Terraria's great. I don't have anyone to play it with anymore so that'd be a good reason to! How many people can you have in one game?

I'm not sure. I've seen at least 6 or 7 people play at once, probably more than that.

Never actually played it online myself but the appeal is very, well, appealing.

gotta agree with these points. i've been nice to newcomers and i've stopped all the in-jokes and shit, it's activity this forum craves and i think our lack of it is what's driving people away ultimately.

personally i believe this to be the main issue. there's no new conversation and we seem to be despirited as a community. i've been avoiding posting lately because i thought i was part of the problem, but now i realize inactivity is the last thing this forum needs.

if there is to be change i think we should build on and update what we have here rather than start all over again, but if we did start a new forum i'd be all for it. either way i'm all for our betterment, i care about this forums future.

We can play Garry's mod. That's a hectic multiplayer game.

Okay, that makes sense.

I don't really know what's going on with Wil these days - I haven't spoken to him in ages. Also, bear in mind that pretty much all I said in my previous post about OWI and OWF came directly from him. He was quite enthusiastic about the idea of OWI developing its own community seperate from OWF. I'm not entirely sure that he'll be able to help us out there.


The issue was never the 'How', it was always the 'What'.

That snow on the front page laggs my PS4 browser to shit.







I also have nothing else to contribute.

The two reasons I'm mostly inactive are:

I'm busy. I suspect there are a number of people who were in their teens or not in university/not working when the activity of the forums peaked, and it seems like as people's lives advance, they find less time to waste on internet forums when there's little incentive to do so (although saying this, I can't think of a specific user that would illustrate my point, and I can think of a few people who contradict my point, so this may not be as significant a point as I initially suspected). Even though I don't think it's the biggest issue, I do think that making the forums more suitable for portable devices might be a possible help, as it's easier to quickly glance at a site on your phone on a train/bus or in a waiting room or whatever than it is to boot up a computer on even a laptop to view something. This may be related to my point that people move on, as travelling between uni/work/whatever may be the only time some people get to check the place considering the possible developments in their lives.

I find it mostly boring! There are enough people I like here to encourage me to check what's going on, but all forums are almost completely dead. When New n Tasty was being developed, I was interested in those discussions, but even by then, I found that basically nothing caught my eye in off-topic any more. And it's got even more boring since then. I don't even see Nepsotic making tabloid-esque controversial claims so much any more. They were boring threads to me too, but I read them just because they seemed to spark discussion more than other threads. It seems to be boring because of the lack of activity - there aren't many members posting many threads, and currently, OT consists entirely of an inactive Dr. Who thread, a general music thread, a general TV thread, "Classics" (not getting any of those any more), a thread for random bullshit and this thread, apparently the most active discussion, which is basically just despairing about the inactivity of the rest of the forums (as well as attempting to offer a solution, to be completely fair).

I'd like to be more active. I like the active membership! But there's not much, if anything, to discuss about Oddworld currently (and my interest in Abe has largely diminished, to be honest), and there is almost literally nothing whatsoever being discussed in off-topic either. A big, friendly (if slightly controversial) debate/discussion might be a good start, maybe, although I'm not sure what the topic would be.
And I also think working on the existing community might be useful. OWF as I know it has always been quite close-knit, and beyond all the ridiculous hazing and hostility mentioned above, there was something which could have been turned into something quite positive. The forums did have the capacity to come together and do good things for each other, and I'm sure had the potential to integrate and charm other people too. I think that OWF has had a colourful and endearing cast of characters, quite a few of whom remain, and I think that's something that could endear newcomers to the forums even if they didn't join with particularly serious intent to discuss Oddworld or anything else.

This is a very big post to say I'm making very few real suggestions that can be acted upon. Sorry that I don't have much to actually contribute!

It looks to me like there are two overall issues we need to address.

• First is the site itself: administration, software, forum skin, features.
• Second is the community: posting activity, toxic atmosphere, reasons to join, things to do as part of the group.

