Filling In Zeros & Supplying Fresh Topics

[Comrade Corporal Dota <V>^_^]

Feb 9, 2009 14:15:12 GMT -8 B R O K E N soul said:

So I have an rpg site, and I'm trying to keep my members while also getting new ones.. How can I post content without having my character in every single rp thread? I don't want to be included in all of them but what can I do to get rid of my 0's?

It all depends on how you want to do it, I made multiple characters to enable me to post in multiple boards. At first, it was hard because there wasn't enough people in my military RPG to fill up the unit, but you just make NPCs and have a bit of patience.

back to te main topic of this thread:

I think a great way to supply fresh topics is a general board, being a general board, I just go NUTS! I post what ever is on top of my head and people generally swing by and start posting replies. I think its a great way to get posts drawn out of people.

[Gia_Sesshoumaru]

I agree. If you have friends that are into roleplaying, make them join and post. I have done that in the past, though admittedly, I only had one friend at the time that rped. Now I have more, but that's another story... I've always found RPG boards the hardest to get people to post in. Also, it depends on how you have it set up. If you have boards for broad places, and then threads for specific places, then opening threads and making a couple of posts in one or two of the boards is the only thing I've really found to do. If you do boards for the specific places, and then each person can open up the thread, then... well, opening up your own thread is the only thing I can think of. I don't use that style, so I don't know.

I've always believed that the Admins and Mods should help open up threads. When the site is more stable, then members can do it themselves, but they usually don't feel comfortable if there isn't already stuff there. Simply a few threads in each open board can help them. General boards are by far the easiest, I feel, to get threads in. In Canon RP's, discussion boards can be fairly simple as well, since you should know about it.

[HoudiniDerek]

Feb 18, 2009 17:01:24 GMT -8 Gia_Sesshoumaru said:

I agree. If you have friends that are into roleplaying, make them join and post. I have done that in the past, though admittedly, I only had one friend at the time that rped. Now I have more, but that's another story... I've always found RPG boards the hardest to get people to post in. Also, it depends on how you have it set up. If you have boards for broad places, and then threads for specific places, then opening threads and making a couple of posts in one or two of the boards is the only thing I've really found to do. If you do boards for the specific places, and then each person can open up the thread, then... well, opening up your own thread is the only thing I can think of. I don't use that style, so I don't know.

I've always believed that the Admins and Mods should help open up threads. When the site is more stable, then members can do it themselves, but they usually don't feel comfortable if there isn't already stuff there. Simply a few threads in each open board can help them. General boards are by far the easiest, I feel, to get threads in. In Canon RP's, discussion boards can be fairly simple as well, since you should know about it.

I especially agree with the second paragraph. When I rate, I tell them that they should try and start an RP thread in each section. Yes, it might tax the staff initially, but it shows everyone that they are into the site as well. I think you need that encouragement for everyone.

[Gia_Sesshoumaru]

Exactly. That was my point. I mean, why should the members post if the Staff does not? To me, that just says that they don't care, or don't want to do the work involved to get the site running. It's not going to get up and running on it's own, after all, is it?

[Derpy Derp]

Yeah, I agree. I myself am starting a wrestling RPG but it is hard to find members. But I am going to make the site look full by posting random topics and threads about trivial things. This should bulk it up.

[Sean]

I agree with everything you say.

[luv2ride801]

I also agree.

If the staff isn't active and posting on the site, why would people want to join the site? And why would members of the site want to stick around?

On a Harry Potter RPG Forum that I'm a member on, the Admin told us that when she started the site she created some extra characters for her to use to RP with people, to get the site more active once it was created.

[Wounded-Wings]

But on the other side of the coin
Would you really want to go into a forum where the admin is the last person posted all the time
Some times i might go to post but see it's only me and one other active member posting on that game(for an example) so i sit back and wait see if any one else wants to play

[Former Member]

Ive seen sites where they create the same topic over and over again, it doesnt take a genius to know when a topics already been used. granted on my own site we usually have drama-chaos-action and that kind of genre but I do encourage my members to come up with their own ideas. Being a writer I pick up one idea throw it in the works and my members usually make it work cause they each have their own style of rp that works well.

