@allonline;

Hey guys!

I'm gonna try to keep this as short as possible to avoid confusion :)

We've run into a major snag here, which is called being human and not machines! There's just no time for Wishie to do what needs doing for a V Day event, as well as producing the CIs. CK and myself can't manage on our own, so rather than give you guys a shoddy Valentine's event, we're shaking things up instead!

We're going to turn Valentine's Day into a recruitment drive! Show Menewsha some love! :heart:
We're not sure quite what we're going to do yet! But we have to do something. Things can't carry on as they are because Wishie can't cope. We need another pixelist, and we can't have one of those unless we have the money to pay them. Which we do not have so we need more users so that donations increase.

We can't afford to advertise, so we're going to use whatever other means we can think of, and rope you guys in to help! It will benefit all of you, after all!

1. You help get us new people
2. Donations increase
3. We finally break even, or *gasp* start to turn a profit
4. We have money to spend on stuff i.e. pixels and shiny new features!

AND, we'd get back the stuff we've had to cut right back on, like fun little events and giveaways for things like CNY and so on, which we just can't do now because we can only manage the barest minimum these days.

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We going to have a bunch of stickies for ya, probably in a subforum off the GD like events always used to be. If our brains provide us with the inspiration then a lot of the threads will have contests that involve something to do with recruitment. One idea is already partially developed, and that's gonna be a lot of fun, I can tell you! xD

We're going to try and have an event item for you, even if it's just the one, but there's not going to be a store update. There definitely is going to be a chance to win some pretty amazing rares for very little outlay though, and who knows what else :O it should be a whole load of fun!

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If anyone's got any nifty suggestions for recruitment that don't cost any money, then please do tell us about them! The more people who offer input, the more great ideas we'll be able to utilise to draw more people in!

I'm going to leave a post spare under this one for suggestions, actually!

Oh, I almost forgot! Don't suggest things that need coding, like clever stuff for referrals or anything, no coding is possible right now :)

Our referral links

Your referral link is the very first thing that you see when you visit your My Account tab on your dashboard

[URL="PASTE YOUR REFERRAL LINK HERE"][img]http://www.menewsha.com/img/24237/ff24b76b74d53f2f0d38375531a876cd.jpg[/img][/URL]

[URL="PASTE YOUR REFERRAL LINK HERE"][img]http://www.menewsha.com/img/24237/680f210533ab9f13779c5b53878facd5.jpg[/img][/URL]

[URL="PASTE YOUR REFERRAL LINK HERE"][img]http://www.menewsha.com/img/24237/e4756ea271ac0dba12434cf1fc735364.jpg[/img][/URL]

[URL="PASTE YOUR REFERRAL LINK HERE"][img]http://www.menewsha.com/img/24237/961fa6ca7ea6cf20d187fcdec5d4caff.jpg[/img][/URL]

[URL="PASTE YOUR REFERRAL LINK HERE"][img]http://www.menewsha.com/img/24237/53b5f2fc9ad97a29ac176ed42d1e5b10.jpg[/img][/URL]

Nifty recruitment suggestions!
and possibly other stuff too!

If I keep up with this level of responding to suggestions it will be a miracle! :lol:

Paprika makes suggestions regarding referrals, that would need code though, so it a no can do right now. Starter items we've always said an absolute no to, I have got an alternative in progress with that, which I talked about here:

Originally Posted by jellysundae

I have every intention of creating a Thrift Shop account, that will work exactly like a thrift shop; people will give items to it and they will be resold very cheap. That I intend to live in a sticky in FM, because it will get lost otherwise. I'm fully aware that people on here WILL abuse it. Users with plenty of gold and items will buy stuff from it to either keep or sellback, because people are greedy, but the intent for this account is to give new users somewhere to get something better than a ragged shirt for their 50 gold first thread bonus.
Whether this account survives or fails will be a nice social experiment, and a pretty clear indication of the true greed levels of some of our users.

This suggestion is relevant to new users of course, but it's for once they're here, we gotta get them through the door first xD Then convince them to stay! But hopefully it will be a little thing that people will like. I don't like starter clothes, not just because I don't like handouts, or the sense of entitlement that so many people have these days. I want a person's first item on Menewsha to be something they actually want, and that isn't the same as every other new user. Look on the thrift shop as our twist on starter clothes.

