Discussion: The Future Of Bzpower

[bioniclehero01]

What BZP should do' date=' is put more focus on the creative outlet. I recall, quite a while ago, it was promised that the Front Page would begin featuring MoCs, stories, everything from the creative outlet on a regular basis, to promote interest in those forums and get some creativity noticed. That is rarely done at all nowadays, for whatever reason, and that is a bigger asset than you may think. Many forums promote member creations regularly, from Sprite Comics to Drawings, to Music Videos to MoCs, and what that does is cross-promote discussion on the creative side of things. BZP should expand that and make it a regular occurence, maybe two creations a week.[/quote']I have to agree with this. The whole reason I even joined BZPower was it's creative forums. I had been visiting for years before joining simply because there was some epic that had caught my interest or a comedy I couldn't stop laughing at. And look at the BBC forum, some of those MOC's just outright amaze me. Now I'm not saying this will single handedly save BZPower from some inevitable internet doomsday, but honestly I believe this would be a big step in the right direction. I mean, look at the talent this site has already. I would love to see more emphasis, especially on the front page, for all the creative forums. Not only with the more frequent spotlights BZPower does, but maybe expanding on the Hot Topics list to have the top five topics for all the creative forums too. How this could be done with cluttering up the main page I have no idea, but it's a thought.

Maybe there should be a "group projects" forum?

I'm not sure about a forum exactly, but perhaps a single topic that could list out all the current group projects? I myself have had a large scale project in place for over a year now, but have found it quite frustrating to recruit the large amount of help I need to produce said project when the only promotion I can have is through my sig, which if most people are like me, they just ignores anyways. So perhaps a topic that lists all current and past projects, kind of like the archive topics that the library forum used to have? It would make it easier on those of us with projects but not enough results for a topic, and might spark more interest in group projects also.P.S. TO THE NUIMOBILE!!

Edited February 4, 2012 by The BIONICLE Hero

[Toa Zaz]

Wait, is everybody going off topic here? C'mon, i thought better about you guys.

http://www.bzpower.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/sarcastic.gif

Personally, i fear AND respect the staff. I fear because of the proto and i respect because i.... well, i don't know actually.

However, while some of the staff are actually pretty nice, most people from other forums would only see the evil robots(bad mods) on this sites(vocal minority, remember?), and as result, BZP gets a bad rap around them.

Also, the fact that you respect them all looks like forced optimism here(Not if I thought it....

http://www.bzpower.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/sarcastic.gif)

Inewahu

Furthermore proving my point. You don't see this kind of thing on other forums.

How many other forums are run by a bunch of guys who happened to be Bionicle nerds on the side? Which now is the most popular Bionicle fansite on the web and is still alive even though Bionicle is dead?BZP is unique. Lumping it in with other forums does it a disservice.

It's not the fan base that makes this forum "unique," it's the unnecessarily harsh staff. And not in a good way.

[Waffles]

They are not tyrants and they are not unnecessarily harsh. They are diligent and work for the best of BZPower.What is not unique is this incessant whining.

[fishers64]

Wait, is everybody going off topic here? C'mon, i thought better about you guys.

http://www.bzpower.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/sarcastic.gif

Personally, i fear AND respect the staff. I fear because of the proto and i respect because i.... well, i don't know actually.

However, while some of the staff are actually pretty nice, most people from other forums would only see the evil robots(bad mods) on this sites(vocal minority, remember?), and as result, BZP gets a bad rap around them.

Also, the fact that you respect them all looks like forced optimism here(Not if I thought it....

http://www.bzpower.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/sarcastic.gif)

Inewahu

Furthermore proving my point. You don't see this kind of thing on other forums.

How many other forums are run by a bunch of guys who happened to be Bionicle nerds on the side? Which now is the most popular Bionicle fansite on the web and is still alive even though Bionicle is dead?BZP is unique. Lumping it in with other forums does it a disservice.

It's not the fan base that makes this forum "unique," it's the unnecessarily harsh staff. And not in a good way.

There's a reason that the moderation hasn't changed around here. It's because most members like how the forum is moderated, and don't want it to change. If we want this unique and "unnessarily harsh" moderation, then I don't see what gives you the right to take it away from us. And if we wanted it to change, we would say so. There's a reason why the admins aren't flooded with angry PMs. I don't see a bunch of agreement posts to you in this topic. Can we agree to disagree and move on?

[dviddy]

Wait, is everybody going off topic here? C'mon, i thought better about you guys.

http://www.bzpower.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/sarcastic.gif

Personally, i fear AND respect the staff. I fear because of the proto and i respect because i.... well, i don't know actually.

However, while some of the staff are actually pretty nice, most people from other forums would only see the evil robots(bad mods) on this sites(vocal minority, remember?), and as result, BZP gets a bad rap around them.

