[MUST READ] Concerning JCNET's future

[jayx8318x]

Some of you, most likely the ones in a group may have notice something's afoot concerning the future of JCNET.

If you haven't already, please take the time to provide feedback about the current rules (http://www.jay-chou.net/forums/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=19872) of this site. And if you belong to a social group, please check out the appropriate forum for a thread concerning the future of these groups.

Now for the meat and potatoes.

We're at a very critical crossroad right now. I've been discussing this with the moderators and senior members concerning what happens to JCNET from this point forward. I'm sure everyone has noticed we've slowed down to a snail's pace. A part of me is also very tired and uninterested in continuing this site.

So I suggested we get out while on top. Yes, shut down JCNET for good, and move on with our lives away from here. Which I would have been fine with. However, not being met with an astounding "YES that is a wonderful idea!" from everyone, we developed some alternatives : in the end, JCNET will not be the same as you currently see it. Why?

1. I am not willing to continue with it the way it is
2. I am not willing to hand over the site to someone else to run, basically JCNET goes down with me. I know this sounds selfish and what not, but please try to put yourself in my shoes. Imagine something you've worked hard on for 3+ years handed over to someone else, and possible have it totally undone. Yes mergers and acquisitions of companies happen this way..blah blah..but no one's gonna hand me $30 million for JCNET so that's not a valid argument for our purposes.


So what happens to JCNET forums and the actual site?

jay-chou.net will continue to be a Jay site. All the static pages you access to view his lyrics, discography, bio, etc. will stay intact. The change comes to the forums, which is of course where the activity is, and the root of the problem.

We felt that by keeping it an obviously "Jay Chou" forum our reach of potential members is very limited. Undeniably, Jay's popularity is declining at the moment. Sure we'll get some members when his album comes out, but then it goes back to stagnation.

In summary, the forum will turn into one of a more general nature. Yes I know, soompi, solid, etc..there are plenty of "general" forums out there. But we'll try to keep all the things that make JCNET unique and enjoyable to differentiate ourselves. And we'll still have some Jay undertones.

All the Jay forums will still be here, but they won't be prominent. Basically, there are gonna be a lot more forums. Those of you asking for NQMM, SHE forums, etc. may just see those, and then some.

That's why we're asking for your opinions of late, so please take the time to respond.

Also, please share any opinions or concerns you have here. Try not to respond if all you have to say is "well whatever is best" or "Oh no please don't change"

I need suggestions, opinions, things that will HELP us guide the building of a new JCNET.

Refrain from asking QUESTIONS about the new JCNET
"Will it still be called JCNET?"
"Will our groups still be here?"
"Where will be post translated Jay news?"

The answer to all questions will be "I DON'T KNOW" that's why I'm asking you guys. What do you think it should be called, do you think we should keep the groups, should we add more smilies, ANYTHING HELPS!

All we know is that there will be a change, but it's up to you guys to help us determine WHAT TO CHANGE.

[princessKitty]

J.C Net should still be called J.C Net because it has been like this for almost four years. To change the name wouldn't hold any significance. So I think the name should still stay the same.

Karen, the things you have got to do to run this site I don't know but I do know that you have to review membership requirements for those who wishes to join J.C Net regulars of the first week of every month. That takes time and effort. You also have to review the forum in general and make sure that everything runs as it should. You are here to make sure people follow rules such as reputation, posting downloads etc. If these things require time and effort, then why not just simply abolish it? Don't have downloads, don't have reps, plaza points etc because these take time right? I can understand how tiring it can be to do repetitive work. We can do without them.

If the main purpuse of this forum is to have general chat with other members then surely things like reps and plaza is not relevent at all? I understand that it is to encourage members to make good and quality posts but that's when the rules comes in.

My main point is not trying to get rid of rep system and plaza points and what have you, but really, just getting rid of things that requires 100% attention and effort. A simple yet organised forum is something that can come intact. I am sure we can all live with that.

[ColaPoP]

The point being: "Shape up, or ship out".

Well, I'm not ready to give up on this forum so I guess we need to find a solution to the problems. What is the current problem with the state of things on JC.net forum that's giving you guys such a headache? That it's a messy forum & full of crap?....crap threads? crap noobs, freeloaders and whingers that give you guys even more work? Money problems? Social group inactivity, and a general disinterest and lack of activity on the forum? That may be the case, but there is a sense of community and spirit about this forum that I haven't experienced on other forums. Its a forum that members come back to year after year, one that we love, and one that I'm willing to fight for.

I'm sure many members will feel the same way I do about this... but to Karen & the mods, you guys have our support.

We're behind you all the way. I am in support of whatever change is necessary in order to keep the forums here, and am more than willing to lend a hand in whatever way I can help. Is that how other members feel too? How can we help out the forum?

[jayx8318x]

What is the current problem with the state of things on JC.net forum that's giving you guys such a headache? That it's a messy forum & full of crap?....crap threads? crap noobs, freeloaders and whingers that give you guys even more work? Money problems? Social group inactivity, and a general disinterest and lack of activity on the forum?

Personally for me, financial and just the time for me to take care of the background stuff. When there is alot of activity, I don't have to worry about financials. People click on the YesAsia links and we get commission, I can pay the montlhy bill. When there isn't, I have to foot the bill on my own. And it's a chunk of money that's very difficult for me to part with when I could use it for something more important in my life (e.g. tuition).

However, even if there isn't much commission, and I still have to pay myself, as long as there is activity here, I see it as worth it. For the current state, I DON'T feel it's worth it, and I feel like I'm just throwing money away. Move to a less expensive server you say? That's fine if it stayed like this FOREVER. But it's not, activity fluctuates.

So to solve my problem, 1) Shut it down or 2) Do something to get more stable activity, get rid of the fluctuations. So we're gonna try #2

[aznjayhunter]

i really like jcnet as it is now, but as you've said, its gotten really quiet, and its not worth it, paying the bill when no one's participating.
i really dont want jcnet to disappear...and im sure many other members feel the same way. so we all want a solution to this problem.

i've been thinking of a few suggestions, and hopefully, they arent too bad:
-ban *get rid of* users who havent been on jcnet for over a long period of time, we all know that if we are inactive on this site, we lose our memberships (this might help w/ fluctuation)

-discontinue the use of rep system and plaza points (as princessKitty said) so that ppl would stop spamming the forums and cause frustrations for you and the other moderators and administrators.

So to solve my problem, 1) Shut it down or 2) Do something to get more stable activity, get rid of the fluctuations. So we're gonna try #2


watever you decide to do with jcnet, you have my support. im just glad that you choose choice #2

[shez]

hmmm well i haven't been here for long but i do feel that the activity here has slowed down considerably since when i first joined. here are my suggestion though some may be of a repeat:

1. get rid of reputation system and the monthly additions to JCNET regulars
2. shift some of your jobs to other moderators/administrators
3. the plaza points is new but is it really neccessary? sure it may be fun and stuff but it's also fun to reply to everyday posts
4. have a huge cleanout- 'members' who have not posted should be notified and their accounts deleted (shouldn't this free up space?)
5. forums can still be alive when they do not allow downloads.... mp3 links... etc.etc.
6. maybe let the group leaders run their own groups?

they're just suggestions but i'm happy that you're willing to fight til the end and not give up now on us ^_^

[milkified]

On the contrary, I think without the JCNET Regulars and reputation system the forum will become disorganised and more spamming as anyone can access to any part of the forum and do anything they want without fear of having reputations taken away. The 'spotlight' (I can't find a suitable word to describe what I want to say :sweat:) will eventually move to post counts and everyone would try to post as much as they can so that they will have the highest post counts.

It's a way of making sure things and members are 'under control'. It sets a goal for members so that they will realise the need to contribute to the forum and not only post around. But don't get my point wrong. There's nothing wrong for being a good and silent member. But since we want the forum to be more active, members will have to participate and contribute more to forum activities.

[twilighthush]

^I absolutely agree. We do need something that can show how much members have contributed.

Karen, as someone who also runs a rather large forum/fan site type thing (though not nearly as big as JCNET), I completely understand where you're coming from. And I agree with the idea that you should expand the forums and add more to it that might attract more visitors to the forums and create a little bit more diversity.

Personally, I believe there still should be a considerable amount of focus on Jay. JCNET would've never come to be if it wasn't first and foremost, a Jay Chou fansite. While I'm not saying it still should be only Jay, perhaps you might want to consider not eliminating the prominence of Jay.

I think one of the biggest reasons why there has been a decrease in Jay's popularity is mostly because he hasn't come out with anything spectacularly new or exciting, but with his slew of movies and with an upcoming album, that might help out considerably. But time and time again, usually newer artists steal the spotlight because they're so new, and people want to know more about them.

So perhaps, you might want to consider creating a Spotlight Forum within JCNET for new artists? I don't know, it's just an idea. It might help bring more traffic through here.

As for the name, I don't think you should part with it at all. JCNET isn't the same if it's named something different. Part of why old timers come back so much is because they feel like they "belong" to something special, mostly because there is a name like JCNET to back it. (Kinda like soompi etc etc.) But in the end, it is your decision.

In regards to financials -- have you considered putting up a thing for donations? I'm sure JCNET members would be more than happy to contribute a few dollars here and there. Maybe you can have a tracker, to see how much money has been donated on a monthly basis, that way we have an idea of how much we should donate to help you.

I use Yahoo Domains for my server, which has done me pretty well, and I don't pay that much at all. I have like a ridiculous amount of space and bandwidth as well, so maybe you might want to look into that, if you're looking for a more cost-efficient server to work with.

[ColaPoP]

Personally for me, financial and just the time for me to take care of the background stuff.
Financial = Have we considered another donation drive/campaign? Iits been a while since the last one... and while it is your site, it seems unfair for you to burden the expenses on your own. All of us frequent this site, pehaps we can chip in too?

Get rid of the fluctuations = Hmm... easier said then done. I'm stumped for now, but I'll have a think on it.

Time to manage site = Delegation. lol, which I can see you are already considering by enlisting new helpers. Let us help you with middle-management grunt work, so you can focus on vision/long-term goals for this site.

[xanimeotakux]

on the financial situation: many would love to help(including me), but then on the other hand, we don't have a credit card or a paypal account.

getting more members: i say that you should clear all the inactive ones. the ones who have had an account for years and only posted a few posts, for example. like twilighthush said, make a forum for new artists. people also want to know the inside scoop about new ones.

hopefully, when jay releases his new album and movie, there will be more, active members. it's your decision karen, whatever it is, i'll back you up 100%

[jayx8318x]

So perhaps, you might want to consider creating a Spotlight Forum within JCNET for new artists? I don't know, it's just an idea. It might help bring more traffic through here.


I think that's an excellent idea and will probably implement. Along with a spotlight on an actual artist, we can feature spotlights on JCNET members as well since we have lots of singers, artists and writers here.


Time to manage site = Delegation.


Well I've never had a problem delegating, but alot of time I feel either the mods/vips are afraid to go out of the box so to speak. In fear of crossing the line, or appearing to act as if they're in charge moreso than required. Which I understand if they feel that way, but I don't know how to get them NOT to.

There's a big difference between delegating, and bossing. I feel I do more of the latter than the former.

The way I want to run the forums would be more like :

"OK guys I think it's time to get the members involved, let's do something fun."
Actually in my perfect world, I wouldn't even have to say that, YOU GUYS would come up with the ideas. Sort of like theme weeks which every group has seem to gotten the hang of making it their own.

But more often it's more like:

"OK everyone we're gonna have a karaoke contest, I need someone to inform the members, someone to write up the rules, someone to compile the entries, and someone to conduct the judging. The contest runs between x and y. We'll have n winners and they'll get abc as a prize."

I'm tired of coming up with everything. Like when lattae came up with the winter games idea and ran it, I was pretty ecstactic for once I didn't come up with it and have to run the entire thing. I guess one of the main reasons why I'm so BORED/UNINTERESTED with this site is because I know EVERYTHING that will happen. I would like to log in someday and see "oh there's a xyz going on, maybe I'll participate"

And all my ideas are getting stale and tired anyways. All people have to do is come to me and say "Hey I would like to run an -insert some kind of event- for JCNET" and if it requires my help functionality wise (e.g. creating a new forum, providing server space, etc.) I would be more than happy to provide the necessary items.

And it's not JUST with fun activities. No one ever says "Hey everyone I think it's time to clean the groups" or "I think we should clean up X forum"
No one ever takes the initiative to do anything. Which upsets me the most. It's always a manner of if it ain't broke then don't fix it. Or don't fix it till you're told to fix it.


Financial = Have we considered another donation drive/campaign?


The paypal donation button is there 365 days of the year. I hate asking for money for one. Speaking of which that's another thing I hate (you've got me soooo on a soapbox here!). I seem to have to make all the announcements. You look through these forums and 90% of the announcements are by me. I sometimes feel my presence is too overwhelming and that REALLY intimidates people. Even THIS announcement was part of a delegation I made. I asked a mod/vip to do it, and in the end I had to end up doing it myself because no one stepped up.

Indifference, it's TOO OVERWHELMING here. I feel like such a crutch and a pushover, because the attitude here is "I don't have to do it because someone else will"

And when I ask for something I feel the mods/vips don't do it because:

1). They know in the end if no one does, then I'll do it.

OR

2). If I don't do it, they don't care because it just won't be done, and they're fine with that.

That's why we haven't had a VIP inductee in MONTHS. You look in the VIP lounge and there's a discussion thread for the past 3-4 months on who we want to induct. And we have the names!!! But no one cares to make the announcement. It's very frustrating sometimes.

I seriously swear if with the new revampped site this continues, I'll have to pull the plug, because I just can't take it anymore.

EDIT:
I don't want you guys to focus on the financial problem. Bottom line is that if we can fix the activity problem, we wouldn't need to worry about the financial problem. Even if I have to foot the bill myself, as long as I see it as worth it and people are using this site, then I'm ok with that.

