Make the forums active again

**VinnyVideo** · 07-28-2023, 06:20 PM

As you can probably tell, the MFGG forums have not been terribly active lately. Forum activity has declined steadily since 2015, the peak of the MFGG Renaissance. We reached an all-time low in February, when we had a grand total of four (4) new posts for the month. Ouch.

[Image: MFGGPostsByYear_2011-2023.png?rlkey=ki71...c7h6f&dl=0]

[Image: MFGGPostsByYear_2011-2023.png?rlkey=ki71...c7h6f&dl=0]

Fortunately, July has been a bit more active, and lately we've had a few interesting conversations on the forums.

I wonder if we have an opportunity to make this place a bit more lively again! I've heard a LOT of people express frustration over X Twitter and the direction it's been going. I've seen a lot of discussions about Twitter alternatives, as well as some people sharing nostalgia for the era when independent forums (like MFGG) held a greater influence on the online world. While big social media sites like Twitter aren't necessarily a direct competitor to MFGG - when used wisely, they can even attract new members and traffic to the forums and mainsite - there's no question that centralized, for-profit social networks have taken a bite out of places like MFGG.

Lots of people don't enjoy social media in 2023 - and MFGG should embrace that! You don't need to pay $8 a month for your posts to show up here, and we're never going to sell your personal data to make some guy in Silicon Valley ridiculously wealthy. Forums are far better than the convoluted "fediverse" schemes that some have proposed as a substitute for Twitter. Plus, forums have their own unique vibes - we're the only place on the Internet with an Evening Chill or a BooBerry skin, after all!

Relying solely on the MFGG Discord is also the wrong solution. Discord's lack of searchability - for both regular users and search engines - severely limits its usefulness for sharing games and resources, a task that forums excel at. While some newer users prefer chat-based communications, there's also a significant number of MFGGers who find the asynchronous nature of forums to be more enjoyable. I don't really post on the MFGG Discord, but all evidence I could gather shows the Discord is much less active than it was a couple of years ago.

I'd love to see a return of the kinds of events and competitions we did for so many years. Other than an occasional Game Jam, we haven't done any kind of competition in over three and a half years. That's really sad. It would be awesome to see a Sprite Competition or Drawing Competition on the forums this fall when the next planned Game Jam wraps up.

It would also be nice to see the current staff have a more visible presence on the fourms, or at least promote a new staff member who focused on the forums - it's not a big time commitment to log in to the forums every day or two and occasionally make a post or new topic. Even if you're just a regular member, something as small as getting in the habit of making a forum topic when you play a new game or find a useful resource could go a long way in renewing interest in the MFGG forums.

If the forums stay as inactive as they were in early 2023, it's worth asking whether the forums should be officially archived - having a comatose forum might do more harm than good by making people think that all parts of MFGG are dead.

Maybe promoting the forums is a lost cause - maybe interest in Mario fangaming just ain't what it used to be, or maybe people can't imagine online communication that isn't mobile-first and corporate-owned. I'm certainly not asking anyone to pour an inordinate amount of unpaid labor into becoming the savior of a sleepy Mario fansite, but I still believe the forums are a fundamentally valuable place that deserves more love.

Does anyone else feel the same way? Do you have any ideas for making MFGG - especially the forums - a more vibrant place?

**kremling** · 07-28-2023, 08:36 PM

Awesome post. I too would love to see life be brought back to the MFGG forums.

I’m part to blame, as it’s probably been 1-2 years since I last logged in.

I believe the discord can be useful in some aspects, but discussions seem rather disorganized/chaotic.

I personally prefer there to be topics created and posts within the topics. And I know Discord allows for threads/posts, but it ultimately doesn’t seem as intuitive as the forums.

The forum also has more personality. Avatars, signatures, badges, etc.

Now, the hard question, how do we bring interest back to the forums?

I currently have no ideas, however, are there other Nintendo/Sega/etc. IP fan forums that are still thriving? Or have they too, moved to Discord?

