You see the title; what do you all think about the idea? Specifically, cracking open the Highly Suspect Hideout for the greater boards population. I strongly doubt that the boards will ever see some great resurgence, barring the unlikely possibility of G3 (which still probably wouldn’t bring us back), so I think it would be a fun way to round out the end of the Boards. Bring a little chaos into the fold, y’know? What do you all think?
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I think that depends on whether the Highly Suspect Hideout is an actual reward for getting Master rank at this point. If it still provides a tangible benefit to those who take the time and dedication to get Master rank, then no, I don’t think it should be opened, because removing one of the boons of Mastership would reduce the incentives for some prospective and current Masters to actively contribute to the site. But, if it does not still provide any tangible benefit (e.g. most Masters ignore it or 100% would continue to contribute without it), then yes, I do think it should be opened, or at least made publicly viewable (where non-Masters are unable to contribute but are able to see it).
I say all of this as a non-Master, of course. Input by active Masters (@Au-Plau-Se, @Ghid, @Racie02, and the Mods/the Cast) would absolutely help to refine or reject this idea.
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It is still a reward for getting master rank.
Here’s the honest, whole truth: the HSH is currently a wasteland where Spiderus (one of the current mods) posts a bunch of spam that nobody is there to look at except me. Now and then we get a return master, like Racie or Au-Plau-Se, who tend to ignore his posts as much as I do, but that’s about it.
There’s nothing there to open the Boards up to.
It would also automatically invalidate several of the topics there as being against the Boards rules, such as the multiple ask topics geared towards specific users, allowed there presumably because it’s much easier to control if something gets out of hand (or because the staff just never bothered to do anything about it).
Now back in the day, when there were more than two Masters at a given time, there would be all sorts of fun coming from the HSH. Collabs for builds, worldbuilding, art projects (I have a low-effort art topic there), it was generally much less spam and much more fun. Then the generation per se of Masters were phased out for the spammier group, who eventually got over that phase and used the HSH for actual discussion about random topics.
And now there’s nobody there. And I’m a member of all three waves of Masters.
So, outside of old drama, spam and junk topics that would get deleted if they were added to the public boards, and the occasional dead collab or drab social experiment, there’s nothing to wave in front of people’s faces to entice them into caring. Imo the only way the HSH would become feasible again is if users deliberately grind for Master en masse and start being creative again.
I would love for the Boards to live again and am 100% on boards with doing something to generate interest, but making the HSH public only devalues the point of getting Master in the first place - the exclusive ability to ping Ghid in the Ghid pinging topic that someone made forever ago and which I still have not muted.
Become Master so you can ping Ghid in the Ghid ping topic 
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Even in the old days of high activity, masters were still the minority of the user population. I’m sure the rank existing had some impact on improving activity for certain users, but it can’t be the backbone to reignite things. The average user needs to feel like normal engagement with the forum is still worth something.
In the old days there were people who said MB members were a TTV cult. Maybe we should actually start one.
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Gotta agree with Ghid here. There’s currently nothing of interest on the HSH, nothing that would truly make the boards more interesting if it were public. Its main purpose is allowing dedicated members to bypass certain rules for convenience, like collaborations or discussions that wouldn’t go well on the broader boards.
Opening those topics to everyone is a recipe for spam, low-effort junk, ragebaiting, and endless, meaningless arguments. At the very least, an inactive boards means we don’t have those things, and I think it would be kinda nice to keep it that way.
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I got master rank a few months ago. made a post in the hsh about the voya nui online game. 7 views today. it’s deader than dead. i’d make master rank permanent, but that’s it. i haven’t really seen any spiderus spam, but still.
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No the Boards aren’t dying, it’s just not active since both Bionicle and TTV Podcast ended, no the HSH is only for Masters not for everyone else.
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what’s the difference between not active and dying? is master worth it with such a small population?
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Just keep creating, i dunno if is against the rules but theres a lot of Lego KO CCBS and Tecnnich builds, where you can explore more Building, also theres doing art, trought paintings, drawings and more, probably also we can do a comunity proyect or challenges.
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I don’t think it’d be worth it. From what I can remember there’s nothing much in there that would be of any interest nowadays, and most of the topics there would just get immediately closed if merged with the main boards
I have considered trying to get master back at some point, but only to comb through my old posts there to see if there’s anything of note. I don’t think there’s any real incentive to do so anymore with the boards being as dead as they are
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i’ve already done that, please don’t use up 10+ hours
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I assume this is the „lounge“ where most of the On Another Topic stuff comes from in the Out of Context topic?
