[Alvas.]

L-RiC, on 19 November 2009 - 08:39 PM, said:

Bring back the Warzone. That'll keep me coming back indefinitely.


What? I have to ask for that every chance I get! Nostalgia purposes, you see. Now seriously, how about interesting videos? Expand from the stunting vids we have already and try new ideas, like machinima or general bullshitting in-game with the mics on. The best writers of the community could help come up with scripts.

EDIT: And I'm supposed to be the only one with an Edward Elric avatar, dammit!

Yeah. I've been wanting that too. The style, I don't really see any problem with that. It actually loads faster than the previous one but is still feature-full.

[Sylar]

Bringing the warzone back would definetly increase activity but also create a lot more problems, I think mostly this forum isn't as active as before because theres no news on the next GTA yet, once that comes I reckon activity will rocket.

[Deji]

IP 2.3.3 (or w/e) has a much better style and layout to it. Simple

[Bear]

I'm not sure if its the lack of GTA news. I joined before there was any news about GTA4 and a while after SA was released and the forum was very active. I only joined because I wanted a to look at Wish list's and I have now been here three and a half years.

[Raybob]

I'm thinking our main problem is that lots of people come here, but then don't sign up.

I'm lookin at the bottom of the home page and it says 7 members and 369 guests are online.

[Alvas.]

Maybe we can have something like not allowing guests to see topics without signing in ? Maybe ?

[TM™]

That's a bit strict. It seems that doing that will just draw them away, rather than make them join. Someone said this before, no way getting them to join that way will work.

I can't blame the layout of the forum, nothing is bad, at all. I think now that GTA4 is out on both PC, PS3 and 360 everybody is playing, or have other things to do. Eventually when more news comes relating to a new GTA or whatnot, then activity will grow.

[Alvas.]

Yeah that's what also I thought but still posted to see what members would say. That's not gonna work.

[Deji]

Members only benefits could be improved... A lot of members join, ask a question about their GTA and leave.

[Raybob]

We could do what my Previous GTA Fan Site did, only allow them to see the GTA related forums as a guest, but forcing them to register for the General Discussion / Lifestyle Forums.

[Gerard]

Why would they sign up to see the general discussion stuff? If they're not part of the community, then they won't be interested to see S-V's computer specs or photos of maco or Sherbert's Xmas list.

The ideas above are all about tricking users into signing up. That's not what we need. We need users to WANT to sign up, which many don't. When they do sign up, we need them to WANT to return and continue posting.

[TOXIC]

^ Which will involve pimping [sort of, in other words keeping them hip and tidy] the forums that new members tend to visit. Foremost comes the GTA *version_name* Gameplay and Help Topic(s).

[The Bossman]

Spirit, not spirits. TGTAP isn't relying on ghosts to help run the forum. Work is the main factor, it's much more important than a forum. I suspect it'll get busier over Xmas, then another lull for a few months, then back up again.

EDIT: That was a particularly destructive day, a few things kept breaking which now need to be repaired.

This post has been edited by Bateman.: 25 November 2009 - 02:51 PM

[Scott.]

Bring back the orange and grey skin I say!!

In all seriousness though, a lot of people are going to be busy around this time. A lot of people will also come here for GTA news, and seeing as there isnt a lot of that going about at the moment, and GTA IV is ageing quickly and people are getting bored of it so natually I dont think there will be a lot of activity around at the moment, but as soon as Rockstar announce a new GTA or something big like that, activity will shoot up.

[Noodleface]

Scott., on 25 November 2009 - 06:23 PM, said:

Bring back the orange and grey skin I say!!

+1

I think lack of improvement in the gang scene also made other active members to go a little inactive. Let's just hope that this coming Christmas vacation will increase the activity in the forums.

[Raybob]

Scott., on 25 November 2009 - 05:23 AM, said:

Bring back the orange and grey skin I say!!

In all seriousness though, a lot of people are going to be busy around this time. A lot of people will also come here for GTA news, and seeing as there isnt a lot of that going about at the moment, and GTA IV is ageing quickly and people are getting bored of it so natually I dont think there will be a lot of activity around at the moment, but as soon as Rockstar announce a new GTA or something big like that, activity will shoot up.

