Site Direction

The place to discuss things relating specifically to The Pack
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Site Direction

Post by takyoji »

Occasionally I keep bringing up the idea of significantly revamping the website, but am unclear of what direction to take it.

As it is, I would really love to have a central werewolf community again, but I'm not sure if people are allergic to forums now or something. It feels as if most of the 'werewolf fandom' occurs on Twitter now (maybe Tumblr too, or something). If there already is something better made beyond my capabilities, then I'd be willing to just accept it and defer people to the 'better' alternative.

I keep wandering around and prodding various people for feedback, or if they'd be willing to contribute something to a new design, and I just can't get much out of anyone. I'm not even sure if people even seem interested in bringing the forum back to life, thus I usually don't get very far every time I feel the spurt of the energy to try and fix it.

To make it nice and shiny again would take at least 15-25 full hours of work, and a clear artistic direction, for a proper forum design (with maybe a few new features).

(As a footnote, not sure if a Telegram group chat would be relevant or not)
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Volkodlak »

well i m intrested in bringing forum back too life, but im not sure of others
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Chris »

I'm interested in bringing the forums back, too. I don't use twitter or tumblr, and forums allow for more structured discussions on various topics, and it's easier to moderate. Though I'm not much of a design guy, so I can't really help with a new design, unfortunately.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Volkodlak »

Well i think this forum should be brought back too life first and then we can talk design changes.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Uniform Two Six »

takyoji wrote: It feels as if most of the 'werewolf fandom' occurs on Twitter now...
Off topic: I am firmly convinced that Twitter represents the impending downfall of Western civilization.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Meeper »

Uniform Two Six wrote:
takyoji wrote: It feels as if most of the 'werewolf fandom' occurs on Twitter now...
Off topic: I am firmly convinced that Twitter represents the impending downfall of Western civilization.
I can see it now... "Hash-tag Apocalypse" :P .

I don't really have the time to think about this, busy with other things. I'll chime in if I think of anything.

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Re: Site Direction

Post by Kzinistzerg »

Given the age of this site, I'm straight astonished it's still here at all. Most likely many members have forgotten that this site even existed-- I know I haven't posted anything in years. That said, it would not be a bad thing if it became active again, though you'd probably have to do outreach to other communities to get other people to show up.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Uniform Two Six »

Well, I think there's a bigger underlying problem. The site was really about discussing the "ideal" werewolf for the proposed Freeborn movie. Since that project seems to be forever lost in proposal-purgatory, there isn't a lot of interest. I guarantee if it suddenly looked like Freeborn was about to get green-lit, this place would pick up significantly.

And off topic a bit: Where did everybody go, anyway?
:?
Is there some other popular werewolf site I don't know about?
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Volkodlak »

Uniform Two Six wrote:And off topic a bit: Where did everybody go, anyway?
They went chasing pokemons in real life.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Uniform Two Six »

Oh my god... Please tell me that that Pokémon-zombie epidemic hasn't spread to Europe yet. We're all doomed!!! :zombiewolf:

Seriously, that is, like, the creepiest thing. I just finished running in the park (at like, 11 o'clock at night) -- sure enough there's literally hundreds of Pokémon-Zombies shambling around silently in the dark with their cellphones out.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Grayheart »

Uniform Two Six wrote:Oh my god... Please tell me that that Pokémon-zombie epidemic hasn't spread to Europe yet. We're all doomed!!! :zombiewolf:

Seriously, that is, like, the creepiest thing. I just finished running in the park (at like, 11 o'clock at night) -- sure enough there's literally hundreds of Pokémon-Zombies shambling around silently in the dark with their cellphones out.
Well, I'm afraid to tell you, but it's already here - Pokémon-Zombies everywhere ... but for one thing at least you have to give credit to the developers: They managed to get a huge amount of the populace move on a regular basis ... something decades of health-education couldn't achieve (at least this is how I try to make sense of the activity ...)