[ask4more_jay]

yeah its true that Jay isn't as popular as he is before anyway..
members would start to leave the site
but i think that this is a great site
and it should change, as you said.

having more forums for "other artists" would be great
but this site should still be called JCNET
because jay is wat this site is about. no duh.
i think JCNET can be like a site for many many artists
but ultimately jay

and other than that,
maybe a sport section
you know.. sports is wat get people talking
like lately its all about FIFA
and fans for sports could come too
and find their fave players here

but as i said earlier
JAY CHOU is ultimately the #1 here!

moderators should still take care of this site
i mean, you guys are doing a great job right now
but maybe cutting back some rules
would mean less time for you guys to
you know..
read stuff/deleting etc.
and background of the site to me
isn't that important.
wat is important about a site is its contents.
so just keeping the forums and stuff
and overall a JAY CHOU site
that would be just great.

and yeah i see wat you mean by
"overwhelming" and YOU doing everything..
maybe you don't have to necessarily
"hand" the site over to someone
just, you know, get a group of
interested people
and have them "run" the site (mostly)
and you can just like
pop in and make sure everything's alright
& ultimately still be like the "top"
but have people "under" you who do most of the work
but i mean, the site is still YOURS
if you know wat i mean..
i don't know if i'm being clear or wat..
but i hope you know wat i'm getting at

and the spotlight thing is a good idea
i'd think it would be popular.

[littlefishie]

Ugh... this is a tough problem... Activity fluctuation does have a lot to do with what's going on with Jay. But I'm not sure that expanding it to other artists will solve the problem. I agree that maybe revamping things, making the forums more generalized (like Soompi and others) may increase the activity. But even with those kinds of forums, it seems like all people want are the latest gossip and downloads.

Ultimately, what's been missing lately is the type of interaction members had in the past. Nowadays, the members don't really get to know each other, because their interaction is through threads like "Which is better: an iPod or a Zen." And even with legit threads like "What do you think of Jay's new album," you still get quite a number low quality replies like "it was cool." Without any deeper kind of interaction, there really isn't any motivation to stay and contribute to the forums. It's simply another site where you can get lyrics and downloads. And for the older members, who are getting busier and busier in their personal lives, they lose interest when they see the massive amounts of pointless posts. As a member who's been rather delinquent, I often feel too lazy to contribute, simply because it's usually not worth my time.

However, what keeps me coming back is all the wonderful people I met here, my LQP family, my karaoke buddies, etc. I think a lot of our old members are probably hover around every now and then, but they don't post. And I don't know how to fix that problem...

As for problems with running the site/generating interest, here's what I think:
1) Even though people come up with ideas to get members involved, there's still very little participation (i.e. the karaoke contest and even group theme weeks). With that in mind, people are not very motivated to come up with ideas in the future.
2) People don't care enough to want to spend all that much time organizing something... After all, it's not their site.
3) Perhaps the people who are willing to help don't actually have the authority to help (non-mods/vips).
4) Perhaps people think that if they want to organize anything, they have to run it by Karen first. And they're too lazy to do that.
5) Since it's Karen's site, some people think that she should run everything or that if she wants something done, she'll do it herself.

I don't really know what to do about any of these problems, but one idea is to promote more people to mods/vips who have the time or dedication to do the work.

Anyways, I'm not ready to give up on the site, and I'm willing to help with whatever you need. =)

[aznjayhunter]

3) Perhaps the people who are willing to help don't actually have the authority to help (non-mods/vips).


i agree with you 100% on this point.
there are some members (including me) who are really committed to this site, and they want to help around and make something fun for others to enjoy. yes, we might have to get Karen's permission, but some are perhaps too afraid to ask?

as for 1) in your post, i was personally very interested in getting involved in the karaoke/cover design contest not so long ago. i thought that people would be interested as i was, but it turned out that almost no one participated. i was very disappointed.


yes, i think creating more artist forums is a good idea and it will attract more people here. though i think we need to concentrate on jay more than the other artists because he is wat this site is originally about.

[friends_pt]

To be honest, the first time i joined JC.net is just for the sake of all the downloads i can get in the foum. however, as years pass, i begin to love this forum and i feel uncomfortable to not visit this forum to chat and look for news regarding Jay and anything around the forum. but of course, when it comes to Jay's annual album release period, of course i would wish to download videos related his promotion for new album. and during those period when there's nothing more on Jay, i would be surfing JC.net to chat around and interact with all the other members in JC.net

Bottom line: i really don't wish to see JC.net to close down. i really hope it can still be what it is now!! pretty please!! thanks so much for all the effort to keep this website going on!! thanks to all moderators!!

[jaychous_girl_4ever]

I think we should just get rid of the reputation points, bank/points, etc. because, personally, I feel like it paralyzes my stay at j-c.net. I feel like it's a GPA and whoever has a higher gpa, is better, is more worthy to be at the forums. I understand the point of it in the beginning when the Jay Media sections were BIG, as well as getting into a group you wanted. However, with the explosion of youtube in this past year, there's just no need for a Jay Media section. Those videos that were once craved by members can be easily found on youtube within days of its release. Perhaps that's a good thing; members participate in forums now because they want to, not because they want to get access to those downloads. Many have posted that this might mean people will just spam; well, if it's non Jay related spam (like ads in posts, etc.) then we will just delete that person's account, if it's Jay-related spam...well I don't see how people will do that anymore without the importance of reputation, post counts, etc. I really think it's a good idea to get rid of it.

One thing we should do is to clean up the forum. Delete threads with downloads that are no longer alive, delete topics that are no longer active, delete threads about singers that are longer active, etc. This will help to keep J-C.net fresh. I don't know if that will help with the bandwith issue too and hopefully, lower costs? I'm not sure how the cost thing works.

You could also educate members about the cost to run the forum. Hopefully it'll make people aware not to spam or write nonsense posts. They even might want to donate to help out costs.

As with groups, I feel ambivalent towards it. I realize the importance of a group, to be able to build bonds with other people from all around the globe. But if you think about it, we are only communicating in an online world. True, some of you guys get together outside of the forum but I personally could never imagine myself doing that. Thus, with that said, I don't see the purpose in spending all that time building those bonds. To some of us, we are nothing but a username to each other. I haven't posted in my group forum in such a long time. Not because I purposely don't want to but I have school and other activities (extracurricular, work, etc.) and I just don't have time to keep up with it. But then again, maybe other members feel it is important.

We could also try creating a Jay gallery to organize photos. And maybe if we can find a free online website to upload them, we can relieve bandwith too on j-c.net. Another way we can organize things is by date. Sometimes it is hard to find things (pictures, news, etc.) because everything is pretty much reversed; most recent things are posted latest, and older things are posted in past pages of the thread. Perhaps we could create an archive too for news, downloads, topics, etc. I've seen it done on a Joey Yung forum and it seems to keep things in order.

As for member participation, I don't personally see the point in karoke contests or album cover contests. They're FUN and cute but you gotta remember (and I might sound harsh but I really don't mean to), we all have lives outside of this online forum. I think it's impractical to think that people have time for such things. In essence, I don't see the point in using such contests, etc. to boost participation.

Personally, I think A LOT of people would be sad if j-c.net closed down. I agree with Karen, though, that Jay's popularity is decreasing. It's never going to be as crazy as it used to be a few years back. But I feel that jay-chou.net should stick through just for the bunch of loyal Jay fans that are still here, still active, and still rooting for Jay and the forum. But this is your creation and your heart and soul, Karen, so if it really does need to be closed down, it ultimately should be done through you. Plus, we are all growing and maturing, and I understand if you have other priorities in your life. I back you 100%.

[henry]

JCnet is quite ok...i like the way it is....although you all may have finacial problem...but i dun have any payment account to help u all...mayb you all can organise a donation lo...but what ever you all do..i will support JC Net....zhou dong wan shui...

[littlefishie]

if it's Jay-related spam...well I don't see how people will do that anymore without the importance of reputation, post counts, etc. I really think it's a good idea to get rid of it.
Well, not necessarily... I think even without rep points, post counts, and whatnot we'd still get a considerable amount of spam. I mean, people just enjoy posting whatever the heck they want. Post counts and rep points are only an initial indication of what a member is like. But ultimately, we older members know that it's quality over quantity, so I think it's fine.

You could also educate members about the cost to run the forum. Hopefully it'll make people aware not to spam or write nonsense posts. They even might want to donate to help out costs.
Well, even if Karen were to post up stats for the costs of running JCNET, I doubt half the members wouldn't even bother reading the thread. And even if they did read it, most people probably wouldn't care enough to donate or even control the spam. They'll probably think, "Oh, whether I donate or not probably wouldn't make a difference. Besides, if I don't do it, someone else will."

Personally, I thought that there would be more participation in the karaoke/art contests as well. I mean, we have so many people posting their songs/artwork up in the forums. You'd think that it wouldn't take all that much to make one for a contest (for prizes too...).

[dagamezmasta]

Karen, I think one of your major problems right now in dealing with and monitoring the site is that the administrators and some of the moderators don't seem to be very active anymore, especially the two other important administrators: lepencil and lisa. There was a time when almost all of the administrators, moderators, and VIPs would partake regularly in threads and discussion and the forum was much livlier.

Rep points shouldn't be taken off, for that's a great part in every forum and it's a way of thanking someone. Furthermore, most newbies tend to care about two things: post count and rep points. So if you take away rep points, they'll start posting bunches of useless stuff to increase their post count. Rep points is a method of deterring such a situation and will help coax newbies to make worthy, quality posts.

As for your financial issues, I'm sure many would love to help out. But some of us don't have credit cards or bank accounts, so I think maybe you should make mailing money an option. I remember that a long time ago (or at least I think I remember... maybe I imagined this) that you made donations via mail to a Texas P.O. box available... maybe you should open that up again.

As for the destiny of this forum, I say a hundred times that I don't want this to be shut down. It's the first forum I ever joined and by far the best and my favorite one. It's got a sense of community with the usergroups and members come back year after year for their groups. Even if group activity and thread activity in the group forums are low, it doesn't mean that people don't care about the place anymore. A lot of people, including me, love this place and we would fight to keep it alive.

It's a bit hard to ask us what we think should be done, because we aren't geniuses and this isn't an easy problem to solve. It's not easy to come up with good answers right away. But some of my suggestions would be:
1) Keep rep points system
2) Get rid of plaza points (it's pretty much useless and most people don't seem to be too interested in it)
3) One of the other members were right... with YouTube and the likes of it nowadays, the media forum is no longer needed. Maybe you can have a forum where people post LINKS or can embed YouTube videos... the only danger to this would be someone posting a fake link that results in a virus or trojan infection. But some measures can be made to counteract such situations.
4) Keep the usergroups.
5) Keep the usergroups.
6) Keep the usergroups.
7) Keep them because it's a large reason why members still come back and keep on posting... most people aren't that interested in Jay too much anymore because he hasn't released anything new and exciting recently... but we keep coming back to JCNET because the usergroups are like home to us. The groups make JCNET more special than any other forum.
8) Maybe change the forums into a more generalized forum, as there will be more discussion material and maybe something new for a change can inspire enthusiasm, zeal, and activity.

Remember: the members here are always behind you and supporting you. Ironically, you don't want them behind you and supporting, but you want them right up there with you and being active. Planning events. Participating in activities. Making suggestions for the site. Giving constructive criticism.
The members of JCNET would love to do so. The only thing is that first, we don't feel as huge a responsibility as you to plan events, because we think "It's not our forum." This is admittedly selfish but it is true. The other reason is that the strict rules here keep us cautious, and sometimes we're a bit intimidated, so we keep silent. I know you don't want this and you encourage people to speak up, but it's just a habit that we sort of learned when we were foolish noobs.
But if you want us to get together, plan activites, hold events, make suggestions, give constructive criticism, think freely, and be active, we will definitely do that to keep this forum up and get you to snap out of your apathy for this forum. We will do all we can to get you to love this forum again.

I don't think you should change this forum immediately... you've probably already had this feeling for months now, but I think you should still give it just a few more months... just see if the members can shape up and we can do some stuff to make it not so bad. I know we've already been given time and have been forewarned quite a few times, but please, just give it a bit more time, Karen.

I hope you will take the time to read all of the member's posts, so you can get an idea of what everyone wants.

I just hope this forum doesn't shut down because I love this place and its members. It's like a second home to me, and I have honestly grown attached to this place, even if I don't post frequently.
We will help you at any cost, if you will just tell us what to do. It is not only the admins, mods, and VIPs who can help out. We normal members can help out a bit too.

Please just give it some time and let us all express our thoughts and see if we can change anything.



The major problem, the activity:

This is a very hard problemt of fix. One thing that would help a lot would be that the members simply force themself to be more enthusiastic and post more. "If you act happy, you will become happy." That is a key point in psychology... if you will just pretend that you're something, you will find after a while that you will actually become that something. If you are depressed or sad, play some upbeat music, whistle a tune, bounce around, act like you're happy, and after a while you'll find yourself becoming happier. Same goes for enthusiasm in here. Let's just all try to be more enthusiastic about this wonderful place and we will!!

Furthermore, most people are looking for something exciting about this place. Currently, everything is the same old same old. Nothing new is happening. We owe it to ourselves to do something. I don't know what, since I'm not the type of guy to think of such ideas. My ideas generally are not creative or fun. That is up to the others who are good at doing so.

But the biggest problem right now seems to be that Jay's popularity is declining, and not many people are interested in him much anymore. Thus, we don't care as much as we used to about the forums involving Jay. Instead, we look to the social forums and entertainment forums for fun. It's just that Jay's image and music has changed, and most of us don't like that new style. His golden days are over. If you think about it, this situation has probably been encountered by some other forums whose artists used to be huge and have started losing popularity. Maybe we can take our time and look for such forums that have survived, and get ideas from them.

Anyway, this is to everyone. BE ENTHUSIASTIC!!! Start some new threads!!! Discuss whatever you want to in here!!! Put your thoughts down, and be enthusiastic about this place! Let's show Karen that we love this place! This may seem to be a crisis for JCNET, but it's just a phase and we have to pull through it! Come on... let's encourage some activity and talk more about whatever we want to talk. I'm not advocating no changes at all, but I think we should have another go at it. Some of the smaller changes, like the plaza points and stuff, should be made though. But I think JCNET deserves some time before we go into major reinnovation.

And Karen, I sincerely hope you'll give this a bit more time.

Thanks to everyone who read this bloody long post. :tongue:

As a post-script, I want to include the song lyrics to an inspirational song that is good for hard times like these:
You'll Never Walk Alone

When you walk through a storm
hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At the end of a storm is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never, ever walk alone.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never, ever walk alone.
For the song (performed by Elvis), go here (http://www.desertwebcenter.com/YouNeverWalkAlone.html)

Let's walk on, for there is a golden sky and the sweet silver song of a lark at the end of the storm.

[Mynqchan]

I admit to not having been here in a few months.. not that my love for Jay has gone down, but real life has sort of taken forum-ing's place.

However, I personally, even though I do not check in so often, would be sad if the site closed down. I think it would be better if it became a general forum. If so, it be preferable that it had a Taiwanese/Chinese focus since it would still be JAY-CHOU.net.

