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is bzpower dying?


squidmaster

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I definitely think the advent of social media is what killed it, assuming one can agree that is dead. I'm not sure when I started going inactive -- probably around the time G1 ended -- but what really made me forget about BZPower was getting on social media in 2013. On Facebook, I have found a vibrant Bionicle community, and I have little need for a forum because I like the format of Facebook better. This issue is compounded for people on multiple social media accounts. It eats up a lot of non-productive time, and thus the forum gets ignored as social media takes up an increasing amount of attention. 

Plus, when it comes to the internet, stuff just goes out of vogue. For example, I was a huge fan of Goodreads back in my high school years. But since then, people have moved on and none of my friends from there are active anymore. That said, there are still corners of the site where quiet conversation occurs, and the same applies to BZPower. In order for a community to be truly dead, it has to leave the minds and hearts of every living person, and I don't see that happening for a few decades. 

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It has been mentioned a couple times: BZPower won't be dead until every single person on the internet decides to leave.

 

(Clarification: On the site, not on the entire internet.)

 

People are coming back to voice their opinions on wether or not the site is dead, helping to recuperate the site in the process.

 

In any case, most people on this thread need a hug, or at least an emoji of one.

 

(I apologize that I'm unable to provide one at the moment.)

Edited by Downfall
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:smilematoro:

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I thought about this. If you think it is dead, why haven’t you left yet? Is there something here worth saving?

I'm only here to coordinate avatars with my girlfriend if we randomly decide to.

 

Otherwise, no, I finally accepted that there was nothing worth saving here anymore after having been the victim of hate speech because of my identity when I came out, after having had to stand through and deal with one of the worst meltdowns I can remember as upper staff in someone's attempt to bring everything down with them (while personally attacking me and my identity for no discernible reason during this), after having been the target of eyebrow-raising stalking as well as public and private harassment for no discernible reason either, and after realizing that there was nothing I could do alone to save a niche forum against the tide of internet culture. Even if people had been willing to help, there wouldn't be any significant changes either.

 

I know I'm being deliberately pessimistic here. If you can find something worth saving on a forum that struggles to bring in anything close to 50 posts a day, go ahead. And good luck.

 

In any case, most people on this thread need a hug, or at least an emoji of one.

After the people put me through here, yes, I could use one.

Edited by Windseeker
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I thought about this. If you think it is dead, why haven’t you left yet? Is there something here worth saving?

I'm only here to coordinate avatars with my girlfriend if we randomly decide to.

 

Otherwise, no, I finally accepted that there was nothing worth saving here anymore after having been the victim of hate speech because of my identity when I came out, after having had to stand through and deal with one of the worst meltdowns I can remember as upper staff in someone's attempt to bring everything down with them (while personally attacking me and my identity for no discernible reason during this), after having been the target of eyebrow-raising stalking as well as public and private harassment for no discernible reason either, and after realizing that there was nothing I could do alone to save a niche forum against the tide of internet culture. Even if people had been willing to help, there wouldn't be any significant changes either.

 

I know I'm being deliberately pessimistic here. If you can find something worth saving on a forum that struggles to bring in anything close to 50 posts a day, go ahead. And good luck.

 

In any case, most people on this thread need a hug, or at least an emoji of one.

After the ###### people put me through here, yes, I could use one.

 

After reading this, I feel sorry for you. Here are some hugs: 

 

Hugs-To-You-Glitter-Heart-Image.gif

 

I hope you feel better soon.

Edited by fox&rabbit
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Is it just me or have topics on this become a bit of a tradition since 2015?

 

Well, a forum can only stay busy for so long when its main subject matter has been dead for years (yes it came back, but not for long enough and perhaps not prominently enough to make much difference). Add in people moving on with their lives and interests as they get older and the established membership isn't going to be here forever (or at least not here in the same numbers or at the same rate they once were). And then there's the rise of social media that plenty has already been said about.

 

​Still, I think it's an accomplishment that we're still seeing at least some activity after so long; as Aanchir said that's better than some other Lego forums out there.

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Is it just me or have topics on this become a bit of a tradition since 2015?

Man, topics like this have been a tradition since at least 2010. :P

 

 

I remember concerns in about 2013, but they were mostly about drops in activity. It's only been in the last few years that people have been talking about the site dying, though maybe they just mean less activity rather than the site actually closing.

 

I remember 2010 to 12 as still solidly active, seeing as Bionicle had only ended recently and Hero Factory provided at least something new in the constraction world to talk about, whereas now we have pretty much nothing new at all.

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  • 1 month later...

 

BZP is a city compared to Mask of Destiny which is somehow still barely existing, so there's that

I still have no idea why they changed their website layout to such an ugly one. What is to be benefited from that?

