Reinvigorating the Forum

Sorry I've been gone, plans and I've been sick for the past few days. Unfortunately, I've got some last minute plans that came up and I won't be home today (Saturday) So, maybe we could all wait until Sunday evening? CG and I are free then. What about you, Merrin?

Um maybe maybe not...

Geez, and we keep hitting roadblocks XD Well, if all else fails, I believe we can meet this Thursday.

Ok, Thursday this week is good for me as of right now.

Okay :) I'll post here again when my plans are more concrete.

It seems as if everyone has died yet again...

So it seems D:

I guess the zombies got to them.

Theres a zombie on your lawn

I live. Here, right now, in this time plane.

So, then I'll propose the idea of a meeting. Since Christmas Break is here (well, for me and CG, at least, I don't know how it goes in Greece or Australia) I propose we meet this Thursday. I'll be busy the rest of this week and I'm not sure what's happening next week. Does this Thursday work for everyone else?

I'll be away with family but you guys can just pm me what you work out and I can give my input after everyone else or something.

This Thursday, as in tomorrow, works perfectly for me. And i have no clue what next week plans are so I cannot say about next week.

I meant, originally, next Thursday. New Year's isn't as busy as Chistmas so I assume we would all have more time.

oh ok, well Thursday evening works okay for me, i guess. But not before like 6, because I have something to do at noon.

Nevermind about the Thursday thing. Listen, guys, since all of our plans have fallen through, why don't we just meet here? Our chatbox is still working, isn't it?

Last I checked it was working...

So, why don't we just hold the thing here? We all log on to the site eventually. When is everyone free?

I thought logging on the chatbox was the original plan, but ok maybe not.

I'm free tomorrow (monday) evening and Thursday and that's about it for the week.

I am free Friday. You're not? Not even in the evening?

Maybe tomorrow, if thats what friday you mean. Don't know about next week. If I can get on I'll try to be on about 5:30-7. I have something to do at 8.

This week, which in that context would be next week. I am free until six that day.

Since I'm not quite sure when that's going to be, I suggest you send me a message when you are meetings and depending on what I'm doing at that moment, I may or may not log in..Chances are that I'll be able to log in though I can't promise anything..

I'm free most days except weekends. Mondays, Thursdays, or Fridays would be the best though. So whatever works for everyone else..

Hey guys. Since the meeting is on indefinite hold (I'm hoping for next Thursday or Friday) here are some of my own suggestions about how we can re-arrange the forums. These are not concrete changes. All final changes will be discussed during said meeting.

General Structure

So I was thinking we could keep the forums divided like we do now with different categories for Anime, Manga, and Misc. However, I think it might work better if we split up manga and anime into different sub categories. For example, the major header would be 'Anime & Manga' with the sub-headings of 'Anime' and 'Manga'. It keeps topics easier to organize and we can put groups like Anime and Manga Questions into these sub-categories so we can have more room for other things. The rest of the categories would be unchanged.

I like the separation of creative works (such as writings and stories) from the Misc section as I've seen that in other forums and it works well. What I think we should aim for with separating and restructuring the categories is that we reduce the clutter on the main page and allow users to browse it easier.

Anime

As we all know, there's a ton of anime out there. I think it would make more sense to get rid of the icon structure (as it seemingly limits the series we can discuss by grouping them into 'Anime & Manga not listed'. Plus, many of these categories have little to no posts in them anyway). What I think would work better is to use said 'Anime' category and list sub-categories like this: Anime News, Anime Questions (here we would include 'Looking for' and 'what anime is this' threads) and Anime Series. Anime Series would have the categories of A-H, I-Q, and R-Z and Currently Airing. It allows users to list series alphabetically and would reduce clutter on one 'anime' page. If we wanted to expand upon this idea we could have 'sub-sub categories' that list series names if they become popular enough for their own group.

Why the 'Currently Airing' section? It would allow us to keep threads related to popular on-going series (such as Naruto, Bleach, or One Piece) in one section without clogging up a different section. We could also post seasonal anime here as well: things like 'Spring 2011' threads or threads relating to anime that are currently premiering on TV. Regardless of it you want to keep the 'currently airing' I think we should have seperate groups for things like Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece.

Basically what I'm envisioning is a more detailed version of our basic structure now: when you click on a series name the categories 'characters, episodes, manga, and anime' show up. This suggested structure would follow this basic plan but with more categories and the like added. Ask me to clarify if you have any questions about this grouping.

Manga

I am a little unsure about what to do with manga. I don't know if the anime structure would work: I don't know how much manga would be discussed in the long run. However, for now, until I think of a more fitting grouping, the anime structure would work: the basic categories would be added (Manga News, Manga Series, and Manga Questions) with the exception of 'Currently Airing' as that would cause confusion because lots of manga are currently being published as opposed to the relatively few anime series airing on television. I believe we would simply make a 'category' for certain series on their own: for example Naruto, Bleach, or One Piece. We could even have a vote as to what series would get their own groupings (much like the icon system now except we would also have the alphabetical groups). So the anime of a series would not be grouped with the manga to avoid clutter).

The idea for this grouping is the same as the anime structure: a more detailed format of our current structure.

The rest of the categories can remain as it as I think their current structure works well. I am unsure of what to do with the 'clan' group: what are the plans for that?

Please tell me if this is possible or not. I'm trying to create a new layout based on what we already have. I would be happy to help with this process if someone will instruct me on how to do the basics.

Be sure to give your own suggestions or ask me to clarify anything I've already stated!

HEEEEY! anyone remember me? o.o