Currency/Contests/E-Mail/Server/More

Hey guys,

tegan41 here, and I've come today to give a suggestion to possibly bring back some of this once awesome community. I have a four part suggestion intended to be a step forward in the right direction.

Currency:

What's currency? A way to buy this/that.

How would you implement this into Super Cheats? For every post you make, 1 point and for every topic, 2 points. (Point values being examples)

How would this help SC? Well, you'd create a shop users can buy from using these points. Also, set up a forum for users to create services: Post this in your signature for x amount of coins, make a signature for x amount, etc etc.

What type of items would you put in the shop? Things like name changes, custom usergroup color, @supercheats.com e-mail, small things like that. You could even put e codes for various gaming systems for higher amounts of points.

Contests:

Now, what type of contests am I referring too? Anything. Posting contests, story contests, idea contests, Pokemon Battles, etc. I know this site gets traffic and probably has a bit laying around you guys could spare to do some really cool contest with a cool prize (a 30-35 dollar game of your choice or something). Something to spark interest.

E-mail:

Do a mass e-mail to tell of said contest. I'm sure FP has loads of users who have forgotten about FP and if they are reminded by the administration of cool new features to come, do it.

Minecraft Server:

People love Minecraft. Communities love playing Minecraft together. Set up a server, create a moderator group for that, set up a modding community for it, etc. It'd be an awesome addition.

Layout Overhall:

Currently, the forums are awkward to get too. They're on a messy toolbar with a toolbar directly underneath them. You can't click on forums and be taken to them. You have to wait for the drop down box to appear and choose. Many won't know what team forums are. I suggest leaving the drop down, but also hyperlinking the main forums icon to by default take you to the forums. Same with the other drop down tabs.

I'd also like to see the toolbars cleaned up quite a bit. Maybe move the search bar to the bottom or to the black bar at the top. Consolidate some of the categories? Take out the FB option or put it under computer. The organization of that needs looked into though.

Remember, sometimes things get to complex and simple becomes better. I believe it's that way in this case.

Edit:

http://prntscr.com/1nszs0

That needs looked into as well. It's so bulky.

And my last point in this edit, decide between rounded or square. I see a lot of buttons that are round but also a lot that are square. Imo, pick one or the other and maybe add shadowing to give it a rounded shape like so: http://prntscr.com/1nt07q

Edit 2:

Make the Recent Threads section and the favorite forums section be collapsible or even able to turn them off. They're so bulky. Favorite forums, I mean, you can not add any, but the recent topics thing is just annoying imo and should be optional.

Forum Layout:

It's messy. Video game forums then announcements then general chat with new member's being next to last. It's messy.

Try this order:

Announcements
Suggestions Problems
New Member's Welcoming
General Chat
Video Games
Fan Fic and Roleplay
Forum Games
T and C

Better yet, use category dividers.

Announcements
Suggestions Problems
New Member's Welcoming

[divider]

General Chat
Video Games
Fan Fic and Roleplay
Forum Games

[divider]

Teams and Clans

Appearance Tweaks

http://prntscr.com/1nswhd

Those would look so much better smaller. It'd also look a bit better if they new topic page was an actual page. It's just not proper imo at the top.

Also, re-look into forum names and descriptions. Try using a bit more creative wording. Video Games? You could call it Land of the Gamers or something. People like creativity.

Staff Participation:

Now, this one I'm shooting from the dark in. All staff need to be active within the community even if the admins outnumber the active members. Everyone make a few new topics a day, make a point to welcome users, etc. And, I'm including Rich. Even Mark and Dennis could hop in from time to time and ask if the users need anything or welcome a user from time to time. People love seeing super active staff, and it encourages them to be a bit more active.

(Please note I am not active but plan to return so this last point I made was a general suggestion. It's not assuming they are/aren't active as I don't know. If you already do it, great.)

Staff Participation V2:

This is a gaming forum, hold gaming events. Tuesday night Halo. Monday night Madden. Saturday night Animal Crossing. Host a Pokemon League where users can challenge for badges. Set up a usergroup called Event Management and let them do fun little things like this. They could even award the winners little badges to be displayed on their profile.

Conclusion:

All of these are little things you guys could do to bring in some more activity. Gaining a community populace is hard, especially now a days, and it takes a lot of work to maintain. If everyone of the staff work together, I could see activity returning to this place.

Edit:

Last edit. Go through and start deleting every forum with like 0-25 posts. This forum currently has 26k forums with the majority of them being empty. That's not a good thing.

« Last edited by tegan41 on Aug 27th 2013 »

When you mean currency do you mean dollars and pounds, Microsoft/PlayStation points, or a whole new currency?

Forum currency example:

Everytime you post, you get 1 point. You can buy say a colored username for 5 points. You'd have to post 5 times to get the username which would be deducted from your total points. If you want another color change, you'd have to post 5 more times.

So they are more like customization points?

They are points earned by posting on these forums. There's no other way to describe them. Various uses could be added for them which I explained above.

But then you will have to save your points to get ahead in the leader boards.

You earn by posting. You spend points you earned while posting. They go up and down. This has nothing to do with the leader board. Nothing in the slightest

I'm sorry I thought you were referring to the points people had already earned. Like my 20,000 something and your 53,000 something.

