Long term health of mafiascum

Casanova · Post Post #32 (isolation #0) » Fri Dec 05, 2014 7:55 am

In post 11, chamber wrote:Thoughts on just making mafblack default?

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

mafBlack is 100x better than the other skins. Even the sepia one is marginally better than the current default.

Casanova · Post Post #34 (isolation #1) » Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:04 am

In post 33, Lissa wrote:... I like the default blue.

It's mostly the logo/title block that makes me want to break things, to be honest.

I have nothing against the color blue.

Casanova · Post Post #36 (isolation #2) » Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:27 am

In post 35, xRECKONERx wrote:I think we also might be able to become more appealing if we had a better automation system. I know automated signups/game tracking have been talked about for a long time, but no other site has that. Every site has forums where people can play mafia games and we're not the only place to play and learn anymore. But if we had the automated signups, game tracking, etc I think it'd make us stand out. No other site is going to bother with implementing that type of system when they're not specifically mafia focused.

I agree. If you want to stand out, capitalize on your advantages. Mafiascum is 1.) large and 2.) specialized.

Automation would be more fitting here than anywhere else.

Casanova · Post Post #56 (isolation #3) » Fri Dec 05, 2014 2:21 pm

Can I just point out that the mafBlack skin matches the mafiascum.net homepage as well?

The site's flow from Homepage -> Forums would feel more unified if the default skin (the only one visitors will see) was mafBlack.

Casanova · Post Post #167 (isolation #4) » Mon Dec 08, 2014 5:51 am

In post 137, Nero Cain wrote:I HIGHLY doubt that site design as anything to do with this site going down hill but more advertising seems like a good idea.

Site design is probably not a primary cause of decline, but it's safe to say that it is a factor:

I joined this site because the wiki impressed me, and gave me the impression the folks here were competent. If I had just been Googling for mafia communities and came here... honestly? I would have hit the Back button about three seconds later because the default forum skin looks like... well... it immediately gets sorted in my mind alongside all the free forums people throw together in a day. It doesn't look like a lot of care or effort was expended.

(Which is not to say care or effort wasn't spent, just giving honest feedback on the first impression the default skin gives compared to other sites today)

Casanova · Post Post #184 (isolation #5) » Mon Dec 08, 2014 6:54 am

In post 172, saulres wrote:
In post 170, chamber wrote:Based on what I see in those numbers, our user retention rate looks like it's gone up not down. The primary problem in need of fixing is that new users has MASSIVELY dropped off.

That's different then. That's not us doing anything wrong, that's people not finding us.

Or they're finding us but not signing up.

I definitely agree SEO is a major factor, but I think people are underestimating the impact of aesthetics. We may be losing visitors in the first ten seconds.

Casanova · Post Post #227 (isolation #6) » Mon Dec 08, 2014 11:46 am

In post 225, zoraster wrote:For MS you'd want it to only pull some unique code (e.g. the [.vote] tag) for voting from each post that comes in a drop down box with current players, and maybe lock the thread when majority is reached.

Yes, yes, this. So much this.

Casanova · Post Post #301 (isolation #7) » Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:26 pm

In the case of newbies who are killed off early in the game, would PM'ing them a short survey after they're killed (rather than waiting until endgame when the ones who won't play another game have already logged out of Mafia Scum for the last time) be prudent?

Casanova · Post Post #303 (isolation #8) » Wed Dec 10, 2014 7:13 pm

That would be good.