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stewie
Member
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# Posted: 19 Sep 2006 21:01
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theme selectors for chatroom and dossiers initially sound like a good idea, but how do you filter out trek talk from your star wars themed room????
remmember most people choose the room not for the generic look, but for the fan base they feel most comfortable talking to...
some people don't wander out of a ten forward cuz they don't like star wars or LOTR ditto to the rest... its not because they don't like the "look" of the room.
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david1
Member
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# Posted: 19 Sep 2006 22:25
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<!--QuoteBegin--stewie+Sep. 19 2006,21:01--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (stewie @ Sep. 19 2006,21:01)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->theme selectors for chatroom and dossiers initially sound like a good idea, but how do you filter out trek talk from your star wars themed room????<br><br>remmember most people choose the room not for the generic look, but for the fan base they feel most comfortable talking to...<br><br>some people don't wander out of a ten forward cuz they don't like star wars or LOTR ditto to the rest... its not because they don't like the "look" of the room.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--><br>As Current Star Trek and star wars <i>Are</i> The Big Main things at otf.<br><br>They shouldnt change.<br><br>As for the theme selector ... how'd id have it, is have one Sci-fi and one Fantasy.<br><br>Easy chat with a possible max of 5 different themes, with some control panel which would allow for easy update and change to fit it if a new theme came along... (as we could easly use "latest" films and tv shows temporarily for a few months just to draw people here <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.outpost10f.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/win.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo--> )<br><br>As for<br>>>how do you filter out trek talk from your star wars themed room<br><br>its my understanding that you can talk about anything in any chatroom ... there is no need for filtering ... <br><br>As for<br>>>some people don't wander out of a ten forward cuz they don't like star wars or LOTR ditto to the rest... its not because they don't like the "look" of the room.<br><br>People enter those chats to specifically talk about that gerne hence tagged the "die hard fans =)" ... but they do-so by choice.<br><br>Anyho for themed chatrooms ... if people want to know the affiliation of the user... they could easily modify the chat script and add : Gerne: "here", Rank: "here" ... that would be simple to code in.
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anth
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 03:31
Reply
Of course you can talk about anything you like in any chatroom here, within reason.
As Stewie says though, some people who come along do want to chat about trek, or Star Wars, especialy brand new people. I've found they often try and break the ice by asking things like "What's your favourite episode?"
The bottom line is, OTF is up against it. To me it seems chatrooms in general are out of fashion. OTF is still chatroom driven it seems, even though the forums are often the most creative or busy place, you'll still get an email saying you're not visiting the Outpost if you don't log into a chat. Even if you're working hard contributing on the forums or in other areas.
Some people genuinely like forums, and don't like chatrooms, they arn't going to feel that welcome if they get emails saying please come back, when they are regular forum contributors.
In my view chatrooms are out of style, so too is Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and Star Wars. So, OTF really has its work cut out if it's still pinning everything on all of that.
I believe 100% we would have more members if we'd opened a Stargate room instead of a LOTR one, simply because its more popular. Despite chatrooms being out of style somewhat. People do still want to mix with other fans, the hook is to find what the type of people who are likely to come here like and go with it.
Stargate is often the #1 searched for torrents on any bit torrent site, Star Wars and Trek are down at about #300 LOTR is nowhere to be found on any lists. This because, Trek is no longer on the air, Star Wars has gone away until at least 2008, and LOTR has of course gone too.
As over a third of traffic online is bit torrents, it's safe to say that reflects what people online like or are not too interested in nowadays.
I believe OTF should still have chatrooms, we just have to work to find what kind of rooms, themes, activities, and content people would want. We need to stay Sci Fi, i would keep the SW and Trek, add a Stargate room, and also a general Sci Fi room, Dr Who, Galactica etc. This is bound to cast our net further surely?
Of course it's one thing attracting people, its another keeping them. Why have numbers dropped? It's because people don't want to come back, replacing them is not the only answer, it's asking why they left.
Some of the projects here need revamping, and re thinking. I really don't think getting members to pump out endless reviews of things that have already been reviwed, better and earlier by other web sites is worthwhile work for a portion of the membership.
