EoFF Elections 2010, Debate Thread!

[Election Booth]

Mandalore, you've got 12 hours to have a rebuttal!

[Jiro]

I would just to like to say personally that I found that post of Paul's to be amazing.

[Marshall Banana]

I ought to throw you down a shaft, Emperor!

Edit: Please change my post icon to a strawberry! For some reason, I'm unable to post except through Quick Reply. I see an error page after I try to save changes, etc.

Edit #2: Nevermind!

[Ultima Shadow]

*is back and has finally had the time to read everything up to this point*

Nice going Psy, that was one very insightful post.

[Aerith's Knight]

Not to mention, I've thought of a way to keep out the spam from General Chat.

[Freya]

I read the tl;dr post cause it had pretty colors

[Mo-Nercy]

Bang up job, Psy.

[Levian]

EoFF should work hard to try to promote the game. I think the staff members who play XI (such as Del Murder, Loony BoB and Levian - sorry to try to make you guys do work and all, but hey, I did plenty for XIII so to the lot of you!)

I don't mind you trying to make me work, the tongue smiley however is something I mind

Given that Europe doesn't get FFXIV later than North America, I will definitely be there to promote and help organize and gather EoFF on FFXIV.

Regarding FFXIV frontsite stuff and resources I don't think we have a snowball's chance in hell to compete against large wiki sites such as Alakhazam and FFXIclopedia was for FFXI. But what we can do is make sure that everyone who comes here and wants to play FFXIV will immediately be a part of our group and will have someone to gain exp, do quests and missions with, etc. I think we're better off taking the community route than giving information about everything route. As for the frontsite, we should put up some general info about races, the world, nations, jobs and such. Things that will make us show up for FFXIV searches in google and draw members in, and things that are useful for people that don't know where to begin with this game.

[Jessweeee♪]

Yeah, it'd be pretty tough to be thorough about it. Just some basic stuff and the most commonly requested information by novice players such as myself xD

[I Don't Need A Name]

Maybe we could set up a scheme - and not a newbie mentoring scheme, I hasten to add! - where our existing members set out to make a new friend by PMing someone whose user name they don't recognise and striking up a conversation with them. Just to make them feel like a part of the community rather than being an outsider. It's what made me stick around, after all.

Me and Freya already did that, sort of, with Aibbie. Introducing her to EoFFers

That post shows that Paul actually does have a brain, and a good one at that

I'll applaud your effort, and hope Eric XIII has an as good, if not better, post on the 501st's behalf

[Psychotic]

Thanks folks. I am glad people read it and enjoyed it!

[Goldenboko]

Members should take it upon themselves to pm newbs. If the person seems cool and to you want them to stick around, pm them! If you don't you can't complain when they decide not to stick around.

[Del Murder]

These debates are tough because our parties weren't formed based on any ideal, it was just 'choose the one that looks the coolest'. So many of us take the same stance on these issues, and when we have to 'rebut' it feels like debate class where you have to take the opposing stance even if you disagree with it.

So I agree with most of what Psy said and it was a very good post. Unfortunately, it's far too late to jump start the FFXI forum since that game is in it's later days and will soon be overshadowed by FFXIV. There are already entire forums and wikis dedicated to this game and for EoFF to try and compete would be laughable. Trying to get new people interested in the game is hard because of the time required to start from the beginning, especially these days with most players being veterans in the 'end game' stage.

As I've said to the staff, FFXIV has a huge potential for bringing in new members but that requires good promotion and a site staff dedicated to keeping up with the latest in the game. Hopefully we can achieve something like that.

[Mo-Nercy]

So maybe there's a twofold problem - newbies not sticking around, and members from the Final Fantasy forums not making the transition to the General forums.

What about those of us who post regularly in both the lower half and General sections of the forums? We're just awesome, right?

Members should take it upon themselves to pm newbs. If the person seems cool and to you want them to stick around, pm them! If you don't you can't complain when they decide not to stick around.

I've been doing this a bit too, especially those that are friendly enough to make an introduction thread in the Wonder Square.
I also reckon not enough of us welcome newbies. We should all want the forums to surge back to the good ol' days of 2005-06 and something as simple as dropping in on their thread to say 'hello' can help.

