question Would you comment on threads about artists OTHER than Britney?

[Jordan Miller]

33 minutes ago, Isla said:

Yeah I agree. I'm open to talking about other artists (on both here and the other Exhale ddd) but at the end of the day, this was a Britney fansite/forum originally so most people who signed up will want to talk about Britney.

Jordan also needs to consider how the new Exhale could appeal to pop music fans in general, as there's already so many other pop music forums out there (ATRL, UKMix, PopJustice etc.).... what could he do to help attract these people to sign up? So many people already know this as a Britney fansite (as it was originally meant to be) though however.  

Being branded as a Britney fansite is a double edge sword. Sooo grateful to have started this site pre-social media (2004!!!), but also it has been an insurmountable task (so it feels) to bring other people here specifically to Exhale. The main page is an entirely different animal. The majority of BH's traffic are people who read the news I post, however it has always been a dream of mine to have a really engaging and popular music forum. I know ATRL and the others exist, but that feels irrelevant to my dream. I started this forum 12-13 year ago because I've always loved the idea of people talking in a world where I planted the seed, but it was the users that watered it. 

I think I am in a place of just genuinely wanting to understand why die-hard Britney fans don't want to talk about other artists. 

[Jordan Miller]

2 hours ago, Urbanney said:

I’m conflicted. I found the new BH/Exhale easier to keep up and talk about new artists due to the home page and posts you (Jordan) made. However, I never really would go to the Artist Groups and make a post about another artist, just like how I never did it here on the old Exhale. If I’m passionate about an artist and want to talk about them, I’ll go to websites/forums specifically about them where there is already a community. For example, I go to LanaBoards to talk about Lana, here to talk about Britney, and Reddit to talk about Frank Ocean or general pop artists (/r/popheads). 
 

I do understand that you (Jordan) want to diversify since Britney is only going to become less and less mainstream and having all artists in one place could be both very efficient and bring in a large crowd. However, I expect the process to be difficult, since so far it already hasn’t worked well here, and there’s so much competition from sites already like what you want BH to be (ATRL, Reddit) and from dedicated fan sites for one specific artist. I don’t want to discourage you, just giving my opinion. 
 

I do find old Exhale to be a better format for discussing Britney though and I think this forum is more user-friendly. Even though I felt encouraged to post more on the new homepage, I felt discouraged from going to the forums on new Exhale. It just wasn’t as enjoyable to use and engage with people. I’m not a fan of this new theme though here on old Exhale.

Thank you for the feedback! Appreciate it.

I do love the new Community as well, especially for posting news and incorporating forum replies etc, but I agree that it hasn't been as user-friendly as this forum. That's why I'm here now re-thinking about what I want. I launched the Community because I want fans of other artists to come to BH and talk with one another, but it has been such a difficult task - harder than I thought - to make that happen. 

I'm not a big fan of thinking that it's impossible, because that feels defeating and non-productive. Also, I love a challenge, but ******* 😂. It feels like 'BRITNEY ONLY' and I just want to understand the culture of that. I feel like die-hard Britney fans have so much loyalty to her that they feel like they're  betraying her by talking about someone else, which may take attention away from her? Is that at all accurate? 

For instance, Gaga Daily has a thriving forum where they of course talk about Gaga non-stop, but other artists are welcome and are talked about. But in this Britney world it's not that way. Why? Can that ever change? 

Also kind of a bummer to hear you say you don't like this theme! I actually really love it 😻 I couldn't stand to look at the last theme (with the rainbows) for one more second. 😆 

[Jordan Miller]

2 hours ago, Charlotte_the_Harlot said:

I know what you mean, of course I'm here for Britney mostly, but have nothing against other artist here. I don't know how you want to bring more people here, cause it's not the first time when exhale is changing, and in the end it's only more quiet. But if this time you have good plan, just go for it & good luck

I agree it's been less members here than ever, and that's because (imo) 1.) Britney's career is in hiatus and 2.) I personally haven't given this place the tlc it deserves. I feel confident I could turn things around, but ultimately this is your guys' community, not mine. I can't do this without yall! Thank you to those who are here now and I look forward to watching things grow. 

