Our 3 year anniversary is in about a week or so, and the site turned 1 year a couple of weeks ago. Yea, time does fly by quickly. As I have stated in my past article, TBT Continues to Grow, we are growing, and will continue to go. In the life span of TBT we've had over 2,000 members grace us with their presence, and that's no easy feat on InvisionFree forums, and we should be thanking the ones who started it all. I mean look at this image. We are beating all of the Nintendo Forums, and both of the two top AC sites out there over the past month! Now that's a feat!
Traffic Details of the-bell-tree.com via alexa.com.
During the short time period of TBT being open in 2004, 31 members joined, and 4 of which are still with us today. Now in most people's mind, that is a horrible number of members staying, you need to remember all forums are like that. TBT was open to the public as of December 3rd, 2004, so not too many people could actually get here, also. Within the time period of 2005, we got to 577 members.
Now 2006 was an interesting year overall though. There was a lot of speculation of the forums dying, or stormcommander and Bulerias would give up. Obviously we now know today that they didn't. With the release the blog in the summer, that got us a good amount of members, and than the release of the official site brought in even more members. By the end of 2006, that number of 577 doubled to 1,258 members. Over the span of 2007 the number increased, and we are now at about 2,100 members. Since we are almost at the beginning of November, we have nearly 2 months left. Can we get 400 members in that span of 2 months? Personally, I'd be surprised if we did, but wouldn't be if we were close.
However a certain amount of members do not make a site...
The matter of the fact is that we aren't really close to a site, even though we have a domain and a site with excellent Gamers' Lounge content, that wasn't the point of the site. The community was founded off of Animal Crossing, and it should always keep its Animal Crossing roots. The staff hasn't forgotten that, and neither have I.
A symbol none of us will forget, as it has been the standing point of community at TBT.
Now why aren't we close to a site? Well the site is bare bones overall when it comes to AC content and has been for the past year. I know there are tons of great projects that'll amaze the heck out of the members but before those projects can begin we need to focus on the site. Storm really shouldn't have to do all the work, and I know I've said this before, and I've been a hypocrite over and over again, but we need to focus on the present day instead of the past. How can this be fixed? Obviously just we need to volunteer and do it. The majority of the forum is full of a lot of bright and intelligent people, and together we really can get something done.
Basically what I'm saying is that there are multiple things that can be done, and it'll really help the community and yourself. Basically the easiest thing that you can do is participate. Participation is the key factor of any event, or anything in general. Participate in Signature Contests and your Annual Holiday Competitions. It really couldn't get any easier. If you participate the staff will want to hold more events of this kind. Also if you sign up for something remember to stay active in it, and don't stop working because you don't feel like doing it.
Another way, as I mentioned is just volunteer and help out. While there are certain things you guys don't know about, there are always ways you can help out. For instance the Items Guide hasn't been worked on in months, and it was supposed to be done at the launch of the site. That's obviously not a good thing.
Helloooo? Where are our items?
Now if you think about it, once we get this little problem of ours done we'll be more like a site.
Just think of it like this. We're all friends, and will most likely always be friends. However there's a time and a place for fun. Now think of the position TBT is in. We're in a good one, but always shoot for the stars. TBT can become one of the biggest AC sites. ACC isn't the greatest community ever, and AXing is falling apart. Now is our chance, we just have to stop being lazy!
Traffic Details of the-bell-tree.com via alexa.com.
During the short time period of TBT being open in 2004, 31 members joined, and 4 of which are still with us today. Now in most people's mind, that is a horrible number of members staying, you need to remember all forums are like that. TBT was open to the public as of December 3rd, 2004, so not too many people could actually get here, also. Within the time period of 2005, we got to 577 members.
Now 2006 was an interesting year overall though. There was a lot of speculation of the forums dying, or stormcommander and Bulerias would give up. Obviously we now know today that they didn't. With the release the blog in the summer, that got us a good amount of members, and than the release of the official site brought in even more members. By the end of 2006, that number of 577 doubled to 1,258 members. Over the span of 2007 the number increased, and we are now at about 2,100 members. Since we are almost at the beginning of November, we have nearly 2 months left. Can we get 400 members in that span of 2 months? Personally, I'd be surprised if we did, but wouldn't be if we were close.
However a certain amount of members do not make a site...
The matter of the fact is that we aren't really close to a site, even though we have a domain and a site with excellent Gamers' Lounge content, that wasn't the point of the site. The community was founded off of Animal Crossing, and it should always keep its Animal Crossing roots. The staff hasn't forgotten that, and neither have I.
A symbol none of us will forget, as it has been the standing point of community at TBT.
Now why aren't we close to a site? Well the site is bare bones overall when it comes to AC content and has been for the past year. I know there are tons of great projects that'll amaze the heck out of the members but before those projects can begin we need to focus on the site. Storm really shouldn't have to do all the work, and I know I've said this before, and I've been a hypocrite over and over again, but we need to focus on the present day instead of the past. How can this be fixed? Obviously just we need to volunteer and do it. The majority of the forum is full of a lot of bright and intelligent people, and together we really can get something done.
Basically what I'm saying is that there are multiple things that can be done, and it'll really help the community and yourself. Basically the easiest thing that you can do is participate. Participation is the key factor of any event, or anything in general. Participate in Signature Contests and your Annual Holiday Competitions. It really couldn't get any easier. If you participate the staff will want to hold more events of this kind. Also if you sign up for something remember to stay active in it, and don't stop working because you don't feel like doing it.
Another way, as I mentioned is just volunteer and help out. While there are certain things you guys don't know about, there are always ways you can help out. For instance the Items Guide hasn't been worked on in months, and it was supposed to be done at the launch of the site. That's obviously not a good thing.
Helloooo? Where are our items?
Now if you think about it, once we get this little problem of ours done we'll be more like a site.
Just think of it like this. We're all friends, and will most likely always be friends. However there's a time and a place for fun. Now think of the position TBT is in. We're in a good one, but always shoot for the stars. TBT can become one of the biggest AC sites. ACC isn't the greatest community ever, and AXing is falling apart. Now is our chance, we just have to stop being lazy!
