Random on June 25, 2012 at 01:43 am

@hypeuponline

MealTicket7

w3aponofchoice

w3aponofchoice

If you're reading this, you are probably well aware that not a whole lot has been going on here for several months now. After months of development and a great launch of the site and lots of great plans, things kinda fell apart in my personal life and this project took a back seat to other more important issues. Them's the breaks sometimes. But hey, I haven't forgotten about Hype Up and the solid half a year I spent building it. I still have goals and ambitions for this place that I haven't given up on, but I also realize it needs to be more focused. 

Running a full on game news site is a LOT of work. For the first three months I worked from midnight to 6am 5 nights a week writing content and news all on my own. That just isn't something I can do on my own and I realize I bit off a bit more than I could chew. So now with a re-launch of the site in mind, I'd like to know what kind of content you'd like to see or ideas you might have. I have some thoughts of my own for what I'd like to do but I'd like to hear from anyone who's still sticking around and wants to see this place get going. 

The comments are open, so giver. 

19 COMMENTS

HypeUp,

Damien on 25-06-2012 01:00

Like 1   Dislike 0

I think the site needs to be more social networkey. More about things your friends have written and less about gaming news that can be found elsewhere. This does rely on there being plenty of actual users to lift it off the ground.

Random on 25-06-2012 01:04

Like 0   Dislike 0

That was a goal from the start, but it’s a lot harder to implement than expected. One option would be to make the news feed automatically include posts from friends, as well as staff posts, but again this is pointless until people actually post things. I had hoped more people would jump on writing their own stuff.

BokkenMonkey on 25-06-2012 01:14

Like 0   Dislike 0

It’s tough to get that kind of thing rolling.  It’s kind of a chicken and egg type scenario - how to you get users without user activity and how to you get user activity without users?  I think the bottom line is that the people who are here, or the people who will presumably come back, need to be more active in actually writing things than we were the first time around.  I’d also consider integrating some degree of a Twitter feed into the main site somewhere.  It’s a cool thing to add to articles, might work to have that dynamically updating content in your face right when you get here too.

Random on 25-06-2012 01:26

Like 0   Dislike 0

One thing I might consider going forward is allowing login using facebook connect, since getting users to register has proven very futile. No one wants to sign up for things anymore. I’m also considering the idea of removing the forum, since the site itself is essentially a forum if you consider the news posts (which anyone can make) the topics.

Random on 25-06-2012 01:28

Like 0   Dislike 0

Just to expand on that last comment a bit, my thoughts are that the forum is slightly redundant since anyone can post a news story and the stories are commentable. Thus by removing the forum it would potentially drive more users to post content here on the main page.

BokkenMonkey on 25-06-2012 06:34

Like 0   Dislike 0

The only problem with that is that active news posts don’t jump to the top.  They do appear on that little side bar thing, though…

Random on 25-06-2012 11:09

Like 0   Dislike 0

That could be fixed.

pikkon on 27-06-2012 03:49

Like 0   Dislike 0

I don’t know who…but how about a feature where users get to e-mail questions in, and staff picks from one the lot each week and gives their own insight on it. Since this is a video game site that would be the topic limitation. Just throwing it out there… P.S Good to see Hypeup is coming back.

Random on 27-06-2012 03:53

Like 0   Dislike 0

Sure, but it relies on people actually sending questions. that’s something we can do easily, but the first goal has to be things to bring in new members and make the site active enough where these types of social activities become easier to do.

Toxodont on 27-06-2012 14:08

Like 0   Dislike 0

I agree with the ideas of turfing the forums and making the stories the forum for discussion instead.  I think the funny community stuff will still be there, but it will be pegged to stories instead of hidden in the forums. I think by default it would be good to have weight given to stories based on # of likes so the really popular stuff is on the front page by default.  Then like other sites the user can choose to see either (a) what’s popular or (b) what’s new.

Random on 27-06-2012 14:19

Like 0   Dislike 0

That’s a pretty good idea Tox, I like the idea of having an option to choose which view you prefer. I think I’ll get to work on implementing that soon.

Damien on 27-06-2012 19:05

Like 0   Dislike 0

To start off, I strongly suggest that everybody who sees this post thinks about creating an article for the site.

Damien on 28-06-2012 03:11

Like 0   Dislike 0

I’d actually like to see (hear) some new podcasts, if you can get back into the swing of those?

Damien on 28-06-2012 03:11

Like 0   Dislike 0

I’d actually like to see (hear) some new podcasts, if you can get back into the swing of those?

Random on 28-06-2012 12:12

Like 0   Dislike 0

I’d like to do some, but Buri and I have conflicting work schedules that make finding a mutually agreeable time and place to record them difficult.

BokkenMonkey on 30-06-2012 11:22

Like 1   Dislike 0

Whoa, new content galore! I’m thinking about writing something.  Promise I am.  Really like Tox’s idea, too.

Random on 13-11-2012 11:21

Like 1   Dislike 0

Just so people know I’m still working on this. Life has starting making more time for gaming as of late so I hope to get something happening.

Questionmarktarius on 20-11-2012 19:16

Like 0   Dislike 0

I’ll see what I can come up with. Maybe the place ought to split up into news/reviews/opinion/dumbassery.  Take CNet and Cracked, smash them together, and make it all about videogames.

Random on 10-01-2013 19:33

Like 0   Dislike 0

I’m in the process of redesigning the site and streamlining the appearance and code. The new design will be able to have multiple themes/skins and should be a lot less buggy. The back end software has been updated and already should be more stable. I’m re-writing all the code by hand to be more standards compliant and use more CSS and less images. The site will remain up and usable during the upgrades, and the new content/direction for the site will commence once everything is ready.