As I'm sure everyone knows we have a huge activity problem that needs to be sorted ASAP. Activity on the forums is drying up fast and even RMB activity is slowing down. Though some of this could be blamed on a slow down in NS right now, as this does happen during certain times of the year I don't all of it can. I'm going to say what I think are the current problems and how we can then solve them. Then I hope that we can have a large discussion and as a community work out how we can solve this activity issue.

Problems

1. We're taking new nations for granted.

I think for too long now, we've just thought that because we're a feeder region we're going to get lots of new active members and everything will be fine. It's clearly not fine. UCR are thriving right now and I point to the likes of Europiea, Albion and so on. Our welcoming telegram doesn't tell me about the Fellowship Programme or the SPSF, it's not that inspiring it doesn't tell me why I should say in TSP and it doesn't recommend turning off recruitment TGs.

2. Our Forums aren't interesting

We have sooooo many threads that we just keep using over and over and they just look old and forgotten. I'm talking about the Fellowship, Citizenship SPSF application threads. They look old, we need to update them. Plus we have lots of old threads that aren't used any more in places like the University, the roleplay centre, RA the Assembly that just discourage people from getting involved. Plus for some reason people just don't seem to want to join the forums (as highlighted in the recent poll and even if they do join they aren't getting involved.

3. Regional Affairs  is slowing down

RA is taking a huge hit right now. There aren't many members and nothing is being done. There has not been a single SJ, Onion, Real Time, RS or anything since the start of this term. RA is a key part of keeping TSP active and it needs to be active for TSP to thrive.

Solutions

1. Everyone counts 

We have to take up a new attitude and stop taking new nations for granted. Lets be welcoming to all new nations and I think to do that we need a mentor programme. There have been many failed attempts by RA to set this up in the past however I really do think we need one if we want TSP to continue to thrive. We also need to make our welcoming TG interesting and fun. It should tell me about all the different opportunities I'll get by being a member of the forums or just a resident of TSP. So including things such as the SPSF, the Fellowship, the LC, and our regional chat would be great. It should also say why TSP is different so including things such Cake VS Pie would be great as well as recommending to people they should turn off requirement TGs.

2. Lets find out why the forums aren't interesting

Together lets create a survey to find out why people aren't joining the forums or if they are why they aren't getting involved. And with that new information lets CHANGE so we can get new members involved. I also think we should update and change some of the old threads. I mean the FP application is compactly out of date. It's small things that add up and make a big difference.

3. Speed it up again

Yes we may be low on members however we can't just sit in the corner and sulk about it. The original FP had just the then Minister, the Del and three other members involved, myself included. However we still got things done maybe not a lot but things soon sped up. As we did stuff people got interested and wanted to get involved, and things just took off from there.

Other ideas

I think we should invite players from Europiea to visit our forums and RMB to see what they think is up and how we could improve. Whenever I hop on the Europiea forums there are loads of people online, there is also something to do as the forums are active and the RMB is also active. I think we could learn a lot from them and other thriving regions alike.

I also think we should do more cultural events both here and in other regions. Things such as flash mobs, Flying circuses, a few festivals, small competitions and other events. This would generate activity and if we do it in different regions people might think "Hey TSP sounds like a lot of fun I'll move there or create a puppet there and get involved."

This is a huge problem we face and these are just my ideas I think we should all share and discuss our own ideas and thoughts. We can only get through this if we all work together and not fight between each other.         



      

This is a brilliant project. Perfect.

I a do agree with this. Maybe a few ideas could be changed but it is good. However we need to be careful because NS has slowed down a heap over Christmas. But good

NS always slows down over the Christmas period however it tends to pick up again during the Spring/Summer months.

I thought it slows down a lot on the Northern Hemisphere summer as well

(01-04-2016, 06:39 PM)Zak6858 Wrote: I thought it slows down a lot on the Northern Hemisphere summer as well

From what I could tell from last year it really went up. However I don't pretend to be an expert on the subject. To be honest activity goes up and down all the time, you can't really know why it will be high or low but you can use logic and the past to try and guess.

Anyway I think the mentor program is maybe the best idea.

If we're being honest, TSP has lost the players that kept the region afloat. (And if we're being *really* honest, there wasn't even that much activity in the first place.) Kris has decreased his activity, and regional affairs suffered for it. Foreign affairs hasn't been much of anything since I left, as the diplomatic corps didn't provide any activity (as I had predicted) and we don't have a foe to provide fire for FA. Nobody has stepped up to the plate to fill those shoes.

Europeia is more active than us because they have a purpose. We do not. Our political system is based on consensus, which has forced us to accept the most common denominator as our foundations. In other words, we can't experiment with new radical ideas, because we're forced to garner supermajority support for them beforehand. Nobody wants to change that, either, as evident by the last lackluster Great Council.

Europeia has a navy with a purpose and good leadership. The SPSF has lacked good leadership for years, and has never had a real purpose thanks to the overriding desire of most of us to avoid "ideology" in the military.

Nobody really wants to listen when you tell them it's the very foundation of TSP that's at the root of inactivity problems.

So, in your opinion, what should we do? What should change radically?

Exactly we can't just give up and sulk in the corner because things aren't what they once were. We have to grow up and do something not moan and whine.

By the way Kris has left, not "decreased his activity." He was so arrogant he thought he could win every election and when he lost he radged quit. However I would like to see Kris return.