First of all, I did not read this whole thread but I got the gist of most of the ideas. Firstly, with the kudos, I believe that a user can give kudos only if he/she has over 30ish posts. This will hopefully prevent people from creating alt usernames just to give themselves kudos.

Secondly, is the social networking section. I do not think it should become TOO extensive. Keep in mind that while you want this website to be useful, you also want it to be simple and welcoming to new members. If there are far too many things to do and learn, many may be deterred. Make sure you stick with what you set out to do: Sales numbers and analysis. A little social networking is perfectly fine, but for the most part, people go elsewhere for that stuff. Oh and add picture comments. I've seen many pictures uploaded that I would love to comment on. Also, on the profile page, maybe put small names to the side or under the box art. Some people may not be able to recognize box art (You might even want to categorize it by system and such).

This is all I have to offer right now. I am for a web 2.0 feel to the site. If I have any more to offer, I will let you know, ioi.

I've suggested this a few times, but having a "Consoles I own" with miniature (16x16?) icons of the consoles being displayed below a username in forum posts would be a unique, attractive and functional feature.

Groups seems like a nice way of discussing topics with like-minded people, and although you can simplypost a topic like that in the forums Its harder to manage a discussion where everyone can post what they like etc so I think groups would be good.

But; access should be restricted, so groups dont get overrun by troll accounts or whatever.

 I second that.

My only real thoughts on the matter are "how professional" should VGChartz become? Should it aim to turn into a real corporation, fulltime employees, money, etc?

This primarily impacts the quality and content of the news articles that are posted - and avoiding any sort of bias, etc.

More than anything else, this is something ioi needs to decide/think on - I have no doubt if the *aim* is to turn it into a fulltime, professional business (that makes profit) - then it will reach this goal within 12-18 months (if not before).

...

I'm very happy with the content of VG, and 99% of the visiting I do here is for the sales figures. If this site was to lose its focus on sales figures (and analysis of them) - it would lose its primary purpose. 

@shams

True dat

So the question is how to expand the userbase without making this site to generic or distract from the main purpose, which is the sales figures. With a larger community, you can have more clout with retailers and therefore get better numbers, thereby bringing in more members/visitors, etc.

How to expand the userbase?

In almost all of the sites I frequent for news/information, they have a featured writers section, and I like this idea particularly because if you have someone who can really write a good article (Source, Shams, John Lucas in particular), then you can draw in some people who just like to read the authors work.

I know this is only one small thing, but I think it will help ever-so-slightly. The problem is getting regular articles from your writers.

Either way, good luck!

Stay focused on sales, don't add anything else.

I would like a section were the community can collect all public sources on sales numbers. Not as a database, but as a link collection or text collection. Everything Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, NPD, Enterbrain, MediaCreate, Pachter, EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Gamestop or any other player in the industry have ever stated about game sales.

We already have most of these randomnly spread across the forum, but they would be much more useful if you could access them directly.

Oh, and collect the quarterly results of Microsoft Entertainment Division, Sony Entertainment Division and Nintendo.