What Can Be Done to Improve PokeBeach Forums?

What I am implying is that you should do work first, and it is quite possible to apply for Contributors with no real work done. I mean really, the system should be revamped. First you have to do a amount of work, then get the userbar. You shouldn't apply to get a position. It is similar to being awarded Moderator. You get it through hard work, not applying. This encourages work even more, as it makes the potential of one more prestigious, which it is. On Smogon, do you know how much work somebody must do to even be considered for Contributor? Yeah, a lot of work.
 
You're acting like everyone who applies gets in. If someone applies who hasn't shown any drive towards helping progress the site then they probably aren't going to get picked. You say they should be helping out first? Well that's the stuff that is looked for when picking contributors. The system you want is already in place.

And why are you mentioning Smogon?
 
It's not like your application guarantees you the usergroup. Obviously you aren't going to get added if you haven't contributed to the smod's standards.

Your suggested revamp is the exact way it is. The application is a way of saying "I'm interested!", but it has no effect on whether or not you join the group.
 
Part of the reason we do this is to let interested people come to us about a position they want to work in. In the past, surprising people with a promotion or approaching people about a job often ended up with a less than desirable staff selection or someone who didn't last long. With applications, people need to show us more about who they are, what they do/have done, and what they want to do before we consider adding them to the group. I believe this approach already has us headed in a positive direction. More genuinely concerned people have come forward recently and told us their ideas for the forums.

On the subject of Smogon, while I respect the systems they have in place, not everything that works for them will work for us. PokeBeach is an entirely different environment.
 
I have a small suggestion: When someone adds you to their buddy list, that person gets notified of that action.
 
Buddy lists are kind of useless. The only thing that's similar that could be useful is to make custom lists. Make a list of people for a tournament or forum game, and enter *Group Name Here* to send a PM to all the people in your group. I'm not sure if there's a plug-in for that though.
 
Dark Giratina said:
I have a small suggestion: When someone adds you to their buddy list, that person gets notified of that action.
Click to expand...

This just makes you sound desperate for friends.
 
Make a list of people for a tournament or forum game, and enter *Group Name Here* to send a PM to all the people in your group. I'm not sure if there's a plug-in for that though.
Click to expand...

Can only do that to all members of a particular usergroup. It requires Admin CP access.
 
Dark Giratina said:
I have a small suggestion: When someone adds you to their buddy list, that person gets notified of that action.
Click to expand...
All the pestering I would get :p

I guess it's not a bad idea, but I don't think it's really necessary either. You could always pop in on the person's wall and tell them yourself...plus, it isn't that hard to look at someone else's friend list, right?
 
MODS ARE GREAT, WEBSITE FEEDBACK FORUM IS USEFUL

this is revival but idgaf

I dunno if the point of my last three threads just went over everybody's head or if I was so sarcastic that I didn't deserve a response, but here goes.

The rule against "favorite" threads does not work. It is not universal.

Let's compare two threads.

This was created by bacon almost two years. It was locked immediately pretty much only because the word "favorite" was used in the OP. Despite several links with detailed, multi-sentence explanations, "favorite" threads are not allowed.

This thread is currently open after more than 60 replies. The OP was a poorly worded list with no explanations. However, what it also lacked was the word "favorite." Thus, it continues to this day, despite the large majority of posts saying "I like these things."

Now, let's go to the three threads I posted recently.

wow!! celebrity crushez!!! is clearly sarcastic and shallow. The lone reply it got prior to it being locked was not of exceptional quality. However, post-lock, Vulpix Yolk voiced support for the thread based on that it would be good for discussion.

WHY you like celebrities is also clearly satiric, poking fun at the idea that the first thread was only locked because the posts were poorly written and shallow. It got four replies, three of which were in-depth, featuring images and full-sentence explanations behind them (although I was admittedly having a bit too much fun with mine). As I was replying to Jay's post to share my take on his post, the thread was locked. If it was given more time, a discussion would have come of it.

What activities do you LOOOVE? <3 is the most sarcastic of the three, literally copying and pasting the article cited above, and pointing out that it had been left open despite the extremely low quality of the average post.

Basically, the key thing here is that threads should not be judged based on their premise, but their content. All favorite threads are not created equal. I see the idea behind the "favorite" rule, because, as evidenced by "What activities do you LOOOVE? <3," a thread based around posting lists will not elicit much actual discussion. However, even if a thread is based around around that, it shouldn't matter as long as there is actual discussion going on. One to four posts is not enough space to see if an actual discussion will take place.

TL;DR- Give a favorite thread a little bit of time to see where it goes. If it doesn't create discussion, locking it is appropriate. However, if it does, there is no problem, no matter the title or main idea of the thread.

EDIT:
you guys deleted a part of my argument .__.

EDIT 2:
you guys deleted.
all.
of my arguments -__-
 
Yeah, I do agree with 6-D to an extent. I think it might be more beneficial for mods to try to salvage questionable threads first by steering them in a different direction, rather than not giving them a chance and locking them on sight. Give a thread a chance to grow, if it starts to suck then try to save it, if it still sucks then kaboom. "Favourite" seems to be a buzzword that rubs people the wrong way, I guess.
 
6-Dimension said:
MODS ARE GREAT, WEBSITE FEEDBACK FORUM IS USEFUL

this is revival but idgaf

I dunno if the point of my last three threads just went over everybody's head or if I was so sarcastic that I didn't deserve a response, but here goes.

The rule against "favorite" threads does not work. It is not universal.

Let's compare two threads.

