LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED.

[webby]

First things first, i know i owe you guys a massive apology - i'm very bad at dealing with guilt (i tend to avoid things) but i'm going to try and make it up to you now, by means of this thread. My previous thoughts were that i wouldn't be coming back to Moonstar because i'm pretty much a failure as a staff member, but then that thought made me sad so I decided to address the whole 'failure as a staff member' thing once and for all.

I have several ideas to kickstart this place again, none of which i have run past Paint because she is still in bed at this time and i'm not exactly going to say it all through text ;) haha. Feel free to criticise any of these ideas as much as you like, or add your own ideas etc etc. This is what i propose.

New, simpler plot. Let's face it, the reason why the original Moonstar worked so well was because it had a simple but brilliant plot behind it, of good vs. evil. So, i suggest something along the lines of....

With the arrival of Spring and more pups, the Dancing Stars are worried that the Falling Moons will want to expand their territory. Both packs want to protect their newborns so adopt a much more aggressive approach to each other. With an increased feeling of tension between the rival packs, no longer would a Dancing Star dare to be seen anywhere near a Falling Moon... or would they?

Reduced word limit. What we need to keep the forum active is lots of members, and potential new, less experienced members may be intimidated by the word limit we have here. Therefore I think we should cut it right down - it doesn't mean that the members who want to expand their posts can't, but it also might make people who are slightly less literate feel welcome at the forum. Let's not forget that when the original Moonstar started out, many of us thought that writing 200 words was mind-boggling x)

Shorter Seasons. I think that the seasons tend to drag on a bit too long, which cause people to become bored and even unispired in their roleplaying. Instead of an indefinitely long season, we should split each season into say, 'Early Spring', 'Mid-Spring', and 'Late Spring', and give each section say, a week? (this would make a whole month last 3 real-life weeks) Maybe 10 days? How long do you think?

Increased activity before advertising. Finally, I think that before we can properly advertise for new members, we have to all start roleplaying a lot again ourselves, because new members are not going to want to join a forum which seems barely alive. Once the activity levels are up again, I plan on advertising like crazy, haha (:

Okay, those are my ideas, what do you think? I'd love to hear any more ideas that anyone has, as well as your honest opinions on these. Oh and just for the record, i am going to spend today working on a new skin for Spring, which i reckon we should skip straight ahead to to give us all inspriation.

[Paint]

Pahaha EXCUSE ME I just got out of bed and came aaallll the way over to the computer to see this inspirational work of art :')

• I'm liking the simple plot idea. It makes perfect sense (: Howeverrrr, I think we should keep open a 'Mini-Plot' board, for people to post plots containing only a few characters? Or if someone's looking for a victim or long lost somethingorother, they can just post and see who wants to get involved?
  
• Reducing the word limit is a good idea. Takes the pressure off a bit, we want the forum to be funnncakes again (:
  
• Ahh there are no words to describe the love I have for this season idea. I think 7-10 days would be appropriate? It also might kickstart people into roleplaying more often if there's something that needs to be done before the end of a season.
  
• Good idea, but before we can increase the activity of current members, we're going to need to run an activity check. Clean out all the members who have left, and their characters, and see what we're left with. Then, all of the loyal members can roleplay madlyyyy again and repopulate the forum with amazing boards. So new members will come into a community of only loyal roleplayers, seeee? (:
  
• Point of my own now; I think we should keep as many of the new pups from Spring open for newcomers as possible. Part of the reason I get bored/annoyed sometimes is when every new member comes in wanting customs and I'm having to spend hoursss on the sims 2 making yet /another/ black wolf with green eyes (just for example). I know this isn't technically the newcomers fault, we were lax from the beginning about premades here, but maybe this bout of pups will fix that (:
  
• We should update all of the forum writing, the welcome bit, the top banner, maybe make a new map? It's all become a bit same-y. I realise this would be entirely my job but still, if you think it's a good idea please speak up (:
  

I'm pretty sure that's all I can come up with atm. Apart from I can't wait for the Spring skin (:

[webby]

Yes yes yesssss there should definitely still be a mini-plot board, because we all love lots of dramallama (:
Good idea for the pups too, because everyone loves roleplaying pups as well.

And as for the updated text etc, that is definitely needed. I'm doing a new top banner with the layout now, but everything else could probably do with an update as well. I think the map's probably fine though 'cos not much territory etc. has been changed, if any at all. I think?

[arbie]

ARBIE APPROVES OF EVERYTHING.

[webby]

Oh good, i am glad that Arbie approves all :D
Question: what do you think we should lower the word limit to?

[arbie]

Was it 200 before?
Or 100?
-no idea-

[webby]

Hmm, well I thiought it was like 150, but turns out it was 100 so me and Paint though that we'd just keep it at that x)

[Malo]

Love it all. And I agree with Paint about keeping the word limit-100 words is NOT alot when you actually write it. That's really one paragraph made of a few sentences, if that. Anyways, let's put your plan(s) into action Webby!

[[Midnight]]

....CHOCOLATE!
And that's good because... Well, this forum is like chocolate.

Okay I'm a little tired, sorry. I CONCUR WITH THE UPDATES <3

[fenris]

Seems like everyone is busy. I will help out in any way I can. I can draw wolves and canids pretty well, maybe that can lessen the load for Paint making customs?