Death's door

[-:Undertaker:-]

Looks like the forum really is at Death's door. Scan the dates of the latest posts, appalling!

Yet no drive to post more, create threads... nothing. Asleep at the wheel.

Honestly, if we can't even get skins or anything can't the forum at least be passed on/sold for a paltry sum to someone/people who will actually *attempt* to turn it around and maybe put some money into it (ie new skins). It may not work but at least we can say we tried all options. I'd actually rather we closed here right now than stagger on aimlessly for another year like this.

Desperately sad to see it like this but can't we go down fighting rather than this sad, lifeless and limp to the end? :P

[Matt]

I think in terms of the forum, staff & managers are sticking to the Habbox Announcements, Job Openings and Community Notice Board as they're necessary for their roles. Who knows how active Staff forums are, maybe they're better. I don't think i've ever seen Cowper (Graphics Manager) post anything publicly on the forum, and so the only people consistently posting are forum mods (and even then not really lol).

Obviously I think there are exceptions to this, Sloths and Cameron come to mind as people that post a lot around the public areas of the forum - General Management have also been trying and have probably been the only staff members to actually be consistently posting in areas of the forum that aren't related to their roles. Obviously, I think the fact there's no threads to actually reply to does have an impact, but yeah it's really not looking too good at the moment. It's as though HxSS had a negative impact on posting and once it ended, everyone left.

[David]

management too busy spamming notices to post threads

[:odey:]

New skins are not gonna solve the problem in any way shape or form

[Samantha]

I can't find it, but I'm pretty certain I said it would just go back to being dead after HxSS and got told that people would rather it be busy in that week even if it doesn't stay like that.

There's two new AGMs that are settling in at the moment, and I believe laura and them will work so much better than the team before and it actually looks like something is happening with James and Shoned being in the positions. There's management positions open, The Box is returning and there's a GM takeover happening as well! I know it's not loads of stuff, but it's a start and Habbox needs that kick at the moment. Honestly though, the GM team have their work cut out because the old ones let it get into such a state in my opinion (I'm not counting laura in this, not much you can do when people aren't wanting to make Habbox better). We're meant to have weekly events that every department holds on a rota to win a bigger prize after the year is up (which was a silly idea anyway since we can host whenever we like), but the events failed after a few weeks and there's been no drive or notification to get them started again, the leaderboard never got updated and overall it just went very poorly. Now with the weekly events there weren't many people attending, they weren't fancy events, just normal ones where you received a normal prize for them in the slim chance of winning a Throne after a year; to me a basic event doesn't showcase the department much at all, and it was never planned well with people not showing up (in terms of hosts and players), but at least something was tried even though I didn't go to plan. Since I've been Features Manager, I've managed to sort of stay out of the bigger events because I haven't been 'forced' to host basically (I did in HxSS, but I always do and I'm happy that I can help then), so I've sort of been a fly on the wall where I could give my opinion! Most times when I gave my feedback I was either shot down and basically told we're doing it this way and that's that, or in other times I was ignored and it goes to show how much people didn't care (https://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=842323&p=8519305#post8519305) I gave interesting ideas yet I was ignored by those who should really care about the Events Department. It's been very hit and miss all year in terms of events, especially on the bigger scale, excuse after excuse in some cases and sometimes we didn't even know there was an event happening. None of us knew about the birthday event (the sleepover etc.), I think specific people were contacted about it hence the events we had! I found out in event rooms and that's all I knew anyway. However, I believe other engagements got in the way of the full potential to really make the community side of Habbox great again, which I will not blame anyone for as everyone has other things going on other than Habbox! It just seemed to come at an awkward time and unfortunately they resigned because of it, but hopefully Habbox will gain another lease of life again.

