Your opinion: Growth

We're always trying to grow the LanOC community, for several reasons. At the most basic, we simply enjoy gaming and talking geek with anyone who is interested as well, similar to a 'the more the merrier' concept. A larger community also means more members that may be willing to help support game servers for LanOC, and actually use them regularly. It also increases the attendance at our LAN parties, which partnered with the increased traffic from them visiting the site means more sponsors, and therefore more prizes.

We've tried several methods to not only attract new members but also to get current members who visit the site daily but rarely post to do so. Some worked, albeit with some unusual response from some of the members, and some didn't.

So, we want all of your opinions on what you think would help get people to start posting more, mostly those who visit and don't usually, there are several of you guys (who will probably respond quickly to this) who post regularly and are just awesome, we appreciate it. But also any ideas on what can attract new members, and to go hand-in-hand with the first, keep them coming back.

This is essentially a brainstorming thread, so please do not attack anyone's ideas. Staff will most likely not be chiming in much, we just want as many ideas and opinions as you guys are willing to give. Thanks again for all the loyal posters out there, we're looking forward to what you have to say.

People love prizes. That all by itself can bring in loads of people. The problem is how to make everyone feel as if they have a chance to win. The monthly points is a good start, but once everyone sees that one person is so far in front, they give up. Maybe make it so everyone who gets X amount of points and does some other easy task gets their name thrown in the hat. I'm sure someone will come up with an idea for that. Maybe all lanparty attendees get an extra ticket thrown in, as long as they meet the other requirements of the contest. That list would be updated after every lan, including mini's. Just my thoughts. Assuming we can find a sponsor for the month.

the post contest was nice but i have to agree with the previous post about points.

I always felt there was a learning curve to get used to the layout of the site. It seems that space could be put to better use and make the website more visually appealing and simpler to use.

But aside from prizes and contests, I think we simply need more activities that anyone can get involved in.
A poor-man's case mod contest would be a good example. Set a budget ($10-$50) and force everyone to keep a record with receipts of items purchased. Contestants would be judged on value and creativity instead of how nice the case itself was.

Just spit-ballin'.

I feel that keeping things simple is the way to go, at least at first, that way more people can get involved. The less it costs to perticipate in an activity or contest the more people that will do it.

From other forums I have been on, contests have included: best screenshot (would have to pick a game), Best picture (real life), scavenger hunts (I've seen full internet scavenger hunts like you have to find a certain site of picture or video and piost the link), I've even seen best costume events. I'm sure we can come up with other things but I feel simple is the way to go, not to say that some more involved things wouldn't be good/fun. Also I feel "top dog" events are allways fun, simply picking a game and seeing who can get the best stats/ranks for say... that week. I also feel having planned playing times could be good, just something like at this day, this time a group of us are going to play blah and all are welcome to join us (I understand this is not allways easy to do). And this is a long shot, but if a lot of people played the same online game there would be some unity in that but we all have diffrent tastes and I know a lot of people (includeing me) are not going to pay to play an online game, but I do know of a ton of online games that are really good.

My random post is now done, Oh, and I am on the site daily, I just don't allways have something to say.

Thanks to everyone who has commented so far, please keep the ideas coming!

Perhaps we could get involved in some serious gaming tournaments or something? Perhaps organize a few ourselves for the off-season?

NitrosDragon wrote:

Perhaps we could get involved in some serious gaming tournaments or something? Perhaps organize a few ourselves for the off-season?

This is a good idea. We need outreach projects so that people can get to know the staff and other members of the community and feel like LAN is some place they want to add to their list of sites they check and contribute to.
Personally i can't keep up with 1% of the posts on Stompfest, so i quit trying to post and get involved because in my opinion it's too big to be personable and that's what i like. Size is only as good as the people involved.
I think the staff needs to figure out if they want a solid core of people who post quality items and are online friends more than members of the community, or if they want to start throwing out tons of prizes to attract people who just post the minimum to get into the contests, but don't really contribute to the direction of the community. I understand that sponsors don't care if the people contribute, they just wanna see the stats of random people visiting the site. So is LAN OC going to be about getting big for the sake of getting big, or are we looking to invite quality people into our circle?

A problem with being selective is that you can chase away quality people by being too elitist... i understand daves concerns about contests bringing people that just want to win.. but the contests make it fun for regulars too if they let it be fun.

Twodavez wrote:

NitrosDragon wrote:

Perhaps we could get involved in some serious gaming tournaments or something? Perhaps organize a few ourselves for the off-season?

I think the staff needs to figure out if they want a solid core of people who post quality items and are online friends more than members of the community, or if they want to start throwing out tons of prizes to attract people who just post the minimum to get into the contests, but don't really contribute to the direction of the community. I understand that sponsors don't care if the people contribute, they just wanna see the stats of random people visiting the site. So is LAN OC going to be about getting big for the sake of getting big, or are we looking to invite quality people into our circle?

As far as Stompfest is concerned, and nothing against them, but organization seems to be lacking is more than a few aspects. They have a great community full of members who contribute quality and meaningful posts to their boards, albeit difficult to navigate. So the question isn't as simple as big and broad vs small and focused. It's possible to have a very large group of people who co-exist and communicate about a numerous topics.

