Wake Up, Pirates!

[Captain Del]

I'm not so much addressing pirates who are inactive (though I do very much appreciate all of you old champs coming out of the shadows ) as I am pirates who are on these forums, but choose not to interact on these forums as much as they could. It's vital that every member of these forums does their best to reach out to fellow pirates and strengthen the atmosphere of the community, so that we can help not only these forums, but the game itself begin to take steps back to founding such a well-involved, fun, and most importantly, "piratey" Caribbean!

[Mia Lightning]

I say this, if you are not on the 'ban game' or 'who will be the next poster' then don't speak.......

[Captain Del]

Originally Posted by Mia Lightning

I say this, if you are not on the 'ban game' or 'who will be the next poster' then don't speak.......

I'm not entirely sure what your post is trying to say - are you saying that if a pirate doesn't participate in the Activities forum then his/her interaction on this forum isn't as high as those who do? If this is the case, then I believe you brought up a matter that I'd love to address regardless.

While I agree that the activities forum is a great way for pirates to interact and meet new friends (in fact, the Ban Game is one of the reasons why I first joined Partners In Crime,) I do not believe that it should be a pirate's sole reason to be on these forums. As I argued back when the Activities forum was periodically shut down, it's not very good when pirates come on these forums solely to play on "The Ban Game," "Question My Question" or the few other threads that are constantly in the new posts section, as they tend to draw away from the actual discussions that happen in the other parts of the forum. It tends to alienate separate groups of members, (I find that activities threads are usually limited in participation to just a certain dozen members or so,) and as much as I hate to say it, one of the reasons I left playing the Ban Game a few years ago is because I didn't like how it was drawing a lot of people from actual threads and discussions that is what keeps the forums alive.

Do not get me wrong, though. I believe the Activities forum is a necessity in terms of keeping some pirates around on these forums, and we learned that the hard way when some of our oldest members left after it was closed for a time. But even for just the slightest amount of time, every pirate should make the effort to take part in actual discussion, because that's what keeps the entire forum thriving and enjoyable, not just a small section for pirates who don't know what to do with their time. Plus, you'll find that once you really get in to discussing topics with other pirates, it has a lot more fun and variation to it than just repeating "I ban Captain Del for being old!" - and not to mention, it's a great way to make friends

[Mia Lightning]

I have no idea what you wrote as I did not read it, but I was kidding. All I saw was "Wake up Pirates" and little bit about a lack of participation and and thought I'd mention that there is a lot of activity here.

Honestly, if someone takes two seconds out of their busy days to say "I ban you with strong words", then that is participating to me.

It's difficult enough for people to take the time out of their real lives to have a little fun on this forum, much less write a two page story about how one is to participate.

Love all the people even if they can only take the time to read, ban, or put bottles up!

[Captain Del]

Originally Posted by Mia Lightning

I have no idea what you wrote as I did not read it, but I was kidding. All I saw was "Wake up Pirates" and little bit about a lack of participation and and thought I'd mention that there is a lot of activity here.

Honestly, if someone takes two seconds out of their busy days to say "I ban you with strong words", then that is participating to me.

It's difficult enough for people to take the time out of their real lives to have a little fun on this forum, much less write a two page story about how one is to participate.

Love all the people even if they can only take the time to read, ban, or put bottles up!

Like I said, I appreciate pirates who participate in the Ban Game and other activities just as the next pirate - I view all pirates as equals. I'm also not saying that pirates who don't have the time to participate in other topics of discussion should reorganize their time when they enjoy doing solely that - if you read my second post, I stated that this thread is only in respect to the pirates who aren't taking the initiative to participate in the forums in it's full splendor, when they have the full capability of doing so.

Remember, I'm not one to dictate how you are to spend your time on these forums, that's not my place. But, I'm always open to encouraging pirates to get involved and try new things

[Dark_Pixie]

I support this thread - POF doesn't have as many members on it as other fansites/forums, but we can easily be one of the most active. I used to be very, very active - posting on nearly every thread - when I joined in May 2011, until round about September when activity here dropped (which may be a result of back-to-school time, but still).

I was also very active because of the Activities forum. I'm sure some of you recall my username spamming the New Posts section of the front page. I was missing the point of the whole site itself. The closure of the Activities forum prompted me to turn over a new leaf and actually post about POTCO. When the forum was re-opened, I stuck to this and only posted there occasionally. I also stopped playing the Ban Game so often (only one ban since the re-opening), because it's just not interesting to me anymore. There's not much more I can say on this subject without sounding like a hypocrite...

Activity on the forum has dropped, but we can easily build it back up again. Looking through archived threads, I was finding lots of different users per thread. Plus, when I started looking at the forums without an account (November 2010), it was very active indeed. Let's get back to this.

[Captain Sharktooth]

Originally Posted by Dark_Pixie

POF doesn't have as many members on it as other fansites/forums

POF actually has the most.

But I guess it's not that easy to notice because as everyone has said, there's been a great drop in activity. But hopefully that can change!