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Post by Vibe on Dec 17, 2012 20:01:08 GMT -5
Ok, so these forums are dead as hell. I get bored at work rarely, but when I do and I can't play, I come here looking for respite, but alas none is to be had. (yeah I said alas, bishes)
SO
Contest time.
Looking for ideas to help spark life back into the forums and the clan in general. Everyone is allowed to suggest as many things as they'd like, and the winning idea gets a cash prize transferred into their PayPal account. (That means if you don't have a PayPal account, you should probably get one or something.
To be clear, this only extends to members of Rx. Outside suggestions are welcome, but only Insomnia members are eligible for the cash prize. Get to it!
(P.S. the amount of the prize will be proportional to the awesomeness of the winning suggestion)
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Post by leadsnipe on Dec 17, 2012 23:36:49 GMT -5
I'm Always checking everday on the computer and on my phone all the time, but theres never anything for me to reply too lol. I will have to dust off my thinking cap!
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Post by leadsnipe on Dec 18, 2012 20:15:59 GMT -5
One Suggestion : Lets change our chatango thing, to some kind of messenger that also has mobile messaging for iPhone/Droid . I know that i would enjoy chatting with you guys on my phone all day, granted if it was availibe. As it is now, Droid user "sorta" have a mobile version but since its flash no such luck on the iphones.
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had
Rx.Lieutenant
Posts: 326
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Post by had on Dec 18, 2012 22:21:45 GMT -5
Yeah, I was going to suggest a new chat.
Maybe an irc chat or something?
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kira
Rx.Captain
Rx.Freak
Posts: 154
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Post by kira on Dec 18, 2012 23:23:55 GMT -5
Snipe has a pretty good idea. I could write us a chat from scratch that any mobile developer could write an app to use. There may already be something available to use an SQL database for a mobile chat, and if so, I'm sure we could do it without any external help. I can do the website chat easy, though it's not on the insomniaclan site so it would need to be using an external SQL server if you don't have permissions to use the current one (which I assume not) for more than the forums. I doubt proboards gives access to it.
So, an SQL server on the insomniaclan server, then the ... dammit I realized proboards probably don't allow PHP pages uploaded either, so the whole chat would have to be on the insomniaclan site, then maybe just iframe it into the forums. Idk .. thinking into the reply box I guess ..
My idea would probably be a tournament system with highscores or ranking based on tournament placings. You could open it for all users, have a tournament rack (them line things ...) for each on their respective pages, and give out virtual prizes like trophies and whatnot. Maybe even some special tournaments for real prizes like gift cards or something if someone ends up with something they don't need. This idea could create a whole new site and use the insomniaclan forums as a place to talk and whatnot. Assuming that it would bring in a little popularity, which I guess is the goal so .. ok I shut up now. (:
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had
Rx.Lieutenant
Posts: 326
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Post by had on Dec 19, 2012 4:25:24 GMT -5
GOD FUCKING DAMNIT KIRA, WHY THE FUCK DO YOU COME UP WITH YOUR FUCKING IDEAS
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nom
Rx.Sleepwalker
Posts: 109
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Post by nom on Dec 21, 2012 0:03:25 GMT -5
no one is ever on dogfight servers anymore O.o
Free cookies every wednesday to get through the rest of the week. Yes.
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had
Rx.Lieutenant
Posts: 326
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Post by had on Dec 21, 2012 3:22:20 GMT -5
start playing ftb noob
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Post by Vibe on Dec 21, 2012 16:32:24 GMT -5
The mobile chat thing is a good idea, but that will have to wait until the forum is moved off of Proboards, which Duke's been working on for a little while now.
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kira
Rx.Captain
Rx.Freak
Posts: 154
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Post by kira on Dec 21, 2012 20:57:23 GMT -5
The mobile chat thing is a good idea, but that will have to wait until the forum is moved off of Proboards, which Duke's been working on for a little while now. It actually wouldn't if you have the ability to add HTML, which from what I've heard you do straight onto the template files. The chat could be on his server and framed here. Then the mobile chat would have to be made into an app, or you could make a mobile web chat, which would be easy.
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Post by pdbq on Dec 22, 2012 2:29:01 GMT -5
The forums always kind of die around christmas and other school vacations it seems. People are too busy doing other things I think. But some of these ideas are good and I think we should implement them if possible.