As mentioned in the OP, we are interested in growing the community, which to me implies meaningful posts and not just minimal responses to get in contests. That being said, no member of staff is looking to make this an exclusive club where we judge every post for relevancy. I think that our boards are well laid out enough that even with a large load of new posts, you could easily find topics that interested you while ignoring others. If you want our post rate to be low enough that all new posts are always showed on the right of the screen whenever you log on, then I'd have to disagree with you.

Ultimately, its up to you all, in more ways then one. The benefits of having a large community such as Stompfest are several servers, more conversations, and larger LAN turnout. One downfall is that you may have to put a little more effort into finding posts that interest you; again, having been to Stompfest's forums, it is a little unorganized, I personally think that a quick click to the main forum page would be enough to show you new posts in categories that you're interested in.

So that's something that needs to be decided. I apologize for the wall of text and for posting, I'm not trying to argue or anything, I just felt like some things needed cleared up. Thanks for the input guys, please continue.

Maybe its how everybody approches forums differntly, I have been a member of stompfest since 2003, I can find anything pretty easly, When i log in it shows how many new post have been added, and i scroll through that. it also shows the post prevoius to my last long in, I have no trouble with thier forum at all, Here i see the most recent post on teh left, but is their away to see all the post i missed? Also i never see who started them or teh dat eit was started , just who last posted

jj_Sky5000 wrote:

Maybe its how everybody approches forums differntly, I have been a member of stompfest since 2003, I can find anything pretty easly, When i log in it shows how many new post have been added, and i scroll through that. it also shows the post prevoius to my last long in, I have no trouble with thier forum at all, Here i see the most recent post on teh left, but is their away to see all the post i missed? Also i never see who started them or teh dat eit was started , just who last posted

On the right side of any page, you should see the most recent posts, complete with last poster and the date of the last post. If you are interested in OP and date, you can find it on the /forum page, which also has a nice symbol indicating an unread post.

I think that talking is good, but sometimes, you just have to try out a contest, give-away, or promotion to see if it really works. Obviously the points contest created some friction in the group, but it's also summer so people are out doing stuff instead of inside all night hunched over their PC on the forums.
I know we've gone over this in the past, but what about getting a Vent server going or something else LAN OC that people could use while gaming with their friends, and also just something to hop in to say HI? Didn't someone offer to set up one (of that might've been to share music lists ) I know i've brought a few people to stompfest so they could sign up to use their VENT so when we're playing BC2, we can talk (since EA still hasn't figured it out in-game ). It would be a way to connnect with people and maybe get new people to the group. Also is there any plans to have another game server through LAN OC. I know the group is kinda split between MW2 and BC2 (or everyone by JJ & I has MW2, and we're the hold-outs) But just something like that to get the name out. I still think the TF2 server went down because it jumped to different maps and people didn't stick in to play someting they liked. Most servers are just PL or CTP or Arena, they don't jump so much...
Or try to do a Wimply's lan thing and do something monthly/quarterly plus the 2 big LAN's in the spring & fall. Have a Mini the 2nd Saturday every 3 months or the 3rd saturday every month, that way people can plan on it. No prizes (or limited prizes) and just gaming! Have a game of the night type tourney and just have a good time to get together. I'd love to mini LAN with most of you in OH, but to pack up my PC, drive an hour to game for 3 on a week night isn't feesable, and to ask to get away on the weekend is hard, but if it's planned far enough in advance, i have a chance .

We are seriously considering a Vent server. As for game servers, we had the TF2 server and it simply lost interest and donations. As mentioned above, more members mean more willing to donate and less each person needs to donate, as well as players who will actually play on the servers. The TF2 started as something many people committed to, but only three or four ended up pitching in for. In fact, at one time one person donated the majority of the payment himself.

I'm not by any means criticizing anyone's contributions, just that more donors is one of the perks of having a large community, which I think we all want, so it brings us back to how?

Rest assured that ideas are being recorded and there's A LOT of conversation going on with staff about your ideas. Please keep them coming guys.

Mumble >>> Vent

Just saying.

Dreyvas wrote:

Mumble >>> Vent

Just saying.

You'll have to show us how to use it... I downloaded it, how do we get hooked up??

Somebody has to run a server. It's easy to run over a lan. I bet a little harder over the net.

it would be handy to try to have organized "game of the night" scheduled games and times.. maybe a forum calendar..

do a rotation of BC2, MW2, TF2, etc...

too many plants and not enough water, Dont worry these things come up radomly in my head.

There is a lot of great things about lanoc, We have the Event 7.0, We have a Forum, We have review Site, at one time had a Game Server, The thing that is missing is people.

The event 50-100 people probley look or want to go and actual go.

The forum 20 people if not less post!!!

The once tf2 game sever again around 20 people before it died

at last but not least the Review site (30,000)+ hits I am rough guessing. : this is wher the water needs to come from for the flowers!!!!!!

