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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 9:15:50 GMT
Want to start this thread off by firstly thanking Jie for going out of her way and setting this place up for everyone to keep in touch and have somewhere to go after the old place was closed down.
The point of this thread is exactly what it says in the title. As everyone's aware this place has been getting less and less active on a weekly basis. Which has resulted in multiple people leaving the forum without so much as a word. I think it's worth considering how much of a point there is to keeping this place alive anymore. Don't get me wrong I'm not going to just leave like others have done and as long as it is here I'll be here but it's clearly a forum that won't be around forever, especially if the numbers keep dwindling.
I have been over to the republikofmanc forum which is also a proboards forum, so you can keep the same email address and even the same username if it's still available. Very easy to use, pretty relaxed rules like we've always had in terms of language and such and in general they seem a friendly bunch. There's even a few familiar names over there. Above everything it's a much more active forum.
Instead of dragging it out I'm going to just tell you what I think we should do. I think whatever is left of us on here should all migrate over to that forum and let this place go. It takes the pressure off Jie of maintaining a forum for us loyal few but also it gives us all what we ultimately want, a place to be part of an active Manchester United forum without too much change.
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Post by Splendid Spy on Apr 5, 2016 10:55:00 GMT
completely agree with you about this.
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Post by Dave on Apr 5, 2016 11:23:51 GMT
Interested to see Jie's thoughts, she is queen bee after all.
I've signed up but couldn't we make this forum open to all? rather than the login screen which may put people off. I forgot what Jie has said about that in the past.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 11:32:24 GMT
Yeah it ultimately comes down to what she wants to do and I suppose the few active members that remain here. I just think it's been so long now that we're going to struggle to attract the same amount of active members that a forum like that has.
I just get the feeling she keeps it going because she doesn't want to let us down. If that's the case then it's a really sensible thing to do, everyone try and use the same username as they have here and if needs be get a private message going between all the active members from here like a comfort blanket or something. :lol:
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 12:07:27 GMT
Bottom line is if you open it up, people use it, cost eventually goes up, then you've got the same headache as before - finding new hosting and deals for the right price. Plus on top of that you've got an exponential increase in spam, which can be fucking soul destroying to deal with if it's bad. It's actually not much fun running one of these places if your heart and soul isn't in it, they can become a full time occupation real quick.
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Post by Dave on Apr 5, 2016 13:04:50 GMT
I don't really know how forums work Ed but surely there are solutions/ways around those issues? Like could we cap the amount of users for example to keep costs down. Just have as much as can be maintained.
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Post by Kaushik on Apr 5, 2016 13:29:42 GMT
I agree with Jamie. If Jie decides to keep this forum, I will stay active in both.
I remember when Jie made this open for all, we got some trolls and WUMs. They could post as guests and they posted some stupid stuff.
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Post by Jie on Apr 5, 2016 16:41:38 GMT
Figured some of you have already moved Hi What is this other site republikofmanc all about ? I went onto it to see and it wanted me to download some PDF convertor so I abandoned it. !!!!! , I just thought it's the ones that I don't like My thoughts - well, from day one I've put my heart and soul into this place, trying to find balance between everyone's ideas of a forum as well as opening and closing chatroom at the appropriate time unlike the previous forum so it sucks that you guys want to abandon ship, but I guess it is what it is. For now I don't think I'll be closing this forum down: 1. Because I don't want to. 2. Because I don't know how 3. Now that nobody cares I can do whatever I want with this place and 4. I've paid for it. RoM are nice fellas, I went to them for advice when I was searching for options of a forum and one of their admins was really nice... actually no, I think that was RedCafe. Nevermind. So who are the familiar faces over there? Thanks for making the thread Jamie, I appreciate the straightforwardness.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 16:59:47 GMT
Nobody wants to abandon ship and everybody appreciates the effort. I don't want to particularly move anywhere and will contribute as I have done but you can see the other side of the coin when people start dropping off and new members stay for 5 minutes and bugger off. Forums need new blood and fresh faces to get a vibe going sometimes.
I've run one of these places I know what they're like, they're a PITA, we ended up selling up because of real world time constraints and financial constraints. The people who took over ran into the same obstacles and never got it off the ground and there it lays consigned to the dustbin of www history.
What about opening up so the forums are visible and capping the numbers? It's doable, you could split the spam / troll duties with whoever if you're tied up. Give someone(s) limited admin access so they can deal with it when you're not around.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 17:07:13 GMT
I don't think it's a case of us wanting to jump ship Jie. Now that you've said you're keeping it open I'll definitely stick around as will most of the other regulars I imagine. The fact is the guys who have already jumped ship (as in deleted their account) didn't post much over here anymore anyway, besides Marc but he left a while ago now.
It's just that this place has become too inactive. Even on matchdays there's only normally around 3/4 around in the chatbox, which is a far cry from what it was like a few months ago. None of this has anything to do with you or is your fault, I'd have been happy with the small but active group we had originally but for some reason many don't post as much anymore or have left completely.
I made this thread more as a chance for you to say what you wanted to do. I had a feeling (a wrong one now :lol: ) that you were just keeping it open for us guys because you'd feel guilty closing it or something. Now that I know that's not the case, nothing more will be said on my part.
We could all, collectively try and think of ways to improve the activity on the forum.
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Post by Jie on Apr 5, 2016 17:17:00 GMT
One of the reasons why I like this place - it's pretty affordable, because you don't get stuck paying for a bunch of shit - no special software, private servers or maintanence. It was my initial idea to make it a proper forum, but after looking up some of the options and talking to some nice fellas figured it's not worth spending £200-300 at the very least a year when you can't guarantee a stream of people.
I was all for opening it up at the beginning, but then people were unhappy because it dragged too many spammers and without them actually signing up it's hard to keep a decent level of security. As for giving someone else an admin role I don't mind it at all.
There's also other issues that come up with a migration like this - I have a running FB page, as well as (not so active) twitter and instagram accounts that are linked to this forum. I guess I'll figure it out
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 17:18:54 GMT
I don't know whether this means much to you but the republikofmanc forum has an option for you to affiliate your forum with theirs. Maybe it's worth talking to them about doing something like this, may get a few of their members over here as well as there.
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Post by Dave on Apr 5, 2016 18:43:04 GMT
Cheers Jamie, now we're all in the dog house That's great news, as had been said we were unsure on where we stood really. We love it here though and as long as it's open I'm sure we'll stay put. Perhaps the situation at the club at the moment hasn't helped but we could do with drawing more members and getting more discussion going, so I think opening up to the public would help and as has been said in terms of trolls/spammers we can share the work load. Happy to help
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 18:53:59 GMT
Ultimately we'd all like to stay here but there's no doubt the activity has to be upped for that to happen or else we're going to be left with about 5 regular posters. Open it up and let someone or more than one person share the load.
I don't know how he feels but seems he's run a site like this before I think Ed would be an ideal choice. When he starts rambling on about how it all works it goes straight over my head so that tells me he's the man for the job. :lol:
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2016 18:57:52 GMT
Perhaps the situation at the club People are very flat and deflated there's no denying it, style of football hasn't helped all season it's only the kids with their energy that's ignited supporters recently, just look at full time devils post match interviews.
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