- Marianan ID
- 1
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2023
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- 92
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- 335
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- Mariana Bay
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Observational Report on the Mariana Bay's Current Progress & Growth
Hello all, I thought I'd write up a progress report to document how the Mariana Bay is progressing and how we can improve. I'll cover what's being done well, what's ok but not great, and what's frankly bad and needs immediate looking into. This is all my personal opinion but I'm going off what I've observed and been told by people who have visited and used the site. Feel free to drop your opinions below this post for your opinions and views on this matter too as I'd appreciate them, thanks. Without further ado, let's begin with what's observed{:
THE GOOD
+People really like the site's aesthetics and layout
+Plenty of features have been added that have been received well and are used
+A good few regulars already and almost at 100 members
+Articles have loads of clicks and attention
+Good amount of threads with active discussion
+YouTube account getting loads of hits and attention. People want to be on the podcast
+Blogfront and other forum forwarders are helping us show up in search engines more
+Chatroom is starting to actually get used which is great to see
+We have got users from different groups and places already which is good considering we are a organic forum and not people hopping from one forum to a next which usually makes it easier to set up an active community
The Alright
+Shilling has not been totally useless and has brought in some good people, albeit not loads
+We can get a lot of activity in one night however I've noticed this only really occurs around Saturdays and we really struggle on weekends with 2-4 posts at most
+We do get at least 3-5 sign ups a week which ain't awful as it shows people know we are out there though it's very slow
+For a 4 month old forum (3 months public, however) we have actually got somewhere and not collapsed in the first month though we need to boost our numbers
+Many who have joined have stuck around though I've noticed it's a 50/50 split as a good few join up and then dip
+Forum is still very affordable to run and I have the finances to keep it going no problem though costs will increase as we grow
The Ugly
-I'm the only one who actively promotes this forum which makes it a struggle to bring people in. Once I go university this is a great concern to me as I won't have as much time to update the forum, shill it on other boards, make YouTube videos to promote the forum, etc.
-It's become very clear to me this forum is very off-putting to those who are uncomfortable with politically incorrect humor and general chan culture. Though this doesn't bother me too much as I rather not sensitive babies join this forum and expect me to moderate speech so they don't get offended, it does show the forum doesn't really have strong appeal for your average internet user and it may be hard for get a larger audience in
-The association with the Breakcore label, though I don't plan on changing it, does get us associated with a certain online group that can be off-putting for some people though I now also advertise this being a Jungle DnB forum alongside Breakcore which may help
-The YouTube videos, while getting plenty of likes, comments, and attention, aren't bringing in people like I hoped they would; people like the content but they just aren't joining up to the forum which makes me sad as I do enjoy making them and regardless don't plan to stop. It might just be a slow burn on that sector of things but so far everyone I've asked where they joined up from no one has said the YouTube
-People have been put off by current activity levels and haven't bothered using the forum because of them, though point of joining the forum is helping boost them up. However, point stands we need more activity for people to want to bother with the site long-term
-Due to applications such as Reddit and Discord, people are less inclined to join retro forums when those former two sites offer what we do but easier and even see the use of forums as irrelevant in the modern age. We need to convince this crowd on the reasons you should join up and the disadvantages of apps such as Discord which have negatively hurt the forum medium.
Side Notes
- I have next to no interest in cracking down on certain elements of the site's culture because it offends people, this place was made to get away from that censorship and as long as certain elements don't get the plug pulled on us or the wrong attention diverted our way then anything goes as long as the rules are followed (https://forum.marianabay.com/threads/the-rules.2/)
- I'm not too worried about our current growth as it's natural to somewhat stagnant when you're brand new and some forums can even take up to 2-3 years to properly pop off. Many forums quite frankly just get lucky too: they get featured in a YouTube video, they know a popular individual who can shout them out, the forum admin has an active following already, etc.
- We need to get that Mariana Chan material done and utilized for advertisment purposes ASAP. Our beloved Dwayne will always be our primary mascot but cute anime girls sell better than a fat cat
- Our forum should looking into something that sets us apart and can offer what other forums can't, needs looking into as in what that can be
- New means of shilling the forum need to be looked into as we can't just shill on 4chan, Discord, and YouTube exclusively and pray that brings in results. I'm open to suggestions as always
That's all I have to say from my observations, tell me your thoughts below and what you think we improve or look into more.
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