[Isla]

34 minutes ago, JordanMiller said:

Being branded as a Britney fansite is a double edge sword. Sooo grateful to have started this site pre-social media (2004!!!), but also it has been an insurmountable task (so it feels) to bring other people here specifically to Exhale. The main page is an entirely different animal. The majority of BH's traffic are people who read the news I post, however it has always been a dream of mine to have a really engaging and popular music forum. I know ATRL and the others exist, but that feels irrelevant to my dream. I started this forum 12-13 year ago because I've always loved the idea of people talking in a world where I planted the seed, but it was the users that watered it. 

I think I am in a place of just genuinely wanting to understand why die-hard Britney fans don't want to talk about other artists. 

Oh no I completely understand where you are coming from, you are VERY passionate about your dreams and beliefs. I just think a lot of people don't like change, and as the saying goes, 'if it ain't broke don't fix it', which is why a lot of users were not happy with the new Exhale - in fact I saw many suggest that if you wanted to do a new pop music forum, a new website would have been better. I think people would be open to talking about other artists, but at the same time, most long-term Exhale users that signed up for Britney want to be able to discuss Britney too and have her as the main focus of the site (like most forums dedicated to one particular artist). Maybe having something similar to the artist groups on the other Exhale might work? Like have The Britney Forum, in fact a whole section of this forum for Britney sub-forums, and then a 'Pop Music' sub-forum for other artists. The only problem is, the artist groups did not do very well on the other Exhale, and most people on there really were only there to discuss Britney - they pretty much signed up because they were missing this place. 

[Urbanney]

47 minutes ago, JordanMiller said:

Thank you for the feedback! Appreciate it.

I do love the new Community as well, especially for posting news and incorporating forum replies etc, but I agree that it hasn't been as user-friendly as this forum. That's why I'm here now re-thinking about what I want. I launched the Community because I want fans of other artists to come to BH and talk with one another, but it has been such a difficult task - harder than I thought - to make that happen. 

I'm not a big fan of thinking that it's impossible, because that feels defeating and non-productive. Also, I love a challenge, but ******* 😂. It feels like 'BRITNEY ONLY' and I just want to understand the culture of that. I feel like die-hard Britney fans have so much loyalty to her that they feel like they're  betraying her by talking about someone else, which may take attention away from her? Is that at all accurate? 

For instance, Gaga Daily has a thriving forum where they of course talk about Gaga non-stop, but other artists are welcome and are talked about. But in this Britney world it's not that way. Why? Can that ever change? 

Also kind of a bummer to hear you say you don't like this theme! I actually really love it 😻 I couldn't stand to look at the last theme (with the rainbows) for one more second. 😆 

For me, I don't feel that loyalty that you mentioned. I think the reason I tend to focus on Britney here is out of habit. I joined this site in 2009 to discuss Britney with other fans. I've been coming here with that purpose for 11 years now. I don't even think about other artists when I come here, unless I read the front page. I don't really have any motivation to go into the other artists forum because I came to talk about Britney, not them, and that's been my habit for those 11 years. When I came to new Exhale and I was forced to see snippets of articles on the home page and then see those integrated easily into the forums, I felt more interested and drawn in. But I don't feel interested in going to the celebrities forums on my own or viewing threads here on it.

The "Britney only" mentality could just stem from others being in the same boat. They have a habit and motivation of coming here exclusively to talk about Britney, and suddenly, the structure of the website drastically changed , became less user-friendly, took features away, and forced content they didn't want down their throat while making it more difficult to find the content they came here for.

Even on new Exhale, I think a forum for each artist makes new fanbases feel more welcome than just the one forum for all other artists that you have here on old Exhale. However, even on the rare chance that I thought of going into those forums to post, no one else would be posting or responding to my posts, discouraging me to post more. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's the network effect (might want to look it up, if not). It'd probably be a lot easier to maintain and grow once you have members in those subforums, but it's extremely hard to grow from 0.

 

In my opinion, I think you should stick with the new Exhale, but focus on giving it the same functionality of this Exhale. Make navigation simpler. Add a dark theme, maybe one that even integrates with dark/light theme settings on a Mac, iPhone, and iPad (Apple has a resource for allowing you to do this). Bring back emotes from here. Add back polls. Bring auto-save to posts. PLEASE have a full-page for when writing a post. I can't begin to express how frustrating it is to begin writing a post with a small little pop-up window that stays, for some reason, at the bottom of your screen.

