New User Post

[Hal]

Hey folks

I made a post for New Users on the front page.

If you guys could take a look and see what you think I would appreciate the feedback. The site is big and it would be great if we had a nice and easy way to ease new users in and encourage them to contribute.

Cheers
Hal

[Reverse]

My take-away has been that the vast majority of users listen to the audio but never offer comments, feedback, or further interact with the site – I’d guess it’s at least a 10-listeners-for-one-feedback ratio (you have the actual views / downloaded data, so probably have a better idea than I).

It’s just how people work. Some of them don’t have time, some of them don’t have interest (there’s very little point posting “I hate your audio and never want to listen to it again”), some of them have nothing to say but “Cool” and don’t think it’s worth saying it (it is, people!). Not much fixing it.

For the actual blog post itself, IMO:
– I wouldn’t start on a negative. We have been around for a long time and like a lot of sites like that, we have our own way of doing things that have become pretty ingrained. We realize that this may make the site pretty unapproachable for someone just stumbling over us in the dark places of the web so we thought a nice little post about where to start and what you can expect might be prudent. – could instead be something like we’ve been around for a long time, and it can be hard to know where to start! That’s what this blog post is for. Less negative.
– Given it’s explicitly for new users (potentially new to actual plays as well as RPGMP3 specifically), I’d put a brief explanation of what actual plays are. These are recordings of real gaming groups, playing tabletop games around the world. It’s a great way to follow the fun of being in a tabletop game, see the great stories groups are experiencing, observe new systems and new rules, see how other groups play, and maybe even see a different take on a campaign you’ve played in or GMed.
– Emphasis the different types of games. We have groups from all over the world, playing everything from the ever-popular systems like Dungeons and Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, Savage Worlds and GURPS, through to systems you may not have experienced yet, like Rolemaster, Dogs in the Vineyard, and a huge variety.
– It’s worth pointing out we have a search feature, which can help you look for particular games.
– It might be worth linking directly to some short and some long games for people who want to dip their toes. Interesting a short, single game? Try searching for one shot to find our single session or handful of session games. If you’re in for the long haul, try our longest running campaigns, like Warlords of the Accord (105 sessions), Shattered Star (65 sessions), Kingmaker (80 sessions)…etc, etc..
– Everything from ‘the forums’ on down is all good.

[Hal]

Thanks – I appreciate the feedback. I’ll see if I can absorb it and gussy things up tomorrow 🙂

And yes, the majority of users just suck the audio up down the podcast feed and may never visit the site at all.

Cheers
Hal

[Reverse]

I also meant to say that the interface and link to the new users post both make it very clear. Hard for new users to miss.

[thom]

Thanks for all the work on the new site. If I want to support can I still just make an ad hoc donation or is it Patreon only?

[Author]

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