The site has actually been going back up since December started, both for posts and views. Look at November and some of the other non tdv months since the spring and you can see huge improvements. For instance, in the first 26 days of November, I believe there were just 4 days where there were 200 posts yet in roughly 20 of the last 21 days there were 200.

IDK what it could have been, but it looks like the site could have one of its biggest months in either January or February that its had since 2014.

zander is right the activity is slowly going back up since new improvements have been made. I admit in the past it was lacking due to what other people have said there are others who focus their life and what they do. We do have some newbies posting up or most at that. The sites activity will go back to normal one day. But as it is we can only do so much by increasing it when we can.

fire emblem10604 : I want to be on more, though school is sort of a obstacle in that regard. So I guess that's the reason why I am not as active as usual. I guess the same can also be said for the others since they have things like school and such.

Hey,

I have to admit that I'm am still quite new to this site. I have it for half a year/ a year or so. I had a big break from this site because my interest in SNES games diminished a bit when I was busy. (study/GF/Work etc, you know the drill)
Now I return here, slightly more active, and I might have a suggestion concerning chat option.

As far as my impression of the chat window in the gaming screen goes, is that the chat window only allows chat between users who are playing the same game. If I'm right, please read on. If I'm wrong, never mind whatever I say xD

What if the chat window might be altered in a way that would allow users to switch between "console-chat" "game-series chat "all-chat" "private chat room" (with game series I mean All Donkeykong, Mario, Zelda games or whatever (they have to be of the same series))
So you can decide if you want to chat with people playing on the same console, people playing on the same game-series, or just chat in the general chat. This could be divided in chat rooms when this option proves to be pulling a lot of people to chat.
This might make sure people get to meet other people as well via chat, which will of course improve gaming experience.

And flaming? Well, just allow a report button, and if a player reaches a report threshold the reported problems might be looked at, and when being a true flamer, just start with disabling chat and allow a timer that has to countdown from 5 minutes to 0 before this player can start a game. This way the flamers will really "feel" the punishment, instead of just waiting out the chat ban to be removed.

I hope my ideas are worth something

If I have mentioned anything that has been addressed before, please forgive me, I haven't read all 209 posts xD

Byebye

sidno2000 : Your idea for a series/franchise chat is interesting, but I dunno if it could be implemented and how much work it would be since some franchises span a lot of games. That's not even counting the hacks.
If there is flaming in the game chats, you should message a moderator and appropriate action will be taken.

Vanelan : Yeah, I can understand the task isn;t easy, since there are more then 10.000 games on this site. but consolechat, gamechat, and general chat could be implemented when possible. of course it all sounds easy to me (a person who wasn't got any knowledge about how to make a site).

All I can say is, good luck with any planned improvements.

Skilledtree : I absolutely agree on everything you said. I will give you my two cents which may not be much but, I was recently a newbie and now a trusted member and like to post quite often.

As a newbie:
(1) Yes the site is very intimidating at first. I felt it was very hard to find things. However, people like Zanderlex and Sonicthehedgehog57 (yes Sonic, I still I'm unable to summon people on my posts not sure why) and Enittan and many many more helped me out and still do. Heck Zanderlex walked me through everything and he is such a great asset to this site hands down he is the reason I got hooked on Vizzed and have been able to purchase Site Items that have kept me coming back because from the get go he took the time to find out what I was trying to accomplish here and he made sure to help me with Viz so that I could get on it and continue to contribute to the site and earn my own Viz.
So, yes Veterans/Staff/Trusted Members definitely have a lot of influence on Newbie's activities and overall experience- why not create a way of rewarding them and somehow show to everyone how helpful they are.

(2) Chat room is definitely hands down one of the best most interactive ways to engage newbies. Heck I waited and waited until is was back up so I could only get to be in it for a few hours and never go back because of all the Viz I was losing from buying items I need in order to play more games. I even have All Nintendo and a Sega PC controller just so I can play these games more- (currently fixing computer again but, will soon get back to it.) Newbies should be encouraged to be in the Chat Room more as they get to feel more interaction and see more value behind this website. It's a great way to ask questions and get help from Veterans.

(3) I used to make more threads as a Newbie but, became concerned with rules and being banned for making a mistake that I stopped making as many threads and always go over the rules first. Not a bad thing, we need rules, just maybe not scare newbies too much about being banned unless they do something really bad.

