TrishaCat Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 These forums are too small. Phoenix is not a well known website, both in the furry community and outside of it. It has no advertising beyond word of mouth, and most of the people who know about it are from the FAF community, with a few bits here and there at Weasyl. This has led to this forum almost entirely being made up of a small (compared to other forums like it) tightly knit community of regulars. Because of this, everyone knows each other. Everyone sees everyone's posts. We know each other's business, to some degree. Its rare for new users to come to this site, and even rarer for them to stick around after the fact. Sure, it happens, but not frequently enough. When someone new comes along and sticks around, they just become more regulars. There's really no one outside of regulars here. Any thread one can open, its full of the same users one might see in another thread. There's no oddballs who are almost never around or random newcomers. This is something I miss about FAF; it was tied to Furaffinity, which is big and famous, and so it constantly got fresh blood as it essentially advertised itself, holding onto the name of its main site. There were new thoughts, new ideas and postings. It wasn't all the same people talking to each other all the time. I could go into a thread and see a bunch of people I've never seen before and then a couple regulars in between. The forums were fresh and exciting. I believe the way Phoenix is, it creates a bit of a circlejerk in some ways, and I believe that familiarity breeds contempt. Drama happens every so often here, and when it happens almost everyone is aware of it. If there was a kerfluffle on FAF back in the day, it was more self-contained; there were so many people on the site, that arguments and infighting didn't matter as much. But here, EVERYONE knows everyone's business. Everyone here is a regular. And I feel that this hurts the site, and creates a much more stagnant, self-destroying community as a result. I would suggest ideas and solutions to this problem (or at least a problem I perceive these forums to have), but I can't think of any. But this place needs fresh blood. It needs some sort of advertisment, or way to catch people's attention. These forums are too small. EDIT: It also doesn't help that there's only a post or two every hour during slower periods, if even that. There's too much time to see all the going ons of this site. There aren't enough newcomers. Not enough posters. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cingal Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 Size queen. No, but seriously, I do get what you mean. I'm pretty new myself, and I don't know if I'd really call this place easy to get into. There very much seems an element of "Old Guard" with it, but, I don't really know much of anything to be done about it, nor can I really say that much should be. Be nice to see some new faces though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vitaly Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 I don't think that quality of the new threads will increase with increasing of forum members. Rather the opposite will happen. Just for some reason, lately there has been more and more personal shit instead of interesting and important things about our fandom and other stuff. Maybe it's seasonal. Maybe interest to this place fades irrevocably. But unlikely that newcomers can help. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrGravitas Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 BE the change you want to see! Make journals about Phoenix on FA, FN, Weasyl and the like. Add links to it on your signatures on other forums and sites. Add a wikifur page for it. Manipulate Google results for 'furry forum'. Ok, maybe rethink that last one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vae Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 1 hour ago, Battlechili said: If there was a kerfluffle on FAF back in the day, it was more self-contained; there were so many people on the site, that arguments and infighting didn't matter as much. Lol, you sure about that? I remember plenty and plenty of large-scale and cliquey personal drama spawning out of ye olde FAF. The thing about the size of the community is that it is to be expected. We're not tied to a larger site, with a larger, more general audience, and feeding off of that kind of flow. Phoenix exists because the old FAF crowd needed a new home. It centralizes around that community, because those were its origins. Of course our primary draw is going to be "the old guard," because that's why the site was created in the first place. Our major (and I guess only) draw right now is community. FAF had a more general thing going, despite being more cliquey, because people would just go there to dump stuff and return to the mainsite or their daily lives. People are far more encouraged to actually participate and integrate here, and that means that there's going to be less activity on the whole, but what activity exists is going to have more substance. We know who everyone is and what their "personal drama" is because of this. It's a small-town feel next to FAF's larger city. That breeds its own share of problems, but some people are drawn to that atmosphere, myself included. I'd rather be able to recognize people, than have a bunch of faceless single-post self-advertisers fading in and out of existence. Also, on the matter of activity, I personally think the forum is pretty damned active. But this is going to differ depending on the environments you naturally tend to gravitate more towards, obviously. To each his own. Just, for a group that was founded on exiles, this place is pretty damn alive. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endless/Nameless Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 You know, I could make a little rant about how we don't have things too bad, but then I realize--there's no point to this discussion. It is a non-issue that can only be changed by outside circumstances. If this is something one desires to change, discuss some proactive ideas then. