Dead Forum?

Chaps

Just a question or statement but man the Ogre forums seem bloody inactive and dead of late.  Not much to comment on and those that do comment are often pretty short and no questions about them.  I'm not saying it's right/wrong but to me it's certainly disappointing.

I thought the Tomb King forums were bad but it seems they are actually fairly active in comparison.

Prove me wrong chaps!!   

I've tended to notice that the TK and Ogre forums are the most active racial forums that I've found. Ulthuan isn't nearly as active, Druchii is a little more active since the new book, Skaven is barely active in my experience and the VC one not much better. Same with Daemons and I've not been to COTEC for a while so can't comment on how things have been since they had their new book.

Lustria Online is actually pretty active, I agree with the TK forum.  Dead, seems appropriate given they are Tomb Kings.   

I think this forum is fairly active and I really enjoy the Pet Gnoblars and Achievements.  Gives me something fun to shoot for.

Well, where's Hragged? His last active day was October 23rd...

In fact, there's a lot of the "good ol' chaps" that have disappeared from the forums...

But, besides that, the other problems that we face is that every few months we get a wave of new tyrants in, who immediately post questions that have already been answered at least five or more times; however, no one's updating any FAQ forum.  About 8 out of every 10 posts is a "xxxx points Army What Do You Think???" post, which I personally don't care for (THEY'RE ALL THE SAME, as Jimmy has shown via his earlier discussion). There are a couple people trying to run contests, but there's no mainline support for them. Also, the website has all these cool possible features outside the Forum aspect, but they haven't been updated since like, what, 2008? 2009? Also, what happened to the Legacy project? I know nobody was submitting anything, really (because, who wants to give up their models for a large possibility of not getting them back?), but that was a really cool idea!

I'm sure that this forum was created as a labor of love, but it needs a little more loving. If I knew more than diddly-squat about website creation/maintenance, I'd love to help out, but sadly I just have to be a grumbler and not a problem-solver...

Granted, these forums have been up for over 7 years, and that alone should be considered somewhat impressive. I don't know the age of the other race-based forums, but for this hobby 7 years is a pretty good thing. I just hope/wish that more good activity can come back to these forums.

But, some ideas:
1. Archiving the old "Vs." threads for the armies that have been updated to 8th, and restarting the threads using only the most up-to-date advice.
2. Update the OgreStronghold YouTube links, maybe even post some specifically from Stronghold members?
3. Update the Galleries with pictures from current users; maybe even have it be an achievement/gnoblar for having a picture added.

...But, I dunno. Things like this can ebb and flow; we're just at a low-tide point in the forums, but maybe with 9th ed. and a possible future Ogre update, the forum'll kick back in. In the meantime, though, I'll keep posting. And I'll stay posting, until it looks like I'm the only one left. Which, hopefully never happens

I would love to know what has happened to Hragged.  It really has been a long time.  Getting a bit worrying tbh.

Guys, I'm snowed under with work right now, but tonight I will sit down and jot a big action plan down for how we can revamp the forum, and I will do everything in my power to see it through to completion

I personally apologise for the forum having been allowed to wind down into nigh dormancy, and that some of us aren't as active as we once were. The activity levels on here is something I have personally been championing behind the scenes for a while now, and I will definitely press on with plans to change that

In the interest of transparency, we - as the moderator team - haven't heard from H since the tail end of last year, and are growingly concerned about him. I have attempted every digital avenue to contact him to no avail, but I am actually going to send him a letter by mail and hope that reaches him. Even if he returns, it would be great for at least one of the mods to have the same level of administrative functionality as he has, for instances such as now

JJ

I suspect the Tyrants have eaten too much and are sleeping it off...

But in all honesty, I think the problem is that the regular posters have discussed so many items, that we're running out of discussion topics in a way. 

I agree that it would be nice if the other parts of the forum were active and continually updated.

Guys, I'm snowed under with work right now, but tonight I will sit down and jot a big action plan down for how we can revamp the forum, and I will do everything in my power to see it through to completion

I personally apologise for the forum having been allowed to wind down into nigh dormancy, and that some of us aren't as active as we once were. The activity levels on here is something I have personally been championing behind the scenes for a while now, and I will definitely press on with plans to change that

In the interest of transparency, we - as the moderator team - haven't heard from H since the tail end of last year, and are growingly concerned about him. I have attempted every digital avenue to contact him to no avail, but I am actually going to send him a letter by mail and hope that reaches him. Even if he returns, it would be great for at least one of the mods to have the same level of administrative functionality as he has, for instances such as now

JJ

Thanks JJ! Hopefully Hragged's alright, and has simply been busy with other things.