Integrate posts on the front pages integrate with the forums, and then have the comments on those posts integrate with those forums posts also. For example, if you make a post about Selena Gomez, have it automatically post in the Selena Gomez forum, and whoever comments on that post, that comment also shows as a comment in that forum post. Check out MacRumors.com for an example of how they integrate forum comments into comments on a blog post. They are the same.

[Jordan Miller]

52 minutes ago, Isla said:

Oh no I completely understand where you are coming from, you are VERY passionate about your dreams and beliefs. I just think a lot of people don't like change, and as the saying goes, 'if it ain't broke don't fix it', which is why a lot of users were not happy with the new Exhale - in fact I saw many suggest that if you wanted to do a new pop music forum, a new website would have been better. I think people would be open to talking about other artists, but at the same time, most long-term Exhale users that signed up for Britney want to be able to discuss Britney too and have her as the main focus of the site (like most forums dedicated to one particular artist). Maybe having something similar to the artist groups on the other Exhale might work? Like have The Britney Forum, in fact a whole section of this forum for Britney sub-forums, and then a 'Pop Music' sub-forum for other artists. The only problem is, the artist groups did not do very well on the other Exhale, and most people on there really were only there to discuss Britney - they pretty much signed up because they were missing this place. 

Yes, which ultimately didn't move BH into the direction I wanted 😂😩

IMO it's not so much a matter of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it,' but rather how can we grow Exhale? It was fine for what it was, a Britney Spears forum, but is keeping it that way ultimately going to attract more people here? I don't believe so. ESP when she's chilling on the beach in Malibu. Forums dedicated to one specific person without the option to talk about others sounds like death by a thousand cuts. 

I also really don't love the idea of two separate communities like it is right now. It's not making much sense, but currently I am trying to figure things out. 

I am in a place now where i am feeling like: instead of trying to get new registrations, why not encourage the current members ( you guys!) to comment on threads that aren't about Britney. Help me help you 😂 💜 

[Jordan Miller]

38 minutes ago, Urbanney said:

For me, I don't feel that loyalty that you mentioned. I think the reason I tend to focus on Britney here is out of habit. I joined this site in 2009 to discuss Britney with other fans. I've been coming here with that purpose for 11 years now. I don't even think about other artists when I come here, unless I read the front page. I don't really have any motivation to go into the other artists forum because I came to talk about Britney, not them, and that's been my habit for those 11 years. When I came to new Exhale and I was forced to see snippets of articles on the home page and then see those integrated easily into the forums, I felt more interested and drawn in. But I don't feel interested in going to the celebrities forums on my own or viewing threads here on it.

The "Britney only" mentality could just stem from others being in the same boat. They have a habit and motivation of coming here exclusively to talk about Britney, and suddenly, the structure of the website drastically changed , became less user-friendly, took features away, and forced content they didn't want down their throat while making it more difficult to find the content they came here for.

Even on new Exhale, I think a forum for each artist makes new fanbases feel more welcome than just the one forum for all other artists that you have here on old Exhale. However, even on the rare chance that I thought of going into those forums to post, no one else would be posting or responding to my posts, discouraging me to post more. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's the network effect (might want to look it up, if not). It'd probably be a lot easier to maintain and grow once you have members in those subforums, but it's extremely hard to grow from 0.

 

In my opinion, I think you should stick with the new Exhale, but focus on giving it the same functionality of this Exhale. Make navigation simpler. Add a dark theme, maybe one that even integrates with dark/light theme settings on a Mac, iPhone, and iPad (Apple has a resource for allowing you to do this). Bring back emotes from here. Add back polls. Bring auto-save to posts. PLEASE have a full-page for when writing a post. I can't begin to express how frustrating it is to begin writing a post with a small little pop-up window that stays, for some reason, at the bottom of your screen.

Integrate posts on the front pages integrate with the forums, and then have the comments on those posts integrate with those forums posts also. For example, if you make a post about Selena Gomez, have it automatically post in the Selena Gomez forum, and whoever comments on that post, that comment also shows as a comment in that forum post. Check out MacRumors.com for an example of how they integrate forum comments into comments on a blog post. They are the same.

