Some Recommendations

First of all, Debo: an excellent, well thought-out post. A great example of what this forum is for. Now, I'm not going to agree with all of your points just because you took the time to think them through and write them up well, but I do appreciate the effort, and obviously can see that there is a genuine concern for the boards behind all of this. It's good to see. Refreshing, even. Now, on to your points. I'm going to splice your comments to just include the 'meat' so it'll be easier and shorter to read.

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[color=blue]1) More moderators... We need motivated mods that care... Also, some of the current mods should be more active and should log in more frequently. Too often there's only one mod online for the YJCC -- not good.[/color][hr][/blockquote]Here is a list of all of the folks who currently have the technical ability to moderate the forums:

Administrators:

Britany - TFN Staff Administrator
Commander Antilles - Jedi Council Administrator. Also Collecting, Classic Trilogy, and UK RSA
Hama-Ryu Kinnebi - FanForce Administrator
HongKongFu-y - TFN Technical Administrator; TFN Staff, Digital
Joshua Griffin - TFN Staff Administrator
NathanDahlin - Jedi Council Administrator.
Scott - TFN Staff Administrator
spell - TFN Staff Administrator
Vertical - Jedi Council Administrator.
zerosleep - Snowboard Programmer

Managers:

Alpha Wolf - UK RSA
Azeem - TFN Staff; FanFilms
Bobafemme - Pacific Islands and co-Midwest RSA
Carter-TFN - TFN Staff
cbjedi - TPM and NSA moderator
DaftMaul - FanFilms
DarthAttorney - EU Community and RPG
Darth Ludicrous - Literature
Elan-Rai - Northwest USA RSA & FanForce General Support
epic - ALL
General Madine's Hairpiece - YJCC
IronParrot - JC/PSA Moderator
Jasman - AOTC Spoilers Allowed/No Spoilers Allowed
Kadue - EU Forums
Kessel Runner - Jedi Council Community and The Senate Floor r
Lord Bane - The Senate Floor, Jedi Council Community and EU Community
MaxVeers - FanFilms
Minacia Brightstar - South USA RSA
Missninfan - ALL
Mr. P - Prequels - No Spoilers Allowed
MysterySith - FanForce FanForce Global Support team member.
Obi Anne - Nordic Countries RSA
Padme Bra - AOTC, Episode III SA
Rox - Northeast USA RSA
Shara_82 - Australian/New Zealand RSA
Son of the Suns - AOTC, Collecting, Music, Your JC Community
stinrab - ALL
Talon Squad Leader - JCC and FanFiction
The Gatherer - Literature
YoungJediNiagara - English Speaking Canadian RSA

Moderators:

Bacabachaui - Games: CCG and TCG
BoB - ALL
Darth Dark Helmet - Communications
DarthSapient - PSA
Darth Sebious - TFN Staff
farraday - Your JC Community
Gandolf the Grey - Lit Forum
gandolfthegrey@hotmail.com
GriffZ - AOTC, Episode III SA
jedimasterED - Literature
jp-30 - Games
Julie - FanFiction
Liz Skywalker - Jedi Council Community
Lobot_Omy - PSA
Lord_Rive - FanFilms
Lord Gita - Costuming
Mace Windy - AOTC, Episode III NS
Mar17swgirl - AOTC, Episode III SA, Music and Misc
Morgaine - German-speaking RSA
Mr.Neck or Yarael Poof - Your JC Community
Oakessteve - NSA and TPM
Obey Wann - Southwest USA RSA
Red84 - TFN Staff; CCG
Sebulba-X - Celebration 2 and co-Midwest RSA
Sturm Antilles - Lit Forum
Uilmuteiz - French Speaking Canadian RSA

That's 66 people with the ability to moderate the boards. Now, I realize that not all of these people have the responsibility of moderating the boards, and some of them are infrequently seen. However, I'd say at [i]least[/i] half of these folks actively contribute and moderate the forums. So, with ~33 active moderators, personally, I feel we're fairly well-covered. Also, 3 new moderators were just promoted to help out with the forums that the staff deemd in most need of more help - JCC, AOTC, and the Episode III forums.

