Sooooooo......

[Starscreams_Ghost]

when are we going to rename this place to the "hurt 'n heal birthday" board?

Is there really so little to discuss?

anyone got any ideas for what they'd like to see done here to entice new blood?

I could probably ban 90% of the members and 50% of the mods here without anyone noticing.

There must be something we can do to liven this place up.... even xbot can't be arsed to spam us anymore....

[KingGrimlock]

Unfortunately I think busier boards are getting people over to them and then taking up the majority of their time. Also I think people got put off by the confusion regarding TransformersAnimated.com and the shared forum. We need a hook of some description to get people in, whether it be preview photo galleries, a podcast, a blog for news, video reviews or vlogs, we need something to spread the name outside of people just stumbling across the place.

[Sunstreaker]

Whatever we do, we need to attack.

If that makes any sense?


Birthday boards, Smiley threads, Role-play, Hurt n Heal... whatever - but we all need to chuck in. Build momentum. Once she's rolling again the board will roll under its own steam.

The real strength of TF@TM is the strong body of Mods, 'old skool' posters and the ethos of the board.

We do what we do best and things will pick up again.

[Phill]

I think it's all to do with attitudes to how in the UK Transformers as a brand is a low priority.

Generations looks to be canned, Power Core is next, and it looks like we're only getting one wave of Reveal the Shield.
Instead we're getting loads of Stealth Force and whatever the RPM's are called nowadays.

If anything was to be addressed, I'd be asking as to why some of the older members, just stopped coming by? There are a few people I can think of who were very active, then just suddenly stopped posting. I think that the lack of chat on here isn't helping keep them around, and the influx of younger people (Because of the Transformers Animated link) felt like the place was being dumbed down a little.

When nothing's really happening with the toys or media the board goes slow and quiet. No movie, no cartoon, and overpriced toys is affecting things quite visibly. It's not just us though, I've seen other boards go quieter, but the fact that they have a lot more members than us makes things still look active.

You also have to remember that with the global economy the way it is, a lot of people have just stopped collecting figures like they have. All costs have risen, and toys for an adult are low priority. Why buy a new figure for £15, if that can go towards food for your family? Some people I know who have stopped buying Transformers, have also decided to stop posting in Transformer related forums.

I'm gonna stop ranting now, and go test my blood-sugar as I think I'm waffling a bit.

Phill

[Hob]

I find that my interest in TF's has slowed down i still collect the toys but haven't really been blown away with any of the new line there are a few but i find i'm buying more out of habit.

I still post here and there, but some of the odler board members have stopped coming by that i don't mean age just people who were here when i first found the board.

I enjoyed posting and joining in with threads. Not sure on how to make it like the old days. Even if the older memebers came back i don't think that will help.

I still check the new posts every day, sometimes 3, 4 times a day.

I just think this have slowed down in general.

I hope the board carries on though.

Hob.

[Smellyferret]

I came here from tfans/tformers as the general level inteligence was much higher and the mods and people seemed nicer!

I like old TF's and new stuff I like is getting fewer and far between so I find myself a bit out of the discussions about current toys.
The hurt and heal was a bit of fun and I enjoyed that, but it wouldnt be something I joined a board for.

If you want more traffic/people then maybe asking if this site can host/become/sponsor the board for Auto Assembly? I can see it being win-win really. They get a ready built site and mod team (so less to worry about - they could focus on the actual show) and the board would get more throughput. More members staying on because of the other TF related chat would then create a ready user base for the next AA... a sort of snowball effect..

Just an idea! I doubt you'll get me to AA or posting more!

[minion]

In honesty Transformer toys themselves aren't a priority for me anymore. I changed my approach to toys sometime ago and would now prefer to spend what I consider to be serious money on a breath taking Hot Toys figure rather then dribble cash into several TF toys that'll end up in a storage tub in my attic 12 months from now.
That doesn't mean I don't buy TF, I still pick up the odd one or two that really appeals, and i'll definitely be including MP Rodimus in that 'breath taking' buying ethos of mine.

