Hello all. Not expecting my statements to be taken seriously (or even read by many), I wrote my first speech haphazardly, out of ignorance, and ended up alienating what is in fact a thriving component of this wonderful forum, including the volunteers who donate their time every day to keep the forum looking great. For this I genuinely apologize, and I wish to revoke my previous statements. Properly informed, I have written a new speech thingy:
A mere single vote made the difference between my party or TheComet's winning the election; granted, this single vote was one of only seven total. I don't know what to make of this, other than a goal to have more total votes next election. Why do the elections even matter, you might ask? Right now, they almost don't. The elections, and the forum presidents elected thereby, have mainly been a Geek Culture thing as of late. When I ran to become president of this forum, my near sighted view (born of ignorance) was that this forum was fading, stale, and lacking communication -- I was only looking at the Geek Culture board. I've since been enlightened as to the pleasing truth that, in fact, the AppGameKit portion of this forum thrives even today. Because this forum's main focus and purpose right now is to support the AppGameKit user base, I want to ensure the positions of forum president and vice president have a positive effect on this forum's focus on and servitude toward the AppGameKit user base, not just a passive presence on the Geek Culture board.
Despite a strong love for these forums, I personally maintain little interest in programming these days, as well as no knowledge of AppGameKit, so I intend to find and appoint an AGK-knowledgeable individual to focus on propagating this new role of the forum presidency.
Geek Culture is and has been a troublesome board for these forums. While a few users appreciate its value as a place for free and random conversation, Geek Culture's overall effect on this forum needs to be corrected. As a catch-all bin, it's been a real trick to keep properly moderated. If this forum had a battlefield, Geek Culture would be it. It's been pretty calm lately, but it's seen more than a few users banned and threads locked. Activity on Geek Culture is typically highest before someone's about to get banned; this surely isn't a good sign. I intend to restore Geek Culture's position as a fun board, direct its aim and focus toward the AppGameKit user base, and maintain an impossibly peaceful atmosphere about it. I don't know exactly how this will be done, but I intend to work closely with the mod team to see what can be done. It may involve closing useless threads, namely the Posting Competition, which seems to attract drama and repel constructive conversations.
If curious, you may read the text of my poorly and ignorantly thought out, generally crappy previous speech here:
Quote: "Hello all! By an incredibly large 25% vote margin, you, the people of this forum, have collectively called myself and The Slayer to make the forums great again. We're here to answer your call, and will be over the next year.
As new forum president, I will use my special powers (ie the ability to post, edit my posts, read other posts, etc) to make these forums great again. Among the various goals on my agenda, I aim to increase forum activity by at least 10% by the time my presidency is over. I additionally aim to increase the base of high activity users by 5 to 10. These numbers may seem small, but considering the forum's current state, they seem reasonable and are a step in the right direction. I also intend to rekindle an active relationship between the mod team, TGC, and the everyday users of this forum. I intend to advance the role of the presidential team on this forum, which has as late been subtle.
This forum may be dwindling at a fast rate, and its primary intent may be to serve an obsolete set of products, but I carry a personal passion for this forum and wish to see it thrive again. This place thrived 6 years ago when I joined, but now it's a ghost town. It honestly makes me pretty sad. Sounds mushy, but it's genuinely true. It is my every intent to see this place well off again. I think The Slayer will be an excellent partner in attaining my goal, too!
Let's make the forums great again!"
