Participation

[Akamarak]

First off, this forum does some things really well. The website is well-designed and when new people come they usually receive a warm welcome.

However, new people need more than just to be initially welcomed. They need to feel continued support from the members of the forum or they'll lose confidence in their place here, lessen their activity, and ultimately stop coming back. I've tried to keep people engaged by having conversations with them, but I can't do it alone. I have limited time and energy and my individual experience with the Magical Girl genre is limited. I need backup, so to speak.

I realize I'm not the only one who has tried to engage with people, but we need more consistency. This is mainly for the members who have been here for a long time: please try to talk more/for longer with new members! You don't have to say a lot, but some brief, friendly participation now and then could go a long way towards helping people feel welcome here. If people are too busy or shy to say much beyond "welcome to the forum" then that's fine, but it means the forum isn't going to grow. I hope that's not the case and that we can figure out a way to make people feel like sticking around for longer. Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu!

 

[Akamarak]

Hmm... silence. Not what I was hoping to achieve.
It's probably not my place to suggest these kinds of things anyway. Delta, this is your forum. If you're happy with how things are currently going then that's up to you. I just see a lot of potential here and would love to see your forum flourish.

You've done a lot of good work already. The website looks very professional! The next step would be building the forum into a real community. Whether or not you want to do that is up to you, but without your support and leadership it isn't going to happen. I would be happy to lend my support if you're willing to lead.

In the meantime I'm still happy to talk to people, but I'm probably going to take a little less initiative and give you some space to lead the forum in whatever way you think is best.

Apologies if I've made anyone feel awkward with all this straightforward talk!

 

[harvester rose!]

I try to reply to any relatively new threads, and yeah, I agree this forum isn't very active.

Maybe someone could try advertising the blog? On Tumblr or something? Or encourage people to post their own work, as part of the forum is dedicated to.

Honestly, I think the problem is the Mahou shoujo genre as it is right now. I don't know if Precure is airing a new season at the moment, but the only magical girl show I've heard about coming out this year is Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka, which looks like another boring, bloody, childhood-corrupting Madoka clone.

I think until another magical girl show comes out that does something new with the concept, or at least has a teensy bit of hope and love in it, the MG fandom as a whole is going to be pretty quiet for a while

 

[Phoenix]

Hi, I haven't changed the forum due to a lack of time. I know, the site has kind of died, but isn't very active.

It's probably not my place to suggest these kinds of things anyway. Delta, this is your forum. If you're happy with how things are currently going then that's up to you. I just see a lot of potential here and would love to see your forum flourish.

You've done a lot of good work already. The website looks very professional! The next step would be building the forum into a real community. Whether or not you want to do that is up to you, but without your support and leadership it isn't going to happen. I would be happy to lend my support if you're willing to lead.

Thanks. I woke up and a lot of new spammers/spambots joined the forum in the past few days. I don't have the time to monitor/watch the forum 24/7 as well. Our forum software is very outdated, but I need to upgrade to the latest version of Xenforo (forum software) as soon as possible.

Maybe someone could try advertising the blog? On Tumblr or something? Or encourage people to post their own work, as part of the forum is dedicated to.

Yeah as far as I know we haven't done a lot of advertising for this forum, but I will do it later. So... if you could help with advertising (or anything) that would be greatly appreciated, Hopefully we see more members on the forum well.

 

[Loco del Lápiz]

Sorry I haven't been so active, but right now I'm going through final exams...

Anyway, I Hope I had seen this thread before, because I couldn't agree more with @Akamarak here. I also tried to help with this, but most of the times I feel powerless. And I haven't been writing here that much recently due to this.
I LOVE this site, the aesthetic and the possibilities it gives us... But we might need something more. That might be more people or more participation. Whatever it is, I'll help in anything needed.
If that means posting more often, I'll try. If you need advertisment, please tell me how yo do It. I, like others here as seen, just want to makes this magical community grow larger. And I know we can do it.
Sure, Magical Girls as a genre might not be as popular as un the 90s... But we are proof that this wonderful stories are far from forgotten. The same possitive feeling these narratives show us could be our driving force, our motivation. And a lot of people share our view on these manga and anime.
So let's make these people remember why they love mahō shōjo.

 

[Akamarak]

Yay for people communicating! That's what I was hoping would happen!

And ah, yappari lack of time desu. I realize it can be hard to find the time to post. I'm busy too (I've probably spent way more time this week than I should have trying to think of the best way to express myself in this thread). If we try to do a little more though hopefully that can help. And it is finals for a lot of people... maybe it will be a little easier after those are over.

As for advertising, it seems like there's a decent amount of magical girl related activity on Reddit. That may be a good place to look for members, though I'm not sure how exactly to go about advertising there.

