The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Bandwagon Jumping!
* Create a Big Brother forum and get it high on Google.
* Create a temporary discussion forum about a popular news event in an attempt to grab the BBC HYS-style of poster.
* Do a deal with a decent search engine and put it on your lead page in an attempt to get users to make you their homepage.
* Bring back the news thing you used to do with amusing spins on various news.
* Chuck up some celebrity rubbish - that always brings in people to chat.
If you want the forums to bring people in and actually be a decent marketing addition to your site then this is the rather unfortunate turn you have to take.
However there are other good things to promote alongside this:
* Writing/poetry competitions
* Most hilarious news item of the day competition
* Best bargain of the day competiton
etc
The point is there are a 1000 ways to get in some more hits from those looking to chat about current topics and win amazon/argos vouchers but you're not attempting them and the forums are dying on their a**e.
Above all these ideas won't amount to anything without high search results and a little bit of sly marketing (email or otherwise) but using the obvious tricks (calling pictures 'Big Brother'/'other' over and over for instance) it shouldn't be a problem.
Worth a go I think.
* Create a Big Brother forum and get it high on Google.
* Create a temporary discussion forum about a popular news event in an attempt to grab the BBC HYS-style of poster.
* Do a deal with a decent search engine and put it on your lead page in an attempt to get users to make you their homepage.
* Bring back the news thing you used to do with amusing spins on various news.
* Chuck up some celebrity rubbish - that always brings in people to chat.
If you want the forums to bring people in and actually be a decent marketing addition to your site then this is the rather unfortunate turn you have to take.
However there are other good things to promote alongside this:
* Writing/poetry competitions
* Most hilarious news item of the day competition
* Best bargain of the day competiton
etc
The point is there are a 1000 ways to get in some more hits from those looking to chat about current topics and win amazon/argos vouchers but you're not attempting them and the forums are dying on their a**e.
Above all these ideas won't amount to anything without high search results and a little bit of sly marketing (email or otherwise) but using the obvious tricks (calling pictures 'Big Brother'/'other' over and over for instance) it shouldn't be a problem.
Worth a go I think.
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There are never any new visitors...
Having a sticky thread with the title "How to save the forums..." is probably not too encouraging to new visitors...
Just my 2c...
;¬)
Just my 2c...
;¬)
I don't mind the smileys, unless they're done in too colourful a way and people fill their posts with 'em. Avatars however annoy me, and the page doesn't look as good with a load of random pictures down one side.
I don't mind avatars, but I hate the smileys and signitures.
Yeah I'm not a fan of avatars.
The GADs are a good thing. If more people knew about them, Chipp would have some serious competition =).
The GADs are a good thing. If more people knew about them, Chipp would have some serious competition =).
I think it's nice to have a forum without avatars, signatures and especially smilies.
Nin wrote:
> As for the avatars and things, hell no. We didnt want them on SR
> and we dont want them here.
What's wrong with avatars? I'd like to see them on here.
> As for the avatars and things, hell no. We didnt want them on SR
> and we dont want them here.
What's wrong with avatars? I'd like to see them on here.
I agree with everything Borat said, I was a loyal customer of Special Reserve in Basildon, and went on to look at games, find cheats, etc... and came across the forums. There were the days when you had to post well over 1000 posts to be in the top ten posters, there were the Notable elections, a Worlds longest thread in every sub-forum, games like the SR F1 Tournament. The forum closed because Special Reserve went bankrupt, and i'm afraid things have never recovered since.
I think it says a lot that no-one on that top posters list is new. It doesn't matter how many prizes you offer for this forum if people cant find it.
As for the avatars and things, hell no. We didnt want them on SR and we dont want them here.
As for the avatars and things, hell no. We didnt want them on SR and we dont want them here.
I think what's happened to the forums is a shame really.
But it's fairly easy to see why it is the way it is. I started coming here because I had been a loyal member of Special Reserve for a long time - buying a lot of my games and hardware from them. So when I found out there was a website and that I could order online, I naturally began to spend a fair bit of time on the site.
Through this I found the forums, found out about GADs and the ability to write reviews which would be featured on the site, and I became hooked. Back then there were a huge number of forum members, a lot of them I suspect - there for the same reasons I was. The large population of members, and the (for the most part) quality and humorous members kept me coming back.
But when Special Reserve went ***s up and Tony closed the forums, it never recovered ... because :
* Many members felt rejected and decided they had found a better forum. They will remain there unless something tempts them back. Some of these people are better off posting their tripe over there, but others I think made a real contribution to these forums.
* Unless you are looking for webspace, are looking to host a domain, sort out your broadband, or whatever else it is they do here at Freeola (illustrates my point, I've been here for years and am still not aware of all the services being offered) - then you are unlikely to come across the forums. If someone LOOKING for the forums has trouble ... well ... what hope do others have?
* No offence to freeola, but these forums are nothing special - no avatars, no signatures, no games (excluding bingo), no game reviews, few competitions, a stale atmosphere overall, updates and redesigns/new features are a rarity. Let's face it - the e-commerce aspect in the Special Reserve days were the key appeal and the reason so many new members stumbled across the site every day. There are hundreds of forums out there offering much more.
* Freeola don't really have anything to gain from these forums - they are just here to please the members who wanted it - but with few updates, asthetics that haven't changed in years, no staff around and very little to do other than chat, it gets stale.
I'm not having a go at Freeola, I'm telling it like it is. The forums never recovered from when they got closed - still can't remember exactly why that was, whether it was because the whole site needed moving to another server, or just on a whim by Tony because of troublemakers.
I can't see a way to entice new members.
But it's fairly easy to see why it is the way it is. I started coming here because I had been a loyal member of Special Reserve for a long time - buying a lot of my games and hardware from them. So when I found out there was a website and that I could order online, I naturally began to spend a fair bit of time on the site.
Through this I found the forums, found out about GADs and the ability to write reviews which would be featured on the site, and I became hooked. Back then there were a huge number of forum members, a lot of them I suspect - there for the same reasons I was. The large population of members, and the (for the most part) quality and humorous members kept me coming back.
But when Special Reserve went ***s up and Tony closed the forums, it never recovered ... because :
* Many members felt rejected and decided they had found a better forum. They will remain there unless something tempts them back. Some of these people are better off posting their tripe over there, but others I think made a real contribution to these forums.
* Unless you are looking for webspace, are looking to host a domain, sort out your broadband, or whatever else it is they do here at Freeola (illustrates my point, I've been here for years and am still not aware of all the services being offered) - then you are unlikely to come across the forums. If someone LOOKING for the forums has trouble ... well ... what hope do others have?
* No offence to freeola, but these forums are nothing special - no avatars, no signatures, no games (excluding bingo), no game reviews, few competitions, a stale atmosphere overall, updates and redesigns/new features are a rarity. Let's face it - the e-commerce aspect in the Special Reserve days were the key appeal and the reason so many new members stumbled across the site every day. There are hundreds of forums out there offering much more.
* Freeola don't really have anything to gain from these forums - they are just here to please the members who wanted it - but with few updates, asthetics that haven't changed in years, no staff around and very little to do other than chat, it gets stale.
I'm not having a go at Freeola, I'm telling it like it is. The forums never recovered from when they got closed - still can't remember exactly why that was, whether it was because the whole site needed moving to another server, or just on a whim by Tony because of troublemakers.
I can't see a way to entice new members.
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