The Future of GateWorld (Community Discussion)

[Spimman]

One more suggestion/idea and I'll bug out for a little while.

I know from a personal stand point the Off-topic areas are what made me an almost daily Gateworld user. An expansion in OT could be a good way to increase day to day traffic and keep users on the forum during time periods when their favorite shows are on hiatus or break.

Good luck!

[DigiFluid]

Incidentally, should you (Darren/David) decide on the "expand a lot" action plan and need help with anything, I'm happy to volunteer my services in any way I'm capable. I've been here 6 years, it's about time I started giving something back

[Darren]

Thanks, DF. I love the suggestions here that we increase what we are publishing in terms of opinion pieces, et al -- but the truth is that we haven't been able to do more because it's tough to find good writers to help write it.

David and I just don't have the time to do everything and then some, so if we were to expand the site we will need more people contributing. Regulars to the site tend to consume rather than produce content (which is totally understandable -- that's the way most fans of any show use the Web). But we've kinda maxed out on what we can produce with our current staff.

[Steelbox]

I like the idea of expanding a little, incorporating/covering shows that the majority audience of Stargate likes. Like Eureka, Riese, star trek, sanctuary. It doesn't even need to be sci-fi at all, for example i like House M.D., so i would love to have news of it here. But i also would like Stargate to be the center of the site/forum.

EDIT: Good selection of show for a possible future covering, i liked the The Walking Dead.

[Ben 'Teal'c would WIN!!' Noble]

I like the current format but expanding couldn't hurt. If you (Darren/David) are overstretched then I wouldn't do anything more than you do now .

[Selene1212]

That may not be a big deal to you, but remember that our revenue is tied to traffic levels. What I fear from Archive Mode is that, with no Stargate out there, we might fall so far that we couldn't pay our bills any more. That's not to stress you out (being stressed about bills is MY job!), but to point out an important factor into the decision-making.

Maybe now is the time to consider a membership donation to access certain areas of the site. The bulk of the site would still be free, but people would have to donate X amount to access certain sections, like games, fanfic, etc, or even to have access to different levels of PM storage, avatar usage, etc... Its something to consider and might help supplement.

[major davis]

I think we'll hear news about the movies or more SGU in the coming weeks or months, so I would say keep doing what your doing until your sure the franchise is going on hiatus.

Thanks Darren

Major D

[nebulan]

Business-As-Usual or Expand A Little. Since I never like SGU the cancellation of the show doesn't affect my love for this site. I love the gallery on GW and it would be freakin awesome if you could expand it to include near-fandoms like Sanctuary

I've been off and on GW since I first stepped into the Stargate fandom 4 or 5 years ago... I've moved around, from the shipping threads, to the game threads, to the character threads and now I mostly only hang out in the Sanctuary thread, the cancellation of shows has not affected my interest in this site.

I agree with Spimman, while the bulk of the site should stay stargate focused, the off-topic discussions would be nice if they were expanded to include sub categories for non-sci-fi shows (like crime dramas, etc).

[SaberBlade]

SGU won't be coming back until mid March (at least, as they'll want to end the show on Sweeps). I think for now, take this time to go into Archive Mode. Get as much of the site updated as possible, as I don't expect news of the show to be anything more than reactions to cancellation and general bits of info that usually comes out when new episodes are close to be aired.

I really wouldn't be concerned with expanding when there is old stuff that could still be done./

[DigiFluid]

SB makes a good point, something I think you alluded to when you first mentioned this topic over in the Podcast thread. There's lots of time to think on this and work out where GW is going to head in 6 months' time.

Regarding expansion of news to include more sci-fi, it might be a good idea to put up a 'news submission' tool on the main page, or thread in the forums. This way the existing GW userbase could be put to good use in submitting pieces to help lighten the workload a little on you guys. Nothing terribly complicated, I'm just thinking of really three or four fields: show/franchise, news link, brief write-up on the news, and submitter. It would then be subject to higher review by the site editors before being posted on the main page.

[Lythisrose]

I think I like the Expand a Little concept.
One thing I would really like to see is that Gateworld become the go-to site for any news or info about the people that have been involved in the Stargate franchise. You could always find what your favorites are up to by coming here.

[Kyarra]

I personally like the idea of archiving what we've seen so far and expanding a little to include stargate-related shows. It will keep news opportunities up as well as keep the focus of the site primarily on stargate.

[Darren]

Regarding expansion of news to include more sci-fi, it might be a good idea to put up a 'news submission' tool on the main page, or thread in the forums. This way the existing GW userbase could be put to good use in submitting pieces to help lighten the workload a little on you guys. Nothing terribly complicated, I'm just thinking of really three or four fields: show/franchise, news link, brief write-up on the news, and submitter. It would then be subject to higher review by the site editors before being posted on the main page.

FYI: This exists already -

http://www.gateworld.net/news/submit-a-news-story/

[DigiFluid]

*facepalms*

Thanks

Maybe a bit more prominent then

[Skydiver]

I like the 'classic' and 'current' shows areas.

I think the one caution i can think of....those that want classic shows....well ya gotta keep it active. Can you talk about and keep a forum or website area alive and vital when they're about a show that hasn't been new for years or decades?

That might be where 'giving back' comes in (and i'll say i'm just speaking as a forum member here)

Like Darren said, traffic is generated by people looking for new content. old shows don't have much new content. so that might be something to consider with old and non-active shows. They likely won't do much for generating traffic without fans, etc, to make that content