In terms of staff just sticking to their roles I 100% agree with that - when I was on holiday (Matt you'll know) we get a PM telling us about subscription changes, and that PM will come every night until someone corrects it, and I remember someone telling me they were annoyed by it. I told them they could sort it out but I just got told "wtf no I'm community" - if someone is not willing to help the other side of Habbox then I don't hold high hopes! You shouldn't be just stuck to your position, you compromise and do as much as you can; if you have other commitments that's fine, but it's not a hard job! As for the departments themselves, I don't think it's helped not having managers for a lot of them, and there's been no indication of getting a new manager in some of them either! When you don't have a manager or someone higher that motivates you or gives a fuck about a department then you can't expect any work to be done - as a staff member, I have been so demotivated in the departments which I was in and it's pretty much been a chore to do the work required (at one point I believe I was the only one in the department). Long story short though, it makes you want to resign, which you all know I don't want to do as I'm an addict, but luckily it's all changed now. Like I said earlier, there's management positions opened now and we have two motivating individuals who care about the departments they overlook and want them to improve again (other commitments like I said happened with the others so it's not their fault, but it was noticeable by some staff members).

Overall, I do believe that Habbox is pretty much dead at the moment, but I believe laura, James and Shoned can turn it around and improve it! You might not have noticed as members, but I've definitely noticed it in the staff forums! It will take time to improve it though, it's very 'broken' at the moment you could say, and it'll take a lot to fix it.

Edit: one thing I'll say though as well, is that I've seen an increase in events being hosted again which I'm glad about! I also saw a lot of people attend them and we had some more unique and interesting ones too which is great to see.

[Neversoft]

What happened to happy hour

[:odey:]

I also agree that the current team is the best we've had in a while. Expecting big things lol


Also can I just add that I think we need to be jumping on the 'bigger prize for people with a forum account' thing in events. Before anyone jumps in and says 'well we actually need events to be doing that' every event that I've attended recently has been averaging around 20 users, more in many cases. It seems to work quite well for other fansites.

[despect]

What happened to happy hour

I THINK Mikey; is keen to bring that back :)

Ill reply soon with a better reply to the thread in general :)

[Charlie]

I hate giving my opinion when posts like these are created because as a staff member, I feel like I should be bigging Habbox up but the reality is I agree with you.

We need new members on the forum, the ones that are around regularly are ones that have been here for years and while it's nice to see people sticking around, it isn't going to help boost the sites popularity especially as I imagine not all of us are still active on the client to spread the word of Habbox. We need something that's going to boost the amount of threads and posts on the forum so when new members visit, they can see we've still got some life left in us. We do have the weekly posting statistics (although it wasn't posted this week?) but I think we need something more, something that's going to push people to get posting which will hopefully continue afterwards and drive new people in. Maybe a few posting comps or something.

It's good that we've got new AGMs in charge who both seem very dedicated to helping bring the forum back to life but there is only so much they can do. For example, they can bring back competitions and make it better but if we don't have people here to take part in them, is there any point? I've said it before and I'll say it again, I just feel like we lack client presence. I'll be honest and say I haven't logged onto Habbo in a while so maybe it's changed since I was last on but you can see other fansites hosting events and doing whatever else but I didn't see Habbox up there as much as the others, and things like that are whats going to put this place in peoples faces which we need to bring new people in. Whenever I've visited the Help Desk, it's always empty yet back in the day, there was always people in it. Maybe that's something that could be addressed on worked on? We could even try having just a room that DJs can go to and to get people into and listening to the shows, it puts Habbox out there. We might have been well known and popular at one point but I don't think we should just assume everyone knows who we are still, we've still got to put ourselves out there.

I don't really know what else to say on it but it is a shame to see how things are currently. I was just as motivated as some in trying to bring this place back but when you feel like there isn't many others who feel the same, it's demotivating and that's why I ended up leaving the departments I joined after a short while because I just felt like no-one in those departments was really interested in doing their part and helping. Hopefully we'll get some new managers in for those departments that'll turn it around and make it different but we'll see, if we even manage to find any managers for those departments that is.