[G13]

If it seems rushed, it is. I saw that I had 12 hours to post about 3 hours ago. Tip o' the hat to Psy though for wicked long, wicked good post.



When I first joined EoFF almost four years ago I immediately began posting in the lower forums. I joined a Final Fantasy forum so why not post about Final Fantasy? I steered clear of the General Forums because the atmosphere was intimidating. I felt like I would be judged or something for jumping into a conversation between longtime friends. I’d like to think that I’m not alone in feeling that. Since becoming active again I’ve seen a lot of new members pass through, and the ones that stuck around I can count on one hand.

An uninviting atmosphere is what we have all throughout the forums. If a newbie posts something in the wrong forum they get a stoic reprimanding, not a friendly heads-up. When posting they are simply ignored. Not a lot of people go out of their way to invite them in their introductory posts, and if they do they overwhelm them with inside jokes of “Don’t trust so-and-so” or trying to recruit them to a party they know nothing about. It’s not just regular members behaving this way, mods are generally unsocial too. Before anyone says “But I talk to {insert new member name here} on a regular basis” let me ask this, what does that one new member that you talk to have that the others don’t? On that note, why not treat all members, new and old, like they’re important?

This brings me to my next thought: older members leaving. Site inactivity, problems with other members, real life problems, or just growing out of the internet phase has people leaving. It’s not uncommon. Everyone gets older, and with age comes maturity. Maybe a member will decide one day that real life is where it’s at and being part of an online community is keeping them from it. It can be as sudden as that or, using the latest prank as an example, thought about long and hard by a member. Either way we have no choice but to let that member go as mind control devices have yet to be invented.

That concludes my “We, the members” part of my speech. Enter “It’s all Squenix’s fault”.

Let’s face it, the latest installments of the Final Fantasy franchise have been less than desirable. While they can be fun to play, they lack the spice that earlier FF titles had. Less people interested in them means less people talking about them and that means a decrease in posting. The young ‘uns finding us and joining up because of these games are not getting the discussions they expected. Also, we’ve covered just about everything that can be covered. No one wants to keep talking about “---“ when a new member makes another thread about “---”. (That part’s not really Squenix’s fault but I decided to throw it in there anyways)

How can we fix this decline?

I have no idea. Like I said before, we can’t stop people from leaving and we definitely can’t make people post. If I had to come up with a grand plan on my own and only had 24 hours to do it you could expect zero results, but luckily I have a good team around me.

Never underestimate the power of eye candy! If the front site and forums had a truly impressive look, I don't doubt that more members would be drawn in!

I don’t know about the forums but if the frontsite were spiffed up a bit what would stop potential members from taking a look. I realize it takes a lot of work to maintain the frontsite but switching some stuff around and making it look less cluttered (not my words) might help more than we think.

Maybe "General Gaming Discussion" should be promoted to a forum category one day - instead of remaining under "General" - with its own forums. What exactly they should be I don't know (MMOs for one?). As it stands, though, I have to go to a different forum if I want to actually discuss Etrian Odyssey 3 or its predecessors.

I think that an official EoFF mascot (Mr. Moogle to compliment Mognet Messages or Mr. Chocobo) is better suited to do this, though - assuming someone is up to the job!

Artemicion maybe?

I would say, axe the ciddies, cause it makes some people (me included over the years) feel rather alienated.

I don’t agree that we should “axe” the ciddies, but maybe refine them a little. It does indeed alienate members and it turns into a big popularity contest.

Open up an Ivalice forum? So vagrant story, reverant wings etc can be discussed plus any updates on FF Fortress.

Also, why not continue the Eyes on Plays event with other games? The Pokemon players have their thread up in General Gaming. Why not make that an actual event? Have multiple ones going on even. Eyes on Plays {insert rpg name}. The members could have loads of fun and the site will benefit from lots of activity.

In the future will the trend...
A. Continue downward
B. Level out
C. Begin to reverse to the upward direction

If nothing changes we most certainly will continue downward. What changes need to be made is the real question. We are but humble Legionnaires, all we can do is make the suggestions and do our best to help follow them though. :vader: