To all members: opinions please!

[Beatrix Naberrie]

Hey everyone, so I've been trying to figure out what to do with the site because I really hate to see it go like this. It may be time, but I'd like to know what everyone thinks. I've had so much fun here over the years and I know everyone else has too, but it is so hard to maintain a roleplaying forum when I'm a graduate student with two jobs and two research positions (I don't know how to say "no" apparently!).

Anyways, I would really love your thoughts on this. The option that I would prefer is that I get some help to maintain everything, but it's so difficult to find people to rely on consistently to help update, which is evident by the fact that not even I could do it all the time.

I'll be sending out an email to all site members (if I can get the darn thing to work lol) so I can get maximum feedback on this hopefully.

[Lily Ellis]

I love this site, I really do but I've been a member for more than a year, and this place doesn't seem to get any more active.
I think it would be a better option to start advertising on other forums but since we don't have really have a plot, nor an advertisement forum, that isn't really going to work.

So, I vote that you end it

[Ann Marie]

I have been a member of this site for almost three years now. I've met so many awesome people here and had loads of fun roleplaying here. This is the site that got me into roleplaying and I would really hate to see it end. I know I haven't been on here or doing much of anything on this site for awhile now, but it's not like I'm super busy where I can't find the time.

I would be more then willing to help out, maybe we can get the activity back up the way it was before. I have a lot of time on my hands. I vote we try to find people to help maintain this site.

[Lena Storm]

I don't want to lose HI! It's been such an awesome RPG and it still can be if we just get some good staff members, we'll get back up again! Plus, I think that email thing might be a good thing for some people who've been gone since the whole ''relocating'' thingy..

I hope HI will live once more! *Throws arms in the air for a mini wave!*

[Athena Parker]

KEEP HI ALIVVVVEEEE!!!

We've got to keep HI going. This site is so amazing.

[Ashley Robbins]

I know I am one of those that have not been online as much, but I have been just as busy (shame on me!).

Keep HI going. But just focus on the roleplaying and the joy of being a character you love!

[Avery Griffith]

First post in FOREVERRR. XP

Okay. Let's see here.

If we want to keep this site alive, there are more than a few things that need to be done. First, we need to work on the internal problems. With the few members that still come around, we should decide on an overall plot. We should each submit an ongoing plot and work from there. Remember, something flexible and vague as it will change over time as new people come in.

Next step. Admins. As you said yourself, Bea, juggling so many jobs as well as trying to stay active on a rp site isn't exactly easy. You can't expect to have things go smoothly if all of the admins that can help fix anything up and you yourself aren't around. I'd say clear out all the old admins and pick some new ones. Limit it down to just a few, though, as a very prosperous site I belong to only has three global admins, and they just added the third. Pick about three and all you have to do, even if you're not around, is tell them the basics of what you want done every so often. Make sure they're people you trust, because they're going to have to have all of the powers to change the site you have in order to really keep the site up and running.

Recycle and cut. We need to clear out all of the old forums that just don't work anymore. I'd say simply get rid of everything and start over for the best outcomes. It keeps the site cleaner and leaves more room for updates.

Multiple characters. Within reason, everyone should be allowed to make more than one character. Set a limit on how long they have to be on the site for to make another character, and maybe a few months between making more characters. Maybe a limit of five total, as long as they're active. This will help un-bore the already active members in the meantime as well. Oh! And here's an idea: as for multiple characters, perhaps the new character can start in any year the creator wants? That way there won't only be four fifth years and seventy first years. If a new person wants to join as a fifth year, why not? It'll help balance out the grades as well!

After the cleanup's through and the plot has been decided, then we can work on recruiting new members. In the meantime, we shouldn't get discouraged because there probably is only going to be the six or so "active" members around. If possible, when graphics are up, recycling's done, and the plot base is final, advertising should be done on other sites. A good place to start is topsites. Of course, we'd start at the bottom, but anyone who looks at the topsite could look at the basics of HI and want to join! =D

I know I haven't been on at all lately, but if everyone's really going to try and piece this place back together again, I'd LOVE to help out!

[Ashley Robbins]

Well, I have an issue about the clean-up.

I personally love going back and reading old threads. It reminds me how LAME I was as an old RPer, and it also just gives great memories. Maybe we should have an archive? Keep everything in one spot.

Also - this isn't quite the place to say it, but the search option does not work at all, or the View Your Posts button. Maybe a few board issues could be solved as well.

And possibly a more appealing skin? I remember the old skins - one of the reasons I joined - they were appealing.

[Zack Spellbond]

I feel like when you changed sites over to this new one was when we lost a lot of members. This site was not as put together and i feel if we went back to how it used to be, back to the old HI site we would get a lot of our members back. it was just easier to navigate around and stuff. that's just my opinion though!

[James Turner]

admittedly, I haven't been the best roleplayer lately....or...for like...a year...but the memories are so awesome that I would hate to see this place go. I don't have that much time for it anymore, but I may just give it a go again, it was so fun!

I'll see what I can do, but we need more people. But the number of people that replied to this gives me hope!

And I agree with Zack, the last site was better, and I know this site was meant to be an improvement and the skins were meant to come back...what happened?

[Bobby Darbon]

It would be so sad to see HI end, even though I know that it really is not active anymore. I think it is hard to keep roleplaying the same character when everyone leaves for a couple months and then returns because you forget what happened last and then you have to keep starting over. Maybe we should have an anniversary week where everyone returns and we have a week long discussion of improvements, storyline for the site, and other things. We also need to find a way to bring other users to the site! It's so good to have all the golden oldies here, but some new blood would be nice as well! We need to think about some ways to advertise and bring some awesome new people in!

I like Avery's idea about multiple accounts. Maybe just one extra aside from your primary account allowed? It would be fun to switch it up and play someone else. The only conflict I could see arising would be that people probably wouldn't want to roleplay with both characters at once while in a post. Know what I mean? I don't know... I wouldn't want to reply to myself over and over again. It's exciting to see what the other user is going to post!

I would like to see if there is some way that we could develop something to help randomize the conversations and roleplaying going on here. Sometimes it can be difficult to come up with a plot twist or something exciting, especially when you have roleplayed for a while and it seems like all you ever talk about are the same things over and over. Do you guys remember randomly losing and gaining galleons randomly? I think it would be cool if random things would pop up on a page saying commands or ideas that the person would have to include in their next post! For example, I would be roleplaying with a girl in the lake and all of a sudden, a note pops up and says, "Thunderstorm comes out of nowhere and it begins to pour." I would include that into the story and make things interesting. There could be a bunch of random ideas that would appear from time to time! Or maybe there would be an actual button you could press and an idea or plot twist would appear.

I don't know if that idea is possible or not, but I think it would bring a lot of people back for some fun! What do you guys think?

[Nathalia Johnson]

Well I havent posted in forever so I dont know how much my opinion still counts but perhaps all people need is a gentle nudge to remind them?

[Athena Parker]

Maybe we could also set up a little something on Twitter? I know a lot of people roleplay there along with having a home site...

[Lena Storm]

Yeah, guys I think it all sounds great!
And I agree with Ashley about keeping the old stuff! It's soo fun reading everything back, and we can use it for, like, ''flashbacks''..

But, can anyone contact Bea? 'Cause, she's the one we need!