• Steam recently changed the default privacy settings for all users. This may impact tracking. Ensure your profile has the correct settings by following the guide on our forums.

[PLEASE READ] MforMature Merging With eXophase

Abe Froeman

Gamer Dad
Enforcer Team

4467928980_9c263c5ef8_b.jpg

I want to start this off by thanking the members of this community who have made this site a part of their trips around the internet on a daily or weekly basis. Without you guys we never would have survived the launch of this place back in October of '08. It doesn't matter how you heard of MforMature or why you came here, the fact that you're still here speaks volumes about the overall community and I can't thank you enough for being here.

What I want to discuss, and I do mean have an open discussion amongst the members here, is the merging of MforMature with eXophase. The Staff have been discussing this for well over a year and to be perfectly honest and transparent, I think it's safe to say that I was the one dragging my heels and not wanting to do this the most. (NeilR being a close second by my estimation.)

For those of you that might not be aware, eXophase is owned by x3sphere, who is currently one of the Administrators here and he was previously our source of front page news while we were getting our legs established at launch. The reason I bring it up is to assure you that all parties involved in discussing this have been on the same page since day one. What has become clear over the past few months is the immense potential for propelling things to the next level if we pull our efforts together; so do not read this as any form of defeat from the community here, because it is most assuredly quite the opposite.

I'll get right to it and talk about what will be lost and what will be gained. The immediate and biggest change will be that the MforMature name will be gone, and believe me when I tell you that this was the toughest pill for me to swallow. I like our name, and while it initially brought about thoughts about the adult film industry from some, I always associated it with a mature gaming community. We will also be losing our Front Page, which isn't the biggest loss since not a lot of the members here go to it for a source of news to begin with since we integrated the articles with the forum. Along those lines, it should be noted that while the MfM Front Page won't make the move entirely, our unique content will be merged in and eXophase will essentially branch out to include some non-gaming categories; moreover, the MfM comment highlighter addition to WordPress will also be implemented. To be honest, that's really all that will be lost from this merger, so if you can handle that, it should be a success.

What we will be gaining is the traffic that eXophase has. We plan to migrate and move our entire forum structure with every thread, every post, every member, and every plug-in over to eXophase and it will replace the current structure over there. eXophase's front page recently had a remodeling and it looks great. The current forum theme over there will be replaced with one that matches the front page redesign and we will be bringing over our Dark Theme to offer a choice and a level of consistency from here.

We also feel that by making this move, our community will be gaining more exposure from the high numbers of Guests that eXophase currently has viewing there all day long. With the greater exposure, I'd gamble that more quality members will be inclined to join and make the daily discussions more fruitful. From a Staff perspective, what a larger community allows us to accomplish is greater exposure to the marketing and PR world of video game publishers. x3sphere has done a great job of making contacts and being on distribution lists when new press releases hit the wire and it's also something that I've worked on almost daily since we launched MforMature back in 2008. What we are working towards is the ability to start earnestly receiving and reviewing new games directly from publishers and making our presence known at some of the larger industry events like E3. In order for us to accomplish that, the merging of the two sites is a necessity.

So that is basically the top of the trees view about why we plan to do this. As of right now, there is no "when," but it will be acted upon soon if the community is on board and trusts us enough again to make such a big change.

I'd like to open this up for discussion and would greatly appreciate your honest criticism and feedback about this decision. Please discuss it openly and if you have any direct questions about some of the minutia, feel free to post them and a Staff Member will be able to answer you directly.
 

Crank

Crank it up!
Ah well, I miss the MforMature name too, but nothing lasts forever.

Good luck with the merger and whatever happens after that :)
 

Spiros

Maiki
I think it's a good move, it could only make the discussions here better. The only thing that bothers me is losing the name. I think it would be great if you could atleast keep the forum portion of the website being titled MforMature, because I do associate the name with mature and intelligent discussion.

But anyway, if your able to cope with losing the name. Then I don't feel I have any right to disprove. I think it would be great though if you left some signs of the MfM name.
 

NoEffex

Seth's On A Boat.
I don't like the sound of it, but looking outside of personal preference it could be a good move, on your end.
 

Abe Froeman

Gamer Dad
Enforcer Team
Fair enough.

Keep in mind that for all intents and purposes, this will just be a URL change. The forums will be unchanged.
 

eldiablov

Contributor
This forum needs new members. Smart talk among other sections are practically dead, we definitely need some new blood around here.
 

Spiros

Maiki
This forum needs new members. Smart talk among other sections are practically dead, we definitely need some new blood around here.

I do agree with you, although, I've just looked at the eXophase forum, and most of the sections haven't seen posts in weeks-months. There has been only one post today on the forum that isnt by x3sphere himself(and actually I think that poster has an account here anyway. I'm just not sure that this forum could benefit much from merging with them. On the other hand, I think the site as a whole could benefit from the merger.

