In response to
this discussion thread surrounding the issues that plague roleplayerguild, I compiled this list in order to provide some decent insight into what the community perceives to be problems, and how the community looks at solutions, with the aim of giving Mahz a degree of options laid out before him on things to consider and/or look at.
Special thanks go to;
@Cynder for providing inspiration to create a discussion thread and being at the forefront of community projects that have helped us organize as a community.
@Grimhildr for hosting the first discussion thread which provided a rudimentary discussion platform that opened the discussion to the community.
First I will list priority issues that were listed as problems frequently, to list what issues are considered to be very important by the community.
- Moderators are too inactive
- Moderators need to be present in the community more
- New faces in the moderators are desired if not downright required
- Moderators need more capacity to do things or otherwise a secondary co-admin with equal or slightly less powers should be appointed
- A report button must be added to increase the amount of actual reports being filed to deal with the problem of nobody reporting anything due to a feeling of uselessness
- PM system is considered 'top priority' as a deletion method for PM's is to be included ASAP
- Free-, casual-, and advanced names need to be changed to better represent not the skill but the dedication to a roleplay required within. Tags will replace the skill requirement notifier.
- Preferably a way to filter out mature 1x1's could be added which, at the height of escalation, could become it's own subforum
- Rules need to be rewritten to be more clear and less vague. What is 'Fonz cool'? 'Just don't be an asshole?' Too vague to reasonably use as rules.
- Custom tags and tabs for threads would be a nice addition.
- Not unimportant, guides should be pinned to roleplaying forums where they can be useful i.e. GMing guides or roleplaying guides in roleplay sections, arena guides in arena section, etc.
The following are points that were mentioned within the previous thread and/or the mentioned thread.
- A way to separate 1x1 threads looking for sexual content from 'regular' 1x1 interest checks (potentially a new subforum).
- Communication skills of the community itself.
- Someone or some group could write up a guide on how to GM and not kill their RP's.
- The forum should be more aesthetically pleasing.
- A karma system/blacklist system. Karma system was criticized for potentially ostracizing people for OOC reasons not related to roleplay.
- RPGNews is inconsistent, but a fanmade and hosted version could be made. Potentially riddled with the same problems as old RPGN.
- Updating/adding guides to the appropriate section and linking newcomers to them.
- Reviving the Contest function and/or creating our own (include other forms of art, I intend to host a giveaway of some sorts in the future).
- Recruiting prospective coders to possibly help Mahz out around the website.
- Possibly reviving the website chatbox (at this point in time, it's too late and discord is the better option).
- Make the existing fan-hosted discord into an official RPG discord by displaying it on the front page.
- Community events (videogame night, story telling night, etc.)
- Actually reporting people to the Moderators as needed in order to make the website feel less "lawless".
- Mods actually have to be active.
- If you're going to even have forum rules, actually enforce them. (Recurring mentions, almost unanimous agreement on this subject).
- Community engagement is a big problem for RPG. (Recurring mentions, almost unanimous agreement on this subject).
- Mods are (too) inactive for their position, to the point where users are unaware of their existence. (Recurring mentions, almost unanimous agreement on this subject).
- Non-application of existing rules, biased application of rules where it does happen. (Recurring mentions, almost unanimous agreement on this subject).
- Mahz' absence has caused a lot of problems for the guild (broken features not fixed despite tickets existing for half a year +-, new features are not required and gimmicky at best (arena leaderboard))
- More complicated captchas to help discourage the spambot plagues
- Nobody reads the rules and even if they do, there is no enforcement anyway so why follow them?
- Free-, casual-, and advanced sections separate the userbase into a non-enforceable 'made up' idea of who is free and who is advanced.
- Preferable seperation based on commitment where free roleplay becomes low-commitment roleplay and advanced and casual merge into high-commitment RP.
- 'Tag' system replaces existing free, casual and advanced sections and thus the distinction in skill remains.
- We need new faces in the staff/moderator board that are more capable of engaging and actively enforcing rules.
- A feeling of uselessness of discussion and debate about the state of RPG has arisen, because nothing ever happens and the moderators don't talk back.
