A future - NSFCD needs one.

[Thirdkoopa]

We're stagnating. It's happening. This is reality. We've complained about it for months. Stop ignoring it. The more you ignore it, the worse it gets. And Mack and Rob stop discussing it in the chat thread or whining at each other.

This has been happening from every month here asides from March. We've only lost members for the most part (Most notably, Hostile, Custom, and the likes) and in the end, we've gained little. Now, I hate using statistics, I really do, but statistics show (And common knowledge) that we're not gaining anything.

Fact be told, as shown with March Madness, even with losing some key players (And some not-so-key) of this forum, we still have the initiative to stay alive overall. You want to know something however?

We have no intercourse ing idea at what we want our future to be. Every other month I've been here or lurked here, people complain about activity. We really have no point on this.

So, this is it. This is one god darn thread towards that future. I don't care what you guys decide on. You guys could become a site dedicated to something I don't even want to think about and I don't care. Don't base your position on me.

What I do care however is this thread finds a future. Even if our future is just "Go as we are" We need to stick with that, or all we're going to get is occasional whining.

I'll leave this thread with three major options to boot.

1) We stay as the hangout forum we are - This leads to a downward spiral or some eventual gain in members but still a downward spiral.

2) Before replying to this point, read this post - We close the doors off NSFCD. We've got six months of server billing left.

3) BEFORE REPLYING TO THIS POINT, READ THIS POST - The site has the initiative to still live. Basically, NSFCD finds a point and promotes it. However, this goes in an easier said than down. We'd need to all truly have it.


Ideas however are well accepted. As I said: I don't care. I'll help out if I can, but before getting in-depth I want to see where you all take this thread off on.

[Red]

Something that is semi-related to the thread:
[spoiler]I'm just gonna be frank. NSFCD jumped the shark for me over a year ago. Since then it's been downhill. Shit keeps happening, we boast about how we get through it, and then something else. NSFCD has become very mundane, it feels like a chore to post most of the time, and while at some points it looks like we're heading back up, it gets even worse. Honestly, I feel that NSFCD is beyond the point of no return. I'm gonna stay for the ride, however long it may be, but I don't foresee any major changes. The staff tried adding new things, and while fun, it's sort of like putting a band aid on a broken neck. March Madness was nice, but afterward things got back to normal because there wasn't any incentive to post. And I don't mean special ranks, or anything of the like. The content just isn't there anymore. [/spoiler]

Something related to this thread:

I can't really think of what NSFCD could "become." Changing something like this isn't something that can happen overnight. It takes time, which is somethign NSFCD doesn't have a lot of. But out of those three choices, #1 seems the most likely, #2 seems fair in some respects, but not in others. It would be fair, because silver wouldn't have to pay for this anymore, but it would also make all the work of other staff members, some users, and Silver himself be for naught. and #3 seems by far the best, but more of a fantasy.

I'm all for #3, but like you said, it's easier said than done. However, if we do decide on #3, or something similar, I'll be more than happy to help.

[The Riddler]

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

We're still Nsider at heart, just a smaller version of it with more personality.

General Board stuff:
Keep the Nintendo Boards. We're a Nintendo forum at heart, and that's made clear by Pokemon/Mario/Smash Bros. discussion.
Merge things that aren't active - Make Legacy Gaming/Microsoft/Sony/Third Party one board, or work with that general idea.
Merge all of the arts into one like KJ said, and allow Youtube stuff in Power On, because again anything on Youtube hardly counts as an "Art".

Staff:
Don't be so picky about what is an "Art". Don't be so strict on certain rules (OH NO THIS POST WENT IN THE WRONG PLACE shouldn't be something to go apepoop over), because that makes people bitter and not want to post anymore, and if you start something, finish it or we'll lose interest.

Users:
Participate more. I can speak for myself, I've been trying like hell to get people active with my games and challenges. A certain group of users is also working like hell, but I can't get into that.

[Macawmoses]

Actually, we have one month.

