What can we do to increase activity?

[A Ghost in the Wind]

As many of you know, ever since Roy went AWOL, the boards have been...a little light on activity, to say the least.

I know a lot of us have really busy lives these days, and I'm no exception. But, the place just hasn't been really that exciting to visit, except for deadline day and the day the results/card gets released.

So, what I'm asking you all is...what can we do to make the fed be funner for you?

Obviously, a lack of new members hurts. New handlers will always, at the very least, offer new opinions and discussions. But, as we all know, recruiting is the hardest part of efedding, and I've been out of the 'circuit,' with the exception of the PCW, for quite some time. As have a lot of others in this fed.

So what else can we do? Are you happy with the PCW as a whole? What do you want to see done, so that you want to visit and participate in the fed?

Let us know below!

[Non Compos Mentis]

I'm doing what I can to find new members but, fact is, I've not been the most social of efedders and my contacts book is pretty much exausted. I personally feel that what the fed needs most are new members and the sad truth is that recruiting is difficult at the best of times, let alone over christmas when everyone has tons of other stuff to worry about.

Other than that, honestly... even when Roy was around there were only a few people contributing regularly on OOC forums. Myself, Alex, Tom, Icey and then the list runs a little dry (not saying people don't post at all, but it's fairly low). I appreciate that people have busy lives, and at the end of the day this is a game and rightfully low on priorities, but if someone is looking for a fed and they see perhaps four names over and over, it's not a good look. We really do need more varied OOC contribution.

I know this is all negative without a positive solution, and I will continue trying to bring people in through whatever means I can think of, but those are the big problems we're facing and unless we get a solid solution we could be in a lot of trouble soon.

[Grimm]

Nov 19, 2011 22:14:19 GMT -5 Non Compos Mentis said:

Other than that, honestly... even when Roy was around there were only a few people contributing regularly on OOC forums. Myself, Alex, Tom, Icey and then the list runs a little dry (not saying people don't post at all, but it's fairly low). I appreciate that people have busy lives, and at the end of the day this is a game and rightfully low on priorities, but if someone is looking for a fed and they see perhaps four names over and over, it's not a good look. We really do need more varied OOC contribution.

Exactly. All the fresh blood in the world can't replace a solid core of go-to guys, which is what PCW had at one time. Now it seems that most of the roster is content with throwing something up the evening of the deadline just to avoid the no-show, only to disappear until the next deadline.

I understand this is just efedding, real life takes precedence, etc, etc. But if a person isn't going to contribute anything that's worth the time it takes us to log into these boards, maybe it's time for them to move on. Luis, Hank, Rick, and the others put too much time into bookings and story lines and results to have such a poor response on the RP (and, increasingly, OOC) boards. There comes a time when you need to call it quits and quit stringing those guys along.

As an example, there are 17 names on the upcoming card. There are THREE posts on the prediction thread, and FOUR actual feedback posts for the last Trauma. Those make for some pretty foul statistics, and personally if I just now surfed over to PCW and saw the recent decline in activity I wouldn't join. If things don't pick up before the Christmas / New Year's break (if we have one this time), I honestly don't expect to see very many coming back.

I know this has no suggestions on ways to increase activity, but that's because I think it's up to each individual to contribute and make PCW a fun place to be. As frustrating as it is, we can't force anyone to play along like we hoped they would when they signed up.

Plus, you guys are the only people I know that still efed, so I'm worthless in the recruiting arena.

[kurtnoble]

I'll offer up an opinion to help you guys out.

I understand about the recruiting area. It's tough, especially during this time of the year. IMO, here are some alternatives to straight up recruiting:

- Affiliate. Find a fed to buddy up to, and begin to become a part of their community, or at least have a representative that does. I realize everyone has busy schedules, but it's not impossible to find five minutes every two days to go over and post on someone else's forums. *Politely* ask the fed head if you can exchange affiliate buttons. Eventually, if you do a multi-person event, make it open to free agents or people from that fed. You mingle, you make friends, they help you out, you help them out, just stuff like that. Note: Don't act like you're trying to steal their members obviously, but note that you'd like to work with the fed to increase user activity on both ends. If you lay out common goals to the fed head and work together, you'll see activity surge. I mean...I'm not the most active guy here by a long shot, but Tom asked me to come be a part of the community, and here I am!

