Gone Old Members

[FutureTXTurkey]

Well, I love it here, so I can only imagine that people who don't stick around must be dead or dying...

Other wise they would be here! Why wouldn't everyone want to be here?

 

That said: Any safe way we could find to give user incentives (like large guilds do) could perhaps help attract new members,

however like Anime was just saying, the kind of users that attracts might not be the kind of users we want in our happy TDN home.

 

Maybe we could have progressive incentives that go along with post numbers? Like when your posts get you to a new status, like from "noob" to "not so new" you get a plushie or something? That way people wouldn't get the freebies and bale. They would keep posting for better and better stuff. And once they got into posting they would become addicted like we all are! It would also help keep the old users here or get them to come back. Maybe once you reached the highest possible level "super member" "Fantastic Member" you get a monthly freebie?

 

TDN is the number one help site, so we know people are using the help pages, and dailies.

Maybe they just don't even realize the forum is something worth checking out.

 

You guys may already have someone doing this, but if you don't....

I think it could help traffic a lot to have someone at TDN whose job it was to watch the Neoboards

and other help sites for people asking questions TDN has the answers to: It could go a little something like this:

 

"Oh you want to know about *insert neo-topic*? I know a great site for that! And their forum is incredible! Next time you have a question you should skip the spam happy neoboards and go straight to these people. Their helpful, friendly, and awesome. Just be sure you read the rules before you post there. Responsible users are what keeps their site so great."

 

It could also help to add links at the end of all help articles here that says something like:

"More Questions? Sign Up For The Forum And Ask Here!"

And it would link them to the appropriate place on the forum to post their questions...

[Xepha]

Ah but there's always a problem with advertising on the neoboard or even on neopets itself... you get the report happy and end up banned for 24h+ or frozen. We do notice that TDN isn't the thing people are refering about on Neoboards, while there's always a wise person saying 'I saw on JN that...'

 

When I joined TDN forums, it was only to comment on news once in a while. I had post an introduction topic and I remember Matt saying my English was good XD. And then I didn't post for a long time until and became interested into TDN because they were looking for French translator. Few months later I applied for Content Staffer and I was hook to this place for good.

 

So really, once you see TDN as a home, with friends and helpful people, it's easy to stay. I think one of the problem (with people who are already registered) might be that some of them left Neopets for various reasons, thus they forgot about this forums that is a Neopets players community...

[Strategos]

Maybe we could have progressive incentives that go along with post numbers? Like when your posts get you to a new status, like from "noob" to "not so new" you get a plush or something? That way people wouldn't get the freebie and bale they would keep posting for better and better stuff. And once they got into posting the would become addicted like we all are! It would also help keep the old users here or get them to come back. Maybe once you reached the highest possible leve "super member" is it? You get a monthly freebie?

 

This would induce many members. However, how are we going to pay for all of this?

[Anime]

Few things-

1. Shipping is expensive.

2. Fantastic is the highest rank.

3. People advertise at random as is, even non-members.

4. I think there is a fourms add on the site somewhere, and we occasionally do a news post or alert. I know for sure it's in the new month posts.

 

Plus all that stuff V said.

 

GWAR. OI. SAYING THIS NOW:

 

THERE WILL BE NO REAL LIFE INCENTIVES FOR POSTING. END. OF. STORY.

[antiaircraft]

Wow... there have really been some good ideas in this topic. :yes: I for one am all for attracting and keeping both old and new members - I remember when keeping up with every single post on this forum was actually a difficult task, and I kinda wish for that back. XD

 

Personally I think that we need something to spice the forums up a bit. Not necessarily giveaways or incentives, but some forum events that will draw members in/back and keep things from getting too boring. And of course, getting in touch with the oldies is a good initiative - there's a horde of FMs who have mysteriously vanished, and we need them back!

[The Original Luna]

Maybe we could all produce a collaboration of something- I'm not sure if my idea is totally valid- maybe a 'short' featuring Jerry?

[FutureTXTurkey]

I didn't mean real life incentives I meant Neopet incentives...is that against the neo-rules?

First and foremost we want to make sure that TDN doesn't get in any trouble.

So if that would get you guys in trouble of course ignore it immediately.

 

Real life incentives would be crazy expensive, and I think many of the older (in age - not time on TDN) members wouldn't even be that enticed by that.

No, I for sure meant Neopet items, like scratch cards, doubloons, codstones, ect. Things that aren't too expensive or hard to get a hold of, but continually beneficial.

 

I was also thinking it would be fun for the users and staffers a like if we had like "Member Of The Month" & "Staffer Of The Month"

The staffers could vote on the members and the members could vote on the staff.