That doesn't mean I don't like the boards any less though. I enjoy reading through the TF bits, news, customs (when they appear).

An influx of donut members didn't help the board though, and Phill quite rightly points out that as great as Animated.com was, it changed the fan base for the forum. Normally i'm all for change, but I can understand why other people couldn't be bothered with idiotic threads and posts.

TF@TM home page and the board are still two of my daily stops online though.

[Starscreams_Ghost]

Some good points raised

one thing I will mention is when people say it's the lack of interest due to no movie/toon etc...

When this board was at it's most lively it was before any shonky movie and beast machines had long finished with no sign of anything new on the horizon

Did TF maybe become too mainstream?

were we a little cult worshipping at the altar of G1 and someone rewrote our bible?

I truly believe there's more to discuss than we ever had back in the "classic" days and yet people don't

could it be because we're not a "social network"? (sorry I still think social networking is best done in a pub) would we get more traffic if the moonies set up a "cyberbook" ohhh or maybe a "chatblaster" (I'm totally trademarking that you saw it here first) where we could transmit a short message or image for a more rapid discussion?

sorry went off on a ramble, but could facebook and twatter be changing the way we discuss things or are people being bombarded with too much information and they just can't reply to it all?

[Sunstreaker]

I think there's still a place for the message forum, although you're right - Twitter and Facebook are sucking in most of the newcomers.

From a retail perspective, I like to think of these 'Mass-consumption' social networking sites as the equivelent of the 'Big Chain stores' - and sites like TF@TM as a friendly local independant business.

Everyone goes to the 'Big Stores' for their needs, but we all prefer a little quality customer service.

I think you're right as well Ghosty - Transformers have certainly lost their lustre for me. I can still get excited about G1... but that's about it. I'm all about the GI Joe now adays.

I don't spin by here for the 'product'... I come for the atmosphere and conversation.

[GALVY]

after prime airs the fandom will have much to discuss. im betting the new show is slated . michael bay will be pleased its not aimed at him for once. :lol: :lol:

[Steel]

Its a shame too see the place so quiet. Unfortunatly I dont see how it can become as livley as it used to be. As others have said alot of us have moved on. I know alot of the magic of collecting has gone for me. Most of my TFs are in boxes now. I'm even considering selling all but my Masterpeice figures. A few years back I couldn't really contimplate doing that. Always thought I'd pass them onto my sons... maybe I'll hang on a few years too see if they have any intrest.

I'm pretty much in the same state of mind as Minion. I'd far rather buy one expensive high quality "toy" than buy a bunch of figures who just dont seem to have what I'm looking for anymore. I'm too critical of them. While I'd love to customize them, I really just dont have as much time too do that as I want. There is always something of a higher priority.

As for just the general board, I dont know. I'm sure we all havn't turned into poeple so dull we have nothing too talk about, I think its just that we get it done elsewhere like facebook or whatever.

[Sunstreaker]

That's why I think the future of the boards lies with the ancillary 'fluff'.

Someone get some Role-play going , post some smiley stories, mock Soundwaves (he Loves it ya know...) actually get stuck into the HnH, get some photos of your collection up, talk cheese and Zombies...


The stuff that makes TF@TM 'home'.

[quartz]

Did integrating the board into Animated and Lucky Draw really cause that much confusion? It was done as TransformersAnimated.com grew to have the same and then more traffic than Transformers At The Moon within two months of the show launching so it became important for us to have a board up for that site and running it separately seemed pointless.

Personally its lack of time, interest and I guess posts that stop me from reading and posting on the board again now which itself has a knock-on effect of creating less posts.

Most of the board members we use to have have moved away and are either just posting on TFW as its basically the "official" site now Hasbro can't ever name it as such. You also have the rise of YouTube and Podcasts over the last few years that have drawn people away to use those mediums as places to talk and then the associated boards such as Moonbase2 etc.

