Lets get GR going again..

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Shaggy, Dec 11, 2012.

  1. Quyxz

    Quyxz Senior Member

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    Automatic warning system if you reach the 10k post border.
     
  2. xlink

    xlink GR's Tech Enthusiast

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    actually it starts at just over 9000.
    yeah... GR was my life back in the day... I think I have like the 2nd or 3rd most posts on the site. not sure.
     
  3. Quyxz

    Quyxz Senior Member

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  4. madmav

    madmav Well-Known Member

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    Ah page 3..thought I posted a lot more :(
     
  5. madmav

    madmav Well-Known Member

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    you're from maryland? fun facT: i lived there for a third of 2012..
     
  6. Blazeman

    Blazeman Am I Evil?

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    What part? and yes I live in Maryland (I hate this place)
     
  7. Shaggy

    Shaggy Administrator Staff Member

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    Hope to get more members with their last visit being 2013. ;)
     
  8. madmav

    madmav Well-Known Member

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    Lived in Ocean City...great spot, but the cops are s shower of wankers who listed my house as a problem property...not too keen on silly rules like noise ordinance...and drinking in public.
     
  9. Blazeman

    Blazeman Am I Evil?

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    Well who likes rules anyways?
     
  10. Fantaszy

    Fantaszy Member

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    Visited this site last year... And now again because I'm looking for good old forums to participate in and be a little active in. Crazy how time flies... Even started playing Unreal Tournament 99 again! Good memories.

    I think keeping signatures on this site is a no-brainer (as I assuming that removing sigs from this site wasn't the original plan anyways?). It is definitely still marketable because once people stop/forget about signatures and new people actually see it under their posts, it'll make them curious (or it won't). It's something unique about this site!

    However, the graphics portion may need to have a new direction... Facebook TimeLine designs, Twitter background designs, avatars, phone backgrounds... Social-Based GFX?

    I'm not sure if people have PS or not since it is expensive (easy to download though)... GIMP is popular and is free, so the graphics-creation systems may have slightly changed? That can be a factor.

    For sure like others said - Use social media as a effective tool. Definitely need more subforums to post. Keep up the mass email - I didn't get it (or maybe I did and it was sent to my old email...), but eventually people will remember this and maybe contribute to the site... People as passionate as you are, Shaggy!

    But eventually... You'll have to stop thinking of ideas and start crossing off ideas by doing them! Let us all know what you need... Asking is a powerful thing and you've already got a head start so keep it up!

    I'd rather waste my time on a forum than on FB, IG, etc nowadays.
     
  11. NvMe.

    NvMe. Member

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    Like others have said, 'Game' Renders has died now. Society is greatly filled with social networking sites and sits like Instagram which gives us no need to visit gaming type forums.

    I did back in the day love this place, i learnt to create some awesome signatures.... but where did that get me?

    Maybe turn this forum into a graphic forum, stuff like tutorials and submissions of 'Photoshop Styles, Business Cards / Templates / logos / Stocks used for advertising and printing' Thus creating the diamond / platinum section for those exclusive downloads and submissions. You could turn this place into a modern Graphic resource forum, cater more for where theres money to be made in the marketplace out there and help others become and brush up skills on their freelancing side of life.

    Not everyone will agree i know but gone are the days people come here for game renders and signatures for other forums. Its more freelancing art and creating work to showoff to other people which could earn them a job / money.

    Get rid of the young gaming theme imo, come back modern, be a social photoshop freelancing resource site. People love resources and tutorials and prefer those sites where payment is not needed.

    Trolls feel free to say your opinion.
     
  12. Ravenwings

    Ravenwings Well-Known Member

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    Kinda surprised to see a non-auto-generated mail from GR pop into my inbox last December. I was going to reply but forgot as I was pretty busy at the time.

    Anyway ... I'm pretty new-ish compared to those old-timers who've already posted (so what I say might not hold much weight 'round here), but I would echo some of the suggestions already given in this thread.