Maybe Hragged can give you mods a sort of "council-control" thing, where ya'll have a bit more power, BUT NOT TOO MUCH SO AS TO CAUSE A CIVIL WAR AND INTERGALACTIC CONFLICT...

...

which would be kinda crazy

+++++

EDIT:

I was typing whilst GotG was typing, but I'd like to say: I agree. We have definitely gone through a lot of topics, and I think we've personally FAQ'd everything that there needs to know for Ogres. At least, to a level a general consensus. If only we could more accurately compile all those discussions... I know it was attempted a few months ago, but I dunno where that left off.

As someone who posts sporadically but follows regularly and has been knocking around a while (on the forum, and also in the game long enough to remember zoats the first time around), I would just like to add a couple of positives - firstly, I know some really dead forums, and this isn't what I'd call dead - look at the response to the hunter competition just run (sorry to have missed that one, but I have been following, and right up to the deadline I wss hoping to get some time to join in). I don't think it's just the offer of a prize that motivates people, it's the chance to get involved with something on a realistic scale.

Second, although it tends to go in waves a bit around here, often punctuated by new releases, etc., this is one of the most consistent (in terms of both quality and friendly community, and also input) that I frequent. Don't forget there are a great many out there who will read without posting, either because life gets in the way, or because they genuinely don't have much to contribute - but if they come back, read more posts, then the community continues.

Lastly, if things are dull for those actively posting, then all it takes is to change up a bit - a competition or challenge here, a campaign or scenario or tactical discussion there, even that gnoblog where you finally do a counts-as-ogres army made entirelybfrom creme eggs - and I'd be happy to be involved in one or two projects to get things going (until my next RL intervention, that is!) I'll have a think about what to propose personally, and try to contribute to anything else that gets going.

I too hope Hagrid returns, but he has done something good here, and created something enduring - bruisers (even hunters and tyrants!) come and go, but the Stronghold remains.

This is indeed not news to us on the moderator team, but please don't think we've gone all Greasus and just sitting back on our collected gnoblars and not putting in the hard graft. I have posted less of late due to real life commitments stealing away precious hobby time but check the forum every single day to make sure all is well and read through a few topics here and there.

As JJ has mentioned, he has most definitely been championing this cause behind the scenes and continues to do so. It is if threads such as this one didn't crop up that I would worry more - this thread alone shows that there are those that are willing to give fresh ideas, put in a little effort every so often and breathe new life into this old maw pit yet!

P.S - LOVING:
"Tyrants come and go, but the Stronghold endures"
(ok I've paraphrased but it's awesome)

Hey guys

Thanks for the replies. 

@Necrotix – I disagree with the Ogre forums being more active than Ulthuan.  I’m a mod over there and the traffic on that site is fairly incredible.  Also I think I compare it through battle reports, I post a battle report over there and it get analysed and pulled apart, I post it here and unfortunately it doesn’t generate nearly the same conversation more just like a ‘well done’.  Which isn’t bad, it’s just very different.

@Sazel – you’re right about being an ‘aged’ forum and perhaps because our army book has been out for quite some time that may have something to do with it as well I’ve no doubt.  Certainly a lot of double up topics when newbies come on in but that’s to be expected.

You’ve posted some fantastic ideas that are worth chasing up I feel, so fingers crossed I sincerely hope something comes of it.

@just-josh – I certainly don’t believe you (or anyone) has to apologise mate!  You can’t directly control the traffic and quality of content on the forum.  Good luck hunting down the big H however.

@God – See I kind of disagree with this as well.  I think there is still a number of untapped resources that players haven’t invested into in terms of gaming with Ogres.  We’ve just got tunnel vision about it and that’s been touched on in my ‘Everything Looks the same’ post in the army list topic.  For me (and this will be totally biased which I make no apologies for!!) I love creating and reading battle reports.  It’s all well and good to talk about tactics and army lists until you’re blue in the face but people want to witness the performance of a list and how they fair in battle.  Battle Reports solve this issue and allow you to really pull apart the information and apply it to your next game.  You tube reports I can’t handle so unfortunately I don’t even give these the time of the day to examine.

