afraid of growing

so, i really want SeC to expand. but im afraid it will turn trolly and impersonal.
as it is, if the atmosphere isnt for a member they dont return. we have our dedicated lurkers (jawa and khult)
id like to get our name out there...but...you know.

whats your take?

I kinda feel the same way. Could you even imagine if we had 100+ people posting right now....

The site needs to grow. I don't know what you envision but I'd like to see the number of users at least double by this time next year and that's a totally low ball expectation.

I say keep trying to expand. If we don't keep growing the forum is gonna be short lived.

i just make the odd trip over to gfaqs. lots of bitching and squabbles...i would rage hard if that happened here

I'll just have to locate my Asian peasant shovel to shovel off some troll craps, if it happens.

Well if we were able to control all the trolling it would be great.

perhaps ill start participating in a few high end social forums see if i can fish some fresh faces

My take is this:

If you expand, you're inviting randoms in here. Randoms are unpredictable. You'll need more mods to prevent them from ruining the place.

I know you've thrown a lot of ideas out there for improving the site, which would tap in to your own pocketbook. I say don't act on those ideas unless you plan to actually make some profits from this site.

If you do not expand, this place will retain its relaxed, friendly atmosphere, and it saves you a lot of work.

So basically:

Constant work vs. simple upkeep
Quantity vs. quality of members


I like the site as it is, and I think word of mouth would be the best way to get new people to come here. If every member promotes the site to one of their IRL gamer friends, then we've doubled to population. At least that way there's a filter, so you just don't get the random GFAQs ass-trolls rolling in; you get people to join that members approve of.

I guess that comes off as somewhat elitist, but whatever. I like the fact that everyone knows nearly everyone else here. It's like a small town, as opposed to a metropolis (GFAQs). It's not easy to be an anonymous asshole here, because everyone else gets to know you.

I like where you're coming from Cram. Well said.

i like it cram.

the word of mouth approach would lead to the most laid back environment i thing. which is what im aiming for.

as for upgrades, i just feel if im not tinkering with the site..im doin it wrong.
sheep is helping with a graphics overhaul, trying to keep it simple but unique, it will be hit or miss for a while until we get it right, so let it be know if your not feeling something. or if you have any ideas or skill sets to contribute...please do

Yeah, i dont think you really need to be recruiting. We dont want to accidentally pick up a bad egg, and sour things around here.

I think if this place grew a lot more you would need to change the layout more to something like gamefaqs, because otherwise the latest post thing would get all messed up and everything would get all jumpy. And the who is online thing would be huge, and the mods would have to work a lot harder because I would imagine with even 100 more members there would be a lot of things being said that shouldn't be/heavy arguing.

Bla125 wrote:I think if this place grew a lot more you would need to change the layout more to something like gamefaqs, because otherwise the latest post thing would get all messed up and everything would get all jumpy. And the who is online thing would be huge, and the mods would have to work a lot harder because I would imagine with even 100 more members there would be a lot of things being said that shouldn't be/heavy arguing.

agree completely.

I love Cram's idea. I brought Heebs here after Epyk recruited me because I knew she would gel.

Best way to do it. I love it here, personally. I think of all the guys on here as "my boys", like your pets or brothers or something. And I love the ladies.

If it grew, that would be fine, but I would like to see it grow with more chill people like we've already got. I've already had one really bad experience with trolls on a gaming forum, and an o.k. one on GFAQS. But here at SeC I feel safe asking my n00b questions because no one mocks me for them. And I think that's the way it's supposed to be. Shouldn't mock the newbies, other wise you won't develop skilled players to play with, just a continuous round of suck assery randoms.

As long as i still get to be the muscle I'm good with whatevs!!!!!!! haha

I think it could expand as long as we do it smartly. As everyone else said, we don't want a ton of random trolls mucking everything up. But at the same time, we don't want this thing to die in six months. I've been on boards before with waaay more users than here that died within a year of opening, simply because people naturally post more in the beginning and slowly stop posting as much. Don't want that to happen either.

I didn't read through all the posts but here's my .02

If we grow past a few hundred active members, more trolls and slander will eventually show up! right now we have a pretty good core group of people, minus some BS'rs and immature people at the wrong time!

Growing is only gonna bring more problems!

I don't know of your intended goal with the site but i personally like where it is now. As it is i have trouble keeping up with whats posted here and going on.

The more people the more posts the more topics to moderate and people to ban or mod!

TL:DR With growth will come more problems!

if we do grow, make a vip club that is trolless and people need to proeve their worth to get in, like gfaqs to sec sort of except only certain members get in

godscouchpotato wrote:I didn't read through all the posts but here's my .02

If we grow past a few hundred active members, more trolls and slander will eventually show up! right now we have a pretty good core group of people, minus some BS'rs and immature people at the wrong time!

Growing is only gonna bring more problems!

