THIA: Forum only? [Archive] - The Horror Is Alive

Carnivol

08-31-2011, 05:24 PM

Just repeating something from the chat w/Dot50Cal here now;

we'll be keeping all current features up online, but we're still uncertain on what we'll do about the current frontpage (probably keep the newsfeed + try to see if we can make a new presentation/style for the old content; while at the same time more or less bringing forth the message that it's from the old site and that new content's not to be expected.)

We'll probably be trying to find some subjects for a few podcasts here and there. They're easy to do and we enjoy doing them quite a lot (especially since they're pretty much the only times we manage to gather larger groups)

Anyway, I think the first thing we'll probably try to nail down is how to share with you all a lot of the content that has been prepared, but which we've never really gotten wrapped up for presentation. I recently found one of the drafts for the TSBB in my backup drive (not the last pass I did, that one's on the drive of a now dead laptop...). This is the one that the Spanish translation was mostly based on. Guess we could see about whether or not we could get that one wrapped up somehow (or at least share the text files with the public).

Same goes for some other neat stuff that's gone largely unseen for ages... Most likely it'll just be a length newspost of some sort with a little bit of backstory to each piece of random content, what we had in mind and why it ultimately fell through.

Stu

08-31-2011, 06:31 PM

Shugotenshi (think that was his name) will go absolutely BALLISTIC haha

But yeah, if you've no time to work on updates than there's no need to keep people hanging on. It's not like people will be driven away by the idea that there won't be newer content in future.

Alzaire

08-31-2011, 09:17 PM

Since it would be a waste to remove what content is already there, I suppose it's best to keep some kind of front site up.

But yeah as Carn said, we pretty much need to just put up whatever we're doing with a clear message that new content won't be coming. Or at least to not expect any. Maybe a podcast here and there or something or a writeup about stuff.

Though I know it wasn't really necessary of my responsibility, at least now I don't have to justify the absence of stuff like the promised RE1 & 1.5 sections anymore haha.

Scream

08-31-2011, 10:58 PM

Your forgetting it's been pretty much a forum for a long time.. I don't think anything will change, but if the features/news sections aren't updated often with good material the community will eventually get smaller. I imagine most hardcore RE fans will stick around though and people will still arrive from Google etc..

I like the usability of this forum, quick and easy - you don't even need to upgrade to VB4 actually, I heard a lot of problems about it. Xenforo (created by ex-VB team) may be a good choice in the future after the lawsuits have been settled..

I still disagree with the idea however, there's a lot of stuff to do with RE, just need to be creative..

Darkmoon

09-01-2011, 03:27 AM

I suppose the question here is; why switch to pure forum content? If Dot lacks the time or drive I'm sure there are some trust worthy folks (me and whoever I can beat, abuse and bully) who'd be happy to do some stuff for the site. We can at least do some stuff, and maybe even some editorial type things...if I can find enough voltage to remind people of common sense.

If there's another reason, then sure. We can go this route. I just don't think it's the best bet.

Anders

09-01-2011, 06:05 AM

Alzaire, why don't you just make a site about it entirely by yourself?

Pikminister

09-01-2011, 11:19 AM

Oh boy... first residentevilfan and now THIA...

Its ridikulas how many RE sites don't update their site with RE news these days.

I guess I'll have to continue using Google News to get all my RE related news.

Darkmoon

09-01-2011, 01:04 PM

Nah, we'll still have our news section, I'm sure.

aris13

09-01-2011, 02:16 PM

I was really looking forward to the RE1 section.:(

PracticalAl

09-01-2011, 02:28 PM

I'd be more than happy to help the site's news section! I look through video game news/blogs/sites all day long. And with the TGS coming up I'm sure there will a lot of news on the way. (Hopefully...)

I've actually wondered for a long time why the news front page rarely gets updated; made me wonder what this site considered newsworthy..

So.. Uh.. Yeah! I'd be happy to help update the front page news. (I'd also love to see a new design for the site.. Not that I dislike the current one.. :P..)

Alexia_Ashford

09-01-2011, 02:39 PM

[STARS]TyranT

09-01-2011, 03:51 PM

Keep with it - there's always the future and if it doesn't cost a great deal to keep this running then you might find your interest peaks and you are renewed with vigour again with regard to the site and series.

I'd be very sad to see this place go, this and Project Umbrella are the only things I have to do with Resident Evil on the interwebs now.

alexdz

09-01-2011, 04:20 PM

I think you should at least keep the news section, because it's not that much work to update and people already post them so they can discuss them, also it helps bringing new people here.

Alzaire

09-01-2011, 05:51 PM

Well, here's the thing. Do we really want to push John to keep up the charade? It's nice to be supportive and to not want things to go away, but we need to face reality. John promised content 3-4 years ago that still has pretty much not been touched. The site re-design was started, but never finished. He doesn't have the time, and he's told us he doesn't have the interest in RE anymore either. The few times he's "come back" and appeared motivated lasts only a few days before he loses interest again. Let's just be honest and realize it's a lost cause.

