State of the SWF, 2007

[Ace309 0]

I'll begin by stating the obvious: the state of the SWF is weak. Apathy is rampant. New writers are practically nonexistent, and despite the best efforts of creative control, they don't stick around very long. Creative control is, well, me.

 

A few of you show consistently. A few of you show once in a while. the majority of you consider yourselves active in the fed but show rarely if at all. That's not to make you out to be bad people - it's just indicative that what I've been predicting for a long time is coming to pass. That is, the fed's unviable competition model is losing its novelty and thus the fed is circling down the drain.

 

I'd been putting this off, hoping that it would prove to be unnecessary. I'd hoped that an all-time high number of Clusterfuck writers would prove to me that people really do want to be in the fed, and then rationalized that no one shows for the Fuck anyway. The Fuck match itself had two writers; the tag team match was competitive; the World Title match was what delayed the show, because the guy who holds the title didn't finish until Friday and the guy who had built for months to his challenge match didn't show.

 

I've considered changing my mind on this, and I will if we can somehow overturn the conditions I listed in the opening paragraph. If we get a lot of new writers, if people start to show regularly, if we get enough people to fill out a booking committee without having to tap active writers, then I'll reconsider my read on the fate of the fed. However, we've been saying that for a long time, and it doesn't appear to be in the cards. Hell, our most prolific storylines at this point exist because guys are double-timing in the OAOAST. Think back to the 90s, when the Rock and Roll Express defended their SMW Tag Team Championships against the Heavenly Bodies at Survivor Series 93 - it didn't make anyone take SMW any more seriously.

 

In any case, I'll cut to the chase. Raynor, Van Siclen, Zed and I have been discussing this for some time, and I drew the short straw to make this public.

 

Barring anything unforeseen, I am resigning as SWF head booker effective October 4, 2007 - the day after the final Genesis show is to be posted. The fed is closing its doors as of Genesis, assuming we can keep enough interest to stay around till then. This gives everyone who loved the fed a little too much the chance to come back and be part of the grand conclusion to its history.

 

Really, lasting as long as we have was pretty impressive anyway.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

Shit, yo.

[Chuck Woolery 0]

it has been a crazy run, and i'd much rather see us go out in a blaze of glory than have tom one day wake up with a storm that is complete no-shows and say, "fuck this, i'm done." i'd also love to see the fed make an amazing turnaround with plenty of new blood, but after being head of cc for a year and knowing how that works i'm not seeing that happening, though i'd love to be proven wrong.

 

anyway, i came back to make the next six months some of the best in fed history, and i hope that we can accomplish that, whether it winds up being the final six months in fed history or not.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

[Secret Agent 0]

 

Ditto. However, there is still time to fight.

[JHawk 0]

Eight months to change Tom's mind guys. Let's do this.

[Secret Agent 0]

Eight months to change Tom's mind guys. Let's do this.

 

I'm all over it like mascara on Toxxic's eyes.

[the.weej 0]

I figured there'd be a couple of people who would jump all over the idea of the fed's imminent death and try to fight against the tide. Admirable, but to be perfectly honest, I don't think the SWF is going to last into October in any legitimate form.

 

I believe we should use the remaining time to get in touch with as many ex-writers as possible and find a way to make the end of days for the fed as memorable as possible.

 

-Z

[Chuck Woolery 0]

i really don't think the fed right now is in awful shape, at least in the sense that it has been worse. i think what tom wants, and i agree with him, is to make sure that we go out the right way -- with strong main event players (stephens, landon and drake), a solid undercard (wild and dangerous, zack and myself, alan clark), and other people who can be thrown into matches. we have enough people right now to make the next few months interesting, if everyone can stay motivated, and with those extra writers doing one-off angles for the final genesis, we can send the fed off the right way, instead of the apathetic death we're heading to.

[Golgo 13 0]

No matter what happens from here on it looks like I made the right choice in coming back so I could take part.

 

I know I shouldn't but I can't help but feel partly responsible due to being around for so long yet contributing so little and being one of the chief offenders.

