Forums Let's talk about the Forums

LW

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Hello Freedom! Family, I'm LW and the new Freedom! Forums Administrator!

Let's talk a bit about the Future of the Forums. Please read through the whole thread, I will show you what I will be working on to help you grow your channels!

★ How I see the Forums
I have for a long time seen the Forums as a great place to help aspiring creators learn about and grow on YouTube, whether that be through deep discussions about new YouTube Features, getting direct Feedback on their channels and even promoting their content.
I believe that Forums like these are vital for creators who want to start out and learn what to do as well as find others sharing the same passion for creating content.

I myself came here when I had my small YouTube channel and found help and inspirations and great people to talk to. It helped me find motivation for growing my channel and helping others which is definitely what I want to preserve.

★ The Future of the Forums

Now let's not hide that there has not been much happening around here for a fair amount of time. A lot of creators had a hard time finding motivation after new YouTube rules and a bunch of our members and Forum Team went on with their lives.
I've been watching over the Forums quietly for a while and now have decided to take matters into my own hands.

I am planning to bring this site back to its former glory to turn it into a place that can help you grow your channel and find interesting people to collaborate with.

For that I will need your help: Let me know what you would like to see from the Forums and what you would be interested in!

My current plans are to:
  • Create ways for streamers to promote their channels as they go live
  • Let you share your content in ways people (and search engines) can discover it
  • Bring back the FFF, Newsletter and introduce some new series
  • Let you get Feedback on your channel and direct advice on what to improve (as I've been doing over on Discord)
  • Reward your interesting Discussions and Forum Activity (Member of the Month? o_O)
  • Give you resources to improve your content
  • And A LOT more...
I am actually meaning this. I really want to help you grow and make this Forum a great place! If you have any comments, suggestions, ideas, requests, etc. either reply to this thread or send me a message here and I will consider it, no matter how impossible it may sound.
My goal is to listen to your requests and do what's best for the community!

Thank you so much for reading through my ramblings, let's grow together!
~ LW

Also a quick shoutout to @George for giving me the opportunity to help the Forums become a great place again!
 

LW

Community Manager
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Apr 2, 2016
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lw_001
I was thinking if there are any plans to bring the Credits Store back or will there be any other uses for Credits other than creating new threads in Promote Yourself!? It would be nice to see more things to spend these Credits on again :)
I was thinking of that as well but it's really hard to find great rewards and products to buy, I also think credits are a great system to reward people and really want to bring the store back, do you have ideas what you would like to use them on?

I was thinking of giving out some exclusive resources and promotion spots as well as some cosmetic Forum features like the custom titles or profile customizations to let you stand out, I won't be forgetting about them ;)
 

LW

Community Manager
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Apr 2, 2016
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Sounds good xD It has been quiet here, but I've kept an eye on it every now and then. Congrats on Admin @LW001!!! What you've got planned sounds great. I look fowards to seeing the forums improve!

p.s any chance my username can be updated? I go by "J," now xD
You see there is a reason I haven't dropped the 001 yet and that reason is the 3 character minimum, I feel ya... If you have a 3+ letter name idea let me know ;)
 

Anthony Smith

Believe it or not, I believe in you!
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Hey,

You There, you with the shiny red badge, I see you, I see what you're up to!! I'm happy for you and hope that you succeed in all you have planned. At some point I'd even like to have a call with you to plot world domin..... err plans, make plans...
 

finegamingconnoisseur

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May 18, 2017
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I think part of the reason why the forums isn't as active as we would like is because of the disparate groups of people that have little or nothing in common apart from the fact that we are part of Freedom!

I've been a part of the Mortal Online forums (and now its sequel) for almost as long as I've been in Freedom! The people who use those forums almost always have something to discuss about, with threads that go into the dozens of pages long. It is because of our common like for the game for which the forum was built for, that we seem to keep coming back to it, sometimes multiple times a day.