I can't speak entirely for Carn, but I get the impression time and interest is a factor for him too. I'm kind of the same way at this point myself. It's pretty much the reason I myself haven't worked on a site, sub-section, or feature regarding 1.5 or anything.

Now, I don't see what content we already have going away, obviously. News would still be kept up with in the news section if that's your thing. Content we have linked in the features section of the forum. ect. and all that. It's really a question of keeping a front page or not. Cause even if we went forum only, news and past content would still be there.

I think if we keep a front page, it needs a redesign that expresses focus on the news with links to current content but doesn't give an expectation for anything else. Maybe make a solid announcement about that too, so people aren't always constantly asking when the sections are gonna be put up or when the next podcast will be. Cause at this point, we can't really guarantee anything.

The only other option is if John would be willing to share his material and be more open to selecting new staff members that would not only be willing, but capable of working on and posting up the kind of quality content he would want on the site.

PracticalAl

09-01-2011, 06:44 PM

I'd support you being a newsposter. You've been here a while now and have always seemed nice. I also prefer content to a website. I don't think we should remove any content, just make it clear there won't be any more.

Thanks Alexia! I have been here for awhile despite my tiny post count. (more of a lurker..)

I certainly understand the situation. No one should be forced to keep up a site, or certain aspects of a site, if there heart is not in it any longer, or simply lack the time.. Though, I would hate to see this site turn into a forum only! I don't see why the front page news can't stay. I think the redesign Alzaire mentioned to put the focus on news and the forum exclusively would do the site some good. It would look sort of like how a lot of gaming blogs are run nowadays. Again, like Alzaire said, the news front attracts more people to the site.

As for the features, We always have Project Umbrella and Biohaze for those!

There are people constantly updating the news topic, such as Pikminister and Aris, (not to put you guys on the spot!) So, I hope the news front page stays, and if anything, improves by being updated more often. Like I said before, I would be more than happy to help with the news posting. I would just need instruction on what is "update worthy" and what's not, haha.

(Typed this on an iPad. Sorry for any typos. Damn auto correction..)

Carnivol

09-01-2011, 06:51 PM

I was really looking forward to the RE1 section.:(

We had some pretty grand plans for it. Lots of content wrapped up, but problems tying it all together into something presentable.

I guess some new/fresh blood could give some fresh takes on things or maybe evt. some other sites with already well established sections could be able to gobble up some of the assets we could be releasing (and then put it all to good use)

I'd be more than happy to help the site's news section! I look through video game news/blogs/sites all day long. And with the TGS coming up I'm sure there will a lot of news on the way. (Hopefully...)

Hmm... Some fresh newsposters would probably be a good idea.

I've actually wondered for a long time why the news front page rarely gets updated; made me wonder what this site considered newsworthy..

To be honest, with the exception of the YouTube/GIF spam, I'd love to do newspost ala the walls of stuff they post every once in a while at the Chrono Compendium (a Chrono Trigger / Chrono Cross fansite).

So.. Uh.. Yeah! I'd be happy to help update the front page news. (I'd also love to see a new design for the site.. Not that I dislike the current one.. :P..)

I've kinda always liked the current design. I don't recall what the most recent WIP for the redesign looks like, but if it's not too much work; I guess cutting off the loose ends would permit for a quick implementation of it as a new frontpage/portal design.

I can't speak entirely for Carn, but I get the impression time and interest is a factor for him too. I'm kind of the same way at this point myself. It's pretty much the reason I myself haven't worked on a site, sub-section, or feature regarding 1.5 or anything.

Very true. I guess people who know me really well know that I've always kinda "been there for the ride" and not really out of burning hot passion for everything Resident Evil. I'm always much more likely to contribute something "in the moment" and "give a hand where needed", than jumping in full-time on something. I like team work! I like contributing! I hate doing everything :lol:

PracticalAl

09-01-2011, 07:02 PM

Something more like the Chrono Compendium would be great! Exactly what I was picturing when I mentioned gaming blogs. When I meant a redesign, I never meant an overhaul. I love the graphics, borders, color scheme, background images, etc. I meant a layout change. Something that rearranges the site to focus on news and forums with the features to the side. (haha, auto correction changed features to fetuses. Glad I noticed that..)

Xander Ashford

09-01-2011, 07:09 PM

To be honest, I can't even tell you the last time I went to the actual website to this place and actually read the news. I check the news section of the forums on a regular basis, but most Resident Evil news I get via Facebook through DaMa's Rely on Horror.

