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Topic: Attracting new members (Read 67797 times)

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #25 –
Quote from: ersi on

Quote from: Frenzie on
I dabble in making icons myself occasionally, but right now I have neither the time nor the inclination.

If you dabbled, then assumedly you have something ready too. For this particular forum, even an unfinished but presentable work would suffice.

Would a favicon maker help? :)


Or would something as simple as suffice?
进行 ...
"Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility." - James Thurber
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts!" - Richard Feynman
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Re: Attracting new members

Reply #27 –
Works for me.....very nice until something more polished comes along....Maybe an ICON Creativity Contest is in order...running say until March 2014, to pick an Official DnD Sanctuary Site FavIcon.

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #28 –
I suppose that a transition period to be expected, while finally people comprehends that there's no point on keeping on posting in D&D and start posting here. At least those that thinks that a forum it's just constituted by posters and their posting activity and not something else.

However, that's a "dangerous" period that can kill efforts of survival. Threads are not already made, they must be created from scratch. If not, well... there's not too much things to discuss, isn't it?
I never was, nor I intend to be, a "thread opener", but I certainly will make a special effort to contribute to discussion at this particular phase, by participating.

If this was a Portuguese forum, I would be certain that just at the very last day people would change and do something. :)
Since it is not, I think that's time for considering testing time finished and start doing what is supposed to do - discuss.

I think that we should be more pro active about passing the message that D&D is history. If not, indecision will destroy the current efforts.
Is there anything more to decide about DnD?
A matter of attitude.

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #29 –
We've already started doing a fair bit of that, haven't we? :)

I'll start a topic on the addressbar, although without Opera's staunch defenders there might just be a lot of agreement.

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #30 –
Quote from: Frenzie

We've already started doing a fair bit of that, haven't we? :)

I'll start a topic on the addressbar, although without Opera's staunch defenders there might just be a lot of agreement.


Maybe I wasn't clear, if you look at the statistics (a very good thing DnD has) you'll see that there's almost no thread from DnD Central at the most replied or viewed. Reason is simple, people are waiting... waiting for what? for Godot? he will never appear... :)

That's about that inertia that I'm speaking about.
A matter of attitude.

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #31 –
Waiting for Godot? I think they're waiting for Elmo. :)

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #32 –
I think as soon as some controversial subjects (other than OPERA , which is a game killer within itself long term) blossom, then people will get more involved ---- but, first they have to know it exists, & see the controversies to spark interest.

What's required short-term is getting the [glow=red,2,300]Members Database[/glow] to grow.

If they don't post straight off, it's not a problem.........when the stuffed shirts at MyOPERA throw the proverbial switch come March, & login there becomes history, then activity here will/should surely skyrocket.

But that will be short lived unless the [glow=red,2,300]Members Database[/glow] is stuffed to bursting with motivated users.

Yep, day to day controversy sparks interest & comment.......'status quo' shovels dirt on a dying, soon to be corpse.

   

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #33 –
Quote from: string on

For a new forum to grow it needs a secure base of participants, which I am anticipating we will have at least for a while, but it must also attract new members.

The old D&D got a lot of members, I think, from those that had gone into My Opera in search of answers to problems with the Browser and peeked into the Lounge. Also the Blog area would have attracted a lot of them.

I would think that's normal, a discussion forum growing out of some sort of product, be it a commercial item like a magazine or a smart phone, or some "cause" which gets people going. Religion, Hobbies, Politics or Green Planets being examples.

I'm not sure that we could all agree on any of those things (which is the joy of DnD nee D&D). But maybe provision should be made for such to grow.

We have a ready-made group of potential new DnD people who were not necessarily in D&D but were participating in the Opera software/browser area. Some of those will be leaving, with no incentive anymore to comment or improve the Opera Browser as it becomes Chopera. So why not have a parallel area in this site entitled something like Browser Wars or Internatter or something which hosts all the discussions that people would like to have in comparing browsers or other things of more general interest.

We could also have more casual Lounge area where word games or whatever are played.


There will be other areas that might attract members - any ideas?



Like it on Face book?  but then we would be subject to peoples bowel movements.

The downside of this suggestion is that it would increase the demands on the system that frenzie is putting in place and turn his quixotic gesture into a burden. That would not be good and we must bear that in mind.

If they set up pay-pal I'd help pay to cover costs.

I was wondering what the overall Forum could be called and the title "Forum at the end of the Universe" came into mind. Of course it had been used before and I found this site which is a pretty exact parallel to this in its initial rationale. Note the cautionary remarks in the second post. That has been remarked upon by many here; we need to take account it it and find a solution.







Re: Attracting new members

Reply #34 –
Quote from: MAXXTHRUST on
If they set up pay-pal I'd help pay to cover costs.

Presently there are no extra costs as such. However, it might worthwhile to switch to a dedicated domain name and that'd probably cost about €12/year.

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #35 –
Quote from: Frenzie on

Quote from: MAXXTHRUST on
If they set up pay-pal I'd help pay to cover costs.

