some ideas I have to improve player presence and participation

[Scoper]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

I don't doubt that some staff members do monitor the threads, they just choose not to reply or just shrug what is said off, mainly due to the threads being discussed by people who either; no longer play, are banned or are classed as; "oldbie"

I, and quite a few of the staff I know, frequent the forum daily or bi-daily. Personally, my reasons for not replying in every single thread are a mix and match of the following:

1. I don't think there's a problem in the thread I'm reading
2. As you said, the only people replying are retired people or banned people or oldbies that have a singular, non-malleable mindset. While these people might have good ideas once in a while, they're not the customer base we're supposed to be catering to. Specifically in the case of banned people, I believe that when they became banned, they lost their right to an opinion about how Era should be.
3. I have no experience on the subject being discussed. For example, the gun stats thread, or any thread that degenerates to gunstats (they all do) -- I own 3 guns, and will probably never own another. I just ban people.
4. The topic has been derailed or degenerated into a flame war. Also every thread.
5. My last point, and this one's the kicker IMO -- It appears that about 99.99% of people here are incapable of actual discussion, and instead just push their opinion until the thread dies. You know the only person I can ever remember saying 'oh right, I see your point and I'm wrong here'? Frankie.Not saying I'm above this, either. I'm often set in my ways. But, knowing that, why bother arguing? I know what road it goes down

It's just a waste of time. Were it only my not having expert experience on a subject, I might still venture an opinion. As it stands now, every thread is usually a composite of at least 4 of those things I mentioned.
Also Tim. God damn you all for encouraging Tim