What can we do to restore the UV to its former glory?

[Chucara]

I will leave this thread here with a link from the welcome page (now restored) so people can post ideas on how we can increase the activity level of the UV. Please post any suggestions you have below. I am willing to put some hours into bringing our online presence up to date, but I need input from the community.

[AcdQueen89]

iz is just happy we have a front page again

[Chucara]

To give my own input:

- I think we need a "shtick". If asked to describe what the Unwashed Village is, I find that I am unable to describe it without ending up describing what is was.

- What is unique to the UV for me is the black/zany humour and the creativity(which sadly, is all but gone).

- If I could make a suggestion to get the activity up, it would be to start some creative task that everyone can join in on. Something simple, so no precursory skills are required, and something that doesn't take ages to contribute to or to read. Make it similar to a game.

- In my opinion, this should be related to the vast mythology that surrounds the UV. Now, I can't remember everything, but I'm sure it will be fun to try to remember. If you don't know what I'm referencing here, I'm thinking about:
- E.A.R.L.
- Fruit Wars
- Evil Tuesdays
- Alter Egos in general


Anyone else think something like this might be a good idea? Am I the only one missing the more creative side of the Unwashed? (Toons, Photos, fiction etc.)

[Sandru]

I'm not sure what to do, honestly.

I used to be much more active many years ago, back when the UV was young and we had the old original board. Don't think I've been incredibly active since.

We may just need a new game to rally behind, but I find it generally hard to get people unless a specific board has a purpose to bring them to it, in order to keep them long enough to get them to know us so they'd stay.

[Chucara]

Well, all of us have gotten older - it's been 11 years since I was an 18 year old and joined the Unwashed. I'm still here, but not nearly in the same way I was earlier. (I had a lot more spare time back then). It's only natural that people fade away from the board. The problem is.. we don't really have any flow of new members.

That was my point with the shtick. (Oh God, did I just write that)

If we want the community to continue, even if it isn't in the same form as before, we need something to bring people here. And right now, the "theme" is that we are all friends or varying degrees. But there is nothing to bring in fresh members.

Short of turning this into a Justin Bieber fanpage (I'll do it! I have the codes, and I'm crazy!) I'm looking for something to bring back old members as well as new ones.

[TK]

Back then we all had a Fallout-ish backstory and used to post our stories and histories which was fun.  We've grown up as a group though so I'm not sure if that works any more, plus a fair amount of our members in the ensuing years didn't have the buzz of FO and FO2 as a live phenomenon.  Could FO3 or FNV create this buzz again?

There are elements of our past I don't want to see returning, fortunately I don't drink anymore so drunk posts will hopefully stay at a minimum.

We do have a flicker of a fruit war on the horizon though, I call yellow and blue paper hats and the Lingonberry!

[Silver Dragon]

That was my point with the shtick. (Oh God, did I just write that)

*shakes head*  You and your pointy shtick...geez...   

If we want the community to continue, even if it isn't in the same form as before, we need something to bring people here. And right now, the "theme" is that we are all friends or varying degrees. But there is nothing to bring in fresh members.

I suggest blackjack...and hookers...and a lunar lander....and ale, of course!  Or maybe just strippers...and ale, can't forget the ale...   

P.S. Why the hell aren't the emoticons working?!  And has anybody heard from Doomsie lately?  Or Night Owl?  They seemed to be fairly active until recently...hrmmm...

[Night Owl]

That was my point with the shtick. (Oh God, did I just write that)

*shakes head*  You and your pointy shtick...geez...   

If we want the community to continue, even if it isn't in the same form as before, we need something to bring people here. And right now, the "theme" is that we are all friends or varying degrees. But there is nothing to bring in fresh members.

I suggest blackjack...and hookers...and a lunar lander....and ale, of course!  Or maybe just strippers...and ale, can't forget the ale...   

P.S. Why the hell aren't the emoticons working?!  And has anybody heard from Doomsie lately?  Or Night Owl?  They seemed to be fairly active until recently...hrmmm...