I will agree with the others though by saying that removing the site probably will have an adverse affect on the forums and the overall generating of new members. I can actually recall a site a few years back (Actually the first Resident Evil forum I ever contributed to) that changed to solely forum, and the entire thing pretty much crumbled. The forum was basically just a laughing ground for idiots, and the regulars just spammed moronic phrases back and forth.

I like what this place is. It is definitely different than what reHorror was, but different in a good way. I like how everyone here respects one another for the most part, and the people actually feel like grown-ups.

To answer the question: I'm fine either way...I get some news here, but like I said probably a good 70% of the news I get on Resident Evil is through Facebook (Likes to Capcom, Rely on Horror, and Resident Evil).

kevstah2004

09-02-2011, 07:17 AM

Do it whenever you have spare time.

News Bot

09-02-2011, 12:34 PM

We'd be okay with taking the THIA content which hasn't been released and making it presentable on Project Umbrella with Dot's permission. We are working on the game articles now anyway and the BH1 stuff accumulated by THIA would really help flesh out the stuff which we have collected ourselves, which is already very expansive. I've been looking forward to new THIA content for a long time and I see no reason why it should just be forgotten about.

You can always just release it publicly too regardless of whether it's presentable or not.

In my view a complete merger of Project Umbrella, The Horror Is Alive and Biohaze would be pretty good. The staff can carry over and it gives everyone a much wider access to resources and more strength overall, which would be ultimately beneficial in keeping a constant stream of content which we already do, rather than splitting the content up. It would also allow for a better way of resolving the problems of each site. Of course, there's no way this is a fool-proof idea, but I like it.

ANDYARKLAY

09-02-2011, 01:09 PM

We'd be okay with taking the THIA content which hasn't been released and making it presentable on Project Umbrella with Dot's permission.
With Dot's permission it can be given to some group of THIA users which will have time to finish it and make it presentable here.
For me THIA is the best re/bh source. As soon as i'll gain ability to speak english fluently(i'm not from UK/USA and my english is not too good) - i'll start taking a part in site's development.

Spera01

09-02-2011, 02:00 PM

I'll be completely honest. I can't remember the last time it was when I went to the actual website to read something. I usually instantly click 'forums' the second the page pops up and read the news there.

The site is still nice though don't get me wrong, and I do think it should stay, but it'd probably be the best to just make some sort of announcement or something, saying that the actual site itself won't be updated anymore.

Up to you though, Dot. If you can't find the time to manage the main site, do with it what you will, but I think most of the community does the same thing that I do, and instantly goes to the forums.

Pikminister

09-02-2011, 02:50 PM

I'll be completely honest. I can't remember the last time it was when I went to the actual website to read something. I usually instantly click 'forums' the second the page pops up and read the news there.... but I think most of the community does the same thing that I do, and instantly goes to the forums.

That's because you're already part of the community. You already know where to go to find whatever you need.

When I first came to this site, it was because residentevilfan stopped updating their website. They lost interest in the franchise and gave up. Anyway, I needed to find another source for fresh RE news. So I found THIA. And initially, I didn't even considered joining the forum. I just wanted news and nothing more. It took me like half a year before I decided to join. And only because I wanted to comment on some news story that I saw on the front page of the website.

Now if THIA simply wants to keep the users it already has and has no desire to gain any more of 'em... then sure, keep the forum and do away with the rest.

But I look at the polls they do here on the forums and you only get like 20-30 users voting on them. And its funny cuz that's more ppl (represented on those polls) than the ones actually posting stuff here. I suspect some here are doing the whole double-agent thing. Maybe with more users around, that wouldn't be needed. I dunno...

Dracarys

09-02-2011, 03:59 PM

But I look at the polls they do here on the forums and you only get like 20-30 users voting on them. And its funny cuz that's more ppl (represented on those polls) than the ones actually posting stuff here. I suspect some here are doing the whole double-agent thing. Maybe with more users around, that wouldn't be needed. I dunno...

You get lots of silent lurkers.

aris13

09-02-2011, 04:23 PM

Will Dot remain admin?

Scream

09-03-2011, 03:07 AM

In my view a complete merger of Project Umbrella, The Horror Is Alive and Biohaze would be pretty good.Only on a content level of course.. The communities are different, and I've never even been to Biohaze. And besides if we were forced to use that Drupal forum module PU has everyone would go nuts (don't get me wrong, I love Drupal just not its forums).

Alexia_Ashford

09-03-2011, 03:13 AM

Only on a content level of course.. The communities are different, and I've never even been to Biohaze. And besides if we were forced to use that Drupal forum module PU has everyone would go nuts (don't get me wrong, I love Drupal just not its forums).

I agree. PU's Drupal forums do my head in and the discussions over there are just too involved for my taste and I find it a great effort to read through the posts. It would be a disaster to merge the forums. If anything, THIA and Biohaze would be a lot more realistic.

