Cosplay and avatars would be nice.

I agree with whoever said to include food in the cosplay section. On new years eve, I made my first sushi roll and my family loved it. (they're a little weeaboo but hay they aren't too bad about it.) and I'd love to get into making more food stuff, like pretty bento. It'd be nice to get away from the drawing art on the main page. I'd love to help start the food one up..

Why a brother site?

A fanfic section (PLEASE, oh, how I miss the fanfics so ;w;), an avatar section (hugs+faves, the hole shebang), aaaand, that's basically all I ask for. Cosplays would be pretty cool, as well.

I guess it's okay for more hardcore anime fans...But I am barely considered an "anime fan" now and mostly come here for original works and the OCCASIONAL actual franchise thing. And even then it hasn't actually been anime related and more cartoon and stuff related. So I doubt I'd go to anything more hardcore.

But you're the creator dude, you can do whatcha want.

Basically, what Nehs and Kat said. And to add my own (somewhat short) thought: I would love a better medium for written word. Personal world posts ain't cuttin' it. There are a lot of talented writers on this site, and they want to share that talent with other users -- but we have no medium for it. Because we are so image-based, people with other talents don't have a sufficient outlet. Some section for fanwords or articles would be lovely. Publishing standards would be an issue to address, but frankly, I think you can be as stringent or free-for-all as you'd like, as long as we are working on making such a medium available to users. I want to see the written word promoted more than it is right now.

@Katana:

That is the whole reason to implement worlds onto the main site anyhow so that the userbase on MyO would join TheOtaku right?

Now that I think about it, I have a different opinion over all of this. I miss the old TheOtaku. Ever since chat came around I don't participate in anything else. (Except reading blog posts on friends' worlds.) It lost it's fun really. That's how OtakuBoards is for me. It lost it's fun atmosphere. I want some of that atmosphere back.

Cosplay section: I can understand why the cosplay section was removed. However if there was such a section, I would be a pretty active contributor for it. I have...six-seven cosplays and James has a crapload more. I am sure that there are several more that can contribute to it. (I have several guest posters on my cosplay world and I've seen a few other cosplay worlds floating around here as well.)

In the same sense, I'd like to see a convention type section possibly as well. Not necessarily how ACParadise does it but on a more intimate level. We could have members click on 'I'm attending' but there could be a review of it as well as a lot of pictures and journalistic photos. Those that are thinking of attending but are unsure can look at the photos posted as well as reviews/comments made on that convention page to see if it is really somewhere they wish to go.

I feel cosplay photography would contribute to the site. TheOtaku doesn't have to become another DeviantART, nor does it have to become another ACParadise or ACSnapshots. We can have our own unique flavor. We can impliment our current system of being approved first by moderators before being allowed to submit just any cosplay photo we take. (Same with cosplay) Also allow only up to 20 per day of cosplay photos. (Quality over quanity; perhaps higher limit like 30 for paid members?)

In another venture, I really would like more of a writing base of fanwords etc to come back. I miss that art form here. We could have more than just one-two people moderating it too to ease up on the load. I'd like to read more works and practice it myself.

Overall, I just think that this place needs something for the older demographics that are still here. Who knows, if things like these get implemented I might start going to TheOtaku.com first as opposed to going straight to chat or backroom.

@Katana:

"We could draw upon what already exists at theOtaku to supplement and promote them and maybe not have sections die like they have in the past." This I like.

@twilight samurai:

And that too. A whole new website just seems complicated and unnecessary, and let's be honest, if it's a brother to theOtaku, I imagine the bulk of its userbase will be from theOtaku. The features listed that rely on original content (reviews, cosplay, the mysterious etc.) can be done here, and if they were done on an already existing platform, I'd think they'd get better attention than at a new place. We could draw upon what already exists at theOtaku to supplement and promote them and maybe not have sections die like they have in the past.

I think adding a brother site would be too much work for too little return. Plus, I'm not sure I like the idea of going from one site to another just because this site offers this and that site offers that.
If anything, we could broaden what we do around here more. Nehszriah makes a great point about expanding our user base.

Of the choices you gave, I like the anime reviews suggestion - I think there are plenty of people here who would be able to provide a well written, well prepared review of anime. I'm not so sure about the encyclopedia part since there are other sites that provide such services already; this would seem like a redundant effort. Scans would be nice, I suppose, as well as cosplay.

Reviews! You used to have reviews on this site (because of one of them, "Solty Rei" is in my house), and I miss them! An encyclopedia would be good too. But I agree, you should add them here instead of going to a whole new site. Improve what's already here! ^^b

@Nehszriah:

This reflects my feelings 100% Thanks for putting into words what was running around inside my head!

