Author Topic: Clan Websites/Forums (Read 6536 times)

Sarge.us · « **on:** October 17, 2007, 03:55:14 pm »

I've been thinking lately, what kinds of things do clans need to have besides a few recruitment/application, news, general discussion topics in forums?... Also what kinds of things should they include on their website? Graphics-wise, roster, clan wars, other information?

I know maintaining a good clan can be challenging when having to costantly update forums/websites, so what can make it easier? ...and make it look more organized and easier to navigate/understand?

Maybe we could compile a list?

KorrupT MerC · « **Reply #1 on:** October 17, 2007, 04:08:16 pm »

A website isnt as important or necessary...

Although i dont really think forums are either, but forums can make life easier... you dont have to constantly update them, once they are made, they are usually good to go, with minor tweaks here and there...

Im to lazy to make a list, but the forums would need just the basic ''necessary'' threads (clan news, general discussion, cw challenge, etc) and if your clan wants to be more forum active, you can add some entertaining threads to keep them chatting away.

Avkon · « **Reply #2 on:** October 18, 2007, 08:16:20 am »

True, I've seen clans have 'Lounge' and 'Scripting' forums, when it's useless to do so because you've got the biggest lounge/scripting/whatever community in places like here and Fracs.

Only the basic clan requirements are enough.

Veritas · « **Reply #3 on:** October 18, 2007, 09:24:03 am »

You really don't need a website or a forum. You can fit everything you need inside of an IRC channel topic, eg:
"A Clan | Roster: a - b - c -d | News: e leaves | Recruiting: On, PM a"
Done and done.

Avkon · « **Reply #4 on:** October 18, 2007, 10:10:36 am »

Forums are more of a show-off thing too, about 40% of the people who visited the |kC| clan forums told me the design was great..

But I don't know, I'm finding the forums more and more of a pain in the neck, so I might remove the forums once all clan members are on IRC regularly.

Of course, that's my standing on the topic, others might feel differently.

KorrupT MerC · « **Reply #5 on:** October 18, 2007, 06:16:41 pm »

Actually, i just thought of something... a clan that is international would probably need forums such as us. As i usually contact Avkon through Pm on the forums, but if your just a single country clan, you would probably only need to be ran by IRC.

Shadow G-Unit · « **Reply #6 on:** October 18, 2007, 06:50:07 pm »

Quote from: Sarge.us on October 17, 2007, 03:55:14 pm

I've been thinking lately, what kinds of things do clans need to have besides a few recruitment/application, news, general discussion topics in forums?... Also what kinds of things should they include on their website? Graphics-wise, roster, clan wars, other information?

I know maintaining a good clan can be challenging when having to costantly update forums/websites, so what can make it easier? ...and make it look more organized and easier to navigate/understand?

Maybe we could compile a list?

Many clans really don't need a forum that are constantly being updated. The GOOD ones use IRC.

ryuku ninja · « **Reply #7 on:** October 21, 2007, 09:26:25 pm »

I think that agood clan will not only have IRC, but a forum and xfire too.... the more means of communicating with your clan members, the better. Now, people say that you cant be a good clan if you dont have IRC...Thats totally rubbish, With or without IRC, your clans players can still be talented, just less exposed to the rest of the soldat community.. anyway, a good clan should still have a forum as well as IRC bacsue not all clan members are on at the sam time, so a forum allows the clan members who missed out on the discussions to have thier imput.

ElGato · « **Reply #8 on:** October 22, 2007, 10:06:31 am »

Quote from: ryuku ninja on October 21, 2007, 09:26:25 pm

I think that agood clan will not only have IRC, but a forum and xfire too.... the more means of communicating with your clan members, the better. Now, people say that you cant be a good clan if you dont have IRC...Thats totally rubbish, With or without IRC, your clans players can still be talented, just less exposed to the rest of the soldat community.. anyway, a good clan should still have a forum as well as IRC bacsue not all clan members are on at the sam time, so a forum allows the clan members who missed out on the discussions to have thier imput.

[/b]

I made the only important statement bold. The rest about xfire and whatnot just isn't true, eventually the good players will move on to the IRC scene if they want to get better and they will only use xfire for novelty if they even still use it.

KentheGreat · « **Reply #9 on:** October 22, 2007, 12:14:35 pm »

In my eyes it's only eyecandy to have a website, where you get brief info about the clan, the rest can be done at a forum..

Avkon · « **Reply #10 on:** October 23, 2007, 03:44:14 am »

It would be kinda stupid to have a website, a forum, an Xfire clan, IRC... and some clans have MSN or some other IMs too!

My clan has the website and forums rolled into one, and I think it's quite more efficient, and it's not like many otehr clans, where the site is completely different in look from the forums, plus a different URL too.

