State of the WFWF Discussion & Ideas Thread

Maybe, but having those two or three extra people, even for just a couple of shows, is going to make the place look a lot more attractive when you're looking to convince people to return or advertising the place on sites like RoughKut (Note: This might be worth a read). Let's face it, no one is going to look at an E-Fed that had 4 people RP for the last show and think 'Yeah, I'll sign up for that'.

Perhaps targeting the lounge isn't the best way to go about it, but if Trace has anyone on the Sims who he knows would be reliable and gets on with then that's the kind of person who needs to be convinced. Same goes for Devilkiller or Schneider(?) in the Text Fed/Fantasy Booking Boards. Encouraging people who are already interested in writing is going to be a lot more productive. I'm not saying bombard the people on those forums with PMs because that's just annoying, but if you do talk to anyone else on the forum regularly then just mention that we could use a few more people and would be happy for them to join.

I think that, whilst time constraints are obviously a problem for some people, a lot of it is also going to come down to motivation. I get that people have personal lives and that, that has to take precedence, I mean I've had/have four exams from last Monday to next Tuesday that are going to determine whether or not I go to university and as a result there's no way I'm handing anything in to contribute to this show, unless nothing is up before then. So I do understand. But I find it hard to believe that all 6 people who no-showed were too busy to get something up. I know that when I used to no-show more frequently, motivation rather than being too busy was the main reason for it (In that whilst I may well have been busy on deadline day, I had plenty of time to work on a RP prior to that and didn't). There are a few issues that jump out at me with the E-Fed at the moment and I know that you guys won't be oblivious to them.

Replies to RP's are a big one, because I've never really felt confident in my own work and because I'm not a big reader generally, I've never been very good at it. But back in the day there were tons of people on the roster who would give you feedback, for me feedback, be it negative or positive, is a big motivator. Having guys like Alex, EBR, Kurt, Thunder, Calvin, Wayne, Obo, Horror, Trace, Revvie was fantastic and it motivated me either to work on the flaws that those guys would point out or to build on any success I had. I think that it's something we're really lacking at the moment and I know I don't help. There's not a lot you can do other than encourage people to try and do that. Hopefully when I'm done with my exams and have a bit more spare time it's something I can improve on personally, and the more people who do it, the more likely others are to follow suit.

Stuff like the Predictions/GD naming/Power Rankings/WFWF.COM haven't really worked out when you've tried them for a variety of reasons. But I do think it's worth persevering with stuff like that, a couple of those can't really be done with the numbers we have at the moment, but I don't see why WFWF.COM can't be updated be it by one of the owners or even just different members of the fed. Maybe it didn't get a great reception but I thought it was a good idea, and trying to get people having fun is going to keep them coming back, at the very least it's a great way of distracting people from the wait for results or for cards to go up. After next week I'd be happy to help with anything like that if you think it's going to be beneficial.

Right now, if I was looking for an E-Fed to join, I wouldn't pick the WFWF and that's not just because of the lack of people. But there's not really an awful lot that makes the place unique, maybe it's just me, but when I look at this E-Fed it doesn't really stand out, there's not an awful lot that makes it look better than any of the other options out there and until that changes, attempts made to recruit people probably aren't going to be that successful.

Anyway, I'm glad that this is being acknowledged and attempts are being made to address the issues with the fed, it was a nice distraction from revising, but I guess I should get back to that.

I have someone new coming in! More to come later..

Right?? Haha

In terms of people we definitely need to go out and do some advertising and some recruiting. Our roster right now is slim and when half of those people don't even bother showing up in the first place it's not a good look for the fed and it does little to motivate everyone else. I get Shawn's reluctance to advertise for people who might now stick around but I also agree that if we can bring in people for a few shows then we can try to work on getting them to stick around. We need to cast a wide net and bring in as many people as possible not only to make the place look active to attract other guys but also because if we can get one in every three people to stick around and become a reliable, consistent and valued member of the board then it'll be all worth it. I mean look at it this way, if we all go out and speak to people we know are interested in either fedding or just writing in general then we should be able to bring in one or two guys each. That quickly builds up. I mean in the time that I've written this post I've convinced Ace to join up and I know for a fact that he's a consistent and very good fedder, so it's entirely possible to do.