As for the moderators issue, I'm assuming there are some active members who might be willing/able to take on those roles? Since it has been the same moderators for so long, it's understandable that they may need a break or even to leave the positions.

[Ling]

I just want to say that I love JCNET as it is, but here are some comments based on what others have said:
1) I applaud all the mods for their hard work
2) I like the rep system. Like some have said, it does keep people from posting useless things
3) I don't think the plaza feature is necessary. It's cool, but it pretty much does what the rep system does.
4) I like twilighthush's idea of having a spotlight artists. To add to it, it could be strengthened with providing samples of their music, an introduction to them, etc.
5) Please keep the media section!!! I love it because I can try out new music suggested by others & having a good place to go to when I can't find the music I want. I can also listen to the album and decide if I really want it.
6) While I'm not the most active member in the whole world, I am quite willing to help run the site if there is any way I can help. Just PM me!
7) Keep all the Jay sections!! I love seeing the translations, music, news, lyrics, and etc. It would be nice to keep some emphasis on Jay here!

[kirasuran]

wow daga...you made a hectically long post...anyway

i must admit that half the time...reality will take preference over jcnet. but i think one of the reasons why is that it has gotten so big...when i first joined, it was nice and small, and cosy, and i could get places and see things, read them without being lost in all this traffic and new stuff. im not saying it's a problem but perhaps its a reason that it's stagnating? i realise its sort of ironic that more threads on wider topics iS MEANT to = more members and variety

but also it could mean....some ppl (like me) getting lost in it all..

this forum is the first i ever joined. and its the one ive been longest on. it's also introduced me to some amazing ppl! i wouldnt ever want this place to go down!

karen, you mentioned a whole paragraph or a few...on how mods and VIPs dont do as much as theu should have been doing, for fear of being too...forward? well, if i were made a mod, i would definitely do as much as i can to help these forums...when i first joint, i aspired to becoming a mod one day, and i still do!

well...i think it IS a little boring to read and reread what other ppl hav said over and over (not sayin you guys' contributions are unnecessary, but just to save time and effort) I AGREE WITH WHAT THEY SAY.

and definitely. keep this place alive, as it's one place ill never forget.

[ColaPoP]

you've got me soooo on a soapbox here!
This is the SPEAK UP campaign after all, I'm glad everyone if finally starting to do so. Everyone is encouraged to speak up, including admin :wink2:

…”There's a big difference between delegating, and bossing. I feel I do more of the latter than the former”

“Even THIS announcement was part of a delegation I made. I asked a mod/VIP to do it, and in the end I had to end up doing it myself
Well, if they didn't know how you felt before... they do now. I know we are all busy, and are only beginning to awaken to the urgency of the situation but think of this as a code-red. Shit, it is... April fools prank and no one learnt, if we only give a half-assed attempt to help out, there will not be a ‘next time’. Please, step-up. Don’t think of this as us telling you what to do… do this because you want to. Step-up to the challenge.

Suggestion 1) For some reason, I have always assumed that the state of the forum, activities, forum layout & useability was what VIPs/mods got up to. That recognition as an interactive/contributing member meant a rise in social recognition and power, but with that, more responsibility. (psst, induct new VIPs with the principle that they will not sit on their ass and look pretty *gasp*. Give them responsibilities/guidance early on what is expected of them & they will do it. They only just got accepted right? they'll do it to prove worthiness and fit-in).

Suggestion 2) I must admit, within “Announcements” and “Help/Feedback” it never occurred to me to offer help. when I first joined JC.net and was ridiculously enthusiastic about this forum, I mentioned suggestions here and there to mods on MSN. As time went on, you stop… thinking. You accept the site the way it is :-/ Having said that, depending on how well the JCNET Planning & Development sub-forum works out, perhaps this can be a permanent feature? Where the new activities, site-related feedback and annual forum games plan & prep can be brainstormed, planned, and perhaps even implemented with the help of all members on this site? Also, as new members who join and grow to care for this forum make suggestions, it can rejuvenate the oldies perception of the site & get involved. It’s not that we don’t care, we just lose sight… and it can take the enthusiasm of fresh eyes/hands or the threat of closing the forum to make use see clearly. Empower the JC.netizens! BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THE WORLD! HURRAH!

Suggestion 3) The best activity I have enjoyed on JCN has been the annual forum-games. I can do without the other comps, if we can keep this. It is awesome fun, completely engrossing mentally, socially, and time-consuming... the same kind of deeper interaction fishie mentioned, that we used to have. But forums games are a huge task to organise. Obviously this activity can't be entirely worked out by all members, or we all lose out on the surprise and fun. But what if this was done like a roster, where 2-3 mods/VIPs organise a winter/summer game every 6 months? Or am I dreaming?

Finance: No one likes to ask for money… but donation drives can be made a permanent annual event. We aren’t worrying at this point that site will go under cos you can’t afford it (Unless that’s the problem. OH NO *throws money at Karen*), but treat this as a business. You guys slave ur ass off to do give us activities, manage the site, and generally keep us happy. Nothing should be taken for granted… you provide us an excellent service/hang-out, let us foot a part of the bill.

IMHO: NO sports section: More clutter, more crap.

I think we should just get rid of the reputation points, bank/points, etc. because, personally, I feel like it paralyzes my stay at j-c.net.
wow. great post... why are you in fear this system? The kind of post you just made is the exact kind I like to give reputation points to. Rep is a virtual gift members bestow on others for their contributions to the site.... your post is thought-provoking, solution-prompting, opinionated and well-worded. I am grateful that everyone is getting off their ass & contributing, but it's the ones that challenge me and make me sit-up and pay attention that are awarded.

At the same time, I see where ur coming from. I think what makes reps so important to people seem to be how it makes them appear to others. We all want to look good, but perhaps gaining points for your own sake without it becoming displayed for all to see is reward enough? That is, the reps system stays intact, but your points total are not displayed… but then, how can you show off how great you are? *lol*

One thing we should do is to clean up the forum. Delete threads ...delete topics...etc.
Ohh... speaking off which, when threads start getting deleted in spring cleaning mode (and it will happen). PLEASE DO NOT BITCH-ON ABOUT YOUR POST COUNT GOING DOWN.

Well, even if Karen were to post up stats for the costs of running JCNET, I doubt half the members wouldn't even bother reading the thread.
I agree. Karen has said finance is not the main issue, so let's focus on the bigger picture.

the administrators and some of the moderators don't seem to be very active anymore, especially the two other important administrators: lepencil and lisa.
People come and go, it can't be helped.. but we're working on it. You guys are currently considering new mods, newbie helpers etc... kind of a changing-of-the-guards. Speaking of which, may I suggest lattae as a new administrator? If you need help at that level that is... I can think of no better candidate.

[jaychous_girl_4ever]

ColaPoP: I wouldn't say it's exactly fear I'm feeling, but rather, frustration. I believe it is important to reward members and acknowledge them for their contributions. However, what about the members who don't know how to translate, don't have access to the latest downloads, etc.? But maybe they contribute good posts, fuel good discussions, etc.? There aren't rep points awarded for that. I just feel that the rep points seem to attach a "worth" to a member that may not reflect fully their value as a member. However, I can't think of a good solution to recognize and award members who do contribute a lot without making members who can't (notice that I didn't say don't, I think it is important to distinguish between the two) do as much feel unworthy of the forum. I think your suggestion is good; however, I feel some who find that unsatisfying because they would just feel like "oh great, people award me, but no one knows!". I guess it is matter of finding a balance. :)

If mods aren't doing their job, Karen, perhaps you should consider getting new people for the job. I personally don't know how mods and administrators are chosen (a situation in which I think is a problem in itself), but maybe you could open up the jobs to other members who have a level of experience and clearly show they don't mind putting the time into it. But then, maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part.

[milkee_glitz]

I love the way JCNET is, but just like what Karen said, if there are some financial problems, there can be another financial drive soon. It isn't fair for just one person to pay the bills for all the members here, which is like A LOT.. All of us can chip in some money too! :-)

About the traffic here, maybe you should clear some of the inactive members, and as well as the plaza thingy. I don't really think it's useful, although it's fun. Some new, more interesting forums can be added, like 1-- New celebs
2-- Concert outings
3-- Prob sharing place

These are just some of my suggestions.. But no matter what, I'll always support you, Karen. Just don't close down JCNET.

[dagamezmasta]

Speaking of which, may I suggest lattae as a new administrator? If you need help at that level that is... I can think of no better candidate.

I wholeheartedly second that. She's been excellent as moderator and indeed, I sometimes mistake her for an administrator. If she's willing to do it, I think lattae deserves to be administrator.

Karen, I understand your frustration with the mods/VIPs if they don't volunteer too much, and I'm sure they'd be willing to help much more if you talk to them about it and let your feelings known. Also, I wouldn't be the one to know the answer to this, so I'm asking you: how many moderators and VIPs are still active?

[linny]

An expansion on the Spotlight idea, one of the points of JC.net that I've always really liked was the Downloads & Links section because generally speaking, a lot of the music that members post up are pretty good. Maybe we could implement reviews somehow? A member could write up their review, post it up, and then have other members weigh in on what they felt about the album/movie/book being reviewed?

I say this mostly because before z-degrees.net died, it had album reviews and I *always* went back and wanted to participate because of that. :x

It'd be interesting to have members post up editorials on random topics (Jay-related, Asian media related, etc.) and have members weigh in. Like the Current Issues & Debate forum, but a wider scope or perhaps a more formalized first post so members have something to work off of when replying.

I agree that it isn't necessarily thinking of new activities but finding new ways to encourage discussion that might keep the forums active. :x

I'll keep trying to think of new ideas, but it's surprisingly hard because changing our direction from Jay also means deciding what our new focus should be. With the door as wide open as it is, JC.net *could* become a Soompi or a Solid07...

I feel like we need some kind of new theme or centralized thought to work off of because right now, it feels like we're just restructuring and reorganizing. Is our goal to reorganize/reinvigorate JC.net or to expand it? Is there a particular focus we should be keeping in mind if the goal is to expand it?

[Winston]

I've been here long enough, but i don't must, but i was one of the earliest people who registered.

I definitely don't want to see it go.

But like you said, there isn't a consistent drive and push in activity, and it's generally a boring pattern:

August - October : New Jay Album hype, more hype, lots more hype, then leaks of small snippets of tracks

October: New Jay album out, hooray... everyone poors in looking for links

November: People review the album, begin posting lyrics...

Late november: People start showing some MV previews

For 2 months or so, People wait for new MVs progressively...

Then it's all out, a new version of the new album comes out, with the DVD included, and people talk about that, then it all goes down hill there...

Activity dies down.

Like everyone has said, strip away the redundancies.

I've noticed from other crazy fan sites, they actually have people dedicated that there's like represenatives on each country on standby to get the latest coverage and scoop on that artist, then report back with a long report with pictures, videos etc. However that's a bit hard, since it wouldn't be easy for all fans to do that, since we all do have a life.

I say, as suggested, this site should evolve into a popular asian artist central, that can focus on taiwanese, cantonese, mandarin, korean etc artists, but obviously, not list every tom dick and harry, but the more popular ones.

Or if that's too much, be selective about the countries you're going to be having on the site.

Furthermore i'd like to point out one thing, like everyone i'm sure the reason why all of us love coming here compared to the other jay sites is because, we can't bloody read chinese haha.

So i say, IF in the event you were going to generalise the site to sport more asian artists, you can probably name it in a humurous way, chinglish or something.

Then for each popular artist you can create sub-domains like:

http://jcnet.chinglish.net
http://leehom.chinglish.net

Something like that, so in other words you'll have a more generalised portal, and have sub-portals for more popular artists that deserve a sub-domain.

As to the rest you can stick it in like http://hkpop.chinglish.net

Something like that, i know chinglish sounds ike crap, but i'm trying to get the idea through.

Hope all goes well.

That's just my two cents! :)

[Tonwah]

My suggestion is this: Since JCnet is a very big site, containing many members, threads, posts, I think the best way is to set more people to organize it. You can find more mods or re-arrange the work. For example, some work on the media part, some on the news part, that way no one will work too hard(including you) and will have time to talk with other members.

And I think having a chat box would help make it more interesting. People can meet new friends and talk on the chat box insteading of posting on the threads.(The number of posts would decrease, if you like it this way)

Anyway, the present JCnet is already good. Oh, and, you've come long way in making JCnet, that I think not everyone can make it.

So, just keep on!!

[pinkxiao]

I have never posted here before but I do visit regularly.
I think JCNET forum is too complex, as well as post counts there's, thank yous, points, reputation...it's too much.
Why not just have a simple forum? I have never wanted to work out how the whole system works so I didn't post.

[Jam]

Hmm... 1st of all, me too don't wish to see this forum close down. :cry:
I have been here for 3 years and i like that way it is. (Especially the 'thank you' thingy and 'rep point system' it's good in that sense that it allow other people to appreciate and be thankful to the things you have contributed.)

In fact, we can have regular contest or mini games that allow all range of members to participate. (eg. usergroup members vs non user group members) or those type of posting marathon games to encourage members to participate actively.

Not sure if we have a "activity suggestion" section for members to give suggestion and allowing other members to vote. The suggestion with the most vote will be implemented and run by that member.

Just my 20 cents! :laughing:

[blue love]

i realy shock :oops: when i read the email from JCNET. i think the JCNET team has make a great work for doing this site, and i more love jay chou when i saw this site. this is a great site and why you all can be not interested again?? jay has so many good and great project,,photos,,commercial,,etc to public. and the best way to discuss or see those stuff is from this site [even i haven't post anything,, but i really enjoy exploring this site]. i hope the JCNET team can make the best decision for all of us. because all of jay's fan will very sad if this site becoming boring. least but not last,, all of u had made a great work,, and i really thank..


-hope this site can be better :happy: -

[NovemberRain]

I'm happy with JCNET the way it is, but sometimes I do feel that this site is progressing slowly.

As for the donations, I think most of us would like to donate, but some of us are under-aged to possess a credit card, so sorry we can do nothing to help.

But it would be nice, apart from the Social Rooms, maybe we can have an online chat room for JCNET members, and some of the news can be grouped together. For example General News and Music/Concert discussion can be categorised in only 'All About Jay.'

But they have to include in their posts whether it is 'general news' or 'music/concert discussion'.

Maybe...

