kristinawood.com ~ View topic

Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 02 Oct 2009 Posts: 6733

just wondering if this place or... later as a idea has a chat room?

I know a few other site fourms had some stuff like that.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 4668

It's been brought up more than once and tried once before. Ronald shut it down and forbade it's use again.

Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 02 Oct 2009 Posts: 6733

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 15 Feb 2007 Posts: 4668

No, he was concerned it could be used to steal Vanessa's work.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 02 Oct 2009 Posts: 6733

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 12351

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

FurAffinity · Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 03 Feb 2010 Posts: 6190

What about a Private Messaging system with in the forums? is that the same?

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

FurAffinity · Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 03 Feb 2010 Posts: 6190

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

It would'nt help. Trust me, it will only be simpler if everything was made public rather than an unmoniterable content system that could be done behind the creator's back.

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

That and when you look at the Gaia online, that is their biggest weakness.

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

FurAffinity · Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 03 Feb 2010 Posts: 6190

i havent been on gaiaonline....since high school

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 28 Oct 2009 Posts: 4247

Whats Gai online????

FurAffinity · Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 03 Feb 2010 Posts: 6190

FurAffinity · Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 03 Feb 2010 Posts: 6190

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

Well, I can make a simple list.

Good Points:

1.

Its expansive in terms of what kinds of forums they have. Creating subforums also helped them to keep specific topics in one general area, like if they had an RP forum, they separated it into different genres like romance, adventure, etc.

2.

Like PBB, although its forum is attached to the main site itself, it has its own backstory with most of its characters, which is constantly changing how it affects some of the way we percieved them. Like Timmy was for their EI reports.

3.

Their warning system which always pops up when a link sent a user outside of the site. It did help prevent other users from being hacked or prevent them from giving out personal system.

Bad Points:

1.

Their gold system, while it was nice at first glance, became the main focus for alot of their users. This created an economy to their own right, but also created alot of controversy and caused many people to make multiple [mule] accounts.

2.

Their PM system was improved to fight SPAM mail, however, there were still issues regarding anti-TOS material that the moderators could not view.

3.

Advertisements created by various sponsors for the site were riddled with viruses and malware computer content.

4.

Do not create a Chatterbox thread. The one in Gaia was made for the purpose that people could post and gain gold. Alot of people now use it for trolling on certain people or groups of people.

5. From what has been seen, because of the huge number of people, the moderators and site administrators are very unresponsive to alot of situations, whether they are valid or not. I had like 20 dollars invested in items that I had there, and I got ripped off in a false trade to another person. I made a claim to a moderator, but I never got a response in the two years that I have waited.

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

I like their Avatar system. It's very similar to Ragnoroks and Trickster Online.

The mini short Japanese style.

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

The problem though with the Avatar system is when you make items on that site, they become unavailable and people market and extort prices from its newer users. I found a way to figure the ebbs and tides of that market, but alot of the others were'nt so lucky.

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

The Bad Points are also points we would like to see if we can improve on or simplify.

We like the idea of Gold or currency that can be earned. This in turn gives people "something" to do and ways for people to "earn/collect/acquire" virtual items.

I'm a huge fan of collecting stuff. Habbo Hotel. does this as well.

It also allows for us to do "MT" micro transactions for anybody who wishes to pay something to give to others or for themselves.

But all this needs to be balanced and also as you said. Any bad points I would like to overcome so that it actually does work.

Right now, subscriptions is a really hard model to make money on- and "free" accounts with options for people to buy "extras" for those who do have money seems to be more appealing and benefits the greater customer base.

It's very hard to grow on subscription.

FurAffinity · Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 03 Feb 2010 Posts: 6190

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

Royal Member of BonBon Joined: 29 May 2009 Posts: 6010

Well, the only advice I can give is to never make items that are exclusive to only a few individuals. Just create avatars that you can make off of a simple list as the items become available, and that you control the prices instead of the community. If you do make items that does require points necessary to buy from, make sure that that they are in a list and a permanent addition to the site. The monthly collectibles were cool, but after they became rare, it just creates elitism between the users.

Forum Admin Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 3670

Rank: Super Veteran Joined: 18 Dec 2009 Posts: 7678