Also, |kC| used a clan on Xfire, but now it's been moved wholly to IRC, and it's better coz it's not just your clan members who you can speak with, members of other clans which use IRC are usually online in your channel as well as their own, so you can get feedback and stuff from them.

I think Forums+IRC is enough, like ElGato said, Xfire is just cool until the novelty wears off.

SpiltCoffee · « **Reply #11 on:** October 28, 2007, 09:27:53 am »

Opposite side of the world speaking here...

We have absolutely no need for IRC at all, and we have one forum which several big clans commune on. It's basically because we're such a small community, there's no need for IRC.

In fact, I've been in a clan which ran purely off Xfire, and it worked out quite nicely. Xfire has a few nifty things for clan support and such, so it was very ideal and all my clan needed.

(It is dead, now, but that's only because the leader was a jerk and ran off for another clan, leaving ours to die. He didn't get into the other clan, either.)

The Owls · « **Reply #12 on:** October 28, 2007, 10:11:56 am »

Clans don't need IRC, but I promise you, all of the top clans use it. I don't think it's even a matter of it's such a great program or anything. It's more of something that has been accepted as the medium for all clan based activities. (though the gathers would be hard to run with out it)

IRC is just a huge step up from public clans, simply because it makes finding clanwars easy, gathers, and you get to play with some of the top players in the world. I guarantee that if you think your clan is good right now, step into the ring of IRC, and you'll be very, very surprised at the level of play there.

ElGato · « **Reply #13 on:** October 28, 2007, 11:14:58 am »

Quote from: The Owls on October 28, 2007, 10:11:56 am

Clans don't need IRC, but I promise you, all of the top clans use it. I don't think it's even a matter of it's such a great program or anything. It's more of something that has been accepted as the medium for all clan based activities. (though the gathers would be hard to run with out it)

Before I had even heard of IRC a bunch of people would just simply get together in a server and pick teams with captains when they wanted a game with a little more competition. With 6 people it worked the almost the same as a gather and these mixed scrims are actually how I met a bunch of better players when I first started.

KentheGreat · « **Reply #14 on:** October 28, 2007, 12:03:55 pm »

a merged forum and site is perhaps more efficient, but I haven't found too many that look decently good yet (and are free).. as I'm much of an eyecandyperson

DragonSlayer · « **Reply #15 on:** October 30, 2007, 09:34:46 am »

Quote from: ryuku ninja on October 21, 2007, 09:26:25 pm

Now, people say that you cant be a good clan if you dont have IRC...Thats totally rubbish, With or without IRC, your clans players can still be talented, just less exposed to the rest of the soldat community.. anyway, a good clan should still have a forum as well as IRC bacsue not all clan members are on at the sam time, so a forum allows the clan members who missed out on the discussions to have thier imput.

The reason why people say this is because the only way to play a lot of clan wars is to use IRC. I don't mean one or two clan wars per week, not even a clan war per day. The best clans out there have played hundreds, even thousands of clan wars and that's what makes them good. Their experience and the level they are at is just completely different from most, likely every xfire/forum clan. A few talented players is not enough for your clan to be truly good. Not to mention that you need to play against good opponents to get better, and you'll find those on IRC.

F T S · « **Reply #16 on:** October 31, 2007, 01:16:31 pm »

What about one Major vent server that alot of clans could use? Like have people chip in to become channel admins of there own channel via paypal or something along those lines. Ive seen it work for many different games before, Easier to set up clan wars like just go into the channel with you'r tag in name or comment and get another leader/captain in there with you to set it up + You could trash talk afterwords

KentheGreat · « **Reply #17 on:** October 31, 2007, 02:17:10 pm »

Quote from: F T S on October 31, 2007, 01:16:31 pm

What about one Major vent server that alot of clans could use? Like have people chip in to become channel admins of there own channel via paypal or something along those lines. Ive seen it work for many different games before, Easier to set up clan wars like just go into the channel with you'r tag in name or comment and get another leader/captain in there with you to set it up + You could trash talk afterwords

+ it isn't free, not if the paypal system is implemented. Irc however, is, and you can talk trash afterwards there too.

Toumaz · « **Reply #18 on:** October 31, 2007, 04:49:17 pm »

There's also one based in Europe, simply called VentServ. If you want a channel on there, feel free to ask.

As for the actual server details: ventserv.com, port 3796.

ryuku ninja · « **Reply #19 on:** October 31, 2007, 06:20:06 pm »

Quote

A few talented players is not enough for your clan to be truly good. Not to mention that you need to play against good opponents to get better, and you'll find those on IRC.

Very True....But having talented players does help.....Expieriance is the key though...

