OPEN DISCUSSION: The Portal's Future

[#tag]

Now, a new era will begin and I will lead as the new Avatar. - UnaVaatu
In an effort to not save, but fire up the Avatar Portal with her respective sites and forums, I have talked to Uncle Iroh and have received permission to take lead in controlling the Portal and . When I approached Uncle, I expressed my concern over the Portal's overall traffic. Even when season of the Legend of Korra are airing, this site sees little if any activity. Though, it would be easy and quick to blame it on the busy lives of our regular members or even the fact that when Korra is off the air, so are we. I didn't see that as a probable answer. I remember when I begun my membership here it was during a large boom of new members, and it occurred during the long wait between season 2 and 3 of the Legend of Aang. Yet, this site and forum still thrived with activity.

And, we can't blame the activity of the regular members. For, the original members faded off into their own lives, but were quickly replaced by a large, lively group of newcomers. As one group leaves, another will enter (It's like highschool). I then thought, what was the true issue? Other Avatar sites, though very few nowadays, still see more activity than us. But, I also noticed that their site and staff were extremely proactive in their jobs. That's when it hit me! Perhaps, this site needs an entirely new team to work heavily on news, site design, and forum moderation. Perhaps the forum and site has died, because we need a proactive staff. One that creates circumstance, and are not creature of circumstance.

I know that I could easily, with an elite and cooperative team by my side, can create and spread productivity throughout the site and forum (Trust me, I've got plenty of ideas). Nothing similar to an AvRen, but projects and ideas on a much larger scale to get things rolling, But last night, as I began my work, I spotted another issue.

I joined the Portal-related Facebook group and noticed a good amount of activity there. Sure, it wasn't spectacular, but it was more than here! I did some handy-dandy research and thought through things a bit. Has the current rise of social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) made forum boards such as us obsolete? If I want to, for the lack of a better word, resurrect the Avatar Portal, would I want to ditch the forums and focus more on social media?

For someone go into Marketing, and having a special interest in social media marketing, I shouldn't be surprise. Who goes to a forum board these days for news and discussion? No one. People are more connected via Facebook or Twitter. And, if I want to comment or discuss more about a certain topic, I'll just tweet back or share it. Of course, a forum has its advantage to host discussions for more topics rather than for specific articles or posts. But, are we that thriving of a site to need a forum? Could we MAKE our site that thriving? Or, should we survive solely on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter?

That's where YOU come in. This is an open discussion to the forum, about the forum. The question of the hour: What do you feel would be the best future for the Avatar Portal? Her site? Her forums? Her social media accounts? Keep in mind the interest of BOTH the current and new/potential members. The Portal's outcome should not be decided to please one party and not the other. Is it better for both parties to keep the forum, to switch to social media only, or for another idea designed by you?

I want to read your thoughts, concerns, and questions.

Thank you,
#tag

[Air of the North]

I am for keeping the forums open. The memories here keep bringing me back. It is disheartening that the site has dwindled as it has, but I feel that if we get new members at the reigns, we can bring back what once was...
The mods of recent past were ok, mostly liked to throw their power around and did nothing to help the site, which now has died off along with their activity. I would love to have a chance in helping bring back AP.

[Tera253]

I am for keeping the forums open. The memories here keep bringing me back. It is disheartening that the site has dwindled as it has, but I feel that if we get new members at the reigns, we can bring back what once was...
The mods of recent past were ok, mostly liked to throw their power around and did nothing to help the site, which now has died off along with their activity. I would love to have a chance in helping bring back AP.

Basically this. While many of the staff members did things in good judgment, some staff appointments/decisions were not well thought out IMHO, and were the source of a lot of contention. However, since the site has basically gone into a coma, I reckon it's time to start anew in some way, shape, or form, and if we've got a team of dedicated new staff members willing to do what they can to build back the glorious APland, I'd be happy to be a part of it, one way or another.

[#tag]

Thank you both for your input, and for such the forums will remain open. With as much activity as we see, I shouldn't expect any more comments.

It's seems that the staffing problem has been an issue in other ways, which is very good to know. I will begin figuring things out for the forums, including finding a new staff team. Thank you again.

[Raava]

Oh man I am so late to the party here. I didn't know this thread existed until I dug through the forum a little oops >___>

Anyway, down to business.

I absolutely think that there are several factors that contributed to our decline, the most major of which you've addressed which is that we basically had no staff. Honestly, it's mostly just Kat and I who are the only moderators who visit the chat daily, and we cannot even do anything in the forums due to the fact that we only have helper privileges/responsibilities. And I'll be honest, I've neglected to visit the forums in a *long* time since they've become Detroit. But, with the recent boost due to discussion about making changes around here, I'm really excited that I have a purpose for using them again. Either way, lack of active staff is definitely one of the biggest problems, and I think that really connects into the problem of the site feeling rather elitist and hostile for a while. I don't think that's so much of a problem now since it's been pretty dead, but definitely revamping and cleaning up the rules is a major priority if we want to be successful in the future.

