Members: What do you feel about how things are run?

[Jasujo]

The thing is the actual upgrade didn't take the entire time. Some of it was introducing the changes to the staff and figuring out ourselves how things worked. I'd rather the staff knew what they were doing rather than just dropping them in cold. Could can you measure the time in that? We weren't sure when exactly it would be up. A lot had to be discussed. We are still undecided on several rules that will have to be implemented as it is.

We were always planning on writing up a list of all the changes, but as I mentioned, we wanted to get things up asap. Today is Father's Day in the USA and I'm sure many of us are spending time with our family. I should be spending more time with my husband atm instead of trying to deal with the forum and all that's popped up since going live, but instead I'm here because I'd like things a bit more set for the users.

Which thread are you talking about chatting? The forum down one? If people would like to express their happiness about the forum being back up, I say all the more to them. It's just one thread after all and it's not going to be posted on forever. It's the first day the forum has been up in a bit, let them have some fun. It will peter out.

[Keakealani]

Yeah, I was talking about that thread. I guess ideally a thread should be set up to discuss the downtime or something, but it doesn't seem logical to have an announcement forum be free for anyone to spam in (which actually had been going on well before the downtime, as well, and that was not just expressing happiness. To me, an announcement forum is supposed to be a way for the administrators to communicate with users about issues directly pertaining with the forums. I don't feel that someone posting "yay, it's back up" is really a communication between a staff member and the rest of the user-base, but in the mean time it makes the announcement forum look active which can make users think that an important announcement has been posted.

I'm afraid I just don't understand, is all.

Again, I am very sorry about snapping, but I was very upset that nobody had bothered to make any announcement (even saying "we're working on an FAQ, but some major changes have been/will be taking place" would be better than nothing) and I don't think it's totally irrational of me to believe that the staff could have planned to do a basic announcement/update.

I also really don't know why you couldn't keep the forum down for another day if it's such a huge holiday for the staff...it is unfair to expect people to be here if they are celebrating something with their families, but if the staff was doing so, why couldn't the forum remain down for another day?

Oh, I'm sorry, I guess I just don't really get it, but I'm sure it's because there's a lot of things you can't tell me, so I'll just shut up...that seems to be what everyone would want, anyway.

[Jasujo]

If you see spam where you think it shouldn't be, feel free to contact a mod about it. Some people think some things are fine while others have a problem with it. It's a matter of opinion and we're always ready to hear member feedback.

I'm sorry you are feeling frustrated. Just give us time and it will be worked out. Things are planned to happen and they will happen. We weren't all sure when the forum would exactly go live, so some were somewhat caught offguard. We're only human. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused, but we'll take care of it.

[Pink]

Wow! The forum looks great y'all! I really do think the mods do a great job with the forum. I do agree with the example given (the one written the right way You're great Fidds). I think it would be more appropriate if people were PM'd about mistakes made on the forums. Sometimes it's done by accident or whatever. That being said, the rules of the forum are specifically spelled out and people should read them before posting.

The only other suggestion I had happened with the revamp I was going to say that there should be a button to mark the forums read and that happened already.

Great job, again! Y'all do a wonderful job!

[TDG]

The only other suggestion I had happened with the revamp I was going to say that there should be a button to mark the forums read and that happened already.

That was always a feature It was down the bottom of the page

[Pink]

The only other suggestion I had happened with the revamp I was going to say that there should be a button to mark the forums read and that happened already.

That was always a feature It was down the bottom of the page

ugh...I feel silly

[Jasujo]

Wow! The forum looks great y'all! I really do think the mods do a great job with the forum. I do agree with the example given (the one written the right way You're great Fidds). I think it would be more appropriate if people were PM'd about mistakes made on the forums. Sometimes it's done by accident or whatever. That being said, the rules of the forum are specifically spelled out and people should read them before posting.

People are supposed to be PM'd. Sometimes other things are going on as well, though, or the mod was quickly taking care of something where they happened to be and had to leave irl, etc. I know it's not an excuse, but sometimes things happen. One thing this thread has made me think about is an updated FAQ because it hasn't been updated in forever. lol I'm not just talking about after we switched to phpbb3. I'm talking about the things that needed to be updated before the forum went down such as using the edit button, using the search feature to find moved threads when you aren't the author (who should be PM), etc. All the little things new users don't seem to know. Also, I am writing up a "Mod 101" post/thread on the mod boards. I know there are a lot of things everyone should know, but for one reason or another, I think all staff is not on the same page and I think this will help to correct that.

[Cranberry]

I'm disappointed that you're not even going to try the "ghost threads" thing (like most every other forum in the world), instead asking us to bookmark any thread we're interested in just in case it gets moved. I'm not going to bookmark every thread I follow; that's ridiculous. I do believe the "ghost threads would clutter the forum" excuse -- but only during big plots, when we have a lot of extra traffic. Let's face it, the PPT forums are not as big and busy as they used to be.

[Jasujo]

I'm disappointed that you're not even going to try the "ghost threads" thing (like most every other forum in the world), instead asking us to bookmark any thread we're interested in just in case it gets moved. I'm not going to bookmark every thread I follow; that's ridiculous. I do believe the "ghost threads would clutter the forum" excuse -- but only during big plots, when we have a lot of extra traffic. Let's face it, the PPT forums are not as big and busy as they used to be.

