Is advertising on the forums effective?

[Legendary~Grace]

How many of you have joined groups via this forum and how many of you think advertising on the forums is an effective way of gaining members?

I've been extremely curious lately as to how effective the Group Advertising Board and Child Boards are in recruiting members for groups. I've been leading a group for almost two years and have created an advertisement thread myself. But, I've always wanted to see other people's opinions on the whole thing. If it's really even worth recruiting on the forums and such.

I figured it would be a good topic to bring up for discussion too. Couldn't hurt. I like to participate in experiments and see what the majority thinks of things. Just interests me. Thought I'd bring up this topic since it's always been a question of mine. Obviously, I don't really know what other people think of things as and everyone has a different opinion. What is your opinion?

[Kerriki]

Moving this over to the forum discussion board c:

[AshesRemain]

In my honest opinion, I think people have better luck advertising in-game simply because the forums aren't near as active as the game itself. However, I do think advertising on the forums does have it's perks, such as making an nice post for your rp and it would be a nice place to send new recruits to read up on rules/requirements/etc....

[BlazingJosh]

Hello! I haven't joined any groups yet, but if I were to consider joining one, I'd definitely start by looking here. I'm not too sure how others would search, but looking here is probably the best place to start. You can see all the groups and roleplay requests in one convenient spot instead of having to sift through the group chat on the Grounds or having to search the maps for a group.

On the other hand, advertising your group in-game is also a pretty good idea, because some people may stumble upon a gathered group and be curious about what's going on. If they seem interested, one of the participating members could link them to the forum post online to learn more.

This is really just my thoughts on the matter. I thought I'd just chime in with them~

[Reaper]

I never joined a group on the forums, but I think advertising on the forums is better because you can give out more information, and details which can attract more members to your group. But I think advertising in the game and the forums are both successful ways to gain members.

[Legendary~Grace]

Moving this over to the forum discussion board c:

Thank you, I wasn't entirely sure just because I was asking people's opinions which could of fit in the other section but also start a discussion.

In my honest opinion, I think people have better luck advertising in-game simply because the forums aren't near as active as the game itself. However, I do think advertising on the forums does have it's perks, such as making an nice post for your rp and it would be a nice place to send new recruits to read up on rules/requirements/etc....

Hello! I haven't joined any groups yet, but if I were to consider joining one, I'd definitely start by looking here. I'm not too sure how others would search, but looking here is probably the best place to start. You can see all the groups and roleplay requests in one convenient spot instead of having to sift through the group chat on the Grounds or having to search the maps for a group.

On the other hand, advertising your group in-game is also a pretty good idea, because some people may stumble upon a gathered group and be curious about what's going on. If they seem interested, one of the participating members could link them to the forum post online to learn more.

This is really just my thoughts on the matter. I thought I'd just chime in with them~

I never joined a group on the forums, but I think advertising on the forums is better because you can give out more information, and details which can attract more members to your group. But I think advertising in the game and the forums are both successful ways to gain members.

There seems to be a similar opinion between you guys. Recruiting in-game would be most efficient but recruting here has perks such as linking people. But, you could do that in-game also too. I mean, you wouldn't be able to click on the links in such, but you can still type a site out and stuff. You could also type it in bios.

What do you guys think about the way the forum is set up with the Child Boards and such? I couldn't help but notice that roleplay groups have gone in-active both on the Child Boards and Group Advertising Board. People comment to join groups, but they aren't even active anymore. I feel like maybe they should be locked by staff or something. Yeah, that'd be a ton of work and I understand the staff can't do everything, but I'm just throwing it out there.

[D-ead7Dog]

In my opinion [which will be pretty short] is that I think advertising in-game and on the forums is a great way to get a group or whatever you may be advertising out there!
I know quite a few people browse the forums and others simply do not wish to go onto the forums. I use to want nothing to do with the forums when i first started and now that I've been more active on it I see now that I've missed quite a bit of interesting things weather it's ideas or groups. ;w;

[BlazingJosh]

There seems to be a similar opinion between you guys. Recruiting in-game would be most efficient but recruting here has perks such as linking people. But, you could do that in-game also too. I mean, you wouldn't be able to click on the links in such, but you can still type a site out and stuff. You could also type it in bios.

What do you guys think about the way the forum is set up with the Child Boards and such? I couldn't help but notice that roleplay groups have gone in-active both on the Child Boards and Group Advertising Board. People comment to join groups, but they aren't even active anymore. I feel like maybe they should be locked by staff or something. Yeah, that'd be a ton of work and I understand the staff can't do everything, but I'm just throwing it out there.

You do bring up a good point with the inactive role play groups... I agree with locking the page, too. However, I think that the person leading the group should have to take initiative to change the ad post before they lock it to show that they are closed. It's just a thought, I don't know how well that would work, if at all.

[Morgra]

What do you guys think about the way the forum is set up with the Child Boards and such? I couldn't help but notice that roleplay groups have gone in-active both on the Child Boards and Group Advertising Board. People comment to join groups, but they aren't even active anymore. I feel like maybe they should be locked by staff or something. Yeah, that'd be a ton of work and I understand the staff can't do everything, but I'm just throwing it out there.

I don't really think there is much of a reason for locking the old group threads unless the group has indicated that they are inactive and wish it to be locked up. Now if the group hasn't been around or posting for years, that's a different story. But, it's not that hard for mods to unlock something that accidentally gets locked so it's not much of a hassle anyway. Sometimes groups may appear to be inactive on the forums because they do most of their recruiting ingame and don't have people post their bios in the thread. Most of the time these groups post an ad on here and do most of their discussion on their own Proboards site or other discussion board. So, my stance is to not lock it up but have some sort of indication that the group is still up and running. This would all be solved if the leaders or managers of the group indicate that they are no longer active.

[Legendary~Grace]

What do you guys think about the way the forum is set up with the Child Boards and such? I couldn't help but notice that roleplay groups have gone in-active both on the Child Boards and Group Advertising Board. People comment to join groups, but they aren't even active anymore. I feel like maybe they should be locked by staff or something. Yeah, that'd be a ton of work and I understand the staff can't do everything, but I'm just throwing it out there.

I don't really think there is much of a reason for locking the old group threads unless the group has indicated that they are inactive and wish it to be locked up. Now if the group hasn't been around or posting for years, that's a different story. But, it's not that hard for mods to unlock something that accidentally gets locked so it's not much of a hassle anyway. Sometimes groups may appear to be inactive on the forums because they do most of their recruiting ingame and don't have people post their bios in the thread. Most of the time these groups post an ad on here and do most of their discussion on their own Proboards site or other discussion board. So, my stance is to not lock it up but have some sort of indication that the group is still up and running. This would all be solved if the leaders or managers of the group indicate that they are no longer active.

Good point. You said "Now if the group hasn't been around or posting for years, that's a different story." That's what I mean. I feel like when a  leader goes inactive as well, there is no way they can take an action to do anything and people keep thinking they're around.

Here's an example I found (scroll to the bottom);
http://feral-heart.com/smf/index.php?topic=51699.10