Presently there are no extra costs as such. However, it might worthwhile to switch to a dedicated domain name and that'd probably cost about €12/year.
Yeah - keep that in mind.

@MAXXTHRUST - I liked your remark about bowel movements! But we do need to garner posts, many start with the Lounge and graduate to the higher levels of learning, why I myself ....  

Hmmmm I see what you mean! ;D

Oh - by the way MAXXTHRUST , did you see I brought over the Good News Thread - why don't you do the same for the Bizarre news thread.

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #36 –
Well, it seems that OPERA is directly assisting this Forum, & I suspect a number of new members here due to this:

Quote from: OPERA EMAIL on Thur December 19,2013
When My Opera was launched in 2001, it quickly became an important place
for us to meet with you. We have had much great interaction with you in our
forums and blogs. This whole idea of giving you a place where you could
blog, share photos and send emails turned into an interesting, and very
large, side project. Over the years, we've seen social media, blogging
sites and new messenger services pop up that offer more and better
features than we could possibly maintain. These offerings are their sole
business. You all know their names and you probably use their services
already.

The explosion of these sites and the amount of resources we need to
maintain our own service has changed our outlook on My Opera. We had a
good run for many years, but we believe your content could have a better home elsewhere, so we have made the decision to shut down My Opera as of March 1, 2014.

Your My Opera email account will also be discontinued on this date.

You can read more about the planned shutdown in our blog post:
http://opera.us3.list-manage.com/track/click?u=437b4b2c073452be95855f3da&id=8c8aeb033a&e=60fc355e4f

You can still stay in the loop. Read our updates and news in our new blog home, http://opera.us3.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=437b4b2c073452be95855f3da&id=b9b04687fd&e=60fc355e4f - We hope we'll see you there.

The My Opera team
==============================================
You are receiving this email because you are a member of the My Opera Community.



Guess that just about seals it.

Now (especially now) it is incumbent on all of you, that wish to attract new members here, to advertise DnD on each & every post you've ever posted in MyOpera............

How?...Make an effort to mention it in every post you make in the MyOpera Forums
(go back & do some posting -- Use the valuable free tools of Opera to increase DnD's numbers!) .....

Also .... as I explained earlier, go to your MyOpera Settings & change your MyOpera Forum Signature. 


When you do this, you not only change your signature on your every post going forward, but on every post you have ever made!!!

That's right, you heard correctly, every friggin' post you every made!

After you save your new signature, take a look at an old post you made......you'll see your new signature there!


*   See my signature  in Opera if you need a suggestion.

   Now, so far that's still free to all Opera Users, but that may change very soon, so speed is of the essence! 

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #37 –
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Re: Attracting new members

Reply #38 –
Quote from: j7n on

Quote
Make an effort to mention it in every post you make in the MyOpera Forums (go back & do some posting!)
But that would be pure spam then. If DnD is mentioned, it has to be because there is relevant information here to what's being discussed, including but not limited to shutdown of the forums.


Only the brain dead would be so foolish as to not use some creative wording ...... If it's anything I learned dwelling in the Cave of the Opera Beasts is that they ain't stupid ..... give those people some credit to use their God given intelligence.

And anyway, if they do let a lil cheese slide off their cracker, what's the worst thing that could happen?? They might get reprimanded or banned ..... ewwwwwwww .......... how horribly terrible, gettin' rebuked...worse yet....banned from a place that told their loyal members flat out they were shit, they will all be tossed out on their asses March 1, 2014, & even after all their loyalty they can get stuffed.............so who could care less!!!

Hey, you just gave me a splendid idea.........lets run a contest....have a pool........lets see who could get banned the earliest.......first....last.....guess the date....etc...etc..... It'd be great fun!!!



Re: Attracting new members

Reply #39 –
Quote from: SmileyFaze on

Quote from: j7n on

Quote
Make an effort to mention it in every post you make in the MyOpera Forums (go back & do some posting!)
But that would be pure spam then. If DnD is mentioned, it has to be because there is relevant information here to what's being discussed, including but not limited to shutdown of the forums.


Only the brain dead would be so foolish as to not use some creative wording ...... If it's anything I learned dwelling in the Cave of the Opera Beasts is that they ain't stupid ..... give those people some credit to use their God given intelligence.

And anyway, if they do let a lil cheese slide off their cracker, what's the worst thing that could happen?? They might get reprimanded or banned ..... ewwwwwwww .......... how horribly terrible, gettin' rebuked...worse yet....banned from a place that told their loyal members flat out they were shit, they will all be tossed out on their asses March 1, 2014, & even after all their loyalty they can get stuffed.............so who could care less!!!

Hey, you just gave me a splendid idea.........lets run a contest....have a pool........lets see who could get banned the earliest.......first....last.....guess the date....etc...etc..... It'd be great fun!!!






I wonder if effectively banning oneself counts?? Personally, I overloaded on the replies to the letter that informed us of the closing, one poster in particular. If his opinion in any way reflects the views of "management" then it was time to leave a long time ago and we just didn't know it.

