Forum Reorganization
#1
Lok'Tar!

With the focus of CotH shifting to encompass a presence in various game mediums, we will need to reorganize the forums to accommodate!  Currently the forum structure (of fairly active forums/subforums) is something like the following:

- Main
--- GenDisc
----- Absences
----- Feedback Requests
----- Lore
--- Intros (and it's related subforums)
--- GM Req/Sug
----- Mentor Apps
----- FH Apps
--- Bug Reports
--- Tech Support
- RP
--- Profiles (and allllll it's subforums)
--- Workshop
--- IC Forum
--- Event Planning
--- Storylines
--- Guilds
- Other
--- O/T
----- Art Gallery
----- Literary Library
----- Other Games
--- Downloads

Whew, there's actually a lot of forums.  Obviously, going into several games, we'll probably need to provide each game or server with its own copy of the RP forum (and most of its subforums, if appropriate).  We'll probably also be able to move the Lore subforum into whatever the Warcraft forum will be.

So!  This is actually going to be a somewhat large endeavor.  Obviously, not everyone is going to be interested in every category/game that pops up.  However, once we can get a bit organized, it may be ideal to consider how we want to welcome new members of the community (whether they find us via CotH members in a particular game or simply still via web searches).  Do we wish to retain the current Intro process?  Do we still want to require an intro but not require approval (like we used to be long ago), somewhat like a soft introduction?  I do intend on retaining our general ruleset for the community, as I believe it has helped restrict caustic behavior.  Naturally, we'll need to put forth extra effort in being welcoming, but we shouldn't have to worry so much about the whole clique thing (aside from folks focused on a single particular game, but even in that case I would hope they would welcome any new folks that may wish to join them in playing said particular game).  Note that this will potentially help interest folks with similar mindsets (e.g., an interest in RP), even from other WoW RP communities (was going to put other WoW RP servers, but that's... not quite applicable anymore -_-).

Thoughts and comments?
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#2
Well, what you just explained seems like the best and most interesting way to go about this. We'll remain CotH, but we will fan out to other games.. So I think there should be a main topic called "Games" and under it will be the various games we play. In there we'd maybe have a lore subforum? No idea!


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#3
I think the forum structure of the introduction approval system is fine as it is, maybe with less of a template and more of just a 'give us a few sentences or a paragraph about who you are' in order to get approved. Also, despite how much I like the orcish theme behind it, I think it's time we say goodbye to the peon usergroup and just autogrunt people. In the end the rights of usergroups can be determined on a case by case basis via approval by higher ups. Staff members should be able to use their discretion in approving a player's character or them doing something with a character. In the end the peon system is about a member being required to do this and that in order to gain privileges as a member of the community, but with the end of the server there are less privileges left. 

Once my tests are over today I'll give more suggestions on how the forum can be reorganized. 
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#4
Keep the introduction, but keep it soft. It's a reasonable barrier to joining the community that requires minimal effort, serves as a way for existing members to recognize their arrival, and minimizes the amount of bots on the forums.

We absolutely should keep the communication and behavior guidelines across every incarnation of Conquest of the Horde. This ensures a standard of conduct that will allow members to know, at the very least, how to behave when interacting with others.

Beyond that, leave it to the shards/clients to decide. Some may require a higher writing skill than others, or maybe rules specific to that mode of role play.

To facilitate this, there should be a section of the forums dedicated to each incarnation. The rules unique to each one should be posted, as well as instructions for joining. There should be a basic structure to each forums (area for game discussion, one for general topics, another for support, and so on), but they should also cater to the needs of that group.

Those clients/shards should have staff members familiar with both the game and with the particular rules of that subcommunity. They'll be the ones enforcing rules in that environment, which negates the need of having every staff member being familiar with everything.

As before, there should be staff members who strictly enforce the forums. They'll likely stick predominately to enforcing behavior rules, but they should also know the basics of each subcommunity, if only to direct people to where to get the appropriate information.

The wiki will likely need an organizational overhaul. I'll have to mull over that. However, each subcommunity could be given the option for using the wiki for characters, events, timelines, and the like. At the very least, rules and staff members should be posted and kept up to date.

Edit: Addendum. There should be forums groups for each subcommunity to which people can belong. They may need different structures or permissions based upon the needs of that culture.
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#5
Is there a way for us to "Tag" posts, Kretol?

Like a way for us to put a tag system on the forums so that we could just organize it that way?
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#6
I like the idea of a tag system, but it should be used in addition to restructuring the site. Using it instead of a restructure makes you dependent on people using the same tag consistently (and spelled the same way), and is a barrier to people who are unfamiliar with tag-based system who would prefer to scan a specific area of the forums.

You'd have to consistently teach and remind people to use the appropriate tag(s), or rely on staff to go back and add them after the fact.
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#7
Our template will have to definitely be more generalized. Perhaps change most of the WoW related questions to more RP related. Stuff like:
  • Preferred setting
  • Preferred race
  • Reason for interest in RP
  • What about this community interests them
Of course we'll also have to do some little fixes with the forums themselves following this update. I noticed the quick reply doesn't work. At least for me. Usually tells me there's no text. Jerk.
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#8
Welp, Piroska beat me to a lot of what I was going to say. The forums could definitely be split up into the various outlets the community has spread to, but you might want to get a census going regarding how many people are playing what in order to know whether or not it's worth making an entire forum for that particular game. If anything, Warcraft stuff that exists already should be combined to one large forum, primarily the 'main' and 'roleplay' sections. Important stuff will likely need to be sorted out on its own considering it has a number of OOC information alongside IC warcraft related information. Two good examples that might happen are the communities of Guild Wars 2 and an MUD if it's made specifically for us. They could get their own profiling process, guilds/story/RP forums, etc. GMs could be split up into various colors again for authority in specific communities but not others, or an easier idea is to create a few new badges and give them to GMs to signify authority in that subcommunity. 

