HAPPY (BELATED) BIRTHDAY MUPPET CENTRAL !
Congratulations on being 5 years old, i think i've been here a bit over 4 years now. I'm not actually sure how i found Muppet Central - i think it may have been while searching for ALF sites on the net and came across a link to this one. Kooky !
The thing i really enjoyed most has been the people. I remember the main thing that kept me coming back to the site at the start was the forum and the nightly chats in the chat room. Those really were the glory days, and were the people who really made Muppet Central what it is today - the whole community feel was a lot stronger and people interacted a lot more closely, especially concerning the site. It was more of a joint effort, a collaboration between ALL the fans (not just a small minority) - some people would be working on Trivias, Someone on an interview, some people sending in news. It's still all there forming the bulk of the main site and is a testimony to what can be achieved. The main thing that pulled it all together was the nightly chats and everyone made an effort to get there - Phil, Cindy, Mar, Michael, Danny, Joggy, Emma, Martha, Smig, Quinn and the list goes on. As much as Muppet Central is a great site now, it was back then that Muppet Central really was CENTRAL in the fan community, it was a small geocities site and didn't depend on making money to support itself, competing with other sites, getting a scoop, having the best graphics. It was all about the people, the content and most of all the Muppets. I think the focus over the last few years has become a bit blurred and going .com and taking a more corporate stance, with less dependance on the fans for content was a bit mishandled. The site can look professional with great graphics without needing to act like a dummy official site. I know the need is there because Henson have failed to provide a decent one but MC's strongest point will always be it's community and i think what the fans appreciate the most is being able to be a part of it all and while everything else is great, developing that is always going to be the key to making the site stronger and stronger and will ultimately keep people coming back for more.
I'd also like to say i've enjoyed MC Radio thoroughly and i think thats pretty much a 'stand out' feature of the main site along with the new graphics and the collectables section.
What do i think we should do in 2003 ? Well i think pretty much the answers lie in Muppet Centrals past. So many people here have mentioned the chats from the early days and we have so many people simultaneously online now that i think getting a chat room going and some organised chats (Ken, Mike Horn, Karen Prell, Karen Falk, Terry, maybe even Phil getting input for the site) is definitely a must. Even if a professional room is going to break the bank bandwidth wise i think even a remotely hosted temporary solution would be a good idea. Also i think increasing the sites content this year is a must - 2002 was all about the graphics but i think to an extent the emphasis should move to the meat and potatoes now. Theres a lot more that could be done content wise (especially having comprehensive sections on all shows and characters) and many sections have been pretty stagnant for a long time. I think the key to this, as the community is starting to get stronger again is to get people involved - for instance having different people watch specific places for news items, have those interested in contributing get together to work on new features etc etc. Making them feel more involved and also letting them have a voice will only make the site more popular and the sites stronger. I also think the site needs to take advantage of the strong community within and work hard to get our voice heard - there is the perfect opportunity here to be the bridge between the fan community and the Henson company, we have some great ideas and getting them heard will only help us enjoy the Muppets more and help JHC provide what the fans want. 'Ask Ken' seems to have been popular, i'd actually like to see 'Ask Henson' with maybe a list of the most popular fan questions being compiled on the forum bi-monthly and then the answers being made into a series of Q&A articles on the main site. Overall though i think the most important things are keeping it all together day to day and providing a stable site for people to have a smooth, exciting and informative Muppet surfing experience.
Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
Back to the Rock Season 2
Sesame Street Season 54
The Muppets Mayhem premieres
Bear arrives on Disney+
Sam and Friends Book
heehee! I just think this site is really well done and I hope it's around for another 500 years!! Happy Birthday Muppet Central!!
I've enjoyed browsing the "Classic Muppets" and "Henson People" forums the best. I've also enjoyed meeting a lot of the posters here on AIM, which led to the quasi-partnership Travelling Matt and I have in putting together his TMS outlines 
