More Members in the VHL

[Beaviss 4,957]

I got two suggestions to increase total people playing.

 

Send an email blast out to all members offering TPE if they come back to the website that would gather all the members you have had over the years back to the site and hopefully some will stay.

 

Or

 

Im unsure of the cost so I could be talking out my ass here but run an add campaign of some sort to boost members. The Anniversary recruitment's did almost nothing to the player count just people adding  alt accounts or making friends make characters.

 

The second player in my opinion is limiting the games potential, as everyone knows the person playing the character and can tell either if they are going to be an all star or not. It gets rid of the scouting and guessing part of the game which to some people is half the fun.

 

But that is my opinion.

Edited August 4, 2017 by Beaviss

[Megster 63]

 

Por qué no tanto?

[CowboyinAmerica 2,889]

Cost isn't really an issue, as far as I know. The VHL's sitting on some donation cash, whatever hasn't already been eaten up by the hookers and blow party.

 

I know we've tried Facebook recruitment and ad campaigns, but how targeted was that? Can do some cool things to target only self-identified hockey fans, or fans of certain teams, etc.

[Exlaxchronicles 415]

Why no so much?

[Beaviss 4,957]

2 minutes ago, CowboyinAmerica said:

Cost isn't really an issue, as far as I know. The VHL's sitting on some donation cash, whatever hasn't already been eaten up by the hookers and blow party.

 

I know we've tried Facebook recruitment and ad campaigns, but how targeted was that? Can do some cool things to target only self-identified hockey fans, or fans of certain teams, etc.

 

During the anniversary I tried recruiting people from other hockey websites but no dice

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

I'm probably going to try and do a recruitment drive soon enough. During or after the weekend or something. Make a bunch of topics on Reddit, rather than just the 1 I did for the anniversary.

 

For the EFL, I ran a recruitment drive and posted in like 10 subreddits, all whose mods gave me permission, and we got some members.

[eaglesfan036 4,603]

we did a reddit ad campaing before but  i don't think it got us a single member

[Corco 1,237]

You cant just post a thread/post and expect members to join, you have to active seek people out and talk to people to try to convince them to join. And even then, there's no guarantee they stay. It's tough, but doable

Edited August 4, 2017 by Corco

[boubabi 4,725]

Fb ad didnt help as well

[Exlaxchronicles 415]

I'll place a recruitment add on Metroho.

[Devise 4,475]

Yeah we've tried a lot of this stuff before. Part of our issue is from a community standpoint we've been slacking. Even if new people show up and lurk the boards if they come on and see nothing but a few updates and GM's/Blue Team talking, what do you expect? Some of us are trying to get discussion going in the off topic areas, but we probably need to look and feel more active for people to come over and care too. 

 

@Corco I was trying to say that to @Kendrick, that you can't just post spam in other areas of the internet and expect it to work out. I believe Kendrick you told me at the time that provided you talk with people or go to an area of a site that allows you to do that your fine. But I never really responded. Corco kind of irons out a bit of my response. I always look at this stuff as if your recruiting, your a VHL salesman. Sure you can sit there and say your not trying to get peoples money. But people are far more willing to throw money at something than time, that is just proven. So you are trying to sell the VHL to their free time, something most people value very very highly. 

 

And for me, whenever I go into a role or a situation like that, I always imagine how I would think of it. And there is no way you can cut it, I am not the type of person who would think any post that is literally just recruitment driven and that is it....as nothing more than spam. I never trust that. Ever. Even when it's from sources I trust. Because it just seems shady. As Corco said I think it's about going to communities and spending months and months building reputations and then personally talking to members there to convince them, or then posting a thread and instead of just linking the site answering questions, and engaging with the community members of wherever you are to convince them to go to the VHL. All of that though to me is something a lot more than just signing up to random sites and making sure you post your affiliate links or an intro in the right spot imo. 

 

This is why I have consistently said we need a Wiki page btw people. Our spam wouldn't be such a big deal if people when they went to vet us googled us and got legit pages that explained exactly what we are and how we operate. 

Edited August 4, 2017 by Devise

[Kendrick 4,741]

4 minutes ago, Devise said:

@Corco I was trying to say that to @Kendrick, that you can't just post spam in other areas of the internet and expect it to work out. I believe Kendrick you told me at the time that provided you talk with people or go to an area of a site that allows you to do that your fine. But I never really responded. Corco kind of irons out a bit of my response. I always look at this stuff as if your recruiting, your a VHL salesman. Sure you can sit there and say your not trying to get peoples money. But people are far more willing to throw money at something than time, that is just proven. So you are trying to sell the VHL to their free time, something most people value very very highly. 

