I've been back here a couple of weeks after not being around at all for nearly a year. It's pretty obvious that this place isn't as active as it used to be. Whatever the reasons are, I hope we can all agree that this is a very bad thing.

So rather than just whining about it in Spleen, I thought I'd set this thread up as an opportunity to share any ideas we might have to return R+M to the great Stalinist monolith it once was.

If Ben follows through with his plans to revamp the site, I have full confidence that we can see an uptick in activity and perhaps some interested/interesting newbies to replace lost oldbies.

I suggest chains.

Facebook ads.

featuring chains

Cake. We need to have added cake.

Pass out free letter openers. That's what this guy running for whatever office did here and he....lost. But it's still a cool idea.

Did the letter openers have chains on them?

<img src="http://kelbymilgrim.org/sitebuilder/images/George_Whitefield2-534x400.jpg">

OIC

no....but they were very sharp. TOO sharp if you ask me. I think he wanted us to stage an uprising.

I told you guys so. Being mean to newbies will cost you.

But anyways. The basic problem is that most of the people that were most active in R&M birth, don't give a fuck about the form anymore.

R&M needs a news blog or active posting of articles relative.

Secondly, if R&M could get their articles hotlinked on other sites, then the flow of readers would increase the probability of a forum revival.

Read Gibbons 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'; it says it so much better than I could... although in considerably more chapters.

Where did the insane bulk of forumgoers come from in the first place?

Wasn't it from the Tests & Widgets, followed by the articles?

I don't want to shitsling at Ben and Owen and the gang, but I think there might be a negative feedback loop with inactivity around the site's "main attractions." (And I think, purely on speculation, that the heyday of tests & widgets on the internet has passed, so simply reviving those won't necessarily do much good, maybe.)

Don't the Rum Monkeys have other pet projects? I think R+M could benefit from being integrated with them. Why keep them separate? Why can't a blog or a writer's collective or whatever else just be part of the same monster as the forums and articles and tests/widgets?

The site was always sort of an amalgamation of independent parts that occasionally bled over into each other. Maybe it just needs organ transplants; graft the other projects into this thing.

Clearly we need to obliterate more villages.

Mani, that's pretty close to what Ben's been hinting at here and there. My only hope is that talk turns into reality.

I realize it's what he's been hinting at, but - at the risk of sounding harsh - I get the feeling that he's been "hinting at" this sort of thing for years now.

It's sounded a bit less ephemeral lately. I'll confess I'm not holding my breath, even though I was approached to be a contributor.

Need less people being 'tards to the newbies; regular articles/blogs from regular contributors and centre the forum around feedback and comments for them. Leaving the rest of the forum conglomerated into 2-3 sections where all other subject matter is dealt with. The forums at the moment have very little to do with... anything at the moment.


Just sayin' is all.

I should probably be clear in that I think this is a Good Thing if/when it does go live, and that I don't mean to be or seem discouragingly distrustful.

(It's partly a cathartic kick-in-the-ass, because if Ben's been at these plans for as long as I feel he has, then it's a very personally familiar sort of delay; I've learned how much some honest ass-kicking is needed there.)

I know you're not down on site improvements or the owners who do them, dude. I'm right there with you.

I know.

Mostly more saying that for Ben and the other guys :)

Mani could be on to something. Although obvious, it's worth pointing out that numbers don't necessarily make the place better. Traffic would be nice from a business standpoint, but from a community standpoint the solution will be something different.

Fall of Rome? Never much cared for how that's historically treated as predictive rather than informative and in my opinion a unique decline. Hrm.

Seconded.

Hey I have an idea. Stop being a pack of boring dicks and start making interesting posts.