**Myte** · 07-29-2023, 02:47 AM

Would also love to see the forums to be alive again. Been hoping to take part in a drawing competition for the longest time! Last time we still held competitions, I was just starting out to be an artist haha

I visit the forums regularly, just lurking about. I really can't dig into the MFGG discord. I might be too old to understand how the whole thing works Whoops!

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**VinnyVideo** · 07-29-2023, 03:29 PM

@kremling Yeah, Discord is good for some things - say, discussing a live event like a Nintendo Direct, or leading an event that requires rapid responses. It's fine to use Discord for the things that Discord does well, but I think it's very important that the forums get used for the things that forums do well.

I 100% agree that forums have more personality than Discord or social media sites! We're a community dedicated to a plumber who stomps evil turtles in a world of mushrooms that make him big, after all - we ought to embrace the fun, goofy, random side of MFGG.

Many fansites still have vibrant forums. Just looking at the MFGG affiliates list, Mario Boards, talkhaus, SMBX, Wario Forums, and SMW Central all have some pretty active forums.

@Myte I'd love to see a return of Drawing Competitions. They don't take a lot of time and effort to set up, with a very low bar for entry - anyone who owns a pencil or MSPaint can participate! A Drawing Comp in late August or early September would be a great way to gauge whether there's still interest in doing those.

In my case, I have a full-time job, so I can't always hang out in a chat all day. It's awkward to respond to a chat conversation that happened a couple of days ago, but with a forum, it's easy to jump back into a discussion from earlier in the week.

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**MALMoresoProgram** · 07-30-2023, 01:49 AM

Yeah, I want MFGG forums to be active again.

**Q-Nova** · 07-30-2023, 06:17 AM

I think this is the fifth or sixth or seventh time this kind of topic popped up here on the MyBB forums. Great posts though, @VinnyVideo, that graph is a real eye-opener. And I'm glad you're making this a discussion on how can we make the forums active again rather than just talk about why they're dying. I'd hate to see the MFGG forums get archived; this place was a lot of fun and I'd like to bring back that vibe (in fact, we kinda are right now). Forums were able to coexist just fine with IRC, AIM, and Skype; so there's no good reason why Discord should be the one that replaces forums! I never even really cared to use Discord in the first place, anyway, especially with all the tracking and data-collection it seems to have.

In addition to the communities Vinny listed, there's also Bell Tree Animal Crossing Forums, Sonic Retro, DK Vine, and PCKF. Those forums are still alive and kicking, even if the latter two may sometimes get quiet. Actually, the last one I listed had a pretty good discussion comparing forums to Discord; some very excellent points made, pointing out what the two types of platforms are good at.

I'd also love to see competitions or even fun events in general make a comeback! Actually, I considered starting up a poll here to see if there was any interest in a competition and what kind we should do. Sprite and drawing competitions have the lowest barrier to entry and yet still allow for some excellent entries. I sometimes think it would be fun to see another Isometric Collaboration; the last one was spectacular! Even something like the Easter Egg Hunt would be fun to see again!

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**Gate** · 07-31-2023, 05:40 PM

I am up to bring back the competitions

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**kremling** · 07-31-2023, 06:17 PM

@Q-Nova Yeah, I actually mentioned something similar of having a survey in the Discord in order to get feedback on what people dislike about the forums, or what changes would entice them to want to return back.

One thing I mentioned to @VinnyVideo was possibly integrating a social media login to the forums. That way, outsiders that would have joined, but hate creating new accounts could easily join. However, I’m sure there are some caveats.

**Hyper** · 08-28-2023, 04:43 AM

To whoever is running all of these, best of luck. I doubt competition would bring back activities since we've done that back in 2019, which fell short.

My theory would be something to the convenience of Discord which made forums feel clunky and dated to newer generations. It's not easy to convince them to shift their activities to the forums. Forcing is out of the equation as it seems that many users rather have strong opinions.

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**warioCritic** · 09-07-2023, 02:23 PM

I liker the forums.