I agree that the board here needs to change and probably focus on more "fun fluff". I want to totally reorganise it once I complete the code re-write of V9. Yes I know that's been in development for a year but sadly work has taken a massive toll on me over the last 18 months so I've not had a chance, energy or will to continue heavy coding sessions when not working.

Moonbug is moving right now and that's been also causing some issues over the last few months so once he does fully move (the next few days) it'll be just me maintaining everything so I need to start streamlining a few things anyway. At the same time it's also going to probably mean I knuckle down and focus on completing some of the outstanding work.

V9 of the site will show the latest posts and topics on the main site which may help as at the moment other than a small button you'd be hard pressed to know that we have the board.

We will be the official board for Auto Assembly? No its not going to happen. I offered a few years back and even though I am on the committee and was the main sponsor last year it won't happen. Its more likely that I may re-write the AA website at some-point and possibly host it for them, but it would be its own separate entity.

In general traffic to the Moon has fallen over the last few years anyway. Partly because of the lack of updates to the main site (the toy galleries are still the main reason people come to the site and they dried up, not through lack of toys to photograph mind just time to take them and my personal hatred for how I wrote the site).

I have considered starting a podcast but, TBH, there are so many and though I am sure people here have a lot to save and discuss that isn't out there, I don't want to tread on other peoples toes and I'd not want ot start it and then have it fall quickly to one side.

Video reviews will come. My problem was I could not copy the video camera footage from my MiniDV. I now have an HD camera but the computer is not good enough to copy it off still (lol) but I will be buying a new computer in the new year and we do have a YouTube account ready for videos on that (we can also host and stream video ourself. Though I still plan on integrating YouTube into the new members area so people can effectively push their YouTube reviews onto the website. That might also help as it will give everyone another form to give content and at the same time use their existing YouTube libraries.

The news section has already been revamped and the In The News section will be expanded (if I can find more trusted sources of news) but as a minimum will be displayed and navigated in a different way.

The toy gallery and review sections use the same image navigation as Transformers-Prime.com. That site is basically a preview of V9 of the Moon as the layout is the same template, the code is running from the same engine and its running of the new database.

I still want to bring back the mobile phone version of the site (we use to have one) along with possibly an collection of Widgits / Apps along with the first real toy identification system. Forget what you currently have around, I planned one of those before ANY other TF site had one, yes even Transformerland. It was working once as a Javascript powered one back in about 2000. But this will be something different. At the moment I'm having trouble with being ahead of technology but I still have a very strong idea of how it will work I might just need to get some experts in to help me develop it. But if I can pull it of it has the potential to be a big game changer for the not only the site, but some of my other projects.

I certainly want to try to bring the fun back and though the integrated board has meant I could push news to the board easier, in hindsight leaving proboards was probably a bad move as that was more established and I haven't been able to develop the custom features I wanted (mainly as the code behind PHPBB is awful, and as a developer myself I would fire the people responsible for designing it as its fundamentally flawed and un-scalable).

But please post your thoughts / wish list etc on the board as I do want to change it and I want all you guys and the other members to have more of a say not only on the board but on the site and to get involved as if you can contribute to something then it makes you want to go back and do more.

[minion]

Quote:I have considered starting a podcast but, TBH, there are so many and though I am sure people here have a lot to save and discuss that isn't out there, I don't want to tread on other peoples toes and I'd not want ot start it and then have it fall quickly to one side.

This is something I was thinking about a month or so back, but like you said there are too many and without a good hook it's hard to stand out from the mass of them out there. Might be a fun project though.

[quartz]

Yeah, if enough people are interested to participate then its something that I am certainly open to doing and would give us another medium for the interviews that we do. We have a Transformers Prime interview in the works as well as one with Ron Friedman that we will publish next month.

The thing is it'd need to be different enough from Moonbase2 as I don't want people to get the two confused or think we would be competing with them since we are both core to the development of Auto Assembly and Dave / Kalel P is a top bloke. But I feel that perhaps the old skool Mooners could certainly have a lot of fun putting something together but I see it more in line with the side project