The first thing that will be interesting is: how many of you even see this? It's clear that the forum has become less used as Discord and WhatsApp have become more popular.
In a very few weeks from now, we will get a bill for 2 years more webhosting. Although I don't know exactly how much it will be, but I'm expecting in the region of £150, perhaps more. There's also £26 for the domain name, although I've already paid that to give us a bit of time to explore options. At this point, we have £28.78 in our Paypal account (which is oddly very close to the domain cost)
We've done a bit of brainstorming. It would be nice to still have a forum. It would be nice to separate forums out (like applications for membership, Moose groups and so on). But we probably don't need the number of forums we have currently.
Obviously we already have a Discord presence and my understanding is we can set up a forum structure on there. We have a WhatsApp group. And, since we still need a presence on the web as people still search for us and join us, we need a web presence. Blogspot can do the latter. I've already set up an empty page that can be found at TheEldersKinship.blogspot.com
We lose: 15 years of history of posts. The private freedom & complete control of our own website. Though this is a valid thing, the truth is no proper maintenance or refresh of the website has happened in a decade. I don't have the skills and the kinnie who set up this website is long gone. Am I missing anything that would be tragic?
In short, dear kinnies, I'd like your feedback. If we want to keep the website, we need to be able to fund it, so it's not just a cost-free choice. So I'm not doing a poll, because it isn't any good wanting a website if we can't get the money, Tell us what you think! But don't forget: if we want to keep the website, we need to fund it.
Cara x
Do we need our own website still?
Moderators: Cara, Kinmeet Moderators, Kinship Officers
Do we need our own website still?
"A true gentleman is one who knows how to play the bagpipes, but doesn't."
-R. Acket
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Cara (130 - raider) ....................................... Carathiel (mooser)(105)
Cararose (130 - raider) ....................................... Caraleth (130 - Mooser)
-R. Acket
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Cara (130 - raider) ....................................... Carathiel (mooser)(105)
Cararose (130 - raider) ....................................... Caraleth (130 - Mooser)
Re: Do we need our own website still?
We chatted ingame yesterday and I gave some options moving forward.
Message forums have been part of my life for so long, they were essential in various fandoms for me. But... Not sure it's best use for us via funding etc. We don't use this space as much as we used to - Discord has replaced it and Whatsapp for banter too. All we need is a simple website for a presence and Discord can be expanded for kin to use to play and chat.
I use Blogger.com for free (there are many others) and they can be quite versatile. This is my Tolkien-focused website - https://greenbookofthewhitedowns.blogspot.com/
I also created a Discord server for the LOTR: Rise to War mobile game, used it to organise various groups. We had admin sections, various factions (and seasonal groups) too. Potentially it was acting like a message board and we could do the same for ours.
I would also recommend a presence on FB, Twitter and other social media - I know on Twitter you can add delegates to accounts so that a number of people can manage tweets. Someone had previously done Tolkien Tuesday and when I started a variant (Tolkien Trewsday) they added me as a delegate to the account so I could tweet from theirs.
Was just looking for possible ways to archive this forum - thought there was a good option then, but it wasn't going to do what we may need.
Message forums have been part of my life for so long, they were essential in various fandoms for me. But... Not sure it's best use for us via funding etc. We don't use this space as much as we used to - Discord has replaced it and Whatsapp for banter too. All we need is a simple website for a presence and Discord can be expanded for kin to use to play and chat.
I use Blogger.com for free (there are many others) and they can be quite versatile. This is my Tolkien-focused website - https://greenbookofthewhitedowns.blogspot.com/
I also created a Discord server for the LOTR: Rise to War mobile game, used it to organise various groups. We had admin sections, various factions (and seasonal groups) too. Potentially it was acting like a message board and we could do the same for ours.
I would also recommend a presence on FB, Twitter and other social media - I know on Twitter you can add delegates to accounts so that a number of people can manage tweets. Someone had previously done Tolkien Tuesday and when I started a variant (Tolkien Trewsday) they added me as a delegate to the account so I could tweet from theirs.
Was just looking for possible ways to archive this forum - thought there was a good option then, but it wasn't going to do what we may need.
Ranatuor (130)
[and many other alts]
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"I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass."
Shared crafting facilities - 2 Waterbank Road, Nan-e-Faer, Falathlorn Homesteads, Ered Luin
Card-carrying member of the BLACK BOOK CLUB (tm).
[and many other alts]
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"I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass."
Shared crafting facilities - 2 Waterbank Road, Nan-e-Faer, Falathlorn Homesteads, Ered Luin
Card-carrying member of the BLACK BOOK CLUB (tm).
Re: Do we need our own website still?
This is actually my only concern. It would be really sad to just lose all these forum posts. It's purely for sentimental purposes, but I've spent a lot of time on this website and have so many great memories, mainly of the silly thread chats we had.Ranatuor wrote:Was just looking for possible ways to archive this forum - thought there was a good option then, but it wasn't going to do what we may need.
As much as I would like to keep the forum going, I don't think it makes sense to pay £150 for something which just isn't needed. Discord can do everything we need.
If we can work out a way to archive then I'd be content with moving entirely to Discord (with a blog for a web presence, I agree that's important).
Eiswyn Eislo Eiskald Eisedhel Eisadan Eisor Eistel
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Re: Do we need our own website still?
I personally agree with what has been stated above - it would be shame to lose access to all the forum history, but as others have said I think moving forward one location (discord) is enough. Moving forward I have no strong preferences - but am happy to contribute financially if that helps whatever outcome is agreed upon.
Jago Proudbelly, Pie-Maven (not at all raid ready but willing anyway)
Re: Do we need our own website still?
I agree with all of the above
Valkrist Level 140 Elf (Minas Ithil Weaponsmith) (Raider)
Valdarion Level 140 Elf (Minas Ithil Jeweller) (Raider)
Valendor Level 140 Elf (Minas Ithil Tailor) (Raider)
Valedan Level 140 Elf (Minas Ithil Metalsmith) (Mooser-Raider)
Vallenya Level 140 High Elf (Minas Ithil Scholar) (Raider)
Valendir Level 130 Elf (Minas Ithil Scholar) (future Raider)
Valdarion Level 140 Elf (Minas Ithil Jeweller) (Raider)
Valendor Level 140 Elf (Minas Ithil Tailor) (Raider)
Valedan Level 140 Elf (Minas Ithil Metalsmith) (Mooser-Raider)
Vallenya Level 140 High Elf (Minas Ithil Scholar) (Raider)
Valendir Level 130 Elf (Minas Ithil Scholar) (future Raider)