I do feel like I'm crapping on the forum a bit with this reply but I do have faith in the new AGMs to do their hardest to turn things around and hopefully, we will see some improvement. It's easy to sit and say negative things but if you have any suggestions then feel free to make them and I'm sure they'll be taken on board. I do agree a new skin or two might help as well though, it'll freshen things up around here and give us a brand new look because as harsh as it sounds, I'm not a big fan of any that we currently have atm. I know it was briefly talked about and there is an issue with money regarding them but if enough people wanted it and chipped in, we could find at least one I'm sure.

[Samantha]

I also agree that the current team is the best we've had in a while. Expecting big things lol


Also can I just add that I think we need to be jumping on the 'bigger prize for people with a forum account' thing in events. Before anyone jumps in and says 'well we actually need events to be doing that' every event that I've attended recently has been averaging around 20 users, more in many cases. It seems to work quite well for other fansites.I agree, I know other fansites do it and it works well. In another feedback thread about events they said it'd take too long for a user to find out how to sign up etc. but I would just ask the winner if they have a forum account, if they do give them the extra bit, if they don't just give them the standard prize and tell them to sign up for bigger prizes. The only thing I can see there being a problem with is that they could lie about their account, and just guess a name and hope for the best, it probably won't happen, but it might.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Hx.Ben]

Hi guys. For those of you who don't know me I'm relatively new to Habbox. I am a senior event host :P. I HATE THE PRACTICE OF DIFFERING PRIZES. I'd rather do something like a little giveaway every hour theres an event. Have them write in a forum made by the event host and do a random number generator for a prize.

[despect]

I think to say that Habbox is dying I personally think is untrue, areas of improvement may be a better way of putting it. People do focus on the bad side of things when you don't actually know that there's a lot of good things going on. Myself and Sho have been in the role I believe less than 2 weeks now and we've already done so many things that other people should of done but hadn't, even though we're still settling into the role I think that in itself says a lot.

Myself, Laura and Sho all have our own little projects but we communicate, we support each other and I can assure you that there's going to be a LOT of great things coming to Habbox. The forum hasn't been very active for a while now and there's never really going to be a straight forward solution to that but there's many things that I know @Mikey (https://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=40805); has planned and he knows that he will always have the support from general management team. I know that our management are a lot more motivated now, they are coming up with new and exciting ideas and I'm SO proud of our current management team and I know the rest of the general management team are too.

We're ALWAYS open to any suggestions from anyone and if there's things that we can do to make the community a more fun place to be in then please let us know and we will give it a try. I've got my own ideas that will come soon.

People have mentioned forum skins etc, I think it would help to have a more updated and better layout but that costs money, I know people have offered to pay and I'm sure Laura will appreciate that and it would be her that you need to contact should you want to contribute.

Things are looking up in many areas so I'd like for people to actually acknowledge at least SOME of the good points of Habbox and we'll be dealing with other areas too that need to be looked into. :)

[Sloths]

Helloo I know the Help Desk is one of the big things that should be raking in new members for the forum, we’ve been slowly recruiting people but slowly isn’t enough at all.

We’re aware the desk isn’t as busy as it used to be but in the past few weeks our staff has grown from around 6 to around 18 with some of our staff hitting 17-18 hour weeks so we’re working on getting the desk populated from our side our main focus now is getting it populated on the other side of the desk.

We’re working on a few things that will hopefully improve this, but essentially it really helps if you guys are coming in and helping us populate it as well. With the new layout we’re bringing back the event section which didn’t exactly go well during hxss but hopefully with more staff it should be better this time around and encourage more people into the desk.

SNQ had taken a back seat, all my fault I constantly forgot to organise it. But it’s back this weekend after the AGM q&a so make sure you come along to that!

In terms of big changes while James, I and the seniors have some ideas we would appreciate any feedback you have. I plan to start up a feedback thread in the coming weeks to collect this (with an anonymous form if you don’t want to admit to ur rude but much needed feedback) so look out for that. In the meantime if you have anything you want to share don’t hesitate to start a thread or pm me etc!

The forum definitely needs some updates, new skins more rewards more excitement, which should hopefully keep the new members we are trying hard to get!