Imagine if a huge fan of Stargate registred and was offered the chance to work on a Encyclopedia of Stargate or some database, a game mod, a comic book. A few years ago making a Voyager season 8 as a comic book series would have caught the imagination of many members for example. Many new young members will be avid fans of a particular genre, they will have an amazing imagination. Or they probably wouldnt like Sci Fi in the first place.
So, i say give them the chance to respond to that. Not stifle it with stuck in a rut work here at OTF.
Certainly, take a look around see what's popular, and at the same time let's get thinking of things that would have genuinely excited us when we we're young, or looking around for somewhere cool, that featured the genre we love.
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babel
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 12:35
Reply
Encyclopaedias! What a great idea! Blimey I'd definitely work on a Who one . . . and did you know there aren't any Doctor Who chat rooms that I know of, apart from a bitty little one at Outpost Gallifrey?
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jaquaia
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 12:38
Reply
<!--QuoteBegin--babel+Sep. 20 2006,12:35--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (babel @ Sep. 20 2006,12:35)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->Encyclopaedias! What a great idea! Blimey I'd definitely work on a Who one . . . and did you know there aren't any Doctor Who chat rooms that I know of, apart from a bitty little one at Outpost Gallifrey?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--><br>Oooh! That one I would love to be involved in! Great education for me anyway!<br><br>Love that idea! *applauds anth*
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anth
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 13:44
Reply
*L* That was just an idea off the top of my head. It seemed a good way of being able to piece work from many people into something bigger, as part of a team.
We could take the bandwidth down a few notches on it on trivia nights! Or see record scores! 
I'm sure many other people could come up with ideas too. Something fresh, that has the potential to spark an interest in members.
The one vital element in any of this though is people seeing there contributions out there. On many occasions members work is filed away to gather dust somewhere. That can be very discouraging.
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eagle
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 14:09
Reply
<!--QuoteBegin--anth and others+Sep. 20 2006,03:31--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (anth and others @ Sep. 20 2006,03:31)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->[...] Encyclopedia [...]<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--><br><a href="http://engineering.outpost10f.com/~medical/" target="_blank">http://engineering.outpost10f.com/~medical/</a> <-- Lookie, an encyclopedia! *l* <br><br>I can tell you that it hasn't seen use in ages upon ages. Is there still a community interest in this sort of thing? If so, we can look at other projects along this vein..<br><br>~Eagle~
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lzrman
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 15:51
Reply
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->Stargate is often the #1 searched for torrents on any bit torrent site, Star Wars and Trek are down at about #300 LOTR is nowhere to be found on any lists. This because, Trek is no longer on the air, Star Wars has gone away until at least 2008, and LOTR has of course gone too.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--><br><br>*l* are you sure????? Moving on, Stargate is has a major fan base and with this season being the 10th season, and atlantis being in its 3rd, we can know for sure that we will have continued membership from these people because atlantis will be on air for many years.<br><br>Eagle: I think we should re-vamp that project with a new layout and design and have it branch off into different genre's of encyclopedias. Have like a main page description telling us what types of genres are in there and then have the user be able to click stay Doctor Who and get a massive database of information.<br><br>As for a stargate chatroom, I'm sure our member ship will support this idea (myself included) and give it a worth while chance.
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lzrman
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 16:30
Reply
This is what came up:
Ten Forward = Remains Ten Forward
Cantina = Remains Cantina
Minas Tirith = Transforms in to a Stargate Chatroom
Rotarran = Turns into a General Sci-fi/fantasy Chatroom
D'Deridex = Gets Removed.
Office = Remains the Same (why not upgrade the office a bit, functions, chat buttons etc... been the same for a while)
If we get a Stargate Chatroom, what happens to the SC/DSC/Wizards in Minas Tirith? Do they transfer over to the stargate side?
Sidenote: If you don't make it Doctor who and if you don't make jeremy SC he'll go back in time remember to make this happen  !