So where do we go from here?

either current mods get harder on assholes like me or we get more mods that can be hard.

I can be hard.

Been a lurker on here for longer than I can remember, never really posted even when I joined, surprised I have 28 posts, thought it would be 10 at best.

This place is dead because there's literally nothing to talk about; the remake came out, it was OK I guess, pretty much no real news on Oddworld since then. Frankly I'm surprised this place has gone on for as long as it has. I've never felt intimidated by the shitposting/insults that go on though, it's a forum for god's sake!

Not much I can really add, other than that this place's death has been pretty natural, any forum dies if there's nothing to talk about.

I refer you back to my previous comment about reporting post. I need you to tell me when to get hard on.

Aside from the really mean negreps i received the moment i joined the toxicity hasnt been too bad. But i havnt been here that long.

My feelings exactly...

To me the biggest problem with this place is that it is full of assholes posting shit everywhere. I don't like it but lets face it this forum stayed alive for years because of them interacting in the off-topic discussion. You just had to look where the activity was during the long period between SW and NnT.

We've had regularly discussions with the other mods about trying to clean the place up, the conclusion that was almost always reached was that it would just drive the last remaining users away.

So yeah we kind of let it rot away (at least some of us did). But I want you to know that as a mod of the Oddworld Discussion part of the forum it's very hard when you realise that the best reactivity (and even reputation) is achieved by posting stupid off-topic jokes.

So now, quite unexpectedly Oddworld is back and generates new fans. Which should have been a good thing but they were driven away by the asshole jokes and sheer negativity of some members. (even an Oddworld Community manager fled this place because of it). It only takes a few to spoil it for the rest of us.

I love the idea of having a place to interact with other Oddworld fans in a more structured way than posts on twitter and facebook. I'm just afraid this place isn't it.

If a new forum opens somewhere else really dedicated to discuss Oddworld related things I would join in a heartbeat. Actually I already did a couple of times in the past but they all died out because of admin ego problems.

I'm willing to try to turn this place around, I sure can be tougher when needed. I'm just not sure we now have enough topics or material to relaunch interesting Oddworld Discussion.

It's up to Nate as the man in charge as to how far he wants to take this, really. If Peter continues refusing to help him then the only way to accomplish part one is to start a completely new site, with a new domain and probably lose all the history of this place in the process.

The second can be fixed right here. First step, appoint some new mods. Second step: turn off that god-awful manual account confirmation if it wasn't already. There's no larger deterrent for new members to start posting than making them wait hours or even days before their account is active.

So yeah, what do?

I don't think anyone would be opposed to fronting cash for some new forum software and a couple of new forum skins, either modified or specifically designed, that'd solve some of the first issue. The problem of course, is whether or not Peter would actually let Nate implement those things.

Is it not worth letting Alcar know that the forum is discontent with the current state of things, and that if he doesn't get off his backside people will start something new?

Nate already suggested everyone send Peter a message on Facebook to let him know how we feel. I've already sent him something, but as usual I didn't get a response. If we start something new though, Peter wouldn't be involved as it would obviously be placed on a completely new hosting account. If Peter would let Nate do these things on our current host we wouldn't be having this conversation.

What's the story with Alcar anyway? If he/she is never here, why does he/she care about what happens to this place? Surely it wouldn't be too much of an issue to hand over the keys so things might be able to change, yunno, for the better.

Speaking of which, who is actually fronting the bills at this point in time? Would that be you, Nate?

Alcar is still the one who pays... doesn't prevent him to treat this place like shit. Which is exactly what its users have turned it into.

This place goes back a long way and I assume it has a lot of sentimentality for Alcar. He's been the owner for something like 13 years now.

The forum I loved is already gone, so I don't see any harm in trying something new. Like Havoc said, the new member approval would be good to do away with, but we'd need to actually update the forum software first. I'd be all for cracking down on behavior and going clean, then trying to officially affiliate with OI. I know I speak for a few people when I say that nothing we do will ever fill the OWF shaped hole in our hearts, but it would be good to usher in a modern site to give people a friendly forum for discussing Oddworld in the future. Oddworld Forums: The Next Generation.