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Post by iNoob on Dec 22, 2012 4:57:57 GMT -5
we've been saying that for over a year now. That's the way it USED to be. . . We would have less forum activity around important days like Christmas, but then we would spark back to life. It's been sooooo long sense the forums have been continuously active for more then 2 weeks. I've tried doing several things to try and ignite a little action around here like minecraft competitions. . .the ~me~ topic, and some others that i cant think of at the top of my head. None of them have worked. The small amount of people who do check the forums only post in them 1-2 times and never return to them. And many times they don't even post at all.
Maybe we should start with fixing our grid activity. Remember when there used to play with at least 5-6 rxers every day? Now im lucky if I see just one. .
This is our roaster:
Vibe - Semi active Duke - Inactive inoob - going to be inactive a lot more now, and when i do play it's mostly ctf. mAd - inactive pd - semi active, mostly in sumo lime - inactive lead - super inactive knight - I see him raarely Limit - quit tron sabit - super inactive wiz - Inactive nomu - semi inactive Obsession - inactive sabo -inactive hiei - inactive dimension - semi inactive quake- inactive skittle - super inactive kira - ONLY ACTIVE RX. Who - super inactive nadia - she's gone. mose - inactive had - active on forums, but never tron
So out of all our members there's only one i see constantly on the grid (kira). I don't know about most people on that list up there ^, but Im going to be inactive only because I got real life shit to do. If I didn't, i'd be feeding my tron addiction all day. I'm going to assume that everyone on our roaster has real life shit going on too. . which means recruiting new members is the way to go. people should start chatting up in this bish if they play tron constantly. We need more tron addicts who dont have shit to do in their lifes. The problem is. . .I personally don't think anyone is good to be in rx anymore. I consider everyone in loose df a noob now. Not skill wise, but just because i don't talk to them. I get a lot of people asking me for an invitation when I go to df but i always end up turning them down because I dont know them well enough to give them one.
Same thing goes with people you guys invite. A lot of the time I dont know them so I just give them the worst possible score on their application.
Pd had suggested me the idea of inviting new people many times, but most of the time I just ignore it. I love the people in Rx and I didnt want some fucking noobs being accepted into this pro as fuck family just because we want to be a bit more active. But now that I think about it more it wouldn't be such a bad idea. And nah I dont mean go all loosie goosie when it comes to handing out invitations. I just think it would be a good idea to always be on the lookout for possible rx when we're out there.
I'll try to be more friendly to the people in df other then my usual gtfo my face attitude and try to familiarize my self with some of the people there.
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Post by pdbq on Dec 22, 2012 6:24:51 GMT -5
I agree with iNoob, and I actually had just posted something in the member chat section about recruitment. Maybe we should talk about members in that thread so that vibe's contest doesn't get thread-jacked.
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kira
Rx.Captain
Rx.Freak
Posts: 154
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Post by kira on Dec 22, 2012 9:52:20 GMT -5
True noobie .. I always tell ya I miss when Rx server was fully of Rxers. It was lots of fun back then. Now I only see a few of yuns around, and nobody is around a lot like before. These few days I'll be kind'a inactive for xmas parties and stuff at my house, but then I'll be back active. (:
Maybe a good thing to do would be to try and get Rxers to go to more types of games rather than just loose df. It would probably help activity a bit if sumoers and ctfers could get in. I'm sure there would be a few that would join (that we'd actually want).
Another idea that might help is getting a Ventrilo or Teamspeak server and letting it open to public. It doesn't have to be all Tron because I know ya guys will be on MC and stuff, but people being able to see us all active doing stuff might help out too. Idk if that would help the forums, but it would probably help people realize we're not dead. I tried before to get people to use a server, but it's hard. I think once they start though it would be a nice little small community that would come talk all the time. They run cheap at like $3/mo. for a 10-man server. That would at least be enough to get a couple people around, then expand if necessary. A 50-man is only like $10/mo. I think, maybe $15 so the 15/20/etc. user servers aren't much more expensive in between them two.
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Post by pdbq on Dec 22, 2012 13:09:59 GMT -5
I think that could be a good idea. I thought we had a mumble server that duke or someone set up but idk.