 

Ideally the fed could find a way to continue but something like this was inevitable and if it has to end I would rather it be this way.

[chirs3 0]

I despise this idea, right down to the liquified evil that runs through its veins, but even so, I have to agree with what's been stated: if the options are either let the fed keep limping along, getting slower and slower until it eventually just stops, or setting G8 as the endgame and putting everything we've got into making it the kind of sendoff the SWF deserves, I vote the latter.

 

I would love to see this place go on, and I'm happy to see some people here getting into that spirit, but I worry that if we get to a high point, high enough to say "Ok, we won't end at G8, we'll keep going", that pretty soon apathy will set back in, and we'll eventually end up right back where we are now. That this might simply become a yearly threatening - "Start writing or we'll shut down!" - that spurs just enough action to keep us going a few more months before we wind down again, and the cycle repeats itself.

 

If we can get a significant boost, and keep it sustained, then that would be awesome - but that's a boost we've been hoping for for a long time, and haven't yet gotten. When we're lucky, we get one or two new guys... when we're really lucky, one of them might stay. I did my best to look the other way when I started posting shows with less than 50% showing rate, but if we keep going this way, Chuck's prediction of us just saying "eh, fuck it" and burning out could come true, and I don't think anyone here wants that. The SWF has, by every measurable standard, kicked e-wrestling's ass up-down-and-sideways - spending our last few months building up to an end-all be-all farewell extravaganza seems like a good way to go to me.

[The Ill One 0]

Well, this was pretty much inevitable but we're not done -quite- yet. But even if we are then it's true that we should just go balls to the wall to send us out the right way after so much time invested into the federation. Hell, maybe this just makes for a good battle cry but I also feel bad for being one of the consistent "active" but not really active writers. There's still time to change that, I guess.

 

Edit: Coherency.

[Secret Agent 0]

Well... I'm not one to watch us move towards the end without a fight. I suck ass at banner making but I made something to start my attempt at keeping this place going for another six years. I'd say if you want to keep this place going than spread the word to every message board you visit because we'll never get anything sitting on TSM and waiting for someone new to stop by. This is Operation: SOFA!!

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

What Johnny is driving at is perhaps we've simply exhausted our resources at this board... maybe all we need is a change of venue; doubtful, I'll admit, but has it even been considered?

 

The "problem," as I see it, isn't really a problem, but what makes this e-fed better than all the rest is also what makes it unattractive to a lot of people. It occurs to me that the reason most people participate in e-feds is to indulge their booking fantasies, as in, "if I ran xyz fed, I'd do this," etc. Well, in this fed, you only get to do that if you can write better stuff than other people. RPs won't help, intricate storylines won't help; if your match isn't better than the other guy, your angle's not going to get the payoff you think it deserves (see Spike/Mags), unless the guy you're booked against is of like mind (see Drake/Toxxic).

 

We've had many people leave because they don't like the idea of actually having to write matches (coughtokyoxcough), but I'm sure we've also had people leave just because they expected the fed to be more cooperative than it actually is. I don't imagine that a lot of people who decide to join an e-fed have the determination to try and succeed in such a cutthroat (no pun intended) environment. Personally, I like it just fine the way it is, but I can certainly see why someone who just wanted their plucky underdog character to overcome all odds and become the World Champion might find this place trying. If we wanted to give this fed an honest chance at survival, we'd have to figure out a way to sell people who really just want instant gratification on the concept of "root, hog or die."

 

So... anybody here a marketing major?

 

[Golgo 13 0]

We exhausted our resources here a long time ago. In 2004 and 2005 you could see the writing on the wall as far as that was concerned.

 

The problem with moving house is where to go, especially with no online presence other than at TSM, no foothold in the fed community, few of us posting anywhere else, or at all, for that matter. All the attempts at networking and inter-fedding, the site (Johnny), spreading the word on other sites as Johnny is proposing, all of it was designed to hopefully prevent this and possibly make a move off the boards, but unfortunately nothing worked out.