I'm not proposing we shut down NSFCD, and if that's what it comes off as, I apologize. However, I am encouraging Silver to do so the minute he is fully aboard and realizes this is a chat; we aren't quite there yet, we may be close, but we're not.

mack says:
my latest post
Silverhawk79 says:
I agree with you actually

I'm again not proudly proclaiming to be king poop, but when two of the long time faces of NSFCD (completely remove your images of our staff presence) make statements like that, you have to come to an understanding that there is a serious flaw. FH and I talked at large about this on more than a few occasions, and I'll say that I'm near the end of my rope with what NSFCD needs. I still stand by what FH said in the post you linked: we need a focal, we need non-apathetic users as a whole, and we need a community that isn't always at war (in this case, I'd say an infusion of new users is necessary to allow for the cabin fever to dissipate).

March Madness was brilliant in its design - we showed just what we could accomplish. And here we are, mere months later, contemplating closure. We need a showing by the users to prove that NSFCD isn't just a chat that can be hosted off of Rizon or Chatspike. We need a summer of memories (building friendships, of meaningful change, and fun), and we need to progress at a manageable rate.

What we don't need is a forum at odds with itself and the world around it. I'm good with playing the Devil's Advocate, it's necessary, but at the end of the day, there's a way of doing things that doesn't come off as arrogant. I've seen every change NSFCD has made, hell, I've been integral in several, and I don't like it. By all rights, we're all closer then we've ever been, but we're also further apart. That's not me being an idiot, it's very true. We know each other so well that we can say things that hurt, that sting, and don't hesitate to do so. And yet, it's rare we do anything at all, because we, as a whole, are slothen. There is no hope for the man that doesn't seek employment: a man living on subsidies has no soul and no true life until he is back as a member of society, driving the nation to be closer to his vision. Until then, he's merely a burden.

[Magnum]

Before we go on with this, can we get the staff to come in here and say that they will at least try these ideas out? We have had plenty of these idea threads, but nothing is usually incorporated from them. So Silver, Mack, Super (lolwut?) can you guys please promise that?

[Dog Food]

Before we go on with this, can we get the staff to come in here and say that they will at least try these ideas out? We have had plenty of these idea threads, but nothing is usually incorporated from them. So Silver, Mack, Super (lolwut?) can you guys please promise that?

That's true, we do need to know that these options are possible before actually laboring away on ideas.

[JrDude]

We are doomed. I've said something like this before, and I'll say something like it again, this forum is on hanging on by a hair, though that hair is pretty strong to have held out this long, we're still hanging on by that hair, and it wants to break, we're just not letting it, we're afraid of the abyss below us.
No matter what ideas are thrown out, no matter how effective the ideas are, we still end up in the same spot of "not enough activity, IDEAS PLOX"
The only idea that I can think of to keep this place alive for as long as we want it is the oldest plan that was denied and won't happen, merge with NS2.
Though technically like FH said, this place will never actually die until the forum itself (and chat) vanishes, but it will be able to be called legally dead. Death for this place won't happen very soon though, because we keep trying, in a way it's like Peter from Family Guy. "Clear *shock* Clear *shock* You saved my life, I can't th- Clear *shock* *dead again*"
We keep trying to revive the corpse, and we often succeed, but then with that it creates over doing it, then having nothing interesting to talk about, and it dies again.

[Silverhawk79]

That's true, we do need to know that these options are possible before actually laboring away on ideas.

We'll try any idea that sounds feasible.

[Kayo]

It just seems as if there's no reason to post anymore. I mean really, what do we get out of posting? Nothing, really. Nothing that can't be done in IRC.

What we need is a reason to post.

[BOREDFOREVER]

I usually try to stay out of stuff like this since my return to NSFCD is so recent, but what the hell.

Activity goes in spurts.  This is true.

Events boost activity.  This is true.

