Post by Lil Gankstuh on Jul 28, 2015 12:02:31 GMT -5
hey ishya boi Lil Gankstuh. be prepared, this is a long read.
i got a few suggestions to perhaps liven up this board more, since i am an alumni member (guess who, except shackles, destructin and mvg.). I quit beause i felt like there was a lack of progress after a while. plus a lot of shit went down between me and a few mods, or mod, i don't even remember, that honestly was uncalled for on my side. I was just being a little bastard. but in my defense i don't remember shit it was a hella long time ago. but now i'm back, and i'm about to go full autism on you dudes. because this is a great idea, and i'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. But it was a system doomed to fail after a while because of the lack of some decent moderation (no offense), boundaries and rules. You can have all the lawlessness you want, but keep in mind it also lended to the decline of SPB
But i digress. the reason i made this thread is because i still notice a few users still use the goddamn thing and after talking to shackles (not about maintenance, mind you) , maybe it's not a bad idea to do some maintenance on this forum. here are some suggestions to the surviving staff.
Although, i think ultimately, it's sort of pointless. Since the admin hasn't been around for ages. And chances are they won't want to put in the work for the people who still use it. But anyway. Here are perhaps some suggestions if the admin ever appears again, or the mods are able to do it.
1. Just clean the place up.
there are literally 100's of pages of dead, pointless threads that in all honesty should be removed. the biggest offenders are probably the chit-chat forum and the brawl section. I mean it's pointless. because most of the threads are dead, are locked and i would dare to say that like at least 80 percent of them have only dead images in them too. It's also going to be hard to get everyone who's ever posted to update those images because A) it's too much work, B) Most members are not even around anymore. and C) most of the images are gone in the ether forever and will be a pain to track down. Whether it be a fact to keep it around for pure nostalgic reasons it's no point if most of the images aren't even there anymore.
i do not know if mods have the power to remove threads. but trust me it would look and also be a lot less cluttered with useless dead threads that no one blinks an eye at.
1.2 Archive the best, dump the rest.
It's better off picking the best possible examples, then a few hundred lackluster ones. There are some great threads with great artwork and great user-to-user communication that would be great to archive. So just be somewhat selective. be a bit of a quality checker. Considering that the best threads are often universally appreciated within this community. then, whether they are still active or not, archive them. Either by screenshots, saving images, copying text posts etc... i think ProBoards has an archive function, but i'm not that aware of it.
2. consider using subforums.
you know this is a thing you can do in ProBoards, right? It's really not that difficult. It makes shit more organized. Here's a suggestion on some main boards. And subboards. it lends the place more organisation.
NEW USERS BOARD
-Rules and regulations
-Introduction board
-MAIN/BRAWL BOARD
-Rosters/ Scenery
-General brawling
-Grudge matches/scrimmages
**-General communication board (for grudge matches, or brainstorming for new thread ideas.)
GENERAL BOARD
-General
-Entertainment
-Art/music/writing, creative boards (split that into separate boards too)
COMMUNITY
-Suggestions
-Complaints
-Community Events
** Not necessary, since we live in a world that has skype, and there's a PM function for that kind of shit.
3. Change the general rules.
We are at a point in time where we are all at least between 16+ and 20+ a lot of shit has changed over the years. Including our artistic interests or general mannerisms. I feel as if i've just been breaking rules posting in my art thread. In general, the rules are fine. But it's not bad to subtract some long useless rules and adding some new ones. Ones which cater towards a better etiquette.
3.2 Add rules to the Brawl system.
probably my biggest complaint is the SPB system itself
SPB is as far as i can tell a Choose-your-own-adventure-sandbox-high-interaction-creative-Storytelling RPG. Now, the charm of being able to respond to anything at any given time with no insurgence of consequence is at the same time it's biggest flaw, and something that has been irking me for a long time. even after SPB was sort of dead, i just noticed that it was a very loose system and that the lack of structure often lead to the conclusion and subsequent death of a thread sooner than anticipated. Having a great idea is one thing. Having 20 people responding with no fucking clue of what is happening with nothing but completely pointless plots and self inserts is something else. So set up some ground rules for the brawl system. Because this free form storytelling is difficult to do if you are doing it with a bunch of clueless teens. i understand it banks heavy on the communication between users. But if you have a guy who can just be really agile and good at fighting vs. an all powerful superdude who can't die and is super awesome it tends to get one sided real quick.
So, either try to implore users, old and new, to add a fair amount of weaknesses to their strength to their characters (only one example of what you can do), set up a workshop for fresh new users via skype. (I don't know man, the sky is the limit, and it depends if anybody new will ever join anyway.). But lets be fair after me scouring this forum just as of recent there is a clear problem with characters not having integral structure within the set storyline, you should motivate users to tackle different storylines and settings . Individual brawl threads should have a solid introduction to what is being presented whether it be in a comic form or written out with at least some base rules such as "don't be a cock" and "no self inserts" as a few examples. But in general, it's the basis of SPB which, to me, seems flawed. Either way, this means that it ultimately lies in the hands of the users.
but at this point, it wouldn't be bad to have things archived, sort of as a template of how things should go. new users without the faintest clue seem to find themselves lost rather quickly. so here are all of the things recapped
-set up a guide to making a character for new users finding themselves lost.