It think it could encourage people to be active, with quality posts and not just posts for sake of raising their numbers.

Then members get to know all about the great staffers better. It also lets the staff exemplify what makes a good contributor to TDN.

[Anime]

yeah, let's just say no to posting incentives of any sort before this becomes a mess. Not only do we not have anywhere to store these items, it's just be a wreck as people posted.

 

The member of the month is a decent idea, but we can't even fit all of the staff in a poll, much less active members. So yeah, for the sake of fairness, I'm striking that as well.

[Meeptroid]

I'm not too sure as to how people misunderstood your post, FutureTXGovernor, but I do understand where you are trying to get at. You're basically saying that a virtual prize is given depending on rank. (Like the Neopets referral system. Or any other virtual site I can't exactly think of at the moment.) In either case, its an interesting idea nonetheless. But at the moment I am unaware of TNT's current policy regarding items. Although since we are giving away items without anything in return, it should probably be alright. But do not take my word for it, however. In the meantime, we need to concentrate on getting Jerry back.

That "Member/Staffer of The Month" idea is not actually too bad in my personal opinion. It not only encourages members to be respectful and helpful to others, but it encourages us as staff to stay on top of our game as well.

 

All in all, these ideas are certainly something to take into account. :)

 

 

UPDATE: Anime snuck in and posted. I don't necessarily see why we can't figure something out with these ideas. "The *title* Of The Month" thing sounds remotely plausible.:P

[FutureTXTurkey]

Thanks For Understanding Metroid!

I'm just trying to help, but I feel like my ideas are just causing problems...

 

Really I'm kind of new still, so maybe the hayday had faded before I got here,

but I think we have a decent number of members, and they are fairly active...

Maybe AA is right, maybe it's just as simple as having more on site events.

[̊ ˉˉ ̊]

Thanks For Understanding Metroid!

I'm just trying to help, but I feel like my ideas are just causing problems...

 

Really I'm kind of new still, so maybe the hayday had faded before I go here,

but I think we have a decent number of members, and they are fairly active...

Maybe AA is right maybe it's just as simple as having more on site events.

exactly, we need some site events that last long enugh for people to get addicted to the forums and stay.

[Xepha]

Ah well, things are always different from a staffer seat. Because everything happening, we have to think about it, discuss it, plan it, code it, and then host it! While we do that, we can't work on other stuff (ie, I can't write content if I'm busy planning entertainment). Why is TDN the #1 site? It's because of the information we provide, not because of the entertainment.

 

We had some member rating last year, happening during december. We could bring that back again. It was fun :P And I got to make a little graphic for everybody who was taking part. That was actually fun, I believe and an incentive to be helpful so you would get a good rating by other members.

[̊ ˉˉ ̊]

We had some member rating last year, happening during december. We could bring that back again. It was fun :P And I got to make a little graphic for everybody who was taking part. That was actually fun, I believe and an incentive to be helpful so you would get a good rating by other members.

Rating thing there sounds cool, it builds virtual self esteem and does not have any chance of violating neopets rules (if i remember them correctly)

[Strategos]

Yeah, the nice or naughty activity was certainly fun. I'm probably going to put mine back in my signature soon enough, actually.

 

IDEA

 

This just came to me suddenly. What if we had a puzzle that eventually led to a reward, but the only way to get more information was to post more here on TDNF? Of course, we'd make members whom have been here long enough disqualified to be fair. (or not) If it'd tax the staffers too much, I could take care of all the coding.

[Awesome_Paul]

Strategos, wouldn't that lead to more spam. People will spam more to get more clues which gives the reward.

[Strategos]

Yes. There are certain things we could do to prevent that problem. We could, for example, have it in big, bold letters that getting the additional clues will be available only after the posts have been reviewed to ensure that there is no spam.

[Anime]

I like that idea, but, again, that leads to a big headache for the staff. Even with giant bold posts, tons of people will ignore it and just post all over the place for no reason.

 

In all honesty, I think it's best if we avoid any kind of incentives or prizes for posting. Things like that lead to spammy posts and people leaving as soon as they get their prize, no matter how careful you are.

 

We shouldn't focus on getting people to join, people join on a daily basis, we need to focus on getting them to stay. As much fun as some of these ideas would be, they'd only keep most people around for as long as they last, and we simply don't have the time or the funds to have ongoing plots and competions. Yeah, if you've got a cool idea for an activity or something post it, but we need more than just that sort of idea.

 

I know that's a bit vague, but I guess we need things like... Hum, I'm not even sure. We have active staff, active and friendly members. This place was simply bursting at the seams over the summer.

