The future of the forum

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Merri
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The future of the forum

Post by Merri »

I can't really say this site is professional by any means (thus it is a "hobby"), we don't have things organized a lot nor the site structure is well thought of (particularly as I don't have the energy and time to do big plans and time consuming stuff). We have a combination of a wiki and a forum, but there is not really lot of effort on neither (well, we had wiki getting on a roll, but then this happened).

We do get some special information in and stay up to date, we know some of what happens. In the other hand a lot of this info gets hidden within topics in a forum. Should we organize some kind of news/happenings/stuff into somehow more editorial form? So we can give good shots of what has happened or what'll happen, people can read that in one place. The forum could be then dedicated purely for the talk and fun, to sharing of thoughts.

Also, what kind of impression we want to give? If the editorial articles, newsposts and such have smilies and clear personal opinions, it gives a very fansite/hobby feel. The opposite to that would be just giving the information and some facts that are known, maybe some related information; which would give kind of a professional feel. Which one should be more important if we start doing editorial content?

Then we have wiki. There are a few ways to use a wiki: we can use it as a real wiki like Wikipedia: articles that try to be neutral and bring out differing opinions if there are. The other way is to use it as a content management system: we do any kind of content we think is appropriate for the site and just use the wiki as a tool. Should wiki be limited to certain persons or keep it open for all?

So the big question is: what do we want to do with the site and how do we want to do it? I haven't seen this question ever really answered and I haven't spent all that much time on it myself either. A lot of things that have been done have been on a feel basis, without a real coordination of anything. No real future plans etc.

One big thing is that I probably don't have the time to decide on what the site should be like. I have some time and interest to work on the technical side and I have some energy to do some content, fixes, edits, corrections and the like, but I can't do anything major. This far we haven't really had a real leader of any kind in here: someone does something and it's ok if nobody says it's not ok. Should we have someone who takes it as his/her mission to decide what Maaya's should be?


I really would love to have answers into all these questions. Before we can work on a site we should know what we want of it and what we want to offer. If all of us don't know what the site should be like then we're just working randomly on whatever everyone feels important, but the site itself doesn't really go anywhere.
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Merri
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Post by Merri »

Silence :sleepy:
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Jérôme.
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Post by Jérôme. »

This post will not answer anything, just give my toughs about it.
Merri wrote:I can't really say this site is professional by any means (thus it is a "hobby"), we don't have things organized a lot nor the site structure is well thought of (particularly as I don't have the energy and time to do big plans and time consuming stuff).
I agree, it's not professionnal.
I think we were saying that the site is more than just YOUR hobby. It's a real community, alive.
We do get some special information in and stay up to date, we know some of what happens. In the other hand a lot of this info gets hidden within topics in a forum. Should we organize some kind of news/happenings/stuff into somehow more editorial form? So we can give good shots of what has happened or what'll happen, people can read that in one place. The forum could be then dedicated purely for the talk and fun, to sharing of thoughts.
I duno if we need really an editorial stuff for the site. There are already really good ones, as maayasakamoto.net or Dilly's GCG. I would not enjoy participate in a "Yet Another Maaya News Site"...

Originally, Maaya's was the Internationnal Unofficial Maaya Fan Club. And so a community. People. I get my news of Maaya on the forum, but only because I'm too lazy to go anywhere else. It's not my purpose inicial.
Then we have wiki. There are a few ways to use a wiki: we can use it as a real wiki like Wikipedia: articles that try to be neutral and bring out differing opinions if there are. The other way is to use it as a content management system: we do any kind of content we think is appropriate for the site and just use the wiki as a tool. Should wiki be limited to certain persons or keep it open for all?
I love the idea of the wiki. Until few weeks ago, I didn't have a lot of time to spent in it, but yet I'm quite motivated. This could make the difference between others site. People not 'working' to put news an a site, but to update THE reference about our beloved Maaya-chan.
For those who follow me, this would mean article without time notion (the discography is in, but the announcement of the new album is out).
So the big question is: what do we want to do with the site and how do we want to do it?
...
One big thing is that I probably don't have the time to decide on what the site should be like.
This far we haven't really had a real leader of any kind in here: someone does something and it's ok if nobody says it's not ok. Should we have someone who takes it as his/her mission to decide what Maaya's should be?
And so, IMHV, the first big question is : Who are this we ?
It's obvious there is people on the site who don't care anything. I know some :)
When we will know this WE, we will be able to think a better way of what we need, IF we need anything more than we already have.

I would suggest to do a referundum to know the people interested in the site, and then we will exchange ideas... It's very easy not to reply such a topic because "people are not involved". Getting this status could help brainstorming.

Or could not. This is just a suggestion :)
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Jérôme.
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Post by Jérôme. »

Merri, could you create a new thread with your post and mine reply please ?
Not to hide this discussion in the Data Base topic...
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Tenson
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Post by Tenson »

[quote="Jérôme."]Merri, could you create a new thread with your post and mine reply please ?
Not to hide this discussion in the Data Base topic...[/quote]

I think it's a good idea, so I did it :3

(I hope I haven't gone too far :oops: )
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misssakura
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Post by misssakura »

Why can't we request to be the official international fansite..eheheh...
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Jérôme.
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Post by Jérôme. »

[quote="Tenson"][quote="Jérôme."]Merri, could you create a new thread with your post and mine reply please ?
Not to hide this discussion in the Data Base topic...[/quote]

I think it's a good idea, so I did it :3

(I hope I haven't gone too far :oops: )[/quote]

Yes...
And you spotted exactly the point in setting the title :)

Because the Maaya's Project is not only a forum. The forum was just one of the component of the original idea... And people seem to be forgetting all the rest...
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Merri
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Post by Merri »

I actually changed the topic title because "fate" sounded all too... ominous.

I've been silent as I've had a couple of bad days, my sleeping times are rather weird at the moment. In the other hand I don't have much to say, I'm kind of waiting for more people to involve so we could see who are The We.

At the moment things are confusing as I don't have any vision for the site. If we make wiki The Thing of this site, maybe we should reformat the site frontpage (that is now the forum index) so that it also lists some of the changes that have been done in the wiki, has a link to introduction of the wiki and a couple of main pages/categories. Maybe it would also be possible to make one post of the forum to appear in the frontpage so by editing this post we could rise up some recent notable changes etc.

Also, we should make it easier to involve in editing the wiki. There might be a need to write a proper instructions for editing stuff and so on.

Some kind of community blog could be a possibility.

Ideas, ideas...
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dillpops
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Post by dillpops »

I enjoy being a community rather than an all-purpose site. I know when Sora and I originally suggested the site and Merri brought it all to life Maaya's was going to be some uber Maaya site with everything in lots of languages. But...as we are, I like being a community - we have a nice intimate Maaya feel. But we do have a lot of....silences I guess ^^;;;

Long periods of nothing. Which could be filled by something.

I think if we were to become official (though it would be nice) we'd lose all the stuff we post up like radio rips and pictures. We'd be quite limited legally ^^;;;...that makes me sound bad...

And I do know we have users who come here just to leech.
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