I posted the Battle Chronicler tutorial hoping that a few more people would take the mantle up and help me really step up the ‘Tales of Conquest’ section but unfortunately it hasn’t happened as yet.  Granted not everyone wants to post battle reports as they do take time and you need to jot a few notes down during the games which can sometimes interfere however once you get good at it, it becomes a pretty quick process.  Now I’m not using the following as a pedestal to get all high and mighty however if I can post a battle report once/twice a fortnight with 4 kids and 2 jobs then I’m confident I’m not the only one.  Even if it’s a quick summary of what happened in the game, that way it sparks up people to comment and ask direct questions.

For the positives.  I’ve been told I’m a negative person before so I’ll be the first to say that this forum has more positives going for it than the other.  The community here is great and one of the strongest areas is certainly the P&M forum and the Gnoblogs without a doubt are a highlight for me.  I simply love checking out other people armies, techniques and creativity, for me that’s the pinnacle of the hobby.  The Hunter Competition that was recently ran was such a great initiative and even though the numbers were low I’d still call it a success.

I’d urge anyone reading this to ensure you comment on anything you read.  This simply generates opinions which is what the forum is about.  Collective opinions which in turn equates to valuable information.  Keep it constructive however, if you don’t agree with something don’t be afraid to say it but state the reasons why you think ‘Unit X doesn’t work in that army list’ because...etc.  But this is all covered in the basic rules.

Get neck deep in these forums folks. 

I feel that I should apologise though. I may not be able to individually influence traffic or contribution, but this site has been a big part of my life for over 6 years and I have done very little to help keep it an active hub of hobby greatness

That said, last summer I started to lay the foundations for plans to reinvigorate the Stronghold behind the scenes, as can be seen below;

Good evening fellow Guard

I hope you've all had a good weekend, filled with feasting and brawling!

For a while now, I have been "concerned" by the relative dormancy of the Stronghold over the last year or so. Substantiating my use of the word "dormancy", by no means do I mean that the Hold has been inactive and totally silent. However, it sees the same few sub-boards being posted on, by the same main users, talking about the same few topics, often rehashing old conversations. Do not get me wrong, this is all well and good, and I feel that those boards, users and topics are an integral part of the forum. But, I also remember the days when almost every sub-board was posted on daily, and each was a hive of activity, with dozens of lives topics, and hundreds of fresh posts per day.

My aim with this post, and future efforts, is to bring back those levels of activity, ressurecting many of the things that drew users to the site every day, but also the introduction of fresh and exciting ideas. Before I went full steam ahead and put into play loads of half-baked notions I cooked up, I wanted to run the project as a whole by you guys, to gauge your input and maybe see if we can put together a solid idea of what the site really wants/needs...

So far, my list of ideas - and these really are just ideas at the present - stands at the below items;
- Annual Painting Contest (a la Golden Hat et al) with actual real world prizes
- Revitalise the WFO sub-forum, with competitions (Arena of Death etc) including an annual league table, novelty battles and maybe the promotion of other gaming systems
- Bring back The Bellower Webzine
- Regularly run competitions in various fields, including WFO, Fiction, Army List creation, Painting, Conversion etc

So guys, what do you think?

JJ

I've had some personal issues tonight, that sadly I had to attend to, but I did find the time to brainstorm and jot down as many ideas as I could to kind of inject some new (and old!) life into this great forum. I will endeavour to spend my lunch break tomorrow at work to write them up and I will create a thread where I will welcome you all to comment on them, suggest your very own ideas and it will be an open floor for us to discuss how we can work together to make this place the best it can be

Thanks for this thread guys, us mods like to know what you are all feeling and how we can make your stay better

JJ

JJ, I remember you posting this! And I remember also thinking, "yay, glad someone's looking into it!" and then completely space-cadetting on my end to help out in any way

I do love the idea of revitalizing the Bellower, as it's a great way for people to creatively express themselves in yet another way for our wonderful hobby. If I could draw (which, ha, um, yeah...), it'd be fun to do a regular webcomic for Ogres, too.

But, I'm better at throwing out ideas than actually following up on them

If I can, I'd be willing to help any way possible. I visit the site daily (if not 3+ times daily lol), and I'd be glad to support the forums!