(4) Interaction from other users that have been here longer needs to increase- post more on threads specially newbie threats and PM them say something nice from time to time. No 8120 and I follow each other's posts- we encourage each other's threats, reviews, etc. I tend to do the same for anyone on my friend's list and I constantly check new posts and try to comment wherever I think I have some knowledge. Heck when I don't I Google about the topic and then post my opinion.

(5) Is anyone really reading Game reviews much? Encourage Newbies to do it. My review was very Newbie like and Sonicthehedgehog57 took time to read it and give me good criticism and points to improve. I then, read his game reviews and next time I do another one I will ask for his opinion. It's all about making time to educate and share opinions with others. Interaction is a must not just threads and posts.

That's just my opinion. I think this site has amazing Staff and users that really go the extra mile to help and increase interaction but, they cannot reach every single newbie so more hands on from other users would be nice. I like this site and I am constantly amazed at just how much there's to do here. 

jlove92 : You encourage each others threats? :p

For reviews, a lot of people read them, many reviews are read more than basic threads, look at the view count, but reviews are harder to reply to which is why most people don't do it.

Activity has been up a lot though according to the stats page.

zanderlex :

Just like Zander said, this site has started going up ever since December, which also happens to be the same month I got unbanned. I'm telling you, it's because of me that everyone came back. :p

LunarDarkness: So far, this month has been super active too, loom at how many posts were made yesterday, 713. The most posts that were made in a day during the October TDV was just like 510, in the entire month, and only 5 days in all of 2015 had more posts than what was made yesterday so it looks like that could be a good sign. In fact, there has only been one day with more posts in the last 250 days.

zanderlex : hard in what way? Making "intelligent" post to reply at the review? I believe that after reading about a dozen one becomes comfortable in evaluating them. One just has to look at basic points like structure, comparisons with other games (a personal favorite) and major mistakes (grammatical, spelling).

janus : Because you need to take everything AFTER reading the review. If I read a review, I'm most likely not going to reply to it because it's going to take too much work to reply, especially of its one of the longer reviews because you need to work more. Like for me, I read like 4 reviews yesterday but I'm not going to reply to them unless I need to because I know its going to take too much.

Plus, during TdV seasons, such as now, I can see site activity picking up the pace compared to ordinary days. I believe the site get the most traffic during Summer, and with such a drastic change of traffic, I can see why you'd be confused to see that this site may be becoming inactive.

It happens every time school is back in (shivers in horror) so what do you expect anyway?

Forums are made, Forums slowly die... Let's be honest here... Vizzed has actually lasted a long time for a forum.... Especially as it's no secret that forums are declining in popularity.  Let's just keep it at that...

As for activity.. Honestly.. people saying its improving must be missing the point... The forum used to be active most months with a decline not really being that noticeable.... Of course it'll be more active during a TDV month.. or even months where applications for staff/mod are being held.... I've seen members barely have 30 posts by the 25th of one month.. .mod apps come out and by the end of it they had over 200... 

I may just be pessimistic here.. and i hope i'm not... but people seem to post when they try to win something.... Not because they enjoy posting here... 

I just have more time for the board lately, normally I do other things and use other boards.

sidno2000 : I think console chat might be more manageable, and could be a good way to find new games on a console that you like instead of just hacks of the same game.

Tyrian Delirium : Well, here's just one point. If you look at December year by year between 2014 and 2015, this December was either just about the same as 2014 December, or in fact just a little bit better. So even though in the last couple of months there have been a decline, some of the recent ones are about the same as previous years.

I've been a member for a little bit and I've seen nothing but introductions (hi, everyone), and a bunch of threads are being brought back from being closed.

And there are conversations about video games, which is okay, but the really compelling stuff, the real life stuff, the relationships, all that..... that's non-existent here.  Or at least it is so quiet it doesn't get much attention.

I think this is the kind of place where a 12 year comes in, plays some games, talks about Minecraft, and then leaves after a week because nothing else is happening.

I don't know if this website is built to really sustain a large number of posts every day.  I read about the competitions and those are nice but once people get their awards, they stop.  There's no fulfilling posting going on.

I don't have a solution.  I just have observations.  Although I'd ask, "Is there any interest in talking about things outside video games?"

Just video games is going to hamstring the site.

zanderlex: I usually feel the same. If the review has more than 1500 words I usually skip it. However that forum seems to be the most interesting for me; it gives me inspiration for MY reviews.