 

And for me, whenever I go into a role or a situation like that, I always imagine how I would think of it. And there is no way you can cut it, I am not the type of person who would think any post that is literally just recruitment driven and that is it....as nothing more than spam. I never trust that. Ever. Even when it's from sources I trust. Because it just seems shady. As Corco said I think it's about going to communities and spending months and months building reputations and then personally talking to members there to convince them, or then posting a thread and instead of just linking the site answering questions, and engaging with the community members of wherever you are to convince them to go to the VHL. All of that though to me is something a lot more than just signing up to random sites and making sure you post your affiliate links or an intro in the right spot imo. 

 

This is why I have consistently said we need a Wiki page btw people. Our spam wouldn't be such a big deal if people when they went to vet us googled us and got legit pages that explained exactly what we are and how we operate. 

So you are literally telling me how to recruit? Oh okay.

[Beaviss 4,957]

4 minutes ago, Devise said:

Yeah we've tried a lot of this stuff before. Part of our issue is from a community standpoint we've been slacking. Even if new people show up and lurk the boards if they come on and see nothing but a few updates and GM's/Blue Team talking, what do you expect? Some of us are trying to get discussion going in the off topic areas, but we probably need to look and feel more active for people to come over and care too. 

 

@Corco I was trying to say that to @Kendrick, that you can't just post spam in other areas of the internet and expect it to work out. I believe Kendrick you told me at the time that provided you talk with people or go to an area of a site that allows you to do that your fine. But I never really responded. Corco kind of irons out a bit of my response. I always look at this stuff as if your recruiting, your a VHL salesman. Sure you can sit there and say your not trying to get peoples money. But people are far more willing to throw money at something than time, that is just proven. So you are trying to sell the VHL to their free time, something most people value very very highly. 

 

And for me, whenever I go into a role or a situation like that, I always imagine how I would think of it. And there is no way you can cut it, I am not the type of person who would think any post that is literally just recruitment driven and that is it....as nothing more than spam. I never trust that. Ever. Even when it's from sources I trust. Because it just seems shady. As Corco said I think it's about going to communities and spending months and months building reputations and then personally talking to members there to convince them, or then posting a thread and instead of just linking the site answering questions, and engaging with the community members of wherever you are to convince them to go to the VHL. All of that though to me is something a lot more than just signing up to random sites and making sure you post your affiliate links or an intro in the right spot imo. 

 

I completely agree about everything you stated. The one way I could see a definite immediate increase would to send out an email with a reward for people coming back, as you already have those peoples interest in the first place. Its lost now but its easier to gain an old member then to gain an all new member.

[Devise 4,475]

Just now, Kendrick said:

So you are literally telling me how to recruit? Oh okay.

 

No. Your recruitment clearly work. I'm telling I'm the type of person who is uncomfortable "pitching" things if I wouldn't click on them myself. Now this where this gets complicated. Because I know about the VHL so I would click on it obviously without issue. HOWEVER, the format you guys use to recruit doesn't work on people like me. Because I don't trust it. Anywhere anyone just blanektly says "go here this is good" and even if there is 1 fucking million blindly saying "yes do that I went there too and I like it" I will one hundered percent always do research on it before making a decision. That is just the type of person I am. 

 

I couldn't sell shit at Future Shop back in the day because I didn't want to rip people off. I'm just that type of person. So spamming recruitment messages, even if your allowed to post it and your posting it in the right area, only works on SPECIFIC people is the point I'm making. Some will look at that and go "obviously it's a not good otherwise they wouldn't need to go post random messages trying to get anyone to click on their links." That is just my mindset. I don't trust shit unless I can third party research it and vet it. Others around the internet I'm sure have a similar approach. The more legit shit shows up when they google us, the more legit we look. Simple as that. I'm not telling you how to recruit. I was responding to a comment you made a few days ago in another thread because Corco reminded me of why I had issues with doing what you suggested. 

[Spade18 1,305]

1 hour ago, eaglesfan036 said:

we did a reddit ad campaing before but  i don't think it got us a single member

Some one got me off reddit

[Beaviss 4,957]

I think random forum posts got most of the newer users here tbh @Kendrick got me via a forum post 

[eaglesfan036 4,603]

17 minutes ago, Spade18 said:

Some one got me off reddit

yeah that wasn't from ads though it was from our posts

[Kyle 667]

Younger kids just aren't as interested in sim leagues anymore, that's why the average age on this site has only gone up and we haven't gotten any younger members to replace the older members who moved on from the site.