 

All we really need to consider for a move is the environment; could a place support us, but it's all easier said than done. In the first place, I'm not even sure anyone wants to do so since it would be a huge undertaking with no guaranteed return.

 

To be honest, we were lucky we stumbled onto TSM during the spur of the moment as we were about to be booted off IGN. It was popular, there were the existing Smarks posters with additional interest to come due to the switch and no fed to speak of. It was at just the right time. If not for confusing a Smarks for an IGN writer we likely would have been dead already.

 

If we were to move to a similar board, we don't know if they could sustain us, be interested or if, like TSM, the interest would wane and we would be talking about this again in a year or two... if this hypothetical board even happened to survive that long, which is no guarantee.

 

If we were to move to a board with more members and a larger fedding presence (for example, prowrestling.com, I think it was), we face the same problems. Would people there even be interested considering the different nature of the SWF and other feds? Like the situation we're in now, who's to say we wouldn't move only to find out resources there are being spread too thin as it is or that no one is interested in writing matches either?

 

Realistically it would be a lateral move. At worst, it would probably only speed things up. A year or two ago in the midst of our advertising rush phase we could've possibly pulled it off, but not now.

 

Although it's only worked so well before, the only realistic thing to do is to start advertising everywhere we can once again and try to appeal to those who have been in the fed before (and probably have no interest in wrestling anymore, but we'll just forget that), and try to make as much of the one show a week format as we can, along with pushing the same old SWF mantra to prospective writers.

 

It would take a lot of work starting right now and on through Genesis to keep us going whether it's here, somewhere else, with or without Tom and everyone formerly on staff who have kept us going this far. There's no doubt that people would be writing and willing to be a part past that. But I just don't know how feasible any option would be for continuing on - in good health - to where we wouldn't need to be reminiscing about better days, lamenting things as they are now and talking about this again in a year. There's really only so many times you can say, 'It could be worse,' until reality comes along.

[Ace309 0]

I've always been open to a move to a different board. The problem is that I'm not knowledgeable about where we could go; I occasionally mention that to people who are very gung-ho about a move, and they get very excited and tell me they'll find the perfect place.

 

Within a week, no one's talking about a move anymore.

[Secret Agent 0]

The problem with TSM is it's just a message board on the net. There isn't really a site drawing people to any content, so there isn't much chance for new blood. A place like 411 mania would work well because there is an active website drawing people to it. Thats all we need. If we have to evolve to survive than so be it.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Part of the problem is, the business itself is in such a slump (outside of Mexico, or so I understand), that people aren't as interested in writing fake wrestling matches period. It's not like the old days when virtually everybody on this board was involved either here or below in some way, shape or form.

 

In response to WC, I remember suggesting a while back that things should become more like the OAOAST(ie. co-operative rather than competitive), so that the newbies can come in and actually see any effort rewarded. The past couple of years, this place has changed. Back when I started out, which was 2003 I guess, the thought of daring to no-show a match was something that drove people to write matches. Now, it's not a big deal what-so-ever. I'll admit I've been a lot less active the past little while and the main reason is, if I'm on limited time and have an SWF match and an OAOAST match to write, I'm going to write the OAOAST match because I can be sure it's going to be seen by someone. I'm sure if you ask Zack and Bruce, they'll agree with me.

 

I can't remember what I suggested last time, but if there was a way to guarantee people's work being put on the shows, maybe then people would be more inclined to write regularly? Maybe have it that every title match is competitive and the rest collaberate efforts between the writers (whether that's a co-write, or one of the two writing the match)?

[Lightning Flik 0]

I'm the last person to be saying this, since a) I'm JTTS, b) I'm a talented writer but can't string together a good match, and c) My first written match during my 4th run will be this Wednesday's match. But...

 

I think the biggest problem is even when people posted up losing matches, no one really gave a damn. Back during my first run after Red Storm Rising, I posted up every match as I went into a huge losing streak, yet the only advice I was given was "just keep working on it and you'll do fine". When you put effort into the match and that's the best reply you get, its hard to continue on.