 

zIFBoards (the forum software Mask of Destiny used) was acquired by Tapatalk, which discontinued the old forum software and made their own Tapatalk Groups service the default option for those site owners to convert to. The same thing happened to another Bionicle site I used to use — it was bewildering when I first checked back there.
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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm inclined to say yes, though looking at the main forum right now—1:45AM, my time—I can see three members active, two of whom (Phyoohrii and Planetperson) I recognize from the old days of BZP. I also see 361 guests online, though whether those are bots or actual humans I can't say. So maybe the forum's still got some juice in it! I've watched a lot of forums die and this one's doing pretty well compared to them, probably just because it used to be such a titan. Even if the titan is dead, there's still lots of meat for the flies to buzz around, y'know?

 

I agree with Akaku that consolidating the forums might be the way to go. Right now the main board gives the impression that things are really dead even though new posts are being made all the time, just because of how many greyed-out threads there are. If you consolidated things you might be able to downsize the remnants of a giant forum into a tiny, cozy place that caters primarily to the loyal community members who are still around.

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[..]

 

I agree with Akaku that consolidating the forums might be the way to go. Right now the main board gives the impression that things are really dead even though new posts are being made all the time, just because of how many greyed-out threads there are. If you consolidated things you might be able to downsize the remnants of a giant forum into a tiny, cozy place that caters primarily to the loyal community members who are still around.

 

That would be cool, Maybe keep the general categories but get rid of the sub-parts (e.g. the creative subforums: combine GA, Comics and Fan-Created Media. Games&Trivia should probably remain its own thing).

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nah. it died a long time ago.

 

This, no matter how many times people try to argue that it's just a different atmosphere. It's dead, y'all, and not even the Gay Agenda can save it now.

 

Have you tried putting chemicals in the water?

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Might be. We are far from the prime days. However I think it's normal. We are far from the prime days of Bionicle as well, considering it has ended.

 

I used to be active a lot back in the days. I started checking the forum back in 2002 and only joined a few years after that. I was mostly around for the Bionicle news, the storyline and theories as well as the Artwork forum. I used to run a comic serie there. I was also active on the Buy/Sell/Trade topic back then.

 

When Bionicle G1 ended, I stopped most of my activities, and when I completed my collectibles collection to a satifying extend, I stopped being active.

 

However, I always kept on checking the forum regulary and I still do, even tough I rarely post anymore.

 

I had a great time on Bzpower as a kid and as a teenager, and I'll always be a Bionicle fan, even tough I'm 24 now.

I'ld be sad to see the forum close for good, and I think we are far from that. I just don't have much time to be active here anymore.

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  • 2 months later...

 

Activity of course has dropped significantly since the old days, I can attest to that. Obviously the fact that Bionicle isn't around anymore doesn't help. 

 

I wouldn't call bzpower dead though, more like in a coma and on life support. I mean hey, the BZPRPG is still going somehow. 

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So long as Games and More, and Non-Lego Forums are alive, there will still be life here on BZPower.

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Almost sorry I joined so late, never did think to follow BZpower until after I graduated from university. I don't even know what I was thinking, perhaps drinking too much from the pool of nostalgia.
But it's nice to huddle around the the single source of fire from the cold, amongst fellow like-minded company, before it inevitably burns out.

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So long as we keep the flame of our fandom alive and keep telling Lego that we still want Bionicle to return one day it may. Maybe when we are parents or grandparents ourselves are children or grandchildren will ask us to buy then the new Bionicle sets. That is when we will know that our dedication to this theme was worth it. To see in there eyes what we had all those years ago.

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Hey I got a Flickr because I like making LEGO stuff.

https://www.flickr.com/people/toatimelord/
 

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I just love how the thread proposing that BZP is dying is seeing so many replies.

Quite an irony.

 

 

Although the lack of other topics with this many replies in at least this forum (other than the Twitch Tuesday topic) does perhaps still tell you something.

Edited by Sir Kohran
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BZPower is slowly dying because Bionicle has died, which is pretty much the short of it. I get that BZP has tried to broaden itself as just a "LEGO News/Forum Site" but it didn't work because its foundation is just too fixed on Bionicle. I doubt almost any fans came here because they were fans of other themes--Eurobricks is the place for that.

 

It doesn't make sense to me to blame fans for not being able to adapt. That's just not how fandom works. People came here because they liked Bionicle, and when there's no Bionicle to discuss there's just no realistic reason for them to stick around, even if the site tries to broaden its focus. If they're interested in Ninjago or any other franchise they're gonna go to where the majority (or at least where a hefty portion) of that fan base occupies.