- There is no trust in moderators that are in place now to make calls about who gets to be 'new moderators' if they choose to pick new people.
- No trust in community to 'elect' moderators either. Popularity contest.
- RPGuild has no appeal above other roleplaying websites that draws people to RPGuild and is starting to show signs that drive people away (broken functions, toxic clique forming).
- A blacklist (off-site) for people that are known to ruin RP's with hostility and other problematic things.
- The most pressing problem with the site is the lack of updates from the site or Mahz.
- Pin relevant guides to the relevant subforums i.e. GMing 101 could be pinned everywhere.
- Moderators appear uncommitted and seem 'okay' with how things are now even if the community disagrees and has stated they are not satisfied.
- RPG moderators seem unaware of or uncaring towards the problem that a lot of problems occur offsite and are carried over into RPG.
- There's no trust in moderators to punish adequately.
- Moderators themselves agree with the community that more moderators, and specifically more active moderators are required.
- Moderator applications can be considered but are not seen as the end-all tool for finding new and dependable moderators because it raises the problem of people wanting to gain power for the purpose of gaining power.
- Moderators fail to communicate their priorities and problems and as a result create the feeling that the mods are just resting on their laurels doing nothing while this is not the case, purely because of failure to communicate.
- Report system fails because moderators constantly refer to the rules, but the rules state outdated concepts like 'pressing the report button' of which there is none. Rewrite the rules.
- Some people want to split casual into low-medium-high casual respectively.
- Most people don't want to spread the forums even wider and would rather see it condensed (admittedly it wasn't a point that was discussed a lot)
- We should as a whole venture more into the introduction area and greet newcomers,ask them how they are, what kind of role plays they like, and generally make them feel like they're entering into a positive community.
- Revert free to original title 'beginner roleplay'
- Things go unreported because 'walking away' or 'handling it yourself' is seen as the better option (potentially linked to the perceived lack of punishment/follow up on reports)
- People think another large issue is the defensiveness people have of their own cliques.
- There were mixed feelings about arena, tabletop and nation RP. On the one hand people agreed that they were too different to be merged with other forums, on the other hand there was the question that they are not active enough to warrant their own forums, especially when you consider that arena had new functions added that are barely used and/or updated.
- Changing decorum and communication tactics can be a fix to activity problems.
- Reduce the number of sections to the old free, casual, advanced.
- Agreeing that we need to change doesn't mean people will change, because we cannot control other peoples actions and words.
- People don't want the community to be overly policed but feel the current rules are too vague and not policed well enough.
- Bans are not handed out often and when they are are often reverted due to a preference for warning rather than banning seems to exist, and users that say they are very sorry will be granted the request to remove the ban.
- Maintain the current system of simplicity that makes RPG feel 'like home' compared to other sites that 'try too hard'.
- NRP seems more willing to merge with advanced RP than tabletop and arena, perhaps because NRP is more comparable. Overall NRP'ers are afraid that the creativity has stagnated and hope that the merge might introduce new ideas.
- Moderators raise the point that their 'job description' is one of janitor but alternatively, the position of mod isn't one you get paid for, but one that you take because you like the community and/or are connected to it, therefore taking the extra step to engage with the community and remain a part of it is to be expected for at least a few members of the mod team.
- Engaging the community should in fact become part of the moderators' job because it builds community and breaks down the ivory tower that exists at the moment, while also ensuring that people become more aware of their presence (compared to now where certain moderators are entirely unknown).
- PM System is horrid and needs to be revised. Deleting PM's is to be #1 priority for Mahz before doing anything else.
Ultimately the discussion comes more or less to a halt when Sherlock Holmes responds. The exchange exposes that there are some things that are very hard to deal with currently without active involvement of the admin, Mahz, and without more acknowledgement from other moderators.
I am far from a point where I think things on this site are ok. The community is on life support (in a lot of respects) and the tools with which we have to moderate by are rudimentary compared to what we used to have. (Pre Guildfall.) At the moment, moderators have very little functional power, aside from banning and warning. That is pretty much all we are capable of, aside from hiding threads or moving them on occasion. We don't have the tools to research users like we once had, we don't have the ability to do temporary bans (unless we physically keep a list of time frames and physically ban/unban people on a case by case basis), we cannot do name changes or any other under the hood changes that most moderators on forums are able to do. People like to point out that the site needs some updates and for things to get finished -- the moderator tool kit is no different.
