Taking the fate of YCM into our own hands

[ihop]

Now this thread may appeal to the older members of YCM, I joined in May 2009 and got active pretty much instantly so I'm old enough to remember the days when there were about 600+ members active all the time, there were less people with 5000 posts than there are people with 10000 now, and Ragnarok was top poster.

I was looking back into Clubs, where I got most of my post count, and looked back at my old club, which had about 3500 replies before it started to fade when a few people left and YCM started to die. This was a day when one could randomly make a club and get it to thousands of replies, I remember Bassa, my best friend ever on this site who has sadly left, made a club that got to 12000 replies, with no real discussion topic at all.

Back in these days there was an entirely different lot of people, Armadilloz was an unimportant 5-star member, Darkplant basically didn't exist, Agro didn't exist. In these days the legends were DeMeNTeD, the best cardmaker ever on this site who got to 1000 +reps back when reps were still given to people and not posts, and is still 5th or something in total reps even though he quit sometime in 2010, Monkey, Spire and Dark, who is still here occasionally.

These days were the best days of YCM, and I feel that the community here can bring these days back, even if the admins don't care about the site anymore.

What I'm suggesting is that people advertise the site ourselves, for example on Youtube comments and in other Yugioh forums. This is easily done, all you have to do is post in a Youtube comment something like "Yugioh Card Maker, a forum with a mature, friendly community and its own card maker", and provide a link. This takes like 10 seconds and if we can do it on famous Yugitube videos by famous Yugitubers we can attract a lot of new members, and new members are how this site would revive.

I know this seems a bit spammy but it doesn't really matter, people can choose to ignore it and if people try it out and like it, who's lost? It's not the best of idead but it's the best I can think of without YCMaker's backing, and I for one will try it out.

Also, we as a community need to change, we need to be really friendly and helpful to all new members, I'm sure some people are just scared off by unfriendly people. I know you guys are really nice but everyone has to be to ensure the survival/revival of this site.

Enjoy.

[-Griffin]

Dead admins are a serious problem.

The best objective would be to get everyone to transfer to a mirror site with active admins. But good luck getting people to actually do that. Let alone get the flow of new members that this site has.

I say just enjoy what we've got. I'm currently doing my best to keep active in Written and Contests, and give input now and then to TCG, but we can't exactly magic the place back to life.

[ihop]

I did think about creating a mirror site but I can't do it and I dunno if anyone else can.

[Stan Alda]

What about Cardgame!!Coalition? I haven't posted there in a while; is that a lost cause?

[ihop]

At the moment there are 5 active users. Useless.

[-Griffin]

CGC was a good attempt. I posted there for a while, but until it crosses the threshold of being more active than YCM, people will naturally move back here. Having an on-site cardmaker also helps. Or any big attraction (like the Dueling Network Forums has Dueling Network itself as an attraction. I suppose we could consider moving there?)

[Synchronized]

In the five+ years I've been here, I've seen [i]at least[/i] ten mirror sites, including a few that were literally including "YCM" in their names. They all met the same fate. See the thing that generates so much traffic and attention to this site is simple; even outdated, the Card Maker is still an attraction. Some kid might go online and Google "making my own yugioh cards", etc., and this will be the first thing they see.

Unless you can duplicate the advertising and search engine popularity, making your own site will be a lost cause.

That being said, the advertising thing is possible.

[ihop]

Yeah, making a new site needs a lot of hard work and most likely it will drop off a cliff. We already have a solid foundation here.

[Sander]

Sorry to be off topic, but you really think DeMeNTeD was "the best cardmaker"? Did you ever observe any of his cards that he made, and did you observe the contests that he entered? The cards he made had multiple effects mashed into 1 card that had no synergy with each other. That's all he was, a cardmaker that could only make 1 type of card: s***.

Oh, and he only won those contests because back then, people that made cards sucked harder at this game than nowadays.

On topic: As long as this site has people and is up and running, mirror sites will die off within months. Mirror sites will only start gaining activity when this site is closed down.

[Legend Zero]

1. Q.Q My friends left so it means this site is garbage, no other explanation.

2. Advertising is cool and all, but most YuGi-tubers (and lolpojo) are the type of people we don't want. (ie. people with monster egos)

3. The card maker still generates tons of guests, its the actual forum members that are vanishing. Maybe we need more event type things?

My 2cents, think what you will.

[Mugendramon]

What I believe the site needs to thrive are major, "official" events hosted within the different sections.

Those of you who've been to the TCG at the time probably have an idea of what I'm talking about; the YCMLegend Series.

It was only hosted twice, and within those two attempts the whole of the community was actively participating. Discussion was ever-present, and nearly every thread somehow related to something that happened there.


