Rising Star Forums

Rising Star Forums (also known as RSF) is an online community focused on anime, gaming, and role-playing. Specifically, its theme is underrated and lesser known games, as well as developers and companies. It was created by Contra Fates, and its motto is 'Shining a light on the underloved and underrated'. The site's goal is to allow users to share and to find new movies, video games, and anime series' that they hadn't heard of. Although some members have left along the way due to inactivity, as of January 2010 the community had grown to over 200 members.
Content
The site is split up into categories for easier navigation: 'News and Notifications' is up-to-date information on Japanese gaming, international news, and local forum-related news. It is run by Contra Fates, Fuyumine, and Mellusia. 'Japanese gaming' focuses on the gaming developer Atlas and the studio, Gonzo. 'Discussions and Fun' is miscellaneous conversations and threads ranging from topics in the art gallery to zombies. There is also an 'Ask A Tech' thread, due to the high number of tech-savvy users, including Contra Fates, who works for Geek Squad. 'Star Players' is a role-playing (RP) focused category, run by Dew. It is one of the most active parts of the site, and brings in a large quantity of the member base.
Contests
Several different contests are held weekly or biweekly. There are graphics contests, called Signature of the Week (SotW) where participants send in banners they made using one of the many different photo editors such as Photoshop, or Paintshop Pro. There are also weekly RP contests, with the theme varying from character creation to team-written short stories.
Rising Star also held a forum-wide contest that took into account each member's posts, threads, reputation, activity, albums, social groups, and how much of their profile they filled out. The contest began shortly after the site opened, and lasted until October 19th, 2009. The contest offered prizes, with first place receiving their choice prizes. The contest was won by Fuyumine, who later went on to become a member of staff.
Staff
Titles of the site's staff are not the normal titles given at forums, but new names, along with new goals and objectives, that the creator chose for them.
This is what was put up when the staff were first introduced to the site:
“Watcher: A watcher will be very similar to a Moderator. They'll monitor, observe, and report what goes on around the forum, as well as brainstorm new ideas, and assist in bringing these ideas and projects to fruition. Watchers will not moderate the forum themselves, they'll use what is called the 'Proclaimer' system, which is explained below:
Proclaimer: For now, and likely for a while, there is only one Proclaimer. It is the RSF Robot. The RSF Robot is the G-Mod/S-Mod of the forum, and can edit threads, edit posts, delete posts, stick, close threads, etc. Watchers will utilize the RSF Robot whenever a moderating action has to be taken. For example, if a user makes a spam post in a serious discussion area, a Watcher will use the RSF Robot to delete it, as well as leave a Notice or PM for the user. I will be monitoring any and all actions taken by the RSF Robot to insure that they are fair and correct.
All post reports, PM reports, and all issues should be PM'd or sent to the RSF Robot, as it will serve as the main Moderating system for the forum. With three Watchers, a Maintainer, and myself, there will likely always be at least one of us who can assist and take care of all issues around the forum via the RSF Robot.
Maintainer: The Maintainer is the Administrator of the forum. It is currently Chris, Recycled Human. He holds down the fort when I'm not around to do it.
Creator: That's me. xD Not really much else to say about that.”
Since then, small changes have been made. The Maintainer is no longer Recycled Human, who had to step down due to a conflicting schedule. He has since been replaced by Casanova, who is "basically a man". Casanova also organizes and runs the SotW contests that happen weekly. The Watchers are Mellusia (sometimes known as Fusionist), and Aleister Black (currently known as Dew). Mellusia covers the masses of the forum, while Aleister Black focuses in the RP Department, and handles the RP Contest. The site also has an Exalter, who joined the staff ranks later, named Fuyumine. He is responsible for current news, both gaming and international. The Proclaimer title has also been erased, and replaced with the RSF Bot.
RSF Bot
The RSF Bot is a tool used by every staff member when they see something that needs to be handled publicly. Updates are often handled with the bot, as well as any members who are having problems or breaking rules. The RSF Bot is the preferred method of handling anything professionally, so as to give anonymity to the staff member who needs to use it. The RSF Bot also is used recreationally, and has developed a persona that the staff play to. It runs the monthly themes that happen, where the users change their usernames to fit the theme, generally for a week or two. The RSF Bot was known as Bill Gates, Terminator, Sonny, and is currently called Claptrap. Claptrap also briefly ran a riddle thread, with those who answered the riddle right receiving positive reputation. The RSF Bot has been known to talk in binary when not dealing with administrative duties.
History
The site first went up on March 16, 2009. The site was very small when it was first introduced, but has since grown into a much larger community. The site's creator Contra Fates had had previous experience in running a site, as co-owner, but found that her ideas were too large and that a difference of opinion meant she was spending her own money on someone else's dream. She resigned from co-owner and decided she would start her own site, which eventually became Rising Star Forums. In order to increase activity, she held the Forum Contest, giving away a game console with games to the winner. The contest was a huge success, with activity increasing tenfold from start to finish. Contra Fates, when asked about plans for Rising Star, said this, “I plan on creating a sort of Veteran Area, where dedicated members can see what the staff is up to, and can be more involved in the running of the forum, by issuing ideas and opinions to us, and having more contact with the staff...It shouldn't be all hush-hush, secretive, and behind closed doors. If we're working on things, people need to know we're working on things, and if we're slacking off or lagging, then we need people to whip us back into shape and get us moving.”

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