"Courage and perseverance are important if one is to run anything resembling a news organization...the folks at theOtaku.com have demonstrated themselves to have ample quantities of both."
~ TCJ (The Comics Journal)
"A couple years of experience in the Otaku circle have taught me at least one good lesson--to trust Adam."
~ myO member
"Adam is actually a decently accomplished troll."
~ Allamorph
"The scale of Adam's cunning genius is truly frightening."
~ TimeChaser
Here's the results of my moving the eCards link to the main header:
1/26/09 (one week ago): 74 eCards sent
2/2/09: 124 eCards sent
This represents a 67% increase.
However, last year on 2/2/08 we had 577 eCards sent.
So we're still off by quite a bit.
I'll keep watching it for a few more days. I might request a re-designed header with smaller text that can fit more links without going to sub-menus...
Also, I made a HUGE mistake today.
I was testing something related to the new feature and forgot to make it so that only I could see it.
The result is that for the entire day, if you were paying attention on the right page, you could have seen what the MONSTER feature was(!).
I'm so thankful no one noticed enough to take a screen shot and post it to the watercooler. That would've spoiled my entire week.
Here's another monster picture to distract you from my sloppiness:
Here's the harsh reality:
Pre-Version Vibrant people sent on average 500 eCards per day
Post-Version Vibrant, the number is less than 50
That's a 1000% difference, unacceptable, especially since the number of new Cards that come in every day is about the same or higher than before!
I have two possible theories...
(1) Maybe the fact that to get to Cards you have to go to Interact >> is throwing some people off. Maybe if we moved it to the main header then people would notice better
(2) Maybe I need to change the name to eCards to make it more clear that it's eCards and not CCG or TCG related
The old eCard site did have a better preview system and music, but those two might only explain 5-10% difference, not 1000%, something's seriously wrong.
Does anyone have any ideas?
What integral clue to this puzzle am I missing????????
I'm going to test my two theories and see if either of them changes anything.
Just a quick thought: Are avatars creative enough to have their own section on theOtaku?
Here are some pros and cons:
PROS:
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- A lot of people need avatars in the same way they need wallpapers
- There aren't many good/clean avatar websites. The only ones I've found are ugly and have way too many ads
- We can easily make an avatars site and plug it into our community
- I could make it easy for members to set their existing site avatar to one of the ones on the new site
CONS:
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- Do avatars take any creative ability at all? It seems like someone could make 100 per day really easily, by just cropping out screens
- We couldn't allow animated avatars because sizing them poses a problem
- They might be annoying to moderate and I don't even know what would constitute plagiarism for them
I don't know...
I'm way too busy with the MONSTER feature so this isn't an immediate priority but I'm curious to hear the community's thoughts.
Speaking of MONSTER feature:
Currently Playing:
No More Heroes and Gears of War 2
Looking Forward To (Immediate Future):
Street Fighter 4, Resident Evil 5, Star Ocean, Halo Wars
Looking Forward To (Far Future):
FF13, Star Craft 2, Diablo 3
Recently Sold:
Zelda Wii, Mario Kart DS, and Call Of Duty 4
What's your list?
An email I received tonight...
Dear Adam,
I got your mass 'theOtaku Misses You!!' message and I read in it that you are [one of] the fastest changing website online. Well I would like to inform you that this is the very reason I left. I was one of your original users. You were great when you actually cared about the anime. I was drawn to your site by the fact that at one point you had all of the outlaws from Cowboy Bebop listed along with amazing information about them and pictures. I couldn't believe that kind of dedication. It amazed me. Now you are just like any other site. I honestly do not like your site anymore and ment to get around to delete my accoulnt. Must have slipped my mind.
Good luck with your changes. I will not be enjoying them.
- Jessica
And my response...
You're certainly entitled to your opinions, but honestly this email was rude and devoid of anything constructive. Imagine if someone wrote the following comment on one of your art pieces:
Dear Jessica:
I saw your latest fan art and I read in the description that you're constantly innovating your style. Well I would like to inform you that this is the very reason I stopped visiting your portfolio. I was one of your original fans. You were great when you actually cared about the things you drew. I was drawn to your art by the fact that at one point, over five years ago, you had all of the outlaws from Cowboy Bebop sketched with amazing attention to detail. I couldn't believe that kind of dedication. It amazed me. Now you are just like any other artist. I honestly do not like your art anymore and ment to get around to delete my subscription to you. Must have slipped my mind.
Good luck with your artistic innovations. I will not be enjoying them.
I wonder how you would react in such a case...yes, please delete your account, I would be very upset to see your style of comments on any of our visitors' works.
A
These are the things I have to deal with @_@