As for The Pack: Yeah, it was all about 'The Perfect Werewolf' and Freeborn. It would really need some huge effort to get people back here without a driving force behind - and since we've discussed each and every aspect of all things werewolf, that leaves us with Freeborn - or another related project. Personally I miss the time of The Packs Heyday - the conversations were always fun and mindful exercise at the same time!
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Uniform Two Six »

Grayheart wrote: They managed to get a huge amount of the populace move on a regular basis ... something decades of health-education couldn't achieve...
*grumble, grumble* Yeah, I guess... Still creepy, though.
Grayheart wrote: Personally I miss the time of The Packs Heyday - the conversations were always fun and mindful exercise at the same time!
Most of the werewolf topics trailed off because everyone sort of agreed to disagree. As for other topics, with all of the stuff happening in the world plus "The Donald" in the running for the White House, there's really no reason why this place should be as dead as it is.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Grayheart »

Uniform Two Six wrote:
Grayheart wrote: They managed to get a huge amount of the populace move on a regular basis ... something decades of health-education couldn't achieve...
*grumble, grumble* Yeah, I guess... Still creepy, though.
Fully agreed - it's creepy as hell to me, but I think it also shows that our Hunter-Gatherer instincts are still there ... somewhat misled, but there, nonetheless.
Uniform Two Six wrote:Most of the werewolf topics trailed off because everyone sort of agreed to disagree. As for other topics, with all of the stuff happening in the world plus "The Donald" in the running for the White House, there's really no reason why this place should be as dead as it is.
Umm, speaking about creepy things ... "The Donald" is really creepy and I simply don't want to imagine he could possibly win ... entertaining this thought makes me feeling a cold shiver down my spine! Although I have the dark feeling it really could come true ... brave new world ...

As for The Pack: Well, it is/was a place dedicated to all things werewolf. It would need some huge rebranding effort to change it into a place of general conversation while still maintaining the Pack Spirit it used to have.
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Re: Site Direction

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Grayheart wrote: Umm, speaking about creepy things ... "The Donald" is really creepy and I simply don't want to imagine he could possibly win ... entertaining this thought makes me feeling a cold shiver down my spine! Although I have the dark feeling it really could come true ...
Meh. I doubt it. Personally, I think that he's going to go down in the biggest landslide in recent American political history. He's running at 78% negative among women voters. He's lost the Black vote. He's lost the Hispanic vote. He's even (by alienating the conservative core of the G.O.P.) lost significant portions of the White-male vote. Bewilderingly, he's somehow managed to lose some of the Republican vote -- Meg Whitman just endorsed Clinton.

And that's just the popular vote. How he's going to win the Electoral College is totally mystifying.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Phoenix Ravenwolf »

:roflmao:
wow this thread took a side track to tangent town :D (I shouldn't say anything.... my train of thought left the rails a looooong time ago)

As for this site... who knows, maybe something will come up and bring people's attention back to it.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by MIDNIGHT234 »

Is This chat alive or dead.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Uniform Two Six »

Undead, maybe?
:P
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Chance »

Yeah I'd say this forum needs some direction.Maybe a new color scheme? Light blue is so sleepy. Are you trying to put people to sleep? lol
I honestly can't believe this place is still breathing. Or hybrinating? New life! Everything has kinda been discussed and , well , discussed many times over. We need some new ideas.New conversations.Maybe wipe some of the board clean. I mean convo's surrounding wolfy are all backlogs essentially and if you sit and read through it all, you'd be hard pressed to come up with something new. Even if the topic isn't new , starting fresh would give people the chance to voice their ideas and perhaps since so much time has passed since those ideas where put out in the first place , there could be some new takes on old topics.
Anywho, if you're looking for old convo's then there's plenty of that here.

Edit: I wish to expand on the "wipe some of the board clean". I'm not suggesting posts get erased but perhaps archived. There could be an archival section to the forum. So if people wanted to explore those they'd be available. Fresh space with fresh ideas could help promote activity on the forum.
Edit:It would be a shame if this site became a random drop zone for spam, don't get me wrong. I like Spam, the kind you eat! lol
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Chance »

Arg! I should be sleeping! However my brain, for who knows what reason is coming up with these strange ideas. So I'm just gonna get them out so I can sleep.