I don't know of your intended goal with the site but i personally like where it is now. As it is i have trouble keeping up with whats posted here and going on.

The more people the more posts the more topics to moderate and people to ban or mod!

TL:DR With growth will come more problems!

The problem is that it's not going to stay where it is now regardless of what we do. People are going to stop posting eventually and there needs to be new members to fill in the empty space when they do. While I'd love to think that this forum is an exception to that, I've been to enough now-dead forums to know that is most likely not the case.

The problems that come with recruiting will sort themselves out or not even occur if recruiting is done properly. We can't be paranoid of picking up trolls and isolate ourselves. People usually don't troll this small of a community, and if they do they won't be around for long.

1fnbighen wrote:if we do grow, make a vip club that is trolless and people need to proeve their worth to get in, like gfaqs to sec sort of except only certain members get in

Meh, I think that'll just make the regs look like elitists.

But here at SeC I feel safe asking my n00b questions because no one mocks me for them.

True for the most part, although we've slowly been seeing more flaming and dick replies that are unnecessary.

I'm all for gradually growing, but as soon as it gets to where people are being disrespectful, immediately flaming someones opinion or just being un-friendly assholes then we'll need to to adjust the rules.

Basically a blanket rule that says: If we feel you're being an asshole, for whatever reason, you may be modded. Otherwise we'll have a mini-sized Gfaqs on our hands.

This place will only die for me if i decide to stop playing xboxlive and or erase my FL.

I have alot of you on there and that's why i came here initially! that was back in late july.

I don't forsee this place dying unless theres a falling out between everyone! gameFAQs was a good fun place for our BC2 needs until we went arry, now we come here. and off topic posting isn't a problem. YET BS still is!

Another time i'd stop posting is if i log in one day and don't recognize anyone posting or any topics by anyone i know!

I can come here everyday and recognize most all the Regular posters! Not a dig but i don't know you chewy..

I'd say that I'm most likely gonna be posting here to the end but I know everyone else isn't. In my experience forums always die unless there's a steady flow of new members coming in.

Metalzoic wrote:
Basically a blanket rule that says: If we feel you're being an asshole, for whatever reason, you may be modded. Otherwise we'll have a mini-sized Gfaqs on our hands.

Unless you have a completely reasonable appeal system that's gonna piss a lot of people off. I'd hate to see sarcasm be considered trolling or anything like that.

Just my opinion here. I've actually been thinking about this for a month or so now, not so much the same way. GFQ people can be a-holes because nobody knows anybody. What we have here isn't the same as GFQ because we all know each other personally to certain extent. If the community here stays that way any new members will either get in line or move along, I see this site not as another GFQ-like forum or board, but more like a community. I think that might scare some people, but really it's that "small town" feeling that keeps people in line.

Joking:

Does that mean we get to throw rocks at Frostbyrn for being the village idiot?

Just don't hit my house with those rocks and you'll be good.

Even now, I still don't know most of you all. Maybe 20%. I won't point anyone out, but there are plenty of common posters that I can't say I have ever seen on Live or even know them from GFAQS.

MISTER ZOMBEE wrote:Even now, I still don't know most of you all. Maybe 20%. I won't point anyone out, but there are plenty of common posters that I can't say I have ever seen on Live or even know them from GFAQS.

And you are.....?

I don't think I've actually played with most of you on live. Ever since this forum started I've been getting involved in some lengthy singleplayer games. And the couple of gamefaqs matches I played were cool at first but everyone always ditched after the first round, so that kind of discouraged me from making an effort to play in them again.

I've played with Kitsune a few times and Frost once along with some others that I can't recall, but that was before this place was made. Although I do have some more of you on my friend list too, I just haven't gotten around to playing with you yet.

D00MSDAY DEVICE wrote:

MISTER ZOMBEE wrote:Even now, I still don't know most of you all. Maybe 20%. I won't point anyone out, but there are plenty of common posters that I can't say I have ever seen on Live or even know them from GFAQS.

And you are.....?

I am ECIVED YADSM00D... Your nemesis!!!

Awww ****. Doppelganger fight.

I like to call it Unstoppable Force vs Immovable Object.

To begin is to destroy

I do not create
I do not give
I do not succor

Just erase

I... am your nemesis!

That's beautiful Storm...

i think the cramethod should be adopted.
if someone finds the SeC thats fine, but perhaps throwing our name everywhere could be bad.
word of mouth, to friends or regular gaming partners is most likely going to be our best bet

Awesome MD wrote:i think the cramethod should be adopted.
if someone finds the SeC thats fine, but perhaps throwing our name everywhere could be bad.
word of mouth, to friends or regular gaming partners is most likely going to be our best bet

Most likely.

I think we should recruit 200 more members and put them in a ring of fire with the mods/admins and whoever doesn't die can get in. Or we can go with Epyks idea =]

Okay, cramethod sounds good.