There are 43 people who've made more that one post on the front page (if we ignore Deadpool, a Mary Sue, and Mythcreant), while only 13 people (again, ignoring Deadpool and Mythcreant) have more than 10 posts (8 of those 13 have over 25 posts). There's also (if various single-use names are discounted) 8 people who have one post on the front page.

So it looks like the Board is made of a bunch of folks who wander by occasionally and don't post too often. That doesn't look too good as far as engagement goes.

(I'd do some stats on the Discord, but it seems a lot harder to do stats on.)

- Tomash

I'm specifically concerned because I'm bored - because the Front Page is currently nearly a month long, so even assuming I'm interested in half of the threads that go up, that means I can easily go a week without anything interesting appearing.

Given that the PPC Board is a place I go to find an interesting discussion to get involved with, yeah, I'm concerned.

You asked about Permission, and yes, that is also way down. Here's my spreadsheet, which I previously updated in May '17. I've now added all 6 requests we've had since then, none of them being from this year.

I would also like to point out that 'storm off in a huff' is hardly an appropriate way to describe how hurt various long-term members of this community have been by various events of the last few years.

hS

I am a firm believer in the principle that the best way to attract new people is by having them read our stuff (though the last census shows that fully half of our membership came in through TVTropes, which is kind of the opposite). With that in mind, my number one way to draw more people in would be for those of us who are still writing missions to post them where they can be found! For me, that means Fanfiction.net, but AO3 is also under discussion. If someone has a broadly-read fandom blog (as Lily Winterwood did), that's also a fine place.

hS current status: I have a mission on the verge of posting, which will go up on FFn. I'm also looking to finally carry out the 'Welcome to the PPC' project, posting several classic missions there, and potentially crossposting to AO3.

Second up, one thing that sets the PPC apart from other Suvian hunters is that we love concrit. So... how often do we give it? If you read a fanfic that needs work - or is just plain bad - why not review it and offer the author advice on what the problems are and how to improve? And if there happens to be a PPC mission which showcases the same sort of issue, why not link to it? Obviously you'd need to reread the mission first (oh, the horror!) to make sure it's actually going to help them, not offend them - but aren't we a community of readers?

hS current status: I posted the 'Kaitlyn's Concrit' section of my Driftwood missions as a review for each author. I don't think I referenced the PPC, though.

Thirdly, looking more at retaining new members now... post more! The PPC Board used to be bustling with new threads, to the point where they kept dropping off before we were done with them. Now? Now there's nearly a month's material on the Front Page. Where are the badfic discussions (discussions, not just 'here's a link bye')? Where are the debates over canon minutae? Where are the ridiculously overthought questions about PPC trivia? Where are the games, the serious discussions, the ficlets and missions and all the good stuff?

Well... they're there, obviously. But there's many fewer of them.

hS current status: Posted a game! Don't post about canon much because it feels like no-one's interested in the ones I am.

And, fourth and finally: look for your own answers. ;) If you care about the PPC community continuing, then don't just expect a handful of Oldbies to carry it on our shoulders. That just results in very tired Oldbies.

hS current status: Not too tired right now.

hS