So, I had an idea to get some parts of the site a bit closer to each other. I am very rarely on the forum part of the site (none-the-less, I love everyone on there!). I thought we could have some type of "forums night" on the radio. A place where members on the site can discuss forum topics via a Skype call, or another method that might be easier, on the livestream. this would help the Radio, which is seeing a big decrease in activity from what I see. I love the entire site, and I am attached to the radio and I hate to see it slowly die. This would also help the site become more of a community, bringing the radio people and forum people together, hopefully forming a good bond, and people will visit more of the site openly instead of just one part. We could also have something for the RP part of the forums, an RP night so they can do live roleplay on the livestream. Not sure about the chat part of the site, since they already have a chat and talk a lot, maybe just a casual chat for that. This would encroach on time for just the radio, but this would make the radio a gathering spot, and have the livesteam put to good use more often. We have the shoutcast radio so if anyone still wants to listen to music, they won't be missing out either. The radio has always been amazing for me, but I have a hard time getting to the other parts of the site, which I love. I think others have the same feelings, so this can help them get closer to the other site members.
I like the idea of the rp radio night could nd up something like D&D. it could lead to a influx of rpers which is good as the rp section seems to have less and less people posting. not sure about the others though.
I tend to stay on the radio too (Flutteryshy knows me on the radio). I feel that the forum and the radio tend to have separate contributors, as, whenever the forums get mentioned, a couple people say that they are barely on the forums. I am one of those people. Nothing is really dividing the forum users and the radio users. Developing a better sense of unity would definitely better both sub-communities. Weekly and announced events could help this. Personally, I would like to get to know the forum contributors better, but I feel that simply posting on the forums doesn't do this. I feel that directly chatting with people on the radio's chat has done this much better. I've even made a few friends, and not just shallow, facebook-like, instant friends. I can't think of ways for radio users to start getting into the forum.... Also, after going on to the non-radio chat, I see a different sub-community than from the radio. Are these people more from the forum sub-community, or are they separate?
The problem I see with this happening is that it kinda ruins the whole aspect of the forum. With text, you can wait a bit and think about something before discussing it, making sure you aren't giving out the wrong thing or perhaps touching up your post a bit. With livechatting, you can't just sit there for 3 minutes thinking; people won't stand for that. I like how it would bring both groups together (there are a LOT of people who use the radio I've never met), but I'm afraid the groups wouldn't mingle too well.
I for one, love the idea. I would gladly hop on there at times to say "what's up" and attempt to bring us all closer together. Because you're right. We're one big community, and it would be great if we could all get more involved in everything there is to be doing.
Back in Ye Olde times, I would go to the radio quite often. However, being a moderator and having duties outside of the site has taken time away from the radio that I wish I could take back. So I agree with the above idea.
If we want to bring things closer, why not move the radio chat to IRC? Have all the chats on the same area. I know IRC chat can be embedded on the radio page, like the livestream one is now. This would do two things: 1. Make it so there is only one area that moderators need to be setup with privileges and allows for cross area chat moderating, so there is more likely to be a moderator in chat at any time. 2. If I'm not mistaken, you need to be a member of the forums to join the IRC chats right now. This would help bring in the radio chat users to the forums as they would need to make a user on the forum before they would be in chat. It would bring both parts of the site together. With the Forum Chat, RP Chat, and Radio Chat all in one place where you can switch between them simply by switching rooms may cause more cross activity between the users in the room. Also, I'm confused as to the "active" part of the radio. Livestream is where the DJs do their work? It seems as the Shoutcast experiment has come and gone. Having the two radio streams gets confusing for where things are happening. Is there any way to sync up what's happening in them or go back to using just one?
Actually, the two radios let's me try and pick between them. I get picky about music often, and as I heard from Blazing; LS's kinda eaten a lot of videos, so he can only DJ from SC. I assume it's the same with most of the others. Besides, LS takes up more badwidth, and I can't listen to that from work. SC works fine, however. IRC's clunky too, I for one can't stand it compared to the radio chat. So you see, it's really about preference. We've all got our own preferences, and so the site attempts to accomodate to each pony. It spreads us out a bit, but otherwise I feel we can connect.
I'd prefer if we stuck with shoutcast and only used livestream for the special events, etc. I also can't get livestream at work, but I can get shoutcast. I don't agree with the sticking to the status quo on chat or the radio though. If the status quo was perfect, why would we have this thread?
