Keith

Sounds like you want more then you already have and can't be happy with what you have here already. Have you ever considered maybe there is no more out there to get and that the whole emulation thing is running dry. Can't say emulation as a whole is dead because dcemu.co.uk is just killing it in visitors and interaction. They completely ignore emulators for the PC and strictly focus on emulators for other game systems and in the process have become one of the best sites for emulation. There is nothing exciting anymore when it comes to emulators for the PC. There is no reason for people to discuss anything because it has already been discussed before. Who knows maybe 1emulation already peaked and is now on the way down. I honestly can't give one great suggestion that would turn that around because not a lot of new quality people are getting into emulation and you can't really compete against other game sites. If thats where the focus is going to be (Emulation/Gaming) then this might be it for you.

I agree with some of the suggestions already made. The name implies it's an emulation site but if you want to expand to more gaming aspects then maybe a name change will help catch some people's attention. General overall interest in emulation is also on a downward trend and has been for the past few years. Every once in awhile you might have a project that will peak some interest but its just basically a flash in a pan when it comes to return visitors. Generating interest in your sites is not an easy thing and their is many things to take into consideration. I agree with the suggestion of moving away from a forum portal style site and into something more professional. Along with a more professional design then the current one could help as well. Some site branding might help especially if you decide to advertise. You want something that catches people's attention and something people won't forget. Being forgettable is one of the biggest reasons people never return or take their visit to the next level and join the community. That takes me to my next suggestion. Maybe if you had some more site interaction with your visitors besides your forums. When people feel they are a part of the site and part of the sites success they care more. Giving them a reason to come back on a daily basis to interact more will help a ton. Sites like myspace, youtube, digg are the current trend. Old news portals are seeing a downard trend in visitors and interaction as more and more people are going to these other types sites because they can participate and be a part of the sites overall success. If you are serious about taking the site to a new level then a lot of work will need to be done and a lot changes. This may or may not be what the current community wants or is ready for. Just some things you will need to weigh. If you wish to remain on the same course but try to gain more popularity it's going to be a hard task because emulation as a whole only generates so much attention and so many visitors. It's hard to make your site stick out more then other emulation sites on the net. So my overall suggestion would be to keep the general focus on emulation and gaming but to expand on the interaction side of things and allow your community to be a bigger part of the overall site.

Hrm not sure maybe something setup incorrectly in your browser. I never get the session ID numbers with Firefox or IE.

It's just your session id and mainly used for people that don't have cookies enabled. You can find them in all kinds of web sites and nothing to really worry about.

yeah I agree and I feel bad about pushing my opinion. I don't want it to come off as attacking anyone elses opinions. I have a lot of respect for 1Emulation and you guys are doing a great job when it comes to the news. Ever since GC and crew stepped up the news posting they have been one of the most up to date news sites around. If I was GameCop I wouldn't let this one thing slow me down and it won't effect 1Emulation especially since GameCop is always willing to fix stuff without problems.

Edited my above post.. don't feel like reposting it down here. (Disclaimer: My views and opinions are not to be taken negetive or out to get anyone or to make 1Emulation look bad. They are just the thoughts and opinions of someone who has been around the block a few times. ) Sorry another edit: I should also point out when I say lifting the news I mean basically posting either word for word or just changing a few words here and there and then just posting it as your own. In this case with plot he copied word for word Kojote's posts (not authors site posts) so I can see where Kojote is coming from and I also understand maybe plot didn't grasp the whole news posting thing. Basically a live and learn experience all around. Also not sure if it should have been a public outing either but not my place to say. Privatly with the people invloved could have been better. Not that many people check Emunoobs anyways and I doubt it would have been an issue with other sites. The public outing probably brought in more attention then there needed to be.

Yeah that would help. (next comments unrelated you James.. just some thoughts about news crediting) I have to wonder why "news crediting" has such a bad stigma to it? Do people actually feel bad when they have to credit another news site? I do wonder why people refuse to do it no matter what sometimes. - - - - - - - - - Credit has always gone to author other wise whats the point of even posting it if you are not even going mention or even link to the authors site? Thats not even an issue. Now you say why would somebody credit a 3rd party for what any joe could do? That’s just it not every joe is doing that. Not every joe is going straight to the authors site for the news. There is some that just go to other news sites and just lift (steal, take, or whatever you want to call it) that sites news so they don't have to take the time or effort of searching for their own news. Now this is not always the case. There is also times where there is a new emulator or an emulator that is not updated often. A lot of times one site will post about it and other news posters will see that news on other news sites and post it too. Now if they never knew about the authors site they should just credit the authors site and say screw it to the news site that broke the news? You basically come off like there should be no crediting other news sites whatsoever unless their news is exclusive. The credit is not so much for the news as it is for the effort and show of appreciation and respect. "And of course here comes the credit issue. Are you guys so desperate for attention, members, bigger community etc. that you have to cling to the slightest hint of name-mentioning? That would be sad." As for that comment it has nothing to do with that. If anything its the opposite. Why do some sites have to rely on other news sites for their news? The most up to date news sites do not post news so other emulation news sites can come up from behind and ride on their coat tails (basically why do they have to rely on another site for their news). This is not just 1Emulation and in reality 1Emulation doesn't have a news crediting problem besides this one incident. I just speaking in general for any emulation news site out there. Also have to remember this is what GameCop wanted. He wanted a respected news site and in order to have that you generally have to play by the news community rules. I didn't make them but I do now they are not hard to follow.