@JJ – apology not accepted.    Politely of course becuase it’s not a one man band and judging by that message you certainly pushed it all up hill by yourself so hats off to you however and much respect your way.  I look forward to your ideas, supporting any others that have merit and of course being a small part in returning the Stronghold to its rightful former glory.

Interestingly enough however I think the monthly ezine is a huge undertaking, the amount of commitment required for something like that to come together chews into time which often people just don’t have.  Perhaps a quarterly edition would be a better trial based attempt initially?  I’d certainly be happy to provide a battle report for it whilst another decent article could cover an ‘army in focus’ type of thing looking at someone’s completed army, painting/theme, back ground, inspiration etc.  Bucket loads of ideas but I’ll wait until your other topic.

 

Hi guys (and gals)!

I also feel that there has been a bit of a down-turn in the activity on the forum, despite not having being a member for that long. However, I believe this is a continuous "seasonal" thing that all websites have to cope with. I remember the days when the Wood Elf army book was released, when Asrai.org blossomed (pun intended ) into a giant from a small thing. Now I only see the occasional new poster, with most of the few active posters being older "Wood Elf die-hards". Not a bad thing, but when interest in an army falls down, so does the activity in forums of said army...

However, I do think that Stronghold is holding on strong. Sure, not all sub-forums get as much love as others, but neither is it a place where the only discussion takes place in the off-topic section I like the fact that simple things like Monthly Painting Challenges get a relatively high number of pledges, of which most are actually completed. Not to mention the Hunter competition!

A monthly hobby mag unfortunately requires quite a lot of work by members. I worked on the D.net monthly in the mid-2000's, and I was only an assistant editor checking up on articles written by others. Even that took a lot of time, not to mention the effort the actual writers put into making the things. I'm not saying "don't do it", on the contrary! But it does require quite a lot of commitment and work. Jimmy's ideas sound groovy, especially the 'army in focus'!

- Loran

Following my promises last night, please see the below thread;

http://www.ogrestronghold.com/forum/index.php?topic=28320.new#new

JJ

This is one of the most active army forums I have seen. Also one of the most professional looking, with consistent themes, working links, and I have never sat here 10-20 minutes waiting for a thread to load. (40konline, you know who you are...)

Ulthuan, the only other site I frequent that is army specific is dead unless you are one of like five or six people. I don't even bother posting anything because it will never even get read. One of the most unwelcoming communities I have ever seen. Glad this place is much better because, well, Ogre's were so different then elves I needed a lot of help wrapping my head around the different strategies.

Hey Nemo

That's interesting you say that, I think Ulthuan is far more active than the stronghold.  This could be for a number of reasons including but not limited to:

High Elves book release 'recently'
Higher concentrate of tournament players (that post at least)
Activity level due to new players picking up that as an army.

I'm a mod over there Nemo so it's sad to hear you say stuff like that.  Let's be honest though, your posts have been answered and you haven't really posted over there much this month so are your claims really justified?

I have read this and I know it started a while back before the "revamp" commenced.

I don't know anything about other forums (much), the only other forum I go on is the Chaos Dwarf one and TBH that is so specific (because of no books, no new models etc etc) that I am not sure it counts.

I can't comment on who posts on this High Elf forum, it's not my place to do so, but I can comment on the OS because I try and post something everyday if I can.

Why? As in; why bother? Because actually I think the OS is a pretty good forum as they go, more over I think that the people who contribute to it are all pretty positive about an army that has not had new "product" out for a while.

If we are honest there is only so many times you can convert stuff and make it look original. There are only so many colours you can paint ogres and lets face it, most of them have already been done. We have more than one Scottish style ogre tribe, red ones, green orcogres and some amazing Nippon Ogres but all-in-all its pretty much been done before over the last 7 years.

However, it is nice to see other peoples take on their army and how they paint it and what it looks like. Even down to just imaginative bases.

On the battle rep front, well that in my mind seem's pretty simple to answer. I suspect the reason that we don't get too many posted up and no one comments on them much is quite simply because, in the main, they are all exactly the same. I took this "standard" Ogre list and fought this army who had (another standard list) and I won/drew/lost.

