I think there is a lot to take into consideration when discussing the mind frame that went into the series of events that has taken place over the course of the past year or two that lead up to the inevitable state of degradation the site has ultimately found itself in. In truth, a rather thorough and lengthy conversation was had about a lot of these same topics on the discord server amongst the staff and community about what to do and what the next best steps were to take moving forward. Obviously, not a lot came as a result of those discussions as we can plainly see everything remains in a state of dormancy; omitting the presence of abundant spam about "
hot singles in your area" type debauchery, that is..
That all said, while I was a fairly new addition to the site, I feel my opinions and perspectives are somewhat minor when placed up in comparison to that of those who have spent many, many years here in a consistent dedicated effort of growth and creative ambition. Yet despite that fact, I may as well offer what thoughts I may have, to the best of my limited ability on the subject.
First, I'll start by addressing the pointed questions asked toward the original topic:
- "What would make you want to post more?"
Basic improvements and changes made to the forum as a whole; namely an improvement to new member onboarding and incentives for long term investment that exceeds "come back tomorrow to see how many people have posted in the "what song are you listening to" thread!"
- "What kind of content, features, or vibes would make AB fun again?"
Truthfully, I think this is something that has largely already been embodied in the current formula of the forum, but nothing is done with any of it, aside from the "occasional" contest regardless of which section of the forum this relates to. Even if a contest/tournament was held on a regular basis, this wouldn't account for the vacuum that exists for diversity of content amid the various sub-sections and categories of the forum. So overall, just more community-driven variety of interactable content, of which to have various tools and utilities that could possibly be introduced through the forum's framework might help produce this outcome.
- "Are there things you miss (like RP, AMVs, SotW, GFX, theory threads)?"
I don't have much personal experience with really any of this categories outside of the RP portion, and even that has much to be desired compared to the majority of everyone else here. But I have seen what these other things were once like through various "curious spelunking" of the mountains worth of dated threads. I think just to see any of these make a comeback with some degree of genuine population would be enticing by itself.
- "Or the good old Social Groups?"
.. Uhm, refer to the above.
______________________
Right then, now for the more long-winded, personal thoughts I might have on a broader scale..
Much of the forum's format feels incredible by comparison to many forums that I have visited in the past. Now I wouldn't claim to have an immense amount of experience in this department, but while I have been here I have had few issues with navigation while maneuvering from one section to another. Albeit I have spent the majority of my tenure amidst the RP section, I would frequently visit the various sub-sections of the forum to see what's what. I find myself meticulously clicking through pages upon pages of threads, some long since dead and buried, just to see the interesting history that has developed over the years here. While this particular "activity" may seem unique to me, I find it to be a rather charming element of the forum, wherein anyone -whether a junior member looking back on the past or a senior member seeking nostalgia- can easily hop from one page to the next in a curious deluge of information and experiences.
Yet this sort of thing can only go so far. While the density of it all can be something of a monument built over the years of contributions made by the various members that have come and gone, it's also a reminder that not everything is meant to last forever. Be it any one particular thread, sub-section of or the forum as a whole. This is by consequence of the simple principle of "developmental industry adaptation." While this process frequently refers to the modification of how businesses or industries operate on a more consumer-oriented scale, this framework can easily be applied to how something as simple as a discord server operates, or something like a forum. Consumers frequently alter and develop in their wants, needs and desires regarding any product or service that they utilize; naturally, as so too does ones interests and passions as certain experiences unfold over the course of time. Without frequent visitation to the topic of change and manipulation of the pieces on the board to cycle through a series of modifications in an effort to maintain a pace with this course of development, it can make maintaining the pulse of a product or service near impossible in any industry.
What is being aimed at through this particular thread is indictive of the kind of approach to adaptability that -ordinarily- would suggest a step in the right direction. However, at some point, the call for ToD has to be made and new trails need to be blazed; not repaving that to which has arguably had its last string cut, and quite awhile ago at that. I imagine that a lot of people may point toward the sudden and rapid decline that the forum had seen in the last 12-18 months, but the reality is that it can be clearly seen that things had drastically fallen off from "the good 'ol days" long before that. Ever since I came aboard here, I've been exposed time and time again to a common "I wish it was like before" sort of sentiment, wherein this frequently coins to the idea that activity was once flourishing in all corners of the forum, member onboarding was a daily occurrence and didn't amount to a bot, alt or someone that was simply wanting to look around in an unrestricted fashion, and interactivity on the forum as a whole was ever evolving in a direction that made people excited for the idea of coming back again tomorrow. Few -if any- of these concepts still exist today, which is everything that made many people seem to want to stick around.
Don't get me wrong, ever since I joined the forum, I have felt nothing but a warm and humbling welcome. Everyone here has been nothing but excellent in their "initiation" of me into the rhyme and rhythm of everything to where I was able to have a considerable amount of creative expression that I haven't had the passion nor luxury to express in years. Yet despite all of that, just in the short time that I have been compared to the majority of everyone else, I have also seen several people leave the forum with no indication of ever returning; openly expressing that their reasoning for doing so is because it's a stage of their life that is no longer fulfilling or working in a direction that brings gratification anymore. I am -or was- exposed quite frequently to commentary that pointed out how "if only you were around back then" in some form or iteration of this same sentiment. Many people that I've engaged with here seems to frequently look toward the past and "what was," rather than aiming toward an ambitious outlook of the future and how it can be improved.
I don't have any desire to point fingers in any direction to try and lay blame at any one individual or group's feet. Some will say the mods grew inactive and that resulted in the final nail in the coffin, others say its because everything became too bloated and inefficient to where it syphoned the fun out of everything, regardless of what it was. A large sum, might bring up cloudflare and how it turned everything into an absolute war of attrition to resist the heckling that it provided on a honest-to-god overwhelming oversight. I believe that these are all symptoms of the inevitable, larger problem: Longevity does not breed natural opportunity. Opportunity must be sought and worked toward. Even if it were to jump out and bite us, without proper adaptation amid this ever swelling industry, nothing will ever improve. We cannot simply put a new layer of paint over the same old, rotting wood. At some point, the foundation must be shored up and a whole new structure has to take the place of the old one in order to become inhabitable again. Or, in other words, without something new and properly interesting to draw the attention of the new modern industry, something new and modern that must take the place of what currently exists, then the outcome is still the same. Sporadic episodes of activity that fizzle out into inevitability.
With that rollercoaster out of the way, please understand that in no way do I mean to come off as explicitly pessimistic or disinterested in the idea of trying to breathe life into things again. I reiterate that my opinion is as close to an "outsiders perspective" as it can probably get around here, so please take all that I say with a grain of salt that weighs about as well. I think it would be wonderful for everyone here to get what they want which, if I'm not mistaken, seems to summarize into being a place where they get to visit and express themselves in a casual and thematically geared fashion; be that through artistic means such as drawings, music videos or whathaveyou, or something like the RP itself. But to circle back around to the "outsiders perspective" impression, I have seen things like this happen time and time again to many, many forums or similar outlets, and the outcome is almost always the same when the evolution of the product isn't frequently observed.
And with that, I thank anyone that may have taken the time and consideration to read through my thoughts.
Versuvio
