Keep it on Skype. The Site is the Site, Skype is Skype don't intertwine them; You are only ruining the site.

This is the reason so many people have left so far. If you don't realize this then this is going to die, slowly and it will suffer through drama and friendships will be lost and things will only get worse.

I don't want this to happen and I will do whatever I can to prevent friends from turning into enemies.

So we all need to grow up and mature already.

Opinions are opinions and in situations like these they only sure enough cause trouble you just simply keep it too yourself, whether your on one side or the other's you gotta realize you only feeding the fire that's burning Gigantic tree branches.

Actually, thank you, Etz, because I was seriously thinking about posting my thoughts on this topic on here, and I will do so now, if you don't mind it. Keep in mind that this is purely my opinion that I've formed after observing some things.

1) Right after the "Epic Skype Group" was formed, I could see this site going down. Why? That's simple, because now, one had to be accepted into a group to have a higher possibility of "being someone" on the site, and he/she could no longer be an "average joe" looking for a good time on the site, because nine times out of ten, they would be left uninformed about certain things with the site. No, that doesn't mean that people can't make plots and keep them a secret, but it would be nice if something along the lines of "Secret things are going to be carried out, and they may be over your guys's heads, so please be patient and wait while things unfold, and maybe at some point, you guys can join in on the plot." Just an idea, because, lately, I've seen characters developing, but no major site plot yet.

2) Life happens. Life can suck drastically. But, try to leave it out of the site, since your life isn't the life of your character. Not saying that you can't make your character have a bad day when you are, as it may relieve stress, but please, leave the drama in your life out of the site. I should know, I made that mistake with Riko many a time and it no doubt annoyed a lot of people, but now, any drama I may portray is used as a climatic effect in Azumi's development and rarely has to do with my own life problems. Again, I mean no offense or disrespect to anyone by posting this, if I am overstepping a boundary, I apologize.

3) Staff to user interaction. And I don't mean by approving our stuff day in and day out. I know most to all of the staff is extremely busy at times, but if they could at least try to RP/ get to know some of the users that they aren't friends with ON THE SITE, as (Skype can come in later) it may help other guests who view the site to say, "Wow, the staff isn't really made up of demi-gods threatening us with hammers...they seem human and decent, so maybe I'll seriously give this a try." When I say RP with, I don't mean take it over the edge and kill the user you RP with, as that may scare people away.

4) Keeping those without Skype or IM in the loop. Not everyone has the luxury of IM, and if someone has a site event in the works that isn't a secret, tell all of the members about it, providing that this person has time to do so. After all, there is an "Update" section to this site. You may find that the more people who know about something, the more they are willing to get involved.

5) Patience. Yes, even I realize that some of the points I've mentioned may be being worked on, so I (myself included) would ask everyone to be patient with the staff/people addressing the issues. As I have already said, life happens.

6) Involvement. In truth, it isn't just Skype's fault that the site is pocked with holes that need filled, some of the blame also falls on us as users. I keep seeing everyone bitching (sorry, excuse that, I'm a little passionate when it comes to this point) that the site's dying, but I don't really see or hear of anyone caring enough to get together with other willing users to spread the word that we are still around. Grant it, plans do fall through, and there's nothing we can really do except for try, try again.

7) Encouragement. Don't just say, "We are the best KH RPG site on the web", but encourage others to check it out...and I mean really check this place out, but most of all encourage them to tell even more people about this place, because, who knows, someone may tell a lot of people and then they really start to come here.

8 ) Conclusion. As I have stated, these points are merely my opinion, and frankly, I would not have even bothered to type this up, unless I thought that maybe it might cause things to change a little around here. I understand that the site is still recovering, and therefore, I'm not blaming anyone (except for the hacker who started this mess) or putting him/her down because a recovering site will always, always have major to minor flaws. These points are merely my suggestions on what needs to be dealt with, and if some of those issues are being dealt with, then I for one will try my best to wait patiently for the change to come. Again, I have not intended to offend anyone or overstep my bounds; I am truly sorry if I did, but I am merely one person who finds this place to be amazing and wishes that it won't die.

well thank you Azumi for posting your thoughts, greatly appreciated

Well if you're talking to me; I'm talking about skype Drama which is killing the site and I'm saying to keep drama on skype if it starts there.

Kinda like conversations like this, where people say NOT to bring up drama here...and people end up doing it anyway....
This is why those who have that ability to lock posts...should. It prevents scream-a-thons which have happened before (and we all know it,) from happening before they can begin.

I didn't say you were causing anything, and I didn't say anything about you not expressing your opinions on this. I'm simply stating the fact that usually when people complain about people bickering on the site, it ends up doing the exact same thing.

Morph, as I said, I wasn't blaming anyone in or of the Skype group, actually, it's Yima who's doing exactly what I mean when it comes to:

Quote:

6) Involvement. In truth, it isn't just Skype's fault that the site is pocked with holes that need filled, some of the blame also falls on us as users. I keep seeing everyone bitching (sorry, excuse that, I'm a little passionate when it comes to this point) that the site's dying, but I don't really see or hear of anyone caring enough to get together with other willing users to spread the word that we are still around. Grant it, plans do fall through, and there's nothing we can really do except for try, try again.

Never said it was the Skype group as an entity...I merely meant that now the Skype group may cut off those in it from normal users who aren't in it, IF the ones in the Skype group aren't getting involved with the users, and that cut off can kill the site. I have nothing against anyone on this site or who is in the Skype group, but I feel that some things need to be changed as I have stated in my earlier post. It won't really matter how much we try to boost activity when no one seems to care, regardless of who they are or if they are in the Skype group. Again, I mean no disrespect or offense to whom it may concern, just clarifying my opinion.

_________________
Elements: Cure, Earth, Ink
Learning: Rose
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...very wise Azumi...
Users like to be included and talked to by vet members...that interaction can make them feel at home here and they'll feel the need to invite other people here as well. I think we need to make it a goal to be more user friendly...after all, it wouldn't hurt.
It wouldn't hurt to do a few more advertisements either, since I see about two or three from Azumi and one from Yima here on youtube. I mean, Zexion and Ventus went on a splurge of advertisements, and it immediately woke everything up. Perhaps if we become that dedicated with this place as they were, we can make the place grow in a similar mannerism?

Wow..Thank you Riko for taking your time to post your thoughts as a user. You have very good points there, but we ARE trying our best. As we all know, the Empire attack was done to spark as much activity as possible, so as to bring the site alive back again. I am rather pleased that the site finally received a topic that shines the awesomeness that is the past, even if it was a mere shadow. As for the life thing, positive thought can no doubt do wonders. The positive side of thinking can make you a lot more calmer, and life's daily issues can seem less..Troublesome, it CAN help deal with stress and I believe that if we all thought positively we can probably enjoy ourselves more on the site and flip out less often. And we never really did say "Fuck off, you can't join the ESG", at least not on the new site. In fact, I don't even believe the existence of the Epic Skype Group, all I feel it is are a bunch of users on the site, most of which are mods, co-admins and admins, along with vets, chatting together. We do have new users who did chat with us from time to time(Jotted Down, for example, although he DID disappear. Not to mention Volke.). To be honest, I don't think we actually talk about the site so much on Skype as we talk about other things, and as such, like Etzolix said, it is a SEPARATE community in itself, and it shouldn't actually affect this site like it did in the previous site. I second Xemnas' idea, we have tried to advertise and our plans have failed so far, but I believe that if we can organize an even bigger group of more dedicated members this time, we must be able to bring this site back to it's former glory.