[27/07/2006] Jay's new album breaks record sales, largest impact ever on chinese music

GENERAL NEWS


or maybe using intials such as GN(General News) or MC(Music/Concert discussion) for the titles

[27/07/2006] GN Jay's new album breaks record sales, largest impact ever on chinese music

Like what Tonwah said, why not? I do believe not all members of JCNET are noobs, some, I believe, may be good at designing web pages? So maybe you could have JCNET web page designing competitions, the winner gets credited and their design would be applied to JCNET?
(That way JCNET would always have a new appeal to people and members)

Some members, as I can see, their last posts were a few years back, maybe you could send them notifications before deleting their account. If they don't reply then delete them.

Maybe we need to have international recognition of this web as a JCNET forum for Jay Chou's fans.

Maybe some affiliates to help us?



But the current JCNET is good enough, 4 years of hard work had shaped JCNET the way it is. I find the forums very interesting and the controls, such as posting, are very easy to use. And because of the fine rules, the pages load very fast too. I'm happy as they are considering those who use dial-up internet access. That's one thing that I am very satisfied of.

:D

Like what every members say, no matter what your decisions are, we would respect it. You have our support.

[twilighthush]

In terms of site activity:

I think something that will definitely help with site activity is if we not only expand on that Spotlight idea (hey I'm glad you liked it, guys) but also on the Social forums. There's so much more we can do with the Social forums than just the way it is now.

Another thing is, I think there needs to be a more active moderation/administration team that can help with things such as inducting JCNET Regulars, helping out with groups, launching games and things for the forums, contests, etc. etc. As it is right now, like Karen said, she seems to be doing everything on her own. And that's not exactly the best feeling in the world.

However, at the same time, Karen, I think you should open your mind to the idea of allowing serious members of JCNET to apply for a special activity team or some kind of a team that can help with the growth and the activity on this community. Not exactly a moderation team, but maybe something similar. When people feel like they belong to something exclusive, they tend to participate much more.

I don't know if it's ever occurred to you, but there might be some newer members (i.e. joined within the past 2 years) who don't post obsessively, but are rather levelheaded that might be able to contribute much more to the forums in certain ways but don't feel like they really "should" or they really are allowed to because that's more of a moderator's role -- and they don't wanna be stepping on anyone's toes. Because, yes, JCNET can be a little intimidating.

New members always help with site activity. So maybe what we can do is have a referral contest of sorts -- to get new members involved. But obviously, this is more about introducing Jay to new members, then getting said newbies into the forums. But that's just an idea. I'm not sure how well it would work.

Anyway, it's way too early in the morning for me to be focused right now. XD; I hope my thoughts make sense.

[shannenn]

I can understand that running this site needs a lot of effort and also demanding such a full attention. But I can't imagine if this site were shut down, for me, this is the only site that I look when I need any information about Jay.

I don't understand much about running a site, but I think I agree with what twilighthush suggested. I hope that we can find the best way to solve this problem.

[dagamezmasta]

In terms of site activity:
I think something that will definitely help with site activity is if we not only expand on that Spotlight idea (hey I'm glad you liked it, guys) but also on the Social forums. There's so much more we can do with the Social forums than just the way it is now.

I agree completely that the social forums can use a makeover... and not only the social group forums... but everything that is social. If we improve those areas and make those forums more interesting, I'm sure people would love to chat it up on their favorite subjects with others!

[cs_omigosh]

I am glad that karen decided to ask the members for opinions. I would be really sad if jcnet is closed down, cos there wouldn't be any good english forums to discuss about jay chou. ^^

Anyway, here are some of my thoughts.

1) Clean up
- Perhaps can delete those members who have zero post. There was once I went to the member list thread, and I saw long lists of pple with 0 post. Anyway, I think that those who don't bother to post don't deserve to stay in the forum.

2) Thank you button/ replying to posts etc
- I am a member of this big chinese forum for an artiste. Anyway, their site is always full of activity, so I am using them as an example =)

--> Unlike jcnet pictures/translations etc which is a free for all, they require members to compulsorily post a msg before members could see the post. (I think this ensures some activity goes on in the forum ^^ If not people would just choose to click the thank you button ^^)

--> Make jcnet more exclusive, open for registration only during certain special occasions. e.g release of album, jay's birthday etc =)

Currently, that chinese forum is closed for registration, and lots of pple out there have been dying to register. Usually once someone in that forum manage to register successfully, they would start posting and contributing a lot to prevent from being kicked out.

--> Min post requirement for multimedia threads. I think there should be a min post requirement, perhaps about 20 - 30 (up to the mods/admins to decide). This is to prevent leechers. And even if they are leechers, at least they need to post 20 sensible posts before they can get to leech.

3) Competitions etc
--> Perhaps there can be monthly banner competitions? Cos jcnet seem to have the same banner for quite a long time... ^^ Moreover with competitions (and prizes), pple tend to participate ^^

4) Change in forum categorisation
--> Like what Karen said, perhaps it's good to make jcnet a more general forum. However, perhaps there should be one special subforum just for jay chou

Some possible new forums could include
1. Chinese Entertainment
2. Korean Entertainment (i noticed there are lots of pple who are fans of korean artistes in jcnet forum)
3. Western/English Entertainment
4. Japanese Entertainment


Anyway, will be back to post if I think of other things to say..^^

To Karen, and other mods/admins: Thanks a lot for deciding not to shut down jcnet forum. I think the fact that there are 4 pages worth of replies on this topic, jcnet shouldn't be closed down! ^^ There are still lots of members out there who love jcnet ^^

Edited: Start an english subbing team!

I believe most of the members here can't read/understand chinese, perhaps jcnet forum can consider starting an english subbing team to sub some of jay's concert, variety shows etc.. and share them in the multimedia forum where there's a min post requirement ^^

Oh yah, back to the chinese forum I was talking about, they would get you to pay a virtual sum of money before u can "buy" their subbed projects. And to earn the money, you need to post/contribute etc.. I was thinking, since currently we have the money system now, might as well start the same system for multimedia forums? =) I have quite a lot of money now..about $1400 but I dunno what to do with it..HAHA..

[jay[rox]]

i feel that jcnet shld still be called jcnet cause it had always been the case for about 4 years. though ive only been here for abt a year or less but i like it here cause we can get to know more about jay here. but its financially strain and time comsuming for the administrators/moderators, i personally feel that its feasible to change to a server that doesnt cost as much as the present server. this way cutting down on the cost is not impossible. well, i agree that a donation drive might be workable. mayb its possible for you to share the workload with other administrators/moderators so that it won't take up too much of your time. besides, its quite unfair for you to manage everything alone.

well, the above suggestions is just my personal views. :)

[crazygirl48]

Quite shock and sad when I saw this thread...

Although, I am busy with work and seldom make postings..
I must log into jcnet everyday to check the latest posts when I reached home...
Is a kind of routine habit for me..

Most importantly, I met some good friends through the Singapore thread!
Like the first time we met up was Jay is in town for the Initial D movie promotion...
We met up and made banners, designed and printed our very own jcnet T shirt for singapore members...
It was a great experience for me and this is my first time turning up for forum event!

We will even organise dinner, KTV session, BBQ or even movie shows among ourselves every few months....

It will be quite sad if we jcnet is close down...
The bond between members will be greatly affected..it will be tough to keep in contact again on virtual space....
We will lose the platform to keep this bond...

I guess most of us are very still much alive!
I still can see familiar nicknames who are constantly contributing to the forum..

This is best and organised forum group whcih I have visited so far...

So keep the spirit of Jay Chou alive!

[jayx8318x]

Another thing is, I think there needs to be a more active moderation/administration team that can help with things such as inducting JCNET Regulars, helping out with groups, launching games and things for the forums, contests, etc. etc. As it is right now, like Karen said, she seems to be doing everything on her own. And that's not exactly the best feeling in the world.


You've read my mind! I'm thinking of creating a planning & development type committee where anyone can join (with reasonable qualifications of course). And yes you're absolutely right. When people belong to a group that is responsible for a certain task, they won't feel as if they're overstepping the line or out of order.

I'm really thankful so many of you have come out to voice your opinions, we really do have the best members of any forum I've visited.
I'm gonna address some of the issues people have brought up to clarify a few things.


Clean up

I do that regularly. Members ARE deleted.

Require members to compulsorily post a msg before members could see the post
This has been brought up in the past numerous times, but we've decided this is a bad option. Requiring them to reply = spam. That's why the thank you button is there. I don't see how this helps fosters discussion. Activity yes, discussion no.

Start an english subbing team
I've thought of something along those lines, but more generally, a translation forum. Where ppl can get whatever they want translated.

]
I personally feel that its feasible to change to a server that doesnt cost as much as the present server


If I could pay $5 a month versus $119 a month why wouldn't I choose the $5? Well if I could I would. I understand most of you don't know the process and requirements it takes to secure a reliable server. But I'm just saying it's NOT that obvious and easy.

Like I've said, let's not focus on the financials. Give me solutions to the activity problem


online chat room for JCNET members

We've done that in the past, I'm not sure yet if we'll bring it back.

get rid of the reputation points, bank/points
I doubt rep points will go away. Like many have said, it has an encouragement factor associated.
I understand why alot of you see the points/bank system as pointless, but that's because it's not fully implemented yet. Yes you don't do anything with the points right now, but there will be a store where you can buy stuff with those points. It's an effort to add a "fun" dimension to the site apart from just engaging in discussion. And it encourages people to discuss. Post = more points = buy stuff


But maybe they contribute good posts, fuel good discussions, etc.? There aren't rep points awarded for that

There aren't? I kindly disagree, I think alot of people are rewarded for good discussion.


May I suggest lattae as a new administrator?


I think she's a wonderful moderator as well. But honestly adding another administrator at this point is not all that helpful. When lepencil and wackycashew were active, even as admins they still didn't go beyond the tasks of a moderator. Why? They aren't fluent in vBulletin or understanding how the server/hosting works. That is what I need in an administrator, it has more of a technical role mixed in.


Maybe we could implement reviews somehow? A member could write up their review, post it up, and then have other members weigh in on what they felt about the album/movie/book being reviewed?

That's a good idea, vBulletin has an addon where you can post a post that looks more like a review than a traditional post.


Is our goal to reorganize/reinvigorate JC.net or to expand it? Is there a particular focus we should be keeping in mind if the goal is to expand it?


Yes and yes. Another aspect I'm concerned over is our reputation. I think we need to stray away from that mean scary strict label attached to us. Strict is ok, but the scay mean thing we need to change. And yes that is something me and mods need to work on.

[petricia]

I've read through all the posts and I kinda understand the standstill that we are at now.

One of the members did mention that virtual space remains as virtual space, isolated from real life. This is one thing that i like to refute on. One very good example would be the Singaporean JCNetters. I have not been to every single activity but I've been to one and it was fabulous. We (They) moved out of the virtual space and they are very much real friends in reality as well. I got to know a couple of people more deeply and has established a link that would never been possible if not for this virtual place called JC.net

I have joined and become active during a time where activities in JCnet was at its peak (I believe). I understand under comparison with then, the JCnet is becoming boring and unchanging. I must admit that real life does catch up with us (work, study, problems etc...) and hence reducing our activities. However, I believe that if we are willing to, there will be more activities. It is our responsiblity to keep this forum going and I believe that alot of people realised that, esp. after receiving the email.

Suggestions had been raised and I would like to just comment on some (I am lazy so I don't quote... hope you all will forgive me).

1) Spotlight artists/singers. and our own members
I feel that this is an excellent idea. We are living across the globe and indeed there will be some that will not have the ability to read Chinese and hence get in touch in Chinese entertainment scene. Not only we can have more information about these upcoming artists, we can also stimulate more people participating, esp. if the artist is just amazing, i believe more people will participate. Another suggestion that was mentioned is featured member. (due to his/her contribution to the Fans Works area) I believe this will get more members to be involved and it will be an encouragement/recognition for those who are working their heads off with their creations.

2) Reviews of Albums or Books or Movies
I see this as some sort of part of 1) as well. With a more 'professional' or analytical view, we can inform the members more about the album, instead of going through a thousand and one post, wading through posts that goes 'this is wonderful!' without stating the reason. The whole thing with the books and movies is somewhat similar to 1) except that it is on books and movies, instead of singers.

3)Subbing team
I really think we should do this. After all, it is all for the benefit for the members. We can just help each other out in understanding Jay more. After all, we do have translation requests now. If there are enough people to do it, we can expand into other stuff, eg. drama or short skits etc. (i think it is too much work though, kind of impossible)

4) Annual Games (Summer/Winter etc...)
I missed the Games (I believed we have more than one) because I wasn't really into JC.net for the first time (2004) and because I was overseas on something that didn't allow me the time and effort to participate. (2005) I was really looking forward to this year's one though. I believe it is really a time where many members, old or new, get around and just go all out to interact and have fun. I really hope that this will become an annual event that we can all look forward to.

5)JCNet Development Committee
I can't remember which genius came up with the idea but I definitely go along with it. With this team, we can review JCnet more often, rather than do it like this time, in a time of crisis. This does not need to be a fixed group. It can involve maybe a random amount of people for a few weeks and then move on. After all, at times, we just can't come up with creative ideas even if we want to. Make it like a duty rooster kind of thing so that people with ideas (and of course an outline will be better) can send their PMs to. It may sounds like a huge project but if we can get this out, I believe that we can R(eview) & D(evelopment) more often. And this also lighten the load on Karen or the other Administrators or Moderators as they need to think continuously how to improve traffic of this place.

6) General Forum for Chinese or Asian pop culture
I must say that I wasn't too receptive to the idea of JayChou.net losing its meaning but if that's necessary to increase the amount of discussion here, I would definitely go along with it. However, it was also mentioned (page 2 or 3) that an adverse effect may be people getting lost amongst these threads and in the end, lost interest. I am one of those in other forums are things are just overwhelming and ... disorganised to the point that i can't be bothered. However, in whatever case, I really hope that the name Jaychou.net will remain, as it is what that draws us to this place initially and hopefully, we will remember it as it is.

7) Rep points, Thank you Buttons, Plaza points, Reply to Thread before Downloading
I really prefer the Thank you Buttons and Rep points to remain. I believe that the removal of it will not only make it easier for leechers (I believe that though we want to see more activities, we certainly don't want to see one-liners and leechers along too) to get the downloads or increase their tendency to spam, which will unravel the whole place. Plaza points, I believe, have not been maximised to their full potential but I am against the ideas of using it to 'buy' downloads. If I am not wrong, Plaza points come with post counts and hence a reason for spamming to happen too. I can't predict that all that will happen but there is a high possibility that it will lead to that eventually. The 'Reply before you can download', in my humble opinion will generate the same effect. I did that in other forums then... just to get downloads.