I'm sorry, but we are not going to have ghost threads. Not that many threads are moved to begin with. If one is, you can easily use the search feature to find it. If you posted in it, you can easily search your post history. If you are the author of the thread, you should have been PM'd when it was moved. Otherwise, a ghost thread is taking up space on a board and knocking off a useful thread to the second page that doesn't need to be. I'm sorry if that's not how it works on other forums, but that is how it's done here. As you mentioned, PPT isn't as big as some other forums, so it's not that hard to find a thread on the chance that is it moved.

[Matterbug]

This is in response to Keakealani's posts.

I understand where you're coming from, but I think a lot of it is just a misunderstanding between both sides.

On the issue of the "staff party" thing, that was pure sarcasm. There was no party or fun things going on, it was just a joking way to let staff know they could log on to test the forums to make sure there were no major bugs when the forum was open to all members.

I also have to agree with you on the lack of updates. I think that was more of a miscommunication than an evil plan to annoy the members. I personally clear out cookies often, so I had to go through the login screen each time, and I agree there was a period where an update was really needed. The staff posted about this, but I think it got misunderstood and an update was made on the main site instead of the screen members were taken to when they tried to get on the forums. Also, (I believe) admins were the only one who could update that screen, and those admins were super busy trying to fix errors and bugs at that same time. So, I am sorry that there weren't more constant updates, but please know it wasn't deliberate by any means.

On the topic of posts about the new features, that was also discussed and is being worked on as members have questions since it is hard to condense it all into one simple post. That's why threads like the questions about changes were created, and staff members are working on such a FAQ.

Hopefully that explained it a little more. I'm sorry if there were misundestandings, but the staff (especially Hunter- he deserves a hugggge amount of thanks) were working really hard on making the forums the best they could be.

[Cranberry]

I'm sorry, but we are not going to have ghost threads. Not that many threads are moved to begin with. If one is, you can easily use the search feature to find it. If you posted in it, you can easily search your post history. If you are the author of the thread, you should have been PM'd when it was moved. Otherwise, a ghost thread is taking up space on a board and knocking off a useful thread to the second page that doesn't need to be. I'm sorry if that's not how it works on other forums, but that is how it's done here. As you mentioned, PPT isn't as big as some other forums, so it's not that hard to find a thread on the chance that is it moved.

If not that many threads are moved (which is the excuse other people had against ghost threads, by the way -- "we move too many threads out of general and it'll clutter the forum"), then why is it such a big deal? Usually, the bottom threads on the first page of general haven't even been posted on in a couple days (like I said, the forum's pretty quiet lately between plots -- and general's even quieter now that there's a separate plot board), so it's not a huge loss if they're pushed to page two. But it seems you've made your decision and don't care to even try any other way, so I may as well drop it, I suppose. I don't post here much anymore, anyway; I was mostly just arguing because I know so many other people want them and are scared to speak up because... well, participating in a thread like this, where people are asked to tell the people in charge what they're doing wrong, is never really a good idea.

[Matterbug]

On the topic of ghost threads and anything else you guys may think you aren't being listened to on- I just wanted to bring up a couple of things.

I don't really think it's been made clear that the entire staff has had lengthy discussions on all the topics discussed here. We made a list of every suggestion we could find and all talked about whether we thought it should be implemented. Many of the points you guys brought up were all agreed upon by the staff and have been put into their practices.

However, on the topic of ghost threads, a majority of the staff (that is not just admins, all mods were included in the discussion) felt it was better if they were not used. That does not at all mean we don't want to listen to what the members have to say (that is not the case at all!). It just means as a group we came to a decision. Did all staff feel that way? No, but the majority did, and that is how decisions have to be fairly made on a staff like this.

So while you may not at all agree with the decision, please just be respectful and realize there is no malicious intent whatsoever with these decisions. The staff does work hard to try and make PPT as best as they possibly can. Are you free to disagree with the decisions? Of course, that's your right. But please do it in a respectful manner and do not try to attack staff or be rude about it. We're doing the best we can, please realize that.

So, all in all, I just wanted to point out that a lot of time went into deciding this issue (and many others) and the entire staff is all ears for any other sugestions or questions you guys may have!

[Ski]

First off, as a PPT member for four years, I'm pretty confident that I know when the staff is doing things right, and I can say that they are. I think my only issue is that of the lack of communication during updates, but that's been explained. =)

(I suppose it helps that I haven't had to get into a scuffle with staff. )

[Cranberry]

Moving on, then... I just thought of something else that annoys me: People changing the color and/or size of the font in their posts (I don't mean using color to call attention to an important paragraph of rules in a plot spilt thread or something like that; I mean huge posts all in bolded red text or whatever). The Neocolours forums don't allow that (and I don't think IDB does, either, though I've never run into anyone doing it), and I've always loved that rule. I like how the Neoboards allow me to turn crazy font formatting off so everything's normal-looking; is there any way I can do that here?

[Rachel]

Moving on, then... I just thought of something else that annoys me: People changing the color and/or size of the font in their posts (I don't mean using color to call attention to an important paragraph of rules in a plot spilt thread or something like that; I mean huge posts all in bolded red text or whatever). The Neocolours forums don't allow that (and I don't think IDB does, either, though I've never run into anyone doing it), and I've always loved that rule. I like how the Neoboards allow me to turn crazy font formatting off so everything's normal-looking; is there any way I can do that here?

I completely agree with you Cranberry - i find it very annoying. When used correctly it is nice to have though, like to emphasise happy birthday, or if you have a long post to hilight important things (like you mentioned the plot thread). I think it is entirely unnecessary to colour the whole post... and dont even get me started on gradient colouring...!