Lzrman
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jaquaia
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 16:35
Reply
<!--QuoteBegin--lzrman+Sep. 20 2006,16:30--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (lzrman @ Sep. 20 2006,16:30)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->Sidenote: If you don't make it Doctor who and if you don't make jeremy SC he'll go back in time remember to make this happen <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.outpost10f.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/haw.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->!<br><br>Lzrman<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--><br>How true is that! <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.outpost10f.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/haw.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->
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lzrman
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 16:36
Reply
Just as true as me becoming SC of Stargate Genre 
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jaquaia
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 16:44
Reply
<!--QuoteBegin--lzrman+Sep. 20 2006,16:36--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (lzrman @ Sep. 20 2006,16:36)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->Just as true as me becoming SC of Stargate Genre <!--emo&:k--><img src="http://www.outpost10f.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':k'><!--endemo--><!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--><br><!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.outpost10f.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/haw.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo--> <br><br>Best get your bid in early <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.outpost10f.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/win.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->
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stewie
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 16:49
Reply
Anth was right in his post bout asking questions about why people have left, I believe OTF has to do some soul searching, obviously things have changed.Since the "good old days".... well what has changed?
Well , for me... the walls seemed to close in with each new generation of OTF'er. MORE PD'S were introduced, ISA became more and more defunct.There was a day you could just blast a trouble maker out of a room with out having to file a report in triplicate.
Then came internal montering... what happened?..... simple... OTF became a police state.. which sucked the fun right out of it... funny that a sci-fi community ended up turning into an orwellen nightmare... all in an effort to make a newbie feel more welcome, well... that might have helped membership for a while, but self defeating, as it alienated those members that were there from the start.
The biggest source of new members did not come from advertising, or new showy interfaces, it came from word of mouth of existing members, who said, hey... otf , its a great place, and a right laugh, come in some time.
Ok so I present my opinion, which will cause some argument I'm sure.. Though its an opinion that to me holds true..I don't claim to speak for everyone, of course I don't , This is just what I believe.
My solution would be the following.(its something I've seen work on other chatsites)
The custom theme idea works to a degree... I'd love a firefly/serenity room.. and a back to the future room, I'd love lots of different rooms..
The way OTF is atm, you have a list of rooms dicided upon by command or a committe, who decide what everyone should like..
Ok stewie, get to the point, and where does this start becoming fun again and what are you saying that is new?
Well take the idea of the custom room theme idea..
Add the ability for people to import/ upload their own buttons and avatars..
Now sell those rooms with complete mod rights..
WHAT?
thats right, let people create their own rooms on OTF.. With their own rules and regulations... Only the front page has to comply with the prime directives...
Apply a rating to each room (age wise) make sure there is an agreement , which means that minors entering an 18+ room are 18+ therefore they are WRONG for entering..
Universal =suitable for all
PG = Parental Guidance needed
18 = Suitable for adults over the age of 18
Of course OTF can not offer this service to every tom, dick and harry... it can't be a free service... but... for one..
It would allow people the option to rule their roost as they saw fit, behave how they want to behave and bassically police themselves... (of course Some PD's would remain in place..... such as no porno and of course command codes for individual rooms would not carry over to the main rooms)
the excitement of building your very own room, and running it would be an incentive to many.
The Star Wars, Star Trek and A generic sci-fi room should still be there....as the "main" hangout...
but the more choice there is, the more likely people are to come..
Oh and think of that, people would be able to open their own sim rooms... wow..
the only policing needed would be on images imported onto the server....
I realise this may be beyond the technical limits of otf, but then again maybe not...
it would require the coding and building of a a modifyable room template...and maybe rooms that are user made should have some chatter limit... so it don't eat unneccessary resource....
but its an idea...
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jaquaia
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 16:53
Reply
<!--QuoteBegin--stewie+Sep. 20 2006,16:49--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (stewie @ Sep. 20 2006,16:49)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->The biggest source of new members did not come from advertising, or new showy interfaces, it came from word of mouth of existing members, who said, hey... otf , its a great place, and a right laugh, come in some time.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--><br>That's how I came across this place, hadn't even heard of it until Babel dragged me in
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lzrman
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 17:00
Reply
Wow stewie thats a great suggestion!!! but having everyone make there own rooms creates a space issue on the server, along with bandwidth.
