I've been watching from the sidelines as this site slowly dies due to a lack of active users and engaging content and I think with the following changes, this can not only be remedied but will cause this site to explode in both traffic and content. However, its important to note that these changes are not on us, the users but on the admin themselves as they are the ones who can make these changes and see the site flourish or keep watching it slowly die. With that being said, I'm not placing blame on the admin themselves as this is also a community issue which I think will also be addressed and fixed with these changes.
I've outlined what I believe to be the changes needed to "fix" this site.
This Site Needs a New NameI'm proposing the site changes its name to
MomNTRWhile I understand the spirit of the current name and was around when the older forums were established, its time to take the site in a new direction. Currently, this site focuses on a sub-fetish of a much larger fetish that should instead be capitalized on. It also turns a lot of potential members away due to the perceived notion of the focus of this site when the majority of actual content, excluding the abundant low-tier spam posts plaguing this forum is MomNTR related.
Forums survive not only on member count, but on content quality which is something this forum is sorely lacking. Its essentially one giant circle, active members contribute quality content which in turns leads to influx of new members. From that new member pool a small portion will also contribute quality content leading to more new members and the cycle continues on. Right now, this place looks like a bot dumping ground with the sheer amount of low-tier spam posts posted everywhere. It sounds harsh but that's what it is.
ModerationThere needs to be an active mod team to curtail and filter the incoming content. This also helps remove the perceived appearance of a abandoned forum as new users and guests can see actual quality content and not the dribble that makes up 90% of each current section. There's not much else to really say on this except its needed.
Remove ChatI'm sure I'm not the only one but I get spammed constantly from t he chat window and it has honestly deterred me from visiting quite a few times. There is no point to it and just another deterrent in growing this place.
Forum SoftwareLike anything, you get what you pay for and SMF is just simply not cutting it these days. I understand why it was chosen, because it's free but it is dated, clunky and needs to be replaced with an actual modern forum software.
I would recommend
https://xenforo.com/ as its the leading modern forum software and provides a lot of QoL improvements this place sorely needs. Additionally you can look into
https://www.discourse.org/ which is a reimagined version of what modern forum software could look like.
Regardless, both these options are not free and I understand the hesitation on what could be perceived as throwing money away. However to counter this I suggest adding inline-ads which I believe both software support. Its not invasive at all and allows you to earn some money to cover hosting expenses and replenish spent funds.
Forum ReorganizationThe current sections are way to generalized for them to properly build, IMO the forums should be structured as such.
- General Discussion (For everything else not covered by the other sections)
-- Fantasy Discussion (Perfect spot for all those junk one liner threads.)
- Stories (Just for stories, threads for single stories with a pinned thread to track them)
-- Real Life (strictly and heavily moderated for real life retelling of events)
-- Looking for a Story (Self explanatory)
-- Commissions (A place for people to offer their services)
- Mainstream/Porn (Self explanatory)
-- Images (captions, gifts...etc.)
-2D/3D Works (doujins, comics...etc.)
- Games (Self explanatory)
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I've got other ideas but for now, these are what I believe are the most pressing and key to this forums survival. I think its also important that if this were to happen, the new forum should start fresh, there could be an archived version of this forum so members can pull quality content but I think it would be best to leave behind the muck.
I would very much like to hear what the other community members think and as well as the admin.