Mr_Zombie

09-03-2011, 06:19 AM

Honestly, I've considered THIA to be a message board with news (that you can read through the forum anyway) on the front page since the redesign many years ago; all the content and features (various videos, wallpapers and various articles) were always a bonus IMO.

However, as others have already stated, it would be a shame to never release all those material you've collected and written over time guys, so it would be a good idea to release them either on PU or Biohaze, or simply post them on the forum.

News Bot

09-03-2011, 11:10 AM

Scream

09-03-2011, 04:22 PM

Of course. The communities are already far too separate.I guess to be specific - PU team are more archival and THIA more creative. As for me, I would rather not archive what some Japanese guys thought up in a room somewhere, but that is a matter of opinion/choice.. I've thought along those same lines and discovered its not what I want to do..

I think the best thing this community has produced is this: http://www.the-horror.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7963 - very sad right, but imagine everyone doing this, all the great games we would be playing now - rather than talking about what Mikami said to whoever about RE 1.5, a game never released.. something not even the Japanese themselves talk about..

I would take creative projects over content replicated from one form to another any time... so yes the two communities are separate, but both necessary..

News Bot

09-03-2011, 10:57 PM

I guess to be specific - PU team are more archival and THIA more creative. As for me, I would rather not archive what some Japanese guys thought up in a room somewhere, but that is a matter of opinion/choice.. I've thought along those same lines and discovered its not what I want to do..

I think the best thing this community has produced is this: http://www.the-horror.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7963 - very sad right, but imagine everyone doing this, all the great games we would be playing now - rather than talking about what Mikami said to whoever about RE 1.5, a game never released.. something not even the Japanese themselves talk about..

I would take creative projects over content replicated from one form to another any time... so yes the two communities are separate, but both necessary..

Yes I've generally found THIA to be more of a creative, practical approach to elements of the series, more involved with modding and betas than the actual series itself apart from the occasional discussion.

Mr. Spencer

09-04-2011, 01:48 AM

I've always been a proponent of greater interaction between the sites, there's already a strong relationship between PU, THIA and Biohaze at this point and I think it would be prudent to capitalise on that. THIA has always been community-centric, the forums are where the content is and the discussions that take place in them. In fact, THIA probably has the largest userbase at present.

On the other side of the coin, PU doesn't have a very active forum community but has a much larger selection of content. Some kind of merger that goes beyond affiliating would be my option. Pretty much all of the staff from all three sites have cooperated with each other in the past and there's no bad blood between us, so why not go further?

Like Paul said, THIA has a noble amassment of modders and beta testers. Always worthwhile to explore that avenue since PU lacks anything in regards to that. Everyone can benefit. It'll also prevent the community from fragmenting since we'll all be speaking with each other, pooling our resources towards a common goal - a shared appreciation (of varying degrees, mind you) of a series we enjoy.

Also, Emma raises a good point. The forums over at PU are very different in tone to those of Biohaze or THIA, so merging them would be a bad idea. However, we should simply merge both Biohaze and THIA, while leaving PU to have its own seperate forum or perhaps even a "specialist" area for those among us who want to go into all the serious plot analysis. To be honest I'm spinning plates here.

Content-wise, that's something we can definitely merge. Imagine that though, a conglomerate of all three sites working together towards the same objective. In short, a merger would be ideal as long as PU's forums are kept seperate or like I said, given their own area.

Alexia_Ashford

09-04-2011, 03:51 AM

Mr. Spencer

09-04-2011, 08:37 AM

It's not that, the problem we have is that we seem to attract pubescent girls who love Wesker and raise inane questions like whether or not Sherry will be in RE6.

PracticalAl

09-04-2011, 09:30 AM

It's not that, the problem we have is that we seem to attract pubescent girls who love Wesker and raise inane questions like whether or not Sherry will be in RE6.

I take offense to that good sir! I love both Wesker and Alfred. - _-..
(And of course Sherry will be in RE6! As well as Steve, Billy and Carlos.)

News Bot

09-04-2011, 10:10 AM

They are very different communities. Biohaze and THIA are different but at least points of comparison and probably could be merged. PU is very specialist and the people on there seem to like their little tight-knit community and extremely in-depth discussions and I'm sure some on here would enjoy that, but not all, and I'm sure it would greatly annoy the PU community if it merged and they tried to get their in-depth discussions but got "lol" in response.

You over-state how different they are. Discussions can get in-depth here as well, sometimes even more-so. PU is not specialist nor is it extremely in depth in general, we just tend to get higher quality topics and lack most of THIA's more "casual" userbase. PU is not one specialist board either, only one of our boards is actually focused on the series plot, the rest are casual.

REmaster

09-04-2011, 02:17 PM

I'd support you being a newsposter. You've been here a while now and have always seemed nice.

I also prefer content to a website. I don't think we should remove any content, just make it clear there won't be any more.

AL's cool :)

I personally don't care for the extra content, but I agree that we should keep what we got. As long as there's the forum and a news section I'm more than content.

