OPERATION REVIVE RIDD!!!

[Professor Jackson Shaw]

SUGGESTIONS !

As we're all painfully aware Ridd is on the verge of Dying and it seems like it could be inevitable. But I say we shouldnt go down without a fight! We should all raise our hands and start a riot and refuse to die. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feel's like Ridd has been a bit of a home to most of us, and lets face it we've all met some pretty damn awesome people on here who we dont quite want to say goodbye to yet. So, I've got some suggestions for "Operation Revive Ridd" and I want both your opinions on them and your own suggestions.

There's an Activity check going on too. The purpose for this is to see who still wants to be here and who doesnt. It also gives us a chance to rid ourselves of characters we no longer use. This thread can be found HERE. YOU MUST REPLY TO THIS! Or we'll think you dont want to be here and delete all your characters and that... would be bad.

Okay, now my suggestions.

1) Get rid of all the members who are unactive and all the characters.
This is because the member count on the board is above 500 and only around six people are logging on. This has got to be a major turn off for the guests, it makes the site look uninteresting and rather messy.

2) A new skin.
A more professional look, sleeker, smoother and sexier. Side tables maybe and a nice sleek banner.

3) New boards!
For things like plot pages, diaries, photo albums, relationship charts... blah blah! And my personal favourite... A GOSSIP BOARD. How fun would that be? Where admins can post all the juicy gossip about students and adults... whether they're true or not!

So come on guys... what do you lot think?

[Professor Ashton Laurent]

I think this is a wonderful idea Dandelion! I agree with you. I am not letting Ridd go down without a fight! So anything we can do to bring it back, I'm up for!

[Edan Ashby]

We do need to revive Ridd! I agree totaaaaally.

Here's an attempt:
riddikulus2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=forest&action=display&thread=5482&page=1

It's a thread where everyone is free to join, and the more people the better. Basically, if you've wanted to roleplay for the past weeks (maybe even months!) but can't figure out where to go or what to do, go ahead and join the thread! It'll get exciting with more people, and it's just a way to interact with everyone, because I don't know about you all... but for me, it's been a really long time since I've gotten a chance!

As for your suggestions, I really like the idea of deleting accounts. But, I was thinking, instead of deleting all the inactive characters, maybe just delete the ones that didn't really make an impact. You know... under 20 posts, maybe not even sorted... I took a look, and there's hundreds of those! Or the characters of old roleplayers that haven't logged on in years.

I think the reason this is my suggestion is, as a roleplayer with tons of characters, I'd really hate to see characters who are my favourite, but don't get much use (Zachary, Ian, Deek... etc) deleted off the site. Their time is over, but they still made an impact on the site (I hope!) and on me, too.

So definitely do it up, but maybe take more things into consideration than just present activity?

[Dania Dahl]

I agree, though on the deleting the ones who havent much posts I do hope someone makes sure they arent on the 'want to keep' list beforehand, because I just made Pierce and plan on getting him in the roleplaying scene soon. (And I bet hes probably got under ten posts as of now, heh.) But yes, we need to cleanse the board!

As for the new skin, well we havent even used this one for very long, its still quite new and perfectly fine, though if everyone else wants a new one I cant say I mind. Though it puts more work on the admins, yes? Apologies for that, if that does happen.

I think we should have some sort of photo/memory book that shows pictures of characters and mentions of what they've done to influence the site. So we could flip through it and see pictures of Loren and other characters who arent in use but have (as aforementioned) had impacts on Ridd. It would be a neat and organized way to remember them.

[Noah Yves]

As for a new layout, I don't mind either. As long as it stays neat and easy to navigate, then it's all good. The fact that it's so simple is really a huge part of Rid's charm.

The photo/memory book would be a really cool idea, Kaitlyn. It could work if it was a board where each character had a thread... and then anyone could reply with their favourite moments with that character (either that they were a part of, or that they witnessed), linking threads or quoting posts. Of course, if it's a character that no one really knew, it wouldn't be necessary, really. (That sounds kind of rude, but there wouldn't be much to say. )

[Narcissus Drachen]

I'm still happy with the look, really. It doesn't make my eyes bleed like some site's formatting, and its neutral and inviting. I think how Gail originally structured it works best - a side bar might complicate things. But if the simplicity stays, then why not? Go for it. (:

Deleting a few disused accounts is a good idea. The members list is huge and half of them don't even have posts, aren't sorted or weren't even activated. It'd be easy to tell which ones need to go. But I also agree with Darin and Kaitlyn - there are some accounts that may not be active now, but still have importance to the site. I'd hate to look through the archives and find threads with no names to them, just usernames. D: Keeping those accounts would be wise for historical reasons.

The photobook, gossip boards and diary sound really good! It'd be a fresh thing to try. (: I may start a diary/blog for some of my characters, which I've never done before.

Other than that, I'm not sure there's any other way to 'revive' Ridd, as such... it really all comes down to activity... but then again, people aren't active because maybe things are a bit samey? Hmmm... There are one or two mini plots in the works, best relying on them, maybe?