One thing that could help drive traffic here is if we make a blog section of the website where members could write articles about the status of the clan or other tron happenings (new members, war results, updates, tutorials, etc). I know that I would be more than willing to contribute. We have good tutorials, but they are hard to find. If we had a different part of the website to easily show off tutorials and show that the clan is active and fighting in wars and taking on new members, it could drive interest. It would be like the front page of our website, the public face of Rx. I would have no problem taking on responsibility of such a blog.
On the subject of changing the website, I think we need a site redesign. A lot of people have talked about how ugly our forums are. It doesn't bother me personally, but it is beginning to look kind of outdated. I think we need a simple clean template that looks slick. Perhaps that could keep people coming back. People are more willing to stay on a website if it doesn't make their eyes bleed. I also think it would be a good idea to clean up (delete/consolidate) some sub-forums. We have too much clutter.
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kira
Rx.Captain
Rx.Freak
Posts: 154
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Post by kira on Dec 22, 2012 19:58:47 GMT -5
Sorry to knock your idea, but I've seen blogs for personal communities fail so many times. It's rare that it works out, and when it does, it's usually the people that feel like they have to try and help out the activity that actually post. The site redesign, or pretty much actually having a site rather than just a forum. I've thought of making this a couple times. Making a place where you can view the roster, war records, tutorials, etc. easily would be kind'a nice. We could have a chat set up there (which I can also make) and info to connect to a voice chat. We could have a real application set up, rather than making people copy/paste the information. We could properly set up the permissions for viewing things and voting on the applications (as well as making this a bit nicer). Users could have more personalized profiles, but I wouldn't allow media or it could harm the servers hosted for Tron. I had more ideas but I was talking to someone else and lost track of my mind so .. I'll stick with that for now. But as for the forum layout and styling .. it's bad for me. I'm partial dyslexic, which usually doesn't show much in my typing because I can hide it fairly well, but reading is kind'a hard. Mixing that with my sorta horrid eyesight and text against same-colored stripes and the transparent to a multi-colored background, it's just hard to read. Before I shut up because I know this is getting long .. The last thing I think we need is to show the site (once updated) on the game servers for people to come. If we have chat, voice chat, etc. it should draw in a few people to get a small community going. *seals lips now ... erm fingers*
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Post by iNoob on Dec 22, 2012 23:06:52 GMT -5
what awesome ideas! We should promote kira to rx freak, he knows all the comp stuff's.
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had
Rx.Lieutenant
Posts: 326
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Post by had on Dec 23, 2012 0:54:31 GMT -5
;_; I will always be a sleepwalker.
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Faux
Ex-Rx
Posts: 197
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Post by Faux on Dec 23, 2012 15:32:05 GMT -5
Rx should "rebirth" like Vibe's new application (or old idfk.) New website, new servers, new everything. Then announce it everywhere, make it exciting to join this new and fresh clan.
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kira
Rx.Captain
Rx.Freak
Posts: 154
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Post by kira on Dec 23, 2012 23:44:34 GMT -5
With so many servers and noobie and myself around, people know it's not dead completely. I'm sure they realize that it ain't like it used to be, but they still see some activity. And the sumo world gets some of pd, and ctf gets a bit of noob so I don't think the "new clan" thing would work on people you would actually want to join, just the new people.
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Post by Vibe on Dec 24, 2012 20:23:07 GMT -5
I'm going to have to disagree on that one. What I just read is we have representatives of Rx in different game types. Sounds like a perfect setup for a publicity drive, which is basically what this is. We pimp out the site and then start spreading word. Sounds like an evolved version of warlords, but with a Public Relations clause ...and evolution is rad. I really like the idea of having a legit website with separate pages for the sections, chat, etc. Also, I think it's about time for a redesign myself. I was thinking about that the other day, making it look more sleek and professional. These all seem like winning ideas. Pending....
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Post by pdbq on Dec 25, 2012 5:05:30 GMT -5
I had some free time on my hands so I mocked up a new forum design in photoshop. i.imgur.com/rDHoa.pngThoughts?