Avkon · « **Reply #20 on:** November 03, 2007, 12:44:56 pm »

Talent goes hand-in-hand with experience, ever seen someone who's played Soldat for just a few months with great skills?

DragonSlayer · « **Reply #21 on:** November 03, 2007, 01:59:48 pm »

Well, by talented I actually meant skilled. You get the point!

Ouchek · « **Reply #22 on:** November 15, 2007, 06:16:43 am »

Firstly, a forum and a website are not necessary, however in some cases a forum can help.
Nevertheless, in my opinion, forums are useless, because when there is a news (big or not) it can be put on the IRC topic, and as soon as your members are online they can see it...that is why IRC is much better. Not to mention none of the actual best clans use a forum.
Myself, and my fellow active gamers won't repeat enough how important IRC is if you want to improve... I'm sorry if this looks like another "without-irc-you-wont-improve-thread", but it is the truth so...
...Any clan that is not on IRC will get bashed (or even snarfed) by IRC clans...for sure.
DragonSlayer pretty much explained it all, but I'll repeat anyway :
- If you wanna improve you need to play regularly... (daily would be better though)
AND
- To get better (as a clan) you have to play against better opponents which can easily be found on IRC at almost any time of the day, you will not improve by playing worse clans.
...so yeah use IRC and forget about the site and forum!

(I edited a bit my post because apparently it was "all nonsense", it hopefully makes more sense now.)

Tim. · « **Reply #23 on:** November 16, 2007, 03:01:52 pm »

Quote from: Ouchek on November 15, 2007, 06:16:43 am

Firstly, I think a forum and a website are not necessary, a forum can help but IRC is much better however I believe they're useless, because if there is a big news or something you can put it in your channel topic or talk to the members as soon as they're on... ( None of the actual best clans use a Forum)

This is going into another "without irc, you cant get better"............ UNFORTUNATELY, that is true.
Any clan that is not on IRC will get bashed (snarfed) by IRC clans for sure.
DragonSlayer pretty much explained it all, but I'll say it my way :
- The only good way to improve, is to play a lot (that means cws and gathers regularly as in daily).
- You have to play better opponents to get better, if you always play against the same people who are less skilled than you, you will not improve.
...The only place you can get all of this done, is IRC.

That's all nonsense.

Psycho · « **Reply #24 on:** November 16, 2007, 07:24:07 pm »

We have a forum and IRC too. Its only for posting extential information and stuff, such as CW results, News and the likes. Its a good way to have a system of all the information about your clan.

Shadow G-Unit · « **Reply #25 on:** November 16, 2007, 10:00:04 pm »

Quote from: Ouchek on November 15, 2007, 06:16:43 am

Firstly, a forum and a website are not necessary, however in some cases a forum can help.
Nevertheless, in my opinion, forums are useless, because when there is a news (big or not) it can be put on the IRC topic, and as soon as your members are online they can see it...that is why IRC is much better. Not to mention none of the actual best clans use a forum.
Myself, and my fellow active gamers won't repeat enough how important IRC is if you want to improve... I'm sorry if this looks like another "without-irc-you-wont-improve-thread", but it is the truth so...
...Any clan that is not on IRC will get bashed (or even snarfed) by IRC clans...for sure.
DragonSlayer pretty much explained it all, but I'll repeat anyway :
- If you wanna improve you need to play regularly... (daily would be better though)
AND
- To get better (as a clan) you have to play against better opponents which can easily be found on IRC at almost any time of the day, you will not improve by playing worse clans.
...so yeah use IRC and forget about the site and forum!

(I edited a bit my post because apparently it was "all nonsense", it hopefully makes more sense now.)

Nonesense? Perhaps the best tip from a Soldatforum-er here.

ElGato · « **Reply #26 on:** November 16, 2007, 10:16:47 pm »

Like I said, the only time I think a forum is usefull is if you want to communicate with people and you aren't on line at the same time. And you can only fit so much in IRC topic.

DragonSlayer · « **Reply #27 on:** November 17, 2007, 03:39:54 am »

Well, like Psycho said, forums are good if you want to post result of every clan war you play for example. Most clans don't really care about normal clan wars since it's just for fun or practice for leagues, and all the league clan wars are posted on the leagues' forums.

Shadow G-Unit is right, what Ouchek posted wasn't nonsense at all, he said some good points.

Shadow G-Unit · « **Reply #28 on:** November 17, 2007, 03:43:28 pm »

Hmm, never thought of that DragonSlayer. Yeah, I'll be sure to remember these kinds of comments.

Psycho · « **Reply #29 on:** November 17, 2007, 09:58:50 pm »

We mix it up by using forums, IRC, Xfire and sometimes Teamspeak to speak with eachother, and I think its a pretty nice setup.