 

Though looking back during my first run, I think I can more attribute the lack of response to the stigma I had from being associated with RSR and basically getting an undeserved push (I wasn't and still aren't at my potential) because of it. And then life went to hell.

 

Ahem, no point on digressing on the past. Continuing onward. During my second run, I desperately needed some feedback as I was rusty as hell, and yet, I ran into the same problem as the first. Came back as Eddy J and I yet again ran into the same problem. Its a little hard for writer's who isn't very confident in their writing to continue for the long haul when they continually are matched against... oh say the World Champion (no, I'm NOT picking on you Ace, I'm just saying as I ran into that during my second run a lot), its a little harder for them to see the efforts.

 

While I think a lot of people might not like the idea, I think that a combination of promos and matches would be a better way of doing things. Yes, matches should count as the final stake, but the promos should carry a little bit more weight and make a slight factor with who wins. If someone's got the better character they've got a slight edge heading into the match. This way then someone who's not as good writing a match can still win and then get fair critisims against his match as it is the "winning" match. People tend to read only the "winning match" and don't really care about the losing ones because well, do you really wanna read who lost? However, slight edge only means the person still has to put up a good effort to make their case for the win, it doesn't and shouldn't win them the match.

 

Now before anyone says that who does better would be personal bias, I say that's actually a good thing. You hafta be able to get people to be invested into your character and you hafta convince people that this character is soundly built to gain that edge. And yes, I do already believe there is an edge of that sort already, but I think it needs to be tilted slightly moreso. That's all. I just added my own problems as a reference.

 

I also think that there needs to be a wide open idea thinktank session of what storylines are running. Not how they are, but who's currently doing what (sans surprises, because we don't wanna kill those) so that we can see who's doing what storyline and so that if someone wants to get in contact with someone to see if they can participate in a storyline or to cross storylines. You could just make a post with what current storylines are running and who's running them. I'd also recommend at least the starting point of said storyline being attatched to the current storyline to let the newbies or people like me who have no clue as to what's going on to be able to read it and at least during our spare time see what's currently up.

 

I'm not suggesting we do away with the match writing, because that's what this place is about. We need to make things more accessable to new people. I will say my idea's probably not ground breaking, original, nor probably hasn't been suggested/debated before (and probably already casted aside), but I just figured I'd say it anyways since its the only thing I've got to add. And I guess I'm along the same lines as Landon, but I think the competitive drive should remain an important element.

 

Yes, there will be a match from me for Wednesday. I ain't gonna let Drake walk all over me.

 

...I'll just let him toy with me then walk over. It'll make everyone enjoy the match more.

[Chuck Woolery 0]

what have i missed that can be addressed:

 

- moving. when i first took over, one of the first things i discussed with tom was moving to another forum. we both looked a little bit, and we both came to the conclusion that this is the best option we have. we're an established presence here, and if you think we get disrespect from tsm for writing way too many words about wrestling matches, try selling that concept to a board we haven't been on for five and a half years and see what happens. tsm is an established message board presence -- go figure, i know -- and at least 50% of us are actively involved in it, whether it's zack and wildchild (who you see everywhere) or flik (who you see in video games all the time) or... i mean, for the most part we're all involved here and we're established here and it's giving up a lot for what, as manson said, is a lateral move at best.

 

- changing the format of the fed. no. no, no, a thosuand times no, and i know i'm going to catch shit for putting it like that but any modifications to the model of the fed makes us just another e-fed and quite honestly, if i wanted just another e-fed i'd be a whole lot more active in the oaoast because they're already four steps ahead of us in building a strong "traditional" e-fed community. what makes this fed unique is its competition model; that said, i'll be the second (tom was the first) to say it's a double-edged sword. the writers here are amateur professionals at this point, and the only way for somebody to join the fed and be instantly competitive requires them to be

1) a good writer (rare), who is

2) interested in wrestling (incredibly rare; read the WWE folder for evidence)

perhaps we've exhausted all the people who can be instantly competitive, and others don't want to put in the time to be competitive, but you know what? if the alternative is us becoming something we're not, i'm completely fine staying the way we are.