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hug_by_ruloworld.gif Unbelievably, this site has weird, ridiculous emoticons like a smiley with an afro, and some weird paddling people, and rubber hammers, and mighty morphing smilies, but no hugs. So I had to resort to outside sources. I apologize for the delay.
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:smilematoro:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've gone into this in short form before, and given my ideas in other topics, but seeing as this will likely be my last post on this site, I think it's fair that I give my perspective on this issue once and for all.

 

BZPower is a forum website, that doubles as a news site for the Bionicle and Lego fandom. They have competitors, Eurobricks being the primary one. BZPower offers many unique services that other sites don't have, the primary of which I've noticed being the paid for blogs section and the premier membership that comes with that. You put down a little bit of money and then you get the ability to make a blog. As far as forums go that's pretty dang nifty. The more unique features a website has, the more it diversifies it's profile of interest, which then translates directly into staying power within the culture of the internet, stretching itself out over time and breaking out of the zeitgeist of it's inception. Unique features bring people back and allow them to have a sense of, well in a way "Replay-ability" to the website. In a world of social media that is restricted to small posts or comments, diversifying your POI (Profile of Interest) is essential to your survival.

 

BZP is an old platform, in 2022 BZPower will be 20 years old. That's pretty extraordinary for a forum website, the most of which fall to the wayside in far fewer years. Most forums I've been on don't have such a POI that they can withstand the test of time, or escape the great filter that is the Zeitgeist of the early 2000's internet. Most all other forums are doomed to a loss of interest because they are just that, forums. They don't offer anything for the main contributors, the members, to engage in. They have to rely upon user-created content and that is a well that is as deep as it's member base is. With BZP, the staff gave and do continue to give the member base things that they can engage in, instead of relying solely on that well of user generated content. In that, the member base is given time to generate new ideas, make new contributions and add on to what the staff give us to engage in.

 

In order to fully understand the position of BZPower in the context of the modern internet, we need to look at it's competitors and analyze their POIs. Let's look at two in particular, Reddit and Eurobricks. Reddit is less of a forum and more of an aggregate service, but in the sense of the Lego world, Reddit serves a great purpose. Look at the internet and it's general userbase like a finite resource. When one site comes along and does something better than another, it takes away attention from another website. Reddit's Lego subs are incredibly active, and with a quick glance it's hard to find posts more than 1 day old, and you have to search for them. So the Lego fanbase is there, but because of the way that Reddit is built, with a sleek, fast interface and a luxuriance of contributions across all sorts of other subreddits, it's hard for them to lose userbase. Their POI is vast in that the platform they have built is incredibly diverse in it's content.

 

Now let's look at Eurobricks, arguably BZPower's most prominent competitor and one more on par with what BZPower is as a site. Scant do I find a post without a recent reply. From what I can glean, while Eurobricks doesn't have a whole lot of unique features to add to their POI, they do have a lot of stringent content guidelines and are aimed at a much more mature audience. The people I see participating on Eurobricks are people who seriously consider Lego to be their primary hobby, and they juggle their offline lives with participating in that hobby. There is a level of commitment there, not to mention their scope. They look to and appeal to people the world over. While BZP has it's fair share of international members, I've yet to see them include that in their main scope. It's more of a bonus, instead of a primary goal, to bring in members from other countries and make them feel 100% welcome within the community.

 

There is also the BZP layout. The forums are slow, and i understand that from a server standpoint this isn't something that can be fixed without much more money coming in, but I feel like the loading times haven't changed since 2008 when I joined. In fact, I feel like they're slower than they have been before. As far as security is concerned, I can't speak for certain. I can however, say that the front page of BZPower hasn't been changed in the ten years I've been here. From my understanding, that front page has been the same for nearly all of BZP's existence. At this point in time, there's no way the software that front page is working on is secure in any way, shape or form. This is accentuated with what we've learned in public about how easy things are to breach. That front page is like a star-gate into the site's infrastructure. This is another limit on the site's longevity.

 

I do believe that BZP has a core userbase of enthusiasts for Lego that may keep the site limping along, but without increased diversification, adding features, upping the security so that attacks are less likely to happen, and making it so that the user base has more content to work off so that a well doesn't become a dearth, BZP's time on the internet is limited. Add onto that more stringent content policies that aim to increase the quality of content, and BZP could be revitalized still.

 

Now let me tell you why I think these things will never happen. I might as well get all my thoughts out here correct? I have a job, I have a wife and dog and apartment. Next year my sister is moving in with me to go to college and I've offered to pay for her to go. I own two cars that I maintain myself. I clean, cook and contribute to the household in many ways. I don't have the time to spend on Reddit, BZP, Eurobricks or even Facebook. A lot of the staff have even more hectic lives than I do. This would all have to come from their downtime, the time they use to relax and enjoy life. I can imagine that the staff of BZPower really do not genuinely want to give up their free time, however little or much they have.

