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shenanigans
April 20th, 2013, 04:33 AM
So, I've been doing some thinking and talking to some people about how we balance the involvement and contributions of all of you in this forum against those of the mods. Other staff, I'm not trying to undermine ye guys by posting this here first; I just wanna pose it as a hypothetical to see if it's worth taking higher. You might as well as also know that my opinions here don't strictly represent the opinions of the whole staff.

Basically, I want to know how interested ye'd all be in having a deeper involvement with the forum than straightforward posting. I'm talking stuff like minor forum events, competitions, and generally you guys having a greater amount of responsibility around the forums. As it stands, a lot of stuff is handled almost purely by staff. Which is fine, but I feel like we're not giving you enough opportunities to make stuff happen around here without being staff members yourselves. And of course, not everyone can be staff. I feel it's sorta black and white (lol) as it is; either you're a member and you don't have responsibility or you're staff and you do have responsibility. Personally I don't much like a gap that wide and feel like members can be trusted with a bit more responsibility than we give you right now. How exactly this could hypothetically be implemented, I don't know, but it's still a baby idea. I just wanna know how interested you guys are really. :]

So yeah, yes or no to more responsibility and organisation from members?

Forever
April 20th, 2013, 04:35 AM
I've been all for it since we discussed it. :)

Arx
April 20th, 2013, 04:40 AM
I'm all for this idea to be implemented. You guys can count on me.

KriegStein
April 20th, 2013, 04:50 AM
Sounds good. Especialy for those who want to be little more than "just posters". :D

Hikamaru
April 20th, 2013, 04:55 AM
I'm all for this, because it helps promote activity in especially the less active sections.

Harley Quinn
April 20th, 2013, 05:17 AM
what sort of activities are you proposing exactly

Ace.
April 20th, 2013, 05:20 AM
This sounds good. Like what Hikari said it'll help promote more activity in the forum other than just people posting.

Honest
April 20th, 2013, 05:59 AM
Was this really the mindset with everyone, that if you weren't staff, you didn't have responsibility? I never looked at it that way. :c

That being said, and my ignorance come to light, I totally support this idea. If members are capable of doing the work, then they should be meant to have their ideas and stuff come to life. It'll make the place more fun.

Harley Quinn
April 20th, 2013, 06:06 AM
Was this really the mindset with everyone, that if you weren't staff, you didn't have responsibility? I never looked at it that way. :c


the only time i see members getting involved with the organisation & execution of forum events (not counting prettiest profile and the like) is the annual get together thingymajiggy, and that's because they get to have a little green bar under their name & a fun event to run
members (as a whole) don't really have any responsibilities at all except to be the lifeblood of pc

tigerBLADE
April 20th, 2013, 06:10 AM
Yes, I do agree that this would feel like we're giving out more for the forums, than just posting. I'd be up for this idea!

curiousnathan
April 20th, 2013, 06:14 AM
I'm all in favour.

How would we give members more responsibility?
In what form? What would they be responsible for?
How is one chosen to complete a certain task? Do people put up their hand/sign up?

chaoticlapras
April 20th, 2013, 06:26 AM
Uh. Im all for this idea. How are members going to do this though? It would be easier to promote active/supporter people to a baby mod position? Just an idea.

Aquacorde
April 20th, 2013, 06:27 AM
So... train of thought here, might not be quite what you're looking for but yeah, that'd be good, I think. Posting is all well and good, but it's often a bit passive? Like in a lot of places people take the post-and-go route rather than discussion route and yeah then it's just kind of passive as opposed to making threads and going back to threads to discuss things. If people would get involved with creating and maintaining threads and events, I think that'd probably help out staff a bit and also give them (members) a stronger tie to the community? I dunno I've got vague ideas in my head and I'm not even sure where I'm going with them.

Oryx
April 20th, 2013, 06:43 AM
Uh. Im all for this idea. How are members going to do this though? It would be easier to promote active/supporter people to a baby mod position? Just an idea.

I don't think it would be related whatsoever to modding. If we're going to do that, we might as well mod them, right?

That being said, a different rank would make sense to me. This could be a rank you applied to, like a permanent EO, but without a badge because we already have so many especially when GT rolls around. It could give you access to an Events/Competitions forum, where you can plan out events in whatever section, see if other people want to help you with it, and get the final okay from the mods of that section/hstaff.