I am here, and I know Jen is still around. And how are you?

I've tried to get suggestions about this very topic last year. Suggested maybe a facebook page/etc... but that doesn't have the same "feel".

Maybe nothing will ever have that feel again - it was all so new. Online forums / online friendships were "not" the norm - back in 1998, it was special. Here in 2011 (has it really been 13 years? Wow), it's just not that big a deal anymore.

Still, I have hope   I'm here now, ale in hand (really).

[Silver Dragon]

I am here, and I know Jen is still around. And how are you?

I'm fine, thanks.  If I'm not working or sleeping (or marveling at the three and a half feet of snow that fell in the last couple days...it is March, right? ^_6 ), I'm playing WoW (or some other game that happened to catch my eye).  I check the board regularly, I just never have anything much to say... I'll pipe up every now and then, though!  Besides, being a dragon I tend to just sit, and watch, and blink a lot...   *blink blink*  *has flashbacks to ancient times in ICQ chats*  Ow.

[PsychoPompos]

If this turns into a Justin Bieber fan page i will track down the server and quite literally set it on fire.  No explanations to the owners, if they were aware they would understand.  The honest problem is that this place feels very clique-esque.  There really is nothing to draw new blood in.  The question is, even if we tried drawing new people in, how would they interact with us?  We need topics to get behind.  Major topics are pretty standard but we need to get deeper and have something of value.  Creative projects need to make a return.  The old Photoshop contests were fun at least but i haven't seen anything new here in a LONG time.

When it comes down to it, we need to enjoy it here ourselves in order to bring others in with us.  Its been sad because many members are either too busy or have been growing more conservative with their posting.  There needs to be a rebirth of randomness and humor.  I think we take ourselves a little too seriously.

[Tink]

We haven't  had a "show yourself" thread in a long while. How can we bring back board pics done in photo shop w/out pics? There's so many possibilties that would be really funny. I wish I had the time for my computer that I used to.

[BlueCross]

We haven't  had a "show yourself" thread in a long while. How can we bring back board pics done in photo shop w/out pics? There's so many possibilties that would be really funny. I wish I had the time for my computer that I used to.

Every time I start one of those 'show yourself' threads, I get slapped in the face.

[Solwyn]

We haven't  had a "show yourself" thread in a long while. How can we bring back board pics done in photo shop w/out pics? There's so many possibilties that would be really funny. I wish I had the time for my computer that I used to.

Every time I start one of those 'show yourself' threads, I get slapped in the face.

[MrWeasel]

Well... Im still lurking around the edges (still poke my nose in every week or so)
What to do, that is another story.
Myself, i still spend alot of time playing Anarchy-Online. (and don't look at the forums there 1/2 as often as i do here)
I do think the biggest problem is that we started as a gaming forums and it took on a life of it's own. The point is we had a "purpose" that underlay everything else (simply we were a "fan" page and that was one of our biggest attractions)
The People that were attracted to that fan page is what made it special, the imagination, the stories, the pics and photo edits were all personal flavors we added over the years. As someone else pointed out we were a social network before the term was ever coined. What it means is that now we are just one of MANY and short of outright advertising we are not likely to attract members other then by word of mouth. We no longer are a "presence" on the web, though to this day i still use UV at the end of many of my game characters names and explain it when asked (mrweaseluv is strangly a name people do ask about lol)
If we want to revive the village, we have to grow. To grow, we have to get people interested in joining us. To get people interested in us we need......"The Plan"!!!!!!
It is time!!!!   

Now where in hell did we put the damn thing???

[Laughinman]

We haven't  had a "show yourself" thread in a long while. How can we bring back board pics done in photo shop w/out pics? There's so many possibilties that would be really funny. I wish I had the time for my computer that I used to.

Every time I start one of those 'show yourself' threads, I get slapped in the face.

That's because you always forget to wear pants.