Now, if something like that happened to appear in other sections, would it not theorically bring the same activity level to them? A massive RP, some huge, mod-hosted card contest come to mind.

[quote name='Legend Zero' timestamp='1348507479' post='6031147']
3. The card maker still generates tons of guests, its the actual forum members that are vanishing. Maybe we need more event type things?
[/quote]

God. Damnit.

[Lunar Origins]

[quote name='-Griffin' timestamp='1348496520' post='6030991']
CGC was a good attempt. I posted there for a while, but until it crosses the threshold of being more active than YCM, people will naturally move back here. Having an on-site cardmaker also helps. Or any big attraction (like the Dueling Network Forums has Dueling Network itself as an attraction. I suppose we could consider moving there?)
[/quote]

Oh hey, you mentioned my (still active) site.

I really see no point to this thread.

[Legend Zero]

[quote name='✖C.C.✖' timestamp='1348517212' post='6031263']
Oh hey, you mentioned my (still active) site.
I really see no point to this thread.
[/quote]
A thread dedicated to try and figure out a way to improve the site? Yeah, I don't see how that's a good thing.

[Darth Revan of the Sith]

There is a way we could completely boost the popularity of the site.
It is extremely risky. Many could die.
Casualties could be in the millions.
And many could never return.


Advertise on 4Chan...

[Zelfore]

[quote name='Izaya Orihara' timestamp='1348521735' post='6031326']
There is a way we could completely boost the popularity of the site.
It is extremely risky. Many could die.
Casualties could be in the millions.
And many could never return.


Advertise on 4Chan...
[/quote]
That's mental suicide!

OT: I think the right events in the right forums will generate more interest than anything else.
But rewards... what can you possibly award these people? They're animals! [i]Nothing satisfies them![/i]
...
But yeah, competitions, sounds like fun.

[Master White]

tell you the truth, ever sense Icy left and all the mods that were gret, traffic dropped dramatically and RC is just a bunch of crud now. In the past, RC was great, and people kept coming, and was much nicer then people in it now....Yes, I remember the people you remember and even older ones, but one who I truly miss on here is truthfully is Josh and Falling pizza, good and loyal card makers and etc, and even though it was harsh on occasions, they did teach what to teach, Josh was gonna out of his way to teach people the true art of critiquing cards, not to do 1 out of 10, or oldgamer, get outta here stupid stuff, but to give clarification for even which no one else could see...I mean, literally, all the people bashed, thrashed, hated them when they did their jobs right.....

Also, other forum area's are fine, as i can see, except for contest thread, looks like it plummeted, especially 1 on 1, 1 vote and maybe another on the card within, 5 days, or longer.....

Clubs are falling....

sad truth is, withou a dominan ruling power, a place will only survive as long as it can on its own until another power comes to play or it entirely falls to nothingness.....

-------

Summary: Site is dying, world is becoming a bad place, other websites dying, hmm, maybe the end people claiming about is actually about to happen or everyone fears its true and wants to live life to its fullest....I know i would if I knew the world was actually going to die, but i don't believe that 21 2012 december thing as its been said many times before and never really happened, and so what if it does, not much u can do about it.

Who knows, Sites die, domain names get brung up for buying, and every person on the site just gone, to other forums, happens alot.

---

Rewards: Hmm, interesting, why reward when all they did was make a good card or got a good job for behaving.

An idea, make a game collecting yugioh pixels, call it weird, but there is dragcave, got loads of traffic amd mods/admins love the people and for some reason I keep going there....

So, website, called Yugioh Monster Dwellers. Collect Yugioh monster sprites and when able, could make a game half-**sed where you can duel them, rank up, and have them find cards as power ups, and etc....

Basically, mix dragcave, world of warcraft, and yugioh all together.....Possible, who knows, but it'd be different and could be fun, if people were willing to try abusing adobe flash and etc.....

[·Toot]

[quote name='Zelfore' timestamp='1348533421' post='6031498']
That's mental suicide!
OT: I think the right events in the right forums will generate more interest than anything else.
But rewards... what can you possibly award these people? They're animals! [i]Nothing satisfies them![/i]
...
But yeah, competitions, sounds like fun.
[/quote]There wad actually the YCMAwards and YCMBrawl. Those two had a good running in the past, doing stuff like that again would be a nice little way to help keep our members. I think DA might do YCMA soon. Not sure though.

4chan and Youtube would be nuts. We have enough spam and egotistical jerks already here. We should just hope the cardmaket attracts new, and not so dull members.

The idea seems cool, but it would be very hard to keep a mirror site up and running. The best way a mirror site would even stand a chance is if a well respected member made it. And maybe if its possible, add a cardmaker to it. With all the templates here, I do believe someone would allow a person to use it to make a cardmaker.