First of all we are talking about emulation news sites not some Joe Smo community forum here. There is a big difference and there has been a long standing golden rule about news crediting and news posting etiquette. I honestly wonder if you know what it takes to run a successful emulation news site and whats exactly invlolved. You won't make it very far just collecting info from 1-2-3 sites daily.. unless you are talking about collecting that info from other emulation news sites. You can't honestly tell me you would be able to keep an updated news site by just checking 1-2-3 authors sites a day. It takes much more effort then that to have a successful news site. Thats one of the problems right there. If you have a site that just checks other news sites (not the authors sites) for news then whats the purpose of even having that site? You asked who asked "you" or "him" to do all the hard work.. nobody asked. The hard work is what it takes to run an emulation news site. If you don't want to do the hard work or to take the effort of collecting the news on your own then you probably shouldn't be running an emulation news site in the first place. To be honest that question didn't make much sense. The whole purpose of an emulation news site is to have a place where all emulation news is gathered to save the visitors time so they don't have to go around and check for news. The credits are a show of respect and to give something back for that other sites effort and work. If its so easy to get it from the authors site then why are news posters going to other news sites to get the news? That is why there is credit given because that is where "This" sites news for that item came from. It didn't come from the authors site if you read it on their news site first. Obviously the original source for news is the authors site which generaly is always linked to and has never been a problem. Its that fact people are taking other peoples effort and not giving anything back for it. How exactly is that hard to understand? Why is it so hard to give thanks to another site or person for their efforts of collecting the news if thats where you got the news from?

Heh you make it sound so easy.. especially when there is easily over 400 emulation author sites out there. If you have something like website watcher it does make it easier but just plain checking all the author's sites by just using bookmarks would take some work and some effort ... now just think about this. Lets say you took the time to check the 400+ author sites and collected a nice list of news to post. Give that a few hours work. Then took another hour or so to post all the news you collected... and then go to find out some jackass from another site is just checking your site for news and doing none of the work. So you would expect us to keep doing all the hard work for nothing? We shouldn't get some credit for all the work we did to find the news? People should get something back for their work if it is being used this way. Exactly how hard is it to say thanks to so and so for the heads up on the news? This is where the problem is.. it has nothing to do with going to the emulator authors sites for news. Sure everyone should do it but not everyone does. So in this case Kojote took the time and effort to collect the news for his site only to have it copy and pasted here on 1Emulation word for word and no credit whatsoever for his work and effort. How do you think Kojote feels? I know I would feel used and pissed off. If it was my news that was be lifted without credit I would be upset because I spent all that time and that effort for my own site.. not for 1Emulation. In this example I don't work for 1Emulation or any other site that lifts my news. I post news for my site and my visitors not for someone to come along and just take all the news I posted so they don't have to take the time and do the work for themselves. This is how the emulation news scene works and if people don't do it that way they are going to be called on it. Its all about respect and by stealing news that shows you have no respect for the emulation news scene and other emulation news sites out there. (I used "I" and "We" a lot in there but they are just general examples and not a complaint for those that don't read carefully)

Heh that is messed up.

Yeah that is what I was saying too. I think GameCop is a little to hard on himself and sometimes lets his strive to be better and his frustration ruin his fun of running 1Emulation.

I personaly feel the best way to grow as a site during this time is through your community. The community is what will make your site grow and expand your popularity. I agree with the above post about expanding the forums to cover more of what the community wants and to make yourself standout from the rest. Right now the emulation news scene is pretty saturated and a lot of people have their favorite sites. Its hard to gain new people to your site with news coverage alone which is why I said the community is the key. I know a lot of sites that rely on news alone and they don't get the amount of coverage they deserve and one of the main reasons for that is they do not offer anything more then just news. As far as community goes here at 1Emulation I think its great and has a lot of long time vets who keep it going strong. 1Emulation already has a strong base to grow from and I think GameCop gets down on himself too much. Its not easy trying to make a site popular especially in an old scene like emulation. A lot of sites have come and gone because they didn't reach the popularity they wished for. I put my own site through hell and back trying to grow and become more popular and I did reach some nice success but I can relate to how GameCop feels. You put a lot of hard work in a site and you do the best you can but it doesn't seem like anything changes no matter how hard you try. I wish I had the answers and explanation why some sites are very popular while other sites get little attention but are better sites. One example I can use is sites such as NGEmu (not trying to knock them but they fit my example). They almost never update their news and their content is out of date yet at the same time they are a very popular site. Some of it comes from their strong community base, popular hosted sites such as ePSXe and PCSX2 and from reputation. What makes NGEmu more popular then 1Emulation? I really don't know and this is where some frustration comes from. You can make a site better then one of more popular sites but not get the same or better results. On the other hand I have seen 1Emulation grow leaps and bounds over the past year. 1Emulation used to have very little emulation coverage and only a handful of hosted projects. Over the past year the news coverage is spot on and you guys now host some really nice projects. I think you are going in the right direction and shouldn't let the goal of being popular ruin your fun of running a great site.

I personally loved it and thought it was better then the previous 2 episodes and linked all the movies finally. Also Palpatine was the best when it comes to bad guys.

Cool looking, would be a little scary in person though.

I noticed the news post is messed up.. it's like you merged the two news post into one.. so it has the mame32 post content but the mame diff release title and poster. Just a heads up.