Water Gun Network -- now online!

trekkie00 · Post by **trekkie00** » Fri Apr 01, 2005 11:51 pm

Please check out my forums out and post some. It isn't completely up and running yet (I have a few items to add to the shop) but it is fully functional.

http://www.getphpbb.com/phpbb/?mforum=watergunnet

WATER GUN NETWORK
Join Now!

SSCBen · Post by **SSCBen** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 2:14 pm

Let me be the first one to tell you that advertising at another forum doesn't work. You may get a few dedicated people to come to your forum, but if you're truly looking for a popular forum you should do your advertising elsewhere. Who you'll find to come likely won't be too dedicated in the long-run.

Believe me when I say this too. I tried to make my own forum in the past, but it never got popular until SSCentral. At SSCentral we found our own members, not "leeching-off" those from other forums.

Make a real forum (not one on a free forum host) and advertise it more legitimately. Think of how people find Super Soaker forums and target those outlets.

B)

isoaker_com · Post by **isoaker_com** » Sat Apr 02, 2005 8:56 pm

While I'll agree with some of Doom's points, I don't feel that there is any harm in advertising on the existing boards when creating a new forum. Different forums have different feels that may cater to some members' needs better than the forum they are currently a member of. Members CANNOT be leeched from a forum they really enjoy being a part of.

However, also striving to bring in new members as opposed to reshuffling the current online Soakerdom membership is more preferable. The online community needs to grow. More members overall results in better information exchanges between members and forums.

My 2 cents...

B)

wetmonkey442 · Post by **wetmonkey442** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 2:11 pm

Originally posted by Doom@Apr 2 2005, 09:14 AM
Let me be the first one to tell you that advertising at another forum doesn't work. You may get a few dedicated people to come to your forum, but if you're truly looking for a popular forum you should do your advertising elsewhere. Who you'll find to come likely won't be too dedicated in the long-run.

Believe me when I say this too. I tried to make my own forum in the past, but it never got popular until SSCentral. At SSCentral we found our own members, not "leeching-off" those from other forums.

Make a real forum (not one on a free forum host) and advertise it more legitimately. Think of how people find Super Soaker forums and target those outlets.

B)
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I'm sorry Doom, but it sounds as if you are afraid of losing members. As iSoaker said, members who enjoy a certain set of forums won't leave completely. Besides, it is possible for somone to be active on more than one forum. Also, advertising on other forums IMO is one of the best ways to gather interest. Not everyone has the time resources or abilities to create a full functioning site to be a link to a set of related forums. Personally, I think that this set of forums has potential as do all who are run by somone dedicatd enough to make it worthwhile.

SSCBen · Post by **SSCBen** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 4:48 pm

^ Stop taking me so negatively. I don't like reshuffling. In fact (and no offense to anyone), I think I can safely say that many of the "inexperienced" members here aren't the ones I want and I'd love for other forums to take them.

I've been working on a refocusing of SSCentral, one that will change our angle. I don't in particular care too much about losing members because you always could get newer ones more interested in what we do.

Regardless, I find advertising at a forum to be completely ineffective. I say completely ineffective because no new people are found.

I realize that you're a moderator at SM, and you know that essentially no one at your forum came to SM from a search engine. They all came from other sites. You will always get more members if they find your site on their own. That is what I am saying.

I am not saying to make a huge site to support your forum (though that would be the best way IMO). I realize that you people think you don't have enough time, but sacrifices must be made to get your goal sometimes. I believe you'll find a lot more time if you use it more efficiently and make sacrifices.

B)

(a sidenote: Use the spell check wetmonkey. Your "somone"s and "dedicatd" both were caught and could have been corrected by the spell check. That took me no longer than 10 seconds to find.)

wetmonkey442 · Post by **wetmonkey442** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 4:57 pm

Sorry Doom, I was in a bit of a hurry when typing. I'm not about to turn this into another rules discussion though

.

New forums are exactly what the community needs IMO. They attract younger and less experienced members eager to leave thier mark on a "new" forum and they help to expand the community in general. Trekkie's forum looks promising and with increased activity has the potential to grow into something really nice.

Soak On

Spinner · Post by **Spinner** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 5:06 pm

This is a difficult one. Personally, I would like this forum to progress towards being, neither a "newbie" nor a "1337" one, but into one where people quickly mature to take part in worthwhile discussions about various aspects of soaking. I also think that online soakerdom needs more people in it in general, so a new forum isn't bad if it can attract new members. If we get more members into online soakerdom, Hasbro might finally take us a bit more seriously, like it has done to some extent in Nerf.

I don't know whether simply stretching the membership base is necessarily a good thing, though. Maybe it's good thing to stat with, but ultimately it should eventually be looking for brand new members.

As Wetmonkey said...Soak On.

NiborDude · Post by **NiborDude** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 7:42 pm

I think they have a chance of becoming a good forum. They certainly introduced the forums at the right time. When we released Soaker Media, we did it in the dead of winter. Silly us.

Even though we did release at a bad time we have accumulated over 2300 posts. I think trekkie introduced the forums at the right time. I'm sure they will get a lot of members and tons of posts. But their flaw is that there is no site to go along with the forums. The only reason SM did any good was because our site attracted members.

Godzillasoaker65 · Post by **Godzillasoaker65** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 8:03 pm

I think Doom meant was the people who aren't interested in soaking, instead of inexperienced users. We all started out inexperienced, and now know everything about rules, and stuff like that. The newer people will ask questions that may be obvious, and learn to search, or look on the site, and become valuable members.

SSCBen · Post by **SSCBen** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 10:12 pm

I meant what our word filter removes: "inexperienced users" means no0bs. I'd be more than happy to get some of those guys off our forum by means other than banning. Hopefully somewhere else they could learn a thing or two and possibly return later.

We all can agree that it would be best to get more people discussing overall than having more places to discuss. I agree completely with Spinner, just having more places to discuss doesn't mean that is best. I do not believe that by creating a forum (especially one on a free forum host) you are necessarily "strengthening the community" in any way at all unless you go our of your way to attract new people.

If all the forums strived to get as many new interested people as possible, the online community would be in better shape. That's not what happens. We could easily be far larger than we currently are, but it takes effort that most aren't willing to make.

To all those trying to start a forum: don't remain "dependent" on your links in other sites! You don't need them to be popular. Attract your own crowd to strengthen soakerdom to a far greater extent.

trekkie00 · Post by **trekkie00** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 10:55 pm

We're in the planning stages to start a site-wide RPG game. If anyone's interested, they should have a look and register.

hotshotwithcps4100 · Post by **hotshotwithcps4100** » Tue Apr 05, 2005 5:09 pm

Uh, I signed up and it won't let me post or do anything :blink:

EDIT: It works now, that's strange :mellow:

Toaster · Post by **Toaster** » Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:57 pm

registered. now, about the "shop" and "bank" - how is credit earned?

trekkie00 · Post by **trekkie00** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 12:43 am

You earn credit - "Water", as it's known on the site - by posting or winning contests. There is a small one going on now. The bank is a place to put water that will earn interest.