I agree that 6 yrs ago OTF was much more lax then it is now.
Lzrman
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stewie
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 17:06
Reply
thats why it would be available only for a price  say i dunno 50 dollars a year, what ever it would take to make OTF able to support it...
I'm not sure on pricing plans, but I know a few webservers that offer a few gigs of of bandwidth monthly for like 150 dollars US a year...and unlimited webspace ... even if it meant taking out a support server , with an otf sub domain such as www.rooms/outpost10f.com
it should in practice work... if the marketing team could come up with the right price for expenses entailed...
as not "everyone" would buy a room.. only those who want to "buy" one... it should'nt be too consuming...
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lzrman
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 17:10
Reply
Would that mean that those who say maybe buy a webaccount get there own chatroom? to customize and design?
And if they decide to skip a year would they have to re create it?
Continued support to keep your progress?
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stewie
Member
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# Posted: 20 Sep 2006 17:14
Reply
I think that if you skip a year, your room is saved, but locked down as not to cause bandwidth issues 
and as for wether or not its introduced as part of the webaccounts deal
or a different level of webaccounts
such as
basic,
gold
platinum
each a different pricing tier, would be for the big wigs to decide..
but I think a subdomain seperate to the main server would help keep it more realistic
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david1
Member
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2006 08:14
Reply
Your talking about making otf into a sort of "pay-for" site?<br><br>OTF is curently struggling to get people to pay for Webspace, making people pay to "customize" their own room to their own preference, is, well i wouldnt =( id just leave the place and set up my own site if that happened.<br><br>Not everyone can code, not evryone can mak images, so "making" people pay for their own theme, it wouldnt work, very few users would use it, and the end wont justify the means,<br><br>I Agree that we do need some sort of "Family Freinly PG Rated Room" and an "18 Rated Adult Room", this way "adult humour" wont get some in deep trouble, which it does at the moment.<br><br>As for allowing people to make their own room completly...<br><i><b>Picture It - Malicious Coder - Wants to take out otf, make a great room, plonk a load of trojans, viruses, and maybe rootkits on it, and its bye bye OTF</b></i><br><br>I can see so many issues with this suggestion... for instance if 20 people made 20 different rooms... they be the sole occupants of those rooms...? <br><br><!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->The way OTF is atm, you have a list of rooms dicided upon by command or a committe, who decide what everyone should like.. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--><br>You all Like Spongbob - therfore we're going to build spongbob chatroom <!--emo&:o--><img src="http://www.outpost10f.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/ann.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':o'><!--endemo--> - hehe<br><br><b>XZ</b>
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david1
Member
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2006 10:33
Reply
Also id like to point out...
The moment you start making people pay to use the services, is the moment otf becomes a buisness, and that means that anyone involved in the creation of the buisness, would be intitled to a share of the money raised by the system.
Otherwise they could refuse to make it.
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stewie
Member
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2006 10:35
Reply
No, you are not listening to the suggestion.
NOT suggesting OTF membership is pay for only...
The same level that is available for free would still exist..
that is the general generic rooms, and sure, give a theme selector to each if you like, go ahead.
I'm Suggesting that "paying" gives you more options..
"Otf is currently struggling for people to pay for webspace..."
That response then tells me that people want more than just webspace... (adds a "duh")
I was'nt suggesting there was any "coding" of the sort the going on...
It would be a WYSIWG way of putting a room together,
That is there would be an editior. the only thing the user customises is the "Graphical appearance" and "text" content of each individual room... there should be absolutely no need for any "perl" coding or otherwise to be used on the user end.
I would link to an example of this method of room creation, unfortunately it would contravine Prime Directives... due to its adult content, but rest assured this is possible.
.