Patrick
April 20th, 2013, 06:45 AM
I wouldn't mind seeing more involvement. I've been sort of put off by the very same post-and-go vibe PC seems to have, as EternallyAnna put it. Anything meaty gets shot down or ignored outside of the one serious discussions forum, and it's not very stimulating. Maybe that's just the nature of the audience? In that case, perhaps we should start doing activities that would actually excite the audience enough to do more than post in/start another list topic(s)?

Forever
April 20th, 2013, 06:46 AM
Just replying on behalf of Razor given we've discussed this quite a bit. In regards to what members can do, there's a lot of things other than just get together's people can become involved in, PC has a social media community (and a few other things that were brought up but shouldn't be mentioned just in case anyone gets their hopes up and it doesn't go ahead) but there's some actual ideas. The thought was more to inspire a sort of way to reward good posters, and those who encourage discussion, and those would obviously be the ones looked to, to be involved in this kind of thing. If this does go ahead, and is agreed on, there will be more than just get together hosting (as Harley mentioned), and rather a whole lot of other ideas.

I also love the idea that Toujours mentioned of a planning sort of rank. :)

Cassino
April 20th, 2013, 06:47 AM
[...]
I can't think how that would work, but go on.

Harley Quinn
April 20th, 2013, 06:59 AM
if this thing does go ahead, would it be too hard to allow those running the event to be able to make an announcement or whatever in that section?? like, the ones staff put out whenever they want to showcase a new rule or event in their section
naturally this will be in conjunction with blogs (should they have one) and advertising in signatures and what not

King Goodra
April 20th, 2013, 07:16 AM
So pretty much make event organizers a thing for everybody to be at any time?

Kura
April 20th, 2013, 08:06 AM
I've already tried doing this an i think it's a great idea! I welcome more events and boosting excitement in the community!
I've spoken to toujours before about boosting th irc but i now have other ideas for it and going to speak to Fabio about it too! I'd love to see people boosting the forums especially whwn people are enthusiastic about it like that member who made a thread recently wanting to boost the lp section :3 so nice to see!

I feel maybe it might also be beeficial to hav a community events subsection that has mod approved threads only would be cool and i had contemplated mentioning it before but figured i may as well say it here!!

Shiny Celebi
April 20th, 2013, 08:51 AM
I do like this idea :) I think it would be nice to help out the staff in this way, and could be a great way to get members more involved in the forums and it sounds kinda fun actually.

JayD
April 20th, 2013, 09:09 AM
I think it's a great idea for people to start feeling more than just the average forum posters and they can feel like they're really helping in contributing something to the forum.

But what kind of responsibility and organization are we talking about here? What do you guys have in mind?

Squidchan
April 20th, 2013, 09:23 AM
I don't think it would be related whatsoever to modding. If we're going to do that, we might as well mod them, right?

That being said, a different rank would make sense to me. This could be a rank you applied to, like a permanent EO, but without a badge because we already have so many especially when GT rolls around. It could give you access to an Events/Competitions forum, where you can plan out events in whatever section, see if other people want to help you with it, and get the final okay from the mods of that section/hstaff.

Sorry if this is a bit to read, and maybe too much irrelevant information involved, but this suggestion has brought on a bout of nostalgia and made me miss a couple of responsibilities I had a few years ago.

I was a long time member of a gaming forum, in which I eventually got position of Mod and SuperMod. Eventually, I was also given responsibility of running the Event Section, and then after that, I quit my SuperMod position but kept the Event Section, effectively seperating it from the Mod Team permanently, except in cases where moderation of posts and the like was needed, as I didn't get to keep my moderation abilities. We had a 'Judge Team' that was a hand-picked group of dedicated members that would assist in perusing entries of Events and Competitions and, using set points... Umm, wow this bit is harder to explain than I thought. Let me give an example. As the leader of this Judge Team, it was my job to organise and help the judges in their decisions. I would set up a discussion thread, and a seperate judging thread for the event in question. In the judging thread, I would give the judges a form to fill out. An example would be, if the event was a writing event:
Name of Entrant:
Link to Entry:
Grammar and Spelling: (out of 5)
Ease of Reading: (out of 10)
Depth of Writing: (out of 10)
Fulfills Rules and Event Requirements: Yes/No (out of 2)
Then the score would be added together (out of 27), and an average found of all the judges scores for an entry, leaving out the lowest and highest scores (similar to the Olympics, to help with any bias). In the form itself, I would help the members fill out each section by supplying a few questions, like 'How easy was the writing to read?', 'Did the writing flow smoothly, or jump around a lot without direction?' (for Ease of Reading) and 'Did the writer set the environment and characters well?' (for Depth of Writing). It was also my job to tally up the scores, announce the winners and provide general entertainment for the judge team when we were low on work (and/or to provide more incentive to keep coming back).