Also, the fact that you respect them all looks like forced optimism here(Not if I thought it....

http://www.bzpower.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/sarcastic.gif)

Inewahu

Furthermore proving my point. You don't see this kind of thing on other forums.

How many other forums are run by a bunch of guys who happened to be Bionicle nerds on the side? Which now is the most popular Bionicle fansite on the web and is still alive even though Bionicle is dead?BZP is unique. Lumping it in with other forums does it a disservice.

It's not the fan base that makes this forum "unique," it's the unnecessarily harsh staff. And not in a good way.

You keep using that phrase. I do not think it means what you think it means. Edited February 5, 2012 by DeeVee

[Lord Kini Hawkeye]

If the staff were unneccessarily harsh Deev's here wouldn't have replied. He would've deleted your post.It the staff were unneccessarily harsh this topic wouldn't have lasted this long, especially with all the staff discussion.If the staff were unneccessarily harsh You, Zaz, would've been banned by now.You continue using these terms, "Forced Optimism" "Unneccessarily harsh," and i don't think you actually understand what they mean, for there are places with far, far worse Moderation. Just because you frequent sites that have more freedom than BZPower does not mean that the entirety of the internet is like that. I can guarantee that the Majority of the Forums you're comparing BZPower to, don't have a primarily 12-14 year old audience.just because BZPowers getting older, doesn't mean the majority age of it's members has changed.

[Alex Humva]

just because BZPowers getting older, doesn't mean the majority age of it's members has changed.

I have to disagree with this personally; during the upgrade a lot of people were lost but a lot of people that stayed, in my experience at least, were fifteen or older, and while I'm not sure about it, I don't think new members are coming in all too fast.The community has aged, and honestly I don't think that many have come in to replace it. Might be wrong, but it's just in my experience. Edited February 6, 2012 by Sweetroll Thief Alex Humva

[Waffles]

Humva's right. The reason young people were coming in was because BIONICLE was attracting new fans. The only way to get new members now is through non-BIONICLE sources. We're just a bunch of aging relics stagnating in pools of vapid nostalgia.

[dviddy]

just because BZPowers getting older, doesn't mean the majority age of it's members has changed.

I have to disagree with this personally; during the upgrade a lot of people were lost but a lot of people that stayed, in my experience at least, were fifteen or older, and while I'm not sure about it, I don't think new members are coming in all too fast.The community has aged, and honestly I don't think that many have come in to replace it. Might be wrong, but it's just in my experience.

The average age of BZP members has gotten younger. This is a fact. The average member now is younger than the average member was a year ago.

[CroMagnonMan]

The average age of BZP members has gotten younger. This is a fact. The average member now is younger than the average member was a year ago.

Er... how do you know? Did you do the math yourself, or what?~QMark

[fishers64]

The average age of BZP members has gotten younger. This is a fact. The average member now is younger than the average member was a year ago.

Er... how do you know? Did you do the math yourself, or what?~QMark

He is a staff member, and likely has access to board statistics. However, these are probably calculated using member's reported ages, and some people (like me), refuse to report their age. There are also members who skew their age for fun. Thus that "fact" is sketchy.

[Sumiki]

It's still more accurate than sheer guesswork, fishers.

[dviddy]

The average age of BZP members has gotten younger. This is a fact. The average member now is younger than the average member was a year ago.

Er... how do you know? Did you do the math yourself, or what?~QMark

He is a staff member, and likely has access to board statistics. However, these are probably calculated using member's reported ages, and some people (like me), refuse to report their age. There are also members who skew their age for fun. Thus that "fact" is sketchy.

People skew their age upwards, usually. So...

[Sir Kohran]

just because BZPowers getting older, doesn't mean the majority age of it's members has changed.

I have to disagree with this personally; during the upgrade a lot of people were lost but a lot of people that stayed, in my experience at least, were fifteen or older, and while I'm not sure about it, I don't think new members are coming in all too fast.The community has aged, and honestly I don't think that many have come in to replace it. Might be wrong, but it's just in my experience.

The average age of BZP members has gotten younger. This is a fact. The average member now is younger than the average member was a year ago.

DeeVee, I think Sweetroll's referring specifically to the average age of those currently active, whereas you're referring to the age of the total membership, regardless of their activity.The only explanation I can think of for why the average age of members is decreasing is that the kids who discovered Bionicle a few years ago are now just old enough to be discovering BZPower.

[Makaru]

You keep using that phrase. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Dear Deev,Please keep responding to this topic using Princess Bride quotes and references.Signed,Love.Kohran, I would argue that the 'inactive' community of BZPower (can that even be a thing?) only helps to prove his statement, as the inactive community does nothing but get older. At least, I think that makes sense.