Also, I want to suggest that we should keep the forums, and encourage people who otherwise use social media for discussions (read: facebook and tumblr) to hold discussions in the forums. I say this because I see a LOT of people on tumblr who make really awesome observations and analyses on literally everything about the show, and if we could have that kind of awesome content on the discussion boards, that would be great. And that's where a forum comes into use, because plenty of people could have meaningful things to contribute to a tumblr post, but it gets lost amidst all the likes and reblogs of the original post. Basically, a lot of people really don't get to see the contributions and thoughts of other people on a said topic, and that is a major setback of tumblr. Since AP has a tumblr, I think we really should utilize that and encourage the plethora of ATLA/LOK fans on tumblr to move discussions onto our forums so everyone can be heard, and it's not the luck of having a ton of followers that defines the popularity of a post.
I know that there are a few people here who hold a rather negative view of tumblr, but I absolutely don't think that should hold us back from inviting people from tumblr onto our site. In my opinion, the medium of communication on tumblr is clunky and finicky at best--there is no chat on there, notifications about replies on text posts are not consistent, and it is otherwise difficult to hold a conversation on there, and I really don't think it is designed for people to communicate freely with each other like a forum/chatroom is. I really think we could market that aspect of AP and use that to draw people in. The allure of being able to have a vivacious and tightly knit community would appeal to a lot of people, I think. It certainly appeals to me.

Considering all that, the forum/chat experience is a unique mode of communication we can offer that is more effective than tumblr, twitter, or facebook. Tumblr and twitter don't really have any opportunities for people to hold actual conversations with each other, and while facebook does offer that to an extent, you really can't meet new people as readily as you can on a forum, plus you really can only have one-on-one conversations as far as the messaging application goes. So essentially, if we could somehow connect those three major social medias to AP, that would be fantastic. Tumblr is already connected onto the main site, if I'm not mistaken? Since we use the AP tumblr for news and such, we already have a window of opportunity there that we can utilize. (I'm actually a co-contributor on the AP tumblr already, so if you want me to make any announcements or whatnot through there, hit me up!) I'm doubt there's a way to physically put facebook onto the main site, so I think that would be better suited to stay separate but connected, and encourage fans of the facebook page to visit the forums. As far as twitter goes, I'm certain there's a way to physically put the twitter feed onto the main site (much like Bulbapedia does, if you've ever visited their site.)

Essentially, the biggest thing I'm pushing here is that we should interconnect tumblr, facebook, and twitter with AP, and instead of allowing social media to cut us dry, use it to our advantage and actually boost our activity. And the biggest thing that this really all goes back to is the community. For me personally, it wasn't the episodes or the game forums or the fanfiction that kept me here at AP all these years, it was the community that we used to have. There were times in the last couple years where I either considered leaving (which has happened several times) or I simply haven't visited the chat for a few days. I chalk it up to a couple things: I'm just very busy with life, and the lack of activity doesn't really compel me to stay for more than five minutes. It is really the memories of the great times that I had on here that makes it nearly impossible for me to leave. If we could bring back the crazy fun vivacious atmosphere we once had, that is something worth striving for. That is the true value of the site.

[Darth Cheesecake]

Honestly everyone above me has covered my points in better detail than I could so I'll just repeat support of that and anything that could help liven things up. Here's hoping.

Oh! I've actually got something.

For the past year or so I've run a forum group on the Bioware Social Network, we're relatively small (35 people maybe a dozen regulars) but we keep things going by maintaining a lively general chat thread and a whole host of things that would be put under the "Off-Topic" umbrella. The chat box is great and all, but I've always been fond of actual threads for general chat/random discussion.

So... like the current Off-Topic section just a little meatier.

(This would have been done so much better but I'm running on fumes and need some sleep)

[abrightidea]

Well most of you covered my points. However, our biggest problems in the past (way back when) was when there was a giant wait between books and episodes I saw a lot of people leave. One of things that kept people coming back was having events. Maybe we can try to bring this back again? I have been away for a host of life reasons, but now with some open time, I am working to create a new more general geeky podcast. So I shall be around a bit more is what i am saying.

[...-FTW-...]

This is really encouraging to hear that there's a vested interest in reviving the site. I think all of the points made here are solid, especially Raava's breakdown of keeping the forum but utilizing social media in an integrated way. Forums are definitely dying out a little bit, but I'm with Abrightidea on the events. AvRen and Avatar Olympics were some of my favorite memories from the forum. With season 3 concluded and tons of things to talk about in the interim, I think this might be a great time to plan a big event and let AP be the forum that leads an overall Avatar fandom revival with a big event.

Some of my favorite parts of the old events:
Trivia
Writing Competitions
Art Competitions (illustrations, photoshop, gifs)
Artists on the site creating Profile avatars of Users' characters
Role Play
Video mashups

I think taking the time to plan out an event, revamping the site, cleaning up the non-fuctioning parts and advertising the hell out of the big event through Facebook, Tumblr and other Social Media outlets will get eyes, but also revive a fandom that has always been super passionate and creative.

As I stated in my Return Post in Joo-Dee's Welcome Board, I'm in a little bit of a bind with my current job and my non-compete agreement, so I can't do intensive work, but I'd love to be here for feedback and suggestions (and to eventually participate in any of the events as a forum member).

Again, so happy to see people getting back into the groove of things with the site.

(Puts on Old Man Bumi robes) I remember the days before Uncle Iroh taking over the site! Oh the times of the great transition were truly wondrous and filled with Season 2 and Season 3 antics...