Edited August 4, 2017 by Kyle

[Gudnason 607]

2 hours ago, Devise said:

Yeah we've tried a lot of this stuff before. Part of our issue is from a community standpoint we've been slacking. Even if new people show up and lurk the boards if they come on and see nothing but a few updates and GM's/Blue Team talking, what do you expect? Some of us are trying to get discussion going in the off topic areas, but we probably need to look and feel more active for people to come over and care too. 

 

@Corco I was trying to say that to @Kendrick, that you can't just post spam in other areas of the internet and expect it to work out. I believe Kendrick you told me at the time that provided you talk with people or go to an area of a site that allows you to do that your fine. But I never really responded. Corco kind of irons out a bit of my response. I always look at this stuff as if your recruiting, your a VHL salesman. Sure you can sit there and say your not trying to get peoples money. But people are far more willing to throw money at something than time, that is just proven. So you are trying to sell the VHL to their free time, something most people value very very highly. 

 

And for me, whenever I go into a role or a situation like that, I always imagine how I would think of it. And there is no way you can cut it, I am not the type of person who would think any post that is literally just recruitment driven and that is it....as nothing more than spam. I never trust that. Ever. Even when it's from sources I trust. Because it just seems shady. As Corco said I think it's about going to communities and spending months and months building reputations and then personally talking to members there to convince them, or then posting a thread and instead of just linking the site answering questions, and engaging with the community members of wherever you are to convince them to go to the VHL. All of that though to me is something a lot more than just signing up to random sites and making sure you post your affiliate links or an intro in the right spot imo. 

 

This is why I have consistently said we need a Wiki page btw people. Our spam wouldn't be such a big deal if people when they went to vet us googled us and got legit pages that explained exactly what we are and how we operate. 

 

What kind of Wiki page? You mean on the en.wikipedia.org real thing, or we made a VHL wiki like vhl.wikia.com

[Gudnason 607]

1 hour ago, Kyle said:

Younger kids just aren't as interested in sim leagues anymore, that's why the average age on this site has only gone up and we haven't gotten any younger members to replace the older members who moved on from the site.

 

As technology and our world grows, there are more options. Back then when I was in high school, there wasn't much options. Now you have your pickings.

[Tagger 2,722]

Just now, punkhippie said:

 

What kind of Wiki page? You mean on the en.wikipedia.org real thing, or we made a VHL wiki like vhl.wikia.com

It would have to be a wikia thing, wikipedia takes down pages based on sim leagues almost immediately. 

[Gudnason 607]

Just now, Tagger said:

It would have to be a wikia thing, wikipedia takes down pages based on sim leagues almost immediately. 

 

Dude, I've tried since S4 to do this and got shot down whenever I asked for support, both in terms of providing information (which a big chunk is now lost) and volunteers to help me out, because as much time as I had 10 years ago, I knew it would be impossible to do myself.

[Devise 4,475]

1 minute ago, Tagger said:

It would have to be a wikia thing, wikipedia takes down pages based on sim leagues almost immediately. 

 

Indeed. For now it would have to be our own thing. But I mean the history buffs here have been waiting for a place where you can easily go to find a nice categorized and searchable list of some of the history here. The wiki would really allow us to do some of that. And that is something people instantly recognize and trust on the web, even if they know it's user editable there is still is like an element of "oh this is easy to access" that makes this sort of thing engaging for the user imo. 

[Gudnason 607]

12 minutes ago, Devise said:

 

Indeed. For now it would have to be our own thing. But I mean the history buffs here have been waiting for a place where you can easily go to find a nice categorized and searchable list of some of the history here. The wiki would really allow us to do some of that. And that is something people instantly recognize and trust on the web, even if they know it's user editable there is still is like an element of "oh this is easy to access" that makes this sort of thing engaging for the user imo. 

 

Does anyone even have a hard copy of the original VHL indexes in the first 20 seasons or so that we lost in the domain transfer? I assume someone still has a hold of Scotty Campbell or Kevin Brooks... Even basic shit from those seasons wouldn't be bad.

[JardyB10 4,865]

2 hours ago, Kyle said:

Younger kids just aren't as interested in sim leagues anymore, that's why the average age on this site has only gone up and we haven't gotten any younger members to replace the older members who moved on from the site.

What we need to do instead is start a Twitch stream of us on the VHL, commenting on what we're doing and our experience, but usually talking about other things altogether. Almost like Beketov's Codcast, but also the exact opposite!