[Toa Zaz]

If the staff were unneccessarily harsh Deev's here wouldn't have replied. He would've deleted your post.It the staff were unneccessarily harsh this topic wouldn't have lasted this long, especially with all the staff discussion.If the staff were unneccessarily harsh You, Zaz, would've been banned by now.You continue using these terms, "Forced Optimism" "Unneccessarily harsh," and i don't think you actually understand what they mean, for there are places with far, far worse Moderation. Just because you frequent sites that have more freedom than BZPower does not mean that the entirety of the internet is like that. I can guarantee that the Majority of the Forums you're comparing BZPower to, don't have a primarily 12-14 year old audience.just because BZPowers getting older, doesn't mean the majority age of it's members has changed.

Evidently you've never been to a single website outside of BZPower. Do you have any idea what goes on most forums? "Nice" here is "extremely and unnecessarily harsh" almost everywhere else. Too bad I can't prove it, due to the no-forum-links rule, which almost every other forum on the web doesn't have. Edited February 6, 2012 by Toa Zaz

[dviddy]

just because BZPowers getting older, doesn't mean the majority age of it's members has changed.

I have to disagree with this personally; during the upgrade a lot of people were lost but a lot of people that stayed, in my experience at least, were fifteen or older, and while I'm not sure about it, I don't think new members are coming in all too fast.The community has aged, and honestly I don't think that many have come in to replace it. Might be wrong, but it's just in my experience.

The average age of BZP members has gotten younger. This is a fact. The average member now is younger than the average member was a year ago.

DeeVee, I think Sweetroll's referring specifically to the average age of those currently active, whereas you're referring to the age of the total membership, regardless of their activity.The only explanation I can think of for why the average age of members is decreasing is that the kids who discovered Bionicle a few years ago are now just old enough to be discovering BZPower.

We're both talking about the average age of active members. Just because someone posts all over the place and is super popular and well-known is older, doesn't mean that the average active member is older. There are a lot of older high-profile members (I mean, hey, I'm 24, almost 25). But the average member age has just gone down and down and down the longer BZPower has been around. And that hasn't stopped because of the downtime. If anything, a lot of the older members who were only on BZP for friends left after the downtime, because there wasn't anything here for them anymore.Also to blame, as BZP has been online, it's become increasingly easy to access the Internet, and kids are growing up more tech-savvy than before, and kids are on the web a lot sooner than they were when BZP launched as REDimension.The average BZP active member is a lot younger than most of you assume. Guaranteed.

Evidently you've never been to a single website outside of BZPower. Do you have any idea what goes on most forums? "Nice" here is "extremely and unnecessarily harsh" almost everywhere else. Too bad I can't prove it, due to the no-forum-links rule, which almost every other forum on the web doesn't have.

I'm a member on at least 17 different messageboards, and I am active staff on at least 5 of them. I have been on boards where moderators take out personal slights on members, sites with almost no moderation, sites where the staff is lame and not fun at all, etc. BZP is not anywhere near as bad or "strict" as several other sites, and no, it's not as lenient as many other sites. To make us out as some big, crazy totalitarian agents of thought-policing is ridiculous, and no, you can't prove it, because it's not true. And you know it's not true. Hence the circular reasoning and the repetition.Newsflash: You can repeat something as often as you want. Repetition does not equal truth.If we were as you say we were, you would not be a member here anymore, considering how annoying and frustrating you have been in this topic (and others). If we took out every single member who disagreed with us, or forced some weird aura of positivity on everybody, you would long ago have been culled.But hey, you're still here, and you're still spewing your stuff, so hey, I guess we must not be too bad.

[Lord Kini Hawkeye]

Deevs replied better than I could have, especially in my current... overtired state.But i HAVE been to many a website outside of BZP. And I like BZP best. Why? Because the staff are Active. They're not too lenient, they're not too harsh. Granted there are some times where i feel that a closed topic or blog post didn't necessarily need closing, but oh well. Stuff happens.If your problem is with the rules and not the staff, than you needn't get angry with the staff. The no linking to forums is there for a reason, as is the word filter, as is the "ban" on political/religious discussion.If you like "Every other site on the internet" So much, why don't you go to "Every other site on the internet." Because you're still here there's obviously a reason why, but if all these other sites are so good, why do you keep whining about BZP's rules?

[Sir Kohran]

We're both talking about the average age of active members. Just because someone posts all over the place and is super popular and well-known is older' date=' doesn't mean that the [i']average active member[/i] is older.

How exactly are active members defined? Do you become officially inactive after not posting or logging in for a certain period of time?

But the average member age has just gone down and down and down the longer BZPower has been around.

If it's consistent with an overall trend, then it makes a bit more sense. The way you described it earlier ("than the average member was a year ago") sounded as though it was an abrupt and recent development.And as you said, it's due to the internet having become such a fundamental part of society over the last decade. In the earliest days of BZCommunity, the internet was mostly used by narrow interest groups and businesses; at this point, it's something kids are raised with.