 

- the swf community. this one hasn't been touched on yet, but i think it's worth noting because it seems like (to me) it's a big reason the place is failing. i'm friends with tom, zack and supes; i've had conversations with stephens and raynor and rando, though not recently; and wildchild and i have exchanged pm's a couple times and (if i'm remembering correctly) had heat with each other for a while. other than that, i haven't had a legit conversation with any of the current army, and that hurts my enthusiasm for it, a little bit. i like to think i'm a pretty approachable guy; my aim's gin and joseph and i love talking about the fed and i've got a pretty endearing personality, guys, i swear it. a big reason i stayed active early on was because of swf chat, but the last couple times i visited that it was drea chilling by herself, or munich chilling by himself, or drea and munich chilling by themselves. maybe an swf chat night to help us bond? i don't know, but (again) the oaoast has a constant dialogue going about storylines and the like, and their community is a lot stronger than ours and gets a lot more feedback, and that, to me, speaks volumes about why landon would rather write his oaoast match than his swf match.

 

that's all i've got for now. i'm sure someone else will draw me back to this thread later.

[Above Average 0]

Commerce and Engineering with a Marketing concentration (bet you never heard of that major) right here...

 

Marketing something like this is a lot like the big dot com boom. When wrestling was hot, it was easy to find people willing to give it a try. Now that it's leveling off and rebuilding its fanbase, branding becomes very significant. People go with what they know now and it's the reason why most if not all of the new recruits are returning writers. Things like e-fed role play competitions and that last community we were in (X-net?) get your name out there, but there is still an inherent problem. Even with our show quality, which may blow others away or be significantly worst than what's expected due to our system, we don't have any writer that's well known in the e-fed community minus Outcast who's been gone since G3. We never did well in anything we attempted outside the board because it's tough to push an alternative product. Cross promotion (OAOAST) is even harder because we aren't having as much fun anymore and they still are. We've been slowly falling through Maturity since between G5/G6 and the most viable option is to get lucky. Everyone's ideas about getting the product out there are good but how do you sell the SWF? Seven years plus of creative writing with an interesting pathos, good friends and you cultivate your character idea. This is a product solely based around how interesting we make it and the fact that everyone, including all of us like recognition. People still need recognition and still watch WWE. The double-edged sword analogy is a good one, but there is still a market for this. We have to restructure our product from within and make it more user friendly.

 

We're now missing the things that made us easy to join and unique. That sense of reward/failure is still there due to competition, but the lack of elevation and finding out how to do this hurt significantly. The idea of the JL was to give a new writer something to strive for and make sure they see what (45000-5000 words on and off a week and that's the current reduced WF schedule) they're getting themselves into with others on their level. I got to read better writers stuff and aspire to be like or be better than them. If I hadn't done it in the JL the SWF would be intimidating. But the real idea behind it was that the JL was where you made friends and the WF was where competition was key. The thing that brought me in to this community is the thing that we are severly lacking now... a community. I used to talk to some of you guys on a regular basis through chat or Aim (my own fault), but now I haven't been in chat for over a year or two. Let's get back to being a community and see where things go from there and I see Mike has the same idea.

 

I started up again and feuded with Toxx because I knew he was trying to really do something to get the fed active as a whole. I'm at the point where I write stuff because I think it might be cool instead of to have you guys think 'hey, that was cool'. Do you guys feel the same? We need to get back to trying to impress/outdue each other, but we don't because we rarely comment anymore (myself included) and I read almost everything that gets done. So if the 'high profile' guys can't get comments flowing through their ideas then how do the other writers feel when it seems like they're getting ignored. Maybe the current plan with Toxx and Landon can get us some comments, maybe not, but I plan on getting back to trying my hardest to show you guys that I do read your matches and promos. I can't promise to show better than I have been, but I will try to help you guys have fun again. If we all do that, then maybe we've got something to market and until then why would someone want to join...