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hux Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 I'll start my own broader yet more inclusive furry forum. All I need to do is suck Dragoneers little cock so he'll let me advertise uninhibited on his broken-ass site. But how do I keep my forum from becoming a trollish, insular circle jerk of 1337 meme faggots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 2 hours ago, Battlechili said: This is something I miss about FAF; it was tied to Furaffinity, which is big and famous, and so it constantly got fresh blood as it essentially advertised itself, holding onto the name of its main site. There were new thoughts, new ideas and postings. It wasn't all the same people talking to each other all the time. I could go into a thread and see a bunch of people I've never seen before and then a couple regulars in between. The forums were fresh and exciting. FAF is still up, you know ... >.> If you can even call it that anymore after the coup d'etat :V Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 I wouldn't mind more advertisement to get in more people, but I like to think of this place like a local pub/bar. Something like that old show Cheers. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 8 minutes ago, Hux said: I'll start my own broader yet more inclusive furry forum. All I need to do is suck Dragoneers little cock so he'll let me advertise uninhibited on his broken-ass site. But how do I keep my forum from becoming a trollish, insular circle jerk of 1337 meme faggots? See that's the thing. If you want a specific crowd you don't want the masses. Large amounts of anonymous online peanut heads will converge and reduce to precisely this. 4 minutes ago, Enigma said: I wouldn't mind more advertisement to get in more people, but I like to think of this place like a local pub/bar. Something like that old show Cheers. Can I be Ted Danson? Lol, that guy is such an asshole. I loved him in Becker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 9 minutes ago, Ricky said: Can I be Ted Danson? Depends on how much cocaine you can handle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricky Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 2 minutes ago, Enigma said: Depends on how much cocaine you can handle. Crack hardly does anything to me, so I'm sure it's quite a lot x3 I've gone through half ounces with maybe one other person in a night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallium Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 I thought personal shot was more likely to be told while anonymous since you couldnt give a fuck what other people think ...I mean, Crystal the Vixen, man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayke Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 We should spread word about this place. on furaffinity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidewalk Surfboard Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 The only news people ever seem to spread of us is negative, so what's the point? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 I understand the idea that you want a place you like to be made bigger, sure. Its like a hole-in-the-wall pub with yes, a couple creepy weirdos, but you still really love the place and you wish more people knew about it. I get it. But this is a problem with the "solution" being time. I am doing as much as I can about advertising on twitter, and will do more once I handle the change to the favicon and banner. That is literally the last thing I have on my checklist before I start pushing for some kind of advertising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrishaCat Posted July 2, 2016 Author Share Posted July 2, 2016 7 hours ago, Rhíulchabán said: I understand the sentiment, but I think wishing for more people like in the "good ol' days" is just wishful thinking Having all the extra people did not make drama better, and it wouldn't help here. It just masks some of the drama since not everyone can see it all the time just due to the sheer volume, but that's an illusion, not a fix to the drama Well I'm not necessarily looking to remove drama altogether. I think that would be impossible. I just wish the drama was more self-contained; I think that everyone knowing everyone's business tends to make drama worse and more obvious throughout the forums. Its difficult to escape drama. Plus the way things are now, users know each other better and better to the point where in-jokes get made about certain users or people already know what sort of responses to expect out of each other. I'd also like it if there were new users and just in general more people to participate in such things to where its harder to keep tabs on who thinks what. For things to seem less personal. It'd also mean that there'd be fresh ideas put on the table, which is especially important whenever arguments pop up, which is often where drama starts. If the same opinions are always brought up, it eventually makes discussion redundant. 6 hours ago, DrGravitas said: BE the change you want to see! Make journals about Phoenix on FA, FN, Weasyl and the like. Add links to it on your signatures on other forums and sites. Add a wikifur page for it. Manipulate Google results for 'furry forum'. Ok, maybe rethink that last one... Actually that last one sounds like a splendid idea! Legitimately though, have more this site being shown off in more places would help make the place more lively and I think I'll put links to this place in my signature on some of the more lively forums I visit as a start. 