A new beginning ….

[Dusty]

@Dusty thanks but I dont think me writing an article would be the best idea, my humour is far too sarcastic and I fear I would offend even the more clinical of you lot

Well, that's your opinion and we are our own worst critics. Knock something up, send it our way and we will give it a go.

I think you underestimate how sarcastic we can be. We are forum moderators.....

 

[Dup]

So I've had a bit of time to deliberate on my cynical approach to this "rebrand", mainly because I came to Montenegro because the economists of the world are saying it's a great place to be buying real estate, however so far I have seen nothing as venturing outside is like walking on the surface of Mars, so instead I sat around all day eating strange cakes, snoozing and watching Croatian TV, meaning I now cant sleep woo.

This needs to be a HUB, not a forum.

A forum is for people that need a team to play for, or because little timmy took apart his gun to feed the blow fish he thinks that powers it, to find that actually the 9v battery that powers his aqauarian friend was all rumour and he accidentally used the manual as toilet paper, so hes now stuck looking on youtube being told by another little timmy that it is infact not a blow fish at all, but a hamster!

We need videos, a second hand store that isn't a "for sale" forum, scores on the door from the major events, an upto date feed of gosports... I mean, they're live streaming and uploading paintball galore, and this needs to be the place people come to find it, not YouTube. There needs to be a banner with the latest news that hits you in the face when you log on, may that be a robbo inspired article, or little timmy showing us how to feed him hamster gun. A player roster, a team rating page, a technique learning page, the list goes on, but there needs to be more visuals rather than a bunch of writing (he writes ironically)

So yeah... big and bright!

 

[Dusty]

So I've had a bit of time to deliberate on my cynical approach to this "rebrand", mainly because I came to Montenegro because the economists of the world are saying it's a great place to be buying real estate, however so far I have seen nothing as venturing outside is like walking on the surface of Mars, so instead I sat around all day eating strange cakes, snoozing and watching Croatian TV, meaning I now cant sleep woo.

This needs to be a HUB, not a forum.

A forum is for people that need a team to play for, or because little timmy took apart his gun to feed the blow fish he thinks that powers it, to find that actually the 9v battery that powers his aqauarian friend was all rumour and he accidentally used the manual as toilet paper, so hes now stuck looking on youtube being told by another little timmy that it is infact not a blow fish at all, but a hamster!

We need videos, a second hand store that isn't a "for sale" forum, scores on the door from the major events, an upto date feed of gosports... I mean, they're live streaming and uploading paintball galore, and this needs to be the place people come to find it, not YouTube. There needs to be a banner with the latest news that hits you in the face when you log on, may that be a robbo inspired article, or little timmy showing us how to feed him hamster gun. A player roster, a team rating page, a technique learning page, the list goes on, but there needs to be more visuals rather than a bunch of writing (he writes ironically)

So yeah... big and bright!

You're along the same lines as what we are saying behind the scenes and i agree with your synopsis. I'd love for things to be the way they were way back when but it's not the same now, however I do believe forums still have a place in the world and no matter how paintball has changed, evolved or indeed devolved as a game the people are essentially what make it what it is. We would love to rekindle that sense of being part of a community and brother/sisterhood.

 

[Al Woods]

It's been great to be involved in helping with the rebirth of this place and what we've done so far is just the start... and it will change.

The forum design will change. Some things work, some don't and there are plenty other things we can add, all in good time. The colours will certainly change very soon; too many conflicting accents so we'll get that sorted out. Plus other design quirks that need ironing out.

As for the content. There will be a good mix of some old school stuff, but not the usual 'tell us about that time again... for the 100th time' but more insights that are relevant to the modern game AND some actual conversation points so this place comes back to life. There's a lot to talk about with the modern game, a lot of positives and actually a lot of negatives, but all of it is worth talking about and building on. I for one am curious about whether tournament paintball is as exciting for new players as it was when we first played. It will be very different, because we played during a growth period, whereas paintball has kind of plateaued at the moment.