@kittens 3:

The requests feature is a good idea. It can work in the same way as the Want It Now feature on eBay, except that money will not be involved at all (unless if one is asked to draw a money-related drawing).

If one really wants to involve profit in this, it would be for original characters only, to avoid legal issues with reproducing the drawings of other artists for profit without permission from the original artist.

@Nehszriah:

On the plus side, a sibling site could have the potential to draw people in?

Whatever happens, I ain't leaving this place. Feels like my internet home now. *hands cake to Adam*

@Kaerlyn:

That is awesome. :D We need to be able to do that with more people. All this flitting to and from sibling sites would defeat that purpose.

@Nehszriah:

Yeah, I've become comfy here too. I've been here for nearly five years now. Not as long as some people, but I think i've been pretty active during those years ^^

@Kaerlyn:

One of the things that gets me is that out of all the other websites I've been on, I've been on theO the longest and it is where I've been the most active. I'd love to see great things come out of this site, but every time it gets to branch out and stretch its limbs, things happen. =/ A brother site would just be another place to go to and tinker with for a while before my interest fades away and I slink back here. If this is home base, we might as well get comfy and put it all here.

...and no, we don't want to be like Gaia. XD

@Nehszriah:

I do remember the cosplay section, however I wasn't really interested in that part of the site. I used to browse the fan words. I think it is a shame they've faded away. I remember when theO turned into its current version that many people commented about the loss of cosplay, but I don't remember it being updated all that often.

On second thoughts, I agree with other peoples comments about how easy it would be to steal avatars from sites and then re-post them. Unfortunately they are too small to add a signature like wallpapers... Perhaps i'll keep posting them in my world instead.

I like theO how it is. I'm not sure how successful a brother site would be. Unless it had some new features that weren't in use elsewhere. If people already have a MAL account, would they need a second one over here?

What about a commissions feature? I know a good handful of artists asking for them. If actual money would be too difficult to handle then perhaps there could be a site themed currency? Although that is starting to sound too much like Gaia XD haha.

Since theOtaku is now oriented towards visual art, I suggest that the brother site would feature more news, reviews, and everything else that was covered by the Fan Words section (articles, guides, essays, fan fiction).

The submissions may still be connected with World posts, or it may also be separate submissions like the system for theOtaku Articles in the past. And like the old system, each news/review/fan word would have a brief description to give the prospective reader an idea of what to expect in the article. Through having that brief description, more people would be oriented to read the essays once it gets their interests.

To ensure that there would be more traffic than in the past, some other features related to writing may also be established. An encyclopedia can work, though I'm looking for something else since I don't think there's a need to create an online anime encyclopedia and because I believe that we should focus instead on expanding the online encyclopedias that are currently existing at the moment (e.g. ANN encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Wikia).

As for the other features you've suggested (scans, avatars, cosplay), I think it would be best if it's just part of the main site since they still involve visual art. Scans and avatars are problematic, though, since it invites problems for the site in terms of copyright infringement, and I know that this site is against that practice.

@Kaerlyn:

I don't know how long you've been around or how active you were during your stay here, but we did have a Cosplay section at one point as well as Articles/Fan Words that were guides and tutorials. There's a whole writing tutorial World over at The Writers Bloc that was kept up basically until it was realized that so few people benefited from it compared to those who could use it. I've personally written fan fiction, guides, tutorials, and news articles and was heartbroken when the Fan Words section was given the treatment it did. I get the feeling that people would submit and the traffic would exist if the section got the recognition it deserved through a more accepting demographic.

I like the idea of people writing tutorials/guides to things, things like this interest me as I enjoy learning how others make things.

I know many people like the idea of having a cosplay section, but I don't think the majority of people would contribute to it. Unless you add things such as food art or crafts which are more accessible.

Personally I really like the idea of having an avatar section. I think that would be fun!

What Nehs said is pretty much everything.

Just my own penny:
I've brought this up before when it comes to scans, icons, etc, but a major issue you're going to face with that is theft. It is so easy for people to raid LiveJournal and then later claim them as their own, and tracking down icons is a heckuva lot tougher than tracking down a drawing. Scans are basically the same way.

And others have brought up that services, arguably too many, already exist for MAL-type deals and encyclopedias. I don't really think it's necessary.

/edit I know I've mentioned this before, but some way to go on TheOtaku chat on an iPod or something, cuz when I can't be on my computer, that's when I need the entertainment of chat.

There's enough (almost too many) sites that post news, MAL, encyclopedia, scans and avatars.

I would enjoy a cosplay part though. I vaguely remember it. I want tutorials on how to make cosplay costumes, not just pictures of people in cosplay. Really, no one wants to see that unless it's an attractive person, their favorite character done WELL, or their friend. Tutorials, guides, SOME pictures (especially for guides) questions, comments, the whole thing. I just wouldn't want people whoring themselves everywhere on the cosplay part. I recently got a sewing machine too, and there's a surprising lack of help for me. I know there's a lot of skilled cosplayers here *coughlaura/japancough* but sometimes I just have too much to ask.