When it comes to feedback I'm not going to argue that I haven't been pulling my weight and neither has anyone else on the board (besides Mike, who seems to have been giving out some good feedback in the past few shows). It's something I personally intend to work on but it's very difficult to get motivated to read peoples work when only a handful are turning up. It's the same with the WFWF.com and predictions stuff, because if nobody is interested in it being there then why should I be putting in the work to write those pieces up? I don't mind doing it if they're getting read and if people are participating them but that once again comes down to having a reliable roster that are actually showing up on a consistent basis.

I think we need to focus on building up the roster for the time being and then making sure that everyone we have has a reason to keep showing up. I intend to get everybody into their own angles so that they've got something to build up and work towards going forwards so if everybody can go out and try to promote the fed then that would definitely be a step in the right direction. I'm saying go out and promote to not only your fedding friends but also to your friends who enjoy wrestling and definitely those who just enjoy writing because we've got a chance here to reach out to a much wider range of fedders. We're a rp'ing fed so people don't actually have to be a current wrestling fan, they just need to love writing and we can work on the wrestling side of thing with them as we go along.

So, I think I've beat this very horse to death, but just for old time's sake, here's an approach that just might entice someone new, or someone like me back into the game.

On the owner's end:

- CLEAN UP ANY AND ALL PAGES THAT A NEW PLAYER MIGHT BE DRAWN TO WHEN TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THIS PLACE IS ALL ABOUT. You've got a guidebook that is five years old written by a guy who hasn't made a post on the entire forum in two years. Maybe I'm wrong, but to me, any previous owners who have chosen to step away from the game shouldn't have their name anywhere near any sort of informational threads, lest they be mistakenly associated with the fed. Suppose someone had a question regarding the rules, and PM'd Alex about it, and never got a response - think they'll wind up signing on? I don't. Now, more than ever, is your golden opportunity to really shake things up. You've got, what? Four active writers? Turn this thing on its head and make it your own, tradition be damned. It's pretty much in the toilet anyway. Why not start fresh?

- And to that end, clean out any unnecessary archival threads. Title history is fine. Hall of fame is fine. Roster is fine. Do we really need a quoted thread, full of nothing but outdated, coded profiles for a handful of people unlikely to ever show their face around these parts again? Let them be responsible for maintaining their characters.

- Set a relaunch date, or whatever, and with it, offer everyone a clean slate in regard to no-shows. It'll be a breath of fresh air, maybe entice someone who was otherwise less inclined to participate to do so, and goes along with the fresh start notion, putting everyone back on the same page.

On the writer's end:

- Commit within your limits. You know your life away from the screen better than anyone. If you can't handle writing a participation piece and a match, don't sign on for a match. If you can't handle writing a weekly/bi-weekly piece for a character that is your own creation, maybe don't sign up.

- Be willing to develop your own storylines. I'll willingly relate the entire New Epoch angle as the best on-going story I've been involved in, and the real meat of that came from endless, endless strings of messages between Kyzer, Drakz, and myself. Go back and re-read the three of us during that whole angle - that sort of overlapping, different perspectives on the same scenes didn't come out of thin air, and to that end, there were very few instances where I would feature Drakz in one of my rps and need to run anything by him, because we became so inversely familiar with one another's characters. THAT is when things really unfold - the owners were a part of it, but by and large, it was an idea that was fleshed out between Kyzer and Drakz, and eventually myself.

On everyone's end:

- Feedback. The worst thing about putting in a bunch of effort is to have it go unnoticed. This goes for rps and show pieces. The thing that soured me the most on this place, and probably led me to want to be less involved was a story that I worked on for a solid two weeks that was thrown into a show haphazardly, without being read, and when the final product got put out there, the entire show was ass-backward because of it. This goes for rps too. No one wants to write a match, segment, or rp that isn't being read, and that falls on the shoulders of every last person involved here - owners, writers, idea guys, spectators, everyone.

And yeah, more people and all that, but I feel that with some monumental changes and a smidge of advertising, that'll fix itself.

We could open the Developmental/House Show to increase activity. We could have a show a week or something, but have a 400/500 word limit just so we can improve and try things out. Plus, it would show improved activity on the board, which could bring in more guys. It'd be something for us to do while we wait for the results and cards.

How about a mock-twitter kind of thing. Basically a thread where we can post "Tweets" in-character to progress sotrylines and such.




Or something along the lines of that.

A PM from myself should be sent soon. Keep checking your inbox.

EDIT: PM sent. I really hope you sign up here.

I'm with Proggy and Garrett. If you included a word limit and made involvement optional then bringing back the House Shows could be really good. Would allow people to experiment with new characters or ideas and give those who get frustrated with the wait for show results/cards something to keep themselves occupied.