09-09-2024, 10:08 PM
Hindsight is 20/20, but part of me wonders if adding a hacks section wasn't the best idea, since processing hack submissions takes a bit more time and know-how than processing stand-alone games. Another part of me wonders if it's good to have multiple sites hosting these things, considering just how fragile some ROM-hacking communities have been.
I disagree with the assumption that the "community" has unanimously moved on to Discord. Judging from forum topics like this one and this one, there's an appetite for the forums to be a vibrant place.
Moreover, every indication I see is that the MFGG Discord's activity level is a tiny fraction of what it was 3-4 years ago. The #general-chat channel has 24 messages in the past 24 hours. I remember on the unofficial Skype groups of less than a decade ago, I'd often go to bed, check again in the morning, and find 1,000+ new messages waiting for me! While September is traditionally a slow month for MFGG, the MFGG Discord seemed pretty sleepy in the summer as well.
MFGG's audience is considerably older than it once was. That's not the end of the world - having a calmer, more mature crowd can be a good thing - but it's also true that we oldsters usually have more responsibilities and less free time than we once did! I suspect younger teenagers - historically the lifeblood of sites like MFGG - might be harder to engage with forums, Discord, and other text-based media. MFGG is the opposite of TikTok.
It's tougher to be the admin of any online community than it was 10 years ago - especially a Mario fansite. However, it's important for our current staff to be active and engaged in every part of the site. I can understand how some of the discourse around fangaming can be a bit demoralizing (not to mention the ever-growing bot problem), but if you're an admin and you don't have the time or motivation to participate regularly, it's important to promote new people who'd be enthusiastic about helping out.
MFGG would benefit from some discussions about the direction it's going. But we'd also benefit from fixing some of the obvious problems that are within our control - for example, going five months without a Twitter post isn't great, and going two months without a mainsite update is really bad.
I disagree with the assumption that the "community" has unanimously moved on to Discord. Judging from forum topics like this one and this one, there's an appetite for the forums to be a vibrant place.
Moreover, every indication I see is that the MFGG Discord's activity level is a tiny fraction of what it was 3-4 years ago. The #general-chat channel has 24 messages in the past 24 hours. I remember on the unofficial Skype groups of less than a decade ago, I'd often go to bed, check again in the morning, and find 1,000+ new messages waiting for me! While September is traditionally a slow month for MFGG, the MFGG Discord seemed pretty sleepy in the summer as well.
MFGG's audience is considerably older than it once was. That's not the end of the world - having a calmer, more mature crowd can be a good thing - but it's also true that we oldsters usually have more responsibilities and less free time than we once did! I suspect younger teenagers - historically the lifeblood of sites like MFGG - might be harder to engage with forums, Discord, and other text-based media. MFGG is the opposite of TikTok.
It's tougher to be the admin of any online community than it was 10 years ago - especially a Mario fansite. However, it's important for our current staff to be active and engaged in every part of the site. I can understand how some of the discourse around fangaming can be a bit demoralizing (not to mention the ever-growing bot problem), but if you're an admin and you don't have the time or motivation to participate regularly, it's important to promote new people who'd be enthusiastic about helping out.
MFGG would benefit from some discussions about the direction it's going. But we'd also benefit from fixing some of the obvious problems that are within our control - for example, going five months without a Twitter post isn't great, and going two months without a mainsite update is really bad.
Course clear! You got a card.
![[Image: CourseClear.gif]](https://dl.dropbox.com/s/d5mcpm4nmt0gd14/CourseClear.gif)
![[-]](https://forums.mfgg.net/images/emerald/collapse.png)