While I can understand the reaction most people have of "if it's getting unruly, just add more mods", having been a mod for quite some time now, I can tell you, it's not quite as simple as that. More mods, despite popular belief, does not

 

Well, I guess I covered it,then.

Vertical

 

Like jelly on toast. Good job.

 

And a few posts back WSAENOTSOCK hit the nail on the head regarding Debo's ideas on the Games Forum, and why they wouldn't be a good idea to implement.

Personally I have no problem with the occasional Computer Games thread that may start up in YJCC but I understand why the YJCC mods would prefer to have those people directed to the Games Forum. And any new traffic that comes to the Games Forum with intelligent questions and/or discussion ideas is most welcome. Signal/noise ratio & all that.

 

Excellent replies all; Vertical.

I'll probably reply tonight, but I don't want to do it in between other things. It takes some time to do it -- especially because it's so much -- so hopefully you'll forgive me the waiting.

EDIT: And my first post wasn't exactly written overnight; in this thread I discussed some things with NathanDahlin, among others.

Besides that it takes some extra time because I have to do it in English.

 

I'm sorry, everyone, I didn't have time to read all your replies. But here is my take. Some of your ideas are excellent, Debo, and I agree with most of them, except-


3- Well, I am not sure what the reason for this is- are socks taking up server space or something? Because I am totally down with conserving server space. But if not, why not let people have their fun? Of course, any offensive socks should be banned, but besides that, why ruin the fun?

3a- What the heck is the point of that? I probably only post about 3 or less threads a week, but what if I wanted to post an extra cause I had an interesting insight, or needed advice or something? Would I be banned for that? Why?

And I have been banned in the past, so I can only post 1 thread a week? Ok, why? This is really quite offensive. Hundreds of JCers have been banned before- some for good reasons, and some not. Some of my bans were for good reasons, but tyhe point of being banned is you are warned that you are acting liek a jerk. Not that you are blacklisted for the rest of your life. That's what *perm* bans are for.

3b1- Huh? Merge the Senate and the JCC? Lol, the point of the Senate was (as I think has been rpeviously stated) was so people that wanted to discuss delicate matters could, while people that are offended by it can avoid it.

3c- I don't think Games should be moved. games has been one of the few forums that hasn't been shuffled around since I arrived, and I kinda got my start there, so it would be sad to see it move

But moving collecting back into EU(I didn't know it had gone to Fan activities?) is a good idea. See, Fan Activities I always thought was where you coudl showcase things YOU created (Fan Art, Fan Fic, etc) and EU was the discussion of all things beyond the movies.

5- Ok, this sounds a bit...I dunno, childish and dangerously competitive. I already see enough competition on the JC, without having flame wars started over "MY thread was rewarded and yours wasn't! You are an idiot"


And finally- JP, you have been a blessing to Games. I don't know what we would do without you! (just thought I'd add that, to let ya know not everyone in Games dislikes you cause you care!)

 

Three treads a week? It seems like you are prohibiting the freedom of speech. No one is going to silence me by three threads a week. Blah. I want my freedom of speech gosh darn it. Where did you come up with this idea?

 

2b) After the threads have been transported: up them regularly, like Silmarillion used to do with her excellent "Welcome New Users" thread at the Attack of the Clones forum.

I've been wondering, would it be possible to incorporate the "Line-by-Line" threads into the informational threads (references, indicies, welcome, etc.)? The LbLs and the social threads always seem to be on top because they get some much activity (before they were removed that is). The important threads usually get lost a few pages down until someone just UPs it (points at DarthScully). By combining the informational threads and the "fun" threds (although I don't understand their appeal), we could let people have their social threads while keeping the important ones up top.

 

That could be one of the more brilliant ideas I've ever heard.

Vertical

 

Ahhh, the important information would get lost due to the sheer volume of posts in the social (and LbL) threads.

 

Not really. Because all of the info in thses threads are in the first post.

We have just found one of the most brilliant members of the boards.

Now get on that world peace/end hunger thing.

Erik

 

Hmm, so its a sort of Info in the first post, and then carry on your business?