Sadly although we're immensely brilliant at creativity we are also very busy people...

And although we dont do many polls and discussions I try and encourage it...and reading all your comments had put it in perspective there is real life out there heh heh.

When nciscsi started it was just me and another girl who used to be my co-admin (and is now inactive sadly due to real life) we only wanted to rp with eachother after we met on another site that got deleated a few hours after it was made... we started asking people to join and they ended up joining our thread...and really digging in...and started coming up with ideas of their own...

I also encourage people to start up their own "Main rp" ideas...so at least everyone gets a chance to start up a mass rpg main case... we've had 5 so far ...

[grieves and squick]

There's a very simple trick you can use to make the forum seem more active {other than using a code to artificially change the numbers of members and posts into larger numbers, which I don't recommend doing because it's deceptive} is when you get started on a new board, put only a few boards out front, and make the other boards sub boards inside them. Then you don't have to make as many topics in order to get the board started and make it look like there's posts everywhere.

This is better than having to post tonnes of stuff right at the start, which can overwhelm you as an admin. Also just don't start out with a huge amount of boards when you first open the forum.

[Cuethelaugh]

I've read what everyone had said in response to this thread, and I apologize in advance if this is a very stupid question (I'm known to let one slip once in a while) but what would you recommend for roleplay boards where it is very unlikely that an admin can keep up with so many threads? How would you guys suggest filling these boards without seeming too needy and getting yourself too far in and over your head?

EDIT: Crap my computer glitched and I guess someone already asked that.. Even so any other tips would be appreciated. Thank you in advance!

[Artemis]

Sept 18, 2009 21:36:18 GMT -8 Cuethelaugh said:

I've read what everyone had said in response to this thread, and I apologize in advance if this is a very stupid question (I'm known to let one slip once in a while) but what would you recommend for roleplay boards where it is very unlikely that an admin can keep up with so many threads? How would you guys suggest filling these boards without seeming too needy and getting yourself too far in and over your head?

EDIT: Crap my computer glitched and I guess someone already asked that.. Even so any other tips would be appreciated. Thank you in advance!

That's actually a great question. Issues like those really help me cut down on the amount of boards I create in the first place, which is also beneficial. With something like roleplay, you don't have to have a roleplay in every board, I'd say just one or two in high viewing areas so people can get the feel for what it's like. On my own forum I've added a 'looking for' thread where people can ask for partners or people to join their existing thread. If people can communicate well with each other, it's easier to start new threads and keep going.

It's also a bonus to have roleplaying friends on the site, or a small member-base before you go and create the roleplay sections, so that when you do, you'll have a few people ready to jump in and create some content.

[ToriJ]

For RPG boards I always recommend filling up all the empty boards, even if it's just a description of the area. Role plays are harder to make content to compare to general boards because you have to think of different role plays and think of a reason why your character would even be there. I never open up a forum anymore until every board is full. I usually show the forum to friends too to see if they're interested and if they join I allow them to make a bio and start posting so the forum has a bit of a jump start if that's not possible you'll have to do it the hard way.

[Dumezil]

I agree with everything said, but the most common mistake is people making too many boards in the beginning and not being able to fill in the zeroes. Once the forum gets more active, adding a new board or two will keep members interested as well as no zero's.

While you don't want zero's you don't want clutter either though. Make sure that whatever is filling those zeroes wasn't last posted in half a year ago.

[Cuethelaugh]

Artemis - Thank you so much! Looking for is an awesome idea.. I am currently looking for a board to make a sub-section on it because I feel like it'd be a big help.

Sadly for this topic I don't have a lot of roleplay friends.. I am trying to get some stuff going and keep it constant however.