In the last ten years in my position of webmaster of www.lunagang.nl I've learned not to expect much of the fansite support of Jagex. This is why I'm not disappointed about the current support. The transparency of internal game development processes has been changed dramatically for players the last five years, but fansite support is still very much the same as ten years ago. At least for non-English fansites.
The only thing what changed the last ten years is this fansite forum and some advertising for events. Maybe this is because I'm more a guide man than community man and I'm very conservative regards social media, but I think our most important source of new visitors is Google and not those advertisments. I put limited value in rankings in difficult to find forum posts (just spend a few minutes to find the post) or ads on social media profiles. However, I do think you can get a very good impression of the activity and size of a foreign fansite by visiting the website two minutes via Google Translate if you need to rank a fansite.
The power of my fansite lies within guides in the mother tongue of the visitors, being able to discuss the updates in your own language and find help. We do have an event team, but in my own opinion, events are for clans.
What I need as a guide maker are API's. These things are independent of language. I would like to have a feed with chronically listed GE updates, ways to get item stats and pictures at the moment I would like to have them, direct access to image files of maps of the world, etc. The tools Mod Michelle has for updating the Wiki. However, I completely understand these wishes cannot be and never will be fulfilled. It is not how the system is set up. In my opinion, the fansites should be supported by a content developer, not a community manager. As long as this is not the case, I do not expect or need any fansite support.
08-Mar-2014 13:48:24
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