Anime Improving Our Anime Forums

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]I am not sure how many people are aware, but a while ago we had a discussion in the Information Kiosk forum about how to expand our anime coverage at OB.

One of the main things that seemed to come up was the idea of returning to the kind of model we had years ago, where entire franchises have their own forums.

In the old days, our Dragon Ball and Digimon forums (among others) were really popular - more so than the "general" catch-all anime forum.

We rolled those forums away under Anime Central because of declining interest.

But now, as we move toward a new version of OB and with a greater partnership at theOtaku.com, I really want us to provide a much better place for the network's anime fans to discuss their favourite series/movie/etc...

So I want to return to having individual forums for different anime series/franchises here on OB.

I'm proposing that we keep Anime Central as a general anime forum (for any series that doesn't have its own), but that we start creating sub-forums for the popular franchises in our community.

But the question is, where to start? We'll probably add one forum at a time and see how they go. We're going to need your help in getting the word out, though - these forums won't be of any use if nobody knows they exist!

Also we have to work out which franchise goes first. That's partly why I made this thread - I want you guys, our true anime fans, to let me know which franchise you think should receive its own forum first. Maybe you guys can discuss/debate that.

And if you have any other ideas on how we can further support our anime community, here's the place to do it!

We want to provide a thriving, pleasant, fun discussion spot for all of our anime fans on this network. That's the goal.

With that said, I'll open the floor to anyone who wants to comment. I really encourage feedback from everyone - we want to get this right. :catgirl:

(I'll also be pushing this question in other venues around the network, so keep an eye out!)[/font]

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Something I see they do on NarutoFan James that might work well over here is to do a sort of "flavour of the month" system in regard to anime forums so they're able to maximize discussion without wasting space on unnecessary forums.

Perhaps if we take a vote at the start of every month on what people are watching and then create/maintain forums for the top three then that would be the best way to decide ?[/SIZE]

[Magus]

I'm for this, but how many sub forums are we talking? If it's too many won't it look a bit sloppy?

Determining on what can be first... If you don't want Naruto first, you can go through the anime thread directory and see what has the 2nd most post... If you're not too lazy, that is. :catgirl:

But then again, I do like Gavin's suggestion. Rotate every month or 2...

[jomz]

I also agree with Gavin's idea on rotating every one or two months...

Well, it could largely depend on that specific forum's activity. It's worth experementing to, at the least.

[Rick Hunter]

In my opinion the reason why the Anime Forums thrived in the past had to do with the fact the main website focused on Anime Reviews and news. Now obviously there is a different format for theOtaku but it's clear the anime forums took a hit because of that change. In regards to sub forums I think that can be a good idea but only if you pick the right titles. Ongoing anime series forums last longer then ones who have past their prime. In order to really have this forum thrive you have, to rotate those forums quite a bit. You need to keep them fresh and when a series ends it's run just get rid or archive it. If you do decide to go the way of sub forums start simple Bleach and Naruto you already have the fan base for it as, it is. And both series are ongoing you just need to watch out for the never ending flame wars.

[Desbreko]

[color=#4B0082][b]Naruto[/b] and [b]Bleach[/b] are basically no-brainers when it comes to series-specific forums. Nothing else currently matches their popularity. [b]Soul Eater[/b] is one to keep an eye on; it's been really popular among fansub watchers and it just got licensed by FUNimation. [b]Fullmetal Alchemist[/b] is getting another TV series later this year so it'll probably get super popular again.

I'm not sure what they're based on or how often they're cycled but, if the series-specific forums work out, it seems like a good idea to at least have ones for the featured series portals on theO. (Which are currently Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Death Note, Fruits Basket, and Bleach.) Besides the shows being popular, it would also provide some more consistency between theO and OB. If I remember right, we had talked about an automated way to cycle forums based on theO portal activity before, but I think doing it manually this way would also be good.[/color]

[James]

[font=franklin gothic medium]Yeah, I like the idea of basing this on the featured portals Des. I think that makes the most sense.

My only concern with changing forums a lot is the question of what you actually do with them.

For instance, if a series remains popular for a year and then drops off and we archive the forum... I imagine the dedicated fans who post in that forum will be upset by that. I don't want to mess around with that too much.

I mean, I think our old Digimon forums were pretty active even after Digimon was considered a highly popular series. So we want to do what we can to look after those fans.

But anyway, these are great suggestions so far! Thanks for all your input, guys. Very appreciated.[/font]