Perfection is always out of reach. You for one should know that well enough. Status quo was well enough when we had a more active member base. This thread is only to try and spark an interest in uniting the members from different parts of our site... as far as I understand it. Now, another thing we should know is that gradual changes and attempts are less startling... cause less panic. So thus we start first with ideas like this, which I for one believe are a step in the right direction.
Perfection may not be achievable, but you should always strive for it. Status quo is never good enough. Always be improving. I hope you are right though, I hope the attendance for special event nights (if they come to fruition) is high.
I like these ideas, I thought that it might be possible to add the IRC chat to the radio page, combine them like that, but I'm not sure if that would work either. Seems like people like this idea of getting the community closer though, I'm glad!
I remember the huge debacle that occurred when we tried to implement an IRC chat before. It wasn't on the radio, but for the chat/rp chat, and people absolutely hated it. I think if we were to implement an IRC chat again, we would want to provide some kind of walkthrough on how to use it, because the biggest issue people were having is that they didn't know how to use it. I'd be interested in trying something to bring together areas of the site, but I don't know how effective it would be. As for special events, I wasn't there for the last broadcast on us starting our own show on the radio, but the show we were doing with the military bronies didn't bring in many viewers. Our numbers did steadily rise the longer that show went on though, so maybe if we're able to stick with something and get it advertised a healthy amount, we could start pulling in more viewers.
That's just cumbersome and annoying. Anyone who currently listens to the radio on radio.php and isn't a member would leave and go to http://www.livestream.com/radioeverypony/ and chat vs being forced to register to talk in an embeded IRC. It's what I would do. I would like the Shoutcast to be used for radio and LS be used for events only. It makes the most sense to me. Why this hasn't happened yet is a mystery to me. A) We wouldn't need to pay as much for bandwidth. B) The LS is useless for mobile devices. Aside from combining chats, I like the sitewide RP idea.
Yes, the friendship cannon podcast! Forgot about that for a minute, even though I'm in it, heh. It airs on saturdays an hour after the show for anyone that's wanting to go! Just go to the radio page and turn on the livestream, it's bound to be fun! PM Yeti if you want to join us in the call too! (isn't advertising)
I like this idea, but we'd generally need to decide on what to do as a community each time it happens. Given the vast amount of ideas in this thread, and the people hyped to participate, I wouldn't be surprised that we could do each at least once as well as make it a regular event, possibly even weekly as a means to add entertainment value to the site overall not just for any select group of users but them all as a whole. I'm not entirely too keen on the information regarding IRC so I'll keep my nose out of that particular issue, but I'd be willing to help set up events for this. Also, forum-wide roleplays via chat? I absolutely adore this idea. Just, with as many people as we're expecting, I'd hope we'd have a few campaigns or something prepared beforehand as accommodating a large RP group for spontaneous RP will be much too hectic to enjoy.
Well, if you'd be able to set it up during a time that I'd have free, I could Game Master it, but we'd need to choose or create a solid system. Believe it or not, making our own role-playing system would not be that hard. I could probably make one in a weekend. It'd be unique, too, and simple - for sure. :derpe: Unless you ponies want to use my system, or Roleplaying is Magic. EDIT: At the moment, Saturday nights EST are open for me.
We tried that when we first got the shoutcast but for some reason it never made it to becoming standard.
Oh, I remember roleplaying is magic, I made some characters for me and some IRL friends one time, but they were never interested :c I've never really Rp'd before, but I think it sounds fun. Just remember to help a noob out :3 Edit: just found the file about MLP RIM xD Pegasus pony: talent is language, a filly, job is a racer, kindness element Body: +3 Mind: +2 Heart: +1 Talents: fast, agile health is 4, energy is 5, courage is 3 skills: running, flying, carrying, speaking Current bits: A little outgoing but shy. loves to care for others and will always try to win, if that's okay with you. works as a racer who goes into only minor races unicorn pony: Talent is wind/lightning, a mare, job is a teacher, magical element Body: +2 Mind: +3 Heart: +2 Talents: smart, perceptive health is 4, energy is 5, courage is 5 skills: multiplying, dividing, adding, subtracting, reading, writing, singing, teleportation, Magical moves: Change air Currrent bits: loves foals and kids, teaches, always willing to help. very intelectual, knows a lot of magic in the wind category I made two for myself apparently
Absolutely! Actually, I've been working on a whole new system. I think RiM is too basic for full adventures, so I've been working on something that's simple but uhm... better. :derpe:
