2020 And the next steps with 12ozProphet and the forum

[misteraven]

So I've been thinking a lot and talking a lot to several people regarding what I've been considering and planning for 12ozProphet. Obviously we've come a long ass way from where things were at a year ago, two years ago and especially 3 years ago when I started resurrecting the forum, putting an end to the 12ozProphet Dark Period that existed for several years. Obviously we still have a long ways to go, but again, I'm pleased with the progress we've made. A lot of people doubted that a forum can survive in the age of social media and here we are proving we can. I think I've made a pretty credible case for social media being in a slow death spiral itself, but if anything, I think most would agree that things are in a weird place globally and its likely we'll see pretty big transitions soon, if we aren't already in the middle of one now.

 

That said, I've structured 12ozProphet officially as two companies...

 

1. There's 12ozProphet proper, which is being repositioned slowly back into a brand. As you guys all know, 12ozProphet started as a magazine. I've put out a few other products along the way, but it was our efforts with print publishing - first with the magazine and later with the books - that really set us a part and defined us as a brand. You've seen the tees and stuff we've dropped in the last bit and being honest, despite everything, I'm still only getting warmed up to what I have planned for the 12ozProphet brand. I've been exploring concepts and directions and trying to pin down the specific vision, which is a sort of translation of what we've always done with the publishing stuff.

 

2. Then there is 12ozProphet Collective... The screen printing company I kicked off early this year. This actually stemmed from what I was trying to do with the brand and also off what I learned from doing so many years of agency work for other brands. Production is often challenging and at the end of the day, very few seem capable of executing at a high standard. My thought was to capitalize on what I feel is the dismal state of screen print production (after getting burned way too many times), as well as lend a strategic advantage to 12ozProphet that comes from having your own facility and lastly, to find an investment that would benefit from past experience and accomplishment and be complimentary to what I hope 12ozProphet will become, while also not dependent on it or ride off its coat tails.

 

Though not a separate company, I also consider the online presence of 12ozProphet as almost its own thing, since there are so many moving parts. It bothers me that the primary domain is a shop, though I don't have the intention of going back to running a blog / media website. I

Though my main focus at the moment is the screen printing business (I've got a shit ton invested into that and see it as the path of least resistance to anchoring things so I can have the funds to start really building out the rest of whats planned), we're making pretty great progress there and are essentially just building up the client business since most of the rest of it is in place. Focus will need to remain on that until things are fully stable, but I have started work on a new 12ozProphet website that'll be the new foundation of the brand. I plan to further extract dependency on social media and build a platform that allows me to properly showcase what 12ozProphet is about. I want to create a tool that is representative of 12ozProphet and can be used to attract interest from new fans, be able to step to shops and also to be able to step to other brands for partnerships and collaborations. Anyhow, it'll take me a minute to build it out, but once done it'll have a flexible landing page that highlights each of the core sections, which are: Brand, Content and Community.

 

This leads me to the real reason for this thread... Community. Yes, we've made progress, but again, there's more to be done. I feel the forum reunion tee was a big turning point, but I also feel if we can build out 2 - 3x what we see now as far as active users, we'll really see the forum take on a life of its own and flourish. I have a few ideas for it, but likely it'll simply come down to steady promotion and also giving people a reason to check it out and to stick around. I'm building on some t-shirt ideas to follow up with that'll help give people an excuse to talk about the forum and raise awareness and am thinking of what can be done to the forum itself to improve our chances at attracting new and old members to it. 

 

I regularly get emails or messages asking why the forum has so many broken images or broken links and if I can do anything about it. I've discussed it at length with @Dirty_habiT and truth is that we are sitting on probably 30% of the images, but lack the technical ability to reconstruct things. That still leaves a shit load of broken threads. Also, I keep getting asked why there are huge gaps in threads, that often span years. We know that its because of 12ozProphet's Dark Age, but to the average user, it just looks fucked up. I'd love to figure out a solution and recently came up withe idea I'll outline below...

 

---------------

 

Basically to create a read only archive section of the forum, which will be part of the forum listing on the index. Within the archive, I'll reconstruct the forum sections so it's easy to recognize and navigate. Threads in there will be read only and closed to new comments. Then I'd work with the mod team to move all threads older than 2.5 years into the archive. Old threads that are still active, will be split so that it has a new intro post that quotes the original thread start post and links to the old version, but then all followup comments will be ones made in the last 2.5 years or so. My thought would be to also work with a select group of you guys to essentially recreate a pre established selection of what we feel are the absolute best posts on 12ozProphet and build out new versions of them that follow a similar format, in that they summarize the original and link to it, but are propagated with new comments.

 

The end result is that all forum sections will still have many pages of threads. The popular ones like Brick Slayers and Channel Zero will likely have a dozen or two pages. Since few people dig that deep into old pages, it should still feel full and active, but we always still have the old forum to pick through and enjoy, as well as use as a foundation to inspire the new forum.

 

The goal with doing this is to clean things up and make the forum more attractive to everyone today, without losing the heritage of what it was. Everything from search engine indexing, to visits from new and old members should be that much more compelling, since all threads will be whole, as well as being relevant, both in regards to users participating, topics and content. Since we know image host (we really need a tutorial for that and some of the other features), we should be solid moving forward. Obviously will be a ton of work, but I think it can really help breath new life into the forum and help make it a more compelling environment as we continue to build forward.

 

Anyways, I'm still considering the repercussions and investment in getting this done, so thought I'd open the conversation to see if there is anything I've over looked or hadn't considered. Likewise, I'll need to get a team together to assist with the process... People that naturally hold down specific sections that can help translate things so that each section maintains its integrity as we reconstruct it all.

 

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Thanks for hearing me out and thanks for being part of the community.

 

Here's to next steps and good days...

 

🥃🥃

 

[TreSixO]

if you have the server space absolutely , if its a space issue, then just certain threads maybe could be flagged for archive

[CALIgula]

I like this idea very much. 

I would even suggest archiving threads older than 2 years instead of 2.5 years. 

I'm very OCD when it comes to organization and it'd be nice to see threads cleaned up and organized. Please reach out to me when you're ready to begin this process and I'll be glad to help. 

[SMdoubleXL]

I like this idea. Selfishly.   If my lil voice counts. I’ve been wanting to get rid of my photo bucket but was afraid because of breaking links but I haven’t posted in my Vegas thread in so long I didn’t realize the link were already broken.  Selfishly this helps me decide to rearrange my photos and clean up those accounts. Ive driven back and forth across the country three whole times and never stopped documenting. I have a shit ton to contribute and am over IG and the level of dumb users are on there.  I like 12 oz level of dummy instead. :Clown face:   

 

But i also just like this idea besides personal reasons. 

Edited December 16, 2019 by SMdoubleXL

[misteraven]

41 minutes ago, SMdoubleXL said:

I like this idea. Selfishly.   If my lil voice counts. I’ve been wanting to get rid of my photo bucket but was afraid because of breaking links but I haven’t posted in my Vegas thread in so long I didn’t realize the link were already broken.  Selfishly this helps me decide to rearrange my photos and clean up those accounts. Ive driven back and forth across the country three whole times and never stopped documenting. I have a shit ton to contribute and am over IG and the level of dumb users are on there.  I like 12 oz level of dummy instead. :Clown face:   

 

But i also just like this idea besides personal reasons. 

Damn, why not recreate those threads if you have all the photos?

[SMdoubleXL]

8 minutes ago, misteraven said:

Damn, why not recreate those threads if you have all the photos?

I can and would like to. Once I get the hang of the new digs here on 12.  I don’t want it sloppy or don’t wanna fuck it up  I can EASILY build the Las Vegas thread, Nevada Bench thread plus few years of benching in Pittsburgh but it’s mostly that Las Vegas thread  that is sad. Most travel stuff would be travel stuff  and a lil graff and dance from random cities that I can contribute, too 

 

if I ask nice enough, I can try to see if any of those old quality contributors in Las Vegas thread would want to put in also. 

[Mercer]

This reminds me, I have an archive of old school, borderline historic Pittsburgh photos I used to start the Pittsburgh thread back up a long time ago. 

[Mercer]

14 minutes ago, SMdoubleXL said:

I can and would like to. Once I get the hang of the new digs here on 12.  I don’t want it sloppy or don’t wanna fuck it up  I can EASILY build the Las Vegas thread, Nevada Bench thread plus few years of benching in Pittsburgh but it’s mostly that Las Vegas thread  that is sad. Most travel stuff would be travel stuff  and a lil graff and dance from random cities that I can contribute, too 

 

if I ask nice enough, I can try to see if any of those old quality contributors in Las Vegas thread would want to put in also. 

Fairly easy on a desktop/laptop computer, you can drag and drop photos right in.

