The Future of SH

[Shini]

Hi Guys,

So I've been thinking about this for a little while, ever since things started quietening down. I know we have never been the most hopping place in town, but we had a good steady go of it for a while and then it started to drop off - not blaming anybody, people got busy (myself included) and it happens, things drift. But I've reached a point now where I'm uncertain about how to proceed, and I wanted your opinion and where to go from here.

So here is a poll, please cast your vote and feel free to add any comments, I'll leave it up until all the regular members have voted and had their say, and decide where to go from here.

Here is a little more explanation of the options;

Try to make the site bigger - This would involve me taking on another staff member to help, really getting stuck in with advertising, as many members who can really mucking in to try and make the place more active and try and lure in some new members and bring the place to the glory I know it can achieve

Potter along as we are - Keep the plot running as-is, post when we can and just play away as things are without any efforts in either direction

'Close' - I won't shut the site down or anything like that, but this option just means that people can keep posting if they want, but I won't be running the place as closely as I am (or rather, as I am meant to be), there won't be any more moderating or plots as such (though I will drop by to keep threading with anybody who's still around, and I'll keep the place tidy). If we go with this option I will release my plotting to you all so you can at least see how the story was supposed to end.

Something else - if you have any other courses of action or ways to handle things, please let me know. If the other options don't quite fit what you want, please choose this one and explain why in the posts.

Generally just let me know how you're feeling guys, please

[Isla Triton]

I think part of the problem here is that people are interested in joining, but there's not always an admin at hand when they have questions and the rest of us can only answer so many questions without an official ruling. So I would be more towards building up the site. Our core group of people is obviously awesome and we all have fun together, but I definitely think that we could use others to write with us.

I'm definitely not opposed to keeping on how we have been keeping on. I love this group and our story lines and I'm all for keeping things relaxed, but I would like to be able to build something with the potential to keep growing and evolving over time. And even if that means members have to become active participants in advertising the site, or having members volunteer to help out in more ways than just writing, that could help.

I think if we can lure in more people, it will make things a bit more exciting on the board and will keep the excitement going. People will want to be active members to keep up with what's been going on.

So that's my vote.

[James Florian]

I concur with everything that Emily has said above ^^

Especially with the lack of a staff member on most times; Shini you are an amazing wonderful admin, but it’s hard sometimes to encourage people to keep checking back in if they want to join if there isn’t a staff member around to give them a definite answer to their questions. Having another Staff member around, even if it’s just in the role of a moderator, would be great advantage to the site.

If we wanted to attract more members though, I personally think we should focus on Proboards support because that’s where a large portion of prospies will be. (After all that’s how I found SH.) Our current ad is buried so deep within that even those who are searching specifically for a Disney rp may not want to touch our forum because of the fact that some of the ones above us are shut down due to inactivity -- mainly Avalon City, which makes us look even worse as they were our “sister site” in a way due to the similar content. If we could start a more “aggressive” advertising campaign there as well as being posting on more jcink forums as well as other similar sites that allow ads may draw in more prospies as well.

Another thing we should also really focus on if we want to attract new members is clean up the forums and update everything. Most of the old threads still lingering around are from 2015, and we’re almost five months into the next one. Someone who’s considering joining could infer many different, wrong, things about the website that still has threads from August 2015 lingering around on the boards. As for updating everything, I mean it. Apps, Plotters, Profiles, everything. Most of us, myself included, haven’t touched those things in ages and as a result they’re probably outdated and since many people use those as a reference to them building their own things it won’t reflect well on how we keep up with things. It’ll be a bit of work, but it’ll be worth it.

Maybe we should also consider having a general thread directory to help any new members that might join if we take this route, to understand what has happened up until this point with an one or two sentence blurb about what has happened or is happening to help people quickly get up to speed with the entire plot on the site instead of scrambling to figure out what happened before they joined.

I don’t want to see this site crumble away into nothing, as this website has been a huge part of my life over the last two years and I wasn’t kidding earlier when I said I don’t know where I’d be right now if it wasn’t for Second Helping. This year alone has been the most stressful in my life so far, but I was able to keep it together because I knew at the end of the day you guys be here to let me bend your ears or I could take my frustrations and fears out on my charries. I know it’s been harder for everyone as we have all either entered, or about to enter, huge stages of our lives away from the computer screen, but we’ve gone this long with the core four, surely if we band together and fight through these doldrums we’ll come out as the best goddamn next gen. Disney/Fairy tale forum on the net.

[Shini]

Well okay kids, since there's pretty much only the four of us on here and you've all voted the same thing...

It's going to be a bit of work but I think we can do it, here's what I think the next steps should be.

- New staff applications. Those of you who would like to help me by being a mod, which means plot spoilers btw, let me know and we can discuss what your duties etc will be. I think our best bet will be for me to take on one, maybe two of you as mods, and the other/s can take on an ambassador role (I'll give you something shiny on one of your accounts XD) if you want it, this would basically give you the power to answer newbie questions and welcome them to the site, and staff will back you up. We'll work together to figure out any questions a newcomer might have so we can make sure we're all on the same page, but it means people aren't waiting around for responses.

- Site update (admin). This would just be me tidying up all the threads, archiving old things, updating announcements and OOC stuff, finally fixing our aff banner and updating the news, fixing the claims and active characters and all that jazz

- Site update (coat of paint). This would be me updating the look of the site, it's not had a makeover since I created it and if we're going to make a go of it, I think it's due one.