Thumbs up for Nehz's post, by the way. With the main people visiting the site, taking up the population, my idea may not work out, but man it'd sure be nice.

One thing more thing. A request thing. People can request wallpapers, avatars, fanart, all of that. I know we have the challenges, but some of them are just "draw my OC!!!!!! XD" and that'd be better for a request, not a challenge.. Also requests could be for finding images, or anime that fits certain criteria. (like "a horror mystery with fanservice" and someone suggests HOTD.) or like, people could render pictures. I guess my idea for requests is too covered by challenges though.. Thought I should throw it out there though!

Good ideas, but don't spread yourself too thin. With the demographic as it is, maybe you should try to find some way to make it slightly less appealing to "hot topic lolitas" and emos and just plain 12-16 ronery weeaboo/hipsters.

Sorry if I come across as too harsh, it's just my two cents.

News: we already have these; I for one don't check them too often but I can see where people are coming from.

Reviews: this is actually a great idea, though I suggest we attach it to TheO instead of having a separate site for it.

MAL type service: it's a pretty good service already so I'm not sure how many would prefer the TheO brother site instead. They're already organized and you'd have to have something extra to get people to go there instead of all the other places. Running a database type site is challenging already so I'm not sure what other section(s) you could attach to it.

Encyclopedia: same as above?

Scans: where we're standing, there're tons of scans submitted on Minitokyo and Animepaper so most of the ones posted here would be ripped (anticipating the wave of n00bs that will want attention).

Avatars: people who make avatars already have special Worlds dedicated to it and it's working out pretty well. Maybe have a list of said Worlds somewhere on TheO?

Cosplay: was already a part of TheO, why was it taken down anyway?

Edit: two thumbs up to Nehszriah's post, especially the second paragraph.

Bossman, I love the fact that you're trying your best here... but have you noticed that most of what is being proposed for this brother site, and what is being suggested, is stuff that we've either tried on theO before or stuff we currently have the capability of doing but we don't because of our main demographic? I would love to see Cosplay come back, and a proper Articles section where we have news and encyclopedic pieces (I remember the pre-grey site where the hubs had anime summaries) and even fan fiction stories (to combat the traditional drop in overall quality, you could have a core of proven "official" writers to write the "published" stuff and then let everyone else submit to the "unpublished" stuff). An avatar section would be interesting, as well as the myAL thing and whatnot... but I see problems.

Right now, theOtaku doesn't do these things because of our core demographic being a bunch of dramariffic and overly-sensitive thirteen-to sixteen-year-old girls and/or people who act as such. These people tend to not want to do things such as read or work hard on costumes or work hard on writing something that they want to have published... or frankly work hard on anything other than being gossipy and catty (there's always exceptions, as I am constantly reminded in the guise of one of my dearest friends, but I am talking about the overall). You already have the makings of an awesome and hardcore anime/fandom website, but you rely too much on a single demographic for it to happen. I think that if you did more to try to diversify the userbase, it would do wonders for this site as a whole, the staying ability of users, and your ability to introduce new sections and features without having to propose a new brother site. (If you do attempt a broad demographic, I'd love to know your methodology to see what it is that it not quite clicking with the outer demographics. This is me being honest and frank, and not being judgmental or anything; I want to help.)

I love being here, Adam, I really do. You and anyone else can see by the cupcake by my username and the age of my account. I've been here long enough to have seen things come and go, and I used to be part of that demographic I mentioned in the last paragraph. Not many of us older folks stay because we grow out of this site and the periphery demographic ability is not here. We like cupcakes and Spikey-kun and silly comics about our friends' expies having adventures, but we're more than that. You don't need a brother site to build this other stuff, but what you could do is believe in us and try to expand our base so we have the opportunity to support it again. This place shouldn't be weeaboo!tumblr without the reblogging feature; we can do great as long as we put some effort into it.

Come on... we were able to meet your demands when it came to comments. That is an untapped power waiting to be harnessed and you know it.

Anime reviews for sure and maybe some encyclopedia type things would be helpful.

Avatars.
Cosplay.
Anime Reviews.

Anime Reviews would be one I'd prefer the most.

I think cosplay would be best, you don't tend to see them here.

cosplay
Roleplaying
Avatars
Fanfictions
ect ect

Cosplay and Avatars definitely. I've always wished though, that theO had an official fanfiction section, since that's more my area of 'fanworks'.

News and reviews please!

A list of animes/mangas we like and recommendations? Sometimes, I run out of mangas to read, so that would be nice. ^^