Apologies to Belfrager: It turns out your lemming-like approach of "mass forum suicide" may have been closer to the truth than any of us were able to handle then. Now that we all know what was really happening in the back-ground, it actually looks like a sensible solution.
What would happen if a large asteroid slammed into the Earth?
According to several tests involving a watermelon and a large hammer, it would be really bad!

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #40 –
Quote from: mjmsprt40
Apologies to Belfrager: It turns out your lemming-like approach of "mass forum suicide" may have been closer to the truth than any of us were able to handle then. Now that we all know what was really happening in the back-ground, it actually looks like a sensible solution.


That was not meant to be a "sensible" solution, but an artistic collective work of art. Internet art.
Maybe we can do it here...
Ok, I'll shut up. :)

I could try to convince people to join DnD...
I'll tell them that we are an exclusive member club, an international elite... with membership only by invitation. :)
A matter of attitude.

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #42 –
Well, I'm sorry to say that our membership rolls have staggered to the point of immobility.

Only 30 members  (actually only 28   - test is a non-entity created by Frenzie, & Jimbro has a duplicate because his dog ate his password, or some other lame excuse)

[glow=black,2,300]28 members in 2 months is absolutely pathetic.
[/glow]
If this doesn't change drastically in the next 2 weeks, I fear we will be bidding this forum a sad farewell --- it will never attain the membership required to sustain itself -- doomed to eternal obscurity.

My only answer to this is that there must be 20+ members here who are sitting with both thumbs up their collective asses, & are doing absolutely nothing to actively attract new members, much less existing, active MyOpera members!

[glow=red,2,300]Absolutely pathetic to the point they should be ashamed of their sorry selves for breathing the sweet air they do!![/glow]


In the end, it's up to you guys to make a choice.....stay in that shriveling lemming infested, fanboy run MyOpera Forum
until March 1, 2014, & let this infant DnD forum die at the hands of detached & uncaring users,
or promote this forum actively to all your "friends & fellow MyOpera members".....period.

The choice is yours, pursue a future, or let it die.

..... If you haven't done anything to promote this forum, & you feel offended by what I said.................to bad, it was meant to offend!!!






Re: Attracting new members

Reply #43 –
Quote from: SmileyFaze on
Well, I'm sorry to say that our membership rolls have staggered to the point of immobility.

New users are mysterious beings, no different from the Yeti. Many expeditions tried to spot them before, none succeeded.
Immobility it's exactly the way to catch them. :)

Well, keep calm. There's no motif for worrying.
People are waiting, it's normal. The Vivaldi place opened one or two weeks ago, MyOpera will be there for two months more.
Quality posters for Debates and Discussions are already here, not anywhere else. We are also waiting (while Frenzie tunes up the artillery). With calm.

The battle has not started  yet. Someone put that soldier back to lines... :)
A matter of attitude.

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #44 –
I think the need to attract lots of new members is a bit overrated. We've got a bunch of people here, who will without doubt drag in the occasional hapless victim new member. As Frenzie said - there is no significant cost to run this forum in addition to what he'd pay for his domain and hosting service anyway ( although if anyone wants to help out with that he probably wouldn't mind much ;) ), there is no grow-or-die situation. There would be more of a problem if we suddenly got a couple thousand users who all felt like checking the forum 20 times a day, that would probably need more bandwidth which would cost more money which would have to come from somewhere, be it donations, ads or whatever. But we're not there yet and probably won't be any time soon.

Disclaimer: this is just my opinion, no more, no less.

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #45 –
Quote from: SmileyFaze on
28 members in 2 months is absolutely pathetic.
1. It is a place we have fleed to - together - to stay together, and as such it can remain our Naval Base in all circumstances.
2. I may speculate that other people - here, and who may not yet be here - are doing what I'm doing -- I'm hanging out in one&half places now: till the '13/'14 border my primary surfing is MyOpera, but I keep both my eyes here - testing it included; after the borderline - it's going to go the other way -- I'll be slowly hybernating there's and become more active here.
3. You're welcome to test this place and check up its features - apart from your gaming activity. This time - this period is still on and flashing.

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #46 –
I agree that there is no need to panic over the membership level, after all we are only just coming out of the experimental stages but SF has made a valid point. Existing members are not doing enough.

1. We should continue to post in D&D (I've not been posting there myself so I slap my own wrist on that one)

If we combine that with:

2. All of us should make a signature for our D&D postings promoting DnD ... only some of us do this at present.

The objective of the above is to continue to make D&Ding an attractive pastime while coupling it with information on the "DnD escape route". Couple that with the occasional comment in the post itself and we have a lot of publicity going on. I can't imagine a reason why Opera would object.

Re: Attracting new members

Reply #48 –
D&D hadn't too much active posters more than we have already here.
Of course we love audience, we are Stars after all...

Instead of a list of members that every single lousy forum has, we should have an entry page saying Starring...
Names should appear scrolling by alphabetical order :)

Ok, I'll start doing my daily post at D&D while it lasts. The last day, I'll have my revenge...
By the way, I feel very comfortable here. Frenzie is an excellent host. :)
A matter of attitude.