Although bias is difficult to completely stamp out, I would like to think the team was mostly unbiased and intelligent, and any bias that did show would have been cancelled out with the above methods. The main job for the Judge Team was to judge events created by the gaming company (so the admin didn't have to do it on his own), but eventually, other members that created their own events would ask the team for help, either handing over the judging to us completely, or working with us (they would choose the winner, and we would judge the runners up).

I know this sounds like a lot of complicated, hard work, but for me, it was the most fun I had for a long time. I would go back, if I knew anyone that was still on that forum. But I do see that the Judge Team is still going strong, and it makes me proud. I miss all that quite a lot, actually.

Hmm, after all that writing, I'm not even really suggesting this idea for this forum, because different things work for different forums, but I just wanted to spill a bit and give an example of how giving more responsibilty to members can really do wonders for a community. (This forum also had a correspondents team, a group of people that wrote articles about the game and forum, did interviews with popular members and other such things, I haven't really had a good look around here, so I don't know if there is something similar..)

Thanks for powering through all that...

Adventure
April 20th, 2013, 09:23 AM
In the particular section where I am active, the Roleplay Corner, we already do this I think. The mod is responsible for modding (of course) and keeping the rules fresh and letting us know when new threads are accepted.

But we also have Roleplay Awards every third month that is usually mainly managed by another member (Skymin helps though) and I myself am responsible for a Roleplay Library to keep track of active RPs. And now and then during holidays or special times, members can be allowed to hold special competitions, and we are at all times allowed to submit guides to Skymin, to help people understand how to RP and write and things like that.

Then again, a roleplay section gives a lot of responsibility to every member by default, especially those who manage and contribute to the roleplays as Game Masters.


I just want to explain why I feel like members can already be as responsible and active as they want to be. Again, my view is in much due to me hanging around a very interactive section. But even in other sections, I've always felt like if you do have a great idea for something like Razor Leaf suggests, you can pitch the idea to the mod and there is every chance that it becomes reality. Things that may up activity in sections are mostly always welcome, right?

So imo, this is not a thing that deepens some sort of cleft between staff and nonstaff. Mods mod, admins administer, and all staff - just like any member - can help the section by events and activities. It's just that, as a mod, you are also somewhat expected to be active in extra stuff apart from modding.

ClumzyTrainR13
April 20th, 2013, 10:07 AM
Imo, greater member involvement is great. Similar to others, I kinda feel like we should be more active as a group, and participate in more large-scale events on the forum. Members here seem to singularly take part in their own activities and interests, and it's what I think sort of separates us as a whole. So, in the end, I would recommend maybe some events that could seep into the interests of near everyone one the forum? Something that could become a large-scale event that everyone talks about and discusses? I don't know, it could possibly be some form of a competition that gets the entire forum excited and everyone loves that could set us apart from other forums of a similar purpose? This is my point of view on this topic, and I just think it would be awesome if we could do something like this :D

Guy
April 20th, 2013, 10:51 AM
I don't think it would be related whatsoever to modding. If we're going to do that, we might as well mod them, right?

That being said, a different rank would make sense to me. This could be a rank you applied to, like a permanent EO, but without a badge because we already have so many especially when GT rolls around. It could give you access to an Events/Competitions forum, where you can plan out events in whatever section, see if other people want to help you with it, and get the final okay from the mods of that section/hstaff.
Not that it's a bad idea, but when I was discussing this with Razor Leaf yesterday, that isn't exactly what I had in mind. Personally, I feel like having people apply for a certain rank in order to contribute ideas or host events seems like over complicating a relatively simple thing. It's a lot easier and less restricting for members who have ideas or want to host their own event(s) in a forum to talk the moderator of that forum or higher staff about it first. Otherwise, what if a member has a good idea, but because they don't have an impressionable application to do it, the idea goes to waste or someone else takes it and does it instead? It just seems too restricting in my opinion when we should be more open to doing something like this while assisting them in the process if need be.

I just want to explain why I feel like members can already be as responsible and active as they want to be. Again, my view is in much due to me hanging around a very interactive section. But even in other sections, I've always felt like if you do have a great idea for something like Razor Leaf suggests, you can pitch the idea to the mod and there is every chance that it becomes reality. Things that may up activity in sections are mostly always welcome, right?
I agree with this.

