tie after revewing topics or did not have anything to say.

The month of June is our most succesful month statistically speaking. Also presumably because of the end of exams and the Ddition of more topics.

Although this information might be considered nulled is up to you but it was something I wanted to point out from my last statementl

[Light]

The way I see it, if we stayed a general forum like this, it would be difficult to attract new members in our current situation.

I think it would be easier to attract members if we had some common ground to stand on, so to speak. The only common ground we have right now is that most of us are from RomU and/or are friends of members here. Completely new members might feel awkward if they join, I guess?

Also, Ruben is one of Jonez's IRL friends.

[NekoBot]

I was not a normal romU member  I happened across jonezs rp and thenwe chatted about things and other things then im here. I still know very little about all of you even the mebers I know the best I still cant say I really know them.

Regrdless of the site your joining, if you join the site you are more often then not unfamiliar with its community. So I dont think that a level of akwardness should present any problems. Just look at all the people on facebook who have friends they dont even know.

Specialzig the forumto a certain aspect as stated efore can alienate members and as also stated will be difficult to agree on. Rigjt now though everything thats said can be a plausaabe solution so I dont think we should knock off Lights idea.

Light, what would the benifits be that you can see coming out of a specialized site? Right now the rp comunity could argue Arpegi specializes in its namesake, roleplay
I once said that I would happily donate $100 to the site. And if that is what we will need for certaint software packages or packages in general I will mail Jonez the money.

I have been on many forums and Ive admined one php based site and moded another site. On both sites the hook was an arcade.

The site I admined failed. It was asocial networking site destoned to fail. The problem was that the hook worked for a long time but eventually failed as the social network failed to capture the members attention.

The site I modded also failed but because of funding. Itwas a forum based site just like this one and had 2000+ members. Over time the site was redjced to 7 members including myself. The catch with the hook was that before the member could use the arcade the must post x times to allow access. The site also had a live chat but it failed when the budget crashed. Both hooks worked but they failed because of poor budgeting.

These are just a few things to think about when considering what your hook will be. Its important that the hook and sitte go to gether or elze it will end up like example a whereas you could have the perfect hook but not the money to keep it. Without a balance it wont work.

Arpegi as I said has its four hooks and it is all even except for the roleplay. Some ebers could feel alienated ecause they cannot rp. It is not their fault nor is it the sites fult. It just happens to be that way. Arpegi was rebalanced with the newest feature the Member Spotlight, something everyone can do and the MSRedox extended that section. To those of us on eeryday we know the differance and the way Arpegi works. But think about this, what does a new member see when they enter the hoe screen?

They see a series of bolded large text followed by more text and within that walls of text. Those who have not been part of a forum might find it intimidating. You know what I mean?

Did you guys get anything fromthat? Is it plausable?

[NekoJonez]

I am going to analyse the things said in this thread and wait till more regular members who are now asleep give their input... Meanwhile... Calling Shredcore & Mizari to see what we can do. Thanks Arpegians... You made me ACTUALLY tear up out of happiness here :3

[Light]

Well, I just think that as a specialized forum, we'd be able to attract more new members, especially since we're just starting out. General forums without common ground tend to end up, well, like our current state from what I've seen.

Honestly, I'd be fine with however Arpegi turns out, since the number one reason I'm here is to honor a commitment I made anyway. Unless I get fired or the forum dies, I'll be here indefinitely. =P