Also, what do you think about the idea of the forum still bearing the name MfM.
 

FrozenIpaq

Justin B / Supp. Editor
Enforcer Team
I do agree with you, although, I've just looked at the eXophase forum, and most of the sections haven't seen posts in weeks-months. There has been only one post today on the forum that isnt by x3sphere himself(and actually I think that poster has an account here anyway. I'm just not sure that this forum could benefit much from merging with them. On the other hand, I think the site as a whole could benefit from the merger.

Also, what do you think about the idea of the forum still bearing the name MfM.

We've tossed around the idea of using the M for Mature name for the forums but that got shot down if I recall. eXophase has a much larger audience than we do and we hope that the merging of our two communities will re-ignite discussions on eXophase as we have had here.

eXophase's forums will be getting an overhaul and our current forum layout will replace its existing layout. I was never a fan of the layout of the eXo forums myself and x3sphere is working on re-designing it to fit the needs of the combined community.

@Jordan: Mergers? When was the last time you saw a site merge with another site? We've worked closely with x3sphere since starting our site and he's been a valued member of our staff here as well. We are all for this merger and are going to work our hardest to make sure it goes off without a hitch.
 

Riorio99

New Member
The front page could definetly do with something new, and from what Spiros has said, the Exophase forums could do with a boost, so I think that this merger could be an advantage for both ends. Just make sure you keep something of MfM about.

Overall, I approve of this idea.
 

Seth

MD Party Room
I dont see a good outcome of this, there forums are just as dead as our forums. I also dont think anyone is going to go to eXophase or MFM over bigger gaming blogs like joystick, sure we might get a nibble here and there but it nothing major. I can see why you want to do a merger, I just dont see a good outcome of this especially if we no longer have a brand to go back to after this is said and done.

/my2cents
 

Dan

Contributor
I guess all good things come to an end. The first forum I've been part of is merging, and like NoEffex, I'm not fond of eXophase, and I don't know why.

What about posts, rep, status, statistics, etc?
 

FrozenIpaq

Justin B / Supp. Editor
Enforcer Team
I guess all good things come to an end. The first forum I've been part of is merging, and like NoEffex, I'm not fond of eXophase, and I don't know why.

What about posts, rep, status, statistics, etc?

All posts, and users statistics are going to be moved over. You shouldn't lose anything and the process shouldn't require anything on your end either.

@Seth - the benefits are clear and are outlined in the announcement. We will be able to cover more news stories, able to reach out to publishers for content, etc. x3sphere has already established some PR contacts that won't be possible us for another few years.

We are doing this merge to provide more content for you, to focus our efforts on one unified site and one unified forum. We are hoping that we can get more people to join up on the forums and start and join discussions with us.

Like Abe said, we've been discussing this for over a year and Abe himself was against it from the start. However he came to the conclusion that this would be beneficial to us and our communities. The change won't happen immediately, it will take time, and in that time I hope you can take the time to understand that this is a positive change.

We are still open for suggestions and changes so please provide specific comments or criticisms of our current plans. Tell us what you don't like about eXophase and we'll discuss it. My largest gripe with eXophase was the forum structure and community and we are addressing that issue.

Think of it as moving into a new house. At first, as kids, we all hated "leaving" our old house and moving into the new one. However after time you realize that the move was for the best and become glad that you did so. We hope that you will come to realize this with this merger as well.
 

Chathurga

Active Member
The forums will look exactly the same, most of you won't notice the difference.
I'm glad to see most of the complaints are due to lack of brain power and/or reading comprehension (only valid point so far is we're losing our name), makes me feel better about the merger.
 

x3sphere

Administrator
Staff member
Enforcer Team
Game Info Editor
I guess all good things come to an end. The first forum I've been part of is merging, and like NoEffex, I'm not fond of eXophase, and I don't know why.

What about posts, rep, status, statistics, etc?

I get the impression you are resistant to change. If there's really something bothering you about eXophase.com, understand that we can't improve unless you shed light on what it is.

Either way I think this move will only bring benefits. Of course it's no Kotaku or Joystiq but eXophase is one of the bigger blogs out there and has maintained a steady readership for over 4 years. It's a trusted source.

From the perspective of MfM members little is changing apart from the name, as we are adopting the same forum structure. The current forum themes will also be retained, only difference is that there will be a new default. I suggest looking at the bigger picture if you seriously feel this is not a good idea.

I have been with this site for a long time and want it to succeed more than anything. The only way to accomplish this is by joining forces and merging. I don't see any other way.
 

Dan

Contributor
I think it's just the fact that I lurk on here more, I haven't really haven't given eXophase a chance I suppose. Plus I don't particularly know a lot of people over there.

Apart from that, I'm all for it.
 
Top