-set up like a brawl 101 free-for-all test thread for new users so characters can have scrimmages and see how the feel with their characters, much like the original SPB thread. you can also use this as a platform for new users to interact with one another. and also introduce the setting.
-limit the amount of characters per user, because whats the point of having 15 characters if you ultimately only use 3 of them? set a reasonable limit, between 5 and 10. that way at least you don't need to bank on one character, but the forum does not get cluttered with pointless characters.
-Write up some ground rules for any SPB related brawl thread or event. Just basic rules on how to introduce yourself or how your character should add himself into a storyline. a rule revolving around post reservation, etc... This seems to be the biggest issue, and i think after writing up some solid ground rules for it it'll be a lot more easier and also a lot more structured, not only within the user base, but also the narrative being presented in any given thread.
These are only a few points, but ultimately, it depends if the mods want or an put in the work to do so. Either way, it seems like the ship has already sun and there are only a handful of SPB OG's keeping the shit going. so here's my final suggestion.
If all else fails: Move to a new forum.
Considering the history this place has, it's nice to look back on it. but ultimately doesn't seem like a great site to start new things on. I can understand if there is still unfinished business to attend to. and thats completely fine. But what after all the loose ends are tied up, What will be left of SPB? well next to literally tens of thousands of posts made by over 300+ users in the last 7-8 years? there is already a lack of a community, since the overwhelming majority of those 300+ users don't even bother to check around let alone participate. You also have a large part of the moderators who have gone with the wind. And you have an admin who at this point is so far gone that even i wonder if he's actually dead. so basically, unless anybody else has full admin control, there is nothing you can do here.
I saw des made a new SPB forum on hyperboards (not really a secret, since i found it in the bullshit general). And it's as good as squeaky clean. A perfect platform for new users and alumni brawlers to come together on. It seems like the ideal place to start new. But of course; at the end of the day, these are just suggestions. Considering all of the lurking i see when i notice 2 guests are around. Or the handful of users who still update. It all ultimately comes down to the people who have been around the longest. But considering a lot of people have basically dubbed this board "as good as dead". I would say, finish of whats going on here. but after all of that is done, i would consider just using this board as a reference board, and nothing more and migrate to a clean new board.
feel free to contest this. ask questions, discuss. What do you think of the SPB community and the Brawling system?
i got a few suggestions to perhaps liven up this board more, since i am an alumni member (guess who, except shackles, destructin and mvg.). I quit beause i felt like there was a lack of progress after a while. plus a lot of shit went down between me and a few mods, or mod, i don't even remember, that honestly was uncalled for on my side. I was just being a little bastard. but in my defense i don't remember shit it was a hella long time ago. but now i'm back, and i'm about to go full autism on you dudes. because this is a great idea, and i'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. But it was a system doomed to fail after a while because of the lack of some decent moderation (no offense), boundaries and rules. You can have all the lawlessness you want, but keep in mind it also lended to the decline of SPB
But i digress. the reason i made this thread is because i still notice a few users still use the goddamn thing and after talking to shackles (not about maintenance, mind you) , maybe it's not a bad idea to do some maintenance on this forum. here are some suggestions to the surviving staff.
Although, i think ultimately, it's sort of pointless. Since the admin hasn't been around for ages. And chances are they won't want to put in the work for the people who still use it. But anyway. Here are perhaps some suggestions if the admin ever appears again, or the mods are able to do it.
1. Just clean the place up.
there are literally 100's of pages of dead, pointless threads that in all honesty should be removed. the biggest offenders are probably the chit-chat forum and the brawl section. I mean it's pointless. because most of the threads are dead, are locked and i would dare to say that like at least 80 percent of them have only dead images in them too. It's also going to be hard to get everyone who's ever posted to update those images because A) it's too much work, B) Most members are not even around anymore. and C) most of the images are gone in the ether forever and will be a pain to track down. Whether it be a fact to keep it around for pure nostalgic reasons it's no point if most of the images aren't even there anymore.
i do not know if mods have the power to remove threads. but trust me it would look and also be a lot less cluttered with useless dead threads that no one blinks an eye at.
1.2 Archive the best, dump the rest.
It's better off picking the best possible examples, then a few hundred lackluster ones. There are some great threads with great artwork and great user-to-user communication that would be great to archive. So just be somewhat selective. be a bit of a quality checker. Considering that the best threads are often universally appreciated within this community. then, whether they are still active or not, archive them. Either by screenshots, saving images, copying text posts etc... i think ProBoards has an archive function, but i'm not that aware of it.
2. consider using subforums.
you know this is a thing you can do in ProBoards, right? It's really not that difficult. It makes shit more organized. Here's a suggestion on some main boards. And subboards. it lends the place more organisation.