CrimsonOutlaw

09-04-2011, 02:36 PM

Alexia_Ashford

09-04-2011, 02:42 PM

I'm sure the news will always keep going, I think we're just discussing removing the site with content as there won't be any in the future, though I don't see a point. Might as well just make an announcement saying there won't be any more content.

Ghostface

09-04-2011, 07:01 PM

From what I read of this thread, it seems the people who run the show are slowly starting to throw in the towel so to speak. If you can't keep up with things and whatnot simply don't try them in the first place. Its a lot better than letting people down. Honestly I think we need new management.

Ghostface

09-04-2011, 07:03 PM

Screw what I SAID! I HAS AN IDEA!

Beanovsky Durst

09-06-2011, 12:26 PM

I don't know... I guess it's nice to have a frontpage and hoping for some features. If I can help in any way, I'll gladly do it. Hopefully all the features you guys worked on & are stored in a dark basement can come to light in some form.

Pikminister

09-08-2011, 02:09 PM

Honestly, I come here for the news updates.
I almost never post, and spend my time either checking the news section or reading "discussions" between the other members. I don't know that I would stick around too long if this became just another forum.

Not...that I make up a large portion of the community. I just feel a little like the traffic to THiA may die down, and the forums might even stagnate. It is a slim possibility, as I've seen it happen on other sites I used to frequent the became "forum only".
Although, I do feel this place was always a little forum centric. Hope for the extra content was never entirely my concern, even though it was certainly present.

What I'm trying to say is I guess keep the news going, at the very minimum? And I can dig that, at least.

See this is what I'm driving at.

Everyone else who is a member is giving their view as someone that knows how things work here. They barely consider the idea that not everyone wants to be a member and that they come here for news and possibly some perspective from the users or whatever. You got all kinds of ppl coming here.

The thing is, when a site doesn't update their main page for weeks and looks DEAD, it usually drives people away. Regardless of how active the forums are.

Now, I know that they will keep the news section going here... but at what capacity? They sure take their sweet time to update it.

So you get the impression that they aren't that interested in it. Nor in feeding the forums with fresh bait to get ppl biting and swimming and making bubbles that pop and make users react and... All this talk about making changes is FISHY!

Jimmy Barnes

09-08-2011, 02:59 PM

News Bot

09-08-2011, 04:12 PM

Biohaze is an OK RE fan site that always has news, but I've yet to visit the forums as an active member (only skim read 'em).

We lost Capcom Central, reHorror, Resident Evil Fan, EFN, EU, TotallyRE and seemingly THIA could be next! :(

The problem with those sites is that they had very little to none in terms of content. Out of all of them, I think REFan had the best content but even that is stretching it a bit and it went stagnant with year long gaps between news updates on the front page.

reHorror was just bad outside of the forum. I actually worked for Evil Unleashed for a time, and they had some nice ideas and seemed like they were getting somewhere. In the end I think they just lost motivation and shut down.

[STARS]TyranT

09-10-2011, 03:15 AM

I also think leaking the whole of the contents of the Resident Evil 5 demo on the front was the nail in the coffin for reH. It certainly was for me.

Darkmoon

09-10-2011, 03:53 AM

The leak itself was fine, and we even had it over here as well. What wasn't cool was ignoring Capcom when they asked us to remove the spoiler details. Almost all the sites did it - bar reH. Which was especially stupid when you remember they had a interview with a developer lined up.

Alexia_Ashford

09-10-2011, 03:55 AM

TyranT;198353']I also think leaking the whole of the contents of the Resident Evil 5 demo on the front was the nail in the coffin for reH. It certainly was for me.

It was. When they did that, they lost any support they got from Capcom, cancelled their Takeuchi interview and told them to do one. Ben Le Rougetel from Capcom Europe told me that when they refused to take that stuff off and started trying to get stuff from them, that was it. Though because I gave Capcom Temp and DaMa's email address, it was apparently my fault and I got banned for it. Then when the new forum came up and they couldn't ban people anymore (I'd found that out elsewhere), DaMa hid that fact and tried to make out he unbanned me because he wanted to be friends again.

It was their attitude throughout the whole thing that peed Capcom off. I remember during the incident, DaMa put on his blog (which Snow saw too) that some "low level guy from Capcom" was trying to get him to take the spoilers off and he wouldn't. Well that "low level guy from Capcom" was in contact with the "big cheeses". XD

Jimmy Barnes

09-10-2011, 07:14 PM

Troll haven, lol.

http://totallyre.com

:D

Xander Ashford

09-10-2011, 07:47 PM

Troll haven, lol.

http://totallyre.com

:D

Wow, I haven't been there in ages. I was impressed that my account was still active and actually had PM's in it. I had ones in there from 2003. o_o

That was the first forum I ever joined and attempted to contribute to; I soon realized what type of people it was made up of. :\

This is an example of what happens when a community loses its actual site.