[FlyingJesus]

Forum is inactive, yes, but that's how forums are these days. People don't sign up new to forums so much and it's just the oldies who prop up any site - on client activity is very different, and has massively improved. If you don't use Habbox services then of course you won't see it happening, but to state that the whole thing is dead because one arm has a bruise is daft. A post is a minute of two's entertainment before waiting around for a reply, whereas people want immediate gratification these days and so anyone who's actually interested in Habbo things just talks about them on Habbo for the most part.

Prizes changing for people with forum accounts sounds slow and unnecessary. It means asking and checking at the end of each round, and realistically won't help to improve activity anyway - also we don't want to get a reputation for being cheap if we can help it. It has never been the case that no-one new is joining, and has always (like literally for the past 8 years at least) been an issue that people join but don't contribute, and giving extra coins to people just for signing up won't change that. We've had 29 new people (https://www.habboxforum.com/memberlist.php?order=desc&sort=joindate&pp=30) signing up in the past week, only one of whom has made more than 3 posts and only 5 have posted at all, and this is not a new trend. It's always always always always always always always been about trying to make people stay rather than just sign up, and that's a task that gets harder and harder as younger people have almost entirely ditched the idea of forums. There are certainly things to fix here, but there isn't a magic button that'll suddenly make everyone from 13 to 18 want to use a medium of discussion that has never interested them

[Flakefish]

Flakefish has joined so thats all that matters

[lawrawrrr]

I'm just gonna reply to one lil bit for now: prizes changing for people with forum accounts. This is something I have a very strong opinion about. Other fansites do this and I personally HATE this practice. I think that it encourages even more people to sign up and become inactive (so more usernames are taken that genuine people might want), and I also truly believe that Habbox is there to provide a service and something for the Habbo public to enjoy - not discriminate for our "members" who wouldn't actually be "members" in this case, just have inactive accounts.

[:odey:]

I'm just gonna reply to one lil bit for now: prizes changing for people with forum accounts. This is something I have a very strong opinion about. Other fansites do this and I personally HATE this practice. I think that it encourages even more people to sign up and become inactive (so more usernames are taken that genuine people might want), and I also truly believe that Habbox is there to provide a service and something for the Habbo public to enjoy - not discriminate for our "members" who wouldn't actually be "members" in this case, just have inactive accounts.

I appreciate that, but similar to Ben's idea, is there something we could do to encourage people to sign up, AND become active, like he said.

Maybe over Habboxween there could be a competition with newly created forum accounts younger than a month, the most posts gets 100c, as well as something for the older generation that have been around for years.

[lawrawrrr]

I appreciate that, but similar to Ben's idea, is there something we could do to encourage people to sign up, AND become active, like he said.

Maybe over Habboxween there could be a competition with newly created forum accounts younger than a month, the most posts gets 100c, as well as something for the older generation that have been around for years.

Oh I 1000% agree with things like that! We've occasionally run referral comps in the last couple years which were pretty cool and I'd like to use MOTM and Newcomer a bit more, just hard to get them interested in posting sometimes :(


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Neversoft]

I THINK Mikey; is keen to bring that back :)

I think it encouraged some more engagement, just needs to be a little more frequent perhaps to make a bigger difference. Also hope it returns 'cause I finally managed to acquire a decent amount of tokens. :'(

[GoldenMerc]

skins isn't the problem

[Charlie]

Oh I 1000% agree with things like that! We've occasionally run referral comps in the last couple years which were pretty cool and I'd like to use MOTM and Newcomer a bit more, just hard to get them interested in posting sometimes :(


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I like the idea of a newcomer of the month or just competitions for newcomers in general so they've got some reason to stick around and continue to post.

Also, speaking of the events idea with forum accounts and usernames being taken. Maybe, if possible, we could have an empty out of accounts that haven't been on in x amount of years and clear up some usernames? I can't imagine that it'll boost activity but it'll free up some usernames for anyone who might come along and join us in the future.