I mentioned a few things to Ian and Marc at the Alton meet but in case they've been forgotten (and also to see if anyone else likes the idea) here's a few I've already spoken about and a few new ones:
'VIP', 'donator', 'contributor' option which would go towards to help pay for the sites hosting costs and showing appreciating towards all the hard work the staff do here. It gives users a different userbar (like the moderator bars) except with the other names as suggested on the bar. It could be a £1 for a month and you would have the 'VIP', 'donator' etc bar till the end of your subscription. It can be chosen to be renewed or if you don't and it expires it goes away. I also think there could be options of having a few more benefits to encourage people to part with their £1 such as coloured usernames, or seasonal specials like 'Christmas VIP'. Perhaps the option for a larger avatar (although I'm not sure if there's a restriction on this). Another benefit could be being allowed to show yourself as 'invisible' online to members or viewing a thread. Maybe you don't want people to know you're online?
Promo Team - not only does this give more members a chance to have some responsibility, it will also mean the forum will generate more activity. Social media is a key thing because there are so many websites/forums who offer the same as we do. Perhaps if we had more to offer it would encourage more members to sign up? Examples such as competitions for maps or merchandise, or events such as Dara's quiz that was around not that long ago. Not that we expect you to break the bank. As well as much going on FB/Twitter etc. Do we have a YouTube? If we don't we should, considering we are Thorpe's official fansite we should upload more content based on our days out there, although we can't broadcast everything we do because photography isn't always allowed e.g. Inferno 'behind the scenes'. These links or 'icons' should be more visible on site, especially on the forum as they seem somewhat neglected. I'm not saying plaster it everywhere but a small box of 'Social Media Links' would be nice.
Arcade - I'm never sure about this idea, I know people who use the forum have skype conversations where they go on group games together like monopoly. I'm sure there's a plugin for this and would encourage people to play more on site. I suppose there could be a leaderboard and maybe a 'VIP' reward (as stated above) for whoever reigns the top at the end of each month.
Design - I'm not entirely sure what's going on with this, but I know what often proves popular is the ability to customise your own background. This is all based on your browsers cookies, I know you can get it with IP board as I use a forum that has one so if you don't like your current background you can adjust it to your liking. I suppose also having the option for multiple skins? So if we move on from this design to a new one, some users might not like change and they may prefer the old skin so it would be nice for the option to switch between em.
Shoutbox/Chat - Personally I don't see the point in having both as they do very similar purposes. I would say the chat should stay as you have to click it to actually get there and it's good if people just want to socialise in there. The problem with having two different, but similar things is sometimes it can take away from forum activity. Also if there is just one (say Chat stays) it will ultimately make that more popular as the shoutbox would not exist.
Quote/Mentions - I think it was said that mentions are actually already in place, but sometimes it's just easier to get people's attention. Also quotes would be a nice idea to add to notifications as I personally do forget when I've spoken in a topic and someone replies to me and I don't realise till later. Don't wanna come across as rude
Awards/Badges - I think this idea has gone a bit dead but I suppose it could still work. Maybe rewards that you are given for doing certain things. e.g. attending your first meet. If people want to get this 'achievement' all they need to do is attend a meet. This way it'll encourage more people to come so they can boast and be recognised for attending their first meet. This could also work with posts as well or top posters who add discussion to the forum. Not trying to restrict it to anything as it could be applied to a variety of things.
A 'Thorpe Park Mania' forum - Kinda what the 'extra bits' are, but because we are a 'community', I feel this would be better placed at the top. I think the option for actual sub-forum designated for new members to post threads saying they're new would be good. I know there's a thread designated for that, but this way it divulges all attention to that one person.
Language Filter - I personally don't mind it when I see curse words here and there and it would be nice to have an option to turn it off but by default the language filter be turned on for those who don't like seeing crude language
Resources - I don't know whether this will come under copyright and such but maybe options to DL Thorpe's soundtracks like the Colossus theme. But anything like audio I guess could fall under here. And so people don't just download and snag them for themselves it should be restricted to those who have been members for 3+ months or something like that
I know that was a lot to take in, and I'm not trying to change everything about TPM but just trying to inject some ideas into to perhaps improve it. I'm not trying to bash the site as the site does a lot of good, and is in fact, very good, but just thought I'd make that clear. Marc said a lot of the traffic for the site is from the GP, how can we get the GP to sign up? sure they may browse, but in what way can we encourage them to sign up? All these ideas are what I think would be good but that's not to say they are/or may they be practical and I apologise for the real shoddy writing as I'm falling asleep writing this!