 

I believe that without a full rehash of the site, gutting it and bringing it back, sinking hours into coding and hundreds into advertising, not to mention all that would have to be done to rebuild the userbase, that yes BZPower is dying. The platform of forums is dying. The internet Zeitgeist has moved on from large forums to social media and aggregate sites. Enthusiasts seek out enthusiasts and that unfortunately is Eurobricks, not BZPower. Eventually BZPower will draw it's final breath. When that will be, I can't say, but without a lot of serious effort, it's going to happen.

 

This has been probably my longest non-story post on this site. It serves as an omen, seeing as it's most likely my last. If this site is to become what it once was, it needs a lot of work. I think it can be done but not without willing staff.

 

See you space cowboy.

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  • 4 months later...

since nobody has posted anything here since my last quasi-quarterly checkin, i'm going to say yeah

 

this board alone used to get dozens of posts a day and now the front page has topics that no one has touched since february

 

we really had ourselves a time though, didn't we

man remember when no one would dream of making a forum site without signatures

 

 

that was tight

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

since nobody has posted anything here since my last quasi-quarterly checkin, i'm going to say yeah

 

this board alone used to get dozens of posts a day and now the front page has topics that no one has touched since february

 

we really had ourselves a time though, didn't we

In a rather odd way, I'm also starting to reluctantly agree with this sentiment.

 

Back in early 2013, just a few months after I had resumed activity, I really wanted to know all of the member rank names and images and numbers of posts for each of them, but since the admins refuse to ever tell us any of that, I decided to simply watch other members and write down all the titles and post numbers (and save the images) I could see. After about only a year, I was able to get everything up to around 10,000 posts and a good number of the higher ranks. Not long after that, all I had left to go was a gap in the 11,000s and the highest ones over 18,000, but now after a few more years, I've made almost no further progress (especially frustrating that I had only two ranks left to see in that middle gap before a certain member suddenly stopped visiting).

 

When I had started these observations of mine, I had thought for sure I would be able to get everything after only a few years without having to do tons of posting myself, but unless the admins change their mind, I'm now concerned that I'll never be able to figure out the complete list. I would dare say that if I had started my observations from scratch today, I would really struggle to ever get even half as much progress as I currently have, due to just how little activity there is left on this site.

Edited by Chronicler06

Formerly known as Takanuva's Symbol, I rejoined BZPower on October 10, 2012.

These days, I am perhaps best known for my obsession with all Lego video games.

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I do not think it is going to truly die, and neither is the strong fandom. Not with all the great things that have happened in recent years, with all the huge fan projects and undertakings we've taken. The Doronai Nui RPG, BIONICLE: Masks of Power, the short-lived but very well-playing Mata Nui Online Game 3D, aka the fan sequel to MNOG 2, the discovery, release and continous work on, to update and fix, BIONICLE: The Legend of Mata Nui, the release of Nathan Furst's BIONICLE Miramax movie trilogy scores and the potential live concerts of them in the future. We're not dying, we're not going away. Unity, Duty, Destiny.

 

And as one of the few of us remaining, I am one of the people hoping to see a continuation of specifically G1 one day. No matter what anyone says to me, that world need more... and that's why I joined many of the projects I listed above :)

Just a geeky guy trying to learn the craft of writing stories.

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the release of Nathan Furst's BIONICLE Miramax movie trilogy scores and the potential live concerts of them in the future

I can't see there being demand among the public for concerts. We're not talking about famous films, famous tunes, a particularly famous line or a particularly famous composer.

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I hope it's not dying, because I've been a BIONICLE fan for less than a year...

I think the quaintness of the fandom these days is nice, and it helps organization and goal-achieving in a way. To this day, it's still astonishing to me that something like the BMP exists, and it's left me wondering, why doesn't every fandom have this?

The BIONICLE fandom knows to care about its history, and that's beautiful. I'm doing my effort to frequent the boards, and constantly check what's left of the Reference for purchase advice. But this thing y'all have here is far beyond LEGO sets. It's worth treasuring.

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This forum may be dying, but there are plenty of Discord servers where the community has tangled themselves. It's much easier to find a sub community that you mesh well with there. Unfortunately, this forum is on it's last legs...

Indeed, someone looking over my shoulder at my computer as I explained the story of BZPower once commented that the forum was dying because we were all just talking on a Discord server. And while I think that's more correlation than causation, but maybe there's some amount of truth to it.

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