Thanks Rarit E, you're another name I have seen all too often about these forums. I'll PM you to prevent potential derailment.
I read all of this and I am a new member. I love forums, but I feel at a loss of where/what to post sometimes on here. Because offtopic seems to be considered bad (some of my fave posts are the discussions that just run rampant when something goes off topic) I think that more specific general chat type of threads would be appealing, where it's still general chit chat but in more focused sections (like a music section, a tv and entertainment section, maybe a section for other collectibles, or a section for discussion of other toys/cartoons that people are a fan of, a section for art/reading that type of thing) rather than just a general chat that is more like a chatroom than a forum discussion....and then the general chat thread might be broken up some with more categories for people to post in. I want to get to know more about other pony fans BESIDES only their opinion on mlp type topics, I also want to know what my fellow pony fans listen to when they play music, what kind of books and tv shows that are different from mlp that they like, etc, etc. That would really make me be posting in here a lot more. I hope I'm explaining it well enough. I would not really think taking away new posts is the route to go, just my opinion as I think it's a fast easy way for folks to see what's popping and be able to put in their own two cents and connect with others that are currently posting and online. But it would also be nice to have a feature to be able to see new replies to places you've posted, and easily navigate responses to things that you have said on the forums and be able to communicate with each other through the forums with ease as people are commenting on what you have said and you can easilly see the comments and make more replies. I don't know if I explained myself very well, but those are my thoughts for what they are worth as a new member that is trying to become active and that loves both MLP and forums in general. Also I was going to add that I don't think it's very nice that it's like a rule that we aren't supposed to reply to old threads, then a.) why is the thread even still in existence or able to be posted on? b.) why are we not allowed to add our 2 cents in if we have something to say, just cuz we weren't around when the thread may have started? and c.) then why are you usually prompted to look for a thread on what you want to talk about before creating one, then possibly to find one that you aren't supposed to post on? that doesn't make sense to me...
You know, this is going to sound outright crazy but it's the simplest way to get these things out in the open and to the problem, and because the first step of fixing the problem is knowing it's there, here it is. I've heard a lot of things about people not liking the Shoutcast part of the radio, and it honestly blows my mind because I love it as a listener and a DJ. Could you guys possibly post some things you don't like about it? Knowing these sort of things will help tremendously in the future and I want to work towards having a majority of the users listening on Shoutcast instead of Livestream because let's face it, the plan was to use LS mostly as an automatic visual player for things like Anthology and Episodes, while also being a hub for events making it possible for people who weren't interested in events to listen to music nonetheless. So in short, what things do you prefer about Shoutcast, or prefer about Livestream, and also, what things do you dislike about the two as well? Edit: This just in, we won't be able to stream episodes on the radio on normal days. Unless it's something similar to Brony day, it most likely will not be happening any time in the near future due to Copyright issues. Sorry guys.
Zephyr, I like Livestream.. The Autobrony isn't too good, though. I often hear the same songs within 2-3 songs of eachother.. I don't think that's within your control, though. I'll get back to you on the Shoutcast scenario once I actually use it.
Just popping in to say that there are some great idea's in here, I've taken some notes, and would love to discuss them with you all, when I get back from work today.
We have all those sections already. Most of the ones you mentioned are sub-forums in the Media forum. Or if you're talking about making a more specific general chat thread for each of those sections, what's the point in that? That's what the sections are for. Post a thread in those sections to discuss something. We have the General Discussion for threads that don't fit anywhere else, and we have the General Chat Thread for things that don't deserve a specific thread. You can already do all that too. You can subscribe to threads. You can keep track of where you posted by looking at the "My Activity" tab on your profile page. I can agree on this, but that would mean the moderators would have to keep track of EVERY thread on these forums and decide wether or not it's still worth posting in. Well, i never really disliked anything about the Livestream radio. Nothing i can think of right now anyway. What i dislike about the Shoutcast is that it basically takes away the video material. Even if there wasn't any actual video to watch, at least it provided a nice picture to look at. And it lags far too often to be considered enjoyable. I have to refresh the page every few minutes. There's also the inability to see if there's a DJ on air. Besides that, the Shoutcast thing is less appealing to look at, again mostly because there's no more video material. You added the Shoutcast to give mobile users access to the radio's music, to which i must ask, how many mobile users do we have? By placing the Shoutcast over the Livestream, you're favoring mobile users. Mobile users probably like it, but the majority of visitors who use a regular computer have to look at it too. Maybe there's a way to restrict the Shoutcast radio to mobile users only, and keep the Livestream active for everyone else without forcing them to use shoutcast. I don't have a cellphone with internet capabilities, and i never cared for listening to EPR off-site. Shoutcast is a useless upgrade to me, and will probably be considered useless by everyone in the same situation as me. Just saying. I know you're only doing your best to make the website more accessible for everyone, but so far Shoutcast seems to bring more dislike than like.
Thanks guys I do have some of what I was looking for figured out, I'd overlooked some features, I got a private message giving me more details how to access these things, I suppose I just overlooked some things sorry about that!!
Quite a lot to discuss, this might be a big post due to quotes, so I'll just touch on the things I have idea's for for now. Rarit E - Just as with our music list, we need permission to upload and play anything, because we are polite like that, but I will definitely look into requesting permission from animators to play their stuff. As for Floxy show I can't really think of anything off the top of my head, some idea's would be grand. :3 I am all for unsticking the thread, I've brought this up before myself. My suggestion to this is we add "your posts" and "Undread posts" which act exactly as "New posts" but in their namesake's purpose. "Your posts" only shows threads you have posted in, with newest going to top. "Unread posts" only shows threads you have not viewed, with the newest going to the top. I have had this idea for quite some time, the newcomers gift basket I called it. Perhaps I should have been more proactive before my promotion. And I'll see what I can do about welcoming new ponies. Advertising We used to have regular updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. I am already aware of this and taking steps to correct it. Ramza - I will agree it was poorly executed, but livestream was anything but good, the sound quality was far below that of any other pony radio site, and the reason for many people not returning, not to mention the increasing costs the more we add to it. Both still very much exist and get used when requested. Frost - Unfortunately there isn't much we can do about this, besides removing all live chat's all together. It becomes increasingly difficult to actually have a conversation while trying to talk over more and more people, who are talking about something completely different. Time plays a big factor here, but we really do wish to improve on this, any suggestions from anyone would be appreciated. Kind regards, Berry Punch xiledspawn@hotmail.com, Skype, X fire and Steam: XiledSpawn.
I think this has sorta already been talked about but i cant recall that far back, but maybe a way to broaden the website is to have a podcast of it, you know just one or three people now and then just talking about the show and maybe stuff like games and movies they saw.
I'm in the same situation. Don't have a phone with internet capabilities, don't want one. So Shoutcast is useless to me as well. Also, this is a very good question:
According to the I.P. logs, roughly 10-20% of our (Active) users use a phone of some sort to use the forums/Shoutcast. So really it's more of a small convenience.
Better than no convenience at all, I normally forgo all the pony music at any rate having started listening to The Rumjacks.
I don't think most of the EPR users even listened to the music. The chat part of it was the biggest appeal. The music was nice though, something to look at and fill in the silences. Kinda like when people listen to music when drawing or working. It makes for a nice background to the chat.