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had
Rx.Lieutenant
Posts: 326
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Post by had on Dec 25, 2012 9:42:51 GMT -5
Love it pd
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Post by iNoob on Dec 25, 2012 14:10:20 GMT -5
wow that looks beast
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Post by leadsnipe on Dec 25, 2012 14:15:24 GMT -5
Inoob, How are you going to say that i am super inactive when I was the first to respond to this lol? im always on when im not working or on a freaking holiday like today cause of RL family.
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had
Rx.Lieutenant
Posts: 326
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Post by had on Dec 25, 2012 14:27:59 GMT -5
Talking about tron
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kira
Rx.Captain
Rx.Freak
Posts: 154
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Post by kira on Dec 25, 2012 21:14:12 GMT -5
Sorry PD, but I'll be honest and say I don't like it much. It feels too plain, and I don't really care for the color (which would easily be changed, I know). I think background and foreground should be set apart more, like a white background (which I always like), and maybe a banner rather than a full bar for the header.
The layout isn't bad, and yeah I know it's a pretty usual layout but it would work okay. We need some custom icons, and more post info in display. I think we need to switch forum software to something like SMF which I'm a personal fan of and have worked with a bit, as well as have been support for them. It's much nicer, and when you host it yourself, you have so many more options. Also, I think a portal would be nice (which we talked about already above).
I'll stop criticizing now, and say that I'm glad you're thinking and trying to come up with something. I tend to give opinions, but not take action. lol But, we can't do much until we move away from proboards ..
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Post by pdbq on Dec 26, 2012 0:42:17 GMT -5
I appreciate your honesty and criticisms. I didn't put it up just to get a pat on the back, I want to be able to improve the design to something that everyone can live with. Also, let me say that I've never designed nor created a website before, so I have relatively low expectations of what I can accomplish.
Now I think that most of us agree that the current design of the forums is tacky, and almost anything would be an upgrade. I'm not saying my design is perfect or even that good, but boring, plain, and clean is a hell of a lot better than distracting and unreadable. Most templates I've seen aren't much better than what I've created (please point me to examples of forums you think are good for reference). And I would prefer to have something custom than the zillionth forgettable forum template. Proboards is obviously part of the problem, but my design is going off the assumption that we will have a new forum software hosted by us.
In regards to your point that we need a portal, I agree. However I just wanted to throw something together quickly, not design an entire website that everyone might end up hating.
I'm going to keep tweaking it and posting updates. Thanks for the feedback.
EDIT: Oh and if my design is really just that shitty, I have no problem using a template. Don't be afraid to tell me that it's bad and I should feel bad. I don't really have an ego about this sort of thing, I just wanted to get the ball rolling because I didn't think anyone else would be willing to.
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Post by iNoob on Dec 26, 2012 1:42:00 GMT -5
lead - I was talking about grid activity.
I honestly thought that the design was fucking beast, especially the colors. A white backround would be blinding. Looks like everything would be easy to read and find.
I suggest we put another lil box somewhere at the top where we can advertise a certain topic. One that is always posted no matter where you go on the website. (This post as an example)
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kira
Rx.Captain
Rx.Freak
Posts: 154
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Post by kira on Dec 26, 2012 21:06:12 GMT -5
Noob, them topics are announcements that would show up inside of any given forum. That is a feature that comes with every popular forum software.
As for white being blinding, I don't see that problem. I love clean white sites that are clean and (semi basic) to make it look nice and professional. Obviously for this clan, I would probably go with a plain black background, or even a tiled background maybe lined light on dark. You would lose dimensions on the forum this way though, but that would be fine, or you could even try a glow w/ a lighter forum. I would probably try to integrate the color system used here into a basic template like in SMF, I like their default template.
Slightly alter the color system, throw up a new logo, swap out the icon set, add a portal, security section properly done, and it would be nice and clean. Sadly, proboards probably won't give you the database, so we would have to likely start a new forum from scratch. The portal system would allow an easy setup though for tabbing things such as the roster, and you could allow more than just the admin to update it if wanted. My main problem with his layout would be I don't really care for the color. The template itself looks quite a bit like the usual forum layout you'd find just about anywhere, and it's clean and nice yeah I don't have a problem with that. It's just my opinion though, you guys may like different things, I'm just kind'a picky when it comes to things like that with what I do and don't like.
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