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Guild Subforums, Part 3
#1
Okay. So, these things are clearly constantly getting shelved because MY GOD.

So, I've already archived every guild sub-forum that has not had a post since 2013.

The problem I'm facing with these things is this: Kretol and I are the main ones that can do these things. A lot of people want them. However, 99% of the time these sub-forums are either used for the first month and then almost entirely forgotten about, or they get used for things that would have been perfectly fine being put into the other forums anyway. It has completely destroyed my desire to work on them at all. While they don't take -that- long to make, the process is fairly tedious and the work seems even more so when most of them aren't used for much.

So, here's where we stand now.

I will be evaluating all of the current sub-forums in use. I'll be examining what they're used for, and if said guilds really need a sub-forum. If I deem that the sub-forum is unnecessary, it will be sent into an archival forum. The rest will stay. Most of them, however, are probably going to go.

What qualifications am I using for determining this? Guild sub-forums must be used for something distinct, unique, and impossible to do in the other forums. For example: The Love Exchange uses their subforum to organize client profiles and matches. This is a good use of a subforum.

What aren't good uses: Organizing events. Showing guild uniforms. Posting guild rules. Member lists. IC posts. If these are your reasons for having a subforum, then it will probably be removed.

The application for getting these things will probably change as well. I'll be asking for example posts of what you intend to do with the new forum, so you'll have to prove to me that you're going to do something with it that can't be done in the normal forums.

If you are even the slightest bit concerned about losing information that you want to save in your guild forums, I recommend copying them to your computer now. I will probably begin the purging after a week's time.

Questions, post below.
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#2
*First bit edited, I want to be taken seriously.


See, I always felt guild subforums should be well, sort of like an organization tool more so than just a "you can't do this anywhere else" sort of thing. Why? Because TLE could use the other forums for that stuff too, just by putting infront of it [TLE] just as you'd have to do with any other good. A "good" use to me is more a matter of opinion rather than solid fact, so, I'm pretty offended that you see things this way.

Really, when it comes down to it, the personal use I had for my guild for example, failed because people DIDN'T POST IN IT EXCEPT ME. I wanted to keep a mission log of what people were doing, but considering that it's mind numbingly hard to get a guild organized beyond throwing events every week, it came down to almost trying to herd cats.

I'm not suprised if my guild's forum is deleted; it doesn't see use. I -will- be if some of the more active ones will be, just because it's deemed "something that could be done somewhere else".
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#3
(07-11-2013, 10:36 AM)Rensin Wrote: Good to know I didn't have a good use for my stuff.

If you want concerns addressed, it probably helps to not be passive-aggressive about it.
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#4
I'm not, I'm talking to you in the topic, heh. I brought up my concerns in a forthright manner, I thought. Granted, that was through the edit.

Edit: Nevermind, I see what you mean. Apologies, but to be honest your post feels pretty passive aggressive too, as it feels like it calls out my guild specifically with the "Uniform" stuff.
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#5
(07-11-2013, 10:48 AM)Rensin Wrote: Edit: Nevermind, I see what you mean. Apologies, but to be honest your post feels pretty passive aggressive too, as it feels like it calls out my guild specifically with the "Uniform" stuff.

Your guild wasn't even in my mind when I made that note.

Nor was I really attempting to call out any specific guild with any specific part of that, because all of those reasons can be attributed to more than one guild over the course of CotH's history. So, I'm sorry if you felt attacked in some way, it was never intended.

However, the reality of the situation is this: unless Kretol decides to give access to the Admin CP to the rest of the GMs (not likely as it allows a lot of accidental mucking about) then only he and myself will be able to tinker with changing the forum structure itself. I've tried putting in time to give every guild that wants a subforum one in the past, it didn't work because the work quickly got too tedious and too much of that work ended up being wasted on forums that never saw serious use. Yes, making subforums doesn't take -that- long, but it is a fairly annoying process that gets further exaggerated when it feels like most of the work going into it is simply wasted.

So, we have a few options. Either I put forth that work anyway and tear my hair out. We remove the subforums entirely. Or, we severely limit who gets them.