We'd all like for Mahz to be more active, but the reality is that he is a busy guy and we are not necessarily at the top of his list priority-wise. This is not to admonish him, this is simply a fact. I appreciate all that he has put together on this site and respect the fact that he pays for everything from his pocket out of the goodness of his heart, but I think we can all agree that we'd be blind if we ignored the fact that improvements/updates on the site need to be made. That all said, these are things that the moderators have discussed at length in our own forum -- I know I've personally said that I would like someone to be appointed as an admin to help Mahz and be more accessible on a regular basis. (Even though Contra Fates was spotty in her availability at times, she was at least accessible.) We've also discussed bringing on more moderators, but unless Mahz pops in, this is not within the moderator's toolbox and he would have to make the changes.
(We can discuss things all we want, ultimately the discussion does little unless we can get Mahz on board for some changes. It's the same in these regular threads as it is in the moderator forum -- we only have so much power.)
Priority issues for the moderators are getting more help -- both in a sense of potentially expanding the staff, as well as getting the moderator toolkit up to scratch. If Mahz can't be around, then he needs to share the abilities to make changes by appointing another admin or giving the moderators more power to make changes in his absence. As far as working as a moderator team, we seem to work fairly well together as far as communicating behind the scenes goes -- when there is a problem, it gets handled. Hank is right, however, when he says we're mostly 'janitors'. We sweep up after everyone, sorting out disagreements and whatnot, moving threads, and disposing of the spambots when applicable. Really, that's pretty much our lot day in and day out. It's not fun or glamorous, but a lot of stuff that gets done behind the scenes that regular users don't really see.
Could we be more engaging as moderators? I know I probably could, personally. While it's my preference to lay low, I can understand how that might create a bit of a detached feeling on my part from the regular community members. With the demise of Spam, which was my regular haunt (aside from my RP's), I don't post much outside of the moderator forum these days. I am around the site, but I don't tend to leave much of a trail outside of my moderating duties. I'm far from a perfect example of a moderator in terms of being sociable -- I do my duty and don't do much to grow the community these days. I could definitely work on that. (Part of it's available free time, part of it is a bit of apathy on my part because the community is a shadow of what it once was -- the first part is understandable, the latter part has no excuse.)
As far as appointing new moderators, I don't know that I have a way of improving the system devised, since we don't really appoint them anyhow. Really, it's always just been taking a community temperature and seeing who stands out based on recommendations. It's not a perfect system.
TL;DR -- I'm not as social as I could be, but I do keep up on my moderator duties. Our community needs some attention, both through site updates and community-building activities. We need more staff and the staff that we do have needs more power, so that we can do things in Mahz's absence.
I suppose that I understand the pro's and con's of laying low. It's certainly more preferable and inspires (haha, this sounds dumb, but it's true) a sense of awe and seriousness when you do appear to make your presence known. Not that that works on everyone, but for newer members or members that treat this forum very seriously, it might. But I suppose that there also needs to be a trade off. You can't have a team full of moderators that are low key, busy or inactive, and then maintain that and expect it to work. You guys made a right step with Mag Lev I think. But you need a few more Mag Lev's in terms of activity. And I also feel like you need someone that is more willing to take a hardline and put his foot down every once in a while. But I can't be too sure. To be honest, you guys have become kind of a meme in terms of how much we can depend on you, and that's not really in the positive way. I'm sure you would like to turn that around and become known for dependability.
Your explanation to the capacity of what moderators can do explains a lot, I think. It isn't an excuse for why most moderators are so inactive, but it excuses why nothing ever seems to change on this website. But it seems that like before it leads me back to the same point. Why wasn't this communicated to us properly? It seems like if we were made more aware of these type of limitations, it'd have prevented a lot of headache. Failure to communicate is still failure.
It also begins to explain perhaps why the community is failing. Changes cannot be made without Mahz, who isn't here. But these changes are required to fix, fundamentally, the guild. I take it you agree with me on that, at least.
