A friendly recommendation.

Hey there everybody!

Now that there is a new forum here, may I recommend that the forum have at least one focused interest? It doesn't matter to me what that interest might be. NBA basketball? Travel? Movie reviews and discussion? Weightlifting?

I've seen very few forums survive without being able to replace members as older members move on. PD has done this because initially folks are interested in getting more in-depth news about a topic: The Indiana Pacers. Over time, friendships are formed and you go "off-topic".

I worry that this board is ALL "off-topic" so therefore there is no real attraction to bring people here and post. When I ask myself what the central theme here is, I think: "well, it's the place I can go to hang out with people that used to participate in the counting thread on PD". Now, if it's just a place for a dozen or so people to hang out, hey, that's OK.

I just think this forum needs to have a way for new and random people to discover what is going on here and decide whether or not to join in the fun. I'm talking people who have never even heard of Pacers Digest.

Just a thought,

Kent

I think counting should be the focus.

While I think LA makes a great case, I'm not sure the goal of this place is to be successful in that way. Maybe that kind of success ultimately leads to what PD has become. Maybe a place that wouldn't draw in people looking for that popular topic of interest, but would keep the same core and expand around that base group exclusively? I'd kinda like to give that a shot...

PD is fine for what it is. I just lurk and read, rarely posting. I find PD to be a very convenient format still to get what I need to know. When I did happen to post, it was almost always in the off-topic areas. That is where I gravitated to, because that place had a great variety of topics without having one central theme other than "off-topic"....

A place where The Counting Thread lives on, indeed!

Hey LA yeah me and sweabs actually had a long talk about that and we couldn't come up with anything central themed that doesn't already exist. We didnt want to just copy some other forum cause why would they choose this forum for that central topic and not the already super popular one. Ultimately I am up for a central theme but I have NO idea what that theme should be and personally i like it being purely about whatever the community wants it to be about. Just wanted to take the counting thread mentality of anything goes and just talk with people online but take it out of PD where everything was being monitored and they didn't want us around anyways.

If there is a consensus that we want to grow this board that is fine by me but I am not really looking to have 1,000's of members but if it happens it happens. I mean I already don't even know who a few of the member are hahaha.

Again any central theme ideas are welcomed. But before you suggest it search online to see if that forum already exists and if it is popular.

What about the central theme being community?

I know a lot of us think that is the most important thing PD had that made us love that place. We "sell" it on, this is us. We enjoy each other, we poke fun, we are good natured about it. We won't tolerate trolling or belittling people. We want to talk about life, the universe and everything, and we want to talk about it with this diverse group of people. If you wan't to join, you are welcome to and we always want to meet new people, but contribute to the sense of community that we have here.

Oh, and also I was a member of a board like this based off of an old Homestar Runner forum. It lasted a while but eventually people moved on because it got really cliquey and annoying.

Hopefully since a lot of us are friends/know each other at least a bit, that won't happen.

N8R wrote: I mean I already don't even know who a few of the member are hahaha.

btowncolt made usernames for all his sheep lovers. There might even be a couple of goats in there, who can be sure?

hahaha stupid Btown

Kent - right there with you. I don't know if "no-theme" is the theme, or if there should be something else. I'd love to continue hearing what people's thoughts are.

What are some things that everyone here would have a common interest in?

The Wolf Game?

Actually, maybe that should have its own board? A board for role playing games or something? I believe that this forum software might even have some built-in role playing game that we could look into...pretty sure I heard that.

I don't know - should we keep the board structured with the forum categories as they are now too? I'm kinda lost.

I think the categories are fine for now but we could add a gaming one.

Done and done!

It doesn't just have to be role playing. There are a lot of other forum games, Pacersalltheway10 just posted two on Market Square over on PD: This or That? and I win..

There's also PATPAY and a few others.

Oooh- I see what you mean. Alright let me change the wording/description. Good call - that sounds like fun.

Yeah, it's funny because at the board I was talking about earlier, 1-1500 was a game. You guys laugh at that.

I don't really care what happens to this place as long as I get to continue running roughshod over all of you (verbally, of course) with no remorse...

I've thought about it and frankly I'm worried about the kind of expansion were talking about. I welcome anyone and everyone but at some point, a hundred or 2 hundred members the community is lost. I've thought about it.

I'm not opposed to gaining a few more members from PD, lurkers or posters, but I wonder how any random internet poster would fare here. We are all very easy going and understanding but I don't want those qualities to be pushed to their limits or taken advantage of.

Again, I'm not opposed to expanding SOMEDAY just not until we all get settled in and those that we love and miss from PD make their way here (god willing). Then we can think about it.

Me and sweabs have no plans on expansion, any growth that happens will just happen over time. I dont want thousands of people here and you lose who the real people are, if something like that happened we will figure something out. For now I think the main focus of this board is COMMUNITY...and counting!!!!!

Yeah. . . lets give it some time and see if a shared interest naturally develops.

That is what I am thinking. No need to force anything.

I dont like the wolf game as a theme because the wolf game is all about lying and deceit and that is not what this board is about.

shit it's not? I better go.

hahaha.

Whores like me!