8) Financial Burden on Karen
Someone mentioned about yearly donation and I totally support it. I live in Singapore where I can pretty much get Asian stuff off the shelf. Hence I don't really use the Buttons there, unless I am getting something from Europe or US etc. I believe that most of us will donate a few bucks to keep this place going for it has become more than just another place to post in. The problem will of course be 'how to donate'. Looking at our members and the potential members that we are attracting, most will not have credit cards etc. I remembered a year where certain leaders are appointed in various countries for the money to be transferred locally and then the leader will transfer the money to Karen. Can we try that again? Karen should not be paying for this alone. We are all using the site and it is our responsiblity as well as hers or any others.

I believe that after looking through all the stuff I've written, it doesn't take a genius to know that I am not too good with coming up with new, creative ideas. However, I do 'work on command'. Just tell me that you need me to do this, this and this, and if I am able to, I'll do it. If it is beyond my capability, I'll say so. Nope, Karen or any other administrators or moderators. I won't think that you are bossing me around. I would think that you are asking me if I have the ability to help the site out.

The April Fool Saga made me realised how important this place is for me. I am really attached to it and I am willing to skip a few tv drama and do things that are within my ability to keep it going. Although I am stepping out to the society, I believe I'll still be involved in this place. I can't promise that I'll die for it but I can promise that I'll do my best to help the site to continue.

Of course, all these are just 'paper-talk'. Nothing is real. We can't predict that all will go the way we want. If it still fails after all the changes (well some will be fine too), maybe it should be history, not that I'll be happy about it.

Anyway, Karen, I'll support you no matter what you choose to do. After all, you are bearing most of the frustrating stuff and even if all these can work, you will have to handle a lot of issues too. If it is really too much for you to bear and no one else can help with that, I'll say close it down and let it remain as a beautiful memory in our brains.

I know it will be for me.

[stitchphil]

A lot have been said here, and I don't think I can add much to what have already been said. But as all of us here can see that there are active members around here but we need more. Here's my 20 cents on certain issues:

1) Reputation system and Thank you buttons

I don't think the rep system should be taken away. Granted that sometimes newer members tend to be intimidated to talk with the more senior members in terms of rep points & post count etc. But that it largely up to the senior members to initiate the discussions and be show that they are indeed appoachable.

But ultimately, it is quality over quantity. I believe the large majority of members here know what is a quality post. We just need to exercise it more often. Yes, myself included.

2) Losen up

I think the rules that are in place with this site is okay. True, that they may be intimidating at first, but it is something that can be easily taken used to. But many times, many members feel it as too restricting, especially when they do something wrong just one time, and got a hasty deduction in rep posts or get slammed by the senior members. Maybe we can losen up in certain aspects.

3) Usergroups

I strongly feel that the usergroups should be kept the way they are, or at least implement changes within the existing groups, and not to disband or change the names of the existing groups. Because the usergroups are the very essence of JCNet and should stay.

4) Spotlight artists

An excellent idea in my opinion that'll guarantee more activity in this site. But again, we must be mindful not to spam. Thus, what's needed in these forums / sub-forums are a team of active mods/supermods to keep the place clean.

And here are some of my suggestions:

1) Member-of-the-month

Maybe we can bring back the member of the month awards this site used to give out? Or maybe on a bimonthly basis? But perhaps we can expand on it in terms of the categories we are looking into? Maybe a member that contributes the most in the month or most helpful etc.. Apologies, that's just a general idea, I'm not very creative to think of new categories.

2) JCNet Welcome Committee

I got this idea from another site (which shall not be named) which I think its a good idea. Get this group of people and perhaps bold their usernames in another colour to identify themselves as a welcoming committee that newbies (not Noobs!) can approach when they have questions, instead of wondering with mod/admin they have to approach. It can be rather intimidating for a newbie to PM a mod on the very first day. Thus, from on start, make it clear to the new members who they can approach directly should they have any problems. That way, it'll help take off the load off other moderators and admins and they can better concentrate in their area of moderation.

These are just my suggestions. Whatever it is the direction of this place you decide to choose, Karen, you have my support. I can't say I understand completely the level and amount of frustration you go through with all these problems, but I'm sure many members are behind you whatever your decision maybe. And I'll gladly help in anyway I can to lighten the load. But if nothing material progress out of all these, and things fail to improve, then yes, close it down while we're on a high.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you.

[twilighthush]

You've read my mind! I'm thinking of creating a planning & development type committee where anyone can join (with reasonable qualifications of course). And yes you're absolutely right. When people belong to a group that is responsible for a certain task, they won't feel as if they're overstepping the line or out of order.

I wouldn't mind helping you out as much as I can with that. I know I've been sporadically active on and off over the past few years but I'm sure I'm not the only person who wouldn't mind taking the initative to go ahead and help out with the forum! Especially after we make ourselves at home, so to speak.

They aren't fluent in vBulletin or understanding how the server/hosting works. That is what I need in an administrator, it has more of a technical role mixed in.

I obviously don't have the proper JCNET qualifications for admining, but I do have technical experience with my own site/forums that is very similar to JCNET. We use PHPBB2, as opposed to vbulletin, but from my understanding, the two are pretty similar in terms of the coding and how it works. I'm surprised you haven't been able to find anyone who has the proper experience with servers/web design/etc. to help you out in the past few years actually. But if you ever do need a hand for whatever reason, I wouldn't mind lending it.

[linny]

1) Member-of-the-month
Maybe we can bring back the member of the month awards this site used to give out? Or maybe on a bimonthly basis? But perhaps we can expand on it in terms of the categories we are looking into? Maybe a member that contributes the most in the month or most helpful etc.. Apologies, that's just a general idea, I'm not very creative to think of new categories.
I think MotM was a great motivator for a lot of people to try their best to contribute to the forums in their own way. I think the thought of getting the prestige and acknowledgement that came with the MotM really made people want to do more for these forums. It'd be nice to see this back; it kind of made the place seem just a little smaller and relatable too since it reinforces the idea that members aren't just lost in the crowd... that what they do does go noticed.

[honeypinkies]

that's a shame...but u'r right jay's popularity is declining. so not many people will come to this site. to tell u the truth I totally forgot about it...
I think we should keep the name, if u don't mind.....

about more smilies....well if we want to keep this site attractive maybe we should do something about it....

and about keeping the group, if we can find a way to organize it maybe we can work together or do something to keep it.

that's my opinion....hope it helps !!!

[ryanzen]

in my opinion, Jcnet is the best as it was before, even if jay popularity is going down, those members who love his songs and works will still be loyal members, and willing to help this site.
The reputation point is very helpful to distinguish member and prevent anybody from doing crap in the site, for example scolding people in te forum and something like that.
Maybe we should add more mods to help manage the site, so adm won;t be too busy and have too much burden?
Since not all country can use paypal to buy products, why not provide donation system so those members who want to help this site can donate?
I know my opinion maybe won't help a bit, but as a member I really want this site keep going, we all know this is the best jay english site and i'm proud to be a member.

[wil69]

Have you considered branching out to other popular chinese/asian artists? Refocusing the direction of the site may bring in more traffic. I was originally drawn to this website by the lyric translations but signed on the forums and browsed through the site. Occasionally I would input feedback on topics I cared about but everything is pretty much focused on Jay (which I understand), but if you want to increase traffic, maybe including other popular artists into the mix will freshen the site. I would love to see other artists in asia since I am in the US and have limited access to chinese/asian pop culture so I think it'd be cool to include other artists on the site. Hope everything goes well for you, whether you continue the site or not. All the best.

wilson

[jaychou_21]

I whole-heartedly agree with what petricia and stitchphil have stressed out above. :happy:
My brain isn't functioning very well at the moment so I'm just
going to comment on a couple of issues that interest me the most.

The Annual Games

I'm willing to aid the people behind this event. I loved the Winter Games last year, it was the first annual game I participated in (and witnessed for the most part 'cause I didn't even make it to Round 3. :sweat:) I also want to pioneer a quiz show on this site. It's one of my dreams to become a quiz master on JCNET. In fact, I'm half-done with my 'platforms' even if I am not sure whether what I'm dreaming of is ever going to happen.


Member of the Month

This has motivated me and several other members to strive hard to achieve this prestigious recognition.
I may be n0obish until now but I am doing my best to improve and to contribute more to this site.
I don't understand Chinese but everytime I come across a Jay news on the web,
I'm always in a rush to find the translations to it and post the articles here in JCNET.
I am not gifted with wit and creativity but I start threads that I hope would boost activity in this forum.
I also leech in other sites just to share media files and fulfill the requests of our beloved JCNETizens. :secret:
Pleasing other people by sharing and being appreciated makes me more than happy
and gives me the energy I need to go on despite the lack of finances to stay online any longer.
It would be great to see the MotM gallery come back to life in the near future.
It keeps me focused on my goals of helping JCNET become a better community.

*wipes tears*

[spax]

Karen: About the issues on the VIPs not getting together as a group to contribute to the forum at a higher level, I suggest that we should put the VIP inductees on probation. We must see if they have the committment and ability to help out in the forums as one committee.

It is the same if we need more people to help out in the forums in different aspects. You can be an administrator, moderator, executive member, etc. However, it is a responsibility and not about boasting your high authority, not exactly doing anyting to help in the forums.

Hence, before we allow members to hold positions in the forums, we must have them on probation to see if they have the committment and ability to do the extra leadership job. One might seem to be a great member, always helping out in translations, downloads, etc. However, don't ever judge a book by its cover. One might be helpful and committed. However, the ability to hold a position as one of the leaders is also a crucial factor.

I emphasized this issue because by looking at the list of VIPs and the group members here, quite a majority of them don't seem to be coming into JCNET that often. The VIPs are supposed to be setting good examples by contributing to the forums, helping out with the admin matters. Their inactivity, to some people, conveys the message that they are just "privileged" members who don't do anything. By comparing them to some of the present non-group members, I feel that some of the present non-group members deserve to be holding the VIP position.

It also creates a sense of unfairness here because some of the VIPs don't seem to do anything, evident from their inactiveness. It makes people think that since some of the VIPs are like that, they might as well be the VIPs.

What I want to address is that, to bring JCNET to greater heights, we must have a group of people, or rather leaders, who have the capability and committment to run the forum together as a group. In this way, the leaders set a good example in serving the members of JCNET. It is just like in a Parliament, there is the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers of Finance/Defence/Education/etc and Members of the Parliament. A nation stays strong with a good government, together with the Members of Parliament who have the capability to lead the country together.

I wish that with the leaders having the capability to run the forums, JCNET will stay strong and will become an even better online community in the future. I believe all of us are looking forward to that.

[jayx8318x]

Well, I know I might have painted a picture that says the Mods/Vips don't do anything. But in defense, when we induct the VIPs or when I select a Mod, at that time they ARE active, and they ARE contributing just like those "members who you think deserve to be holding the VIP position"

Everyone starts out this way, but reality takes over and JCNET takes a back seat. It's a cycle, we outgrow we move on. Rotate the VIPs you say? I don't think it's something that should be done often, the list of VIPs need to be established so ppl aren't "Oh you're a VIP now?" or "Wait I thought you were VIP?"

[aina]

:hmm: some said rep point isn't necessary, some said it is necessary. Well, for me, it's quite important. Not like the bank points which increase as post number increases,rep point increase only if a member wrote a good post or contribute something. And that boost members' willingness to write good posts and contribute.

Rep points are given not only for those who are able to translate or able to give downloads. I can't translate, i can't give downloads with my 56K connection, but I still got rep points from helping others members out, answering their questions or made banners for them. Whatever good things you do may be awarded by rep points.

For the plaza/bank thingy..It did bring some lifes back to the forum (including me), but later i found out that it's not a very important feature to keep.
It kinda gives noob an opportunity to post craps just to gain some plaza points. Even though points could be gain by contribute something, or by being thanked, etc, but we have to admit the easiest way to gain points is by posting, right? Opposite from it, rep points motivate members to make not only a regular post, but a good post, which is way better.

I don't know, this is confusing.In one side, it might motivate members to be active, but in the other side,it allows noObs,spammers whatever they call to post craps.

If only that virtual money can be exchanged into real $$$, we can help Karen to pay the bill. :bleh: okay okay, back to the activity suggestions.

Annual games is definitely great to boost up activities in this forum. Lots of members were back to participate on last annual games. But as what some of you have said, annual game is not an easy task. Some qualified people are needed to organize and run all things. But i believe we still have lots of great members here.

The idea of having the MoTM back is good as well...

I can't give any new suggestions now. Sorry. *i'm bad if it comes to ideas,suggestions,etc* :oops:
What i can do is give comments on what others have told/suggested. :oops:

[judeb0x90]

i have been visiting the taiwan alfa sites frequently, and it attract more of my attention than compared to here. I do visit here sometimes cos i think this what at least i should do as a jay's fan in s'pore. Frankly, i do feel here seems bit cold and fake. However, i must still give millions thanks to the adminstrator here for all the things that you have done for this jay net forum.

[Starylosophy]

After reading all the comments, I guess I should say what I feel about JCNet. I settled myself on JCNet about over a year ago. I must say that I'm very attached here, almost checking the forum everyday. This is the first forum where I first registered and I've never made a wrong choice as the members here are mostly very friendly and there are so many news/pictures about Jay and also other general stuff. From here, I made new friends in the Singapore subforum and Singapore members also have outings/gatherings after meeting here. It will be definitely be such a pity if JCNet were to shut down.

I'm glad that Karen has voiced out what is bothering her and I think it's good to have a revamp of this forum. In all the forums I have joined/visited, JCNet is no doubt the neatest and a very organised forum. I give thumbs up for all the mods, and admins. You all have done a great job. But as to improve further, here are some suggestions that have been raised and here are my views to it.

1) Spotlight artists/singers and JCNet members
I feel this is a great idea. It's like having the "Artist of the month" in MTV where special attention of a particular celebrity providing with information, reviews of their albums and news. For JCNet members to be in the spotlight any members who possess great skills to fanarts, karaoke singing and fanfics can be considered. They can share more of their works as well as contribute on how to create avatars/signature/graphics etc.

2) Reviews of Albums or Books or Movies
Actually I've seen reviews done by members in other forums and I think it's a great idea of it implementing in JCNet too. On the download threads, I've seen many great comments on albums as wells as movies/drama on the Entertainment thread. The members can provide their views/ratings on albums/movies/books and give an overall comment for all members.