As for the malicious coder, thats a knee jerk reaction, its a helluva lot safer having PAID members create rooms as you can pretty much be assured of tracing the culprit to real life...
because their payment record would be on file as would a helluva lot of other infomation..
certianly a lot safter than having someone upload their content to the department pages...who is to say someone could not upload a trojan to one of those????
All a room creator would do is change the graphics and text of an OTF template.. what coding would their be possiblly be..
It would be upto OTF to ensure that this creates no "exploit"
That's their Job. I can safely say I've seen this work on other sites that have been safely unexploited for a good 4-5 years now....
So... either they are lucky, or like a true professional company they thought it out. Which one do you think applies
And wow.... you think people would'nt be able to exploit a system of blogs where they can upload their own vids and sound files (which are large enough to hide entire subroutines)
come on...
And further more, no one would "make" you pay to have your own room, the core rooms would still exist, you could still happily use those... but the option to open your own would exist if you wanted it....
And the point that "Not everyone can code", is exactly the reason why people would'nt leave and set up their own site..as these rooms would be based on a fairly WYSIWYG editor, something they could'nt do on their own...
As for not everyone being able to make their own images...
obviously they would learn that if they were interested....
20 different rooms, sole occupiants?....don't under estimate the power of the clique ....
Bassically, The less choice and freedoms you have, the less appeal you have.
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stewie
Member
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2006 10:54
Reply
OTF would not be a bussiness.. It would be opperating strictly to keep itself afloat, any money raised and over that amount, is recycled for next time... bassically otf only becomes a bussiness if it PROFITS...paying bills is not profiting, so those that refuse to make this system work because they are not getting paid, should seriously consider leaving 
NOTE: Incase you missed it, which i'm pretty sure you did, otherwise you would not insist I was suggesting making OTF a pay for site..
FREE LEVEL THAT EXISTS NOW WOULD STILL EXIST
YOU WOULD ONLY PAY FOR THE ROOM CREATION ABILITY
YOU COULD STILL CHAT AND USE THE STANDARD ROOMS
PROMOTION SYSTEM
EVERYTHING ELSE
FOR FREE
please read posts before commenting on them, Thats twice I've said you were not listening.
Lets not make it a third.
By your own admission OTF is struggling to sell webaccounts.
Now this brings up the simple equation.. Webaccounts are not incentive enough..
Offering more whistles and bells to the paid members, will encourage more sales..
Speaking for myself purely here, I pay for a webaccount out of the kindness of my heart, I don't really use the webaccount to be honest, and theres a few people here under the same impression, I can get cheaper webspace and e-mail alias elsewhere.
Thats the fact and its these donations that help keep OTF going.. but if they want more people to buy webaccounts... they need to offer more.
Simple fact, It is these donations that keep OTF running, so that non paid members can access the site and the free stuff.
IF OTF is not willing to offer more..
why not put a pay pal donation box on the front page.
And in case you missed it
The donations of webaccount holders help keep OTF running.
It is the people who PAY who should be offered extra incentives..
Offering stuff to the freebie public will not increase webaccount sales..
There should indeed be the same level of free service that there has always been...
But there should be SPECTACULAR Incentives to paying members..
Blogs? nah... can get them elsewhere, for free..
At the moment appart from webspace an e-mail alias and a domain name, theres nothing really that inticing..
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deanna
Member
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2006 13:07
Reply
Oh Evil one...you do have a point. A good point I might add. I quit my paid account ages ago, yes alot due to a lack of funds, but it's hard to get enthusiastic about paying out money for just a webspace, when I never even used it. Some talk about coding being such a huge issue...well to be honest it is. It's a huge issue...if you don't know how, you don't know how. End of discussion.
Having some "serious" perks for your buck is an awesome idea.
Think about Myspace...there are coders galore to just copy / paste to make your "space" look all flashy and cool and what not. That is something that doesn't exist here. No reason why some coding help could come with the cost of admission...
You know you're also right on another point...those that pay to keep OTF's doors open, are doing just that, and what are they getting in return? More and more people screaming "we're not paying for a free site"...cause honestly you're right, we're not paying for a site that others ARE paying for! Please keep that in mind....