[mn1_fuckos]

I have about 4 or 5  years worth of images for the chicago graff thread. it would be quite the task to repost all those images though.

[SMdoubleXL]

23 minutes ago, Mercer said:

Fairly easy on a desktop/laptop computer, you can drag and drop photos right in.

Fresh out of either. For about two years now. 

 

Bit if that changes anytime soon-you mean drag em from photo bucket and drop them into 12? Forgive me if my mind is a lil simple about this. 

 

[Mercer]

1 minute ago, SMdoubleXL said:

Fresh out of either. For about two years now. 

 

Bit if that changes anytime soon-you mean drag em from photo bucket and drop them into 12? Forgive me if my mind is a lil simple about this. 

 

No, I meant like having a folder on your computer with graffiti photos, and you could select the ones you wanted to post to drag, and drop right into your 12oz window.

 

It's pretty easy on phones as well, just click on choose files and select the photos from camera roll.

[SMdoubleXL]

Ahhhh yeah. That I can do. Started doin it in that beautiful Pittsburgh thread you speak of starting. 

[T4M*]

 

More boogie hands and arrows please.

Edited December 16, 2019 by T4M*

[IHATEU]

too bad the money in books or a magainze is so low usually. i would love to see 12oz make a few magazines or some more of the small booklets. i have always thought it was the best part of all this...  even if it was a small run of 500 just so it paid for itself and put something rare or coveted in someones hands. always been a huge fan of low print runs.  

[Mercer]

2 hours ago, IHATEU said:

too bad the money in books or a magainze is so low usually. i would love to see 12oz make a few magazines or some more of the small booklets. i have always thought it was the best part of all this...  even if it was a small run of 500 just so it paid for itself and put something rare or coveted in someones hands. always been a huge fan of low print runs.  

Copped the Also Known As V1 this summer from the 12oz shop when it was availiable. Reminded me how good looking at printed pages could be.

 

 

 

[where]

Make Some video content compartmented as some shows. Mero parlayed off you and I bet you don’t see any juice off that. If 12oz was more of a channel than a forum/zine/brand it would help in all those aspects. 

[Kults]

Do you mean podcast? 

[delv]

We do this on a platform that sells shit (think eBay) because shit that is 2 years old ain't relevant and if it is, someone else will sell it (or start the thread). 😉 I'm for it ... Though the sentimentality in me says otherwise. 

[misteraven]

9 hours ago, IHATEU said:

too bad the money in books or a magainze is so low usually. i would love to see 12oz make a few magazines or some more of the small booklets. i have always thought it was the best part of all this...  even if it was a small run of 500 just so it paid for itself and put something rare or coveted in someones hands. always been a huge fan of low print runs.  

Eventually I’ll pull off doing books again. Need to rebuild distribution and regain the traction we once had with our books. People aren’t buying them like they used to, but I think it has more to do with our struggle to get word out and connect with people (ironically), than it being that people don’t buy books anymore. 
 

Flogging a dead horse, but I blame social media for it. People are just bombarded with a never ending stream of product, whether straight solicitation or not so subtle placement by ‘influencers’. Meanwhile our shit gets drowned out, of not suppressed. 

[misteraven]

5 hours ago, where said:

Make Some video content compartmented as some shows. Mero parlayed off you and I bet you don’t see any juice off that. If 12oz was more of a channel than a forum/zine/brand it would help in all those aspects. 

Video isn’t part of my core competencies or skill set. I depend on help to get it done, when you see it, making it very difficult to sustain. That’s why I don’t do it. Just can’t afford to always pay people to produce video, that so far has never had any measurable affect on product sales. Obviously, I killed off running a media platform and all the advertising that went with it a while back. Seemed like a race to the bottom and looking at the state of online advertising these days, looks like I called it a few years before that all but collapsed. 

[NightmareOnElmStreet]

I'm not exactly sure how to make 12oz just as addictive as it once was. Much like certain social media platforms are today. How to get people, new and old, back here the same way would require incentive like I've said around here already. Exactly what kind of incentives I'm unsure. Hell, i'm not sure of a lot of things these days but I can god damn guarantee that 2019 people thrive off a good deal. You were on to something with the "help gather the best content" or whatever thread because thats exactly the kind of shit that got people hooked on the gram. A bunch of coOl, hAWt, or noT cool, funny, total bunch of bullshit they could take in all at once But more importantly, a place to self promote to the highest extent. The incentive difference here is the likes and or the potential to sell something or get put on. In order for that shit to level up, here, we need to play the same game. Perhaps I'm way off base. Idk.

