living behind the facade of magic

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Turtlewax Joe

Guest
If Magic: the gathering ceases to be...will there still be a CPA? I mean we ARE the CASUAL players alliance so it shouldn't matter if the game is still in print should it?:confused:

T.J.:p
 
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Almindhra

Guest
Well, we have been accused *cough cough Spiderman cough* of not talking about Magic enough...And look at our Off Topic board and how many topics and posts there have been on here...I say we're going strong...
 
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arhar

Guest
For me, this is not about Magic anymore for a while now. I pretty much ran out of topics about Magic last year... I just value this place as a safe haven, to talk freely, about anything that comes up in my twisted mind :)
 
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Svenmonkey

Guest
Well I sure don't come here for the Magic stuff (stopped playing last year). I come here to gaze at the wonder of the Off Topic forum. :D
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Originally posted by Almindhra
Well, we have been accused *cough cough Spiderman cough* of not talking about Magic enough...And look at our Off Topic board and how many topics and posts there have been on here...I say we're going strong...
And it's true... what do Off-Topic and Magic have to do with each other? Nothing!

And I still think it's true, Gizmo mentioned in one of the Deck threads how everyone still interested in Magic seems to be migrating over to Brainburst.

And over the holidays, new threads in General Magic and Decks dropped so much that I no longer had to scroll down to see the rest! It's that bad! (and seeing how there's like three replies to threads in General from 3:30 PM to 8:30 AM EST, that's pretty lousy).

So frankly, if I ever got more time devoted to Magic and needed to get some ideas, I would say the CPA is no longer the place to get them.

I think it's pretty sad that the Off-Topic forum is more prevalent than Magic (and that's not saying much, most of the updated threads have maybe one reply during that same time frame mentioned above). Should it become the General forum and all Magic talk be "Off-Topic"? Should the site be renamed as "Casual Players Talk"?
 
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rkoelsch

Guest
I don't know what is going on. This is the first site I check after my email. I don't post much anymore because I almost never post in off topic. I am still going to check here first. Just hoping others come back as well.
 
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Hetemti

Guest
For Magic to cease to be, there'd have to be an end to the physical cards...so unless the WizCo stormtroopers come and shred them all, I doubt that casual play will end any time soon...and with Casual Players...
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I took it to mean that WOTC would stop printing new cards and we'd be stuck with what we have :) In which case, you'd probably see a cottage industry spring up where people are serious about making their own sets.
 
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Evan_Mann

Guest
If you wish to revitalize the MAgic talk around here, then I suggest that it is the admin's job to do something about it.

We need more articles.

Have more Magic biz. on the front page.

Have some deck and card design contests. Do something wierd. Put a call out for 15 card highlander-theme decks and post the 3 best on the front page.

Get other sites to link us, and put recipracle links back to them.

Have an article contest and call the winner our feature writer. After a couple of months, have another.

Make the site more exciting. Have pictures. Have a monthly write-up on a more popular member, a Q and A thing and post it.

Don't be afraid to shake things up a little.

Try to get more interviews. They don't have to be with celebrity-status Magic people...frankly any jerk will do...Magic fans on the net will read anything.

Get three of the CPA's best deck-builders and have people submit decks to them. Those three could then colaberate on an article on how to improve the deck. Post it on the front page. These could be sanctioned builds, or strange formats.

Get us more exposure. Send out dignataries to other boards and sites, and do the same in real life.

There...I'm crawling back under my rock now.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I think those are great ideas, although it recognizes that the current member pool is indeed stagnant and that we need new blood to get things going.

I unfortunately cannot devote the time to start those things up. I (barely) have enough time keeping up here.

About the articles, I don't think it's up to the admins to wrote those, it's up to the members. And just not a lot are writing and submitting here (who knows where else; I know Zadok was writing to Star City at one point).

We had several deck contests in the past and I get the impression they did not get an overwhelming response.

Links are not my call.

There's only so many "popular" members you can do write ups about; we'd probably run out in 6 months :)

Pictures are also not my call.

Personally, interviews with the average Joe are not that exciting - I'm not sure the amount of people willing to read them outweighs that.

Who's the best 3 CPA deck builders? :)

Just my views on them but as I said, good ideas to start.
 
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Darsh

Guest
...if this place had only magic related discussions I wouldn't be here...it's been a long time since I've ever played a game.
 
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Gizmo

Guest
Its been a long time since we welcomed any new members. When that happens it all accelerates downhill.

Either action is taken now to put the CPA back on the pages of Starcity, Brainburst etc and keep it there, or in three months this site is gone for good.

Personally if people need volunteers with time I can put my name forwards, but a strategy should be worked out before anything is done.
 

TomB

Administrator
Staff member
Originally posted by Gizmo
... but a strategy should be worked out before anything is done.
That would be your first mistake...lol:D

Seriously, working out a coherent strategy amongst our diverse membership base has proven in the past to be, umm, well, damn near impossible. We have way too many free-spirits here to even attempt that, unless perhaps WotC screws up and does something so bad that we ALL feel the need to complain about it at once.

Hopefully, that will never happen...

Originally posted by Gizmo
Either action is taken now to put the CPA back on the pages of Starcity, Brainburst etc and keep it there, or in three months this site is gone for good.
Please calm down Gizmo. We're not a commercial site, so it really doesn't matter just how much traffic occurs here - the CPA will live on as long as Mike (Ed Sullivan) is willing to let it live. The only action that should be considered to improve the chances for the longevity of the site is to make frequent contributions to the Mike Sullivan Foundation for wayward Flyers personnel...;)

Now, this is not to say that things couldn't be improved a bit around here. Article submissions are at an all-time low, judging from what I heard last week, and a continuance of slow/no updates to the Main Page will further our declining numbers of new members, and contribute to a loss of interest amongst the rest...