I also want members to know that we encourage them to come talk to us about these things and let their ideas be acknowledged rather than forgotten. To know that they can do more if they want to and we can help them out too. Anything that allows people to come together and contribute to the forum in ways of boosting its activity while enjoying what they're doing is always welcome in my opinion.

Oryx
April 20th, 2013, 10:59 AM
Not that it's a bad idea, but when I was discussing this with Razor Leaf yesterday, that isn't exactly what I had in mind. Personally, I feel like having people apply for a certain rank in order to contribute ideas or host events seems like over complicating a relatively simple thing. It's a lot easier and less restricting for members who have ideas or want to host their own event(s) in a forum to talk the moderator of that forum or higher staff about it first. Otherwise, what if a member has a good idea, but because they don't have an impressionable application to do it, the idea goes to waste or someone else takes it and does it instead? It just seems too restricting in my opinion when we should be more open to doing something like this while assisting them in the process if need be.

The thing with that is, that's...already a thing, isn't it? When I was a member and wanted to do an event I PMed the mod of that section or hstaff if there wasn't one and got it approved, and I've seen plenty of members do the same thing around the forum. Are you suggesting then just making it more well-known that that's a thing that we encourage?

Guy
April 20th, 2013, 11:08 AM
The thing with that is, that's...already a thing, isn't it? When I was a member and wanted to do an event I PMed the mod of that section or hstaff if there wasn't one and got it approved, and I've seen plenty of members do the same thing around the forum. Are you suggesting then just making it more well-known that that's a thing that we encourage?
Yeah, that's about the gist of it. I don't think a lot of members are really aware that we can allow them to do more things in a forum that a moderator would otherwise be responsible of doing.

Melody
April 20th, 2013, 12:07 PM
This sounds like a wonderful idea in my opinion. It would certainly make participating in the community more actively a lot easier, especially if we can easily tap into the staff for promotion of our approved events and just make for a better experience in the dry spells between events like GTs or CommDays or whatever other events are held by staff on any regular basis. This would also serve to help members to stand out from the crowd, and maybe contribute more even if they don't feel they'll ever be modded. I certainly feel that way.

I don't think it would be related whatsoever to modding. If we're going to do that, we might as well mod them, right?

That being said, a different rank would make sense to me. This could be a rank you applied to, like a permanent EO, but without a badge because we already have so many especially when GT rolls around. It could give you access to an Events/Competitions forum, where you can plan out events in whatever section, see if other people want to help you with it, and get the final okay from the mods of that section/hstaff.

This would also be a great idea, and optionally a usergroup such as this would be useful to distinguish those members who are actively planning events and even grant temporary and limited thread moderation abilities, if necessary for operation of the event, to users. This wouldn't necessarily need to have a differentiating color or font style for usernames, but it could especially in cases where power is given over a small subsection in order to run an event in the case of there not being an active on-staff moderator who would normally preside over the event.

I wouldn't mind seeing more involvement. I've been sort of put off by the very same post-and-go vibe PC seems to have, as EternallyAnna put it. Anything meaty gets shot down or ignored outside of the one serious discussions forum, and it's not very stimulating. Maybe that's just the nature of the audience? In that case, perhaps we should start doing activities that would actually excite the audience enough to do more than post in/start another list topic(s)?

I certainly would welcome a little bit more involvement than just the post and go atmosphere at times, especially because it would entice more people to stay around longer. It sucks to see good friends quit PC because they've become absolutely bored with the place, and I've always thought it would be nice if I could come up with some way to contribute to the community in a way to combat that problem.

Toko
April 20th, 2013, 01:12 PM
I also think it is a good idea. I'm an example of dwindling involvement on PC. :D (Though my reason is work related stuff. The site is a great place ;)
I still think it would be beneficial to let people carry more responsibility and maybe give them a bit more freedom in how they can add to the site, I think it would probably pull them back on here more often because they'll feel like their input actually counts.

Of course, everything still needs to remain in order and you can't have everyone just doing what they want, so I hope it is possible to find a middle ground on this.

seeker
April 20th, 2013, 01:20 PM
If you want to get involved more; you're perfectly welcome to approach a staff member about hosting a competition, sharing an idea, offering to host a new claim thread, or offering a suggestion. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to do this, so hopefully this thread shows that a bit more.

The responsibility you gain is relative to the initiative you take.

