That might be worth looking into. Of course, it's all about targeting the right demographic.

What would we look for in Facebook users to determine whether or not they should see our ads?

Age range? Music/movie preferences?


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DS Bureaucracyâ¢: Every now and then, your opinion matters to us. Fill out the proper forms today!

Im not sure if it really needs certain music/videos to advertise too ( I have none listed). More on interests, maybe what apps they've loaded, what groups they're in, their causes etc. etc.

[This post was last updated on March 7, 2011, 1:13PM by Charlet.]

I believe it's because we're not "noteworthy" by their standards.


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DS Bureaucracyâ¢: Now providing organic, eco-friendly and sustainably produced Andromeda Timeâ¢. Do the right thing for yourself and the environment today!

We're cool, but I'm not thinking he'd let me run ads on his site.

It's kind of a thing where we mostly just leave each other alone.

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DS Bureaucracyâ¢: Now providing organic, eco-friendly and sustainably produced Andromeda Timeâ¢. Do the right thing for yourself and the environment today!

Basically, this would cause all of the people who buy Andromeda on the regular to stop buying it and stop sharing it. An initial burst of cash followed by a collapse of the economy.

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DS Bureaucracyâ¢: Please discourage our inefficiency with frequent Andromeda Time⢠purchases.

Not to mention as much as you don't want to say it, you and VF kinda are in competition.
Exact same demographic, both need flow of money.
While the typical people who will dump money into it have large discretionary spending (teens-tweens) there's not likely to be an infinite amount of that.
So naturally if their spending habits are split between DS and VF, one or the other will suffer for it.
Its just common sense.
So it would be odd for him to let you advertise on there.
Though I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

I'd say facebook is a good bet if you're thinking about advertising. A few people have raised that as a good idea time and again and it might be worth looking into just to give it a shot for a little while to see what kind of results it brings in, if you can afford it.

As for changing the pricing structure, I really wouldn't.
As you said, DS is an unlikely ongoing story.
Best not to write "The end" before its needed.

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Push up your hand if you're lovin' my style.

The fact of the matter is, while yes, the majority of your users (and thus Andromeda membership) are likely of a certain demographic the regulars which use your site and will become the face of your site are much different.
This will make marketing hard as it becomes difficult to determine what the site is really all about.
Some people sold on the idea that it is strictly a gothic site might come here and find it off-putting that the most active members who thoroughly use your community are almost anything but.

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Bad taste in my mouth, you would think I'm a whore... You would think I'm youuuuu....

Yeah I think a general rebranding of the demographic of the site is in order. I really like the Anti-Social network thing. We can maintain the atmosphere here easily by encouraging new people but also maintaining the socially awkward, varied sub-culture brand. I guess DS's identity has always been the acceptance of a multitude of sub-cultures. When the site gets a new layout it would be nice to see something along those lines describing what we're all about.

On facebook, we could pick a dozen different sub-cultures to appeal to using music or movie tastes or 'likes' or whatever facebook has to differentiate people.

I like how simple DS is.
It makes navigating it not feel like you've been dropped in the middle of clusterfuck central without a map.
Which is how VF feels. And that's a consensus, btw, even something that DSers who still use VF feel is true.

While you can make it look less plain, it doesn't need to become complicated and stupid.

And a rebrand is definitely needed if you want the site to grow.

Renaming it is not rebranding it.
It's not a general "Anti-social" thing right now.
It has a gimmicky "The Anti-social network" thing going for it, and that's about it.
It needs to be better defined and less centralized around "I'm gothic and an upset teen."

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If you could hold your tongue long enough you'd see that all I am is love.

Sounds good. For everything you need, go to 'Look and Feel' and scroll down to the 'Site Theme' section. Let me know if you have any questions.


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DS Bureaucracyâ¢: Sometimes there when you need us.

Yay!

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DS Bureaucracyâ¢: When 'just okay' is good enough.

My favorite part is how you can design the site basically yourself ( the layout I mean). I changed mine way back when it was first introduced to my own and I have kept it since then .

I think this should be more widely known.

Also I agree with Steven, I'm far from being 'goth" or anyone even putting me in that category by stereotyping yet I've been here since almost the creation. Sure I may have fit into that stereotype before but my personality hasnt changed. I think going for the "open minded" approach would be a good bet. Sure keep the Anti-Social Network deal going, but make it less like VF which ( as from what I remember, havent been on in a LONG time) is the dark themed, vampire-ish type deal etc. Not to mention theres lots of "coders" on here, that would be a good target audience especially with the easy CSS you're able to do.

I havent taken any classes, and simply just read up online about CSS and HTML and have little trouble creating my own theme and profile.

Not to mention the forums should be promoted more, like before when us old chat users would try and recruit new members to come in, I actually came across and old banner I made for the chat I would post on profiles which reminded me of this.