Updating Mudkipz United in 2011

It's looking like time for an update to the forums, and as always suggestions, critiques, and feedback are appreciated. Comments, please? What are we looking at:

Website links - suggestions for websites relevant to YGO or Pokemon as expected. Also if you think certain links should be removed, updated, replaced, etc. Please leave a comment as to why.

Board name changes - for names for forum boards. Likely targets include "Gus's Cafe" since no one goes there anymore, but all reasonable suggestions are welcome.

Other things - yeah. Pretty vague here. But anything you think we've missed in the forum.

Other then that, the first draft of Mudkipz Forum Policy [aka the rules on how not to get banhammered] will (probably) go up next year. Things have been pretty good in the past few months so there's been no need to clamp down on stuff, but a policy will be going up regardless. Comments on that are welcome, but feel free to suggest things that you think are relevant. EXPLAIN WHY.

Team Kevin!! It could work..

He's srs =/ First post screams eagerness

As regard to board name changes, I am in agreement with that and anything that will suggest Card Trades or Sell would be fine, thanks.

It has been quite hard to find which category I had to put things up just by reading the titles and not reading into those brief explanations.

so whens the update gonna happen?

I'm starting the first of the updates on Friday. Don't know which one though, but I'll probably start by updating the website links.

Alright then, time to sit down and explain what might happen with updating the forum...

The first thing that needs to be said is that the forum is to all intents and purposes dead. With almost no activity or visiting from members it would be correct to say that nothing happens anymore. However, there are two things to note with this:

1. It's not just Mudkipz who are in this state. National Mudkipz also have the same issue, as do Australian forums with sections on Yu-Gi-Oh! (Good Games forums, etc) and Pokemon (sorry Gametown, but it's true).
2. Even if we change forums and get a new name like the past three times the same outcome will occur.

Perhaps it should be said that rather than a lack of activity causing the forum's death, we would be better off pointing to a lack of interest in the traditional 'card forum' we have used for members. Out of all the members on this site, only a handful play Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon actively, and whilst that might not be the case for individual cases people tend to use face-to-face methods for seeking things the forums traditionally provided. Another issue forums face is in attracting new members - for Yu-Gi-Oh! the problem stems to young players not being interested in the competitive setting and the attitude-derived divide between groups of competitive players; while for Pokemon the relatively new tournament scene and relative closeness of members means face-to-face interactions are far more common.

With that in mind, the best way for Mudkips to develop would be to expand its field of 'interests' beyond card games. Taling about video games and its such don't attract enough interest, and so this option is ruled out (this field is best left to other sites like video game reviewers and news sites anyway). On the other hand, talk of development of games is one aspect that always occurs within the Canberra community in some form, whether it be video or card or traditional gaming.

So what about the updates? This is what I propose:

A) Removal of the Mudkipz United 'private membership' restrictions. As it stands the road to membership in Mudkipz is a restrictive process that stifles new membership through mandatory introductions (which have not been enforced in recent times due to declining mebmership anyway). By making Mudkipz United an 'open' forum we can make attracting new members a little easier.
B) Addition of a new section to the forum, temporarily titled 'Mudkipz United Community Projects'. This section will allow members to discuss projects and concepts they have, recruit other members who show an interest in that idea, and provide a place for those members to share information and work.
This section will be the most carefully monitored section at first, given that no one would know what people would come up with. However, by giving a reason for the community to unite in a field outside of 'card games' it might entice people to retain their membership afte joining.
C) Consolidation of aspects of the card forums. Whilst new sections may be nice to add, it would be stupid to delete what made the site what it is. Instead, redundant forums (ie. Tournaments and Tournament Reports being separate forums) will be consolidated together to streamline the operation of the forum. This may or may not include having the card games move into a sub-forum layout of their own, but that would be decided later.

And one last thing to address - the chatbox. NOw, it's nice to have and everything, but only when people use it. I personally feel that part of the issue is the separation of the chatbox from the main forum making it hard for people to use both at the same time. We could leave it where it is for now, put it back on top of the main forum, or replace it with another service.

I'll put this to you guys for comments and feedback - whether you agree or disagree with any of the thoughts or potential changes, please let us know.

Alright, reading this I will agree 90% with you IfD. I'd say that main reason for lack of activity is because of the effort to actually say something to keep it 'active' (well, for me at least). I know Wangman is doing a good job keeping us posted with events and all, but no one is writing decklists, or tournament reports, or really anything in the other sections.

Chatbox should stay. It WILL work if there is activity here.



Having said all that, I think it's better to completely change the format > make it a Mudkipz Community blog. That way, any updates members want to post up will be just that, updates.

Have a look at Sydney Tekken. Simple, but to the point. Everyone can read, comments is a feature available bot not necessary to keep the site active - and can serve to replace the 'forum', and you can include important information in sectioned-off parts.

http://sydneytekken.wordpress.com/

And in regards to your 'branch out into other hobby' idea, the blog format can work for that too. If any member wants to draw attention to a certain event, they can. Againg, doesn't mean that attendance or what-not would change, but there will be much better exposure and technically higher activity by doing it this way.

I wrote a long post replying to this, but then my computer ate it, and now I'm too angry to rewrite it. I'll give you the simple version, and maybe come back to edit this when I'm not as mad.

I agree that these are all good points to start with, and we should do them to start with at least.

Revising my original comments.

Make the main site a Blog, and have the forums on the side. But axe a lot of the sub-category forums and have more general ones. Like a general "Yu-Gi-Oh! Players", "Pokemon Players", "Interwebz", etc threads, with anything important reserved and updated in the opening posts. "Mudkipz Community Projects" can also be one of these more general threads. Membership restrictions being lifted will also be fine because I doubt there will be any secret discussions about one community or the other now as well; people only really discuss strat. in person now, and the team-bashing is non-existant because nobody cares anymore. But please, ban anyone who doesn't make themselves heard in the Introductions as we've been doing.

So in summary, delete parts of the forums to make is smaller and more focused. Leave the big community announcements/decklists/features/reports/etc. in the Blog part -> still make Blog the main function of the site.

I've been speaking to a fair few people since the last post here, trying to get opinions. One of the things I have heard is that most blog sites (wordpress, blogspot, etc) have facilities for forums. Do we maintain this forum as it is, or build a new forum that stems from the blog site? Could I get some thoughts on this?

I'll put another post up after Thursday with more information about what updates will or will not occur.