Patrick
April 20th, 2013, 02:03 PM
It's one thing to have initiative, but it's another to actually get people behind you on it as well. It gets discouraging after a while when people are all over the place, but never really committed to anything aside from whatever they're already doing, which I again think has more to do with the general atmosphere of the board.

It's like being at a concert where you all like the same band (in theory), but everyone's in a bubble messing around with their iPhones or something tuning everything else out. That's why I'd like to see more involvement, there's a lot of potential here, but it's just scattered all over without a lot of unification. Aside from the fan games/hacks and RPs, but that's about it.

droomph
April 20th, 2013, 02:07 PM
It's one thing to have initiative, but it's another to actually get people behind you on it as well. It gets discouraging after a while when people are all over the place, but never really committed to anything aside from whatever they're already doing, which I again think has more to do with the general atmosphere of the board.

It's like being at a concert where you all like the same band (in theory), but everyone's in a bubble messing around with their iPhones or something tuning everything else out. That's why I'd like to see more involvement, there's a lot of potential here, but it's just scattered all over without a lot of unification. Aside from the fan games/hacks and RPs, but that's about it.

Well, we'd like to change that, huh?

I think that if you just host it alone for the first few runs, people will start to recognize if it's good or not, and they'll start pitching in. It's like hosting anything - if you wanna, you gotta start it by yourself.

Melody
April 20th, 2013, 03:49 PM
Well, we'd like to change that, huh?

I think that if you just host it alone for the first few runs, people will start to recognize if it's good or not, and they'll start pitching in. It's like hosting anything - if you wanna, you gotta start it by yourself.

Yeah, but that's still super discouraging to those who WANT to try but don't have the confidence or the patience to try and fail a few times.

It's one thing to have initiative, but it's another to actually get people behind you on it as well. It gets discouraging after a while when people are all over the place, but never really committed to anything aside from whatever they're already doing, which I again think has more to do with the general atmosphere of the board.

It's like being at a concert where you all like the same band (in theory), but everyone's in a bubble messing around with their iPhones or something tuning everything else out. That's why I'd like to see more involvement, there's a lot of potential here, but it's just scattered all over without a lot of unification. Aside from the fan games/hacks and RPs, but that's about it.

This is a good point. Everyone sticks around to their own preferred section, and quite frankly, that's how some of our subforums end up feeling kind of 'cliquey' and intimidating to users, especially the new ones.

If you want to get involved more; you're perfectly welcome to approach a staff member about hosting a competition, sharing an idea, offering to host a new claim thread, or offering a suggestion. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to do this, so hopefully this thread shows that a bit more.

The responsibility you gain is relative to the initiative you take.

But this leaves out anyone and everyone who is simply too intimidated to approach staff about such things. Not to mention anyone who may have a good idea, but just needs help to work out the kinks and otherwise make it happen.

curiousnathan
April 20th, 2013, 04:00 PM
I know in Fourth Gen I'v eset up an events suggestion thread, (albeit not a lot of replies), where any member can suggest ideas for future events in the section. I might actually make it simply an ideas plus feeback thread, because I'd also like to hear some possible improvements that could be made to 4th Gen. Within these threads I've been given a few event ideas that I've discussed with their owners, and have been slowly planning their release. More importantly, I've let those who suggested the event, host it themselves (that includes creating the content of the thread (which I'll look through/correct if need be), because it wouldn't be fair if I hosted it, because well...it wasn't my idea.

But anyway, I'm getting off-topic.

What I'm really trying to get to here is, that we've already started from some sort of a platform. There are already ways which members can acquire more responsibility than simply posting and running off to the next section. Perhaps if we can find a way to emphasise that there are opportunities out there. In saying that, perhaps every section should create more of these oppotunities by creating an event suggestion thread of their own? Plus the thread will in a way, lessen the hesistation of a member to suggest their idea(s) because they wouldn't be discussing it with that staff member directly.

In regards to a permanent rank...I'm a little iffy on that. Essentially, if we're picking moderators to moderate, which is causing a gap between moderator and member contriution, then surely if we're promoting certain members to a 'EO rank' permanently that will only cause another gap between members with no responsibility, member with responsibility and then moderators. It will only chop the gap into pieces, rather than reducing it. (But that's just me)

I'm all up for this 100%. Just not through ranks.

cuttlefishCuller
April 20th, 2013, 04:30 PM
I'd like to mention that A&D already has something like this going on now.