Well what was activity like last November? More than now.

We just need more topics, a better skin, forum bosses for every forum, moderators on more often.

Why don't we just go to other GTA sites and see what they got that we don't. For example: Gtaforums.com is extremely bland and not catchy to the eye, yet they have tons of activity. Why? That's what we need to figure out.

After all, they're still using IP.Board 1.3 and it really sucks.

This post has been edited by Raybob: 27 November 2009 - 01:34 AM

[Deji]

Mmm... I feel that GTAForums has broadened it's use more than most GTA Forums which stay relatively compact and simple. There's nothing wrong with an old IP Board. I was forced to update mine for a specific reason, which I wouldn't have done without the problem occurring.

The GTAForum has a dark theme, which I find is attractive but at the same time... Attracts "noobs". When I was new to the WWW-Life (and normal life, lol) GTA Forums was the first site I joined. I never posted, mind... 2 years later, however... I started posting there and then joined this Forum (still a "noob", btw) and have just got used to it from there. I don't post much in GTA Forums unless I want to post in the modding forums or ask for some quick help in the Web Design forum. I post there because they have loads of members. Surely someone will post pretty quickly, eh?

I think the thing to keep in mind with GTAForums is that they were pretty much there from the beginning of GTA, so has had more members for a while. And people like to join forums that are active. Not to mention that it will appear in loads of search results considering the amount of posts they have. It surprises me that they only have a PR of 4 (same as TGTAP). Which once again makes my mind fill up with questions of how Google PR works. My site only has 2 (until I gets .com) Maybe if GTAF, TGTAP and my site joins up we can take over Google's search results! lol... Apparently Google gets 10, hmm... Rigged?

Anyway, I think it's almost impossible to compare TGTAP to GTAF. They're in 2 different leagues.

Also, a bland theme is a good thing in my eyes. It doesn't make things seem out of place or "in your face". However, it doesn't make me want to click a link either.

This post has been edited by Deji: 27 November 2009 - 08:21 PM

[Highwire]

I used to come here and post a lot because there was all this news and topics I haven't posted in. But after awhile I noticed there were only people joining to post a question about their GTA then they leave. I think we have to find a way to keep those members coming back for more. Like maybe we could offer something to them other then help or mods.. Any suggestions?

[Thomas.]

What if these people only want help? What if they didn't want to join in the first place but couldn't look for the topic in question because they can't use the search feature (I believe)? I think the forum is fine basically as is, yes it does get boring sometimes but I still come, albeit every 4 days, but I still come. It doesn't have to look good for people to come, it has to look at least satisfactory for people to come and this forum looks way above satisfactory.

Here's a suggestion, if we didn't slag off some of the new members, they might actually stay because the last time I checked, although this was a few years ago, new members were being insulted and didn't want to come back. For example, Hazer, he wasn't perfect but nobody liked him because he didn't know the rules and was persistent. To sum up:

Less hatred = more and better new members.

Maybe if we merely point out to that member that they're doing something wrong, then they might actually do something to fix the problem. If you look at my first ever posts, you'll most likely find that I was the same as these newbies and people like TM, Gerard and Nate helped me to fix my problems back then.

[Raybob]

Thomas., on 28 November 2009 - 11:48 AM, said:

What if these people only want help? What if they didn't want to join in the first place but couldn't look for the topic in question because they can't use the search feature (I believe)? I think the forum is fine basically as is, yes it does get boring sometimes but I still come, albeit every 4 days, but I still come. It doesn't have to look good for people to come, it has to look at least satisfactory for people to come and this forum looks way above satisfactory.

Here's a suggestion, if we didn't slag off some of the new members, they might actually stay because the last time I checked, although this was a few years ago, new members were being insulted and didn't want to come back. For example, Hazer, he wasn't perfect but nobody liked him because he didn't know the rules and was persistent. To sum up:

Less hatred = more and better new members.

Maybe if we merely point out to that member that they're doing something wrong, then they might actually do something to fix the problem. If you look at my first ever posts, you'll most likely find that I was the same as these newbies and people like TM, Gerard and Nate helped me to fix my problems back then.

I agree that we should pay attention more to the new members and maybe cut them some slack occasionally, but the rules are pretty clearly stated.