Jimmy Barnes

09-10-2011, 08:50 PM

Yeah, it was a site - it was a site like b4 2002.

Weed

09-11-2011, 01:05 PM

nemesiswontdie

09-11-2011, 01:28 PM

Turning this place into a forum only is nothing more then a slow death for THIA. I say just shut it down and move on.

What little reason THIA had to exist basically vanished when this topic was created.

I have to agree. This site is dead. Barely anyone signs on anymore including me and a few former regulars like Valentinesdead, Mr.Spencer, Bertha and Vector but when we do sign on, its a post or 2. Hell, even the fucking Admins rarely sign on anymore. When people want news, they go to capcom unity and so forth. This site gets a lot of new people when a new RE game is announced but look at it, OCR and Revelations has been announced and theres maybe like 10 new people who log on once. The horror here is definitely not alive lolol.

Jimmy Barnes

09-11-2011, 02:14 PM

Well, I guess there's only so much a person can say about one or more subjects before you end up just covering old ground again. When the news is becoming dry, it means your community is bound to feel a bit dry as well, until something of interest should happen, like the real RE6 confirmation that we're waiting on.

One of the reasons I never venture into some forums is cos they're almost always full of many pointless threads and polls, like "who's the sexiest RE heroine?" or something like it. There's really no need in that! And I think boredom kicks in when things are quiet, and they just end up spamming.

Dot50Cal

10-18-2011, 10:43 AM

Lots of stuff in the thread, I've been reading it over carefully. I do like the idea of getting more news posters, but I've been so detached from the site that I don't feel qualified to say yes or no to people. Perhaps we should do that, but have the site regulars decide who should be let in so to speak. If anyone is willing, please send me a PM and we'll discuss it.

Theres two things I want to do asap: TSBB Feature completion and the forum update. Because of lack of time on my part, the forum update will go through with the default skin, which is going to brighten things up here a lot. Some people might not like that, but its what we have, for now, unless someone wants to step up and make a skin.

TSBB feature relies on a bit of creative work between Carn, Myself and Ice. I'll see if I can get the ball rolling on that again soon. I'm sure once RE6 stuff is announced my interest will peak again and I'll be back on the site daily, but until then I just don't have as much interest in the series as I once did. RE5 wrapped things up quite well for me and I'm just not able to freely spend my money as I once was, so I'll be missing out on the side-titles.

I've begun to sell my RE collection off, so theres really no hope of having full game sections as we once promised. I still do plan on doing the occasional feature or two, and if theres enough people wanting it, I'll release what we have completed thus far on the various sections. We certainly wont have the fabled map sections and such. Thinking back on it, the scope of that was just too much for how simple of a game RE1 and the successors were. I imagine us becoming more of a feature centric site. We kind of were that way, anyway.

If theres any features or content we promised but didn't deliver on that someone wants to see, let me know in this topic and I'll do my best to post what we have left of it.

Mr. Spencer

10-18-2011, 03:54 PM

Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human.

http://images.wikia.com/memoryalpha/en/images/8/87/Spock_funeral.jpg

Pikminister

10-19-2011, 12:38 PM

I have to agree. This site is dead. Barely anyone signs on anymore including me and a few former regulars like Valentinesdead, Mr.Spencer, Bertha and Vector but when we do sign on, its a post or 2. Hell, even the fucking Admins rarely sign on anymore. When people want news, they go to capcom unity and so forth. This site gets a lot of new people when a new RE game is announced but look at it, OCR and Revelations has been announced and theres maybe like 10 new people who log on once. The horror here is definitely not alive lolol.

As long as the main page looks dead, the forums will not attract any newcomers any time soon. And the forum looks dead because the news section rarely gets updated at all (or on time). So they pretty much kill any interest in looking for news or being active here.

I suspect that the guys in charge know that the fish rots from the head down. And that's why they have lost all hope for this place.

Unless they give up the ship to those that want to get this thing somewhere soon.

Will they?

Darkmoon

10-19-2011, 12:50 PM

As someone from a fishing town, I find fish just generally rot, you know, all over.

And I'm happy to take on some site based duties as well as my moderating stuff if needed to keep things going.

PracticalAl

10-19-2011, 12:52 PM

As I said before, I'll help with whatever I can! Long live THIA! ^_^..

Alexia_Ashford

10-19-2011, 12:55 PM

Same here. I'm not interested in RE anymore, but I still am interested in this community and we need an active admin to be able to do stuff for the site, but we've mentioned this before.

News Bot

10-19-2011, 08:21 PM

I'd give the site about 5 months to see if it shapes up at all. If not, I don't see why you guys bother to drag it out, particularly if you're not going to at least hire new staff who have the time and the interest to devote to it.

