The future of this site

[Matrix]

As you probably have noticed by now I do see the use of this site (above CFC), contrary to when I first registered. ;) Two things:
- The fact that we all have our own subforum here. This won't be possible at CFC since we'd have far too many subfora in no-time.
- With less people it's more fun in Off-Topic. You get to know each other really well.

You should realise it was just as much fun at CFC in the beginning as it is here now. There weren't any assholes back then, which was why moderating also wasn't necessary. And for some reason the humour disappeared. (Perhaps the more posts you make, the less you think about them, the less funny they are -> the biggest posters/spammers have the least humour?)

But what happens if this site becomes successful? How much more members can we handle? When it becomes unpersonal (i.e. when there are too many to welcome)? I fear the future. Because I doubt you will put a limit on the maximum number of members. That would also be rediculous of course, but how then will we stop the decline?

It's the paradox of success that counts for every forum I think. http://www.straland.com/images/smilies/undecided.gif

[anarres]

I can't imagine we will ever get *huge* like Poly or CFC, but even with 1000 members I think we can retain the same "feel" as we have always done.

For one, I doubt we will ever censor words, and we won't care about babe threads with nipples showing. People will push the boundaries of course if we start growing quicker, so we will have to find the "dividing line" between acceptable and not. Maybe if we get some fascists signing up we will very quickly develop new rules to deal with them, but I doubt we will attract that kind of crowd. :D

Not likely to happen, but something I have mused on myself from time to time. As you can see from OT, this site is barely used for that, so it could be some time before your fears are realised. :)

[Socrates]

As a relative newbie here, I want to say that this site is really nice, I mean it ! [goodjob] Just consider the Diplomacy forum (to speak of things in which I'm really involved RIGHT NOW) : I drop a line about the game in the evening, and the following day I wake up with my forum set up ! [cool] Two/three weeks after that, the game is starting, and we're about to do better than anyone at CFC (it looks like no game went to conclusion or ever really started).

Now, looking at the current registration pace, I don't think your fears will come true very soon. And BTW, I see many personal forums closed quickly, because people probably got burnt out on PBEM quickly. Of course it's a pity that so many players stopped playing here, but after all they have their reasons. The counterpart is that as new players come in, this site isn't expanding like mad. Does it even expand ? I think so, but rather slowly. Do we want quantity or quality here ? I think everyone here is fine with how things are going.

Am I wrong ?

[Matrix]

Well, I hope you're both right. :) Just wanted to share my thoughts and let you know why I do have become a full member of CDZ. ;)

[Socrates]

quote:Originally posted by Matrix

Well, I hope you're both right. :) Just wanted to share my thoughts and let you know why I do have become a full member of CDZ. ;)

"Full" member ? Let's say 95% ! j/k :D *hint* *hint*

Eight months have passed and CDZ hasn't reached a greater (read : number of active members and number of posts per day) level. Not even tried too. Should we be sad of it, or congratulate ? I think neither. As long as the site is a nice café to step by, I'm fine with it.

Thinking of it, and I bet it's the same for any kind of forum following a game, a band, or whatever, I think we'll get our next big flow of newbies as Civ4 ships and the following months. And old lost members coming back too. That's some 12 months from now, quite some time. And even around that time I don't think it will really change. We'll see.


P.S. : Sorry to bump several threads tonight, I was searching for something at CDZ (that I might have not even talked about, that's why I'm searching !!), and found many interesting threads in the "search" feature (the search word is "diplomacy").