NEW USERS BOARD
-Rules and regulations
-Introduction board
-MAIN/BRAWL BOARD
-Rosters/ Scenery
-General brawling
-Grudge matches/scrimmages
**-General communication board (for grudge matches, or brainstorming for new thread ideas.)
GENERAL BOARD
-General
-Entertainment
-Art/music/writing, creative boards (split that into separate boards too)
COMMUNITY
-Suggestions
-Complaints
-Community Events
** Not necessary, since we live in a world that has skype, and there's a PM function for that kind of shit.
3. Change the general rules.
We are at a point in time where we are all at least between 16+ and 20+ a lot of shit has changed over the years. Including our artistic interests or general mannerisms. I feel as if i've just been breaking rules posting in my art thread. In general, the rules are fine. But it's not bad to subtract some long useless rules and adding some new ones. Ones which cater towards a better etiquette.
3.2 Add rules to the Brawl system.
probably my biggest complaint is the SPB system itself
SPB is as far as i can tell a Choose-your-own-adventure-sandbox-high-interaction-creative-Storytelling RPG. Now, the charm of being able to respond to anything at any given time with no insurgence of consequence is at the same time it's biggest flaw, and something that has been irking me for a long time. even after SPB was sort of dead, i just noticed that it was a very loose system and that the lack of structure often lead to the conclusion and subsequent death of a thread sooner than anticipated. Having a great idea is one thing. Having 20 people responding with no fucking clue of what is happening with nothing but completely pointless plots and self inserts is something else. So set up some ground rules for the brawl system. Because this free form storytelling is difficult to do if you are doing it with a bunch of clueless teens. i understand it banks heavy on the communication between users. But if you have a guy who can just be really agile and good at fighting vs. an all powerful superdude who can't die and is super awesome it tends to get one sided real quick.
So, either try to implore users, old and new, to add a fair amount of weaknesses to their strength to their characters (only one example of what you can do), set up a workshop for fresh new users via skype. (I don't know man, the sky is the limit, and it depends if anybody new will ever join anyway.). But lets be fair after me scouring this forum just as of recent there is a clear problem with characters not having integral structure within the set storyline, you should motivate users to tackle different storylines and settings . Individual brawl threads should have a solid introduction to what is being presented whether it be in a comic form or written out with at least some base rules such as "don't be a cock" and "no self inserts" as a few examples. But in general, it's the basis of SPB which, to me, seems flawed. Either way, this means that it ultimately lies in the hands of the users.
but at this point, it wouldn't be bad to have things archived, sort of as a template of how things should go. new users without the faintest clue seem to find themselves lost rather quickly. so here are all of the things recapped
-set up a guide to making a character for new users finding themselves lost.
-set up like a brawl 101 free-for-all test thread for new users so characters can have scrimmages and see how the feel with their characters, much like the original SPB thread. you can also use this as a platform for new users to interact with one another. and also introduce the setting.
-limit the amount of characters per user, because whats the point of having 15 characters if you ultimately only use 3 of them? set a reasonable limit, between 5 and 10. that way at least you don't need to bank on one character, but the forum does not get cluttered with pointless characters.
-Write up some ground rules for any SPB related brawl thread or event. Just basic rules on how to introduce yourself or how your character should add himself into a storyline. a rule revolving around post reservation, etc... This seems to be the biggest issue, and i think after writing up some solid ground rules for it it'll be a lot more easier and also a lot more structured, not only within the user base, but also the narrative being presented in any given thread.
These are only a few points, but ultimately, it depends if the mods want or an put in the work to do so. Either way, it seems like the ship has already sun and there are only a handful of SPB OG's keeping the shit going. so here's my final suggestion.
If all else fails: Move to a new forum.
Considering the history this place has, it's nice to look back on it. but ultimately doesn't seem like a great site to start new things on. I can understand if there is still unfinished business to attend to. and thats completely fine. But what after all the loose ends are tied up, What will be left of SPB? well next to literally tens of thousands of posts made by over 300+ users in the last 7-8 years? there is already a lack of a community, since the overwhelming majority of those 300+ users don't even bother to check around let alone participate. You also have a large part of the moderators who have gone with the wind. And you have an admin who at this point is so far gone that even i wonder if he's actually dead. so basically, unless anybody else has full admin control, there is nothing you can do here.
I saw des made a new SPB forum on hyperboards (not really a secret, since i found it in the bullshit general). And it's as good as squeaky clean. A perfect platform for new users and alumni brawlers to come together on. It seems like the ideal place to start new. But of course; at the end of the day, these are just suggestions. Considering all of the lurking i see when i notice 2 guests are around. Or the handful of users who still update. It all ultimately comes down to the people who have been around the longest. But considering a lot of people have basically dubbed this board "as good as dead". I would say, finish of whats going on here. but after all of that is done, i would consider just using this board as a reference board, and nothing more and migrate to a clean new board.
feel free to contest this. ask questions, discuss. What do you think of the SPB community and the Brawling system?