[dviddy]

If it's consistent with an overall trend, then it makes a bit more sense. The way you described it earlier ("than the average member was a year ago") sounded as though it was an abrupt and recent development.

It's a consistent trend.

How exactly are active members defined? Do you become officially inactive after not posting or logging in for a certain period of time?

I don't know.

[fishers64]

just because BZPowers getting older, doesn't mean the majority age of it's members has changed.

I have to disagree with this personally; during the upgrade a lot of people were lost but a lot of people that stayed, in my experience at least, were fifteen or older, and while I'm not sure about it, I don't think new members are coming in all too fast.The community has aged, and honestly I don't think that many have come in to replace it. Might be wrong, but it's just in my experience.

The average age of BZP members has gotten younger. This is a fact. The average member now is younger than the average member was a year ago.

DeeVee, I think Sweetroll's referring specifically to the average age of those currently active, whereas you're referring to the age of the total membership, regardless of their activity.The only explanation I can think of for why the average age of members is decreasing is that the kids who discovered Bionicle a few years ago are now just old enough to be discovering BZPower.

We're both talking about the average age of active members. Just because someone posts all over the place and is super popular and well-known is older, doesn't mean that the average active member is older. There are a lot of older high-profile members (I mean, hey, I'm 24, almost 25). But the average member age has just gone down and down and down the longer BZPower has been around. And that hasn't stopped because of the downtime. If anything, a lot of the older members who were only on BZP for friends left after the downtime, because there wasn't anything here for them anymore.Also to blame, as BZP has been online, it's become increasingly easy to access the Internet, and kids are growing up more tech-savvy than before, and kids are on the web a lot sooner than they were when BZP launched as REDimension.The average BZP active member is a lot younger than most of you assume. Guaranteed.

It's also an arithmetic thing. Let's say I have 2 11 year olds and two 25 year olds on a website. The average age is 18. Add ten 14 year-olds to the stack, and it is 15. 162. However, fourteen-year-olds are what most of us would consider older. Also, if older people are on here, they are wiser in the ways of the Internet and are likelier to not report their ages.

[Canama]

Doesn't a gateway system kind of give you a best-of-all-worlds scenario? Allowing free linkage while at the same time halting embeds would keep BZPower clean but make it more open, for more traffic.Also, something I didn't mention in my previous post: I know why political and religious discussion is banned. Unfortunately, politics and religion are considered one block, often intertwined in some facets. I don't quite understand, though, why intelligent discussion of politics is halted. Before anyone says that intelligent discussion is impossible on BZP (and before you discuss politics in this topic - I do NOT want to be responsible for that) - take a look at this now-locked entry. I saw no flaming, and the beginnings of some intelligent discussion. Who says BZP isn't capable of it?Not sure if that would work on the forums, though.

Although this is a topic that must be dealt with very cautiosuly, I believe BZPower could open up for political discussion, too. I have the impression many people are afraid of politics because they grow up with their parents telling them things like "Stay clear of politics. It will only bring you into trouble." BZPower being a forum, which serves the purpose of conversation and interchange of opinions, I think we should not support this attitude.We should, however, take into consideration that not all people are ripe for political discussion. Under 14-year-olds use to understand little of politics, often not being interested in politics at all, or are too immature to lead a sensible debate. Until a certain age, children are biased by their parents' political beliefs and are easily tempted to start flaming. Since LEGO is mainly directed at children, we have many young members on the forums, but that does not mean older members should not be able to talk about politics with people from this community. Mature members will only stay on the forums if there are also mature topics to talk about.Remember BZPower is not only a forum, but also a community. I have often heard the argument: "If you want to talk about politics, look for another forum. BZPower is not the place for it." But some members want to talk about politics with other fellow BZPower members. And taking into consideration that there is a COT forum, I believe the argument stated above is not valid at all. Because if BZPower isn't the place for political discussions, it is not the place for any other kind of random, non-LEGO-related discussions either.My suggestion is to create a moderated forum for political discussion which could only be accessed by members whose age is over 15, for example. This is technically possible and would allow political discussions, while keeping them as controllable as possible.~Gata.

Okay, I just want to say that I love this idea. But why restrict it to politics? Why not create a general "Debate Forum" for civil discussion of any controversial issues?I have been on *other forums* that restrict discussion of this kind of thing to one board where there are strictly-enforced rules related to keeping it civil. It works well, mostly.EDIT: Should probably mention that I am aware this is an asinine pipe dream that will never happen and has, in fact, already been shot down.-Canama Edited February 7, 2012 by Canama

[fishers64]

Doesn't a gateway system kind of give you a best-of-all-worlds scenario? Allowing free linkage while at the same time halting embeds would keep BZPower clean but make it more open, for more traffic.Also, something I didn't mention in my previous post: I know why political and religious discussion is banned. Unfortunately, politics and religion are considered one block, often intertwined in some facets. I don't quite understand, though, why intelligent discussion of politics is halted. Before anyone says that intelligent discussion is impossible on BZP (and before you discuss politics in this topic - I do NOT want to be responsible for that) - take a look at this now-locked entry. I saw no flaming, and the beginnings of some intelligent discussion. Who says BZP isn't capable of it?Not sure if that would work on the forums, though.

