Publicising Entmoot

[Twista]

I think we need to publicise entmoot forums a little. Ive noticed that in general, there are only infact about 20 people that post on here on a regular basis ( ie, every day ). Which, in my opinion, simply will not do. What do you all think? I dont think its a matter of getting people to come to the site, but getting them to acually post on the site. I think this because i was scrolling through the members directory, and the majority of members havent infact posted a single time! How can we rectify? - that is the question! Maybe the majority of you are happy with the way things are at the moment, but I personally, would like to see the forums some what busier.

For example, there are very rarely any new threads posted, the busiest forum i have come accross might be Suprnova Forums, as they very often have over 100 users on at a time, and the amount of new posts and interesting things to be read is unbelivible. ( I'd just like to say at this point that I am not critising Entmoot, i love the place, i just think things would run so much better if the forums had a higher rate of flow of posts. ) However, back to my example of the Suprnova Forums. If you look at them you will see they have nothing what so ever to do with tolkein, but even the general message board is flooded with posts. And lets face it, Entmoot has more General Chat than Tolkien chat these days, simply because the majority of Tolkien chat has been exhausted.

Now i dont know how 'we' ( i say we, yet i dont know if you all agree with me ) can bring more people to the forums, but i do have a couple of ideas that might increase the flow of members:

• Maybe Adding New Forums to Entmoot ( More varied Topics)
  Advertising on other sites, Promoting the greatness of the 'Moot
  Calm down on moderation maybe, people get scared easily

Thats all i wanted to say really. Now before i get flaimed with things like ' If your unhappy with the forums, then why are you posting here ' or ' The forums are fine as they are, stop complaining! ' - This is just an idea i want to promote, to make the forums busier, and hence forth increase the overall 'banter' everyone will benifit from.

Thanks for taking the time to read this if you've been bother to.

[gimli7410]

the reason entmoot is so good though is because it is such a small community. what difference is it that we have 10 users or 100 users. and its not only 20 people who post everyday. maybe 20 on at a time but thats different if people sign on different times of the day. id rather not have alot of people come and then people leaving because then entmoot wouldnt really be original. oh yeha i think entmoot was publishedin a magazine one time to, im not for sure but i remember hearing about it

[Nurvingiel]

I think Entmoot is really active. Some threads get 2 new pages of posts a day. Some people don't have time to post a lot, and that's just fine.
I think it's awesome that you want to publicise it more anyway though. You could get your friends to join, or link to the Tolkien Trail from your personal website.

[Bombadillo]

No way! Enmoot's the perfect. Not big enough to be lost in, not to small to have fun, but just right to post in a nice, tight-knit community of all cool people. but I HATE that smilie!

What we could do anyway for recognition is post a link at the The Encycleopedia of Arda here. Or keep voting for us at the Tolkien Top 100, but I don't have that link.

[Elf Girl]

Huh? I for one can't stand the kind of forums where I don't know anyone who posts, I can't keep track of the regulars, and I can't read all the posts in threads I like. In that kind of board, too many new threads are posted for them to have any kind of longevity, they only last a few days, which leads to hasty typing and 'chat-speak', and the general degradation of the board. I don't want that to happen to Entmoot.

[brownjenkins]

i post to other forums that are a lot more busy and a lot less moderated... one thing i like most about entmoot is the moderation... i've never seen another forum where people are so willing to be honest about the good and the bad in themselves and those around them... i think a big reason for this is that they know the conversations will remain respectful as opposed to turning into flame fests where everyone one tries to top the other on how personal attacks can get... so i think the moderation is okay

with that i mind... i have nothing against more people and have pointed this site out to people recently who i've come across online with similar interests

(a few new smilies wouldn't hurt either )

[Khamûl]

One reason why their forums are so much more active than ours is because they have so many more members. They have 94,709 members. We have 2,706. Their record for most members online at a time is 206 more people than we have total members.

I agree with Elf Girl on this one. It's nice being able to know a little bit about who you're posting with. It's like the local coffee shop or, if you prefer, tavern. For some reason I just got the urge to sing the theme song from "Cheers"...

However, new members are a good thing. People are always coming and going, so new people are always welcome.

[sun-star]

Entmoot moves too fast for me to keep up with as it is! I agree that the fact there aren't that many regular posters means you can get to know people better, build up personal relationships. It's really nice

What kind of new forums could there be anyway that aren't already covered?

[hectorberlioz]

I have to agree with Bombadillo's post above, its not to big (entmoot would be so boring if a bunch of people you never had the time to aquaint yourself with were on etc...), and its not to slow. of course i wish all my fav mooters were on at one time, but maybe it would get boring talking to them if they were all on at the same time.
i once joined this all-movies forum, killermovies.com, and it was just packed! about 100 people on at the same time, people had messy usernames (i.e. fffjsejrtjjewgeorge), cussing was allowed, peole had nasty titles; in general, it was a big ,mess.
I check back there once in a while, and everytime I do, it has changed so much (as in threads ans stuff).

