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Old 2008.10.29, 03:07 AM   #23
ShinjiPG
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 2,491
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I remember how I found EMF.
The "I Won't Last a Day Without You" collab with Hikaru Utada and her participation in the Casshern OST made me aware of Shiina Ringo. Then came Kono Yo Kagiri single and HF, and that's where I got hooked on her.
Trying to find more info about her discography and lyrics, I found both shiinaringo.se and frecklegirl's Nostalgic Lavender. Both of them mentioned EMF as a great and active community about Ringo and that it was easier to catch up with news there than on any other site. I started lurking then eventually joined.

Which means... Google never was part of it. I actually found Jonny's and frecklegirl's sites through wikipedia =P
And unless the forum would change it's name to Ringo's Mole Forum or Electric Ringo Forum, no new fan would guess that this was a Ringo/TJ community (I may be wrong :x).
So I guess "word of mouth" works more than trying to search for a Ringo forum, in this case. And that may be why there aren't many new members, because that word of mouth has become even more obscure (Ringo Catalogue and sr.se being dead...).

If EMF was, however, one of the top results for a "Shiina Ringo" Google search, it could make a difference. That and I think getting the layout more "obvious". We are already familiar with the different boards, but I wonder if new members don't get a bit lost the first time they enter.
Reading from top to bottom, as is natural for most members here (lol), the first time we read the words "Shiina Ringo" or "Tokyo Jihen" is after the Community Center sub-forum, and that's already a lot of screen space. I think it wouldn't hurt merging the two Boards that constitute it.
Something like this:

[Community Center]
- Site Announcemments/Feedback/Suggestions/Tutorials

[Shiina Ringo & Tokyo Jihen]
- News
- General (News, speculation, memorabilia, favorite songs, etc.)
- Product Reviews & Information
- Images

[Related Artists]
- News
- General
- Product Reviews & Information

[Off-Topic]
- General
- Music
- Videogames
- Movies
...etc

Just an idea D:
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