PS Vita Forum

[chrisj]

Link: psvitaforum.com

Let me tell you bit about psvitaforum.

I started back in January right after the announcement of the NGP. I had a similar cmeinck as having a license already and it took me about an hour before I decided I was going to give it a strong effort.

Starting out as ngptalk. Membership started out slow for a long time but I never had my hopes shot down because I did have the most active community out there. I later purchased ngpforum.com and continued on. The style of the site changed over time as being the default skin to a modification of whisper and then finally to the themesinc's xenfracture which is really an impressive skin and actually the activity level of that forum picked up a lot during that time and membership was growing at up to 5 people a day. It was probably a combination of good rankings by google as well as the beautiful skin. Then forum activity slowed down and my google rankings dropped like a rock. Luckily my members continued to be active and some of them became standouts (one is going to pass me in posts any day now). There was one event to look forward to that would have a critical impact on my website which was E3 2011. Luckily due to leaks, I make the gamble and registered psvitaforum. Now that I look back I wish I believed it a bit more.

Activity on the forum increased from the current members as people became excited. The E3 Sony press conference occurred and like I expected, psvita was declared the name and right after the conference ended, my website instantly had over 200 guests. Since then I've been doing well and signups have returned to up to 5 a day. It hasn't exploded yet but activity on the forum has. Over 1500 posts since Sunday and my forum only has 3667 posts! The members continue to impress me and not only speak highly about the site but also the software. Heres a quote from a member that signed up two days ago.

Totally off-topic, but this forum is epic, probably the cleanest looking forum I have ever seen, in terms of it's actual scripting.

I have high expectations. It was nice to see Carlos sign up yesterday. Spent most of the day creating a new header to replace the E3 (sadly E3 is over but it went great). Hope some of you enjoy reading my story. Anyways, feedback would be great but I personally just wanted to share my story. Plus since the wiiucommunity did one, I felt we needed some parity in the showcase forum. I'm probably missing very important events but its hard to think of everything now that so much has happened recently. Any questions please ask away.

 

[Carlos]

I have high expectations.

Nonono.....Lower your expectations.

Treat PSVita Forum like an ambitious project.

 

[chrisj]

Nonono.....Lower your expectations.

In some ways I wish but I can't lie and say I wouldn't be very upset if the forum didn't succeed. As long as it's considered the most enjoyable forum. That's what I can give. I may not always be able to provide the most popular forum on the topic.

Update: I think I understand what you mean now, after you edited the post. I don't think I'm all set and I can just sit back and watch the forum grow. I just think if I keep it up (and do the things you suggested) I am on the right track.

Also heres some pictures I took along the way. They are enjoyable for me to look at. I also got a google cache from January 29th but the image wasn't cached so maybe I'll replicate it someday. Here was the first logo. Downright comical for me to look at now.
ngp talk February 3rd.


ngp forum March 4th.

 

[Dark Matter]

Nice for a dark theme because it's still very easy to see everything, even for a dark theme. I would look at creating a better logo though, it's too bright and colourful, it shouts out too much and doesn't blend together well with the rest of the style darker colours used. Apart from the logo bit, a very good job done!

 

[chrisj]

Nice for a dark theme because it's still very easy to see everything, even for a dark theme. I would look at creating a better logo though, it's too bright and colourful, it shouts out too much and doesn't blend together well with the rest of the style darker colours used. Apart from the logo bit, a very good job done!

You can thank the guys at themesinc for that, but my members requested that I brighten up the forums which is why I made that logo. Perhaps it would be better if I brightened up the rest of the forum instead. I'm also thinking about changing the orange font to a blue or white font since it fits the product better.

 

[x4rl]

Nice banner I like it good job ;p

 

[Carlos]

The banner's a good one, its not too bright.