Although this is a topic that must be dealt with very cautiosuly, I believe BZPower could open up for political discussion, too. I have the impression many people are afraid of politics because they grow up with their parents telling them things like "Stay clear of politics. It will only bring you into trouble." BZPower being a forum, which serves the purpose of conversation and interchange of opinions, I think we should not support this attitude.We should, however, take into consideration that not all people are ripe for political discussion. Under 14-year-olds use to understand little of politics, often not being interested in politics at all, or are too immature to lead a sensible debate. Until a certain age, children are biased by their parents' political beliefs and are easily tempted to start flaming. Since LEGO is mainly directed at children, we have many young members on the forums, but that does not mean older members should not be able to talk about politics with people from this community. Mature members will only stay on the forums if there are also mature topics to talk about.Remember BZPower is not only a forum, but also a community. I have often heard the argument: "If you want to talk about politics, look for another forum. BZPower is not the place for it." But some members want to talk about politics with other fellow BZPower members. And taking into consideration that there is a COT forum, I believe the argument stated above is not valid at all. Because if BZPower isn't the place for political discussions, it is not the place for any other kind of random, non-LEGO-related discussions either.My suggestion is to create a moderated forum for political discussion which could only be accessed by members whose age is over 15, for example. This is technically possible and would allow political discussions, while keeping them as controllable as possible.~Gata.

Okay, I just want to say that I love this idea. But why restrict it to politics? Why not create a general "Debate Forum" for civil discussion of any controversial issues?I have been on *other forums* that restrict discussion of this kind of thing to one board where there are strictly-enforced rules related to keeping it civil. It works well, mostly.-Canama

Sorry, it isn't going to happen here. If you look through this topic, you will find that the Head Hauncho Administrator (Black Six) posted in here and said no. So it is over, since he runs the show. Last I checked, anyway...

[Canama]

Sorry, it isn't going to happen here. If you look through this topic, you will find that the Head Hauncho Administrator (Black Six) posted in here and said no. So it is over, since he runs the show. Last I checked, anyway...

See the edit I made about a minute after the post was submitted. Already been acknowledged.AAAALSO,I really am indifferent as to whether this site becomes a general Lego fansite or stays focused on Bionicle. I'm not really into either anymore - I just stick around for the community.-Canama Edited February 7, 2012 by Canama

[InnerRayg]

I don't want politics here, because I remember back to when we had to create the rule in the first place. Moderation is fine and all but people were still just insulting each other. If you want to go somewhere where people can yell at you you based on what little letter you put next to your name when you vote, I promise you there's a list a mile long.

[Dralcax]

I don't actually mind anything happening to this site. If there's a landslide change, as long as the forums are here, then I'm just "Oh, okay" and go on with business as usual. Other forums are even worse, with everyone bashing you for being bad at a children's card game, for example.

[Reznas]

Okay, I know I haven't really been a part of this topic up until now, but after reading about 2 pages of posts, I thought that I should at least post my view on this. Now, some of the posts I've seen, have been just ridiculous. It's just amazing that someone would actually diss the staff like that, it's just plain ridiculous. You sit here debating about how strict and mean the staff are and yet look how much grace they have given to you. They could have closed this topic or took proto away from some of you by now, but they didn't. You know, if I were them, a lot of you already would have lost proto. I think the staff have done a wonderful job handling this and many things. Of course, the staff will make their mistakes, but so do you. They're not perfect, no one is. But it's very disrespectful to complain about the moderation being too "mean" or "strict". Now you're probably thinking that the staff are merciless when punishing and reprimanding people. But let me ask you something, what is a staff's job? If you can't answer that question, than you have no right to post what you already have. I don't see why anyone would find the staff to be rude or mean. I think that something I said in another topic would be supporting to my point:"I find no problem with BZP's moderation at all. Do you think the staff are too strict? If so, you've got to remember, if they weren't strict at all, BZP would be in chaos. No one would listen to the rules or do what they were told because they wouldn't be afraid of being punished. The BZP staff have to be balanced. They can't be extremely nice and merciful to everyone, or BZP wouldn't be under control. Although they are strict at times, if you really get to know them, they're actually really nice people. If you're breaking the rules or are getting warnings from the staff, it's not their fault for being strict. If you weren't reprimanded for your wrongs, you wouldn't learn anything. You have to think of the staff almost like your parents. When you do something wrong, your parents reprimand you, right? Yet they still love you and you love them. They reprimand you because they care. That's how the staff are. Just keep this in mind before you say that the moderation needs to be less strict. "I'm not trying to sound rude, but this is the truth. The staff deserve to be respected, and what a lot of you have already said is very disrespectful to the staff. I don't think that there could be a better moderation on BZP. I've gotten to know a lot of the staff and they're really nice people. But the problem is, a lot of you see the staff reprimand members and stuff like that, but don't get to know them. Thus you think of them as mean or strict people. I hope this makes sense.-Rez

