10th Anniversary and Special Announcement

[~JCGJ~]

I reiterate: I am not a fan.

[Moontide]

I was a fan, but I suspected it was a joke, because of the silly "The Soda Town" name.

[Laura Ingalls]

I knew this had to be an April Fools' Day prank....good one, guys.


*loves April Fools' Day*

[bookworm]

This was a good prank idea, but it didn’t really work for multiple reasons not limited to the following.

the board has been going through a spell of inactivity recently. ... We've decided that the most viable option, to ensure the successful future of both boards, is to create a brand new board

If the purpose of this is to remedy inactivity, this is the worst solution you could come up with. Closing the board in question and moving to a completely new one? If people are having trouble coming around to a site they already use they’re not going to migrate to a new one and start over, they’ll just drop away.

the respective leaders of the Town of Odyssey and Soda Shop message boards have been conversing recently over the idea of merging ... create a brand new board, a combination of our two boards

This one is obvious, but closing both boards and opening a new one isn’t a merge, it’s a forced consolidation into a brand new startup. Not a logical course of action for any purpose on either side.

bringing together all the things that make both boards great.

Except apparently the things that make The ToO great (cash, Elections, etc) as those features need to be supported into existence on the new site or they’ll be dropped.

The new board will, unfortunately, not be opening today, as we would have hoped. Instead, we will be opening the new board on May 7th ... Thus, both boards will remain open until that date. This gives time for all community members to learn of the change.

These statements are contradictory. The delay allows people to have notice; but the plan was for the new board to be ready now, meaning there would not have been any notice.

thesodatown.x10host.com

Having the new site be a subdomain on a free host took validity out of the appearance. I know this is supposedly still just the prototype site and perhaps the domain would be upgraded later, but it still threw a red flag up early on at a time you need people to be at least open to the possibility this is legitimate.

[snubs]

Heh, I have to agree, the sub-domain was the biggest giveaway. And the lame 'Soda Town' name. =p

[Marvin D.]

This was a good prank idea, but it didn’t really work for multiple reasons not limited to the following.

the board has been going through a spell of inactivity recently. ... We've decided that the most viable option, to ensure the successful future of both boards, is to create a brand new board

If the purpose of this is to remedy inactivity, this is the worst solution you could come up with. Closing the board in question and moving to a completely new one? If people are having trouble coming around to a site they already use they’re not going to migrate to a new one and start over, they’ll just drop away.

the respective leaders of the Town of Odyssey and Soda Shop message boards have been conversing recently over the idea of merging ... create a brand new board, a combination of our two boards

This one is obvious, but closing both boards and opening a new one isn’t a merge, it’s a forced consolidation into a brand new startup. Not a logical course of action for any purpose on either side.

bringing together all the things that make both boards great.

Except apparently the things that make The ToO great (cash, Elections, etc) as those features need to be supported into existence on the new site or they’ll be dropped.

The new board will, unfortunately, not be opening today, as we would have hoped. Instead, we will be opening the new board on May 7th ... Thus, both boards will remain open until that date. This gives time for all community members to learn of the change.

These statements are contradictory. The delay allows people to have notice; but the plan was for the new board to be ready now, meaning there would not have been any notice.

thesodatown.x10host.com

Having the new site be a subdomain on a free host took validity out of the appearance. I know this is supposedly still just the prototype site and perhaps the domain would be upgraded later, but it still threw a red flag up early on at a time you need people to be at least open to the possibility this is legitimate.

#YUSoSerious #forrealz

[bookworm]

I was providing constructive criticism. If you’re going to try pulling a prank it should have a chance of working, or what is the point?

[Marvin D.]

. .it did work. People were convinced.

[shnoodlec]

I'm still waiting for May 7, to be honest.

[bookworm]

. .it did work. People were convinced.

Only people who didn't know better. (No offense meant.)
If someone actually analyzed it to assess the possibility it was legitimate they would have found the flags I mentioned and quickly dismissed it.

[Marvin D.]

Pffft.

Think and analyze less, have more fun.

#yolo #HashtagsonToO #WhyDidIJustDoThis

[Knight Fisher]

Wait. It isn't real?