6 hours ago, Vae said: People are far more encouraged to actually participate and integrate here, and that means that there's going to be less activity on the whole, but what activity exists is going to have more substance. We know who everyone is and what their "personal drama" is because of this. It's a small-town feel next to FAF's larger city. That breeds its own share of problems, but some people are drawn to that atmosphere, myself included. I'd rather be able to recognize people, than have a bunch of faceless single-post self-advertisers fading in and out of existence. Also, on the matter of activity, I personally think the forum is pretty damned active. But this is going to differ depending on the environments you naturally tend to gravitate more towards, obviously. To each his own. Just, for a group that was founded on exiles, this place is pretty damn alive. I don't think that substance was ever missing; there was just more posts being made. The regulars that really cared were still there; there was just other people there too. I suppose you're right though that its a different environment for different people; no two places need to be alike, after all. And I guess it is a bit more of a personal thing, seeing this place as being fairly inactive. My two most frequented forums have several posts a minute, sometimes a second even, so coming here sometimes seems like everything's slowed down. Maybe its just me. I do think this place would benefit from more users though. Fresh ideas can't be a bad thing. I understand the idea that you want a place you like to be made bigger, sure. Its like a hole-in-the-wall pub with yes, a couple creepy weirdos, but you still really love the place and you wish more people knew about it. I get it. But this is a problem with the "solution" being time. I am doing as much as I can about advertising on twitter, and will do more once I handle the change to the favicon and banner. That is literally the last thing I have on my checklist before I start pushing for some kind of advertising. That's wonderful to hear! I really hope advertising works out once you get to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falaffel Posted July 2, 2016 Share Posted July 2, 2016 I miss the times when FA went down and we were flooded by asshats that made the forums unusable. Good times. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feelwell Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 Well if you guys need ads, you'd need money. The mods are all volunteers and I don't know if Car even makes profit off this site to put towards ads, so he or others would be paying for it out of pocket. It all comes down to the bottom line. However it'd be nice to see some new people around. I feel saying you only want the old regulars and no new ones is condemning from ignorance. People, even furries, can be good or bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrGravitas Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 3 minutes ago, Feelwell the Rabbit said: Well if you guys need ads, you'd need money. The mods are all volunteers and I don't know if Car even makes profit off this site to put towards ads, so he or others would be paying for it out of pocket. It all comes down to the bottom line. However it'd be nice to see some new people around. I feel saying you only want the old regulars and no new ones is condemning from ignorance. People, even furries, can be good or bad. We've already seen at least one thread of people offering to put up money (and I'm still willing to donate) so I don't think that'd be that big of an issue to raise some cash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taikugemu Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 Great, now you made the forum self-conscious. I hope you're happy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrishaCat Posted July 3, 2016 Author Share Posted July 3, 2016 1 minute ago, Taikugemu said: Great, now you made the forum self-conscious. I hope you're happy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taikugemu Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 9 minutes ago, Battlechili said: 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osrik Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 While I agree that it is certainly harder to integrate into this forum because of its small size and "Old Guard", I quite like the small community feel of the forum that I expect be lost if this forum grew significantly larger. I was a regular on the forum Dakkadakka for many years, which had an average of 400 members online at any given time . Overall, It was very impersonal and businesslike, it being rare for people to discuss anything other than the subject matters of the forums (miniature wargaming) or general news. I did not really know much about any of the other users I commonly interaction with besides what information related to the topic of the forum.. Other than a few running jokes, there was very little sense of community, and once I became less involved in the specific game on which the forums mostly centered (Warhammer 40k) there was very little incentive for me to say. I like how much of a community feel this place has comparatively, and thus think that it really does not need any great expansion in membership. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#00Buck Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 The forum is fine the way it is. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyRadarEars Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 I would like to point out that I am newish and haven't even been here a year yet :3 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cingal Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 7 minutes ago, LadyRadarEars said: I would like to point out that I am newish and haven't even been here a year yet :3 To be fair, you tend to stand out on account of the very giant ears. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sourdough Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 19 minutes ago, LadyRadarEars said: I would like to point out that I am newish and haven't even been here a year yet :3 Yes, and you're one of the better additions to this strange little family. As others have said, this is just an offshoot of old FAF users. Basically a way for us all to keep in touch as a site we used took a direction we didn't like. If something more grows out of this, happy days. I'm fine with how small it is. A lot of you I like, some of you I respect and care about. As small as this site is there is still a lot to be gained from interacting with users here. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArielMT Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 2 hours ago, LadyRadarEars said: I would like to point out that I am newish and haven't even been here a year yet :3 If you don't count our split from FAF, Phoenixed hasn't existed for a year yet. The anniversary of the split is September 13, and the anniversary of the new forum is September 24. