@Everyone: Does Size Matter?

[digitalpress]

How do you like my misleading topic to get you to read this?

Actually it's semi-relevant. This forum has seen steady growth in member participation and usage for well over a year now, beginning with our humble days on EZboard and now onto this privately owned and operated community which you are now a part of. If I could show you a graph displaying number of users online at any given time and number of posts per day, it would be a steadily rising line with peaks (usually around "events") and valleys (server crashes).

And this will only continue to grow, since I am actively pimping the forum in many subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Most of you probably found us as a result of that.

My question to you, who are here NOW, is this: do you prefer a small community where you recognize a majority of the posters, or a larger community where there are too many "regulars" to keep track of on a daily basis?

Before you answer, consider this: the service would not change, and the moderating staff might increase with people chosen by the existing team, ie "like-minded with regards to the rules". At one time I wanted a classic gaming forum similar to gaming-age.com, a veritable CITY of gamers, though I always feared it would turn into gamefaqs.com, a great site with just no community "feel" to it at all.

I'm asking because I'm considering backing off of the heavy promotion. I'm rather fond of the pace and content we get at present, knowing that when a few people leave, a few more will always enter.

Your opinions, as always, are welcome.

[Gamereviewgod]

I can see the Gamefaqs scare coming true, but I think the mods would prevent that from happening. The idiots would be shut out rather quickly. There might be some small problems for a bit (tons of "How rare is this" questions), but I think a majority of people will catch on rather quickly.

[Ed Oscuro]

Not to put down the mad-DP pimpage efforts, but I always assumed people more or less stumbled across this place like I did (member 1009, joined the same day Oobgarm did).

I don't see any complete idiots here...sometimes people don't make the smartest statements, but I don't see anybody here who's always wasting our time or who's just spamming the place up (which reminds me...those very few times when somebody's dropped off an advert, yeah, any links they leave need to be deleted) on a regular basis. People who're "troublemakers" here sound like just about anybody on the CastleVania Dungeon's forum (heh) and I think that people really try hard to stay on-topic here.

Good question, certainly. And yes, I expected a topic about size of consoles, and if I was solely running in on-topic mode I would've left it in search of posts to satisfy my unending gaming information hunger.

I think that the site's a comfortable size, but as with any other forum, the folks who've posted most and have been here longest tend to rise above the rest in terms of credibility. If the site starts to lose focus, that'll eventually be dealt with as well.

[jaydubnb]

The community feel is important, but I don't think it has much to do with the number of participants as a particular vibe. The gamefaqs boards, even if I try to put it nicely, are loaded with "It bE cO0lZZ duDez!!@!!!" mutants. Here, I've seen intelligent gaming conversation non-stop and have met some pretty cool people here that I converse with away form the boards. So perhaps its an age issue.

Okay, I may have strayed a bit from the topic, but as long as the vibe is kept,I have no probs with expansion. New posters can offer new ideas and viewpoints and thats a great thing...as long as it isn't 'XtreeMez!!@1!"

[GrandAmChandler]

I like the way we are now. I recognize a lot of names, and I hope myself to become one of the names that is easilly recognized as a "regular" :-)

[maxlords]

I have nothing against growth as long as we the number and quality of mods up I don't see why DP can't keep getting bigger, because we invariably manage to get rid of the people that cause trouble. And with the number of people already here, that's damned impressive. I say that expansion is good...as long as you keep control over the DP denizens!

[christianscott27]

if it gets bigger and keeps the classic games/collector focus its all good. if it turns into yet another board where everybody rants on about the latest PS2 and xbox titles, not good. i like to think of this community as a breed apart from the mainstream game world and i hope that will always be the case. there are dozens of places to go and talk about tony hawk or devil may cry but only here can you find a good conversation about obscure systems and games. so in short keep the community focused on collecting

[thegreatescape]

I'd have to agree with maxlords (and pretty much everyone else so far)- In the short time ive been here, the modding has been great
So long as the Mods dont go mad with power (gamefaqs style), the digitpress forums can only get better

kinda reminds me of my old Business management class, and endless lessons about change, and adapting to change

[MarioAllStar2600]

I like the board big! ALot of people posting though don't say mucha bout Video Ggames, and that's annoying. But on another note this board is also a very knowledgable place.

[omnedon]

Bigger is better, as long as it's moderated to stay on topic (within reason), and the signal to noise ratio is favourable.

