I don't think WF is anywhere near "death" or that we're in danger of becoming obsolete. But, there's always room for improvement. How about instead of reacting to the staff's choices, you, the membership, give us ideas about how to improve WF? evenflow has been talking to me about transparency for awhile and I'm starting to agree with him. That's why we've done away with the DNR threads in the Shelter. But, what are your ideas? Some we'll work through and some we won't. You're really going to have to sell some of them to me. Let's just have a cozy little fireside chat.
Well, that's a given. But, I'm saving it for a very special day. A present, if you will. Packard, the day I propose to the soon to be Mrs. Elwood, your head is on my front porch.
More rotations of staff, basically open it to anyone active who hasn't been in trouble and wants a rotation as a mod.
As this current drama has pointed out, many times, something isn't over in a month. The original standard at WF was three months. I've failed because I haven't strictly adhered to that schedule. I'm endeavoring to do so now. I think that three months is sufficient provided that we release everything (no DNRs) and do it on time. Of course, you're all welcome to try to persuade me.
I'm inclined to keep people around that want to stay around provided they're doing a good job. However, there will be some vacancies soon. Several people have asked to step down in the past. I plan on broadening our staff's horizons some. However, many of the people I've talked to that others have recommended to me have already declined.
I agree, but staggered by a month. So things that are being discussed now would be released in two months, and so on.
That's the problem, a lot of people want to stay around and often it's for the wrong reasons, even if they aren't abusing power. Rotate people out, being rotated out wouldn't preclude them from being in again at a later date. It would also all but destroy most accusations of eliteforge (assuming rotation picks were done fairly and weren't limited to the "good 'ol boys club") EDIT: I'm not campaigning for a mod position
I don't think Wordforge is burning out... but the mods do seem to get burned out. That is understandable. Dealing with all these dramas and having to read all these threads can make one lose perspective. Maybe start working in some new mods to keep things fresh? And maybe just sticky the FAQ and Announcement threads in the Help Desk? Just to keep things a little more organized? I think the Quotes function needs to be fixed or updated somehow. It's seems a little unwieldy. Unless I'm just not using it right, it seems difficult to actually find certain quotes or even be sure that a quote was ever submitted. And some of the editing on multi-quotes needs to be fixed. I like the new version of the gallery we have up. Much cleaner looking and easier to navigate than the old one. Hmm.... oh, some new arcade games might be nice. Or at least cull some of the current ones. We have two different tetris games in there I think... it be nice if we could get an arcade dedicated solely to the really classic games (or their freeware facsimilies). And Chess? Finally, I'm still sort of liking the idea of renaming 'Wordforge Labs' into the 'The Tech Room'. Be a nice tribute and it'd also match up a little better with some of the other forum names.
Honestly, I have to be very selective about who I pick to be mods and I really don't want to have to do it every x number of months. Due to our small size, there is not a huge pool of candidates to choose from because, due to our nature, a prospective staff member not only has to look out for what's best for their forum, they have to look out for what's best for me as far as the legalities are concerned and I have to trust them to give me sound advice in The Shelter. For instance, Bailey works in the industry. That's why he's the mod of Press Start. He knows where the lines are and if something crosses that line, I trust him to let me know about it ASAP.
Give me a chance to work through it my way. If we continue to fail to get them out on time, you have my permission to tell me "I told you so" and we'll switch to releasing them every month. Deal?
Flow has been trying to tell me about TrannyForge for a while but I thought he was referring to something else...
Yeah, but what exactly is being lost by doing them every month? Currently, releases are penned in for every three months, and any thread older than a month is included right? So the precedent is already there that a month without activity is plenty of time to assume a thread is dead and safe to release. Going three months between releases, with threads needing to be a month old before they can be included, just means that some threads will be almost four months old by the time they are released.
What clear, documented, element will be gained by releasing them every month? So long as everything is released, I'm not buying that it'd be more transparent. Sell it to me. So? Again, document what we'll gain by doing it monthly provided every last word is released quarterly.
It's not going to be a popular suggestion, and will invariably be compared to Lisa's reign of terror, but stop pussyfooting around with people just here to cause trouble, stir up controversy, make drama and the like. Just ban them outright and call it a day. If you try to play nice and give them a little leeway, they'll continue to skirt the rules and go just far enough to not break the letter of the law, while clearly violating the spirit of it.
