I think this is an issue that needs to be addressed. I am not expecting to get any popularity points from staff or otherwise.

I think this site is an acquired taste. Many people are turned off from this site because it is not intellectually stimulating in a way free of people being trolls. I think many people who would otherwise consider this place home are turned off by the silliness and even offensiveness in some cases. In other words, it doesn't have that same type of appeal that other forum mafia sites have. Conversely to this site, MafiaScum is much more serious in its demeanor as a whole. Ad homs are just not tolerated over there like there are here. In other words, MafiaScum has a much more polite atmosphere. Another difference between here and my homesite, is that at PerC, there is a certain level of respect most members show toward each other. Jokes are not made at others expense. Here, there is so much bashing that it gets pretty tiresome for some people. Also, I don't think as many people take being very good at forum Mafia as seriously here as elsewhere. Though in a way, people are concerned about how they do in a game, it is more done with the outlook of how much fun can they have as opposed to how good of plays can they make. This is seen in the way that here, people seem to be obsessed with fancy play syndrome. Naturally, when this doesn't work out, people get extremely frustrated with that person. this breeds contempts overall and people want to "one up" people in plays they see people make so they invent new ways to do wacky unorthodox plays. the flip side of the coin here is that I notice that there is another group here that really does care about doing things strictly based on logic, often times in a much more unoffensive manner. These people are often looked up to for their good play since they don't make many mistakes. But there is kinda a problem in this as well. In my experience and my general outlook on how to play this game of forum mafia, it is best to play in a "correct" way that also takes into account the actual personality of the people they are playing with. On my homesite, people are very good at reading the player and are less concerned with "correct" or "optimal" play. Then we have on MafiaScum that the best players are generally primarily concerned with good solid logical play. The real difference between these sites though, is that there is a sense of elitism on MafiaScum that is just not seen on PerC.

So what I would like to see from this site? Less ad homs and more comradery not just for the people who are the cool kids. I think creating a more established meta on this site that does not have anything to do with degrading players play would be a good start. I would also like to see more people take a stance more catered to reading the player and not the move itself. It is natural to see this on PerC since it is, afterall, a personality site. The logic bent to this site seems good, not the best, but good. I think there is good reading material on this site on how to play the game well. I think if people try to follow that more hardcore than the competition will get better. Lastly, I would like to see more discussion on what is good play on this site specifically. I realize that every site is different and has their own bent a little bit.

MattZed (and I assume other staff as well) realize that this site is not the best at keeping players who come from other places where forum mafia is played. I think we need to start thinking about how we can get people to not only get here and find this site, but stay here. this is meant for a starting point so that discussion can be discussed openly on how to get people here and keep them. These are just some ideas that I have on how to keep people here, and I realize that these solutions may not be good to implement here. But like I said, I think a really good start to keeping people here is to eliminate ad hom attacks.