 

Either way, I've done a good deal of reaching out to old and new friends about coming on here and used the invitational emails. I've posted about it and shared things. I give a fuck, essentially, and I want nothing more than to see it thrive like it once did. I'm down to help in any other way that I can outside of the techy shit because I'm no good on that front.  

[Ray Velcoro]

Each section (Brickslayers/Channel Zero, etc) should have 12 Active/hot threads and

once a new one pops up the 13th moves to a a B/secondary section.

 

TBH there haven't been more than a dozen hot/active threads in the past few years,

this will keep things fresh and IMO will generate an underlying competition to keep

pertinent threads active on the primary section. We all have our favorites

(sex stories/Keepitrail's travel thread) that if we/I saw drop off the top I'd

be subconsciously more inclined to pop it back to the forefront.

Edited December 22, 2019 by Ray Velcoro

[T4M*]

Kinda side chaining with :@NightmareOnElmStreet

 

On my social medias, people see me more active than before, due to me sneaking in some 12oontz content (Member shirt best idea for me)

 

I'm getting them hyped and I do mention the site in public. Here are my notes:

 

◼ "Like" system

- Let's face it, we have to keep up with the times. People like thumbs up, hearts n shit, 12oz icons are different to people, in a good way.  We might have to sneak in a few more, let's go 2020!

 

◼Deals and Contests

-Ding Ding ding! We got a winner.  Guess what? The next contest you have, get a great price. I will share it on social medias and have people join in. " Hey guys! Enter to win a giant _______! All you have to do is post a picture of ________ on the 12oz, and you could win! Free to become a member, and gain access to more content. "

 

◼Forum Section for beginners

-Chan 0 is chaos, period.  It is chaos that only insane people will get. In other words, "real" people will never get it.  I don't feel comfortable having a section where we move certain threads to one spot, and come up with another name. Like, instead of "lol internet" , we can have a section called "lol social media" OR "lol SM" and move threads like the Meme thread, anything

Involving picture posting, "User friendly " threads.

 

I'm up for the idea to grow by reaching out old/new people,low key, naaah. I like my home.

 

◼Ego

"If you don't get it, you don't get it". I agree, but, there is a certain proccess to get to that point (knowing) .  T4M didn't just happened, Work, Work, Work.  If I haven't gone missing for many years, T4M would of been more recognized than just this site. Back than, there was no tactic to keep people on board. It was a Jungle, and here we are forming a Zoo, ya filthy animals.

 

Here is challenge:

 

"How do you make a new member avoid all that work, and have them get this site in days?

 

🔴Become a 12oz boomer (Ha!)

🔴User friendly site

🔴A HOW TO OONTZ video <---My idea, Pay Me!

🔴More welcoming than before

🔴ACKNOWLEDGE THEM!!!!!!

🔴Friend System

🔴A Thread "Hi I'm new, let me introduce myself"

🔴Again, WELCOME THEM

 

Work for us, but minimal effort as re-riding a bike in a long time, I think it makes outside my head.

 

The idea is not necessarily focusing on ways to get people, the idea that I think we should be coming up with is a system that I like to call "Loop". Gangster shit in my head that I'm struggling explaining it lol Long story short, what ever we do outside this site, it loops right back to this site, bringing along people.  As I mentioned "Hey, you could win...." , that's an example of looping back to the site. 12oz hashtags is the icing on the cake. Imagine people using our hashtags , which by the way, if people don't want to join, they can hashtag and still bring content to the site (Loop).

 

Moderators can stop being fat and ugly and monitor those hashtags and properably credit the person and bring their content here.  Mods becoming prettier when they receive likes and such for finding gems.

 

So, we open people's eyes, but takes lots of work.  Bringing back conversations is still a great motive and bring people on board will be awesome, as they contribute their lives, collabing with ours.  Patients is key, I felt it when you guys had long years where hope was only being held by a string ready to snap. We are in the productive stage, let's keep moving foward.

 

I need a drink, goddamn it....

[simon sandleshit]

So is archiving the old threads going to get rid of the large threads that are still currently going? like "lets see your pets, nonsense thread etc.."

[KILZ FILLZ]

23 hours ago, T4M* said:

Moderators can stop being fat and ugly and monitor those hashtags and properably credit the person and bring their content here.  Mods becoming prettier when they receive likes and such for finding gems.