But it seems like here that the activity is in forced bursts, like some sort of user flogging for activity, by both users and staff.  Everyone wigs out a little, people get more active, people relax a little.  Then, of course, people get a little burned out because of the epic drama.  Some leave, some take a break, some stay as active, and some just slow down.

I think if we stopped getting so riled up over activity and turning on eachother every couple of weeks, we might begin some true, organic growth.  Fifty percent of the time, what is a new user going to come in here and see?  Users throwing fits, staff laying guilt trips, and people bickering. 

I'm all for the events and special programs.  I think they're great.  Some will succeed, and some will fail.  But we can't always turn feral when they don't go exactly as planned.  Everybody ninnyes; it happens.  We all get to the end of our rope sometimes.  But let's see if we can stop it from becoming a forum wide event every time someone gets cranky or poop doesn't go as planned.

Let's take the olympics and do our best to participate.  If it doesn't work out, that will certainly suck, but it won't be a reason for us all to turn on eachother and start pointing fingers.

We've all been poop holes.  Especially TK.  And as much as I hate hippies, lets actually do it.  Let's actually try to all get along for a little while.




Just kidding, TK.  You're more of a ninny than an poop hole.

[Thirdkoopa]

I'm going to try to make sure no points are misread in this thread later on by replying to everyone I can. Please, for the sake of NSFCD, don't turn this into a drama thread. If you have any questions about another post ask before getting into the 40th civil war of NSFCD.

Let me just throw on something with a focal that wasn't touched on. I can't stress it enough:

We NEED to decide on something that people have a common bond towards as well If we're going with a focal, or poop will be much harder to transition to. Being a music board (Just a random example) would throw a good 50% of our userbase out of loop.

Fact be told, while NSFCD is united friendship wise, it's un-united in where we post in asides from the chat thread, which even then, some users avoid. The process for picking a focal should go about something like this -

1) Find a common bond. Something we can ALL try to agree towards and work towards. At least in some way or form.
2) Check the competition - Google "___ Forums" Fill in the blank there - Check out what we're competing against, what we offer to be different from that, and so forth.
3) Do what we can to help out on this goal - Some of us need to be on the advertisement ship (No. I'm not fully doing this myself, so, before you suggest it, shut up), all of us trying to support each others threads and ideas, and so forth.

If you don't know what to do for number 3 when the time comes here's something nobody else told you: Ask. Just take the initiative and ask. It does a lot more than you think it does.



editor's note: While it's going to be a hard goal to do all of it, personally, we CAN get it done. Last night even proved we can get poop done as a userbase. We stopped Drama, started a huge event, had a lot of fun, and finally we rode the motherintercourse ing dragon. That was with only what 15 of us?

There's a good what 50-60 People/regulars if you include the people in #nsider. Now not everyone will contribute, but if everyone uses their unique personalities and skills and unite together instead of whining at each other by asking staff and other members what they can do or how they can help and getting people on board and whatnot, we actually have a hope.

The light is dim but the other two options are dimmer.

[Turok]

I have to agree here. This is probably the most united forum I've seen, as far as users anyway. We need ONE focus, something we can agree on. But we can't be too extreme with it, not like n-sider.com is with one board for everything, thats a bit much. And I would consider NS2 to be the other end of the spectrum, their community is so splintered, it's ridiculous.

We need to find a middle ground, have a strong enough focus that we can all post about, but still be able to talk about other things. We do an okay job at this from what I've seen, but not this month. Why is this month so down? I'm not posting as much too, and I don't really have a reason, other than my life is starting to pick up. But how many just lurk for no reason?

whatever, my two cents. I've grown to like this place, it's become the only forum I go to. 

[The Riddler]

It just seems as if there's no reason to post anymore. I mean really, what do we get out of posting? Nothing, really. Nothing that can't be done in IRC.

What we need is a reason to post.

Many of our users don't use IRC. Simple as that.

[Night the Lucario]

Many of our users don't use IRC. Simple as that.

That reminds me. To IRC!

[MoS]

everyone should just use irc and then you could close this place.