We are currently working on redesigning the layout of CoB to make it more appealing and will be sharing our proposals for your input shortly.
There has been some suggestions for ideas, I’m gathering more. Please put all your suggestions here.
so far:
quizzes - not sure how we can do it, but might call upon you citizens for help with working it out. fans conference - might be a huge thing to organise, but we can get a team together, I’m sure, when we can do these things again
newspaper - yes, great idea Interviews and/or q and A’s with the band - yes and I’m hoping we continue to have engagement with them. It would be nice to see other members pop in Now and again
Tell me what else you’d like to see? Get your thinking caps on. There’s no tomorrow like today, as they say. 🐀🐀
Bumping for newcomers.
Zoom is a great tool since we have been locked in and it seems to be the way forward?
I believe if you interviewed let’s say Simon you would have maybe 2 / 3 hours of interest over a period if the questions were not repeated then the detail could be great. You could release a 20min session once a fortnight? Have old band members new band members even people who contributed with any album or video.
BUT … with a fan or fans doing the interview with questions from fans who want to contribute but don’t like the limelight then once approved play it? It shouldn’t be the same person or group that would be boring you need to let the fans have a chance and the more who help the more fan base you will keep and it doesn’t need to be a 1/1 it could be four doing it as long as they have structure to it . I might be wrong but just my thoughts as you mentioned
I think most have covered what I was thinking it’s difficult to keep up interest on any band daily or weekly as the gap between gigs or a new album can be vast, so you can lose some interest with fans. We have a unique opportunity that must be used for our benefit. The way I see the band has so many new songs coming out soon so that should help keep many fans staying a little longer than the normal and with gigs in place then it’s your chance to keep them here for a bit longer.
I believe you get lost in the current format so why not have the following...
One link to the main page for us to discuss like the pub chat. I would imagine ever fan would have their own reason why they follow the Rats a big % would be one album out of the seven depending age etc. So, have the cover of every album with a link only to that album to discuss anything from that album or year how many times do you play a different album and have a feeling at the time to discuss but it gets lost in pub chat room?
Definitely just 2 forum areas, one for fans and one for management announcements. Nobody has any idea where to post. Also a Boomtown Rats Youtube channel a bit like the Bob Geldof one, which Jules and I used to run. There is nobody to post the newest videos but it has a great selection Rats and solo.
Go Jules GO!
Anybody else want to add anything?
Good thinking. This sort of thing should be on the map. We are looking at the possibility of having a map of Boomtown as you come to the page. This is just the kind of thing that should be behind the buttons. There’s a list of most gigs on the old www.boomtownrats.com website. That would help.
Fairly obvious things for a website dedicated to a band but what about things like a definitive discography and a definitive gig list......it would probably need the input of quite a few people to pull it all together
What about a "Buy and Sell" page (see page 103 of 'Is that it?') Two objectives for this: to allow us to buy merch from the 2020 gigs that are probably not going to happen and also to exhange Rats records, memorabilia, collectables etc.
It's probabvly important that apart from the official merchandise, it's an exchange-based page, though I don't underestimate the potential pitfalls... maybe just stick with the merch 😆
All good stuff!!!
Loving all those ideas and I'm also glad to hear the layout is being worked on 😁
For CoB to be a success it needs the active support of the band and exclusive features. The problem is Jules’s Bob Geldof Facebook page already does what CoB probably aspires to achieve and you don’t see some of the main contributors on that here (Life long fans with some great stories and memorabilia)Some of the video links and archive posted are fantastic. So to stop in being in the shadow of BGF our beloved BTRs need to get involved......you launched the site guys!
I’d LOVE to see the quizzes and Q and As with the band members, those all sound really engaging!!! I’m honestly not sure what else to add, but a newsletter would also be a good idea if the newsPAPER doesn’t go to plan-it could be filled with updates from the band and miscellaneous highlights from the forum, but in the end, it’s up to Mayor Jules to decide what to do. I wish you all the best of luck with the site!!!
I'd like to see the available forums streamlined, to be honest - or at least have the purposes of the available areas made more obvious for a caveman (caverat?) like me. Then again, I doubt whether my struggle is broadly shared.
We messaged, its clearly a big job. Ready and willing to assist if and when required.