Anyway...I'm sick, forgive me if I ramble...a question, if a paid feature did indeed come with rooms you could make your own...How would you do it, by invite only? open to the public like now? What...I don't understand the break down. Not that it'll ever happen here mind you...I'm just curious...let's just say I need mental imagery.
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dommy
Member
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2006 15:31
Reply
Hmmm ...
I partualy agree with the paying option ...
I must say that I don't need the webspace as well, but would buy it to seport OTF ...
Touh it would be nice to have some other paying options next to the free once ... more like an advanced memberschip ...
I don't think the create you're own room option would be needed, myslef i would find a wast of time to create one ...
O well ...
DommY
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stewie
Member
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# Posted: 21 Sep 2006 15:35
Reply
Well here goes
You pay for the perk of opening a room that is fully customisable to your needs via means of an interface, a wysiwyg (what you see is what you get editor)
That means there is no coding going on... you simple add the url of graphics that are to be used for layout and for avatars and rank pips.. (thats your own design element,)
the ranks and armoury options of these rooms you just change the "displayed " rank of these rooms, so CL1 becomes cadat, snottling, browncoat recruit what ever you like.... or course you could have the option of multiple races/organisations to your room.... no need to be coded, just a WYSIWYG interface that allows no malicious coding... because theres no need for coding in the first place, the only people who need to code are those who would make the WYSIWYG editor in the first place...
I think you could make the room invite only or restrict the access level to those you deemed worthy...
You could make it, accessible to all, accessible to only people of CL8 and above.... (remmember peoples cc would still be secure)
Or you could make it invite only. the fact is, with these rooms you should be able to decide who enters... and with self policing, who stays...
Thats right, your own piece of the outpost that you can call your own, at the moment the standard chat rooms are accessible to all... that will remain... with your own room, you are your own boss, don't hang around the outpost because certian people get on your nerves? fine have your own room and make sure they can't enter, via IP block...
Its your room, Your rules, with a few obvious considerations...
for example nothing that contravines real world law.
and what can the people ejected from these rooms do about it?
Nothing, Just build their own room and exclude you.... which means, yes... they have to pay for the privilidge too.
if they don't want to do that, they can go to the main rooms still but not exclude you..
so your own world, your own rules, your own friends..
choose to open it to the public, or keep it private... the fact is, you would have the choice.
Dommy you would find it a waste of time to create a simming room?
You are happy with the "no violent " simming laws that exist?
where do you think those simmers who want more of a realistic simming or combat simming experience are going?
they are going to other RPG sites in droves..
not that , that would be the only purpose of these rooms, but one that would be possible...
The self policed, self made rooms would in my honest opinion fix finally most of the disgruntles that are on this site..
Got an issue with ISA being too uptight.... make your own room.
got an issue with a certian person or clique... make your own room and exlude them...
Can't stand newbies? Make your own Senior only room...
want to sim with out offending people.... make your own room
want to be sure that you can speak freely with out people telling you are contravining some rule or the other..... make your own room
want to be a commadore?,,,, make your own room...
does it not at all seem a little bit appealing?
because the fact is... people do leave otf and make their own sites, usually at the cost of OTF..
this way, people make their own sites on OTF, and OTF benefits!
Seems like a no brainer to me
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lzrman
Member
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# Posted: 22 Sep 2006 08:14
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<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin--><br>Having some "serious" perks for your buck is an awesome idea. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--><br><br>That sums up the whole supporting the outpost with the purchasing of a webaccount, I for one pay for the space that I infrequenly use. On occassion ill upload the random file, because I have free space hosted by my isp w/ my net account.<br><br>As Evil has stated, Everything that previously exists for free will remain free.<br><br>Addition to his note, the userchatrooms your your own boss, you can also limit users by command code (ooo! wise idea here) and question, does a users armory get boisted because they are their own boss? <br>I would think they would have just the ability to remove someone from "their" room, but not have this globally.<br><br>Some other questions:<br>1) Does ISA have unrestricted access just incase someone is being harrased in one of these "User Create Rooms"<br>2) Who all has unrestricted access to these "User Created Rooms"<br><br>You always have to think of the "what if" senario.<br><br>I am all for what Stew here has proposed, and if there are incentives to helping support the community I believe we will have an excess of funds for server maintanance, support and possibly more room, bandwidth and other upgrades to support this changing environment/community.<br><br>Another incentive could be that pay/donation users get a donation icon in the chat that shows they support the outpost (well this is done through the webaccount icon but something more special then a icon like this).<br><br>Another incentive could be maybe that they get looked at first when they offer to do department work, as they oviously helped support with a donation they are willing to go that "extra" mile to get things done.<br><br>Lzrman
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fat_man
Member
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# Posted: 22 Sep 2006 08:31
Reply
Erm this is supposed to be what is better for the community isn't it?