Edited February 14, 2012 by Reznas Nuva

[Makaru]

But you don't understand. The reason this topic has lasted as long as it has, and why proto has not been deducted?Lulling you all into a false sense of security.And it is then that we will strike.It's on our to-do list, I swear

[Reznas]

But you don't understand. The reason this topic has lasted as long as it has, and why proto has not been deducted?Lulling you all into a false sense of security.And it is then that we will strike.It's on our to-do list, I swear

I'm glad to be on your side then. Sorry guys, but you're on your own. Anyways, since this would basically be considered spam, I probably should say something else and considering this topic is about the future of BZP, I should probably talk about the future of BZP, so...I think that in order to keep BZP active, it must focus a lot more on other LEGO themes. Less and less people are posting on the forums, and people are moving on. In a few years from now, people will have forgotten, at least most will (Minus us BZP folks who will never forget Bionicle ). Now, I'm not saying that BZPower should change it's name, or remove our Bionicle theme, but we should start focusing more on stuff like Hero Factory and other similar LEGO themes. That's just my view. Anyone have other ideas?-Rez

[InnerRayg]

It already pretty much does. We review sets from all lines, the toyfair news is all about the general lines coming out, artwork is now just general lego artwork. It's a definite trend.

[Ektris]

Hey guys? Can you do me a huuuuge favor?Shut up.What needs to change most is the constant, needless bickering. Seriously, it's annoying. This isn't the place for that and its cyclical nature leads to nowhere but bitterness and resentment. You're mad at the staff? Be mad. Vent all you want to yourself. But you really should stop attacking them and degrading them. Because they don't hate you. Now. But the more and more you push, the more and more they will come to hate you, and in some cases the more obvious their resentment will become in their posts. Too many pushes by numerous people who don't even know you and won't even get to know you and just go off of mindless hearsay (ie "this person did this mean thing once I was told, so he's a horrible, evil person"), and that staff member will very easily make mistakes he'll regret immensely. And now everyone suffers and nobody is happy.So there's that. Oh, and the main page needs updated rather badly. Pretty much all I actually want to see changed. Perhaps networking with other sites, to try and increase our active member populationg again, but that one's not as likely.~|ET|~

Edited February 15, 2012 by Electric Turahk

[Bambi]

But bickering is what makes this BZP!

[Death of the Endless]

I am actually still as much a BIONICLE fan as I was when I first joined BZP, but I can see that a great number of members have mostly moved on to Hero Factory or abandoned constraction lines entirely, and stay only for the community (or don't stay at all). I still hope, however, that it will be possible to keep BZP alive in the years to come.I agree that BZP needs a less BIONICLE-specific focus, but I don't think that we should do away with BIONICLE entirely. To make BIONICLE no more important on BZP than any LEGO line would effectively kill the site - just as much as taking it down entirely. In fact, it probably would lead to taking down the site entirely.Here are some ideas:1. Make the front page design less BIONICLE-specific. Perhaps a logo which features a scene with LEGO system minifigures as well as BIONICLE and Hero Factory characters would be a good idea? (I know this has already been mentioned, but I figured I would put it here to emphasize it.)2. Divide the forums into BIONICLE, Hero Factory, and System forums, which would each have Creative Outlets, Libraries, General Discussions, etc. I guess there should also be a separate forum for news talkback as well. If this system were used, then members could easily choose which line they wanted to spend time talking about. System-lovers would be able to avoid the other, more supposedly "childish" lines, BIONICLE-lovers would be able to avoid lines they hadn't come to BZP to talk about, and HF-lovers would be able to avoid the older, deceased line they didn't care about.3. Either increase the role of the Expanded Multiverse or create a new fanon project. The storyline hasn't updated in a while and I doubt it's going to start again any time soon. It probably won't ever continue again, actually. Greg F's time is taken up with raising his daughter - creating story for a deceased children's toy line isn't going to be as important. ( NOTE: I am in no way criticizing Greg here. Being a parent should obviously be a higher priority than writing BIONICLE stories, and I'd be horrified if it turned out that he was spending more or as much time on BIONICLE as on his child.) Anyway, a large fanon project which continued and/or supported the original story somehow would make people more likely to be interested in BIONICLE and spend time on the forums. I know this would take a great deal of time and effort, but if it was at all possible it might be worth the work behind it. (I actually may be attempting something similar soon.) It might even be a good idea to create a new website for the official content of this fan project which would be linked to on the BZP home page, to show that the project was large and/or professional enough to have its own separate site.

