Admin Only Icons and VIP Colors

I loathe to criticise the MS. But if an actual reason isn't posted in this thread that's a disgrace.

 

Personally, I wouldn't care if ex-administration got whatever colours they wanted. They put in the time and effort to keep this site going, I don't see a problem with rewarding that work and effort by allowing them to retain colours. Just as long as they kept their title of "Ex-Whatever".

Honestly, if a user recognizes the colours, but doesn't see the title right underneath it, than whatever complaint they'd had probably wouldn't be to much of a smart argument anyway.

Seriously, a good amount of ex-staff don't even use the red they are alloted to have, so I don't think it would neccesarily be an oversaturation of confusion.

 

Seeing farraday in blue would make my head explode?

That's my reason in any case. I'll leave it to an Admin to explain the real rationale if they wish, but personally my answer would be "Standardization of this nature is more professional, something to which the staff of the largest Star Wars messageboard should be."

Yes, we're volunteers. But that doesn't mean we should stop putting our best foot forward when we stop volunteering.

 

ditto, I'll leave it for an admin to explain

 

Do current mods look unprofessional?

Standardisation makes sense, but only if it's a flat rule for everyone with colours. And it's not, is it?

 

Then former-mods who are NOT VIPs should not have editable usernames at all, since they are just regular users, no?

If it's the wish of the administration and the owner to reward those people who HAVE volunteered their time and yet wish those people to be standardized in a professional manner, why is that such a heinous crime against humanity? Even if there were no other reason than "the owner said so" (as inviolate a rule as one can find here) or even "the head admin said so" (also as good as gold), what would be the horrible issue?

 

???? Former mods who are not VIPs (like me) don't have editable usernames at all. I'm not sue what you mean there.

If it is a case of "so-and-so said so" then depressingly that's that. I'm certainly not going to cause a Comms stink for the sake of it. It's just that I would appreciate an explanation beyond that, because standardisation for ex-mods only seems so very strange. It feels like "well you have to be the same just... because". But if "because" is all there is... all I can do is lower my estimation of whoever made that decision a little bit and move on.

 

You really think Phillip Wise would bother himself with such a small and unimportant issue?

If he didn't personally get involved(I.E. interact with the entire staff) during "Wisegate", I doubt he gives a flying **** about something this minor.

 

I can hear the faint siren of the Admin Action Response Team in the distance.

 

Thanks for the segueway, Malkie.

I wasn't around, but reading up (as Sape will be able to explain more when he returns), Vertical and the MS enacted this because as mods retired and time went on the color policy of ex-mods on the JC side changed and there was a lot of different colors, backgrounds, etc out there floating around as people left. If the colors changed constantly there would be confusion (there's that word again ) and with the number of VIP/ex-mod/staff that are out there, it could get inconsistant pretty fast, and has in the past. It's just something to keep things a little more consistant. Red is the default IGN VIP color, it can always be reset to that with minimal fuss. Past that you have to log into someone's account to change their colors as Vertical and others had to do then. Some would say there's no need if they're gone, but there could be another color enacted by FF or the JC. What if six or seven decided they were going to take blue? That being a city rep's color, you can see where people would start to raise an eyebrow. So do we say, okay you can have any color BUT blue, and green, etc. If it's a system color, you really can't go wrong.

 

Would it not be possible to let them chose their colours once, and leave it at that? Or, do they have to have access to the panel that changes them, just to retain them?

 

They have access to the admin panel the whole time they are a VIP. But if they leave never to return, which was one of the original problems, someone had to go in and change them from blue or green, which were colors being used at the time (and still are) for something else. With red, all any manager has to do is go reset them, meaning demote them then repromote them and their colors go back to red. There's no logging in on their account or anything like that.

 

All VIPs, including game hosts like myself, have access to the full color-changing panel, we could change our colors to anything we wanted, but we are only allowed the default red. By making someone a VIP, you give them access to the color-changing panel. As for this issue, I think former mods/managers/admins should stay the default red. If they all had full colors, it could get difficult for a casual user to differentiate them from a moderator. True, they could verify their status by clicking on their profile or reading their title but it could still get confusing. I think former mods/managers/admins definitely deserve colors, but they shouldn?t have full colors, just the VIP red.




EDIT:

From roo's post it seems like it's just easier to give them red so I think it's fine the way it is.

 

I don't think we give these 'casual' users enough credit. Given they've managed to log onto the internet, created a username, *and* remembered their password then they can't be a complete idiot - right?

um, wait, what am I saying ?????

 

You're saying that if they aren't complete idiots, the colours won't overshadow the title that is directly underneath it.

At least that's what I took from what you said.

 

I don't think the point is the titles as much as the consistency, and the ease that the board color of red gives in keeping it consistant. And there are colors that we'd ask to not be used, like blue and green. Then we've added a loophole, if someone did use it... we'd.....reset to red.

 

But what if they registered accidentally and then their computer remembers passwords for them?

 

Titles are a whole different ball of wax. It's not like they are always what they are supposed to be, either. If someone was a different color than red, hopefully their title would reflect that they were an ex-RSA, even if they were also a mod. Like epic, who has both in his title.

 

Because of your VIP red status and your icon I sometimes think it's KW posting - usually it's not until I've finished reading your post that I realise it's not KW ! I need to pay more attention!

 

if consistency is the ideal, maybe all moderators should have the same color scheme. that would be very standardized, consistent and easy to recognize. no confusion or anything of the sort.

 

For mine, I think uniformity between the JC and FF should be something sought after.
So whether that means making ex-RSA's stick with VIP red, or allowing ex-mods to choose a block colour....I figure it should be one or the other across the boards and not one each way.

 

i must say that i think i am much cooler than all of you ex mods just because i so happened to be an ex RSA also.



but yeah i think it would be nice for all ex mods to not be standardised red. as someone else said, if there is apparent confusion in having multiple colours for ex mods then surely the same confusion could apply to mods?

why not have standardised red for mods, standardised pink for ex mods, blue for RSA's, green for slackers, etc?

in conclusion i think i am much cooler than ex mods because i can be black or pink. rock n roll, baby.

 

Our obvious good looks must only add to the confusion.

Red seems to be the easiest option board-wise so that would get my vote. Having all former staff with a single uniform color would be fine with me.

 

A singularly good idea! How do you do it? Seriously, this is where I stand. I'd just like us to be the same on the color policy, one way or the other. I will say administratively, the red is a lot less hassle.

The difference between ex-mods and mods and why mods NEED different colors is to tell each of us apart individually. There's a difference between the two and their responsibilities (or lack of them).

 

Yeah but you have to put "RSA" in your title, which sucks way more than the block colour adds.