Jetstream9777, with assistance from Kriegstein, launched a PC fakedex project, which had nothing to do with myself or Derozio. It was a good idea and he went for it, and now it's evolved into quite the exciting little pseudo-event. I suppose it's relevance to this conversation depends on how you view things, but I'm looking at this project more like an actual "PC Pokedex" not just a fakedex for someone's personal gain.

My point is, member involvement in different sections already exists, but more is always better. I'd love it if more members became involved. :) I think one thing that will be invaluable would be to increase the flow of communication between members and staff.

All that said, I'm going to agree with Curious on ranks. Maybe it's just me, but it kind of sounds like we'd be rewarding members for being active.. which we already have methods in place to do so, you know? That, and I feel like it would bring "members closer to staff", as opposed to bringing "staff closer to members", if that makes any sense.

flight
April 20th, 2013, 06:23 PM
I feel that...I dunno, my opinion is different than most people's here. I understand that a lot of people in this thread are worried that creating a new rank would further "distance" that gap between member and staff but...I dunno, maybe it's just me who thinks it'll have no real effect at all? I don't mean to be impeding on anything (and I apologize if I am), but you already have "supporters", who, in theory, already create that gap. The only difference is that it's probably easier to get to supporter than EO (depending on the prerequisites for that usergroup).

I guess the general point being is that it won't make a difference one way or another. I feel that that the rank would be creating more incentive for members to participate in organizing events, in the same way that the supporter ranks/perks create incentives for people to donate. Think of it in that light, and perhaps it'll become a bit easier to swallow? xD

droomph
April 20th, 2013, 08:29 PM
I feel that...I dunno, my opinion is different than most people's here. I understand that a lot of people in this thread are worried that creating a new rank would further "distance" that gap between member and staff but...I dunno, maybe it's just me who thinks it'll have no real effect at all? I don't mean to be impeding on anything (and I apologize if I am), but you already have "supporters", who, in theory, already create that gap. The only difference is that it's probably easier to get to supporter than EO (depending on the prerequisites for that usergroup).

I guess the general point being is that it won't make a difference one way or another. I feel that that the rank would be creating more incentive for members to participate in organizing events, in the same way that the supporter ranks/perks create incentives for people to donate. Think of it in that light, and perhaps it'll become a bit easier to swallow? xDYeah, and additionally, for those of us who don't have money to spend, this would be another way to get that colored username without using a credit card :) if they get all the perks (such as VIP, or blogs) I wouldn't care - after all, what good is the money if nobody makes use of the things it's buying?

ranks.
So I dunno… I was thinking that this would be a way to get a VIP 3-5 as a reward without using money or luck, but for hard work. And trust me, back before I got my debit card and thus couldn't donate, I would have pretty much become a slave without any complaint if it meant to get that blue name :p

Harley Quinn
April 20th, 2013, 08:37 PM
So I dunno… I was thinking that this would be a way to get a VIP 3-5 as a reward without using money or luck, but for hard work. And trust me, back before I got my debit card and thus couldn't donate, I would have pretty much become a slave without any complaint if it meant to get that blue name :p

I highly doubt that you'll get a Supporter VIP card/whatever for organising what could just be a one-off event...........

droomph
April 20th, 2013, 08:39 PM
I highly doubt that you'll get a Supporter VIP card/whatever for organising what could just be a one-off event...........

That's the point though… if you happen to help enough around, you'll get it.

Harley Quinn
April 20th, 2013, 08:42 PM
Isn't the point of this whole thing that members have more freedom/better attitudes to helping around the forums/organising events, rather than doing stuff in order to work towards a supporter rank?
Not to mention that the majority of the people who would honestly get off their asses and help probably have a supporter rank anyway.

King Goodra
April 20th, 2013, 08:44 PM
I am completely against offering supportership as a reward for anything. I think it should be reserved for strictly donations. It's not some prize to be won, and I hate that it's become one.

Forever
April 20th, 2013, 09:28 PM
Ugh no, if this happens I'd strongly push against supportership purely because it isn't a reward whatsoever. Being able to help out with things, being able to make your mark on PokeCommunity is much more rewarding than a green username. I only offer supporterships for my events because I think otherwise people won't enter them :/ But if a way of rewards was in place that'd change fo sure.

Kura
April 21st, 2013, 12:38 PM
Ok it seems like my suggestion got lost in the pile a while back so I'll bring it up again with a bit more explanation:

What about an event subsection that anyone can post to, yet the section is moderator-approved only, kind of like how Other Clubs works?