Ununoctium

10-20-2011, 06:15 PM

I'm the new guy here so I don't really have much of an opinion here. But generally speaking, I prefer to have a little content when it comes to forums and websites. Maybe something like some quality news and stuff?

Scream

10-21-2011, 04:49 AM

Was the forum down just now? Looking forward to the update - at least its a start :)

Dot50Cal

10-24-2011, 03:27 AM

Not sure what that was, but I did just update them now (as you can probably tell). Our old skins are incompatible with the new forum, so I'll be working on making a dark one in the following days. The current plan is to get the forums back in order then look for news posters and possible moderators. If anyone has suggestions for those positions or would like to apply please say do!

I need to get in touch with Ice and see if we can roll out the news page with our new design and then from there we'll convert the old features into the new style.

The site will revolve around community forums and features as well as news. So pretty much what we've been doing, minus the game sections. Anders site has done a lot of what I always wanted to do catalog wise but he's taken it to a whole other level. So the main page will offer up links to great community resources like his page, as well as Project Umbrella and other great sources of "lore" sites.

Inferno04

10-24-2011, 03:27 AM

http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n399/Veedog51/Humor/MyEyesSpongebob.gif

So...different...

Dot50Cal

10-24-2011, 03:28 AM

Well if white isn't your thing..you may have to sit down when we unveil the new site design :P

I'll re-read this thread when I have some free time and address some posts. But one thing I will say is that anything that was really interesting about site sections will most likely be turned into mini-features. I would like to still have a good download section of game saves, but I'll probably need some help from some of you guys on that front. I have RE1 pretty well locked down but the other games, not so much. I don't want to get ahead of myself before and over promise on things though. Small steps..small steps.

Most importantly, this site really is the property of you all who visit it. If you have any suggestions, I'm always open to them! Feel free to post here!

Darkmoon

10-24-2011, 03:53 AM

The skin we're currently on seems to be a pleasantish dark grey. Works until we can get a real one ready.

Dot50Cal

10-24-2011, 04:01 AM

Yeah, it was the best I could find on such short notice. I do really, really hate the "bullet hole" background though. I'll work on mashing our old skin into the new style asap.

Inferno04

10-24-2011, 04:02 AM

The grey is much better, thanks. =) (I know you didn't do it FOR me, but still.)

Darkmoon

10-24-2011, 04:19 AM

He did it for all of us. Dot loves all God's Creatures. He is a friend to us all.

Except trolls.

Enetirnel

10-24-2011, 04:22 AM

Haha, DM.

And Dot, what types of save games would you be wanting? PC, console ones and the like? Vanilla or would you also take modified save files or saves for usage with cheat devices?

Mr. Spencer

10-24-2011, 05:49 AM

See, Dot does live. Kind of.

5699

Scream

10-24-2011, 08:11 AM

BlackStealth eh, better than Gray Foxx I suppose! I think I'll use VB4 default style for now though..

Anders

10-24-2011, 09:12 AM

Anders site has done a lot of what I always wanted to do catalog wise but he's taken it to a whole other level.

Level 81!!!

features.

How about a possible promo video section as we've discussed before? My promo/demo section doesn't describe anything of the contents of such discs except stating that "here be RE4 trailer, yarr, can you guess which one?" Would be great with the possibility to just toss up a link to the video on THIA. :)

I'm pretty sure it would be quite a popular section. Many videos aren't available in good quality, not to mention they're scattered all over the net. And we probably have lots of stuff which isn't available online at all (not that I have time to rip junk for you at the moment).

Which reminds me: Carn, give me my fucking tapes back!!!! :'(:lol:

Dot50Cal

10-24-2011, 01:24 PM

I'd be looking for "everything done" saves, but legit ones. We'd have some hacked ones too if warranted, like in RE1 having the Dum Dum rounds, but they'd be clearly labeled as modified.

Anders, that idea sounds good ;) Though I am selling off most of my stuff at a record pace..so you'd likely have to help out in the ripping department haha. John, that pic almost makes me want to change my avatar.

Darkmoon

10-24-2011, 01:47 PM

Warhammer - it'll take over the forum. I shall peddle it to you, my masses.

Anders

10-24-2011, 02:17 PM

Anders, that idea sounds good ;) Though I am selling off most of my stuff at a record pace..so you'd likely have to help out in the ripping department haha.
Dude, you have to rip before you sell! I thought you already had most of the promo stuff you have ripped anyway?

Carnivol

10-24-2011, 07:30 PM

Hold me up against the wall and nail me like a board!

I knew there was something I was forgetting on the homefront! Can you probe me on MSN about the tapes during the next couple of days? I've finally got some time off, so I just need a reminder to bring it along with some other stuff to the post office during one of my many trips out of the dungeon. Whatever's fresh in mind will take priority as I keep crossing lots of old stuff off the to-do list.