I am sorry to say this but this is all your fault. (That's you collectively, including me). With only minor alterations to the list then the reports are all the same, sorry to say it. I can almost reel off what happened in a game before the rep is posted up because everyone brings the same list (give or take depending on points) to the party.
If people ever bothered to mix-it-up a bit then it would be more interesting to read bat-reps, but as people rarely do the best you can ever hope for is "*Yawn* well done mate, nice bat rep".

I can't remember reading one in the last 6 months that had Gresus in it. I don't care that you are going to lose, it would be nice just to see something different on the table.
The reason other forums may have better reports is possibly because they have newer books (like the HE) or because they have more options than us so the games are more varied.
If you want to read a decent bat-rep that's different then throw you list away and buy Gresus, some Yhettis, a giant and replace that Ironblaster with a scraplauncher. I'd read it...but then, you would lose right?
It is only a game people...it's supposed to be fun!

I like the OS and always have. I agree that (like all forums if we are being honest) it does have peaks and troughs but in the main I think there are a good bunch of pretty dedicated people who try their best to do what they can to make it a forum worth being a member of.

For my part I have tried to run the odd competition and give stuff away to create some interest and give people some focus and "get involved". I am really sorry that I can't do this every month, but if I am honest I just can't afford to. I can barely pay my rent each month (partially because I waste money on models, instead of paying it!) so I just can't run competitions and stuff to keep people enthused and, if I am honest, it's not my job either. I have got allot from this forum, made some really sound friends here and will do anything in my power to support it where I can.

My advice to anybody would be; if you want it to be better then get off your arse and do something about it. Me and Connor running the odd competition wont change anything; but if everbody did it then it would create a buzz as no one would know what was coming next.
If we all challenged ourselves to try a new list each month (even if we knew we were going to lose) then this would create much more interest in reports.
You will always get the same questions from new players; telling them "that's been asked before see this..." then posting a link actually doesn't help anyone or the forum. It makes new people feel stupid and gives the impression that it's all been done before and they have missed the boat. just answer the question. Have to answer the same question 100 times? So what? It only takes 2 minutes and lest face it, you know the answer. People are much more stoked to be directly replied to than just given a link to a post from 2 years ago.

Anyway, that's enough from me. I just think it's down to us all to make the community we are part of better (this goes for all walks of life TBH). I am glad to see this has started now and I really hope the OS has a bright future.

Al

Interesting thoughts GH.

Like you I also make a habit of posting something each day, purely to add to the running commentary of the site because that’s simply what is needed.  What’s a forum without discussion?  Great content or not it means nothing if nobody is talking about it.

I’m relatively ‘new’ the bandwagon and in general very excited about the Ogres currently because I’ve just started to immerse myself into them again.

We have more than one Scottish style ogre tribe

  Yeah but clearly mine’s the best!! 

On the battle reports I think that nearly goes hand in hand with my other topic about armies all looking the same.  My last few battle reports haven’t had any of the usual suspects in the list but still generate no more comments than normal which is unfortunate.  So I can proudly stick my hand up and say I mix it up but perhaps it goes un-noticed?  Not saying I want accolades for it but please don’t put me amongst that ‘standard’ group you speak of. 

Hmjesus ran Gresus a few times this year and reported about it I believe.  Perhaps the ‘Tales of Conquest’ forum just doesn’t get looked at anymore?

I agree with everything you’ve said about OS, it’s a great community currently and I see it going from strength to strength and I admire the competition you and Con put together last month however as you’ve said it won’t change anything.  Other successful forums get by fine without said competitions.

I agree with what you are saying Jimmy. I wasn't aiming this at you personally but at everyone in general really.
I don't doubt that your list is more diverse than most, we have discussed this before on your Gnoblog, if you want the truth I really don't read battle reports much anymore because they are all the same. It's a catch 22 really; because they are all the same no one reads them, because no one reads them the "original" lists and reports don't get read.
Answer? No idea TBH!

Your right about competitions...they don't really do squat. They can focus people for a month...but when it's over people just go back to what they were doing before.

As I said at the top of the other post; I don't really go on other army forums so I don't really know how much better they are than this one. But if others do, then what ever makes them better (if it's an organizational thing) then it should be implemented here. If it's a post thing there is nothing you can do about it. You can't force people to post stuff unfortunately.