OR

Building on what Rensin is suggesting, we incorporate new games into existing subforums with the use of tags created specifically for each game. In my opinion, this would be a good place to start before going ahead and making entire forums for each subcommunity. If it comes to that, we'll have those handy tags when it comes the time to actually make those forums and move/organize/sticky tagged threads into them. And maybe apply badges to GMs in this one too. Personally, this is the approach I want to campaign for. It's more organized and streamlined. 
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#9
WAIT WHAT HAPPENED TO FORUM GOLD WHO SNUCK INTO MY ROOM WITH 30,000 GOLD?
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#10
Just putting a post here to note I have quite a few thoughts on how we could do this, but I'll post them tomorrow. *twitches*
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#11
(02-02-2015, 11:56 AM)Geoni Wrote: Welp, Piroska beat me to a lot of what I was going to say. The forums could definitely be split up into the various outlets the community has spread to, but you might want to get a census going regarding how many people are playing what in order to know whether or not it's worth making an entire forum for that particular game. If anything, Warcraft stuff that exists already should be combined to one large forum, primarily the 'main' and 'roleplay' sections. Important stuff will likely need to be sorted out on its own considering it has a number of OOC information alongside IC warcraft related information. Two good examples that might happen are the communities of Guild Wars 2 and an MUD if it's made specifically for us. They could get their own profiling process, guilds/story/RP forums, etc. GMs could be split up into various colors again for authority in specific communities but not others, or an easier idea is to create a few new badges and give them to GMs to signify authority in that subcommunity. 

OR

Building on what Rensin is suggesting, we incorporate new games into existing subforums with the use of tags created specifically for each game. In my opinion, this would be a good place to start before going ahead and making entire forums for each subcommunity. If it comes to that, we'll have those handy tags when it comes the time to actually make those forums and move/organize/sticky tagged threads into them. And maybe apply badges to GMs in this one too. Personally, this is the approach I want to campaign for. It's more organized and streamlined. 

We can ab(use) the wiki for this too.  Glorious part about that is you can look up stuff like profiles and things with tags and it'll show every one that has that tag.

Like let's say "Guild wars 2" became a tag--- you could pull up every profile/guild tagged with it.
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#12
(02-02-2015, 12:43 PM)Harmonic Wrote: We can ab(use) the wiki for this too.  Glorious part about that is you can look up stuff like profiles and things with tags and it'll show every one that has that tag.

Like let's say "Guild wars 2" became a tag--- you could pull up every profile/guild tagged with it.

These are the kinds of things that make my eye twitch! There will be no wiki abusing while I'm around.

That said, I'll reiterate my concerns with proper tagging. Even though it's a standard to make sure that every profile gets tagged (character, race, class), that isn't always done and not always consistently -- and it's far less prevalent in non-character articles. I know because I regularly hit the uncategorized pages special page when I find myself with spare bandwidth and little initiative to do something bigger. I've also found misspelled categories when going through the categories special page, because they tend to have only one or two members (for example, night Elf category is not the same as night elf category).

I like the idea of a tagging system, but I think that you're expecting behavior that may be contrary to user experience which could ultimately impede people's efforts to find pertinent information. A system that combines the two will allow people to participate as they see fit while aiding users who are unfamiliar with/unwilling to adopt to a tagging system to use the website. I don't think we can rely on it entirely or even as the sole means of organization on the site.

Not to mention that Tapatalk doesn't appear to utilize a tagging system. I can easily see updates in specific subforums and drill down to that level, but I don't think that a tagging system would be supported. Kret should be able to see how many people are using the app to access the site and determine how many people would be impacted by relying on just tags alone.

Random aside: MyBB tag system mod. It's outdated, but it's the only one that I could find that wasn't premium or referred to tagging individual members within a post! We could probably adapt that in some way.
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#13
I like it! I'd only have one suggestion;

Quote:-RP
-- Guild Wars 2
--- Profiles
--- Workshop
--- IC Forum
--- Event Planning
--- Storylines
--- Guilds
-- Champions Online
--- Profiles
--- Workshop
--- IC Forum
--- Event Planning
--- Storylines
--- Guilds

We could perhaps create new subforums in a similar way to how we dole out guild subforums, and such.
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#14
As a note, I did find a Tagging system for MyBB 1.8. We can give this a try!

Edit: It seems that it automatically tags older posts. So, we're seeing tags with "a" and "the" and whatnot (since it seem to pull from the topic title).
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#15
How about:

Section header: RP
Subsection: Guild Wars 2
- Profiles
[Nested] Workshop
- IC Forum
- Storylines
[Nested] Event Planning
[Nested] Guilds

That might cut down on forum clutter while keeping all the sections.
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