A game on the board. You know one of those cheezy point of view games. You go around , let's say an old haunted looking house exploring the rooms to collect items that you can use in defense of a werewolf. Only in one of the rooms theres a werewolf. And well I think you can guess from there what happens in the game.

Another one. The board doesn't actually look like a forum. It looks like a museum of sorts. On the walls are pictures and paintings that lead to different areas of the board. There could be a Freeborn poster on the wall that would lead to the Ab section. Different statues in the breezway that you can click on for the creativity sections and so on. There is only one door and it can lead to an archive, like a room filled with fileing cabnets.

So yeah, now that that's all out of my head , arg, why is there no sleeping wolf emoji!
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Kaebora »

I'm so surprised the forums are still here. I haven't logged in in maybe a decade. I miss The Pack family, but one thing lead to another and I kind of faded away. Still alive here, but I changed a lot.

I might do a little spam cleanup later, for old times sake.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Chance »

Yaaa, Now I don't have to bother Tak all the time about the spam.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Chance »

Nothing is ever happening here so there's no one to interact with. There's no one because there's never anything happening. Site direction? I don't actually think this site is going in any direction. I guess you could say down but that's not true. Considering this site hasn't moved in more than some time now. It's not ever holding steady, it's simply existing.
It would take a lot of work to redo this place and then you have to think about how to redo it. I mean what would people actually use this place for. It's not a hang out, not a meet up. I know those are actaul things these days or used to be but I'm simply using those words as activities. People used to connect here on a variety of subjects with one main idea than was kind of the blood line of this place.
Site direction would have to include new direction. A new purpose for this place. I'm not actually thinking it's gonna happen but it would be nice. Since we've all kind of exhausted the current topic of this place, we'd have to come up with a whole new theme to connect on. I'm not convinced anything of late would be worthy of tapping into. Can you respin and old topic? How do you being back to life something people have lived years through? Is there even a way to look at it with fresh perspective?
I mean you could do a few things to draw attention back to the forum but those things would be short lived without new blood , in topics to convers on, or a new running theme( not theme as in how things look).
I think the grand idea's that have floated , even movie night that I suggested, are kind of hollow. Why put energy into something that is obviously not being used.If only a handful of people actually used this forum on a regular basis. I'm not saying that everyone has grown up and moved on but what connected everybody then isn't what would keep all connected now. So I guess in my final opinion, a whole new direction is what this site needs. I've got no real good idea's for this. The only thing that I can even come up with is pretty basic.
Scratch/archive this entire forum. Make accessable those who contributed art or stories, their work, make it so they can perhaps rearange or structure their content , but for the most part this would be just a calouge of interests that people can share or talk about. Leave it pretty open and you can always do a little restructuring as things grow. Oh well ...
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Kaebora »

Seems to me it exists as an archive of days gone by, and a small glimmer of hope that old friends might reconnect one day. I have spent some time browsing old comversations. It brings me feelings of nostalgia.
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Re: Site Direction

Post by Chance »

Kaebora wrote: Tue Sep 28, 2021 3:30 am Seems to me it exists as an archive of days gone by, and a small glimmer of hope that old friends might reconnect one day. I have spent some time browsing old comversations. It brings me feelings of nostalgia.
Agree completely.

Existing isn't living though, it's unfortunate. There are other forums just as old timey as this one that still have an active user base. City Data is one of them. I don't happen to be a member there but was paroosing their forums the other day, when I was itching for conversation. Yes their forum is massive and caters to a range of people all around the US but still, their setup isn't much different than here so it's not the structure of the forum, old timey and such, it's the lack of current objective , if you will, get what I mean, lol.

Anywho, signed back up here without even looking at user activity so I'm left talking to myself like a crazy person half the time. It's not really that I mind talking to myself, if I did I wouldn't be all over the forum :P However it's gonna take more than Tak to get this place up and running again, I don't have the knowhow and if no ones else steps up I guess existing is all this place is gonna do.
Edit: told myself I wasn't gonna take up this cause again after the first couple posts but here I am again ,lol. I do have ideas but none that are worth mentioning.
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