Like it needs a certain type of criteria to run, and needs to be passed by a mod to run too. However it can still be open to anyone who wants to host something PC related as long as they're willing to withhold PC rules even if it's on another program (skype) or website (oekaki chatroom)?

flight
April 21st, 2013, 05:00 PM
Ok it seems like my suggestion got lost in the pile a while back so I'll bring it up again with a bit more explanation:

What about an event subsection that anyone can post to, yet the section is moderator-approved only, kind of like how Other Clubs works?

Like it needs a certain type of criteria to run, and needs to be passed by a mod to run too. However it can still be open to anyone who wants to host something PC related as long as they're willing to withhold PC rules even if it's on another program (skype) or website (oekaki chatroom)?

A few issues that I have with this (though I could be wrong! Just my observations, is all!):

When concerning just making a subforum for posting events, you're taking a gamble. The premise for making subforums is that it's as active as possible, and if I'm correct from the many other threads that have suggested a million things be made into subforums, then I can at least make a safe assumption that the higher staff would not take chances into making a forum that would have a good probability of not getting a decent amount of activity. u___u

Though...if that doesn't fully make sense, allow me to clarify!

See, the reason why I don't mind the ranks, was simply because of one thing: it attracts people, and that's the very nature of it. Again, reflecting back to my supporter example, you see people donating for themselves, donating for each other left and right, and now there's hardly a time where not half the community is covered in green. Of course, all that's required is to donate some cash, but I can imagine similar possibilities for something like Event Organizers. Arguably, you could also say that the members who would be event organizers would probably post in that forum without the necessity of the rank existing.

So ultimately, it comes as a matter of whether or not it's necessary. I mean, it probably isn't on a grand scale, but would it encourage greater incentive and greater interest within creating events and contributing in greater amounts to forums? If so, then great! If not, look at alternative options, because the bottom line here is creating enough interest that people would actually want to create and go through with their events.

Oryx
April 21st, 2013, 07:00 PM
When I mentioned ranks I didn't mean something visible like a Supporter, but something hidden like the Beta Testers usergroup. :x Just clarifying. I didn't mean it for incentive purposes, but for organizational purposes.

It depends on what you're trying to do here. I thought the goal was to make it clear that contributions from members are welcomed, while it seems your goal is to actually make there some kind of reward of some sort for members to contribute.

flight
April 21st, 2013, 07:10 PM
When I mentioned ranks I didn't mean something visible like a Supporter, but something hidden like the Beta Testers usergroup. :x Just clarifying. I didn't mean it for incentive purposes, but for organizational purposes.

It depends on what you're trying to do here. I thought the goal was to make it clear that contributions from members are welcomed, while it seems your goal is to actually make there some kind of reward of some sort for members to contribute.

Welllll....

There was a mention of a "permanent event organizer" kind of thing, so my post kind of went off of that, y'know? :x So I thought it'd be something visible.

Kura
April 22nd, 2013, 03:57 AM
I wouldn't want it to be something visible because I wouldn't want members pining for organizing events just to have certain status on the forum. That's just my fear about it.

I don't think the community events particularly NEEDS to be constantly crazily active. It can be a subsection under community announcements (which in itself is not that active but very valuable) and even if it's updated just for small events (international talk like a pirate day, videogame day, mod appreciation day, whatever else someone wants to host) it would be great IMO and way more organized than just adding something to Other Polls/ Chitchat section or having it scattered around the forums (like GE competitions I dont even know are going on until like Mr. Catdog makes a blog about it or something.)

vaporeon7
April 22nd, 2013, 05:00 AM
Maybe there could be a section similar to the birthdays where current events are listed?

flight
April 22nd, 2013, 06:06 AM
I wouldn't want it to be something visible because I wouldn't want members pining for organizing events just to have certain status on the forum. That's just my fear about it.


You bring up a fair point here but...I imagine it like this, and bear with me, because hopefully a lot of what I'm saying would make sense here (cause lol my wording):

Yes, it doesn't need to be crazily active but...would it at least help, in a sense? Note that I'm not asking for a grandiose amount of activity here, that's silly of course. But in my ideal ~*world~* (so to speak), in this situation, these event organizers would kind of be like a team of people, planning events left and right and whatnot, and what could work as events, and what couldn't work, things of that nature.

Basically, think of the VIP forum and replace like 2/3rds - 3/4ths of the threads in there with event discussion, and that's what I imagine it to be like. I mean, that's just in my mind, after all, it'd be pretty fun. :x

Hopefully that helps?