[Toxxic 0]

There's an e-wrestling Wiki, believe it or not. You can find it here E-wrestling wiki and I've done a basic page for the SWF (basically some of Guide To Joining. Maybe later we can add a kayfabe history (only very basic, with the main event stuff and things like Clan/Carnival/Mag7), and it might spark some interest. You can find it by doing a search for 'Smartmarks', but so far I know very little about Wikis and can't work out how to get it put into the 'federations' category, anybody who can feel free to do so.

 

I think one thing that might be worthwhile is trying to tap up people who write matches for other feds, but how we'd go about that I'm not really sure.

[King Cucaracha 0]

The idea of the JL was to give a new writer something to strive for and make sure they see what (45000-5000 words on and off a week and that's the current reduced WF schedule) they're getting themselves into with others on their level. I got to read better writers stuff and aspire to be like or be better than them. If I hadn't done it in the JL the SWF would be intimidating. But the real idea behind it was that the JL was where you made friends and the WF was where competition was key.

 

Amen. I'm glad I got in under the wire before it got dropped.

 

One thing I will say- if we're ultimately saying 'we're going to Genesis and then that's it' and that's the final decision, what's the point exactly? If it's a case of 'if there's not a marked improvement and some potential to stay that way, then we're done', fine. But if we've already decided we're ending all this, how is that going to inspire people to come up with anything interesting from now until then? We might as well just end it now if that's the case, I personally don't see the point in building my character and writing my matches from now until then if it's already decided we're done for. It's like paddling in the ocean, why waste the energy if you're know you're dead in the water?

 

Somebody should send out feelers to the old writers and basically say 'hey, if you give a crap anymore, come write for us.' That should be the message to the current crop too. It's only once a week now and that's what, a couple of hours out of 168?

[Ace309 0]

One thing I will say- if we're ultimately saying 'we're going to Genesis and then that's it' and that's the final decision, what's the point exactly? If it's a case of 'if there's not a marked improvement and some potential to stay that way, then we're done', fine. But if we've already decided we're ending all this, how is that going to inspire people to come up with anything interesting from now until then? We might as well just end it now if that's the case, I personally don't see the point in building my character and writing my matches from now until then if it's already decided we're done for. It's like paddling in the ocean, why waste the energy if you're know you're dead in the water?

It's a little bit of each. As I said, if we can change the conditions that are causing this, then yeah, the fed's going to stick around.

 

However, if we're going to go out, the people who have ideas as to how they want to go out deserve the chance to do that. I know some active writers have fairly elaborate plans for their retirements, and if I can help people enjoy the last few months, I'd like to.

 

Alternatively, if the end being in sight is making you question the point of sticking around, then I'd advise you reconsider whether you want to stick around. That's not personal, it's just a matter of having limited energy and not wanting to spend it convincing someone who doesn't want to stay to do so.

[King Cucaracha 0]

One thing I will say- if we're ultimately saying 'we're going to Genesis and then that's it' and that's the final decision, what's the point exactly? If it's a case of 'if there's not a marked improvement and some potential to stay that way, then we're done', fine. But if we've already decided we're ending all this, how is that going to inspire people to come up with anything interesting from now until then? We might as well just end it now if that's the case, I personally don't see the point in building my character and writing my matches from now until then if it's already decided we're done for. It's like paddling in the ocean, why waste the energy if you're know you're dead in the water?

It's a little bit of each. As I said, if we can change the conditions that are causing this, then yeah, the fed's going to stick around.

 

However, if we're going to go out, the people who have ideas as to how they want to go out deserve the chance to do that. I know some active writers have fairly elaborate plans for their retirements, and if I can help people enjoy the last few months, I'd like to.

 

Alternatively, if the end being in sight is making you question the point of sticking around, then I'd advise you reconsider whether you want to stick around. That's not personal, it's just a matter of having limited energy and not wanting to spend it convincing someone who doesn't want to stay to do so.