Key word of the Day "integration" We need to tap into 30000+ folks to grow. Get them to forum, then they will check out the severs, then they will want to come to the events.

jj_Sky5000 wrote:

too many plants and not enough water, Dont worry these things come up radomly in my head.

There is a lot of great things about lanoc, We have the Event 7.0, We have a Forum, We have review Site, at one time had a Game Server, The thing that is missing is people.

The event 50-100 people probley look or want to go and actual go.

The forum 20 people if not less post!!!

The once tf2 game sever again around 20 people before it died

at last but not least the Review site (30,000)+ hits I am rough guessing. : this is wher the water needs to come from for the flowers!!!!!!

Key word of the Day "integration" We need to tap into 30000+ folks to grow. Get them to forum, then they will check out the severs, then they will want to come to the events.

Verily, this man speaketh truth.

I've mentioned before, but I think the front page could use some work.
It's the first thing people see of the site, and I think we should take advantage of our audience, seeing as how we already have the content.

I'm no expert in graphic design or anything, but IMHO, it could be simpler for new users, and more appealing to the eye.

I would agree. It's not that the current design is bad at all. It just could be better.

Nobody said anything looked bad. I'd say the front page just doesn't necessarily look very professional. I've been to quite a few review sites, and all the major ones have a product category listing for reviews with links right on the main page. Yes, I know there's a drop-down menu here. Are people too lazy to find that? You be the judge.

The site is also just amateur-looking compared to major review sites. Yes, I know these sites have dedicated graphic designers, but you're asking for things that will bring growth and a positive site experience will do that.

Also, having misspellings and grammatical errors right on the main page is just plain sloppy. It doesn't reflect upon the site in a professional manner at all. No offense, but you guys need a dedicated proofreader before you can be taken really seriously.

TLDR;
Make things read and look like a professional reviews site if you want the traffic that something like that would attract.

For the front page, I personally like that the site doesn't look too professional (No Offense, but some places just seem like they try to hard to make it look like professional) I guess that doesn't come out right on paper, but hopefully I can explain.
I think of LAN OC is for the people by the people. While I agree the proof reading could be a little better, it does help to show that these are regular guys reviewing products. Not someone the company is paying to write something good. I love it when the cons section is bigger than the pros, because we all know there is something wrong with everything. Not that it's wrong enough to make it a bad product, but I don't feel everything is candy coated for the product so that the company will send LAN OC more stuff. I think LAN OC is genuine and is looking out for the best interest of their subscribers and anyone who comes to their site for an opinion. I’d hate for things to get too stuffy like some sites where you feel they are just writing what the sponsor wants, instead of what the reviewer felt.
I do think that the reviews should be uniform which I think they have been and the pictures should show all side and problems which they do. (I didn’t want this to be an all constructive criticism, there are lots of things I think the site does right, it’s just our society doesn’t focus on those things ? )
What happened to the emails from the staff? I thought those were a good thing to keep people updated on what was going on with the site. Also put in there the reviews of all the products of the past month with gold star ratings to help highlight them.
Have you ever thought of having a section that when people come to check out a product they could simply type in their email and get the monthly newsletter? Something quick and simple to collect their information with out having to register with the site. Maybe they don’t want to be a part of the forums because they already have their favorite’s they post on regularly, but if they saw the normal emails, they’d come back more and once they make LAN OC a normal stop, they might buy in a little more. You can’t expect everyone to see a review and want to post on the forums, you have to get them used to the style of people on the site, and I think a periodical email news letter would help draw people back to look at other things LAN OC has to offer.
Instead of having the recent posts on the right of the main page, what about having the forum topics listed to make it a little more inviting for them to check it out. I like the recent posts section on the right of the forums page, but on the main page, I think it looks to messy and un-inviting. Especially with some of the topics that we’ve had come up lately. If it just listed the board categories, people might be interested in checking it out and then they’d see everything that’s out there.
And in stead of having the industry news on the front page that looks interesting and take people away from the site, why not as a staff, figure out a topic of the day/week and put a link to it there. The conversations about BFG and the Diamond cards I think are news worthy and should be highlighted there instead of other sites articles (unless it’s advertising and then you have to weigh having people leave the site for the revenue it generates…)
Overall I’ve grown to love the new site. It had some transitions that I wasn’t fond of, and I made that known, but I think it’s going in a good direction.

By emails do you mean something other than the newsletters we send out every month?

I enjoy the newsletters, they're a quick and easy way to stay up-to-date on things.

Lersar wrote:

By emails do you mean something other than the newsletters we send out every month?

Maybe time goes slow for me, but i don't remember the last time i got a news letter... but that's the idea and i know the newsletter is out there, but are you just sending it to full subsribers to the site? Maybe by having a box to collect email addresses on the review side, you could increase your circulation quickly, then maybe they'd frequent the site more and get involved in the forums.
Or what about an option that they could sign up to have the reviews for a certian type of product (video cards or RAM) or maker (Intel or gigabyte) emailed to them whenever LAN OC does a review on it. I'm just trying to find ways to show people the benifits of the whole LAN OC Experience instead of just coming once when something they wanna buy was reviewed...