Cest la Vie

G_H

(oh, and I do certainly love your Scottish themed army, they truly are a visual treat, honestly)

Hey Nemo

That's interesting you say that, I think Ulthuan is far more active than the stronghold.  This could be for a number of reasons including but not limited to:

High Elves book release 'recently'
Higher concentrate of tournament players (that post at least)
Activity level due to new players picking up that as an army.

I'm a mod over there Nemo so it's sad to hear you say stuff like that.  Let's be honest though, your posts have been answered and you haven't really posted over there much this month so are your claims really justified?

I havn't posted there in six months because I never got answers to anything I posted.  If my posts have answers now, well it is far to late. I had thrown an Army list up there to get some feedback for a tourney, a full month before the tourney, and on the day of the tourney it had been viewed 12 times, and not a single reply.

Another post over there suffered the same fate. Meanwhile, I was watching others get instant feedback and such. I get that some people have buddies who jump to provide feedback. However, when a new person is ignored, and I was ignored, we have to choices, we fight to become part of an exclusive community, or we go a different direction. I don't like fighting to join exclusive communities, I prefer inclusive, which Ogre Kingdoms is very much so.

(I just checked, none of my posts have been answered to this day.)

Hey Nemo

Thanks for replying, I appreciate that.  Firstly apologies as I totally assumed your username was close to what you're using here so sorry for getting that information wrong on your posts not being replied to.  Hopefully perhaps you'll grace us with your presence once again when the shores of Ulthuan call.  However in saying that I think Ogres are in need of good generals at the moment. 

@GH - nothing taken personally mate, I know everything you say is with good intentions. 

Unfortunately a forum is by it's very nature a place for people to openly discuss and ask for opinions and help. It is not actually an entity in itself. It exists solely thanks to it's members.

A topic is similar, it exists because it is created by a certain party seeking to put across an opinion, idea or seek advice, help or feedback etc.

Members of a forum tend to not have time to read the hundreds of new topics that pop up in between the infrequent times they visit the forum (those of us that are on here every day do try and get through them all but it is quite a challenge!). Knowing that these people have time constraints they tend to look first at the areas of the forum that interest them the most, which is why gnoblogs and butcher's cauldron tend to have greater traffic than other areas as they can actively SEE models. whereas the army lists and bat reps have a select following.



This is not to say that you have not been unfortunate with your lack of responses, but as you say, you had 12 views. Perhaps none of the people that viewed your thread felt qualified to offer advice? It would be more troubling if you had had 100 views and no responses. As for your admission that you believe any response now would be 'too little, too late', you have my apologies; you are missing out on being part of a hugely friendly, diverse and talented group of people. This is not an elite community (see replies to new posters in any topic with many welcomes), but a community that has fluctuated in size and changed as rapidly as any does with time, but what has always remained the same is the positivity found among the members here and the willingness to offer help and encouragement. Long may it continue. I hope you change your mind and continue to walk these forum walls (with a smile on your face of course )

I think he was talking about Ulthuan there Belchfist!

I will do what I can to ensure the Stronghold will continue to thrive long into the future, it has been a pleasure to build and maintain this place and to see the community grow over the years. I really think very highly of you guys (and gals) who make up this community - I've seen so much inspiring talent on display here, read so many interesting points and ideas, and the vast, vast majority of people here have been so good-natured, welcoming and well behaved! Who'd have thought it considering we all play Ogres?

With the Stronghold being a race-specific website for the most part, quieter times can be difficult to combat as we get further away from the last Ogre release, but much, much busier times will come back around when new releases spark renewed interest and brand new discussion. I think we're taking some steps in the right direction now though, plus we're going to be gearing up to celebrate the 10th birthday at the Stronghold in July, so I hope you'll all be here to celebrate with us!

10th birthday in July?  Have we got some epic celebration in the pipeline Hragged?

My apologies to all... I rather flew off into a maw induced forum rage there and missed a simple word 'there' which changed the meaning of the sentence I mis-read. I shall throw myself into the Gorger pit for a few hours as punishment!

@Belchfist; don't worry too much about it, I did exactly the same thing. I then spent an hour searching for the unanswered posts to see what was asked and why no one might have replied...then re-read the post and sussed that this might actually be relating to the High Elf forum and not the OS.

The very fact that anyone would take the time to try and rectify this should be testimony alone to the positive nature of the OS  ( I hope anyway!).

G_H