Even on new Exhale, I think a forum for each artist makes new fanbases feel more welcome than just the one forum for all other artists that you have here on old Exhale. However, even on the rare chance that I thought of going into those forums to post, no one else would be posting or responding to my posts, discouraging me to post more. I don't know if you've heard of it, but it's the network effect (might want to look it up, if not). It'd probably be a lot easier to maintain and grow once you have members in those subforums, but it's extremely hard to grow from 0.

– This is exactly the issue. It's like when you're applying for a job, and they want you to have more experience, but how are you going to get the experience when no place will hire you 😂. So people see a thread that has 0 replies so they also don't reply. I want to understand that better.

----------

Integrate posts on the front pages integrate with the forums, and then have the comments on those posts integrate with those forums posts also. For example, if you make a post about Selena Gomez, have it automatically post in the Selena Gomez forum, and whoever comments on that post, that comment also shows as a comment in that forum post. Check out MacRumors.com for an example of how they integrate forum comments into comments on a blog post. They are the same.

 – One of the big pluses I like about the Community is that it integrated with Wordpress, so when I write news stories, I could easily integrate forum comments to my posts. What you mention is great, but it can't be done seamlessly between this forum and the main page. I am contemplating creating my news stories inside this forum using the Articles app from Invision power board. That way you guys could also comment on my news stories from your current Exhale accounts because the news will be featured IN Exhale. But then I fear I will alienate a large majority of people who don't care about the forums and just want to read my news posts. Thing is... I am not super passionate about writing news stories anymore because it just feels like I am chasing traffic and hits. I want members to keep each other in the loop regarding what's going on, but it won't work if no one cares about anyone other than Britney. It just won't, and I am struggling to understand why it's like that here. 

I do love what you said about the 'habit.' I know members here are multi-faceted - that you guys do love more than JUST Britney, but don' feel inclined to write in threads about others because you simply haven't in the past. I'm gonna let that digest and think more about that concept. 

[Slayer]

1 hour ago, JordanMiller said:

Thank you for the feedback! Appreciate it.

I do love the new Community as well, especially for posting news and incorporating forum replies etc, but I agree that it hasn't been as user-friendly as this forum. That's why I'm here now re-thinking about what I want. I launched the Community because I want fans of other artists to come to BH and talk with one another, but it has been such a difficult task - harder than I thought - to make that happen. 

I'm not a big fan of thinking that it's impossible, because that feels defeating and non-productive. Also, I love a challenge, but ******* 😂. It feels like 'BRITNEY ONLY' and I just want to understand the culture of that. I feel like die-hard Britney fans have so much loyalty to her that they feel like they're  betraying her by talking about someone else, which may take attention away from her? Is that at all accurate? 

For instance, Gaga Daily has a thriving forum where they of course talk about Gaga non-stop, but other artists are welcome and are talked about. But in this Britney world it's not that way. Why? Can that ever change? 

Also kind of a bummer to hear you say you don't like this theme! I actually really love it 😻 I couldn't stand to look at the last theme (with the rainbows) for one more second. 😆 

I'm not a big fan of Gaga at all but I absolutely love GagaDaily, that forum is great! Exhale used to be my number 1 but I enjoy GGD so much more now (I'm sorry to say). I regularly post Britney threads there and they usually get lots of traction and responses! I think the difference is you made SO many different changes here without consulting anyone beforehand or asking for opinions. Whereas with GGD it's focus is on Gaga and everything else is a bonus, those non Gaga sections are thriving! 

You need to find a way to promote this forum and get a good reputation, not a reputation for switching every two minutes and not consulting members, why would people join a forum where it is constantly changing and it appears members thoughts on potential changes are never discussed (until now). I feel like the way you changed this forum to a general celeb forum, it felt like you were shoving other artists in our faces and you cluttered everything up.

I think maybe start small build up the community feel here, as that is what i feel is lacking! Maybe try get more conversations starting in General so we all get to know eachother more, find out each others interests and then from that you can potentially build up other sections. I feel like there is a slight disconnect because of sudden drastic changes all the time without consideration.