I guess your priorities make sense, to me, somewhat. But I have to say I don't like how you guys characterize yourself as janitors. This removes the burden of interaction with the community and as a result alienates you from us (even more than you already have). Whether or not interaction and engaging the community is part of your 'job description' seems irrelevant to me. You are a moderator not because you get paid, you are a moderator because (I presume) you enjoy the community and/or have connections to it somehow. To me that means you also need to take that extra step of being and remaining a part of the community. And that doesn't mean every moderator needs to be an active engaging member, but I'd say it at least means that the staff consists of some people that are actually involved in the community and are aware of whatever is happening inside the community. Again, ivory tower. Previous answers by other mods have only reinforced the idea to me that there is an ivory tower.
Disclosing what you guys do or not isn't really something I care about. I'm not looking for a message every time you move a thread or ban someone. But a statement regarding what you just described as to moderator priorities is definitely something I'd consider worthwhile mentioning.
But in the end all of that still comes down to Mahz' absence being kind of a stick in the wheel. And that sucks because it's an issue that I feel could be easily alleviated had he taken the precaution to foresee this situation and anticipate it and share some power with someone else (you, for example) that made running the guild easier while he was absent. At the moment RPG sounds like a monarchy without a monarch.
Is there any communication at all with Mahz? I know I saw him in the discord once, and Hank mentioned he had to check his skype, and mahz mentioned that he didn't use skype anymore (something like that). Seems to indicate that there's not a whole lot if any contact with Mahz. Seems.. really inefficient and stupid.
Additionally, there are some quotes here that are of relative interest:
"I think people, myself included, are afraid to take concrete steps toward solving this problem because the moment we do, Mahz and the mods will come back just long enough to put us in our place and remind us of who's boss. Then they'll fuck off again, having impeded our progress toward self-government but then refused to replace our system with their own. Some of us may be banned in the process, too, another large risk in taking any strong actions toward fixing this site."
Seems to me like the first course is figuring out a fallback plan in the event this site isn't viable to sustain by Mahz anymore.
All of this is pointless if we're really that vulnerable.
I would love to see the 18+ and non-18+ separated as well. It would make it easier to have visibility for the non-romance 1x1s, and it would basically be a clear indicator when one entered the 18+ section of "Here be dragons." This is something I feel mods could do without needing coding or tags, but it would be annoying to move all the IntChecks there.
Though this is a new account, I've been on this website for a long time and I've reported several things to mods. Any response that I've gotten takes at least a week, and it's always been "Sorry, doesn't infringe on any of the rules, can't do anything about it." Even if people are being extremely rude and toxic, or even outright harassing others.
[...]
So as a community, we can declare that everyone should be nicer, the community needs to be more open, we need to stop being so negative and hard on the newbies, but realistically that's not going to happen unless there are consequences for people's actions. We can't magically make people nicer or more polite.
Has anyone proposed a separate "Status Bar" for moderators to post in? Just so we know they're all alive. It'd be great to pump out updates and notify people should there be anything happening, whether bug wise or an in general announcement.
Kinda like a 'Sticky' for Statuses.
See, I agree and disagree with this sentiment [of moderator applications being an indicator of bad candidates] at the same time. I’ve actively been on message boards for around eighteen years, so I can attest to certain perspectives around moderation recruitment as I’ve not only been part of that management but also an active witness to several forms of it. People who “want” to be promoted to moderation staff fall into two camps: the first one is to help the site and expand the administration in a cohesive manner, and the other is the one we’ve heard before [with the stories of Guru and others] in that they do it to seek power and to instruct their will on others. If you presume that all people who admit interest or send offers of help are the latter, then you likely miss out on committed and active people who do care about the website.
And if you are looking for the “right fit”, that probably limits your recruitment policies.
Personally, I would suggest looking at RPG’s contemporaries like Iwaku Roleplay and Roleplay Adventures whom actually have moderator application forms that are submitted privately. A system that is very efficient for what they do. Of course, this would require Mahz to be available to give you the freedom to utilize this system as it currently stands you cannot do any changes until he is. But that’s a topic for another matter.