[Reznas]

But bickering is what makes this BZP!

If you think that bickering is what makes BZP, than you have a messed up view of what it is.

Hey guys? Can you do me a huuuuge favor?Shut up.What needs to change most is the constant, needless bickering. Seriously, it's annoying. This isn't the place for that and its cyclical nature leads to nowhere but bitterness and resentment. You're mad at the staff? Be mad. Vent all you want to yourself. But you really should stop attacking them and degrading them. Because they don't hate you. Now. But the more and more you push, the more and more they will come to hate you, and in some cases the more obvious their resentment will become in their posts. Too many pushes by numerous people who don't even know you and won't even get to know you and just go off of mindless hearsay (ie "this person did this mean thing once I was told, so he's a horrible, evil person"), and that staff member will very easily make mistakes he'll regret immensely. And now everyone suffers and nobody is happy.So there's that. Oh, and the main page needs updated rather badly. Pretty much all I actually want to see changed. Perhaps networking with other sites, to try and increase our active member populationg again, but that one's not as likely.~|ET|~

I totally agree with this. This better explains what I was saying, except in like 1 paragraph.

It already pretty much does. We review sets from all lines, the toyfair news is all about the general lines coming out, artwork is now just general lego artwork. It's a definite trend.

Actually, I was mainly saying that BZP should focus even more on LEGO than it already does. Not completely forgetting Bionicle, but definitely putting more focus on LEGO. In order to catch more LEGO fan's eyes, we're going to have to focus a little more on LEGO.

I agree that BZP needs a less BIONICLE-specific focus, but I don't think that we should do away with BIONICLE entirely. To make BIONICLE no more important on BZP than any LEGO line would effectively kill the site - just as much as taking it down entirely. In fact, it probably would lead to taking down the site entirely.

I never said that we should do away with Bionicle entirely. I simply said that BZP should focus a bit more on other LEGO Themes.-Rez

[Death of the Endless]

I agree that BZP needs a less BIONICLE-specific focus, but I don't think that we should do away with BIONICLE entirely. To make BIONICLE no more important on BZP than any LEGO line would effectively kill the site - just as much as taking it down entirely. In fact, it probably would lead to taking down the site entirely.

I never said that we should do away with Bionicle entirely. I simply said that BZP should focus a bit more on other LEGO Themes.-Rez

I didn't intend to imply that you were saying that we should do away with BIONICLE entirely, I just wanted to clarify what I was saying. I think a few people said we should just give up on BIONICLE and make BZP an entirely HF site, which is why I wanted to make sure that it was clear that I wasn't saying that.

[mfuss903]

Ok, let me jump in a bit here. I fully admit I have only skimmed over a few pages here, but I see some things popping up over and over. I will try to touch upon them since I am pretty much the only one here that had a hand in making these rules :)but first - let me just say I am amazed at the fact this place is still kicking. It really does make me feel good that I know I helped to lay the foundation that this site was built on.Ok, so the rules about linking to sites with forums. It was purely for two reasons.- Saftey for the younger members. We can police this site as much as we want (and I know I am saying "we" like I still have a role here lol) - but once you click on a link and go away from here we have no control. None of us wanted a little kid who is new to the net to click on some link and see stuff the parents would not be too happy with them seeing.- Power. I have no idea if anybody has admitted this in the history of BZP. but power had a LOT to do with it. If we could keep you on BZP we could keep you as an active member of BZP. Yes, you may stumble on another site on your own, and even like that site - but we were not going to draw you a map on how to get to another site. Back then it was a mad power rush to be the "biggest" Lego fan site. It was something we all took pride in. Like for me, I could go to Legoland and say "Hi, my name is Mark and I am mfuss903 and an admin on BZP, the largest and most active Lego fan site on the internet... now what do you have for me?". Now, those words were never said.. mainly because I never HAD to say them as they already knew it.I have seen Bricklink mentioned a few times here also. I was actually *the* one who put the lock down on Bionicle Legends "Bricklink". Do I feel bad about it? Eh.. lets say I can understand the views on both sides. But it really went back to the power thing. Bionicle Legends "Bricklink" did some stuff that really disrespected certain things and people and it was more of a retaliatory move than anything else. But it did fit the rules for it to be banned so it was. If the rule has been overturned I can understand that. But if you see the word "Bricklink" then it looks like the rule was overturned (not knowing how the new forum does its word replacement deal). (EDIT - looks like when you type the word out on its own it gets nuked, but putting it in quotes keeps it safe. I am going to use the former Admin card to get me out of jail on this here lol)Were we harsh? Yes. Yes we were. We needed to be back then. But keep in mind people still loved us and we only grew more and more with every passing day. Did it backfire on us sometimes? heck ya it did. Between all the hacks and attacks it was easy to see it hurt us. And most of them were banned members we had to come down on hard to keep what we had going, those who could not understand the fact that when you came to BZP you had to follow the rules of BZP and not just do whatever the heck you wanted to do. Again, dealing with kids who probably never had parents that said "no" to them and they reacted in a way you would expect these kids to react.Now - where is BZP going? Who knows. But I know it is still here and it is still an active site even with the long downtime. With BIONICLE a long gone line BZP has to change. Will BZP be a BIONICLE site first and foremost? Yes, I think it should. BIONICLE is the reason you are reading this right now so why try to shun it away? But I think BZP has done a good job at growing and fitting in to the current Lego needs and lines. heck, if there is a review for a 'girlie' set on the main page that shows more than anything BZP has grown up pretty well.I need to come back and read more of this thread at a point where it is not 1am..

