Basically, I've noticed a decline in activity in IT until recently. This isn't a huge deal. I'm ok with no activity, but things are more fun for me when this place is hopping. And I'm at a loss for what more we can do to potentially revitalize this place a bit.

I've tried hosting games, and so has pacman, but people get bored and stop playing halfway through, which is frustrating for us, as well as the players who play the games.

I don't think the hosting in itself is wrong, nor do I think the games themselves are wrong. This leads me to question whether we are blocking out a demographic of users who would be more energetic. Normal users.

As it is, Innocent Town is Trusted+. I have no problem keeping it that way. The quality of posts is high this way. But the quantity is low. And it's plausible letting normal members in won't hurt the quality, because, simply put, none of the mods here would stand for it.

The downside is IT would no longer be exclusive, if that matters to you.

So, have a vote. I won't close it for a while. I'll be doing whatever the collective decides. We are legion, for we are many.

I say keep it Trusted+. Like you said, the quality is high when it's only us. Sure, quantity is low, but some regular members post for the sake of post count and don't seem to read the main text of the post very often [not all, but a select few] and that would be even more annoying in games than people leaving. If the regular members deserve to post here and are energetic, they'll get trusted.

I'll be honest, I'm one of the people who dropped from here and contributed to the decline in activity. But it's summer, and lots of the trusted members are on break. I'd say use it as an opportunity to get more people. If that doesn't work, you can try opening the floodgates, though I'd use it as a final resort.

My main concern with making IT accessible to lower ranks is that they may register for forum games and then go inactive. I know that often happens in netplay tournaments David hosts so I could see the same happening here.

Maybe a compromise could be made. The forum is opened up, but to participate in any of the official IT games like mafia, murder mystery NDND etc. you'll still need to be trusted+? Since the forum could use some more general activity, though I'm not sure if that will help much since the games are the center of the forum.

I also think this is a forum that is probably mainly going to interest people who have stuck around for a while (aka trusted+) anyway. It's nice having a forum aside from the underground that's a bit more exclusive, gives a bit more of value to the rank. At the same time I don't see much in terms of alternative methods we can try to raise activity that haven't already been tried.

Overall I'm not 100% for or against lifting the restriction even if I'm leaning a bit towards keeping it as it is. I'll abstain from voting for now.

I think making it member+ would be okay. I agree with zlinqx about having them sign up for competitions would probably be annoying because some will disappear but with how slow and quiet IT I think the off-set would be worth it.

I'd say keep it Trusted+ for now. There are a lot of normal members on the board just posting for the sake of post count. Yes some of the games do get slow and boring halfway through but in this case, quality over quantity is much better due to the amount of spam.

This is mainly up to you though. It's summer and a lot of members are going to be on vacation now that school's out. If you want, you can experiment and see how IT would look without Trusted+. Of course, if it gets filled with spam once the regular members start posting, you'd make it Trusted+ again. Otherwise just leave it how it is.

Why not open it. If they aren't stupid it'll be good, and if they are stupid they'll get rekt anyways.
Sure it loses exclusivity but maybe a few normal members will be chill and add to IT.

Edited for slight clarity issue.

If we're being honest the line that separates trusted from normal members is nearly nonexistent.

Even if they post once in a while and then leave it wouldn't be that big of a deal if they aren't in any forum games. Hopefully they can maintain a level of maturity.

If anything I would suggest making the forum public but keeping the games restricted to trusted+

Blubcreator :

Your reasoning for the latter bit?

legacyme3 : Mostly for the concern of members coming and going. It wouldn't be a big deal for the forum in general but it would mess up any games if there was inactivity from them. Trusted are more likely to stick around.

I think it should stay Trusted+. It's easy enough to become trusted if you actually deserve it, and if you actually deserve it then I say you should be welcome into IT.

There are certain normal members that I like but of course if I like them and think they are deserving I'll rate them up, and considering I can give 3 points they don't have far to go after that.