I came here from Ars Technica forums http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenT...frm&s=50009562 and they are VAST (look at how many are online at any given moment!), but they are still a tight knit community, with a very high signal to noise ratio. They are so big, they had to start charging subscriptor fees to certain fora to pay for the bandwidth. The result- no pop ups, huge community, more signal than noise in all forums (well moderated), and neato perks for subscriptors, like picture hosting!

Any way, my point is you can be BIG and good. It just requires some vision, and some rules that benefit all who enjoy the community.

[christianscott27]

side note, i guess i could use the "view new posts since your last visit option" but theres a feature i like on some of the other boards i use. next to each topic line theres a little "new" button. when you click that button it takes you to the point in the thread where the new posts start. very nice to have esp. in the long, long threads where it gets tiring to keep scrolling down.

[Sega Hitman]

I personally think that the site getting bigger would be a problem. It's not that I hate newbie's, but I do hate collecting becoming mainsteam. The more people come here, the more popular the guide will get. If the guide starts selling like crazy, it'll be treated like the Beckett of our hobby. Granted I'm a selfish, greedy bastard, but I don't want finds in the wild to completely stop because everybody knows how much stuff is worth.

Heavy promotion might bring in the wrong element as well. I personally don't like the type of person who thinks Atari and NES are "old school" and "hip". If people like this come here, we're going to be flooded with PS2 and XBox posts. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with newer systems, but if I want to see hundreds of threads on brand new games, this isn't the place I look.

That being said, people that a truly interested should have no problem finding this site. Years and years ago I was struggling to find a SNES rarity list on yahoo, which sent me to a thread in the old EZboard. I haven't stopped coming since. If you type in anything like "rarity" or "collecting" or "classic gaming" on google, you'll be sent here. It's not hard to find. Also, on most classic gaming message boards, people plug DP all the time. It'll be like this for years to come. Spending time on heavy promotion is a waste, considering people will keep on coming if it's there or not.

I'm going to end my rant, but if this site gets flooded with people, it's going to discourage a lot of us from coming back. If this board gets filled with thousands of "rate my collection" threads or "wats a toploader?" kind of topics, then we'd be nothing more than a well moderated Gamefaqs.

-Hitman-

[digitalpress]

side note, i guess i could use the "view new posts since your last visit option" but theres a feature i like on some of the other boards i use. next to each topic line theres a little "new" button. when you click that button it takes you to the point in the thread where the new posts start. very nice to have esp. in the long, long threads where it gets tiring to keep scrolling down.

We've got that.

It's on the upper right side, just above the "last post" column on the opening page. Check it out.

[ddockery]

I see no problem at all with getting bigger. For the most part, I don't think the L33T GAmeRz would be attracted much to this site anyway, and once here the mods would take care of them fairly swiftly. If "dumb" questions pop up too often, we could start maintaining a couple of FAQS up top (stickied posts) that detail what questions are deemed annoying and/or inappropriate, and where to find the relevant information.

Drew

[digitalpress]

I personally think that the site getting bigger would be a problem. It's not that I hate newbie's, but I do hate collecting becoming mainsteam. The more people come here, the more popular the guide will get. If the guide starts selling like crazy, it'll be treated like the Beckett of our hobby. Granted I'm a selfish, greedy bastard, but I don't want finds in the wild to completely stop because everybody knows how much stuff is worth.

Since the entire DP staff wants the guide to be the "Beckett for our hobby", I can tell you we're heading in opposite directions on this issue, you and I. Sorry.

Heavy promotion might bring in the wrong element as well. I personally don't like the type of person who thinks Atari and NES are "old school" and "hip". If people like this come here, we're going to be flooded with PS2 and XBox posts. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with newer systems, but if I want to see hundreds of threads on brand new games, this isn't the place I look.

The focus here will always be "classics" and "collecting". But the promotion has been going on for over a year - are we worse now than we were then? If not, I see no reason why it would change direction as long as we keep our charter and focus as is.

Spending time on heavy promotion is a waste, considering people will keep on coming if it's there or not.

I have to do something with my time but that IS the point of my question, so thanks for your candid and honest answer.

I'm going to end my rant, but if this site gets flooded with people, it's going to discourage a lot of us from coming back. If this board gets filled with thousands of "rate my collection" threads or "wats a toploader?" kind of topics, then we'd be nothing more than a well moderated Gamefaqs.

I agree. At what point is it "flooded", in your opinion - double the current activity? Ten times?

[Oobgarm]

As of this posting, we are one member shy of 2800. I find it funny that Ed Oscuro mentioned we signed up on the same day, as I just noticed that recently.