Do you really believe that having dozens of smaller rooms owned by members really gonna create a better community.
Or is it going to be more of a Gang mentality?
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david1
Member
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# Posted: 22 Sep 2006 09:45
Reply
do you wanna be in my gang my gang*b> - Chants
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fat_man
Member
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# Posted: 22 Sep 2006 10:38
Reply
You do know the guy who sang that song is a dirty Kiddy fiddler that should be hung Drawn and Quartered =)
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stewie
Member
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# Posted: 22 Sep 2006 11:25
Reply
I hate to say it, but there already are cliques that exist, it happens in all communities, and there is no way in hell you will ever eliminate them. Simply not encouraging them is not addressing the problem, as there is no solution, I propose simply turning a weakness into an advantage that would only benefit the outpost.
This Is what is better for the community, Putting the blinkers on and pretending there is a perfect utopia going on with no cliques is pure madness.
Thinking that good will alone will encourage people to pay indefinitely to upkeep the site is really optimistic, but sadly a false assumption.
There won't be a community if everyone decides not to pay..
I think a donation policy could be implemented , but in practice they do not keep sites going for very long.
To answer Laz..
well as the boss has the ability to authorise their own armoury users , ISA should not need to step in.
Any issues should be brought up with the room owner. (and no the room owners powers are in no way global,)
If room owner is not available, or room security is not present, all ISA can do is pass on the message... sorry mate, just leave the room , if they chase you into the main chat site we'll deal with them...
Only most henious of crimes should warrent ISA and thats server attacks or outright criminal activities.
The only people that should have unrestricted access is those that
A. are responsible for the WYSIWYG editors... as they may need to tinker
and B
What ever team is responsible for OTF on a global level... global command if such a thing exists....Direct representives of the grand poo ba's..
I believe the creation of these rooms will create a future for OTF to be able to maintain itself,
Also I don't expect it will destroy the community... those who have no problems with the main chats will undoubtedly remain there..
If the only reason people are staying in the main rooms simply because there is no alternative , then thats not a great statement on the community as a whole..
I'm suggesting PAID member perks..
I'm also suggesting OTF can not hazard a guess at what will be the next big draw, or what room should go up next ...
SG1 and Alantis are popular now, what about five years down the line....
So yes it works on a clique level, but it also ensures that people who are fans of a new sci fi show or even cult classics , will have a place to chat... with "fellow" fans..
Its no good having theme selectors in the general room..
as you'll never cater to everyones tastes...and the outpost will be busy trying to create themes till the end of time...
but imagine it, you can create...
Your own... Battlestar Galactica (classic and new), Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Serenty, Dr Who, Blakes Seven, Quantum Leap, Back To The Future, Aliens, Predator,Transformers, X-files, Star Gate the Movie, Trek Just the original Series, Just the original Star Wars Trilogy... Sim rooms based on user created RPG's.. Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Anyother man (or woman) you like...so long as it falls under the sci fi/fantasy heading...
Otf has been trying to sell itself as the ultimate sci-fi/fantasy site....
in the words of one bald captian...
Make it so.
It would also be a draw to the casual member , who saw WOW they've got a lot of rooms!...
how many Browncoats have just waltzed by the site as maybe they don't dig whats up there?... and theres a fair few thousand Browncoats I can tell you... (firefly fans)
Same with BSG, I've been to sci cons and mentioned OTF, and mentioned what there IS.... they kinda not interested in trek or wars..
