Well, I think it's time we all (who are left) make ourselves be heard. This is your chance to voice your desires on how to give this site a real facelift. I realize we can't be here all the time, but to see the board take off and grow as a community would be very gratifying.

Of course Steve could pin this and keep it up for some time.

We can start with the first things that come to mind and go from there-

Some ideas:

image- Widen the avatar selection, and do something about the dull blue and gray background. (My example- the gamespy Secret of Mana website. It's old, but it's layout is impressive. And the items and spells are organized very neatly. This site is so cool, it's the first search result on Yahoo.) This would certainly help. Also post game news periodically and leave it up for discussion instead of waiting for us members to say something.
Not to force things too much, but I say why not tweak the GDG logo just a bit? Give it a retro look with a "coin op arcade font" of sorts. Make it look like GDG was an original for-its-time '80s game company. That'd be sweet.

I say if you want to catch some eyes, stand out some, you know?

content- The rules are fine. So are the categories and threads. Still, keeping up with news (given the relevance to this site) and giving us something to post about would be of great benefit. It would mean "check this out- what do you think" instead of "um so... what's happening heh heh" and trying to preserve the life of this board out of sheer desperation. Let's let the world know we can have just as much fun as anyone else.

identity- what does this board do that others don't? What does the GDG message board bring new to the table? A reputation, a foundation- something- anything is better than where we stand now!

I know it seems pretty silly to post this kind of thing about ourselves, but frankly I don't care. This cannot continue if it is to survive. In fact I hope this thread stays up forever so we can find ways to keep making it better every day. Sure we have lives, but let's make our visits here more enjoyable and worthwhile.

So I challenge everyone (you know who you are!) to pitch in some fresh ideas and even comments and criticisms regarding this board issue. Let the masses speak out! :)

I'm not sure what to suggest, it seems a lot of people went away, I think people still read, they just don't post, something I am guilty of as well. The only thing I could think of would be promote the board to others.

Hi, keep the suggestions coming, this is YOUR BOARD.

I will try to do what I can, but the thing is I have no access to anything GDG related besides the board so i can't change logos or do anything on the main site. The only thing I ran for GDG was their board for years now. It is funny because the old board was more like a bulletin board and after a lot of requests for a new board we finally got one and then people kept disappearing, which never made any sense to me because those were the same people asking for a new board.

I am open to trying out new things for this board, but I really wanna know what happened to everyone on the old board and this board.

I like the videogame news idea. As far as a new design goes, I can work on looking for one for the board next week. In regards to the avatars, I thought it would be best for people to upload their own rather than be limited to a certain selection. I am not even sure invisionfree gives the option of preselected avatars.

Registration. I would get twenty per day from spammers so I had to make it so people need to email me at tomorrow@comcast.net if they wanted to join.

I remember back in 01 coming on the old boards2go bulletin board and wanting to build a community with trivia and polls. It worked...it seems though that the last eyar people have left. Is it the new board? Are schedules just so busy?

I'm not sure what to suggest. It's like I've been saying for awhile now. It could just be the state of video games today. The times have changed.

Besides that, it would have been great if you could have preserved the old board's messages in to the new board somehow, and then seperated them in to their designated categories. Maybe some people hated seeing all of those topics/conversations disappear.

I personally don't think that we jumped from being a small town board to a large one, considering there are only a few sub-forums or whatever... So, the monster factor shouldn't be a problem.

-

I've neglected my own board many times, to post more on here, to try to keep this board alive and hopefully resurrect it, but as you see, I'm pretty much out of video game related ideas lol.

Keep in mind we don't have to wait for new stuff to appear before our very eyes. There's always time to sit back, reminisce, create current from classic (you know what I mean?), and just have fun, people!!

The board was 'bumpin' ' because we found new ways to have fun with the good ol days. Polls, classic threads, making fun of current news (Now we had a blast there!)

The board is fine per se, but I think everyone here is on to something about the problem with new stuff just plain stinking. I wonder if we have relied a little too heavily on current gen threads and news just to stay alive here. I noticed we don't usually have many good things to say about any of them, so why depend on it?

I'd rather talk about something like what happened at this year's CGE instead of "Sony sucks" every day. Maybe a shift in focus would help.

Hey- that's the reason for this 'box.' So again, all additional comments are welcome- unless it's just to rip everyone.

All I'm saying is why not loosen our grip on current gen gaming just a bit, because that part of our board seems to be headed almost nowhere.

Good points guys, I really am at a loss as to where everyone went, The old board got deleted so I couldnt save anything. I do agree that the state of gaming has changed and maybe that affected conversations.

personally, i think this gen of gaming is the weakest as far as quality. I miss the 90s and all the games and different systems. As for suggestions, we need to advertise, simple as that. I cant explain where people went, but it is time to find new people.
How do we advertise??

Whatever happened to Steve and the Trivia? Let us post in that board!

I haven't spoken to Michael in over a year so my prizes have been depleted :)
Do you want to post trivia shaggy?

Whatever happened to SteveC and his polls?

Also, hey what about advertising this message board around the internet? Maybe we can get some new members that way? I know kind of vague!

People, I hope you all have figured out by now that since the site has hardly done a thing in the last couple of years, you just can't expect the board to stand all on its own. GDG must be more active. We need the support from Mike and the GDG site before we can worry about advertising the board.

We have to go from A to B before getting to C. I'm getting the impression everyone here wants to make the board great without accounting for GDG itself. You can't have one without the other.

The REAL question is where are the old school gaming enthusiasts out there??? Are they caught up in the new junk that they are becoming "extinct?"

All right, here's a tip-

Going to other blogs and recommending GDG ain't gonna work.

It's pretty simple really. You don't really need ITT tech to learn how to do it. I say create your own webpages or join some more blogs related to your interests and set up or join some guestbooks. Link GDG to your sites and people will follow, just like Field of Dreams ("if you build it they will come.")

Krissy, this is how you advertise.

I'm already brainstorming some ideas for my new websites. I figured sharing your interests with others on the web always draws large crowds, does it not?