    There are still a lot of forums thriving nowadays despite the lure of social networking sites, and I think (aside from being managed well) it's because they're very focused: they found a niche and they stuck to that. So I think it wouldn't do GR any good if it becomes a "jack-of-all-topics" type of forum. Like NvMe. suggested, keep it focused on graphics (think CGSociety.org). And graphics is already a vast niche by itself. You can choose from vector works, 3D art/animation, Flash animation, web design, digital drawings/paintings, video editing, etc. You can include all of this and make a general graphic arts forum, or turn GameRenders into a community focused on game-related art (illustrations/3D renders, concept/fan art, etc) if you want to keep the name.

    Judging by the visits this site gets almost every day ...

    Users active in the past 24 hours: 1013 (23 members and 990 guests)

    ... I'd say you're still getting a pretty darned good amount of traffic.

    However, they're mostly from guests. Assuming all of them are legitimate visitors and not simply spambots ... It would be interesting to know how they ended up here. Were they doing a Google search and this came up in the top results? Were they referred [by someone they know or through a link]? Were they looking for game forums? Did they just stumble upon it? What? --- Knowing this can really help you determine what kind of forum GR should be to fit their needs. It also wouldn't hurt to find out what demographic your visitors belong to.

    Doing an overhaul of the site is just one side of the challenge. The other part is getting those ~990 guests to join. As I see it, there are only two reasons why they don't/won't sign up: (1) They didn't see anything worth their time or piqued their interest, or (2) They've already gotten whatever free stuff they came for.

    One solution to this (aside from the forum overhaul) is by making the forums more 'exclusive' somehow. I'm talking about locks, restrictions, etc. This isn't a foolproof idea; some people are driven away by a forum that requires them to sign up first before seeing their content. However, it doesn't have to be a total lock-down ... you can leave some areas open, put some freebies in them and then dangle a carrot saying "There's more where these came from". This then becomes a motivating factor to sign up and [hopefully] stay.

    Now making members "stay" ... is another story altogether. It'll depend on a lot of factors; primarily, the activity and the overall atmosphere in the forums. I'm gonna say it outright: a hostile userbase can and will discourage long-term membership. Someone mentioned using your administrative authority to keep unruly members in line ... and I agree. Get trustworthy, levelheaded, fun and active moderators to keep the forums going and in check, and then cycle them (hire, rehire ... to reduce burnout and keep input/activity fresh). Send out regular updates/newsletters. Free resources (original user creations preferably) every now and then is a good idea. You don't have to resist the social network movement; utilize them to your advantage instead. Relegate the tasks so they don't have to sit on one person alone.
    ... but you don't have to worry about these things until after you've overhauled the forums.

    Speaking of which ...
    It's been a month since you sent out a mass-mail. Any update on what you've decided to do with this forum / in which direction you'd like to take it?


    [EDIT] Oops. Sorry for the wall of text. o_O
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2013
  13. Sparkss

    Sparkss Active Member

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    I hate it and don't want to believe it but forums really have no hope and are just dead these days.

    I ran a graphic forum (GraphixNetworks) for so many years and I tried so many different things to revive it. Even if it would spark up activity for a while, it would always die down again.

    Throughout my life, I have been an active member of vast number of forums, quite the variety as well, and they have all basically died. I don't like it, but I just have to accept it. No more getting to know people around the world by meeting on the forums and then leading to MSN. That anonymity phase, and getting to know people was truly remarkable, and I enjoyed it a lot.

    In addition, you don't really get the same critique and criticism you used to and it's harder to improve. Now graphics are just reblogged, shared and commented on by people who have no fucking idea what they are talking about.

    I wish you luck, and I really hope you can spark some activity.
     
  14. Red the Ghost

    Red the Ghost Well-Known Member

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    Man, I still love forums. It's been ages since I've been here as well. I'd be pretty happy to see it bustling again. I don't have any ideas, but I just wanted to express my support, I guess. Haha.
     
  15. DraveN

    DraveN Senior Member

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    great to see some familiar faces still visiting,Hello old skool soldiers (you know who you are).
     

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