That said, I don't see myself offering much to a new forum. I hardly have a reason other than habit to keep visiting here :(

We’re starting to go round in circles here.

If we need to get the message through to Alcar then how do we best do that. How about we start a thread to act as a petition asking him to get more admins on board, and then everyone who agrees with this can post to the thread to indicate their support.

Mods – as Nate and Xavier have said they’re willing to get tougher, as long as we the users actually start reporting shitposts. So let’s not worry about recruiting new mods for now until we need more hands on board.

We have technical things to consider like what forum software to upgrade to, how/would we transfer over the old database (I’m sure a lot of forum software has vBulletin compatibility in some way), how would we replace/port the old blogs, what new features to add. Can we get users who would be interested in helping put this all together to start discussing options? And can we upgrade/better integrate Oddchat into all this?

Then there’s the finance. If we’re paying for new forum software, or if someone else is going to take over the hosting, how do we finance that?

And what do we do to address the lack of discussion and content? I would suggest that everyone starts at least thinking about some threads to post, even just smaller threads that they might not normally bother with. Have you seen discussions on other forums/on social media that you want to bring here? And what kind of fun stuff do you want to get up to with the other members here? We have a Steam group and most of us share some multiplayer games, how about things like game challenges (post your best time bountying Lefty Lugnutz or whatever)?


e: Here’s an open question for everyone. In an ideal situation what would you like OWF to be like?

I think this thread acts as a petition all on its own. Peter's Facebook page can be found here (I think). Everyone who wants to see this place under new management, send him a message and maybe we'll get somewhere eventually.

Xenforo is a very decent modern alternative that's made by the original developers of Vbulletin (before it went to shit). Transferring over the old database is fully supported, though I'm not sure about the blogs. That's a third party plugin that may not be able to be carried over. Either way, we'd need access to the database first, which is something we currently don't have. There are also chat plugins available for Xenforo if we go down that route.

Xenforo license is $140, premium themes range from $30 to $50 and hosting can be had for as little as a few dollars a month. Two ways to handle it, either we do a small crowdfunding campaign and ask everyone to chip in until we meet the goal, or someone fronts the cash voluntarily.

Ideally I'd like to see Nate get server access, upgrade this place to meet modern standards and make it a semi-official extension of OWI's fan community where devs and casual new fans can hang out without being beaten half to death.

The problem with this is that I (and probably others) don’t have him added on Facebook already and wouldn’t be willing to do that just to message him. Especially since you said he doesn’t seem to respond. I’d prefer a central place with everyone’s grievances that we can link him to and invite him to respond openly.

I don't have him added as a friend either and I was able to send him a message just fine?

#banhavoc

I agree with the motion of starting a thread to get his awareness, no point in me writing why because it'd be easy to copy-paste what Comrade Manco said.

Peter told me to tell you that he doesn't love any of you anymore.

I've just sent Peter a quick message regarding this thread. I'm not sure what others may have said in any Facebook messages to him but I just asked him to have a read of the discussion we've been having so we can move on and try to arrange something.

I wasn't joking. NONE OF YOU.

Fraternising with the enemy, comrade Hobo?

It's all because of Hobo, why we don't have any new members.

Lack of Hobo*

I hate pointers.

I don't think me and Peter have actually spoken to each other during the entire time I've been here.

Which is about 7 years.

I don't think he has spoken to me as well.

At least Hobo did. I can die happy now

I remember speaking to Alcar a couple of times between 2008-2010ish? Obviously hasn't been on much since.

#banhavoc

This is so retro.

We don't patronize Havoc anymore. I think.

I am all for a change in leadership, especially if it benefits the entire forum. And in my years of being here I definitely support the idea of Nate being the man to take charge. Hell, I'm pretty sure he gave me my first infraction. Also to support this I made an overthrow OWF avatar



Enjoy comrades.

Corbyn for OWF Admin

Or Sanders for all the Americans out there.