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PastryOfApathy Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 lol all forums are circlejerks Literally, all of them. The only difference between Phoenix and larger communities is that phoenix is one or two circlejerks whereas a larger one is comprised of dozens of different little cliques. New people would either conform to a preexisting one or create their own assuming they possess the proper personality and attitude. That said we need more forum idiots, and believe we should be more lenient in terms of banning people. Like we need more genuinely retarded people making borderline incomprehensible threads to laugh at. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 4 hours ago, ArielMT said: If you don't count our split from FAF, Phoenixed hasn't existed for a year yet. The anniversary of the split is September 13, and the anniversary of the new forum is September 24. We gotta do a birthday cake on the banner for Phoenixed's birthday. Thats just like, mandatory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#00Buck Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 13 minutes ago, Lemon said: We gotta do a birthday cake on the banner for Phoenixed's birthday. Thats just like, mandatory. I'm willing to make an IRL cake and post it up getting eaten. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 3, 2016 Share Posted July 3, 2016 51 minutes ago, #00Buck said: I'm willing to make an IRL cake and post it up getting eaten. Do iiiit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTDragon Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 I don't think you really understand Battlechili. i've seen small forums pretty popular on their own and self sufficient. I do see the forums here quite active just not in all places you expect. Also i don;t think FA is famous anymore considering now that alternate sites that are popping up as well as some old sites i see like newgrounds which is still popular with folks coming from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaraphayx Posted July 4, 2016 Share Posted July 4, 2016 The only thing FAF's attachment to FA did was funnel more gormless newbies, who were used to the culture of mainsite FA, into the meat-grinder of an FAF that was full of angsty late-teens early-20-somethings who delighted in pig-piling on top of people who weren't as self-loathing and internally conflicted as them. It was every bit as cliquey if not more so because most of the "old guard" that are here now were much younger and even more socially maladjusted. FAF was actually considerably worse because all of the best posters were routinely banned by mods who got saltier than the Dead Sea at even the slightest joke at their expense. It seriously got fucking depressing to read back through old threads for nostalgic purposes and see 70% of the names crossed off in red. Another sad fact is that forums have been a dying medium for years and you're going to struggle to find any furry forum with the activity levels of FAF in it's prime, which was already relatively slow by web forum standards. P.S. The solution to a slow forum is to post more, rule one of Good Posting is to Just Post. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulfila Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 all i know is what would happen if we got heaps of newcomers is that we would have a bunch of those "joined just to make one post" people i know the zdoom and zandronum and faf forums have troubles with that all the time. i need to start posting more my self as i rarely post but i do get on quite a lot. i have a account on faf and my name is modfox. i tend to post a bit more there but the spambots there are really getting annoying. honestly i would not be surprised if i am the only one here who can speak icelandic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wulfila Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 On 03/07/2016 at 2:23 PM, PastryOfApathy said: lol all forums are circlejerks Literally, all of them. The only difference between Phoenix and larger communities is that phoenix is one or two circlejerks whereas a larger one is comprised of dozens of different little cliques. New people would either conform to a preexisting one or create their own assuming they possess the proper personality and attitude. That said we need more forum idiots, and believe we should be more lenient in terms of banning people. Like we need more genuinely retarded people making borderline incomprehensible threads to laugh at. i think i have that one in the bag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spot Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 It's a tight-knit community and serves its purpose well. I prefer more tight-knit communities anyway... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xaende Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 On 7/2/2016 at 9:54 PM, #00Buck said: The forum is fine the way it is. Looks like somebody would rather be a big fish in a little pond than a little fish in a big pond. But seriously, this forum must be doing something right. It's the only furry-oriented forum that I bother with these days. Just the right mix of snark and self-loathing to keep the cringe to a minimum, while still being a reasonably welcoming place. I wouldn't mind if it stays small. This isn't to say that it wouldn't continue if we grew, but I think that sort of thing should happen naturally. Or maybe as a result of adding an art gallery, or something along those lines. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeke Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Personally, I've always liked the small town feel of FAF/Phoenix than big forums. I don't think it needs to get large, but it couldn't hurt to have some new blood in from time to time to continue the small growth. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 We kinda many new users but they dont post. They are completely silent on the forum even though they introduced themselves. Maybe they are shy? But phoenix should not get any popufurs. I dont like popufurs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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