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Chi makes a pretty radical suggestion here =O She's right that people would hate this :lol: Though those with the cash to spend might jump at the chance.
The main issue with this is it wouldn't be sustainable, what Mene needs is a permanent increase in cashflow, something like this would only be good for a limited, one-off thing. So it might bring a few hundred dollars in once, but it couldn't be used for much more than that or it would irrepairably damage the gold value of the items that were sold.

Do we have a referral box on the signup page? Are there cute little buttons that we can use to link places that will have a referral from our account right in the URL somehow so when the user signs up to the site it gives an auto referral?

That way you can designate gold or a prize for users referring people (don't do too high of a count if its going to be a prize based on # of referrals because that'll suck for a lot of people! Its hard getting recruits.)

If you had buttons we could put on websites or referral links we can use that would be great. :)


Also possibly giving newbies a set amount of gold when they sign up this way to pick a few clothes out might help as well. Or maybe make a male/female starter set, just make it super simple and possibly with items that already exist in the store?

We have a referral link, it's in your user CP, it just doesn't benefit you in any way, apart from bringing in people who might donate and that benefitting the whole site in the end. But there's no direct gain for the referree.

We don't have a proper pretty button though, there's bannery things, somewhere, though they're old and I've no idea how valid they are now. You'd need to hyperlink them yourself though.

Let me go see if I can find them...

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DOH! I go dig up the thread the referral banners are in, go to start saving them, and find I've got them saved already :oops: I HATE that! Why can't I remember when I've been all organised :headdesk:

I'm undoubtedly going to get flamed for this, but here goes...

Menewsha has lost a lot across the past several months, and now it sounds like the situation has gotten quite a bit worse. What you've announced is more than understandable. One pixelist can't handle it all, and another can't be hired without additional funding. Same goes for coding. Money is the bottom line, and there isn't enough of it. It's hard, and you and CK can only do so much. You've always had brilliant ideas that could never come to full fruition because of money. So what happens if the situation doesn't change?

If it's do or die, what about releasing some of the site rares for sale? 2007s, SNGs, things that are harder to obtain. If the price is high enough, it might help. I know it makes people cringe, though.

There is nothing to do here. Unless you have friends and threads to chat in, there's nothing. For a lot of users, chatting isn't enough. The games are boring after several weeks of playing. We have nothing interactive, and that isn't anyone's fault that there isn't money to get more. It just feels like the site is pinned. It can't grow without more money, but it might not be able to hold new user interest without there being more activity. It's difficult to think of things that could entice people here with the site as it is.

If I win the lottery anytime soon, I'll send a chunk along. I hate how money is the bottom line.

There are creative people on the site, so maybe someone is willing to pixel for free, or for items in exchange? There's gotta be someone around who would pixel some event rares for some V-Day 2007 items. Users might be unhappy with that, but it would mean they get an event...

Hang in there guys!

@Chi

this is a request thread and not a site feedback thread.
Please post this in another forum. :)

Kasakir, Chi used to be an AA, I think she knows what she can post here :)

Chi it's not that the situation has got worse, rather that it's not got any better. It's been like this for nearly a year now, now we can beat around the bush, or just carry on basically killing ourselves to get stuff done, or we can be proactive and try and remedy the situation.

Everything you say is absolutely true, obviously you've seen it very clearly from both sides of the fence, and the financial situation is no different now to what it was when you were an AA. We could just let things carry on, and completely crush the souls of the AAs and Wishie alike, but we're fighters and we're not ones for lying down and taking it. So we're gonna do what we can to get ourselves some more people in :yes:

I've mentioned numerous times, in different forums, that if any of the users have got any pixel skills they should get in touch, no-one has so far. I have intents of making a new avie edits thread and paying close attention in that, but my to-do list never gets any shorter :lol:


Especially when I do dumb shit like accidentally shut down a tab when I was in the middle of editing referral links into the second post :headdesk:

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Yes! I managed to get them all posted successfully this time :lol:

Excuse me if I don't make sense - woke up with the worst headache of my life this morning - finally stopped throbbing three hours later.....I make sense to myself at least....