But of course I know that my fellow avatar competitor, Twista, was of course saying that more people dont really need to join as they the members who dont come on often need to come more often

[Nurvingiel]

Imagine if all 2700 members were regular posters!

I got two of my pals to join, and one hasn't posted once yet, and my other pal has posted a few times. (I'm sure she'll have more to say when she's read all the books though. )

I also got Drgnslyer to join, and he's a great poster. He doesn't post a lot, but when he does, it's a good one.

[Beor]

I like it the way it is. I always manage to kick back, and relax here, which is one of the main objectives for me coming here (that and talking to people about Tolkien stuff). I say keep it how it is. If too many people come here, it will just get crowded and I will end up not knowing anyone and we wont be able to have such great conversations with everyone.

[Insidious Rex]

I cant imagine a message board about Tolkien would ever become more then a niche site anyway. Publicized or not. The odd thing about the general forum is that it’s a bunch of people who came here because of Tolkien sitting around in a cyber community talking about everything else. Which is interesting if you think about it. Its like a town formed only by people whose last name has 6 letters in it or who like pistachio ice cream or something. Other message boards (the big ones at least) tend to be less specific in their target audience.

[Sister Golden Hair]

I think the best way to give Entmoot exposure Twista, is through referrals. You get the credit for them and they appear in your profile. If you look in my profile, I believe I have 10 referrals at this time.

I don't think we really want Entmoot to become an enormous community and less moderated. I think it is growing fine, just the way it is.

[Elf Girl]

Also: This forum is about Tolkien. I'd prefer if it wasn't exposed to the general public. If is is GM will fill up with people who don't like Tolkien, or worse, yet more Legolas-fangirls. We don't need that.

[Twista]

Originally posted by Elf Girl
Also: This forum is about Tolkien. I'd prefer if it wasn't exposed to the general public. If is GM will fill up with people who don't like Tolkien, or worse, yet more Legolas-fangirls. We don't need that.

Yes fair enough, but if the forum was intended just for Tolkien talk, why is there a General forum?

[Elf Girl]

I haven't the faintest idea, and frankly I think we'd all benefit if there wasn't.

But the banner says:

Entmoot

A Board Dedicated To The Works Of JRR Tolkien

I would think that's clear enough, yes?

[Nurvingiel]

Those guys would leave soon anyway, I can't imagine how awkward that would be posting here.

Fangirl: i luv leggsie he's sooo hotttt! so leggo my leggsie! tee hee! and i love all his grate stunts like when he takes down that eliphant thing!
Mooter1: Um, have you read the books? And why are you boycotting the shift key?
Mooter2: Can you even read?
Mooter3: He actually wasn't described as being excessively handsome in the books, the real Legolas does not necessarily look like Orlando Bloom.
Fangirl: u guys are sooo mean!!!!!111 i post 1 time and u r only meen to me. leggsie is hot, so what???// i mean y can't you just like a grate movie already!!!1
Mooter2: You're an idiot.
Mooter3: I personally didn't feel they were very good adaptations, Peter Jackson could have done so much better.
Mooter1: I greatly enjoyed the movies, but I'm not going to lose sight of the main purpose to drool over one character, who really wasn't that important.
Fangirl: not imprtant? how can u say that! he saves the hobbits... um a bunch of times.
etc. etc.

[Twista]

Originally posted by Elf Girl
I haven't the faintest idea, and frankly I think we'd all benefit if there wasn't.

But the banner says:

Entmoot

A Board Dedicated To The Works Of JRR Tolkien

I would think that's clear enough, yes?

Yes its clear enough to me, yet there is still general discussion so it is irrevant isnt it? And as i said, threads are getting exhausted. The only threads in use are Trivia threads and game ones really.

[Nurvingiel]

I've noticed that Entmoot goes through waves. It doesn't matter that we're in a trough right now, there will soon be a pickup in posting. People are always rereading the books - but give them some time - then they will post a new idea.

[Sister Golden Hair]

All message boards have their ups and downs, their active times and their lulls. Also, most Tolkien MBs have general discussion forums along with a variety of other forums not related to Tolkien, and it seems that most of the posters are Tolkien fans that are inneracting with each other in all the various forums. The top part of this MB is all Tolkien forums, and yes everything that can be discussed has been discussed, but there are newcomers to the books everyday. The bottom part of Entmoot is various other forums and all of us discuss in GMs but we are Tolkien fans first.