3)Subbing team
Basically, I feel that I'm always attracted to JCNet as there are so many wonderful translators around that translate Chinese articles to English where is so much more simpler to read. Not forgetting about the SST (Secret subbing team) that has been formed to make subs for Goong 1. And the SST was a success. We could perhaps have a subbing team for Jay news articles/Jap dramas/Korean dramas/ subbing teams.

4)Annual Games
Hey, I was really looking forward to the games as I've missed it last year due to examinations. The games was really so much fun, unfortunely I was unable to participate in them. I really hope the games wouldn't be discontinued as this will involve the participation of many JCNetters.

5) General Forum for Chinese or Asian pop culture
Well as Karen has mentioned, there are peaks in JCNet. It becomes very active when Jay releases an album/movie. It dies down after around 3-4 months after the release. Between that, we would probably go for some other entertainment etc. I feel that the general forums now are doing alright now. I don't think we should expand it to many other artists subforums as this is a Jay's site. Special considerations like artists having over 10 threads might have a chance to get a subforum. Other than that, I think it's rather fine now.

6) Rep points, Thank you Buttons, Plaza points
Some people feel the Rep points are to be taken out as some of the members are misuing the system. I feel that we should keep it as it's a sort of a encouragement to members who contribute and also it's way of saying thanks. But of course there's might be a fear that members misuse it so this leaves to the admins and mods to keep track on the rep points system. I really like the idea of the Plaza points, I'm sure alot of JCNetters had fun betting on WC2006. When it was first implemented I thought that this was one of the best ideas Karen have thought of. The Thank You Buttons are great too as sometimes I don't know what to comment, I could just press the button to thank the member for contributing.

7) Small Talk/Social Lounge
I think this subforum can be merged as one as the topics discussed are mostly stuff that happens in everyday life. The felt the groups are great for members interact with one another. I remembered the April fool joke about the groups going be taken away for good and many members felt so sad about it. This shows that the groups are popular with the members so I think it should stay in JCNet.

8) JCNet Member of the Month
When I came into JCNet, the MOTM was stopped for a few months so I didn't know of such thing. But later on during Dec or Jan, the MOTM was resurfaced and I think it's a good idea. This awards members who contributed to JCNet considerably with news/translations/pictures/videos. This will in turn spur them to continue contributing to the forum and continue to make the site active.

The above are my views/comments about JCNet after joining over a year. I really hope the changes in the coming months will benefit JCNet and attract many members here.

[archimedes]

Rep Points, Thank You Buttons
Maybe lots of newbie think that Rep Points is useless and kinda frustrating. honestly i do but i think it's important to have leecher out of this forum. i don't know how the rep points works but for me, the most important thing is to make sure that user write a readable english (not too 'gramtically right' because there's a lot of members who has a problem on that) and not just post one liner (this is the reason why the thank you button is so important)

Compacting the Forum
Different from its face 4 years ago, today jcnet have grown bigger, larger and more complex. There's a lot of sub-forum and sub-sub-forum. I'm not sure how to compact it but just make it not too "much". Some sort of "simple but functional". Maybe such as making an archive for old lyrics and news. so there's only the latest one in the forum. Maybe combining the small talk and current issue and debate as one sub-forum and then make it under social lounge (make it a the "talk" of members in social lounge).

I joined jcnet for almost 4 years. At first, i thought that i would meet a lot of friendly people but in fact i met a lot rules. I'm not saying that you are not friendly but not as friendly as the other's forum. But i'm a perfectionist one too. If i was Karen, i will do the same thing and make a strict rules to keep everything on the track. I know little about jcnet and i'm feel sorry for that. karen, i think it's good to express your feeling about jcnet because it will make people aware about your hard works. i do have the kind of same problem here. organizing things all alone and frustrated and then just stop. but you lucky to have a lot of members that supports you! maybe it's hard to hand over all things just like that but give yourself a chance to trust that others will make this forum ok!

note: i notice that a lot of people are afraid of this "superior" power to themself so they are either afraid to join or to write. so maybe we can have some adv like "jcnet are not scary at all. these rules and etc are for goods". Maybe we can write with less "angry" and more "guide/lead".

thanks for the chance to speak up my mind. NO OFFENSE.

[beyOnd aLL reasOn]

1) Part of me is loathe to part with the name "JCnet", but if we're going to expand into a more general area, it might be smarter to change the name. (Into what, I dunno, but I'm just throwing in my three rusty pennies.) It's definitely true that Jay's popularity has taken a downward turn and anyone who's not already on the site probably wont' know that "jay-chou net" is now a general site.
We could change it to JCnet and tell the n00bs it stands for something else xP.
2) Regarding the usergroups. Obviously, I'm biased towards KEEPING the groups. But regardless of that fact, usergroups as a function should be kept because truthfully, the only reason I ever come back here is to chat with my group. I've been to some forums where anyone can start a group and there's like 4-5 people in each group. BLAH. Usergroups should still be regulated and structured, it's part of the beauty of JCnet.
3) Financially, I think that as long as we can attract new members with a more general site, it will be easier t find willing donators. (For my part...>_> sorry Karen, I promise that someday I will actually REMEMBER to do it. Someday very soon.) We could offer extra services/privileges for money, but something tells me that won't necessarily work.
4) I know that JCnet is goingtobecome a general forum and the threads etc will be made by members (even n00bies)...But the reason I loved JCnet so much was because it was so informative, organized, and awesome of course. If we're going to give different artists each their own forums, we should try to keep with old JCnet standards and keep it structured and informative.
5)I'm cool wth rep points, but they're not actually that important.

[narniapooh]

I suppose I'm an example of a member that visits the site often but rarely finds the motivation to post. Anyway, I read the ENTIRE thread because I saw the email. So here is my opinion, although some might not think it's valid because I don't have a high post count or whatever.

Jay-Chou.net should remain JCnet. I know that when I'm interested in a new artist/actor/etc it's nice to find a comprehensive, thorough website that gives you all the information you want (lyrics, discography, biography, etc.). We're lucky that Jay Chou has this kind of site that's actually up-to-date (and one that has readable English too). Therefore, I really hope that it will stick around, at least for the sake of English speaking Jay Chou fans out there. That being said, JCNET is HUGE and you can't expect all the visitors to constantly want to participate. You can try making games or whatever, but you have to realize that a lot of people visiting the site probably are just passing by and don't like Jay Chou enough to even register. I'm not trying to be mean or anything, just realistic.

So my suggestion for the site is to clean up the forums. Easier said then done, I know that. But seriously, when I visit the forums I sometimes get a HUGE headache because I just see thousands and thousands of pages, lots of content, EVERYTHING. It's like an information overload/mass chaos. If there was a smarter way to somehow organize the forums and delete the more useless threads, that would be much more helpful. I think then more people would be willing to look at the forums.

You might reply, "How do we do that?" You might say that I'm not even being helpful because I don't have a solution, as I'm not sure myself; I admit that sometimes the intimidation of the endless threads in the various forums keeps me from visiting the forums often. But I'm just saying, an effective organization could go a long way, and at least it would keep the members that you WANT to stay in the forum active.

And yes, the rules are scary and rather deterring to new membership. Maybe being more user-friendly would motivate people to respond positively/be active.

[Helix]

:worry: i dont have much comment cos i dunno anything about starting or running a forum.. as much as i want this to go on... really... realistically... sooner or later this forum will have no1 visiting...and there will be no point for u to hang on with it for soo long and wasting ur time..

jay news...we can get that from media.. not necessarily in this forum.. and sooner or later.. jay will decline from his popularity...no matter how big time he is... this is reality.. i think all of us should ask ourselves....life will move on and we will soon have other artists which we'll once again be all "obessed" about.. jay is only one of them.. financially and time wise.. i think... you should shut it down if u no longer have the interest in running it anymore...

cos in the end... theres many other forum that we can join...bt if u shut this down.. i would probably not be joining another one... cos once a jC.net.. always a jC.net.. i think u should get on with ur life and spend ur time and money on things which are much more important than this.. :cry: cos people who tell u not to shut it down...in the end, they are not u ..

most members would have to admit that since they've joined, they have visited this forum less and less... like me i confess.. whateva u do.. i respect ur decision :D

[junnleenfaah]

hm, helix- you bring some good realistic points. i dunno, i guess it's good to look at the far future. but as for the near future, i dont really see jay's popularity completely flunking down. i think while he is still popular, it still makes sense to have a jay forum.

buuuut.. i dunno which "most members" you're talking about, but i know that since i joined this forum, this is like one of the first websites i check everyday when i get onto the computer. but of course, there are like 51,000+ members, and not all 51,000+ members participate, so you do bring a point there.

[hamtaro_89]

u dnt hav to pass the website over to someone else..instead maybe u can get someone to HELP out..in this way, this website is still urs n it keeps running

[jbalibean]

I think like many other members here, I didn't realize how serious the problem was until I received an email.

Like others have previously said, I am willing to help. One of the reasons why I have not inserted more ideas into this forum, as stupid as this may sound, is that I didn't know how/ and felt scared to make suggestions because I didn't feel that I had the authority (as with Moderators, Admin, VIP) to do so. I thought this was a privilege that came with the status. Maybe I'm speaking for other members out there, but I thought of myself as just one member (now out of more than 50,000) and my opinion didn't really matter in comparison.

_______
I think if Jay is not drawing enough attention, there should be more focus on artists that are in demand now. Expanding off of what others have said, I think there should be a monthly focus on not only a member, but an artist that is 'hot' now. A problem with leeching probably will result, but if activity and discussion prospers, then is it really that bad of a problem?

Getting back to what I was saying, I have noticed that a GREAT amount of the activity here is in the Korean threads. I personally enjoy going there to learn about new and upcoming artists, but I would think it would be more interesting if it became more of a prominent feature. With people like Rain/Bi/Pi (he has three stage names, that must say something!) gaining news all over the globe, there are a lot of people wanting more information. By doing a focus on such artists, I think discussion will revive. By keeping the focus entirely on Jay, especially during his 'non-peak' times, you are assuming that enough people will be interested in Jay to stay active, and obviously this hasn't been the case.

______________
Especially in the download forum, threads should be erased that only contains one song or even one album by a singer, if there is already another existing thread by that artist (like the way the discussion threads work). I know on more than one occasion, I have searched for hours to find a download and have come out frustrated due to 1) the link isn't there but more frequently 2) (as I saw someone mention before) there are so MANY pages to scroll through that it makes me not want to be as active sometimes.

Perhaps you should do a massive overhaul of the download thread and erase everything except for the organized forums for artists. Needless to say, if people still want the link they will re-upload it or find a way to get it and re-upload it to others.

Ideas that others have mentioned that I would wish to support:
1) Member of the Month

I miss that. It helped make jc.net less scary and more like a community. It helped introduce to me other members, and made me more motivated to create better posts.

2) the rep system

In my opinion, one of the highlights of jc. net. I remember a while back, I wrote a looong response to one of the discussion topics stating everything I had known about that topic. I was thrilled to see that I received a positive response from someone saying that the information helped them, and that my post wasn't just another post.

________________
I'm sorry this was so lengthy. Karen, I hope what I said here helps your decision. Thank you for your continued guidance and support of jc.net :hugz:

[King Aaron]

I haven't been on JCNET for almost half a year (in fact the last time I logged in was in February) mostly because I was (still am) busy and I didn't have much time.

I just wanted to comment regarding the suggestion of deletion/clearing of inactive/members witout posts. I don't post a lot, my post count is evidence, and I feel that not everyone have something to post about. I know we're discouraged from posting one-liners and so on, and that's part of the reason why I don't post a lot. I just use the "Thank You" button because most of the time I just want to say "Thanks" or "He looks great" or "I don't like the video".

My point is that there probably are some people who like to read but not necessarilly want to comment. I'm one of them. I like to read and a lot of the times I don't have anything really contsructive to add in so I just read, and move on. Call me a lurker (which I think is different from a leecher) because that's what I really do, I lurk. Even back in February I hardly logged in, but I did spend an amount of time just browsing and reading. I logged in just to be able to read/view the sections that guests/visitors aren't allowed to enter.

So I just think it wouldn't be fair to some of us if there really are plans to delete those who are inactive/have a few posts. I enjoy my time on JCNET and I hope to still be able to do it in the future, even if I do not post much, if at all.

Just my 2 cents. :happy:

[lily]

I just read the email and I decided to take the time and speak up my opinion.
I'm not a very active member myself, I do come by often but I don't post much.
However, I'm willing to help out and keep JCnet active!

I do hope JCnet won't shut down because it became a part of my life. I do check it whenever I have time. I try to keep up with Jay's news and meet up new friends at our forum. I can say its the best forum I've been to. Organized, friendly and warm.

I think JC net should stay as the name JC net. Everyone came by to this forum by searching Jay. We're all here at this forum because of Jay. This is our common interest!

After reading the posts made by other members, I do agree to a few points mentioned.

Annual Games - We should definitely keep that. It's really fun though I know we need the help of moderators and participants. I've only participated a bit in the Winter Games but I think it's really exciting and fun.

Rep system - I think its necessary. People receive rep points for their hard work and noobs or leechers loses it. I would feel happier too if I was recognized for my work/post. It keeps the forum more organized and makes the people more motivated to contribute to our forum. I don't think the plaza system is that necessary but if it's not really annoying or hard to maintain, we can keep that for sure. I appreciate the Thank you button too. When I don't know what to type, I'll just simply press that button.

Usergroup - I think it should be kept in our forum. It likes having a few families here. The newbies will feel more welcome and warm while chatting with different groups. It's easier to interact and make friends throughout the forum.

Member of the month - We should set that up again! Members will be able to appreciate the work of other members. Also, it would motivate them to contribute themselves too.

About the financial problem, I dunno what to suggest. I seriously want to help out and donate myself but I don't have paypal as I don't own a credit card myself. But I did press the yesasia ads a few times when I was looking for new cds.

Karen, I hope you'll keep the forum. It's your hard work and of course all other moderators and active members too! I'll be so disappointed to see it shut down. I really do appreciate all your work and effort! Hope my opinions can help out a bit!

[smilepiggy]

hmm, ive been a member for almost three years now and hearing that traffic is slow at jcnet do make me a lil gulity. although my visits here have havled to twice or even once a week, i still hope for jcnet to remain. its selfish intents, but jcnet have become one part of my life, that i think if gone, the hole will nv be filled again. i doubt i would ever join any other forum and join in chats like i do now.

regarding traffic being slow, i think that's mainly cos jay's last actual album was actually november's chopin (excluding huoyuanjia cos thats not qt a full album). maybe it is because its almost a yr back that's why people are starting to forget him? its like there's so many new singers and artistes releasing albums each month, its always easy to switch targets, so to speak. i think that the fact that we all are here is that we still supports jay! so keep the jay thing going, it shld see dayliight soon!

but thanks karen for keeping the site up and runnign these years!