 

Well, I know all this e-fedding is just a means to an end in the long run. But so long it's up and running and there isn't an end date, there's a future and something to build to. If it turns out we're just sticking around to end legacies, then I'd rather go out on the back of the Clusterfuck. I mean, it's not like any of it'll matter once the company finishes, but if I'm going to remember it or be remembered, might as well be for that.

 

I'll see how things go the next few months.

[Justice 0]

Hey. Well, um... yeah. I guess I should probably say something before this becomes completely moot.

 

I completely agree with Mike on most accounts. Don't change the format, because that's the best part of the fed, and it's what sets us really apart. I think that the biggest problem is the lack of a community anymore. I mean, when I first started out, I was admittedly a bit crazy, but having a dozen, two dozen guys in chat on a night was pretty kickin' when I had nothing else to do. When chat started to die, I began to lose interest. I mean, I talked to people over AIM... but those memorable chats were really something.

 

When you lose that sense of community, you are just writing things and watching them get posted on the board. And that's really not very exciting.

Edited February 13, 2007 by Justice

[zyon 0]

I pretty much agree with Landon., it just seems like a waste of time. I mean I see the point of setting a possible end date, but that also makes it hard to turn things around. Sure we may get people to come back, but they will be back only for this final run, which in turn makes it seem like the fed is doing better. Then the end date comes and the fed either closes or it continues, which from there is where people will drop again. Just doesn't seem like a winning situation.

[Toxxic 0]

I suppose the other point is that anyone who might be coming in to join will come to this board, read this thread and go "oh well, they're closing in a couple of months, I won't bother". Which is kind of counter-productive. But I also agree with the importance of setting a definite date for where it'll end if we don't turn this thing around.

[The Amazing Rando 0]

Tom should have posted a bit of a battle cry, and then waited until right around G8 to make any sort of definitive "closing" announcement.

[Justice 0]

Yeah, I agree.

 

And frankly, I'd like to appologize to CC and to the members here for my absences at harsh times. I would like to help out with stuff in a limited capacity and try to ease myself back into helping things.

 

Some suggestions for the fed in general:

 

1) A Lowering of Word Limits in General: I think this is especially important to keeping most new guys and bringing people in. Looking at the current Storm card, we have nothing below 4500 words. For most veterans, that's nothing. But for a new guy... that's pretty daunting. Lowering word limits would help n00bs start out and not have to think up 5000 word operas until they get to the higher ranks.

 

I think, in our aging and stagnation, we've run up the word counts too much. We need to look to keep things short and concise rather than blowing things out of proportion with flowery description. You want people to read a match? Make it shorter. We know you want to matter, but a shorter match will, in the end, help things. I know that I in the past was notorious for long entrances (I believe my Countdown to Genesis match had 2000 words of entrance!), and I'm probaby not the best person to speak on this. But making this the lowest burden possible will help people show up. Quality >>> Quantity.

 

2) Creating some sort of 'system' for n00bs: When I say this, I'm talking about getting them a few easy matches under their wing so that they get the jist of how to do things, along with possibly leading them straight into a feud of some sort. This will only help if we get new talent, but keeping new talent is also a problem.

 

3) Redesigning the Fed: I don't know why, but I feel like we need to change something. Some sort of re-organization, whatever it is, might be the kick needed.

 

4) Expanding Out: Say what you will, but when we were a part of X-Net, I think we tried a helluva lot harder for shows and other things. This was not long after we had lost a lot of the Golden Age stars, and we were seriously going at it to make the shows the best we really could. We bitched about not being first, being held down... but we friggin' cared, and we were all acting for the Fed. When that thing fizzled out, we fell back into our old ways.

 

Pride is a great motivator, and expanding outwards off this board (Which has stagnated miserably. I mean, Mole is running the place !) is a necessity. Stir up some shit and find somewhere else to go. We don't need to move off the board, but we do need to find other places to kick things up and find talent.