The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only.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.
Well the new design seems OK, though the avatars are a bit repetitive and they do create a lot of blank space in the listings.
Do the avatars deter new users?
Work is progressing on the chat forum system to enable you (Freeola customers) to have ready made forums on your web sites.
Freeola Bingo is much improved now that it runs constantly. Originally suggested on the forums, Freeola Bingo was intended to give the forums a boost. By the way, it's not intended to be a permanent fixture and Google won't allow us to advertise it, even though it's free.
The site gets thousands of visitors and hundreds of new sign-ups per day, but this is hardly evident on the forums.
It does not seem worthwhile to me, to have eight different forums generating small numbers of posts. Maybe there should only be one.
As the rest of Gameaday is games orientated wouldn't it be better to have one focal point and declare this a games forum. After all you can still chat and post intelligent threads or stories, or talk about wrestling, regardless of what the forums are actually called. Back to our roots perhaps.
Or have chat forums "had their day"?
Do the avatars deter new users?
Work is progressing on the chat forum system to enable you (Freeola customers) to have ready made forums on your web sites.
Freeola Bingo is much improved now that it runs constantly. Originally suggested on the forums, Freeola Bingo was intended to give the forums a boost. By the way, it's not intended to be a permanent fixture and Google won't allow us to advertise it, even though it's free.
The site gets thousands of visitors and hundreds of new sign-ups per day, but this is hardly evident on the forums.
It does not seem worthwhile to me, to have eight different forums generating small numbers of posts. Maybe there should only be one.
As the rest of Gameaday is games orientated wouldn't it be better to have one focal point and declare this a games forum. After all you can still chat and post intelligent threads or stories, or talk about wrestling, regardless of what the forums are actually called. Back to our roots perhaps.
Or have chat forums "had their day"?
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Alternatively, thought about email-shotting out a survey to everyone about this subject? (Controversial Stuff) Might bring a few more old names back to the forums.
Kinda off topic I guess but Tony, ever thought of bringing games to Freeola? I'm thinking that maybe download/electronic distribution is really going to kick off in the next few years and a lot of sites and organisations are starting to build up considerable catalogues and tools to enable this (e.g. Steam, Direct2Drive and so on).
I know you need to make a profit, but maybe there's something you could bring to Freeola initially on a 'break even' basis just to keep numbers growing.
There are a few forums sites out there that offer free flash-based arcade games for forum users, plenty that act as mirrors for new PC games/patches, or you could pick up a bunch of dirt cheap games (you can pick up King Kong for 97p in some places) and offer them as incentives for signing up and posting, e.g. "Free copy of King Kong if you register by September 30th and are still active on the forums by October 31st" kinda thing. You can define 'active'. Having said that £30 of vouchers a day should already be a huge incentive.
Cheats/Walkthroughs could also be developed further. Add a 'Review' section there instead of having a forum for it (limit it to 10,000 characters or something). That would make it easier to find reviews.
Walkthroughs/Cheats I don't bother with to be honest, I use Gamefaqs, but original customer reviews are great, it's just they're hard to find in their current form.
I know you need to make a profit, but maybe there's something you could bring to Freeola initially on a 'break even' basis just to keep numbers growing.
There are a few forums sites out there that offer free flash-based arcade games for forum users, plenty that act as mirrors for new PC games/patches, or you could pick up a bunch of dirt cheap games (you can pick up King Kong for 97p in some places) and offer them as incentives for signing up and posting, e.g. "Free copy of King Kong if you register by September 30th and are still active on the forums by October 31st" kinda thing. You can define 'active'. Having said that £30 of vouchers a day should already be a huge incentive.
Cheats/Walkthroughs could also be developed further. Add a 'Review' section there instead of having a forum for it (limit it to 10,000 characters or something). That would make it easier to find reviews.
Walkthroughs/Cheats I don't bother with to be honest, I use Gamefaqs, but original customer reviews are great, it's just they're hard to find in their current form.
Damarus wrote:
>
> Do you have your glasses on old man?
Dear Daramus
This is a "discussion".
The procedure for including yourself in a "discussion" is to contribute a point of view or suggestion, stating the reasoning for that.
>
> Do you have your glasses on old man?
Dear Daramus
This is a "discussion".
The procedure for including yourself in a "discussion" is to contribute a point of view or suggestion, stating the reasoning for that.
Tony wrote:
> What concerns me is that new users might feel a bit naked
> without an Avatar, so it seems like a barrier to newcomers,
> something extra they need to do before they make a post.
What a load of utter nonsense. They're not aliens from another planet you know.
> AND that many of the users or ex users
> prefer an uncensored environment (which is impossible here). I
> notice they are STILL coming here and still moaning.
Do you have your glasses on old man?
> What concerns me is that new users might feel a bit naked
> without an Avatar, so it seems like a barrier to newcomers,
> something extra they need to do before they make a post.
What a load of utter nonsense. They're not aliens from another planet you know.
> AND that many of the users or ex users
> prefer an uncensored environment (which is impossible here). I
> notice they are STILL coming here and still moaning.
Do you have your glasses on old man?
Forget it.
Machie wrote:
> I'm not sure about the avatars detering new users but they might
> have put off old users. I've gotten use to them now so I don't
> mind.
What concerns me is that new users might feel a bit naked without an Avatar, so it seems like a barrier to newcomers, something extra they need to do before they make a post.
> The forums have become too hidden away from the rest of Freeola.
> So I can only see things getting worse, not better.
This is a general misconception. In fact the new top strip of buttons on the Gameaday sites provide much better navigation within the group of interactive sites and there is new navigation also within MyFreeola. Given the sheer volume of visitors to the Gameaday sites, you really don't need a main button on Freeola.com, and we are pushed for space on these due to new services being launched.