I fully understand the fears of becoming a "GameFAQS". I despise getting on their message boards, since most of their "community" is juvenile, and it's just not worth the time to try and have a civil conversation with them. A few nuggets of truth slip through the cracks every now and again, though. IGN's boards are kinda similar, but they're much more regulated. Still, the garbage post count is rather high, despite efforts to cull it.

Keep in mind, though, that the vast majority of the members on those boards are young and they're there to talk about the current generation of hardware. Retrogaming is a very uncommon subject there.

DP, on the other hand, tends to lean more towards an older demographic, and retrogaming is the big topic(hence the forum name). New games are starting to permeate the forums, but they've got a long way to go before they take over. It's also much more laid-back, allowing members to speak their minds(to a degree, of course) and not get "ToS'ed" like they would on other boards. People here seem to catch on to the "unspoken forum rules" about rarity postings and other things that could easily be found by searching the forum.

Those other forums seem to have that "Cold Machine™" feel to them, and they're not all that welcoming to outsiders or newbies. That kind of thing turns of folks immediately.

DP is more close-knit due to the fact that a lot of the members personally know each other outside of the forum. A majority of the folks here are friendly to newbies and to each other-and that makes a huge difference in the online world.

So anyway.

I personally enjoy the feel of a smaller community. I like to think that I really "know" most of the people here. However, given the way that this forum conducts itself, I think that the same feel can be obtained no matter how large it gets.

Funny thing is, like previously mentioned, I think a lot of people surf right on in, rather than intending to come here. I can't remember how many times I came across the old EZboard forums when I was Googling for things. Granted, I never took part in any of the discussions until the move to our current home here.

[chadtower]

I agree. At what point is it "flooded", in your opinion - double the current activity? Ten times?

When the signal to noise ratio gets too low and/or when the load starts to affect server performance and/or when the volume becomes too difficult to moderate well.

[Mayhem]

In terms of the individual on a message board (any community message board here), smaller is always better. Less hassle, easier to get to know people and remember their proper names, likes, dislikes etc. More spirit, more involvement and less people lurking heh.

I've seen changes over on NTSC-UK, from its small village like community beginnings into something wholly a lot more massive. Several longtime people have left there because they felt it had gotten TOO big and had lost some of the magic that had been there before, simply because of the dilution. I wouldn't want the same to happen here, but it could.

[Flack]

I've only been here a couple of months now, but for what it's worth ...

When I walked through these "virtual doors" for the first time, I felt like I was on one of those talk shows where they reunite long lost relatives.

For years I've been collecting old systems and games ... the most I've ever gotten from anyone visiting my house is a "oh, that's neat" or "yeah, I used to have one of those and I threw it away" or "nice junk pile, pack rat." Ok, that last one came from my mother, but still, you get the idea.

When I found this forum, I couldn't BELIEVE there were that many people out there who valued the "golden days" as much as I do. Finally, I had found people who understood that "Top Gun (PS2)" is a worse game than River Raid. I found other people who still have Commodore 64s set up. Without getting TOO mushy, I found people who I could relate to.

There are probably other people out there like me, people who love vintage gaming but just haven't run across this site yet. Most of the "I n33d Thrill Kill d00d NOW" kids will come and go. Those of us with Laser Blast patches on our jean jackets will stay a while. We'll staaaaaaaaaaaaaaay forevah!

(The above person who just made an Impossible Mission reference was just sacked.)

Flack

[Sega Hitman]

"Since the entire DP staff wants the guide to be the "Beckett for our hobby", I can tell you we're heading in opposite directions on this issue, you and I. Sorry. "

I made my point sound confusing. What I meant was that every card store in the country has price guides up the wazoo. It's nearly impossible to go into a card store and have an amazing score, where as with video games, I can still walk into stores and find great stuff, at great prices. If every game store and every flea market guy has a DP guide, that will take a lot of the fun out of collecting. This post wasn't necessarilly about the guide though, so I'm probably going off on another rant. The guide is a great tool though, and it is the Beckett of video game collecting. I just can't type and make sense today.

As to the other stuff, what kind of promotion has been going on? The only stuff I've noticed are the magazine articles and such. I'd consider that good promotion, seeing as an everyday gamer probably won't go out of there way to a site like this unless they really had an interest in classiscs. I guess I wasn't reading the original post carefully enough. When I first read it, it sounded like you were planning something huge.

-Hitman-