I know many users have deviantart accounts - everyone can post in their journals to try to get their followers to join through a referral link. And any gaia people could really try to get their friends to jump ship as well (that's how I joined anyway - all my friends left gaia for mene back in 07 and so I followed). EDIT2: I just posted a journal on my DA....I told them to join and see how it is and then spread the word if they love it. And I also said I'd give them an item or some gold to help them out if they did :) (incentive! XDDD) Not many active people follow me on there but we'll see if I help at all...

Honestly, I know we don't like it but starter clothes would help keep members here I feel. Give everyone a special shirt or something if they join in the next month...kinda like the georgia shirts that were given away if you went to the convention. EDIT: that's probably a bad suggestion - creating a new item when you aren't able to create new items (sorry I'm sorting through this headache XD)

College students - print mene flyers and leave them around college campuses on benches, tables, etc.

Utilize youtube? Someone could create mene videos/slideshows and just post them up on youtube...that way we can just link videos on different sites....cheap advertisement.....XD

EDIT3:
Is there a city where a lot of menewshans live in particularly? A flashmob promotion might be kind of cool....

I do pixel dolls but I am no where near good enough to do it for sale items. Otherwise I would help. I will practice my skills and if they improve I would gladly help out. I do know several other sites pay pixelists with curency for the site. they keep it disclosed between the staff and those who are doing the work. And they seem to have gotten a lot of help that way.

Originally Posted by Maria-Minamino

Give everyone a special shirt or something if they join in the next month...kinda like the georgia shirts that were given away if you went to the convention. EDIT: that's probably a bad suggestion - creating a new item when you aren't able to create new items (sorry I'm sorting through this headache XD)

:lol: You inspired me to photo-shop the snot out of the Female Welcome Tee.

It looks... not too good. I rushed through it, though.

Originally Posted by Apricot

:lol: You inspired me to photo-shop the snot out of the Female Welcome Tee.

It looks... not too good. I rushed through it, though.

Something like that would be SO cute...and a cool way to kick off a recruitment drive. ;) You did a great job for "rushing through it" XD :D I love the choice of teal/turqoise!

hummy ♥'s it!
*coughs up some goldies to buy it*

Ohh I like it in blues as well. :)

I love that bright turquoise, gotta say :yes:

I WILL get a new sticky going in Art Post or wherever, for people to post their pixels, and I'll critique as best I can. Probably absolutely not tonight, as I'm about to go to sleep, but hopefully when I wake up!

Go sleep jelly - you've done enough for tonight :) This thread will get everyone thinking already and hopefully you'll wake up to a bunch of awesome suggestions!

I second what Maria said; take care, Jellybean! 8D

i wish i had some talent, i'd love to help.
i think i remember someone saying we had a facebook promotion.
have we done a twitter, tumblr, etc. promotion?
Nuruhanj:, ObviouslyAya:, FireOnix:, Vickyll3:, @Lizzie-chan;
y'all are some of the artists i know here.
thought you might be able to do some pixels?

That's part of what we're hoping to do now, Hummy. It's why I posted Admin's Pick on Tumblr this week :yes:

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Our Tumblr auto-posts to Facebork and Twitter :yes:

^_^ Since I'm not on any other social sites (Mene is my home away from home... wait, but I'm at home when I'm on Mene... ACK! I'm confused!) I'm going to see if I can't get better at Pixel art, and then help you guys and gals out that way.

excellent.
how about a contest that shows us posting menewsha.com in places that will promote new users?
like graffitti arts and they take pictures to show it off and enter.
or a neat poster with menewsha.com on your local bulletin board.

@Hummy
Aw, man! If I had a printer, I would hang a poster up at my siblings' state college. Dx

something like a kinko's or a friends printer, maybe?
or just get a poster at your local drugstore and post one?

I know my college gave us 10 free printouts a day on their printers...I'm sure many other colleges do that as well that's why i suggested it XD I'm not in college anymore though....graduated in May 2011 - or else I'd do it myself D:

Lol, so we need printers first--then we can hang up posters.