Would that require mods to cull the old threads and start from scratch, or just edit the current threads?

The titles would also be long...."This bit of info regarding that, AND Blah Blah Blah Line By Line"

Also, with LbLs and DFs and whatnot, people usually just skip to the latest page, not go through from scratch.

We would also need to keep a list of what info is where, and keep that up at the top of the page...incorporate that too?

I guess it IS a way to keep the info up, but wont help people to read them.

It does have the advantage of using the snowboards glitch which puts the original post at the top of a page, when you access that page straight from the forum, rather than reading through each individual page.

 

Why thank you Vert and Erik You two just made my day. I've been debating the last couple of days of whether I should recommend this or not....glad I did!

Ahhh, the important information would get lost due to the sheer volume of posts in the social (and LbL) threads

As Erik said, not really. The title of the thread would be the same (something informative), but those "in-the-know" would know what else is going one inside the thread
Some newbie shows up, sees "Welcome to the forums" and notices it's high post count might be more inclinded to read it. Still no gaurentee, but it's better than having it sit a few pages down.

 

One title could be:

***AOTC Links to Official Threads***/AOTC LBL

Who knows if it would actually do anything to quell the redundancy in the forum, but it is a really good idea.

Erik

 

Look at it this way... currently, most of our 'informational' threads go like this:

Post 1 - (the information)
Post 2 - "Great post!"
Post 3 - "Much needed! Thanks!"
Posts 4 - 1,000 - "up"

So, we're just taking all those "ups" and putting them to use, but by having it be LBL or something, it would get "upped" more frequently.

The first post of those threads is always the only relevant one. I mean, having 200+ pages of "up" doesn't help anyone, either, but currently it's the only way to keep it up.

I think it's a good idea. Granted, if it's a thread where discussion is going on, this wouldn't work. But for a "Welcome to the forums" kind of thread, where the whole meat of the thread is in the first post, this would help keep it afloat.

Vertical

 

So, like you're saying post all the info on the first post of huge threads like The Jedi Outcasts and GTKY?

 

I don't know. I think I'm just saying write up new versions of some of the old informational threads, and then either turn them into a social playground for anyone, or make it a LBL thread. That'll keep the info at the top, at least.

Although simply editting the info into already existing threads could work, too, I guess.

Vertical

 

Oh, and about the suggestion to move Collecting back into EU, as someone who posts in collecting regularly, I have to give that a big thumbs down. Collecting has much more in common with movie props, costumes, etc. than actual EU potpourri.

Plus, being the EU basher I am, I am loathe to post in an EU forum

 

I'm still staggered by the genius of Ki-Edi-Mundi's idea.

 

What Bomarr said. I felt Collecting was in the wrong category when it was in the EU section, which is why it was moved to the Fan Activities section.

 

Well, I guess it mainly depends very heavily on the actual definition of "Fan Activities" Does it mean "Things Star Wars fans did themselves" or "Things Star Wars fans like to buy and drool over"?

Vert- I dunno, imo, JCC has enough huge threads full of thousands of posts (I never go into a thread larger than 5 pages long), but it would be hard to locate the important stuff if it was just stuck in with "Katya's Beach Bash" or something. So the question is- if you post the new topic, will they come? In other words, will there actually be thousands of posts in the topic, to keep it up on the front page, or will it sink and die?

 

Well, if we put the line by line threads in an informational thread, we know Bib will come.

And if we were to 'inject' the info into a thread, I think we'd change the title to reflect that (and include the original title)

Vertical

 

It wouldn't hurt to try. There's enough LbL's to go around. Didn't the TPM forum have about 5 going at once. Line by Line, Word for Word, Line by Line in Gungan, French, etc.. 5 movies * multiple lanugages and dialects.
I'm not even sure if the LBL needs to be announced in the title, as I said before it could just be a little Easter egg you find by reading the threads. Or maybe that's just corny.

 

I really think a search engine would help the forums. I hate going through all the pages of posts to see if something has been mentioned or to see if a topic has been brought up already.

 

A search engine would be helpful, but the feature was removed because it would slow and (possibliy) crash the boards due to the size of the system. It's just not going to happen

¤Night