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Cirilla
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So, a friend and I have been working on a whole new futuristic sci-fi site for over a year. It has a lot of content that requires people to read, and I'm afraid it's scaring people away (even though we did include a newbie guide that includes tl;dr stuff). We had out soft opening about a week ago, and we did our grand opening not that long ago.

 

However, it seems that no one is interested. We have four staffers at the moment and we all talk in the C-Box in hopes that guests might pop in and talk. No one has even tried to talk. I've advertised everywhere I could think of, including site searches and whatnot...

 

Are worlds this descriptive just a turn off for new members? We've put a lot of effort into this site, and I really don't want it to go to waste.

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Descriptive worlds aren't bad, inaccessible worlds are.

 

Content should be tiered between mandatory, good to know, and purely flavour. It should also be split up into easily digestible chunks; members should be able to read a section, leave, and come back later without feeling like they made a mistake. 

 

Learn to compartmentalize. If you have everything thrown into a single forum, change that. Have a category or a wiki dedicated solely to the world's lore. Make this straight forward to use. Planets should be contained in a section called Planets, governments should be contained in a section called Governments, species should be contained in a section called Species, so on and so forth. 

 

Have you considered requesting a review for your site? That way we can have a much closer look at why nobody is joining. 

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@Syn We do have our information set up in a codex way where it allows for easier reading. Species have their own section, etc. etc. You can see it here!

 

I haven't put the site up for review yet since it is so new that I'd like to give it a chance at me just having doubts. If it lasts for a few weeks, then I'll definitely set it up for review.

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I like what I see, in theory. It doesn't seem very user-friendly in terms of readability. I'm not sure where this is, either. Is this codex a dedicated page off the index? 

(I made my post based off the assumption that this was a standard structure forum) 

 

I'd still recommend putting the site up for review now instead of later; you can always ask for another review down the road when things have changed and some time has passed by. Since you are in soft opening, now would be a perfect opportunity for seeing if there are any glaring problems to a newcomer. Staff and people deeply involved with the site's creation are innately biased in this and are often incapable of taking a step back as they've spent so much time on the project. What makes perfect sense to you or looks just fine to you may as well be hieroglyphics to guests! 

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@Syn It's located on jcink. We just utilized their webpages so it doesn't look like a standard forum on information pages, but the rest of the forum is standard. ^^

 

I will talk to my other admin and see if she wants to put the site up for review. c:

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Oh! Okay! That makes sense. I personally prefer to have lore structured on a wiki or on the forum index, but I can see the advantage behind that as well. 

 

Do you have a guide for lore reading? What I mean by this is: a step-by-step reading guide for content newcomers should read to get to know the universe you've created. It would start with the things that are absolutely essential to any character in the RP and gradually reduce in importance. This can be as simple as a ranked list of links to codex entries or you can go in-depth and provide a summarization to each sub-category. 

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@Syn I thought she posted our newbie guide already (I just went hunting for it), but it seems that it was trashed and needs to be rewritten. However, there will be one that explains everything, since I know first hand that it can be confusing. The one I used to have on the old version of this site had links to everything in it.

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One question - what size is the text? I can't tell from an image as it could have been resized, but if the size of the text in the image is accurate, that could be one thing which is putting people off, and fonts like Times New Roman are difficult to read on a computer screen. Arial, or similar would be easier to read.

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@Cirilla I agree with Syn that a world should be accessible and that the text seems rather hard to read. That was the first thing I noticed when I opened up the screenshot. Which would be an instant turn off for me, the site itself might actually be interesting but I wouldn't get past the homepage. For the rest it is rather difficult to give advice since I do not know what the actual board looks like. 

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  • Admin

I'm a Sci-Fi whore. I love Sci-Fi! So lets get to the nitty gritty. Unlike many magical (Fantasy) sites, Sci-fi has a special niche of players that have very specific wants and needs. Sci-Fi people are a special kind of geek. We all have a level of Science and a level of desire in Science that we are looking for.

 

That being said, while I love Sci-Fi I'm not a Space Sci-Fi person unless it's very specific and what I feel I would fit in.

 

I know a big part of Sci-Fi and new cultures etc requires a differentiation of between must reads, should reads and optional reads.

 

One thing I can recommend is posting in this thread to make sure it's easy for a guest:

 

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Profile set made by myself and original Artwork by Fae Merriman, my daughter.