Imagine me going and saying, ya... you can create your own room if you buy an account....
thats more money for OTF, meaning it stays afloat...
what happens to the community when the money to support OTF goes?
everyone is homeless and the community is totally dispanded..
So everyone on OTF gonna stay in touch when that happens?
sure... some people who have formed close knit groups of friends... you know, those "cliques" otf does not have , they'll keep in touch...
So I really don't see the problem with making them official.
Mointered and controlled blogs and theme selectors will not draw in a larger crowd, and as these are free they will not encourage further donations to OTF.
They sound nice, really they do, but lets face it, they will not revolutionise OTF, nor will they be a brave step forward...
OTF is 10 years Old next year!..... Ten Years On, not "much" of a "Radical" change in terms of userbility... massive changes in departmental structures and organisation, most of which drove a lot of people away, and most of which is totally lost on newbies..
TEN years old and moving FORWARD
Think OTF can take my space? dream on.
picture it, a peep drops by, Oh this sci fi site offers free blogs...
waiiittttt.... I can't say exactly whats on my mind??? blah, My space is free too, and gets more hits, and is better for networking, etc..etc...I hate to keep bringing it back to the money issue, but OTF would have to PAY to advertise to generate the same publicity on blogs as my space has...
Who's gonna spread word of mouth about OTF blogs, sure everyone here, but who would not have heard of Myspace before hand and decided that myspace offers more freedom..
Freedom is the key here...
being your own boss is more appealing than climbing rank structures..
Making your own rules is more fun than following them..
OTF, The core, will remain unchanged....
it will just offer freedom, so long as you can pay for it...and freedom sells...
freedom of choice, of content, etc, etc, etc,....
Its a seller!
An example, there is a chat site out there who offered membership, it was struggling, it came out with customisable rooms fully maintained by the creator of the individual room..
BAM! first week it was available it got 30 member rooms shoot up...
few years later... it keeps a steady stream of between 50 or 60 rooms...
its charged montly at like 5 dollars.. .60 x 5 = 300 dollars..
PER MONTH!!!
now the site owner dropped the price when it became popular...
but suggest starting a little higher while its being tested out, a trail period.. say 60 dollars for a six month trail period.
Theme Selectors for the main core rooms, nice idea, but a gimick, it won't get people to pay... It is at best a "cosmetic" make over..... its like slapping a load of make up on sick patient and saying... she can't be Ill look at that rosy complextion...
Its a lot to take in...I know, but the basic equation is this.
And its a well practiced and thought out bussiness model used by many, many, many companies..
You DON'T offer all the whistles and bells to the FREE membership. Lots of sites have free membership, but give all the best bits to paid members.. Free membership should be the basic service (which is what the core rooms are)
Thats called bussiness sense... free members do not keep you site financially afloat, or even viable.
Theres not one bussiness model out there that does not offer extra special perks to its paid membership...
But... if you want to continue on the impratical route, all I can suggest is you stick a donation box on the front page, and get a load of companies to sponser the site.
Pop ups anyone?
Whats the point of enticing new members who aint gonna help keep the site on the internet? hoping one in every thousand will feel charitable?
Offer them the basic free service.... thats inticement enough, add a few more fun whistles and bells, nothing overly major...
then say ... oh btw... if you pay you get all THIS!..
yes, free members should be envious of paid members privilidges..thats how you entice them to pay.
And yes the threat of people not willing to pay does hang over the heads of people, what if 10 members one year decide, a webaccount and e-mail won't be enough...to warrent paying as things might be a little tight..
the pricing goes up....meaning more people decide they can't "really" afford it.... meaning in the end poor old Andrew Maxwell foots a HUGE bill... and decides... ya know what, I can't afford to keep it open anymore.
However, the more people enticed, the cheaper all round it is per member, and the outpost survives, sorry to harp on the point, but I don't think people realise just how serious a point it is.
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