I genuinely hope this site becomes more like GGD and I wish you the best Jordan, I am happy with how the site is currently.

[Isla]

49 minutes ago, JordanMiller said:

Yes, which ultimately didn't move BH into the direction I wanted 😂😩

IMO it's not so much a matter of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it,' but rather how can we grow Exhale? It was fine for what it was, a Britney Spears forum, but is keeping it that way ultimately going to attract more people here? I don't believe so. ESP when she's chilling on the beach in Malibu. Forums dedicated to one specific person without the option to talk about others sounds like death by a thousand cuts. 

I also really don't love the idea of two separate communities like it is right now. It's not making much sense, but currently I am trying to figure things out. 

I am in a place now where i am feeling like: instead of trying to get new registrations, why not encourage the current members ( you guys!) to comment on threads that aren't about Britney. Help me help you 😂 💜 

Oh I completely get where you're coming from - and yes, to attract more people probably the best thing to do would be to open up the forum to other fanbases etc.... but at the same time, I think it's important to not forget your long-term Exhale users, some of whom have been here for YEARS, and how they would feel about this. But I think in the long run, all this constructive criticism and feedback we are giving you will help you to make Exhale a better place and a fun experience for us all! 

Oh, and don't forget that plenty of forums that are dedicated to one artist/thing etc. usually do have extra sections to discuss other artists and general stuff, like GagaDaily for example. 

[Isla]

35 minutes ago, Slayer said:

I'm not a big fan of Gaga at all but I absolutely love GagaDaily, that forum is great! Exhale used to be my number 1 but I enjoy GGD so much more now (I'm sorry to say). I regularly post Britney threads there and they usually get lots of traction and responses! I think the difference is you made SO many different changes here without consulting anyone beforehand or asking for opinions. Whereas with GGD it's focus is on Gaga and everything else is a bonus, those non Gaga sections are thriving! 

Ddd I'm a Gaga fan but I haven't logged onto GagaDaily in years, I always found this forum more exciting. Maybe I need to give it another go?

[Jordan Miller]

2 minutes ago, Isla said:

Ddd I'm a Gaga fan but I haven't logged onto GagaDaily in years, I always found this forum more exciting. Maybe I need to give it another go?

[GirlOnTheMoon]

Im sorry, but no.

I have ATRL for that. I come to Exhale for Britney and only Britney  

[Jordan Miller]

Who is voting no. Reveal yourselves 

[Jordan Miller]

39 minutes ago, GirlOnTheMoon said:

Im sorry, but no.

I have ATRL for that. I come to Exhale for Britney and only Britney  

Why is it one or the other 

[Lorenzo]

I mean I voted yes because I don’t mind discussing other artists or pop music news, but Britney should be the priority

[Jordan Miller]

3 hours ago, Lorenzo said:

I mean I voted yes because I don’t mind discussing other artists or pop music news, but Britney should be the priority

🥳🙏🙏🙏

[Guest]

15 hours ago, Fenixxx123 said:

Well Britney is my priority here even tho I like other artists like Ariana, Rihanna or Harry Styles but it'd be much better to have them in other sections not in Britney's.

I think most of us want it in that way, like it was before but not forgetting that Britney is the queen of Exhale and the center of this page.

 

Yassss lets talk about the bubbly pop queen of sad songs Harold Styles 

[falka]

15 hours ago, Charlotte_the_Harlot said:

I just want this place to be alive, like it used to be years ago. 

same 

[Slayer]

12 hours ago, Isla said:

Ddd I'm a Gaga fan but I haven't logged onto GagaDaily in years, I always found this forum more exciting. Maybe I need to give it another go?

honestly it is SO active and fun there! constant threads being made and lots of games to participate in  

Me and others post there when there is Britney news too! I really hope Jordan can make a similar feel here, as that place is x100 more active if not more.

[Isla]

2 hours ago, Slayer said:

honestly it is SO active and fun there! constant threads being made and lots of games to participate in  

Me and others post there when there is Britney news too! I really hope Jordan can make a similar feel here, as that place is x100 more active if not more.

Well that does sound promising, but if I do go back, I’ll probably make a new account lol