[piglet]

i dont think traffic is a major problem here..i do see an average of 100 (slightly more or less) people logged on to JCN each time i past by here..of course, i may happened to login during some of the peak hours here..but if a site is able to get a hundreds of traffic flow each day, i would considered it good! :) Traffic would aslo increase if there are Jay's activities (Rumors, new album, concert, movie and etc)..i dont think it's traffic problem here..its the amount of activities input by these traffic..

Our main problem is..people dont participate..sometimes..i do see more 'Guests' than 'Members' here..why is it that these 'Guests' dont sign up? Most likely, they are here because they goggled for Jay and trumbled upon Jay Chou Net..so they are here more or less for Jay's news/related stuffs. So, i have a suggestion here..can we restrict these guests to view only Jay's news or Biography only? If they want to know what else it's going around in this forum, we can have some snapshots to encourage them to sign up..pse dont give them too much access to move ard the forums..especially the download regions..

If we forced them to sign up just to serve as an empty member (0 post count)..i dont think this is good either..i think it would be good to enourage people to participate..there are many good activities suggested by our members in this thread..

In addition, i personally do think that there are way too many threads in this site..some threads contained posts which are dated years back..i think we should do some cleaning of these 'No Post Thread' and clean up your database.. i suppose this will save some space too?or we can even merge many of the threads to just one discussion threads..having some many threads here would also make it hard to find one specified topic we are looking for (this also prevent me from starting a thread due to the fear of similar thread)..

my thinkings might not be the best solutions around, but i really wanted to do something for this site..i surf here most of the time and i think it's a great site..

Honestly Karen, i do regards JCNet as of one the most successful site..it would appear in the top search results whenever we goggled for Jay chou..seeing the numbers of members this site attracted, 51k is a remarkable results! Thank you for your constant efforts and hardwork to keep this site alive and running..I would not want to see this site an empty shell..but if you are tired and dont think this is worth your efforts, i think all of us would respect and understand this decision.. :)

[mantou]

i dont think you should change the name because this is what all members know it as. it makes us different to other sites. but however since u were the creator u get the ultimate decision. im not sure about the specifics of maintaining a website as large as this but i think as long as the links to this website dont change and ppl are able to still find you it'll be good.

im an avid fan of this site because member or contributors provide me with latest jay chou news that i cannot find myself because i dont know where to go. I am a BIG fan of jay and i lOVE JAY to bits so anything to keep this site with the jay chou bits would be wonderful!

i also think making it a general site would just expand the amount of memebers and ppl contributing. so we can share other artists news.

thanks for letting me have a say. really appreciate it!:wink2:

[missTBA]

So to solve my problem, 1) Shut it down or 2) Do something to get more stable activity, get rid of the fluctuations. So we're gonna try #2

i adore you for going for number 2 btw <3



i kind of just need to get the emotional bit out first. i love j-c.net. jay chou was my first, and jay-chou.net is my first. i'm so thankful for these two things. not only because they've been great experiences within themselves, but because they gave me high standards. with jay, i experience good music. and with this site, i learned what an incredible forum was. there are rules, but there's so much more... there are user groups, and forum games, and all the resources and discussion you could wish for. it is STILL the most impressive forum i've ever been too, despite its slumps. i can't even imagine discovering the forum world somewhere else. i'm so glad it was here. even though i've branched out into many other artists and countries and genres, become a member of various forums, it's whever i come back here that it feels like "ah... i'm at home." just like when i listen to old jay music.



now for suggestions or comments on the structure of the site:

user groups should definitely stay. i think it's more than the bonds, even. members that you personally get to know keep you grounded. it's not forced, but you know they're there. j-c.net is like a catalyst for that.

maybe we could create a subforum somewhere focusing on international music discussion. with the korean boom, there's definitely an interest in other countries. we could have both light and more serious topics, like "who would be the equivalent of jay in korea/japan?", "same language, different regions: mainland china vs. taiwan in terms of music or entertainment" or "jay or kpop - why?"

another idea is a history subforum? this is kind of... nerdy or something, lol. but something showing the history of j-c.net. it could have an archive of the past best threads, or the most informational on jay. it'd be nice to see the changes jay has gone through as well as this site. it'd also be great for new members who are curious about what this forum has to offer and what jay was like "back in the old days."

i think two things deserve a big clean-up:

inactive members. i know someone mentioned up there about how it can be hard to comment, but i think this is something j-c.net needs - active (and not just spamming or leeching) members. any site does. not that i'm perfect, i definitely don't have a flawless attendance record, but a post once a day or once a week can't be too difficult. all you need to do is find a thread where you have something to say, contribute your own opinion. or if you have a unique idea running through your head, make a topic. so maybe we can have more vigorous sweeps to clean up members who haven't visited/posted for a long time, and perhaps also include a list of links/suggestions in the newbie posting thread for those who have a hard time thinking of how to contribute without being repetitive.

media & resources. the community and discussion here is incredible, but it's undeniable that almost every member *hopefully* at least started out as a jay fan. that said, there have been times when i wanted to sing a jay song only to find that none of the links work. the same goes for videos and music
(and there are so many picture threads where pictures are just dead - can these be cleaned up or revived?) this is especially frustrating because i feel like it's so hard to get these, even when they're available. lots of times my PMing has proved ineffective when contacting the respective mod. it's also saddening because, well. this IS a jay forum. even though i'm not as obsessive as before, i still want to hear that song i lost on my computer or see that old mv sometimes, but it's not here.

that's all the suggestions i have for now :)

[xiaojielun]

EDIT:
I don't want you guys to focus on the financial problem. Bottom line is that if we can fix the activity problem, we wouldn't need to worry about the financial problem. Even if I have to foot the bill myself, as long as I see it as worth it and people are using this site, then I'm ok with that.

i really like this statement,
i really have noticed the decline in activity over time but i know that i als dont contribute as much as i could have

i think one way that will attract more activity is to implement that new artists section that everyone has talked about

i like the points reward system thing cos it encourages people to post and the plaza is kind of useful too otherwise there wouldnt be much we could use our points for, maybe there could be another way to use our points (i havent really thought of this but maybe we could use our points to buy songs or pictures off people eg. some dude pays another person for them to upload an album or song for them; dunno just an idea, havent given it much thought)

if i were to see this forum close down i would be really sad cos i've really become attached to this forum, it provides constant news updates, media and being able to meet people in the social forums is not what many forums offer so i really like it here, i'm sure many people would agree with this :-)

as far as the rules go i think it is only a problem for noobs, they just need to get accustomed to the environment, i think without them this forum would become a mess with mods having to do much more work to clean the place up

[lil~jo]

I understand how difficult it is to up keep a place like this.

Moneywise and timewise.

I have enjoyed keeping it as THE Jay Chou forum.

IF need be, we can set up some of the other big singers in here like many of you have mentioned, BUT BUT BUT....
still keep out belovered JAY as the main one :happy:

The world just revolves around money doesnt it...:rolleyes:
I know karen jie loves this site...
Why don't we all just help out with a lil advertising...
and even foot a little of the bill! :happy:
*I'm still trying to figure out how to do so without my parents figuring out*

karen jie, how much exactly do you have to pay each month?

[dagamezmasta]

Hm... so I guess it's change that's inevitable. Well, after some consideration, I guess it's not too bad. Even if I stressed that I didn't want change right now in my earlier post.

As many others have said, I think the spotlight forums are a good idea. MotM and annual games should also be brought back. I don't think it's necessary to state the reasons here, as dozens of other members have already stated it: it'll generate more activity.

By the way, is embedding YouTube videos in posts a feature on this forum? Because I think it might help in certain threads. I know it's not going to actually generate more activity, but it's just a suggestion for forum improvement, if it's not a feature already.

I think the media forums could use a makeover. I don't exactly frequent those forums much, but I think it would be (for me... it probably already is for others) a great place to discover other artists. The media forum might be used in conjecture with the spotlight forums?
And certain groups seem to be really hot right now, like NQMM and F.I.R. (due to their new albums). So maybe spotlight forums shouldn't just focus on new artists, but rather artists that are hot at the time. Because you wouldn't say that NQMM and F.I.R. are new or small, but they'd make pretty good material to spotlight on, in my humble opinion.

[lattae]

I see many comment about how they like annual games, and how they want to bring it back. BUT you see, annual games won't be called annual games if we had it every other day. It's not been a year since the last winter games :rolleyes:

[dagamezmasta]

Yes, but I never actually took part in an annual game...
So I've been confused about something:
Weren't annual games supposed to be towards the end of August, in order to celebrate JCNET's anniversary, rather than in December? Or did that just change last year? :?

[jay_C]

Hello everyone (sorry my english is bad)
i am shocked knewing that JCnet is going to be shut down.
i am classified as inactive member, when i go online i just read the news about mr president Jay.
after that i just go offline and sleep.
3-4 years ago i was very active in posting and replying but now i am very busy at my work.
i really appreciate what karen have done in running this beautiful site.
my suggestion for JCnet:
1.simplified the rule (can we do it?)
2.Just like deleting inactive member, can we delete the mods and vips?(and choose the new one?)
3.Make a new position for mods and vips + each job desc(like president, vice president, financial director, human resource director, etc)
This is just an opinion
i hope this can help karen and JC net (instead of making karen has a headache)
Kekekekekekekkeke

[Saharial]

I guess i could come under the group of people that are active evry now and then and I have been wondering why i don't come hee as much as I do other places. To be sure, I run my own forum and staff on soompi so they do take prority, but i would feel like something was missing if JCnet was to end :(

I do try to do my best to be here, but its a little intimidating the way some of the rules are expressed. I realise its a forum and things have to be kept under control with so many members, but its making me shy to post.

I often (and don't laugh) get lost in this place because its so montone in color x_x maybe the different sections could have different colors? and i find it all hard to read with grey text on a grey background.

I like the idea of a banner competition - that would keep things fresh and different, and member of the month would be good too. lyrics and news is what i come here for the most, subbing teams and translations of variety shows would eb a dream come true! I assume jcnet has a clubbox.. cos if not.. maybe you should... people can earn rep points for uploading to it.

As for Jay's popularity dwindling i don't think thats the case. He's become established as an artist and now an actor and its the overhypedletsgocrazyandgetobsesseduntildyingday phase that is now over.

the only other suggestion i have (if its been made already my apologies) is to keep the website and forums separate like it is on soompi.com. That way you can distinguish as well the traffic in the forum from the traffic looking at the static info such as lyrics etc.

[kayelle]

i guess i'm one of those who used to be pretty active and now am almost invisible in the forums... can't be helped cos of work etc. but i really hope the forum can go on as i do still drop by once in a while to update myself!
as for my inputs on how to revamp/revitalise the site, prob reduce the intimidating rules...and much as i love my DK group, we should prob abolish the groups (LQP,WMZY etc.). Reason for abolishment: less one level of 'exclusive interaction' - i guess most members who belong to a group mostly interact btw their group members only. so if we got rid of that, then ppl can just go to whatever forums they're interested in.

[hahas955]

wel mi too.. i dun think we shld just gib up the 4rum... in fact we shld support the forum... .. why dun u try the yahoo grps to pull all jay 's fan together so as to concentrate all info at this webstite 1 point.. not in diffrent pt. so that we will haf more ppl coming in to support? ...well dun noe wad to comment hopes that was wad u wanted :oops: :oops:

[happifruit]

I got here through the huge link in Karen's signature...and I'm a bit sad that the forum has come to this, although I've been sensing it for the last little bit.

The mushy stuff first, I just wanted to say that I've become really attached to this forum although I haven't been on here for very long, and I definitely don't want to see it go. I sign in at least 4-5 times a week and the first thing I do is click UserCP so I can see who has replied to some of my subscribed topics and I can go and spazz over something with them. That's one of the main things that keeps me coming back...you really do get to know members unlike in some of the other large forums where you just pop in, say thanks for something and then leave.

About improvements, I like cs_omigosh's idea waaaay back about maybe restricting the user registration. We could also maybe clear out users who haven't logged in in a long time. Personally, I like personable forums where everything is within reach, and so that's why I don't like Soompi, because frankly it's HUGE and I drown in the amount of threads that are there. Which leads me to something else.

I don't think we should expand too fast and make it too generalised. Already with the Social Lounge and similar threads we're seeing pages and pages of threads and I lose interest in clicking because there are so many and I get a bit lost....

I like the idea that someone mentioned about News Archives. We could maybe take the ancient articles and archive them together according to month and year so the news section only has so many pages of threads and the rest can be easily accessible through the archive? We can maybe do that too for some of the other threads in the discussion and stuff.

I like the Reputation system...I was so thrilled when I got some for sharing a download once...and the Plaza points are fun...and the Thank You button is a really nice feature that I think we should keep too

I'll support and respect whatever decision Karen makes either way. Thanks for telling us your thoughts and not giving up on us yet Karen. Although I'll be very sad, if, in the end, you feel that closing JCNet down is in your best interests, then by all means close it down and leave it as a good memory.

[papayacrazy]

Well... do you have a little trainie that always tags along you and basically knows what to do with a site and how to manage one such as this??? If you do, just ask them, him, or her if she's willing to start a new site and then just transfer some of the info like the downloads, bio, disco, etc. It will be like starting fresh since you're so 'unwilling' to continue on with it. ;) Nothing wrong with that. I've ditched several sites.

[BlackJack0919]

1. Allow member to up the animated avatar once a year (it's depend on the admin)
2.Change the background colour to blue

That's all because this site is a little too perfect that I don't want to change much
Thanks for reading

[junnleenfaah]

1. Allow member to up the animated avatar once a year (it's depend on the admin)


er.. this, i dont really get =/ you mean we can only change our avatars once a year? iono about that, people like to change their avatars for theme weeks and such, and it'd be sorta boring to have only ONE avatar a year. but you said animated avatar, so now i dont really know what you mean. heh heh sorry, could you explain in more detail :shy:

[Galzs_revolution]

Well I’ve read the entire comments.. and just like other members and my selfish thoughts/reasons, it’s such a waste to give up the jcnet. For me it is the only site that I am attached to and regularly visits. It’s always nice to have updated jay news and other discussions in English, since my Chinese is so poor.