Anders

10-24-2011, 08:00 PM

Hold me up against the wall and nail me like a board!
That can be arranged. I have all the required tools.. and then some. Darkmoon can probably also set something up for us for going off topic.

I will remind you every other hour. :)

Enetirnel

10-24-2011, 10:37 PM

Dot50Cal

10-24-2011, 10:39 PM

As many systems as possible :)

Shadow Stalker

10-24-2011, 11:19 PM

I wouldn't THIA being forum only. The forum istelf is the only reason I visit this site for anyway.

On a side-note: I like the new look of this forum Dot50Cal, you did a splendid job. :)

Reston

10-25-2011, 05:15 PM

I'll try to give an unbiased opinion from an outsider perspective.

I used to be a big forum user back on REH years ago when I had more time in my life. Some of the people on this forum know who I am and that I used to be very active in the community. Over the past several years, my personal time has taken more of a direct route with my professional life and I do not have the time to sit and go through the forums all the time. I do not post here that much but I believe my opinion may hold some merit and weight as it's going to be brutually honest.

When I look for RE news I go to biohaze. When I need detailed and accurate information on anything REverse I go to PU. When I am looking for casual discussions on RE I come here. When I need bad information, a laugh, and biased opinion that is claimed to be news I go to RelyonH-- kidding.

Truth is that it's not anyones fault. Resident Evil was a lot more popular back in the day because it was fresh, had multiple releases in a small amount of time, and a large dedicated fan base. The fan base for RE has diminished and again, it's not the moderators, the admins, or whoever owns this site, fault. There's nothing you can do to attract new people. Posting up some RE section stuff is cool in the features like that Biohazard Executioner video and those pictures and it deserves more praise but... like someone else said, the people that usually discuss stuff here on this forum are the more hardcore fans as well as those who visit the site.

And if you look back at 2004 and prior to that, a lot of RE fans were younger. RE grew around a certain age bracket and it's been nearly ten years since REmake was released which was around the point when RE was at its highest in popularity. My point is that a lot of people have moved on. A lot of those forum users moved on with their personal lives and are married or deep in their career. A lot of admins closed down their websites because they didn't have the motivation because they are older and have moved on.

It's life. There's nothing you can do. The people who remain in these forums are still going to stick around. Sure, you can go and hire new people to make news postings to catch some views, and it'll be commended but I never came to this site for the news section. However that is just me. I do not think however the main page to this site should be abandonded. You do not want to do what REH tried to do at one time in which they wanted to be an only forum site. It sort of killed them and a lot of people did not come back amongst other reasons. Your main page is sort of like a "YES, WE'RE OPEN FOR BUSINESS". If you don't keep it active or even attempt to update it, people who are not forum users will come and be like, "meh, they have not updated in sometime". And if you want more people to visit the forum, make a graphic font or some banner that points to it with some witty comment about why people should check the forum out like, "we're just DYING to hear from you", .... yeah lame and cheesy but you get the point.

It's eventually up to all of you who run the site. If you feel you can no longer do it, lack the motivation, or just don't care, it's your choice. As a forum user and someone who tends to lurk and read casual discussions (yup, I'm guilty) I can say there is nothing much to do unless you change up the site to take a more casual approach and focus on other horror related genres. If you strictly want to stick with Biohazard/Resident Evil, then all the more props to you.

In the end, I say don't give up. It's easier said then done. It's your money you're pouring into this site to keep it up and running and at the end of the day it's your choice.

EDIT: Point in case; I'd never would have seen this thread unless it was on the news page. Suggestion for more forum activity, have more news postings on the main page about what is being discussed in a certain thread that is popular at the moment to catch peoples attention? It could not hurt.

cvxfreak

10-30-2011, 03:49 AM

I love the THIA community and Dot's enthusiasm for the series 5 years ago really left a mark on me. He encouraged me to embark on building a Biohazard collection. I hope THIA sticks around one way or another.

I do agree that perhaps THIA doesn't need to be about news -- to be honest, with Twitter around and also Biohaze, THIA can focus on what it does best, which is to have a great community with coverage of beta and unreleased titles.

Not sure what I can offer as a new staff member, but I wouldn't mind being a mod.

ElusionM

10-30-2011, 11:23 PM

@Dot:

Why not make it so the home page itself is (left pane 20%=News) and the right (80% of the page basically) the forums themselves (basically either losing that outdated Upcoming events/releases column on the right, or shifting it elsewhere).

The left column currently consisting of News/Forums/ etc can be a mini feed for NEWS only, with it showing the top 5 recent in link-form (clicking on it would redirect to the actual full news page), and at the bottom a "View All News" link.

If you don't mind, using the View Source, I can create a prototype of the layout off-site and post back here to give an idea on what I'm saying.

This way we can keep the forums and the news, but give more emphasis and visual importance to the Forums, and at the same time give the site the refreshing look its long overdue.