I've added a few edits to the OP, but am going to leave this one here. I had a problem with the buttons being rounded in the OP, but have since found a new problem.

http://prntscr.com/1ntauo

They don't match all/any of the themes. These need replaced.

« Last edited by tegan41 on Aug 27th 2013 »

What's wrong?

Copy the image link posted and paste in your browser, you'll see.

And, do links really not work anymore? Do I have to use bb code to make them work? Edit: Guess not. Ohh well

« Last edited by tegan41 on Aug 27th 2013 »

I see so did you send the first post to Rich?

Yes.

you know something tegen. althow i like mare than a fue of your sugestions. this forum has been changed allot since i first joind 7 years ago(dear smeging god 7 years dam i feel old) anny way. it is just my opinion. but a larg persentge of the now small active members. may not like that idea whatsoever. or i may and probaly am mistaken and thay may like it.

but for mee i was perfectly happy with how things were in 05. althow i asepted most of the changes. i never truly liked them. and it is the same with this sugestion. of changing them agen. when the forums started to change was when my activity decresed slowly at first but with evry change i spent more and more time away from hear. that got so bad i lost my modspot. so what im saying is if this forum changes to mutch agen. then i may not aculy post ennymore. althow i would rather that would not be so. as i plan to make it a full 10 years hear. and get atlest an uther thousend posts. enny way good night

neptis said:

you know something tegen. althow i like mare than a fue of your sugestions. this forum has been changed allot since i first joind 7 years ago(dear smeging god 7 years dam i feel old) anny way. it is just my opinion. but a larg persentge of the now small active members. may not like that idea whatsoever. or i may and probaly am mistaken and thay may like it.

but for mee i was perfectly happy with how things were in 05. althow i asepted most of the changes. i never truly liked them. and it is the same with this sugestion. of changing them agen. when the forums started to change was when my activity decresed slowly at first but with evry change i spent more and more time away from hear. that got so bad i lost my modspot. so what im saying is if this forum changes to mutch agen. then i may not aculy post ennymore. althow i would rather that would not be so. as i plan to make it a full 10 years hear. and get atlest an uther thousend posts. enny way good night

Most of these suggestions are simplifying SC. When I joined in 07, the site was relatively simple. Now, it's one big mess in terms of layout.

And, honestly, management doesn't have too much to lose. Most of these suggestions were layout changes to make it look a bit less busy, a bit more organized, etc.

And, then the other suggestions were geared towards the staff. Contests, participating in the community, etc.

You guys have been here so long how are you not Super Mods?

I wasn't active during the time Rich chose new staff. I'm an ex mod though, and so is Neptis.

Hi Matt,

As I've already said via email, thanks for the suggestions and taking the time to put together such a thoughtful post.

From it I like:

Contests and Email Shot
We do run a MVP comp sporadically but the last couple didn't get much interest.

Minecraft Server
Great idea - BUT I don't (nor do Mark and Dennis) play MineCraft. One of our guide writers does however and he may be able to do this - unless someone else can.

Staff Participation
Easier said than done. If it was as simple as saying you guys make lots of new threads and everyone will join in the conversation we would be doing that already. We have tried these things in the past, but even when staff post new threads they weren't always replied to and maintained.

Game Events
Great idea - Again I'd need external help with the planning of these and exactly what needs to be done.

tegan41 said:

I wasn't active during the time Rich chose new staff. I'm an ex mod though, and so is Neptis.

yep matt corect from 2005 to 2011/2012 cant remember now.
and to ancer his question. the simplest mater is i would not have been a good smod whatsoever. i did not change my style with the change in rules. and i dont have the temprement for that sort of thing

Team SuperCheats said:

Minecraft Server
Great idea - BUT I don't (nor do Mark and Dennis) play MineCraft. One of our guide writers does however and he may be able to do this - unless someone else can.

rich a fue people have alrdy tryed to make a supercheats serever. but despite the fact that allot of people on this site me included . like or love the game. the servers never realy took of . and if thay did some folk like the core server members sometimes lose intrest after a while. as thay have jobs or school to go to and have to ether in my case have allot of stuf from work to do at home. or in the kids case allot of homework or coage or uni stuf to do. and thay stop going for a while then forget about it . i have dun that a fue times. and then still having the adress of said server go back to find ether its not active or its been taken down.

so if you are going to get that guid writer to make or host one. then you will have to make shure he will be dedicated to it . and have staf that will be dedicated to it aswell

Team SuperCheats said:

Staff Participation
Easier said than done. If it was as simple as saying you guys make lots of new threads and everyone will join in the conversation we would be doing that already. We have tried these things in the past, but even when staff post new threads they weren't always replied to and maintained.

lol when i was staf i tryed that aswell and no one ever posted in my topics. but then agen no one douse that now ether. it was probaly just me. and folk not understanding the topics

Rich, thanks for the reply.

Regarding the MC server, you guys could host it, occasionally hop on to say hello, and make sure a select few can maintain a positive environment in it.

Regarding the contests, bring back the member brawls, host other contests, etc.

For staff participation, users won't post if the staff won't. It's a long term effort.

For the game nights, make them as public as possible.

And, do some of the layout changes, simplify the site, and send a mass email out. Get some news out! This site isn't dead, I know it has traffic.