Anyway, there are loads of useful comments that people have chipped in and I have no reasons to enforce them again since I think Karen obviously will consider each and every one of them very seriously. I think the successful things in jcnet are the unique rep points, convenient thank you buttons and the way jcnet organise jay news and things. However, I think jcnet lacks organising in other way, such as the entertainment thread and other artists. Maybe we could create a sub forum for new or popular singers/bands or something rather than only having jolin and Wang lee hom.

Other things that jcnet weak, according to me, are the ranks and hierarchy in the community. The relationships between members aren’t mutual and especially newbies, I think it’s pretty hard to get acknowledge by the senior members. Even though you posts, it seems that nobody is acknowledging your presence. Some people may say it’s easy to fit in, but people are different and if one does not have the right equipment, it will be harder for them to blend, thus some of them are just part of the background. Although I’ve said the unique rep points is one of jcnet strength, I think this could be problem to, jcnetters, including me, tend to look at the rep points and judge the person just barely from the rep points, hence people with low rep points may feel that s/he is not good enough which could discourage their contribution. Yet I know rep points are there for good reasons and I don’t think we should abolish it.

First of all before we decided to change anything, I think we should remind ourselves about the purpose of jcnet. If I’m not wrong jcnet’s mission statement involves jay and his fans. Jay’s international fan forum. Therefore, we shouldn’t forget the reason we stay at jcnet, which is the reason I keep coming back. Even though Jay is not the Jay anymore and demand for “Jay” might be slowing down yet I believe the purpose of this net is for Jay’s fans. It’s not that I disagree to expand or something like that, yet I think we should increase our pace but not too much. I think by expanding rapidly will only flood jcnet forum with unnecessary leeches or others. Hence I think the new artists things is good, but it should be small subsidiary to contribute to jcnet. It will be better to have forum of the artists that jay has collaborated with before, this way I think it could attract people, at the same time, serve as a medium for them to get to know jay (I mean newbies/guest). Then we could attract them to join our net.

I like the review suggested by linny. I think it’s good.

I like the games idea too, by the heard of it, it’s fun. Small competitions, like the banners are very useful too.
To increase activities, I think we could create some kind of events which is related to the outside world, for example, when Christmas came, we can share things to each other regarding stories, or just simple tips or creation for cards or something. Make yourself those kind of things. We could held some competition or events to make/design cards and then send it to members/friends in jcnet. It would be fun. At least I think so.

Or, another example, is on valentine day, jcnet could create a campaign or love letter kind of things, providing email of who u like and send it of to that person (who is or who is not a member of jcnet). This way members get the chance to give secret love letter or something and at the same time, people who does not know jcnet could have chance to go to the net and take a look, if they are interested, they could join. This may help to boost membership.

Hm. Blogs have been very popular in recent years, how about advising the bloggers to put jcnet logos in their blogs and by doing so, they will get extra credit or something like that? Well perhaps jcnet could actually create a blog, though this may be little out of hand to organise. Hehe.

Well we all have talents right? Either writing poems, story, or even songs or melody. Why don’t held like music competitions, writing a song, with lyric and even sing it. It could be in groups (between members) or on our own. For the people who don’t know to compose, let other jcnetters held a class or something, teaching-sharing things, volunteers to be a teacher and share the knowledge. Other people who don’t know, can learn and this way I believe jcnet could become stronger with extra bonding with the community.

Bunch of ideas to increase the activities, yet I don’t know how we could run them. Perhaps we could get the group member to do stuff each turn, for example, diao krew come up with something, and other group members have to participate and well support each other.

As for the moderators and administrations, I think Karen, you really should delegate, and maybe you should introduce a new technique to re-test them all? I mean even running a country the parliament members are shifted and changed, why jcnetters are not changed? Some people might not be willing to do the job anymore, why don’t give other people a chance? Though I know by doing this your work load could be heavier..

Obviously jcnet is very huge and to renovate everything at once requires great amount of efforts, time and contributions. I think we should start with something small first, plan and put up notices to get volunteers sign up for the courses, so everyone has little projects to do. I bet with the small contributions could really make a difference, but it won’t work if all people started firing out ideas and doing things not under control. It will be better if we have plan.

I will be very available to help, since I’m still having my long holiday… just pm me if u need anything.

Such a long post. Hope I didn’t bore everyone out. :)

Go team work.
Together we achieve more.

I don't want to give jcnet up.

[spork]

I haven't read all the comments, but I think the gist of what a lot of people are saying is that they have the tendency to get lost in JCNet because there are so many posts. I, for one, never browse past the fifth page of whatever thread I'm actually looking at, or never really look at the earlier pages of a really, really long thread. That being said, I am even less likely to look at all the previous posts of JCNet. I think (and this is where the volunteer mods come in) that once all the mod-responsibilities have been delegated to people, the groups should work on cleaning up the forums and getting rid of the really old threads. It'll be easier to revive the forums if people can start their own thread, rather than trying to revive an old one.

The News Archive sounds like a lot of work to get it up and running, but if it does work, it's a good idea. A monthly archive might be best, since it seems like people tend to translate things left and right such that a yearly archive might be rather huge and cumbersome to sort through for readers, although probably easier to set up.

Maybe another website layout contest? I think we have one every year for the new album right? That might open up some activity from the artists at least, and although I rather like the monotone colors, I'm willing to try JCNet with a little more color.

[ShuiMei]

I've been a member here several months shy of four years, but to be honest I've never really felt very welcomed or compelled to post very often.

Despite being here for a fairly long time, I've mostly spent my time here as a lurker, really only posting when I had something to say, mostly reading news articles and sampling songs from new artists. Though I may not be very active, I do like this place, it's the best English source for anything Jay-related that I've ever encountered and I've been exposed to a lot of wonderful Chinese music artists that I would have otherwise, probably not have found, I'd be sad to see it go.

From the perspective of a lurker, regarding inactivity, personally, I've never been very active because I just don't have much of anything to say most of the time, I don't want to post one-liners, and well, one-liners aren't permitted here anyway, I imagine this is the same with guest members.

I come here atleast once a week, but I just don't have anything to say. When I have posted; however, it's mostly been in the Current Issues and Debate Forum, where I've had wonderful discussions with other members, and that's what would really drive me to post more often, well-thought out discussions instead of a thread which is comprised of several pages of posts that aren't really connected, which is what I feel a lot of topics here are :3

I've also always felt that this place was very "cliquey" and stiff, and never really involved myself in any forum activities since I haven't really made any friends here. I've tried to become more active several times in the past, but it's fairly difficult. I don't want to spam and make weak posts that don't contribute to any of the topics, but I've felt that the system puts a lot of pressure on members to post a lot in order to be "included," and while most members seem to get into this pretty easily, it's always been difficult for me personally. With that, I appreciate the reputation system, but the pressure to post more always looms overhead, and seeing how I don't, I've never really felt like I was a part of the community. In the beginning it was mostly the issue of being afraid I'd do something wrong and then get reprimanded, so I just wouldn't post very often, now it's mostly an issue of "getting used to it."

Well, those are the issues I've had over the years, as how to remedy them, a lot of good suggestions were brought up by members throughout this thread, I especially like the idea of reviews, of which I may even like to contribute to, and spotlight artists, as well as more seperate artist forums, but I don't know if it would necessarily make me post more, I think it would definitely spark my interest though.

Reading this thread has inspired me to try to post more and try to become a more active member of this community, I just need to get out of the mentality of getting used to not posting very often.

[ask4more_jay]

1) Spotlight artists/singers and JCNet members
i think this is a good idea. while fans of those spotlighted artists may enjoy the spotlight of their favourite artists, people can get to know these artists better. i think it's a great idea.

2) Reviews of Albums or Books or Movies
i think this is also a good idea, because movies and books and music is wat gets people talking.. and sports too. sport reviews would be sweeeet.

3)Subbing team
everyone can just do their part in subbing. like, if you feel like doing it, then contribute. but yeah. a subbing team would be pretty cool too.

4)Annual Games
i like annual games too. i usually don't really compete or anything, but i like reading about them and voting etc. it's fun, exciting, and a great way to show off talent (karaoke, drawing, etc..)

5) subforums
i think there should be subforums for popular artists. like the more famous or popular ones around JCnet. ie: nqmm, SHE, Rain, etc. the not-so-popular ones can just go under a forum titled "chinese artist" or "korean artist" etc.

6) Rep points, Thank you Buttons, Plaza points
i think rep points are good to just see which members are more active and contributive and stuff. thank you buttons are also good because it's a way of showing appreciation to each other. but plaza points.. i don't think that is really necessary..

7) Small Talk/Social Lounge
i think small talk and social lounge should be combined to one. they're basically the same. i still can't really find the difference between the two :oops: its pretty much the same right? and if they're combined to one, it'll be easier to find certain posts and threads.

8) JCNet Member of the Month
Member of the Month is a good idea to feature members and make them feel special =) and also its good to acknowledge active members, because then there's a motivation to contribute to the site. i think its a good idea.

[Jay luver]

i think JCnet is great. i mean, i love it. i just think there're too many rules and stuff. some un-necessary stuff should be taken out: plaza points, badges, etc. otherwise, its great. and i really hope to keep it.

[andantino]

i think JCnet is great. i mean, i love it. i just think there're too many rules and stuff. some un-necessary stuff should be taken out: plaza points, badges, etc. otherwise, its great. and i really hope to keep it.


but can you imagine a place without rules?
it would be very messy and horrible. hahaha.

and you would need the points in the plaza to purchase the download's password. ;)

[alice_jjar]

Ok, I am a pretty much not so active member. However, I am concern about you thinking that you want to close it down since u don't wish to hand it over to anyone. I understand that it's hard to let go of something that is of value to you.

This is one of the websites that I always go to because I'm a malay and I need a source of translation whenever needed for any news of my favourite idol, Jay CHou. This is not only from my opinion, but I assume from everyone who does not read nor speak the language Mandarin. We do have some difficulty. But, don't you feel that it's such a pity to let go of us as well? We are after all dying to get someone to translate stuff for us and this website has it all and brought us from all over the world just to talk about the same common interest, and that is Jay.

Hence, this is my suggestion: why don't you don't literally step down and hand it over. However, have a group of commitee and the head of the website to be trainned under you for a while. Under probabation sort of thing. Then, after that, when you are satisfied, hand it over. But, you're not going to wash your hands off this website but to actually be a mentor. The good thing is that you won't have to come back as often as you do when you're in charge. Isn't that right?

There may be probably other suggestions as well but I really wish you would not choose to close down the websites. It's not easy to get something like this one and get so connected to it at times. Most of us are reliant on this website. Think about it, every single fan of JAY unite at one common place. Where they hang out and talk about JAY. And not only that, some coming from all sorts of places like Singapore, Australia etc. I think it is such a global image. =)

ok, sorry for the second post but erms.. i read some before this. I agree with some of them.. really.. Why don't you create a real commitee.. Have a meeting with them and actually sort out all the jobs.. Have departments::
#Some who cleans up e forum
#Some who runs programs/activities
#Some who collect all ideas for the activities at the forum. and select them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Have this sort of deparments and jobs will be spread around the entire committe board. YOu're handling a lot things, of course there's a lot of work for you. And about those ppl whose are not so active. Make a rule whereby if they dun enter the website within 3 months, their memdership would be cancelled. We should have that kind of systems so that some people would only concentrate on that particular part.. Then, when the departments comes in, have around 5 to 6 ppl under them. Then perhaps, they could do rooster duty.. and make a schedule. Then, from there, perhaps 5 months after committee would change.. so that more ideas and systems would be brought in to a such a higher level of mindset because its' under different type of people. But, have a forum of disscussion of what type of activities that would be played at the forum each month or something. =)

[zjie]

isnt you also a fanz of jay...then why are you feeling tired to help jay to gain his popularity? ...you just hav to think that you are doing all these not for jc.net members but for JAY...so dont give up so easily...jay's popularity isnt going down...it is just that there wasnt much news recently...and everyone are still waiting for his album ...

[sa_o3x]

Although i haven't read all posts in this thread, but i got the point...

i understand what have u done with this site....

but please...if there's no jcnet anymore, i think i'll be desperate where to find Jay's stuffs n news....i think this site was wonderful and awesome....

i don't know what to say.. but thanks so much to u n everyone that contributed in this site...

about financial problem...maybe u can think about making a donation channel via sms..but that's just my idea....


i hope this site will be here forever...thanks..


:cry:

[sam_ho]

When I read that Karen wanted to shut down the site, I panicked...:oops:

Well anyways, I have been thinking it through and as I read through everybody's posts, my ideas has already been shared.

I suggest that you ask other Mods/VIPs to delete the older posts, not all, but the ones that are just pure garbage and useless.

As many people recommended, I think that the inactive newbies and users should be eliminated, and the lazy Mods/VIPs that don't really take the job seriously don't deserve the job and the jobs should be given to somebody else.

I also agree that Lattae should become a admins. She's a great moderator!

I'm glad that JCnet won't shut down, because this is the main reason of why I go onto the computer in a daily basis.

Like some people, I first also came to JCnet to find Jay pictures, downloads and translations. But eventually, I realized what a great site it is, and started to get more involved.

Anyways...I'll come back later to give out some ideas. I understand what Karen is worried about and why she doesn't want to run the site anymore...that is a heck LOT of responsibility. I would do the same thing. Whatever you decide Karen, you'll have my back the whole time.

[me_online]

Is that we are having financial problem?Our JCNet got 1825 members,can't 1825 members do something for JCNet?
Now JCNet is my home on Internet,I don't want to be "homeless" whenever I browse the Web.I think you guys' opinions are great:delete older posts,delete members who do not contribute to JCnet,or take other member to become new admin,make a donation.If you need help,I can do it voluntarily,I'm quite busy now but I'try my best to contribute to it.
Hope that our JCNet wouldn't shut down.

[c_c_]

like me_online, jcnet (having replaced gmail/google) has become my internet homebase. it is the place I turn to when I feel depressed, feel procrastinitive but don't know what to do on the internet, feel happy, feel w/e. and this even though I've only been a part of jcnet for an extremely short period of time. I think adding more forums is a great idea (it's already implemented, right? cause there are so many different ones) because it allows me to discuss more here in my happy place besides jay - things that I may need to vent about but can't talk about anywhere else. but definitely keep the jay undertone, jcnet is here because of jay, most of its members are here because of jay, and all that news about jay posted by the wonderful translators are soo interesting. I wouldn't want jcnet to disappear no matter what, I'd be homeless and wandering the big, bad streets of the internet living in a cardboard box ... it would be too cruel