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Something I have always had problems with

Started by Methen, September 20, 2021, 03:33:22 PM

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Methen

This is something I have always had major issues I have tried creating question sires, a fanfiction site and a role play site with a place to post role play ads a full feature chat and  role play tutorials that are guarantee to improve your role plays when done with a person that is also following the same methods and this is what I have notice and what I say may sound weird but it is nothing more then pure and simple truth, The one thing that makes my sites different from other sites is in comparison to other sites out there I have virtually no censorship in comparison to other sires, Now you would actually think that would attract people from all over but it sows not, and yet you go on these sites like rpnation or f-list that censer like crazy and have insane and stupid rules and these site have literally thousands of users that log on  every day in comparison to mine that has virtually no users coming on, Now try figuring that out...
Somebody is asking for a Hinne Whooping!

Arantor

These sites have been around a long time, and have a lot of content. The era of 'build it and they will come' hasn't existed for 15 years or more, if it ever existed.

Lack of censorship is not the strongest argument for a site - you need to put content in yourself, and keep going at it to grow a community out of nothing.

Methen

Quote from: Arantor on September 20, 2021, 03:47:04 PMThese sites have been around a long time, and have a lot of content. The era of 'build it and they will come' hasn't existed for 15 years or more, if it ever existed.

Lack of censorship is not the strongest argument for a site - you need to put content in yourself, and keep going at it to grow a community out of nothing.
My sites have been around for years also as far as the role playing site all I can do is ad role play tutorials...
Somebody is asking for a Hinne Whooping!

Arantor

What about advertising? How do you advertise your sites to people?

In the case of roleplay in particular, do you advertise on the directories (RPG-Directory, RPG Initiative, Caution to the Wind, Shadowplay, Sourced, DDR), their Discords or any of the RP ad boards on Tumblr, e.g. therpsource.tumblr.com?

Methen

Somebody is asking for a Hinne Whooping!

Arantor

So what's your roleplay site? I'm wondering if there is some other reason it's not taking off and RP is mostly where I spend my time these days.

Arantor

So I took a look at your RP site, which you could have asked before PMing. Where do I begin?

* 26 posts since 2016. There's just no content there, nothing for people to respond to, nor any reason to actually visit. My *quiet* RP forum can get many in a couple of days, sometimes in a single day.

* Using the default theme. No compelling reason to visit when there are plenty more RP sites that are visually more interesting, not to mention have content.

* Site name implies a general discussion forum not a roleplay forum.

* Landing page puts off search engines (by its sheer existence) and regular users (because it looks tacky and sleazy).

* The content you do have is, frankly, sexist and demeaning (because the *vast* majority of forum play-by-post collaborative writing RP sites are primarily women - know your audience)

* The RP scene inevitably doesn't want or care about "males seeking female writers", or vice verse because this just feels creepy and stalkerish. Not to mention sexist and exclusionary - the current trends across all the directories are the opposite and interested in writing *characters* of cross types (e.g. MxM, FxM, FxF) rather than caring about the authors specifically, but increasingly sites advertise themselves as LGBTQIA+ positive and inclusive. This behaviour I see on your site is a hell no for increasing parts of the community.

* The rest of your content is deeply patronising telling people in no small part "how they should play" and guaranteed will send the few that we're interested running for the hills.


If you are in any way serious about the RP site, try hanging around the aforementioned directories and their Discords to see how they behave.

Trying to mansplain to a mostly female audience doesn't end well.

This is however why your site is failing - there is no reason for anyone to visit and those who find their way there will leave quickly.

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