[Professor Lucas Hubbles]

I agree about the member groups actually =] That's a very good idea to just get rid of those who haven't been sorted or have never rped after sorting blah blah and keeping character accounts who have Xamount of posts or those who have made an impact on the site. Besides, once we delete them for all we know you (or me) might want them back eventually. Right?

Me for example, though I doubt he'd made much of an impact... I dont use Bryn or Alex much but I'd hate for them to be deleted, just in case... they can be there for backup if ever we need a random character for something blah blah blah. You get the drift.

I also had ANOTHER idea... cause I'm bursting with them apparently. Another Owlery type board where we can actually write IN CHARACTER letters to eachother. Instead of doing it over PM... it could be a fun thing to try out.

[Myles Bentley]

That could be so great for characterisation, and developing friendships, actually!

And plus, you could set up RPs in them. Like, asking someone to meet you somewhere and making a thread for that, or go to Hogsmeade with you, or schedule a study date. Things like that.

Sounds exciting!

[Kristiana Thorn]

I don't care what it takes let's just get Ridd back on track people, we love it here too much to let it die just like that.

[Ellie Rook]

I feel like this is a yearly ritual. Summer brings ridd back to life with days of endless rpig, but school comes back and we are all like, hot damn, i can't even find time to sleep these days. Or at least that is what I think.

A ridd revival is a nice turn of events. I think the layout could use an update too. I wish there was something else we could do to reach out into the HP community and draw out some new loverssss.

I also like to apologize for my absence, but it think the first point of this whole post got to that.

I think we all need to just try a little harder to make our own separate plots. We can't continue to make plots for everyone to live by, and there is more going on in a school besides the overlaying story. The best stories are the ones that come out of experiences, and such. Create your own plots, and that happens by RPing, not necessarily setting it all up before hand! Just let it flowwww. Lets get some conflict and some character building before we get another mass plot going on.

Anyone agree or am i just being the biotch of the board? I also haven't sleep for 27 hours, so don't judge.

[Myles Bentley]

I agree with a lot of stuff here.

Having our separate own plots is really important to build our character and interact fully with others - but I also think we're already doing that! Like, little miniature character plots are going around all over, and that's pretty cool.

But, I like the idea of having a plot a lot of people can get into! Probably because I'm always looking for plots, and really enjoy them, (so it's totally plausible it's only me that wants it. ) but also because Ridd is so used to RPing with the same characters and the same history/situations, that nothing is really progressing. (Right at this moment I mean, not in the past. Ridd definitely has a history and has progressed tons since way back when.)

Plus, a plot would be a way to get things moving. If we just let people be, and let things flow as they are, I don't see a lot being accomplished. I mean, it all depends really on whether or not people want to join in.

I understand if you don't want to, Lynn. I don't mean to pressure anyone!

But ... if people do want to do any plots, feel free to PM me or something, cause I'd like one. Or we can start a thread as an entire forum, if people are into it.

[Sarie Thimble]

yeah we need to save it has worked on the plot in a while or do we need to start a new one

[Ellie Rook]

ok in further thought....we need to get this site going again. I'm useless when it come to ideas like this. I'll be home for Thanksgiving...soo i'll give it some good thought. <3

[Professor Daniel Hubbles]

*Liz finally arrives to the board meeting only a month late*

Yeah...sorry about not being apart of this discussion with you guys, however it seems like I was not needed. There are some amazing ideas here which I shall be acting upon. So basically I thought what I would do is to list everything that I am going to do, and then you guys can all nod and go 'here here' and then I can feel like for once I am being the admin I am supposed to be and you guys can all have that warm glowing feeling inside as you did something to help Ridd out *whoop*

Sooooo changes/improvements:-

• Photo/Memory Book In this thread everyone can reminisce about past friends, talking about their favourite threads, character traits, links to old threads. I guess like a mini memorial.
  
• Gossip Board School's are always ripe with gossip so why not have a board where enemies can start rumours about each other!
  
• In Character Owlery Send messages to your friends about going on trips to Hogsmede or meeting up in the middle of the night for a duel. Just a little bit of fun really
  
• Inactive Accounts This has already been under way with all accounts who have posted nothing already being deleted. However we are still in the 400's so now I have time I will go through the rest.
  
• Teacher Inactivity This is a major issue and not only will rules be changed that all teachers must have an active lesson but also students must do their best to attend as without people going to lessons it can not stay active (note the vicious circle here) so I will think of something to invite people to join lessons.
  
• Pending Applications These will be left for a month in the board, however after this time if they have not been finished or the changes made both the application and account will be deleted.
  
• Ridd Staff With university taking over I do need a helping hand around here. The staff list will be looked into and updated so that those who are active will be able to lend a helping hand a bit more

While typing this I have had a few ideas. One being out of school activities. We all know Quidditch always fails as you need lots of people and then you need them to be active. But what about other clubs such as duelling club or gobstone club. Things like that...what do you guys think?

[Alexander Bradly]

I like the idea of the gossip board so "here here!"