> If you were to get rid of the majority of the forums I think
> it'll only speed things up. There are a lot more gaming
> communities than there were 7 years ago. You could end up with a
> forum full of people wanting to find cheats rather than talking
> about video games.
>
> Your last comment gives the impression that you'd be okay with
> getting rid of the forums. I think that would be fine now that
> you're letting customers have clones of this forum. So if you
> did decide to get rid of it atleast the community can live on.
It is an opinion of mine that the forums lack a central subject matter around which the discussions revolve. I am considering how we can re-establish this as there really needs to be common enthusiastic interest. I am not keen to get rid of the forums, in fact I have always supported them, but I am concerned that they really need good ongoing creative input and careful control to keep them active, AND that many of the users or ex users prefer an uncensored environment (which is impossible here). I notice they are STILL coming here and still moaning.
We intend to allow Freeola customers to set up their own forums on their web sites using the Freeola chat forum system. This is in development at present and we are not too sure how it will impact on the forums here.
> I'm not sure about the avatars detering new users but they might
> have put off old users. I've gotten use to them now so I don't
> mind.
What concerns me is that new users might feel a bit naked without an Avatar, so it seems like a barrier to newcomers, something extra they need to do before they make a post.
> The forums have become too hidden away from the rest of Freeola.
> So I can only see things getting worse, not better.
This is a general misconception. In fact the new top strip of buttons on the Gameaday sites provide much better navigation within the group of interactive sites and there is new navigation also within MyFreeola. Given the sheer volume of visitors to the Gameaday sites, you really don't need a main button on Freeola.com, and we are pushed for space on these due to new services being launched.
> If you were to get rid of the majority of the forums I think
> it'll only speed things up. There are a lot more gaming
> communities than there were 7 years ago. You could end up with a
> forum full of people wanting to find cheats rather than talking
> about video games.
>
> Your last comment gives the impression that you'd be okay with
> getting rid of the forums. I think that would be fine now that
> you're letting customers have clones of this forum. So if you
> did decide to get rid of it atleast the community can live on.
It is an opinion of mine that the forums lack a central subject matter around which the discussions revolve. I am considering how we can re-establish this as there really needs to be common enthusiastic interest. I am not keen to get rid of the forums, in fact I have always supported them, but I am concerned that they really need good ongoing creative input and careful control to keep them active, AND that many of the users or ex users prefer an uncensored environment (which is impossible here). I notice they are STILL coming here and still moaning.
We intend to allow Freeola customers to set up their own forums on their web sites using the Freeola chat forum system. This is in development at present and we are not too sure how it will impact on the forums here.
I love Freeola it's my favourite website on the whole internet.
Don't change a thing!
Tony you are my friend for setting the website up thankyou keep up the good work!*
*[I have a... job for you]
Don't change a thing!
Tony you are my friend for setting the website up thankyou keep up the good work!*
*[I have a... job for you]
Rastab wrote:
> Tony wrote:
> Rastab wrote:
> I didn't want it sullied by this place. I 'retired' it from the
> Freeola forums as a mark of respect for SR. Sad but true.
>
> What a sad person. I recommend that you seek a fresh
> environment. Something to cheer you up.
>
> Heheh. PM's been my 'fresh environment' since SR went under
> & I'm perfectly cheered thankyou :D
I take it that's "bye bye" then. Retired, sullied, gone - yes.
> Tony wrote:
> Rastab wrote:
> I didn't want it sullied by this place. I 'retired' it from the
> Freeola forums as a mark of respect for SR. Sad but true.
>
> What a sad person. I recommend that you seek a fresh
> environment. Something to cheer you up.
>
> Heheh. PM's been my 'fresh environment' since SR went under
> & I'm perfectly cheered thankyou :D
I take it that's "bye bye" then. Retired, sullied, gone - yes.
Ladybird wrote:
> ... I think Machie is awesome to have posted his now dubbed
> "thread killers." Grix can kiss my grits for saying
> that, because he was acting the fool and not wanting anything to
> do with this place out of spite, while Machie was doing what he
> could to keep this place lively to some degree with those
> threads. They brought people out of their shells (and out of
> the lurking shadows) and became a good ice breaker for n00bz and
> people that just want to post for the sake of posting, like Miss
> Leading...
It was FM who mentioned them and he called them "forum killers", not "thread killers"
> ... I think Machie is awesome to have posted his now dubbed
> "thread killers." Grix can kiss my grits for saying
> that, because he was acting the fool and not wanting anything to
> do with this place out of spite, while Machie was doing what he
> could to keep this place lively to some degree with those
> threads. They brought people out of their shells (and out of
> the lurking shadows) and became a good ice breaker for n00bz and
> people that just want to post for the sake of posting, like Miss
> Leading...
It was FM who mentioned them and he called them "forum killers", not "thread killers"
Tony wrote:
> Rastab wrote:
> I didn't want it sullied by this place. I 'retired' it from the
> Freeola forums as a mark of respect for SR. Sad but true.
>
> What a sad person. I recommend that you seek a fresh
> environment. Something to cheer you up.
Heheh. PM's been my 'fresh environment' since SR went under & I'm perfectly cheered thankyou :D
> Rastab wrote:
> I didn't want it sullied by this place. I 'retired' it from the
> Freeola forums as a mark of respect for SR. Sad but true.
>
> What a sad person. I recommend that you seek a fresh
> environment. Something to cheer you up.
Heheh. PM's been my 'fresh environment' since SR went under & I'm perfectly cheered thankyou :D
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