 

 

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I clicked your site link on your mini profile and at first glance I noticed these main things:

 

  • Dark background (which I liked for the space feel) if everything else then stands out.
  • Light font (which you need on dark ) but it was really tiny even on my large PC screen
  • The computer console design sets the tone but I would personally ditch using a computer screen I can't easily read.
  • The forum titles would probably catch the eye if they were larger and from my POV should be bigger then the forum topic description box titles. 
  • I needed to scroll half the board length to get to the actual IC roleplaying areas.
  • All you want people to know when first arriving, to me, would be better off in the same forum. (Sub- forums within are fine) and links to things like rules, FAQ , etc can be directly made from your 'navigation' link that is already at the base of your banner. 
  • The cbox font is also small (especially the date stamps) and the height of it is quite short. If you are all chatting quickly, a guest will lose the flow of conversation very easily.
  • I don't mind hovers; but I didn't realise I could hover over the forum topic images at first. Maybe it was becasue they are all quite dark and didn't really stand out to me from the background image.
  • There are a lot of space genre sites out there, what is it that makes yours different? Show me what it is if you can when I first visit 

I can see the great potential there on your site and although I didn't go in-depth to all areas, I wanted to just give you my general first impressions. 

I hope it helps :)

 

 

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Plot | Rules | Canons | Wanted | Advertising

 

 

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I thought I'd throw in my own two cents, I clicked the link to your site and the first thing that hit me was how small your font is. It was really difficult to read, and I had to lean in close to my monitor and squint. I had a small hope that it was only in your descriptions but when I looked at the threads as well I saw you used the same size and font. Your site could be the best thing since sliced bread and I wouldn't know, because I can't read the information. Not without giving myself a headache, and that is an instant turn off.

 

Getting a newbie guide up is a good idea, I did a quick look around, but I didn't really find a guide to what information in your codex is necessary to start RPing. The bulk of information is a bit intimidating, and with no guide it can definitely scare people off. 

 

I'd also maybe recommend moving some of the ooc areas to the bottom of the board, like the help and member services so you don't have to scroll so far down to get to the IC areas.  

 

Your site looks pretty cool though, so I hope you get more members! And you should submit your site for a review, @Gothams Reckoning is very good at what she does, and she'll give you some good tips for making your site more accessible. 

Edited by Freya
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@Amelia@Morrigan@Dusty@Freya

Thank you everyone for your kind words. My other admin is the one who does the designing, so I will pass all of this info onto her (I know how to code, but I don't like messing with other people's coding xD). I am currently in the process of making up a newbie guide to help everyone get integrated into the site (it should hopefully be up later today!).

 

We have had some new guests pop on today that seem to be joining, so at least it's not a total bust. As soon as we fix these few things that y'all have told me about (thanks again!) I will definitely put the site up for review. (:

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I don't know if this will matter to you at all, but I just figured I'd toss in. Mainly because I already ran across your forum when I saw its affiliate button on another board and I recognized it again instantly.

 

From a coder's point of view - the first thing I noticed immediately was how lovely your forum was. It has a good color scheme and aesthetically designed so that it doesn't look like another "dime a dozen" skin you repeatedly run across and forget as soon as you close the window.

 

I, personally, have no troubles with the font size used on the index. But you've gotten a lot of requests to adjust it and I can understand where the suggestions are coming from. Mostly for the forum descriptions. Try increasing the letter spacing by 1px  (it'll make a noticeable difference) and maybe font size by 1px. Possibly also adjust the font that is used with post count, topic count, latest topic, etc. It's not illegible but there are other options that can be easier to read and just as sci-fi. As far as fonts for topics/posts? Yes. Definitely switch out for a better font and a larger size.

 

Now here's why I really wanted to drop by. Yes. Ideally an rp forum is best when you have many members joining it - but here's a pill: sci-fi forums can be a challenge to keep afloat. I've seen at least 3 come and go within a year or so. The worlds can be hard to adjust to depending on how much lore is included and how very science-y they get. If a forum is a challenge to write on, the number of members will naturally suffer. You must understand that the chances that rp writers will be as invested in an original world or story as the admins is not terribly high, so it will greatly behoove you to determine whether or not you and your staff team are content enough with telling your own stories to keep doing what you're doing - regardless of how many members you have joining. And you know what? It's A-OK to write with a tiny group, as long as you are having fun doing it.

 

Anonymous poster hash: 7c44a...4e7

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Thank you very much anon! I've talked to my co-admin, and she's going to be adjusting the font sizes and making them fit on the index and hoping that it helps a bit. c:

 

And we figured that we might not have a large group of people and we're A-Okay with that. We just want to be open for other people that are sci-fi fans and want a fun place to write at where a lot of thought and effort was put into it. c:

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