But the success and growth of this place needs everyone to get involved, inside and out to bring new members in to light some fires.

And smack talk. We can't shout at refs anymore (although I do still have a little bad habit for that) and nobody really gives people **** on or off the field, so let's have some friendly banter on here. Call players and teams out, without escalating to ridiculous levels obviously, but let's have it! This is the stuff that makes paintball exciting. The conflict. The wins. The losses. The big moves.

Anyway, keep the feedback coming in and I'll pick up what I can on the design side and try to improve things. My Xenforo knowledge was zero before this, but I knew we needed something fresh, colourful that worked well on mobile as a key factor, which so far we're ticking the boxes on. But it will be even better quite quickly.

Ta! See y'all at CPPS.

And I may even start a smack talk post very soon. There are teams in D2 that we'd like to ruffle the feathers of.

 

[Missy-Q]

Paintball is cheaper now than it has ever been. In my opinion, the decline in Paintball has nothing to do with price. There have always been people who can afford it and people that can't. The issue is the falling age of the demographic, and reliance of those players, and the industry, on 3rd-party money

 

[Robbo]

One thing I'm sure of and that is, we ain't gonna get it right first time around - I don't much like using buzz-words but in this case, I'll make an exception.
The new forum will evolve organically - those evolutionary pressures will come from a multitude of sources beginning with the likes of Jim [Dusty], Bon, Al, Missy Q, our members and of course, our advertisers.
I'll be writing the odd article and doing interviews etc but I'm not going to be on the front-line of this forum and I do believe that's a good thing for many reasons.
We're never going to be able to reproduce the circumstances/personalities that allowed PGi and P8ntballer to thrive back in the day but that doesn't mean we have to abandon all the qualities/features that underwrote the magazine and forum.
I would like to see new writers climb on-board because it's important to have an egalitarian approach to content and it has to represent all of those who visit our forum.

I don't think forums have yet to attain the status of an anachronism but I do think we need to think very carefully about the way we develop which is why this thread [and others] will be closely scrutinised by all us mods and interested parties.

 

[Robbo]

Just a quick addendum:- I'm not on the front line of competitive paintball anymore and therefore I'm not really up to date with who's who but one of the main reasons PGi and
first-iteration P8ntballer.com was, we had personalities … and even better, some of those personalities contested both on the field and off.
Things got heated that's for sure ….
The pages of PGi and P8ntballer sometimes resembled The Sommes but it undoubtedly sparked and maintained interest.
I don't much like the thought of similar bloodbaths reappearing but it'd be good to see some faces emerging from the masses …. surely, contemporary players can't all be Methodist preachers …..

 

[Dup]

I highly doubt all people are Methodist preachers, but on a moderated forum where people are slightly averse to writing down their true feelings will prevent people doing such a thing as the above... that's what Twitter is for. Tell people that you're pissed of in 150 characters and watch all the likes come in for some self worth. It's a slight catch 22 sadly as the dream of what this place needs to be is aspects of all social media channels combined, but firstly making people aware it exists.

 

[Robbo]

I highly doubt all people are Methodist preachers …..

It's hard to believe you took me literally here …. :/


Anyhows, Dup - letting people know we exist has got to be a lot easier than keeping them here … A few FB mentions from people who know what's going on organically disseminates into our paintball fraternity.

And surely, if no single channel, FB or otherwise, is doing the job we set out to do then is that not in our favour ?

I always remember someone trying to discern the difference between quality and quantity by asking the following question:-

Which UK newspaper is the best?
[Yes, I realise it's ambiguous but bear with me please].

A lot of people might suggest the Times or Telegraph but if asked what's the most popular, their answers would be The Sun or Mirror or whatever ….

The difference in the two answers highlights people's priorities when choosing news/discussion channels but I'm kinda hoping there's a need for something more than tittle tattle.
I could be spectacularly wrong but hey, I've been wrong before …… [but not too many times ].

 

[Dup]

It's hard to believe you took me literally here ….

I didn't take it literally, figure of speech