To summarize, here are peoples' ideas so far:
1. Post more often
2. Advertise
3. Have people post their own work

Hmm... I wish I was better at finding gif's. Pretend there's an appropriately over-dramatic anime character shouting IKU YOOOOO!!! (Let's go/let's do it!)

 

[Loco del Lápiz]

"Post our own work", huh? Well, seems I'll have to show some of my comics...
Posting more is relatively simple.
As for advertisment... I think this might be the hardest part. How can we do it?

 

[koyu]

I know I only recently joined this forum not too long ago but I agree about all the points everyone made. Although I don't know how we're going to do this, I think it is possible!

I've also been having a lot of end-of-the-semester work I needed to finish + final exams this month especially so that is part of the reason I forgot to check on here (also it seems that this forum seems a bit inactive so I think that is why I forgot about it too...)

 

[Akamarak]

Whoa... I haven't had a chance to look through it all yet, but a glance at the 'what's new' page shows me people are definitely talking more! Thanks so much everyone!

 

[Loco del Lápiz]

In some way, this has happened thanks to this thread... So thanks to you!

 

[Akamarak]

I'm glad it got people talking! Sorry if I distracted anyone from finals or family visits.

 

[Loco del Lápiz]

Gotta be honest, I need some distraction from the stress of final exams... And my kitchen being reformed! All that noise all day long...

This forum has become my virtual sanctuary now ...

 

[Loco del Lápiz]

So, ermmmm... I see this thread helped us revitalize this forum for some time, but right now we need that energy and willingess for participation MORE THAN EVER!!!
Then again, anyone has come with an idea to attract more potential users that actually post stuff and participate??

 

[harvester rose!]

So, ermmmm... I see this thread helped us revitalize this forum for some time, but right now we need that energy and willingess for participation MORE THAN EVER!!!
Then again, anyone has come with an idea to attract more potential users that actually post stuff and participate??

There's a magical girl discord for the MG subreddit! A good place for advertising I think?

I would also love more participation; I think roleplaying would be a fun way to do this, if we could all collaborate and contribute to an idea for a plot!

 

[Loco del Lápiz]

Didn't know about that Discord. Gotta join then. Thank you for that!

As for the roleplaying... jeez, I'd LOVE to roleplay, but I have been waiting for more potential players to join us. Seems that isn't happening any time soon, so... what do you think we should do with that, @harvester rose! ?

 

[harvester rose!]

Didn't know about that Discord. Gotta join then. Thank you for that!

As for the roleplaying... jeez, I'd LOVE to roleplay, but I have been waiting for more potential players to join us. Seems that isn't happening any time soon, so... what do you think we should do with that, @harvester rose! ?

Not sure ? If one of us had a story in mind, we could post an interest poll in the role-play forum. I know user Fallen Heart had an idea and threw it up there a while ago, before vanishing... I don't know if it would be more then you & me interested in RP, being the only writers, but that's what an interest poll would be for.
I think the discord would be a good place to get people interested & therefore join the forum, they already have a place to write fan-fiction

 

[Loco del Lápiz]

True... Fallen Heart seemed to be quite interested in roleplay... before she was gone...
Okay, I'd write ideas for an RP, but right now, bed is waiting for me, and Morpheus, god of sleep, will soon take over me. So, if you have anything in mind, go for it and start a poll! Let's rock, Harvester!!

 

[WhiteDragonAura]

Hello. I'm still a new member at almost 5 days old, but I'd say since joining I've felt very welcomed by everyone here in this community. That's saying something because lately all the forums I've tried to join have this weird habit of shutting out newbies and going off into their own separate cliques. It's nerve-wracking enough to make the decision to join an established community, but everyone here has engaged in some form of discussion, and I've not been made to feel like an outsider. It's been a very refreshing experience. So thank you for that, and I'll try and support you guys any way I can.

 

[Loco del Lápiz]

Yeah, definately that's the good side of being part of a smaller forum: you get noticed faster and so people tend to be kinder.
Also, I think the topic of this forum (Magical Girls) helps a lot, since most of these works of fiction talk about possitivity, friendship, love and teamwork. It would be weird to have unpleasant, angry and arrogant people around here, am I right?

And c'mon, you have made the effort to join us participating as much as you could, how could we not welcome you as you deserved, bro?

 

[WhiteDragonAura]

Yeah, definately that's the good side of being part of a smaller forum: you get noticed faster and so people tend to be kinder.
Also, I think the topic of this forum (Magical Girls) helps a lot, since most of these works of fiction talk about possitivity, friendship, love and teamwork. It would be weird to have unpleasant, angry and arrogant people around here, am I right?

And c'mon, you have made the effort to join us participating as much as you could, how could we not welcome you as you deserved, bro?

Heh thank you, but I think you guys really deserve all the credit. You're very encouraging.