But not only that, it is because the people that have played the same game together, may also develop friendships in real-life. When one of them pass away, and a number of them have over the years, the community remembers and mourns for them. The names of those who have passed on are memorialised by placing tombstones in the graveyards of in-game towns.

We don't always agree in the same things all the time, and at times the discussion can turn into heated arguments, insults and the in-game politics sometimes spill out into the forum discussions (and vice versa). However, our love for the game transcends our differences and we continue to build the community in our own ways, adding our own personalities and content into the mix. Outsiders often remark how tightly knit our community is, and newcomers are often inducted and welcomed into our fold by numerous different longstanding veterans.

Even though I know a few people here at the Freedom! forums, it is not the same as the tightknit group that exists in the Mortal Online 1 and 2 forums. I believe that if we are to revitalise the Freedom! forums, we could take a page or two from the community spirit that exists in the forums I've just described.

Thank you for reading. :) -finegamingconnoisseur
 
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LW

Community Manager
Administrator
Moderator
Freedom! Member
Apr 2, 2016
3,045
1,251
21
Vienna, Austria
twitter.com
YouTube
lw_001
I think part of the reason why the forums isn't as active as we would like is because of the disparate groups of people that have little or nothing in common apart from the fact that we are part of Freedom!

I've been a part of the Mortal Online forums (and now its sequel) for almost as long as I've been in Freedom! The people who use those forums almost always have something to discuss about, with threads that go into the dozens of pages long. It is because of our common like for the game for which the forum was built for, that we seem to keep coming back to it, sometimes multiple times a day.

But not only that, it is because the people that have played the same game together, may also develop friendships in real-life. When one of them pass away, and a number of them have over the years, the community remembers and mourns for them. The names of those who have passed on are memorialised by placing tombstones in the graveyards of in-game towns.

We don't always agree in the same things all the time, and at times the discussion can turn into heated arguments, insults and the in-game politics sometimes spill out into the forum discussions (and vice versa). However, our love for the game transcends our differences and we continue to build the community in our own ways, adding our own personalities and content into the mix. Outsiders often remark how tightly knit our community is, and newcomers are often inducted and welcomed into our fold by numerous different longstanding veterans.

Even though I know a few people here at the Freedom! forums, it is not the same as the tightknit group that exists in the Mortal Online 1 and 2 forums. I believe that if we are to revitalise the Freedom! forums, we could take a page or two from the community spirit that exists in the forums I've just described.

Thank you for reading. :) -finegamingconnoisseur
You are so right. I always understood the motto as "growing your channel as a small YouTuber" which entails getting advice and talking to others about the struggles you're facing but that no longer applies to some of our older members and as you mentioned might just be very broad.

What do you think? Is this motto in general the problem or is it just not communicated well enough? A community like the one you described would of course be my dream, what do you recommend we focus on? What would you like to see?
 

finegamingconnoisseur

Active Member
Freedom! Member
May 18, 2017
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You are so right. I always understood the motto as "growing your channel as a small YouTuber" which entails getting advice and talking to others about the struggles you're facing but that no longer applies to some of our older members and as you mentioned might just be very broad.

What do you think? Is this motto in general the problem or is it just not communicated well enough? A community like the one you described would of course be my dream, what do you recommend we focus on? What would you like to see?
I remember some years back George said something about playing WoW together as a guild made up of Freedom! members. I can't remember how that panned out, or if it even went ahead. It was just too long ago that I no longer recall the exact details.

I think if we can find a MMORPG that we all can enjoy and play together, it might unify us on a deeper level. One that is free to play with an optional monthly sub like EVE Online, though I can understand if the game isn't everyone's cup of tea. I currently have an advanced battleship that can solo just about anything except the hardest enemies, so if the community is keen I can fly along and act as the protector while new players learn the ropes.

Maybe we can open the floor here to anyone who may have suggestions on what MMORPG we might be able to all hop into and play together to build that community spirit? :)