Obviously, these 2 circumstances are tied together people, so the first thing you should do if you want to help is to write an article and submit it for publication.

Any of you all up for that? :eek:
 
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Gizmo

Guest
I disagree TomB. This site will be here, but then my Team website still exists. The hit counter is frozen at 2600ish, but it's still there.

In case you havent noticed people are leaving and not coming back. The more people leave the more people are going to decide its not worth hanging around, and leave too. At the moment the only reason I am here is because I think there is a chance of turning this place back around.

If that chance is not going to be taken, then I too will be saying goodbye in the immediate future.
 

TomB

Administrator
Staff member
Originally posted by TomB
Article submissions are at an all-time low, so the first thing you should do if you want to help is to write an article and submit it for publication.

Any of you all up for that? :eek:
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Seriously, working out a coherent strategy amongst our diverse membership base has proven in the past to be, umm, well, damn near impossible. We have way too many free-spirits here to even attempt that, unless perhaps WotC screws up and does something so bad that we ALL feel the need to complain about it at once.
So... maybe it's just one of those majority type things? I mean, you can dislike it but still go here with whatever decision comes out...

Please calm down Gizmo. We're not a commercial site, so it really doesn't matter just how much traffic occurs here - the CPA will live on as long as Mike (Ed Sullivan) is willing to let it live.
Now, isn't that a faulty premise to being with? I mean, I appreciate what Ed has done with the whole site and all, but shouldn't it be greater than its members? In other words, if Ed decides to get out (and he's said he's thought about it in the past anyways), why should the site have to go down? If someone is willing to take on the burden of webmaster/coding/paying for upkeep, shouldn't that be allowed?

I remember Gizmo collecting deck names of yore to write an article.... did that ever happen? Or was it written but no one let the CPA know about it?
 

TomB

Administrator
Staff member
LOL! :D

Seriously though, Spidey, do you disagree with me sometimes just on principle? Or have you forgotten just how blasé the response was the last half-dozen or so times we tried to get the group together on an issue?

You have a short memory, my friend...;)

Oh, and I never said that taking the site over in the event Mike decides he doesn't want to do it anymore shouldn't be allowed. In fact, I don't recall ever using the word "allowed" even once in conversation about this subject, either here, or elsewhere.

Of course it should be allowed, though from a legal standpoint it would be Mike's decision whether to do it or not. And I'm not sure if we really have the people to do it - from a technical standpoint no one here is anywhere close to Mike's level of expertise.

And I didn't see anyone (myself included) shelling out any cash back a couple months ago when Mike had to bail the site out by repurchasing the domain name. You know that had to set him back at least $50, yet no one even offered to reimburse him the money.

You all have no idea how much we owe that guy, and I don't just mean the cash...

So yes, hopefully if he decides he can't do this any more Mike will be willing to turn the whole shebang over to someone else. But I think we're going to be in trouble if that ever happens.

And I still think that if more people wrote more Magic-orientated articles and submitted them for publication here, and you were able to update the CPA's main page more often with more homegrown topical material, our membership base would grow stronger. Remember back when Orgg did those interviews?

Our numbers got huge! :eek:
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Seriously though, Spidey, do you disagree with me sometimes just on principle? Or have you forgotten just how blasé the response was the last half-dozen or so times we tried to get the group together on an issue?

You have a short memory, my friend
My memory's bad, true enough, but it seemed at the time that we were looking for all members to agree on the issue, which is obviously impossible. I was merely saying sometimes you gotta bite the bullet and make a decision that the majority (whether it be 51/49 or 99/1) agrees with. And if the minority disagrees, I hate to say it, but that's too bad.

Regarding the website, I agree that no one has really offered to help out with the monetary issues (although I think TeamRegime did back when he tried to change our logo), myself included. But if you remember, I also thought the CPA didn't really need to form in the first place on the Dojo, which is why I'm not a Founding Father or was here since Day 1.

Some people do have websites up; whether they're capable of taking over this one is unknown. So I agree also that this site would be in trouble if Ed really lost interest in maintaining it.

And I still think that if more people wrote more Magic-orientated articles and submitted them for publication here, and you were able to update the CPA's main page more often with more homegrown topical material, our membership base would grow stronger. Remember back when Orgg did those interviews?
Articles might draw the player, but it's the forums that is its lifeblood and if they're "dying" (i.e. little Magic talk), what's to keep them here? Yeah, theorgg's interviews drew a lot of people. Where are they now? I bet if Ed did a purge of the database with all the duplicate aliases and onetime visits from at least over a year ago, that membership number would drop by two-thirds.

But as I said above, articles would be a start. The problem as everyone knows (especially you ;) ) is the time required to keep them up. Mikeymike had a well-received multiplayer one but hasn't submitted another. Zadok used to write for another site, as does rakso now. Duel has gone MIA. But if we had some stuff coming in regularly, I would love to update the front page every day with new stuff :)
 
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Rando

Guest
And I didn't see anyone (myself included) shelling out any cash back a couple months ago when Mike had to bail the site out by repurchasing the domain name. You know that had to set him back at least $50, yet no one even offered to reimburse him the money.
Not true.

I've offered to send him a check several times over the past (almost) 2 years, and he's never taken me up on it. I always figured he did not take me seriously.
 
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