Probably he best way to get the HSH and boards as whole is to make the master rank less of commitment. Instead of having to post on and read almost every new topic consistently, maybe have it to where the rank requirements mostly rely on total activity, though still having some requirement making sure that you haven’t forgotten the boards entirely.
Since the boards as a whole has had less activity it would make sense if master didn’t take as much activity.
But, maybe im just saying that cause I’ve never reached master.
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I personally disagree. As someone who has also not reached Master, I feel like the limited access to Master incentivizes further interactions. Perhaps qualifications could be lessened slightly, but I do think that, as-is, it is at the perfect intersection between alluring and out-of-reach.
I will also say that this all seems to be a wider symptom of the internet, where short-form content seems to be snatching up the younger generation and leading them away from content that requires greater commitment, like internet forums. For instance, I would love for my younger brother to make an account here, but he seems like he’d rather scroll through YouTube Shorts (
). While there are obviously exceptions, I definitely agree with arguments that the way to increase Boards activity and thus the number of Masters is not to decrease qualifications, but to increase Board membership. And the only way to do that is to reclaim some of the disillusioned, like those who left after the canon contests (or even in more recent times), and to attract younger users. How this would be done I am not sure, but maybe Boards users could start a TTV-like thing (podcast, video series, etc.) about general LEGO, or something like that? But that’s a significant time commitment, and the Boards are already enough of one for many users.
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I’ve contributed to the Boards in various ways over the years, with endeavors such as the Wild Masks novel starring various members on the Boards and the TTV Secret Santa, which I’ve hosted since I joined the site. There is one year where it did not occur; I couldn’t get Master in time, and asked various other users with Master to host it instead. No one else was willing to do so.
Ideally, the best way to generate new interest in the Boards is to offer people something exclusive - something only on the Boards and nowhere else. Before, that was the canon contests, and as stressful and problematic as they were, all of TTV’s staff mentioned repeatedly how the contests were a net positive for the site and viewed favorably by most polled at the time. Were I in possession of, say, some metal-cast masks in slightly rarer metals to offer as the prize for a contest, that may attract new blood to the site, if only in a fleeting capacity.
But I digress. I don’t have those resources, so the point is moot. There is only so much one user can do.
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Even as a part of the “younger generation” I can agree (I mostly avoid short form content). There are several games I’ve encouraged my friends to play, but they get bored quick and go back to whatever free to play shooter that gives them constant dopamine hits with little effort. So if some games have trouble keeping their attention I honestly couldn’t see something like the boards being capable of doing so.
I guess if the boards was more active earning master would come more naturally so maybe that’s the real issue. I joined during the GWP contests so aside from the bunch of attention that caused I’ve only seen the boards in its “dying” phase.
I’m not sure if master was intended to be a grind or not.
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Guys im gonna be really honest, i dont care about being a “master or villager“ also i didnt know that was a thing, but i feel that if you want to have the boards to expand the hole bionicle stuff, i think we just need something new and fresh, at the end of the day at least to me is more important to share artwork, Mocs and All Bionicle stuff here (actually thats why i made my account to share the 3D renders i have done since i dont posthem in other social media) so… my suggestion is having comunity objetives, like the challenges or some sort of group content, at least im gonna still post 3D renders, Some of them maybe will be just exclusive to here since i dont use any social media. also maybe rigth now i dont have a lot of time but if somebody has a group idea i will be open to participate, i could do Blender Bionicle artwork or we can do a new take with bionicle system again and i can do some 3D renders, maybe some Exclusive molds and stuff like that, also i could do a free course on Blender focus in the lego workflow for free, i think if you want the boards to live we just need to do stuff lol
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The problem is, I think people are doing “stuff” already (like @Ghid’s aforementioned Boards story series and the various MOCs and artworks shared by other users) but on-the-Boards activities are not enough to attract new users at a rate equal to or greater than the rate people are falling off the Boards.
Thank you for posting those 3D renders, though; they are quite interesting.
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Would I like to see the boards more active? Sure. But I don’t think it’s a huge deal if the community is smaller right now. Honestly, I feel like if anything I’ve noticed a slight upward tick in boards activity. As for hsh, if anything were to be done about it, I’d say @ChubChub86 's suggestion of lowering the master requirement could be an option, but even then, I don’t think it’s something that HAS to happen.
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right now it’s almost impossible to get it without constant necroposting, and undue amounts of effort. just not worth keeping it. if it was a one time unlock, it might be okay, but it’s not
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I have to agree here. Back when there was a lot more activity here (and I wasn’t working full-time), I could grind out Master in a week or two. Right now, I legitimately do not have the time to go through all the (dead) topics just to spam comments to gain rank.
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