- Site update (members). This is up to you guys, brush up however you like. You don't really need to update your app as I would like to keep them as they originally were, but if you'd like to make a separate character profile that you can keep updating, I'm happy to make you a specific place to keep them. Sort out your characters, update your thread trackers, give your boys and girls a bit of a spring clean, drop or take new characters, anything you need to do to get ready to go again.

- ADVERTISE. Tell the world about SH and bring the newbies in. Spread the word to everybody. I'd like to do this post-springclean ideally

- Get back to the plot. POST AND PLAY LET'S DO THIS.

So for your part can I get you all to fill out this quick little questionnaire to help us get started:

Would you be interested in being a mod?
Why do you think you would make a good mod?
Would you be interested in being an ambassador?
Can you help with advertising?
What colour scheme would you like to see for the SH makeover?
Are there any additional boards/features you would like to see?
Would you like a separate place to post a character profile, or would you prefer any updates happen directly to your app?

[Azalea]

Yay!! Great plan Shini

Happy to help any way I can.
I'd help with advertising if i knew how.

What sort of thing do you mean by a Profile? I think if we have these they should have a separate place to be kept for easy reference

[Shini]

Basically the same as the app but you can update it with more information as/when you want to. It also won't have a set format so if there's extra stuff people want to add or a different way of presenting it or whatnot they can do it how they like.

[Isla Triton]

Would you be interested in being a mod? Sure thing!
Why do you think you would make a good mod? Because I'm a cool chick. Also, I can keep things in order and tidied, answer questions professionally and keep secrets without spilling the beans (no matter how much I want to) and can be purposely misleading when the plot calls for it. I have also done the admin thing before so I am an experienced candidate, especially since I admined with you. 
Would you be interested in being an ambassador? Sure thing!
Can you help with advertising? Yup!
What colour scheme would you like to see for the SH makeover? PASTEL RAINBOW jk not pastel rainbow, but maybe like a blue or green. Something fresh and spring-like.
Are there any additional boards/features you would like to see? I don't think so
Would you like a separate place to post a character profile, or would you prefer any updates happen directly to your app? Probably a separate profile because that is easier.

[James Florian]

Would you be interested in being a mod? Yeah, it would be fun to be a mod and help give back to SH in terms of being a little yellow thing that only speaks Gibberish.

Why do you think you would make a good mod? If you decide Shini that I'll be a good minion, I guess my knowledge of the website would be an asset. After all half the time I'm the one who remembers some obscure rule or important dates. In addition, due to my teenage brain and Eastern Timezone I'm on at the weirdest hours so if a prospie appears when you're all in bed, I can point them in the right direction. Plus I look good in overalls and science goggles.  

Would you be interested in being an ambassador? Yep, definitely!  

Can you help with advertising? Yeah, just give me the go ahead and I'll spend those sleepless nights plastering SH everywhere. 

What colour scheme would you like to see for the SH makeover? Blues or a different shade of Purple would look nice. However I still suggest white posting boxes thing-a-majigs

Are there any additional boards/features you would like to see? No, I can't think of anything. 

Would you like a separate place to post a character profile, or would you prefer any updates happen directly to your app? A separate place to place updates please!

[Shini]

hello guys! so I have made a decision, and I would like you all to welcome the newest member of the moderator team...

Emily!

Em and I will discuss her duties and stuff in more detail but generally she will just help me with everything I do, and her word is final for any questions/etc. If anybody has any disagreements with anything she rules, they can come to me for a final say, but the intention will generally be for us to be of one voice. In a non creepy way XD

I'd also like to invite Jordan to be an ambassador. You can have yourself an OOC account for me to give the title to, or I can put a title or something on one of your existing IC accounts.
As an ambassador you'll be there to field questions, welcome newbies, help with advertising, anything that involves being the 'face' of the site. Again I'll go over with you the exact specifications of the role, but if you would like it please let me know

Louise, I would like to offer you the ambassador role as well if you are interested?

[Azalea]

Hello from Rome! See, I check this even when on holiday! Yes please Shini, I'd love to do that.

Congratulations Emily too! You'll be great at it!

(Ps Jordan, I need to learn to work photoshop so I can have Az and James flying around here)

[Jordan]

Haha, that might not be the best idea in the world. After all didn't that troublesome pair break into the circus maximus to go for a joyride? xD

Also yay for Em becoming a mod and Louise being a fellow ambassador! We'll kick this website into gear in no time!

Although I'm pretty sure everyone can see, at the moment photobucket seems to be having a few server issues and most of our photos are down. It doesn't seem like there's anything we can do for the time being, as they've already received hundreds of reports, but it might be a safe bet to make sure that all the links are checked once the site is back up and running again.

From what I can see at the moment; all photos are down on desktop view on mobile, many links are down on a computer --yet it also seems to be sporadic-- and although the photobucket website loads, nothing in the library does save for videos. Also my adblocker is saying that there are more ads than I've ever seen (30+) on their site before!

[Jordan]

Nevermind, it's all back up and running properly

[Shini]

Louise - Would you like me to make one of your IC accounts the ambassador one or would you like to make an OOC one like Jordan?

I have made some changes to the theme, as you can probably see. Bear with it until I get the graphics updated but I figured I can at least do the colours while I'm at work, what does everybody think?

[Azalea]

It's very pretty. I'll make an OOC one and keep things consistant

[Louise]

Hello!