Edited February 18, 2012 by mfuss903

[Sumiki]

- Power. I have no idea if anybody has admitted this in the history of BZP. but power had a LOT to do with it. If we could keep you on BZP we could keep you as an active member of BZP. Yes, you may stumble on another site on your own, and even like that site - but we were not going to draw you a map on how to get to another site. Back then it was a mad power rush to be the "biggest" Lego fan site. It was something we all took pride in. Like for me, I could go to Legoland and say "Hi, my name is Mark and I am mfuss903 and an admin on BZP, the largest and most active Lego fan site on the internet... now what do you have for me?". Now, those words were never said.. mainly because I never HAD to say them as they already knew it.

I can understand this, considering the Internet and its sites have grown and "matured" over the years. I can also understand taking pride in something you've spearheaded, especially in competition to other, rival sites. But doesn't this kind of lend itself to the argument that we should remove the rules that are unnecessary, the ones that are vestigial holdovers from a bygone online era? As far as I know, we, as a site, are not in competition with anyone ...(Also, welcome back Fuss. We missed you!)By the way, I can say Bricklink just fine, even without quotes.

[Aanchir]

Thanks so very much for your input, mfuss. You're remarkably forthright about this.While on one hand the "power" aspect of the advertising policy seems like a relic of a bygone era, it makes it a bit clearer why there has had to be so much deliberation about changing it. If BZPower weren't still worried about "power", then this topic wouldn't exist.The real annoyance, however, is that while the "power" aspect is flexible, the prohibited sites that cause members the most inconvenience are those where "safety" is the main concern-- sites like the ever-popular video hosting site which is prohibited on the basis of its unruly comments.The "safety" aspect is one I have been grateful for. Although I'm now a member of sites with less restrictive linking policies, and for a while I had retreated to those sites and left BZPower behind entirely, I always remembered BZPower as a safe haven on the internet. For a person as socially-awkward in real life as myself, BZPower provided an ideal setting in which to learn the basics of social interaction on the internet. It taught me what types of comments were appropriate and what types were not, how a person should treat admins and moderators, and of course how to respectfully interact with people whose age, personality, and social standing are hidden to you behind a glowing screen.Many of the things I did on BZPower before my departure (and thus, before the downtime) embarrass me greatly. I posted awful art and stories and shielded myself from constructive criticism behind shallow excuses. I made many kinds of embarrassing social faux pas. I ranted and argued, calling it "debate" and not realizing how much my anger and frustration fueled my arguments or how much of my life I wasted arguing about things that boiled down to personal preference.If I had done these things on other sites, I don't know how I would have survived the backlash. I'm very sensitive to criticism and insults, and soon flame wars could have broken out. But on BZPower, the staff and my fellow members were civil enough to guide me through situations and let me learn things at my own pace. Was I isolated? Sheltered? Yes, but the fact remains that once I was ready to enter other online communities I could recognize which of them were worth my time and which of them were simply not mature and civil enough to make me happy.So there's a bit of an enigma regarding the advertising policy. My own hope is that it can be smoothed out so it clarifies what sites are exceptions, like Flickr, Vimeo, or Bricklink. That, in my opinion, should be enough to maintain this "safety" aspect and let users post links without second-guessing themselves, but at the same time avoid shutting off the outside world completely.

[fishers64]

So there's a bit of an enigma regarding the advertising policy. My own hope is that it can be smoothed out so it clarifies what sites are exceptions, like Flickr, Vimeo, or Bricklink. That, in my opinion, should be enough to maintain this "safety" aspect and let users post links without second-guessing themselves, but at the same time avoid shutting off the outside world completely.

Rebrick is the ultimate gap in the current advertising policy, one that needs to be better publicized. If you can link it to Rebrick, you can post the link from there on here. See this topic.I haven't used it as much, mostly because I don't need to link to things that aren't images or other stuff on BZP, but just throwing that out there.

[Makaru]

oh snap its fuss this is going to the MATS