 

...you all do realize that 80% of the members are still in school and are WAY less active this time of year, right? Also remember that we just had a bad run in with hackers and that's bound to have scared some people off. I think the forums just need some time to get back up to speed.

[Strategos]

...you all do realize that 80% of the members are still in school and are WAY less active this time of year, right? Also remember that we just had a bad run in with hackers and that's bound to have scared some people off. I think the forums just need some time to get back up to speed.

 

I agreed with that some time ago, but it's been given some time, and it doesn't seem like we've been making progress. Plus, if I remember correctly from the last two years, the forums still had at least twice as much activity in the past two October/Novembers.

[Anime]

I cite again the hacker incident. Can't expect the same number after that. There's also the absense of the ALP, that decreased members as well. And on top of that, I think twice as much is an exaggeration. It might be a little bit slower than thi time of year in the past, but it's not that bad.

[Strategos]

I certainly agree that we can't expect the same rate of new members, but the loss of old members had begun to happen before that. And while I agree that the ALP was popular, there were very few posts in their boards, namely because their business was done through Neomail. Again, this was only very recent, and I had already realized that TDNF were dying.

 

Edit: Sorry, meant "dying down", not "dying"

[Ruto]

Strategos, TDNF is not dying. We merely have decreased activity because of all the junk that's been happening. Have you not seen the amount of hacker incidents? The frozen ALP account? School? All those things are happening right now, and sadly, some members can't be as active as usual.

 

And no matter where you are, you will always lose some old members. They can't stay forever. Sometimes, life just takes over and they have to pay attention to it. I hope you will listen and realize that this is no one's fault. And while I'll agree that figuring out ways to bring in the old and new members, there will always be someone who has to leave.

 

Kay. Rant over.

[kan-tree-nah]

hey....i've just finished reading this board and have come to a couple of conclusions/theories...

 

firstly....the old members may have just gone as they no longer use neopets and have moved on from the main site and as such now don't need this one...

 

secondly...any kind of email sent to me i would ignore...and the old members may do the same thing...a neomail on the other hand...if we could find out peoples neopets name would be good...however i know that you can't link to another site through there...so maybe scrap that idea....or do something along those lines instead...

 

third...i like the incentive idea...and i think it would work better if the items were given out in the trading post...that way an item would have to be given in return for recieving one...

 

fourth...i know with me i started using TDN site for the dailies stuff months ago...but didn't sign up here until last month...if i knew then what i know now...i may have signed up earlier...if more information about the forums was on the main page...people may come over here...

 

i think thats all i have for the moment...i hope that helps a little...although i am still a newbie...and am getting used to how this all works here...

[Strategos]

Strategos, TDNF is not dying. We merely have decreased activity because of all the junk that's been happening. Have you not seen the amount of hacker incidents? The frozen ALP account? School? All those things are happening right now, and sadly, some members can't be as active as usual.

 

And no matter where you are, you will always lose some old members. They can't stay forever. Sometimes, life just takes over and they have to pay attention to it. I hope you will listen and realize that this is no one's fault. And while I'll agree that figuring out ways to bring in the old and new members, there will always be someone who has to leave.

 

Amount of hacker incidents = 1

 

Look, I'm not making the argument for the sake of making argument. And yes, I do understand that people leave. But let me explain my point better. People are disappearing quickly. Very quickly. Even before any of what you've said started. Including school. At a much faster rate than previous years. But that's not what really matters. What matters is, we need more people here. Old, new, young, old (again?), Neopets players, non-neopets players, essentially, people wanting to join our community. Yes, this is mostly a Neopets community, but some of our members here don't, or at least not anymore. They stay because they want to stay. And how this got off my first point in the first place, I'm addressing Anime's point that we need time. I agree, we need time, but we also need something else. Which is why I posted this topic in the first place. If I didn't address anything, please let me know, so that I can explain my view of it.

[Ruto]

I just want to know one thing, Strategos: why do you think members are disappearing "at a much faster rate than previous years"?

 

And there was not just one hacker incident, though some weren't made public.

[Anime]

Ok, I've got one more point for you:

 

Most of the old members you're talking about joined in high school, and are now seniors or in collage. Given that you're only 13, I doubt you know the strain one is put under in these years of school. I'm only a junior and I'm about fed up with collage talk as it is, but it's just that big. The bluk of TDN members, or at least the active ones, are getting into the upper levels of high school or the lower ones of collage, so yeah, we will get a few more members than usual going inactive right now. But just a few. I'd be willing to be bunches come back over winter break.