Could the TLE put their profile threads in other forums? No, I don't believe so. It'd clog up those forums and there is no real forum that fits perfectly with what they are attempting to do.
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#6
Oh trust me, I understand. That's how it felt when I applied for it after everyone said I should, to be the only one to post in it. It was hard enough to wait for it to come along, but once it did it didn't see any use beyond what I tried to do? It's frustrating. However, I think that's more situational than anything, in my case. What I'm saying is that it shouldn't boil down to "This guild does it right, this guild doesn't", as shown with the examples. If you're serious about this, TLE shouldn't be exempt either, their topics are -very- similar to what everyone else has, and could be easily put into the guild forums along with everything else too.

I guess what I'm getting at, is that I don't see a difference between the "Good" and the "Bad" examples, seems to me that they all could easily use just the plain old guild forum.
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#7
TLE uses their subforum for organizing their profile listings. What other guild does something similar to this?
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#8
A lot of them uses their forums to organize guild specific things such as events (which you listed as a no-no), job listings, and other things. Black Harvest has seen a lot of use in it's forums as an example.

My point is, profile listings is akin to some other aspects of a guild. Just because it's unique doesn't mean it's all together different from job postings or event listings, either way it's a lot of clutter that could be concentrated and organized in it's own subforum.

Edit: The Novalight stuff is another example. There's a lot of content that'd just clutter up the other forums, that's very specific to only that guild.
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#9
Event organization can be done in the Event Planning board. That is its purpose. These things -should- be going on that board anyway because it works well with the site calendar.

Profile lists are not events. There is nowhere to put all of that outside of a guild subforum.
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#10
The normal guild forum. As with the guild posts (Events, Rosters, Jobs, other lists), you just put "The love exchange" before it, and put it in the normal forums. Everyone know's it's a guild post. Aside from organization, which these other guilds use their forums for, I don't see a difference honestly. Whether it's profiles or not, it's all subjective. It could even really be just a guild charter, the same thing would apply---it could technically be done outside of the guild subforum just like the other things people use their forums for.
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#11
The main guild forum is for raising awareness for a specific guild. It is not there for guilds to post -anything-, it is primarily for posting guild concepts, rules, and recruitment opportunities.
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#12
So, then like... job postings and the like would also need a guild sub-forum, yeah?

Edit: Job postings aren't always about events, is what I'm getting at.
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#13
Define "job posting"?

Edit: If I'm interpreting your question correctly, then it depends on how you're seeking the job.

1. If it's to organize an event, then it's Event Planning.

2. If it's recruiting for a guild, then it's the Guild forum.

3. If it's a guild seeking work, like a merc group, then it's Personals.
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#14
http://www.conquestofthehorde.com/Thread...oticeboard

http://www.conquestofthehorde.com/Thread...sion-Board

Things like this. It reminds me a LOT of the TLE LF-anything boards, as they don't quite fit in any of the forums by the definitions you set other than guild subforums. Or things like this.

http://www.conquestofthehorde.com/Thread...t-Timeline

We could just say "Well, that's IC stuff, goes in the IC forum", but those profiles are IC too. I really think we should use those forums for guild specific organization, it really makes looking for specific topics with popular guilds much, much easier than having to scour the forums or rely solely on the search function, especially if we have to dig something up.

Edit: Wouldn't the TLE stuff fit in personals then?
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#15
As much as I liked the subforum I had for UTU (Universal Trade Union), it was simply impossible for me to motivate folks to actually post in the threads I had put up with thoughts and feedback for events and related. Perhaps something can be set up with the current forums so it doesn't require admin powers to edit/change things?

Event Planning:
- Sub-forum Guild Events (So all guilds can post specific guild events there.)

Personals
- Guild Specific Personals (Guilds seeking specific members/classes/characters)

In-Character Forum
- Guild IC posts (For specific IC guild storylines/forum RP)

And so forth. It would separate the guild things a bit from the non-guild ones, and can be done in a way to not require admin powers to do so? One can always add the current threads to the main guild post and use it as somewhat of a guild 'portal' to show people around.
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