[Not-so-Radiant Arin]

[quote name='First Lieutenant Toot' timestamp='1348543122' post='6031607']
I think DA might do YCMA soon. Not sure though.
[/quote]

The only ordeal that I am currently wrapping myself around is the amount of Awards that are needed for the YCMA. Last year, no Awards were given out primarily due to the laziness of the GFX Team, along with school and other such dilemmas. This is why I'm considering pushing YCMA to at least November, where everyone has a Thanksgiving Break, and if they want to, design awards over that particular weekend, or vote if need be. I don't want a repeat of last year to happen again, considering how badly executed the last two were.

I may not even do it since I don't know where .Rai is, I don't know NW, and LC has seemingly disappeared from my viewpoint.

Also, someone should do another YCM Legends Series. But considering the main people who came up with the idea (Brandon, Dog King, and Welche) are either gone or banned, gathering the amount of people needed for another YCM Legends Series may prove to be another struggle.

But yeah, events. Yippee.

[Synchronized]

I'm throwing around the idea of trying to host another YCM Legends Series. I have the time and without having to duel I could definitely host it (after all, I did come up with the YCM Nightly ), but I'm just not sure how big of a following I could get.

[Blake]

There's no point to having a YCML now. All of the members that made it, y'know, actually something interesting are gone. The general skill level of YCM is lower than it used to be, which is kinda sad when you think about it.

There are maybe 3-5 people that make it competitive enough and those probably wouldn't join, no people to make interesting drama without being over the top, a small handful of almost competitive enough, and it'd just be rather boring. No skillful and unorthodox plays that make it interesting, no reason to join/follow the tourney when the majority of players here are casual or just plain unskilled, and it would completely defeat the point of such a tournament.

YCM is much more suited to a large scale casual tourney than a competitive one. Why do you think almost all smaller tourneys ban the meta? Part of it is due to increasing creativity, but it's mostly just to cater to the more casual players that comprise the site.

[Scrooge]

[quote name='Scrooge' timestamp='1341619038' post='5968892']
I see that you are troubled about this Forum's inactivity, and that you suggest ways of increasing new member influx.

I have a plan that might, just might may I add, be a respectable step towards solving both.

We can use our Greatest resources:[list]
[*]Yu-gi-oh Card Maker.
[*]Duel Portal.
[/list]
We can organize some sort of contest, in which groups of 5 will participate. Each group will develop a Deck, which will be used by 1 person of the group in some Duel Portal Tournament, which shall be showcased in Youtube.

The work and the preparation will give everyone something to think, and disallow the current, rather sad situation, to occupy our minds. In parallel, the site will be advertised through Youtube.


A suggestion only.
[/quote]

And idea that I had had. Perhaps someone could expand on it...?

[Legend Zero]

If I could live-stream (lol my laptop sucks) I was going to try and do a weekly (or bi-weekly) show in which I played DN and whatnot, but meh.

[Master White]

Well, I could participate on something if anyone knows any good game creator software for free or very cheap, don't have to be good game, just okay.....Becuase my idea keeps screaming do it in my head though I don't want to, lol.....

[Just Crouton]

I once considered pitching an idea for a tournament where YCM competes against other forums. Then, I realized how insane the idea was.

[Simping For Hina]

[quote name='みゆきサン' timestamp='1348545125' post='6031621']
The only ordeal that I am currently wrapping myself around is the amount of Awards that are needed for the YCMA. Last year, no Awards were given out primarily due to the laziness of the GFX Team, along with school and other such dilemmas. This is why I'm considering pushing YCMA to at least November, where everyone has a Thanksgiving Break, and if they want to, design awards over that particular weekend, or vote if need be. I don't want a repeat of last year to happen again, considering how badly executed the last two were.

I may not even do it since I don't know where .Rai is, I don't know NW, and LC has seemingly disappeared from my viewpoint.

Also, someone should do another YCM Legends Series. But considering the main people who came up with the idea (Brandon, Dog King, and Welche) are either gone or banned, gathering the amount of people needed for another YCM Legends Series may prove to be another struggle.

But yeah, events. Yippee.
[/quote].Rai can be contacted by MSN, he visits here frequently. 'Night visits as much as well and can be contacted through MSN. LC only appears once in a blue moon because he is focused on school. I am taking a break focusing on my school work and s*** as well. I will do if offered, but I cannot promise it. And you cannot blame the team for being lazy, it was horribly organized in the first place. So you can buckle down and not make us do the entire idea of the awards, instead of putting everything on us. You know, we're too lazy and s***. We all are a family and work well with each other, but can't get focused because we have no general direction.