Check me out.

T

train

Guest
along what spidey said - is there a reason you don't join the CPA clan online?...
 
N

Notepad

Guest
Actually, the question I have is--Why not Star City or PlayorDraw? This article is much more fitting for a tournament info site, but why not send it to one with a huge reader base to reach the most new drafters possible?

Then again, Card Shark is probably a good choice, in that their readers are new to tournaments, unlike the SCG or PoD/BB ones who are wannabee-pros and just flame everything in the forums.
 
I

Istanbul

Guest
You pretty much answered your own question there, SeFRo.
 
N

Notepad

Guest
So now that I can read your mind, you'd better send those submarine parts, or else I'll tell everyone here about what really was in that special pot roast you sent to the CPA folks for Thanksgiving!
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
This may turn into a bigger CPA issue, but so is this a Catch-22? No one wants to post their "serious" articles here because of the lack of people we have here, yet we're never going to get lots of people here because we don't have articles to draw them here?
 
N

Notepad

Guest
I don't think its the serious articles that find other homes, but the tourney articles. If I hadn't have been a sellout for PoD, I'd still send my casual articles here, and my tourney-ish articles to SCG so they could rejected them.

In my opinion, people come to the CPA to look up casual issues, or to find an insect deck or whatnot. If they're looking for tournament stuff, they're likely over at Brainburst or SCG.

Readers here definitely aren't "clueless" which is what I think might be the case for Cardshark. Not to say they're stupid of anything, but if they're going anywhere other than BB or SCG for tourney info, they're pretty clueless. So, Isty, knowing beginning draft players would be the clueless type, he sent his article to the right place. Or, that's how I evaluate the situation.

As for the catch-22 of nbody coming because there's no articles. I think the solution is a lot of people here are lazy, and they need to be motivated by special "Kick to the Sack" program. One easy step and I get you up and ready to work hard...or just send you doubled-over to the floor. (this paragraph is cynicism, really). I know most folks aren't lazy...they're just scared/daunted/confused by the whole notion of actually writing something.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I think it's more that not enough people are here to write anyway; I mean, there's only about 10 people or less that post regularly now. That's not a lot of motivation to write an article :)

But it used to be all sorts of people came here. Gizmo and another Brit who is big in the tourney world used to visit here. Aaron Forsythe checked in a couple of times. Probably other names came in. And the articles is probably what drew some of them...

Oh well. Like I said, I think it's a bigger overall issue, but I don't think people want to face the facts yet (although it seems like the people who last fought any proposed changes last time are pretty much gone now, so maybe now the changes can take place).
 
N

Notepad

Guest
What fact is that? And what changes are you talking about?
 
D

Doombringer

Guest
I would try my hand at writing an article, except i've got no topic to write about. Its either that or i don't know enough about any of the good topics to write about them:D

I had an idea of two sorta stupid teenagers doing a bad job of making a documentory about a magic creature, but i don't have enough good ideas to make a full story about them.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
The "facts" is that this place is still slowly dying. Like I said, we have about less than 10 active posters daily, maybe we get up to 15 if we count weekly. No one has really talked about anything new... like previous patterns, no one has really talked about 5th Dawn, either casually or otherwise.

Changes were proposed about 2 years ago now? to make the CPA a general gaming site, not just Magic, and allow other gaming articles on the front page. A fellow named Rando was all gung-ho about starting such articles, but the majority of users at the time vetoed it in CPA/Magic Issues forum. Now, I think most of them are gone and depending on the sentiment of the current active crowd, those changes could undergo another vote and perhaps make it through. However, I don't even see interest in general gaming now, so that is probably moot.

Basically, as a person who logs on daily for 8 straight hours for 5 days a week, I see this site limping or coasting along without any real direction or purpose.
 
D

Doombringer

Guest
make a side theme outa halo! I could post all day about that and im not kidding. I even have a neat idea for a fan fiction about halo.
 

Killer Joe

New member
what CAN an average Joe DO to spice it up here? I'll admit that my articles are far and few in between and probably not THAT interesting but as John Rizzo used to say, "Everybody has a story to tell, none are too small or too big." I'm not the best writer but I AM doing something instead of nothing.

Whatelse can anyone do? I always try to promote this site wherever I go and play and sometimes folks log on and sometimes and they don't. There must've been about a dozen folks I have brought here but none have stayed, save Mindy, sorta.

I think "Word of Mouth" is the best action! To everyone, anytime you correspond with anyone on the internet about Magic either chat rooms or e-mail just put in your sig space put a link to here. you know the address:
http://www.casualplayers.org

Heck, we should even be glad "Pain the arse" newbs should visit here.

Not to brag, but I brought in one of thee most dynamic personalities this site has ever seen: DUke
And yes, no one liked him back then (or even now for that matter) but this place was BUZZIN'! He couldn't type two words without ticking off practically the whole membership at that time. WHEW! Them were SOMMMMMMME days back then, but at least there were memorable.

[shut up Mark, you're pissin' people off]

Maybe.
 
N

Notepad

Guest
As to content change: I've flip-flopped in the past when the topic was discussed, but now, with some thought, I'd say the site would be better off with general game content. Not expand into all games (like InQuest) but rather all the CCG and CMG content (like Scrye). It could fit with the "casual player" thing, since we aren't named "Play or Draw" or something. I'm expanding into Vs. and LotR, and I still play from time to time Jyhad/VtES, so I could easily do articles on those subjects. Especially Vs, which I must say is one awesome game.

As to the facts of slipping writing/membership: Yeah, I noticed that too, which is why I've started "Participate NOW!" to help encourage folks to write. The next one should prove at least somewhat enticing. Trust me. ;) Getting people to post here is a matter of drawing attention to the site, which means more articles. There is also a barrier to joining the forums in that the article responses are totally separate from the forums. All the other sites have the article responses as a component of the forums, which encourages new visitors to check out the forums.

My two cents...
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
KJ: You're doing fine. You're definitely not a problem ;)

SeFRo:
There is also a barrier to joining the forums in that the article responses are totally separate from the forums
If other sites are doing that, perhaps we ought to also. I know getting people to the Community Forums seems to be a stretch for them once they finish with the front page articles for some reason... I don't know if Ed is planning to do an update to the site anytime soon or if this is a relatively easy change... maybe it should go in Suggestions.
 
N

Notepad

Guest
Another thing that is a major barrier and turn-off is the delay in moderation for a article reply post to appear. A person may reply hoping for a discussion, and have to wait until the next morning when Spidey can moderate it and approve it.

By then they've forgotten all about it, or gotten ticked off. The moderation is a good thing, but it would be better to have a redirect to the forums (like Star City) where things can be moderated quicker.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
True, that can go away if the whole thing is modified.

However, I check the reply queue throughout the day when I'm here. It's only when I'm not that it carries over to the next day (and there's not that many replies, generally).
 
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