Membership Soft Opens?

[Rune 1,099]

Mostly, I'd like someone to explain this one to me. 

 

What is a soft opening? Why do it? What advantages/disadvantages does it have to a "normal" opening and how else does it differ?

 

As always: Opinions? Thoughts?

[Death Kitten 200]

A soft open is kinda like a beta test. Not everything is finished yet, but you're hoping to get people in so that you have a core user base when you start advertising in ernest. I did it with my game, and during that time it let my starting crew settle into their new characters, it gave me time to work on putting all the lore into the system, getting all the details of the site working... while having people who could give me feedback on how it was going.

 

The big thing is how you want to establish your community, but I feel like soft openings are a stronger opening, because you have a group of people already there and excited for the game when you start advertising. There are some users who are more likely to join when the site already looks active. The other thing is, if you low key advertise people to join during the soft opening with incentives to join, you also get to fill in your more important positions with people who are enthusiastic for the game from the get go... so enthusiastic that they'll invest themselves in helping you get it up and running by testing everything.

[Samantha 64]

Having never done a soft opening or been a part of one, I probably shouldn't be offering my opinion, but here I am. lol

 

I've always seen soft openings as a way to 1) gauge interest 2) have a small memberbase to start being active on the site so it doesn't look dead when you really open and 3) to make sure everything works. 

 

I think the last one is really the most important overall. It really doesn't matter how much you go through a skin to test functionality, there will always be a member that finds the one thing that doesn't work. But outside of just the skin, the members there for a soft opening can offer insight into the layout of the board, whether they can find things easily, and if they find it easy to actually use. With rules and lore it's always good to have an extra set of eyes from someone who wasn't involved in writing it.

 

I think the best thing that comes out of a soft opening is having your site be polished and ready for new members since it was already tested by members who joined during the soft opening. 

 

 

 

 

[Elena 546]

A soft open is when you invite 2-3 of your friends, you make some characters and get them approved, and you start writing, before advertising the site. It is useful because generally people join sites when they have a bit of activity. Nobody joins an inactive site. And also the forum might still have some technical problems at the beginning, which might put off someone who doesn't know you, but your friends would tell you what works and what doesn't work well.

 

The official opening is when you bring your site to all the directories and topsites possible and start a massive advertising spree.

[Uaithne 543]

The downside of a soft opening, though, is that you can't waffle about when your game will open or you'll lose those people who joined. You can't leave them hanging with nothing to do, either, promising them that they'll have something to do when you officially open the board.

 

So while it gives you the advantages the others mentioned, it also gives you the responsibility of "entertaining" members before the board has officially opened.

[Rune 1,099]

I see sites advertising their soft opens, which is where I think my confusion stemmed. 

 

I'm old, I saw a new trend and shook my cane.

[Uaithne 543]

It has become the hip thing to do. I'm not sure why people advertise soft openings besides thinking that it's what they're "supposed" to do.

[Raven 18]

Can I tack another question on here?

 

How do people get people for a soft opening? Is it people they already know, typically?

[Elena 546]

18 hours ago, Raven said:

Can I tack another question on here?

 

How do people get people for a soft opening? Is it people they already know, typically?

 

Yes, typically it's a few people (usually 2-3, sometimes up to 6-7, depending from a person to another and from a site to another) the administrators know already, and they are invited personally, not joining through an advertisement. 

[Rune 1,099]

I was under the impression that this was just how sites opened...

 

If you were going to invite friends, you did so and they helped make sure you didn't ruin everything in the process.

[Death Kitten 200]

Just now, Rune said:

I was under the impression that this was just how sites opened...

 

If you were going to invite friends, you did so and they helped make sure you didn't ruin everything in the process.

Well, now you know what it's called. 😝

[Rune 1,099]

6 minutes ago, Death Kitten said:

Well, now you know what it's called. 😝

 

What I'm hearing is that I've been ahead of my time. 

[Death Kitten 200]

5 minutes ago, Rune said:

 

What I'm hearing is that I've been ahead of my time. 

Pfft, accidentally doing things the hip way doesn't automagically make you hip.

[Sadrienne 242]

I've never understood soft opens, but---I do an extremely chaotic open. I've only done it three times (ever), so I'm still pretty new at this board-opening business!

 

I chuck some boards together, throw up an application form, pester my friends, and then post my link EVERYWHERE I CAN SEE.

 

Four weeks later (this time around) members still have to poke me like "Mousie. You set the permissions here wrong."

 

I wouldn't have it any other way, though. This is what seems to work for me. I get too impatient to do anything quietly or (worse) have an official opening date. I would go mad waiting for it! 

[CovertSphinx 710]

Eh, I'm old. If the skin is functioning and people are posting ICly, it's open. End of story for me lol