Kura
April 22nd, 2013, 01:00 PM
You bring up a fair point here but...I imagine it like this, and bear with me, because hopefully a lot of what I'm saying would make sense here (cause lol my wording):

Yes, it doesn't need to be crazily active but...would it at least help, in a sense? Note that I'm not asking for a grandiose amount of activity here, that's silly of course. But in my ideal ~*world~* (so to speak), in this situation, these event organizers would kind of be like a team of people, planning events left and right and whatnot, and what could work as events, and what couldn't work, things of that nature.

Basically, think of the VIP forum and replace like 2/3rds - 3/4ths of the threads in there with event discussion, and that's what I imagine it to be like. I mean, that's just in my mind, after all, it'd be pretty fun. :x

Hopefully that helps?

It does! And while it's not a bad idea, I still feel like it is limiting to those who might just want to host a one-off event but they don't want the responsibility of having an event organizer status (or if mods don't feel they're active enough to have it, would they just have to pass up their event to the organizer's desecration?)
And yeah, of course lots more activity would be helpful.. hmm.. maybe we could have both? Event Organizers would be like mod-helpers for that section while others are free to post too?

I don't know what the VIP forum is like, sorry.. Tier 2 supporters can't see it.. but I think I understand what you mean.

I guess it is just up to what the moderators would prefer..?

You bring up a fair point here but...I imagine it like this, and bear with me, because hopefully a lot of what I'm saying would make sense here (cause lol my wording):

Yes, it doesn't need to be crazily active but...would it at least help, in a sense? Note that I'm not asking for a grandiose amount of activity here, that's silly of course. But in my ideal ~*world~* (so to speak), in this situation, these event organizers would kind of be like a team of people, planning events left and right and whatnot, and what could work as events, and what couldn't work, things of that nature.

Basically, think of the VIP forum and replace like 2/3rds - 3/4ths of the threads in there with event discussion, and that's what I imagine it to be like. I mean, that's just in my mind, after all, it'd be pretty fun. :x

Hopefully that helps?

It does! And while it's not a bad idea, I still feel like it is limiting to those who might just want to host a one-off event but they don't want the responsibility of having an event organizer status (or if mods don't feel they're active enough to have it, would they just have to pass up their event to the organizer's desecration?)
And yeah, of course lots more activity would be helpful.. hmm.. maybe we could have both? Event Organizers would be like mod-helpers for that section while others are free to post too?

I don't know what the VIP forum is like, sorry.. Tier 2 supporters can't see it.. but I think I understand what you mean.

I guess it is just up to what the moderators would prefer..?

Giant Magikarp
April 23rd, 2013, 02:44 AM
I'm new to this and can anyone tell me what's the difference between mods and normal members?

Forever
April 23rd, 2013, 03:01 AM
I'm new to this and can anyone tell me what's the difference between mods and normal members?

http://www.pokecommunity.com/faq.php?faq=pokecommunity_faq#faq_positions

Check this :) Also there's a Quick Questions sticky where questions like this actually go (at the top of this forum!)

Melody
April 23rd, 2013, 07:55 AM
I'd like to point out a few things:

Ok, so it seems like some people are still not sold on having an events subsection somewhere and I can sort of understand why. However, let me point out that such sections have existed before for the purposes of organizing all manners of events in the "Get Together" events and such. I believe that such a subforum would allow members to suggest events, create them and submit them for approval. Once submitted and the post is reviewed and approved by the section moderator(s) for viability and compliance; the thread would have a month to organize a staff member to second it, organize as many members/staff members as necessary to run the event smoothly, collect sufficient members expressing interest in joining the event and setting up a time/date to have the event.

If after a month, the event falls through then the thread would need to be re-submitted for approval by PMing the mod and reposting the thread if necessary.

I don't believe such a section has to be active, as it's purpose is to allow members to host their own events that they'd be interested in. It would eliminate the need to wait, and provide staff a framework to submit their own events as well if they wish to hold an event outside of the usual normal timeframes of holidays and get together sort of events. Not to mention moderators running events in their own sections wouldn't need to use the subforum to get their event approved, they could just announce them there to get eyes on their section because of an event. So events that would otherwise be overlooked because they're posted in a sticky in your section would get some exposure because people would be looking to the events subforum to look into events they might find interesting. So everybody wins, and it saves the administrative overhead of hiding and unhiding a forum come "Get Together" season.
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