- Do interfed events. There are several sites/feds/etc. that offer the chance for involvement and to get your name out there. The Championship Wrestling Council does events all the time, and I don't think you have to be an official CWC to do them. Sites like Roughkut, KAPOW, DecayNation, and a bunch of others do interfed events that get your name out there. I know it means extra RPing, but these events typically have longer than average deadlines to get things done.

- Passive advertising. This isn't like talking to specific people, but having a topic that you regularly update with fed info. New cards, results, rumors, etc.. Sites like GameFAQS, E-fed Knights, Efeds.net, and others give you the chance to post your fed's info for free. Just have one person update it once a week with like a new card. Takes 30 seconds, and puts your name out there.

- Free Agent boards. This is the more typical recruiting that people hate...but it works. Once again, if you get your name out to people, it works...just don't spam people or treat them like cattle. If you're polite, respectful, and actually seem like you want people to be in your fed, they're more likely to join. Personalized messages are great in this aspect.

These are just some thoughts to get new members. If you want to increase old member activity, put up a game that asks for active involvement. In the fed I'm in, I'm running a Mafia game that has gotten 25 pages in two weeks (with 13 players). We also have a Survivor game going. If you keep people on your site, they'll post more. The word games are fun for a bit, but don't require that you actively check back with them. Same with predictions.

The very best thing you can do is get new guys, and help build them into the core-group...then they'll stay.

Anyway, this is just my rambling, ha. Just wanted to help out a bit!

[Grimm]

Those are all good suggestions, Kurt. I think my issue with all this is that if everyone on the active roster (that somehow manages to post an RP the last day) showed up a little more often we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. It is also unfortunate that the vast majority of the 'new guys' that joined this year flaked on us and disappeared. I think that's made me a little uncomfortable with the thought of relying on new members to get us out of our funk.

Then again, maybe I'm just a dusty old fart.

[Loco]

Well the only real thing that I would change is the grey back ground to black. A good handfull of the colors are hard to read on this site, at least from my comp anyway (if not anyone else, please feel free to correct me.) As for activites....this is the holiday season, so peeps that are in school are getting those tests out of the way, people that are working have to work more hours do to the increase of customers wanting to rush things and then people like me, when you get told that your a Diabetic (as I was told by my blood specialist last Tuesday) you kind tend to just wanna disapear for a bit.

We all know real life happens, hell thats why Luis made this one rp a show and a show every other week. And if mister baby maker wasn't busy popluatling the world, I know he'd be here all the time. (Ive worked with him ALOT in the past and yes, he droned his own sites....ALOT!!!!) So inclosing, I wouldn't be too worried, cause we're here and sometimes we get lost in the time inbetween the shows. But we love it and we will try to do our best to make sure PCW has a long enough life.

~Johnny

[Lantlas]

I'll just say...

I have finals coming up in my first semester of college in eight years, it's Christmas season and I work in retail, my girlfriend doesn't have internet at her house, and I wrestled last Saturday. I've barely had time to be home, let alone here, but I'm about to bust out some deadline posts because I figure it's better than nothing. Sorry guys, but I haven't even been HOME in four days.

[Lantlas]

Also, Tom is in the hospital.

[High Tide]

I apologize that I haven't been too active, but NaNo is kicking my ass. If I haven't been sick, or gone to NaNo events (I had been up two days in a row) I am sleeping. In fact my word count hasn't even been doing great, because I was sick almost all last week and the weekend was the overnighter. Once November is over though, expect a LOT more from me. Also everything Kurt Noble has said, I think I've mostly discussed with people. I'm barely in the E-Fed loop, I basically follow Rick around like a lost puppy dog .

I think that once Christmas season is over, it will be a LOT more active, and I think in the new year, people are always excited to do things, so we may be able to snag some people then! Hopefulyl we can get some new guys before then, but I will try my best to be more active, and maybe try to reconnect with the e-fed community and scout out some talent.



However on the note of activeness, I say we use the chat room a lot more! I think the chat room is awesome and it saddens me to see it so empty all the time!

[Loco]

Whats wrong with Tom?

[Non Compos Mentis]

If he wants to tell us I'm sure he will when he gets back. I've learnt over time that it's best not to prod too much in matters such as that.