This was created by bacon almost two years. It was locked immediately pretty much only because the word "favorite" was used in the OP. Despite several links with detailed, multi-sentence explanations, "favorite" threads are not allowed.

This thread is currently open after more than 60 replies. The OP was a poorly worded list with no explanations. However, what it also lacked was the word "favorite." Thus, it continues to this day, despite the large majority of posts saying "I like these things."

Now, let's go to the three threads I posted recently.

wow!! celebrity crushez!!! is clearly sarcastic and shallow. The lone reply it got prior to it being locked was not of exceptional quality. However, post-lock, Vulpix Yolk voiced support for the thread based on that it would be good for discussion.

WHY you like celebrities is also clearly satiric, poking fun at the idea that the first thread was only locked because the posts were poorly written and shallow. It got four replies, three of which were in-depth, featuring images and full-sentence explanations behind them (although I was admittedly having a bit too much fun with mine). As I was replying to Jay's post to share my take on his post, the thread was locked. If it was given more time, a discussion would have come of it.

What activities do you LOOOVE? <3 is the most sarcastic of the three, literally copying and pasting the article cited above, and pointing out that it had been left open despite the extremely low quality of the average post.

Basically, the key thing here is that threads should not be judged based on their premise, but their content. All favorite threads are not created equal. I see the idea behind the "favorite" rule, because, as evidenced by "What activities do you LOOOVE? <3," a thread based around posting lists will not elicit much actual discussion. However, even if a thread is based around around that, it shouldn't matter as long as there is actual discussion going on. One to four posts is not enough space to see if an actual discussion will take place.

TL;DR- Give a favorite thread a little bit of time to see where it goes. If it doesn't create discussion, locking it is appropriate. However, if it does, there is no problem, no matter the title or main idea of the thread.

EDIT:
you guys deleted a part of my argument .__.
Click to expand...
How do you expect to be taken seriously if you're making threads that you know are bad and going to get locked? Like bacon said, I do agree with you to an extent. I'm sure that there have been many threads that had potential for decent discussion but were not given a chance past the first post. But really, if you're asking for a portion of the rules to be changed for the better of the forums, don't you think you could have taken a different and better approach. Maybe it's just me.
 
Afro-G said:
How do you expect to be taken seriously if you're making threads that you know are bad and going to get locked? Like bacon said, I do agree with you to an extent. I'm sure that there have been many threads that had potential for decent discussion but were not given a chance past the first post. But really, if you're asking for a portion of the rules to be changed for the better of the forums, don't you think you could have taken a different and better approach. Maybe it's just me.
Click to expand...
First things first, deleting/unapproving threads? Come on, guys.

I'm pretty sure he makes the thread to simply prove a point. Admittedly, it wasn't the best way around it, but still. I'm also on the bacon boat to some extent (who agrees with 6-D to some extent... I guess I agree with 6-D to a lesser extent); there are clearly topics that haven been proven to be truly unable to evolve into a meaningful discussion. One doesn't have to look farther than that Gen 5 forum when people were speculating, which got so bad that I had to make a public announcement to stop cancer any other new member from ever trying to make fake designs in a forum that shouldn't have any.

Of course, there's a slippery slope here; where does the line belong? Clearly, not all Favorite threads have the potential for a nice discussion, but given two thoughtful members in a thread, even an apparently moot topic could result in a nice conversation of ideas.
 
Zyflair said:
Clearly, not all Favorite threads have the potential for a nice discussion, but given two thoughtful members in a thread, even an apparently moot topic could result in a nice conversation of ideas.
Click to expand...

Isn't the biggest part of the problem, the members who post? They should be writing sentences, instead of just a few words.


Afro-G said:
How do you expect to be taken seriously if you're making threads that you know are bad and going to get locked? Like bacon said, I do agree with you to an extent. I'm sure that there have been many threads that had potential for decent discussion but were not given a chance past the first post. But really, if you're asking for a portion of the rules to be changed for the better of the forums, don't you think you could have taken a different and better approach. Maybe it's just me.
Click to expand...

I see your point.

6-Dimension, did you talk to a mod before posting? Can't we ask them what they are looking for in a thread? Get ideas on how to make it more what they are looking for?
 
Familiar said:
Isn't the biggest part of the problem, the members who post? They should be writing sentences, instead of just a few words.
Click to expand...
Obviously. If all the members behaved, we wouldn't need moderators. But since that's not reality, we have to see threads on a case-by-case basis. If members react positively there, then why lock it?
 
Ideally, we want all threads to foster good discussion.

When people start a favorites thread and find it locked because it doesn't promote discussion, they will sometimes remake their thread and edit to ask why people's favorite X is Y, like that's a magic cure-all for sucky threads (it isn't).

The problem with favorites threads is that more often than not they don't have the potential for good discussion. Even if you have 20 people all post their favorite, say, Pokemon, and why that is, that's all it is - a list of people's favorite pokemon (and why).

You might find a couple people who like the same Pokemon you do and you could talk about it with them, but that's better suited for PMs or profile comments, not a whole thread.

I have an idea about that may appease everyone but I'm gonna run it by the other mods first.
 
> Make a forum where people can talk about stupid things like celebrity crushes
> Get it spammed, trolled, and dismissed within 24 hours of its creation

See if I ever do anything for you guys again
 
That isn't the solution that was wanted...

It is a stupid idea, and you probably should have at least talked it over before creating it. NOBODY wants it, and it will just get abused.

If you want a solution, advertise the chat and make it more accessible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top