Well. More like a manifesto than a fireside chat. And this is just off the top of my head without any input from anyone else, but here are my thoughts.
Seems fairly straight-forward. I should be doing some other stuff, but if there is anything you want me to address, I'll see what I can do.
Come on, bubba. You can do better than that. It wants to be a business plan, and like any business plan, you've got to sell it to me. Grand ideas don't benefit the board. Sell it to me.
Since I don't know how many mods you have - or admins for that matter - this suggestion may not work but staggered rotations might help; either to different fora if the person is agreeable and knowledgable about said fora, or up and down from mod to admin and back again, and then perhaps take a sabbatical away from all things moddish and adminish (I know, not a real word) but still on call if the need arose. And perhaps have a few folks that you trust that can step up in case of accidents, illnesses, vacations etc. Just a thought.
Nick has posted some really good ideas over at TK, and I agree with virtually everything he's suggested. The only other suggestions I have are: TECHNICAL: Quoting PMs in notification emails. Get rid of it -- it's obvious it can be used by admins with a BCC set up to monitor content even if the user hasn't elected it, and I think that it breeds paranoia. MANAGEMENT: Keep a control on staff sniping and the air of superiority that is given off sometimes. It does nothing but add fuel and boom. If someone raises a query with you in private, please keep a dialogue going to let them know how and if it has been resolved. That whole issue of Mrs.A and Who's Online spilling onto the board could've been avoided if you'd told us that you had dealt with things. As it was, it appeared to be shoved in a cupboard and provided a catalyst for frustration and unpleasantness. COMMUNITY: Try and encourage more community driven activities like the writing competition. Those things tend to draw people together.
My view is still with when a Shelter thread is finished being discussed. Like a week without posts...it gets posted. Why? Why not? What good is letting old issues fester only to be reopened again in three months when the release happens? It would settle issues and completely put them behind the board at a more efficient pace. And it would encourage the staff to get things done and issues addressed in a more efficient manner. I'm looking for a con and I can't find one. Why don't you sell me on why it shouldn't change....what are the benefits to your method, Elwood?
I agree with your sentiment, but think a slight buffer time before release is needed just in case anyone else on staff has anything they think needs to be contributed. Doesn't have to be long, but at least a week or so of inactivity. The three month figure does seem very randomly chosen. If threads were being released once they were three months old it would make sense, but having at least month old threads released every three months is a little odd. You talk about more transparency, but all it seems like right now is saying is that now things will happen as the rules always said they would.
Batboy is glad Elwood posted this thread. Batboy believes that this shows that the spirit that created Wordforge (and yes, Troll Kingdom) is alive and well. See, based on what Batboy has seen, the biggest problems over the last few weeks were not the various "incidents." Those were the symptoms, or the results of the problem. The problem was that an us-against-them rift formed and two "classes" or posters arose. Certain posters did some stupid things. Certain members of the staff quite clearly crossed all sorts of lines and came off, intentionally or not, as arrogant pricks with major superiority complexes. Most of the remainder of the staff was placed in the precarious position of either ignoring the issues in public, or defending the offenders. The general membership then fractured among those who, while not supporting the initial offenses, were intent upon seeing the staff held accountable for their own transgressions, and those who were more focused on the initial offenses. All spun out of control from there.... Everyone needs to realize that this place is supposed to be fun. The very reason these boards exist is because alot of people were fed up with a BBS with a "legal code" more voluminous and subject to misinterpretation and manipulation that the worst parts of the USC. Here, Batboy thinks the rules sort of took on a life of the rules own and common sense was lost. Batboy thinks everyone needs a fresh start. To that end, Batboy proposes that Elwood and the staff try to refocus so that everyone understands that the important things (no personal information, no illegalities, etc.) are not to be toyed with. The rest should be based on good old fashioned common sense. So, Batboy must agree with Volpone that most of the recently banned should be pardoned. However, Batboy understands, probably better than Elwood realizes, Elwood's concerns. So Batboy must fully endorse the bans for CM and GE. Batboy hopes Wordforge can work this out quickly. Otherwise, many members will be cursing Bob Barker come Monday.
