"cause its funny and you arent supposed to be funny but its also insufferable you have more brain rot than my gen alpha nephew" thanks fledermaus. i'm going to alter the trajectory of your life.
3 days ago
huh
3 days ago
she shows me her butt, so that i can say ''it's 2024 we dont goon to still pictures anymore''. that's deep. toes in my mouth. toes with the french tips. white toes, baby blue toes. you name it.
Hank as Co-Admin has changed things on a Moderator level. All the functionality the position could use may not be there yet, but from a point of view you don't have access to there have been changes.
Let me put it this way - what little he can do, I am supposing that he did. This doesn't change the fact that he still can't do most of the meaningful things, agreed? Ergo, the functionality has been helpful to a degree but otherwise, when it comes to being able to run the day-to-day adminning in Mahz' absence, it's entirely useless, agreed? Because that was its' intended feature - to be able to run the guild effectively and make administrative changes without Mahz' needing to do it.
Which, correct me if I am wrong, is still not possible, unless we saw a sneak-update that nobody knows about.
Things get reported, both on Discord and the Guild itself. I've actually noticed an increase in reported incidents.
Good. You'll agree a report button would still be a neat addition to simplify things?
Mahz was seen just the other day, but aside from that: this has long been a community complaint. Site staff does the best we can with the hand we're dealt, but personally I don't see this one doing a turn-around change any time soon. I knew it was an issue before I became a Mod the first time, and having seen it from both the viewpoint of community concerned RPer and Moderator, it's always an issue. This is the nature of the way he built the Guild.
I know those things. I've known them ever since guildfall. But I don't think 'this is the way things are enjoy it' is the proper way to deal with it in situations like these where things can get changed, and frankly should get changed. And when you look at it like that, then what you just told us doesn't really tell us anything new, does it?
The entire moderator team is fairly active. Again you don't have access to that point of view, but I do, and I've seen all of them recently active and doing something. Two have been preoccupied with IRL, but that's life and the rest of us have handled picking up the slack just fine. (And we've still heard from them recently even busy as they've been IRL--one even handled an issue before I could get to it the other day.)
I can't do much with your point of view if you refuse to tell me. Regardless, perhaps I was unclear. There is a difference between your activity and the perception of your activity. It doesn't matter if you're online 24/7 if you never show your face because I would never know you are active. And even in that sense, 'active' means something different in my optic than 'being online.'
We're even pro-active: even before complaints about the Contests sub-forum, I was asking Aria about it behind closed doors.
.. this doesn't actually bring things further. If Aria/MDK are both busy then it's time to consider if they are the right choice for that type of position. Which I'm assuming it's because they're busy, because we weren't given a real explanation as to why the contests stopped. Similarly the titles previously earned by other members still haven't been given out apparently, according to someone I spoke to. Not sure who's in charge of that. Probably should've done something for that.
It's possible there's more to this story than most people, including yourself, know. That is really Kangaroo's business, at the end of the day. The group of people who know were happy to have him back though. I don't expect the people that feel entitled to knowing more to be content with that, but there is a rational reason for it all, yes.
I'm not asking for the story - I don't care for the story. I respected that Kangaroo saw that he had no time and decided to step down because it was a showing of the ability of introspection. I appreciated it, because he was a good moderator when he was more active, and he had realized that he just hadn't been active.
Regardless of the story, it feels strange to me that someone who had no time, and mostly continues to have no time from what I can see (again, perception of activity, the dude hadn't been online for 3 days when I wrote this so I can do nothing else but draw a conclusion from that because no status update was posted or anything of the like) is made moderator again under the pretense of 'we need more active moderators'.
You have your unique perspective. I don't. Saying 'well there's a good reason that I can't disclose because it's private' isn't helping. Again, I'm not after the story. I don't care in the context of this discussion. I care that we have moderators that can better fit the need of RPG. If you say that the needs of RPG are more moderators that seem inactive, I think you'd be wrong.
Already responded regarding the others. There's no "situation between us." At least not on my end. The last time I tried to reach out and be adult about it, the effort was screencapped and used to harass me on both the Guild and Discord. Safe to say this situation is one-sided. I've fielded complaints about you rather recently, and decided there was nothing to them, so I dismissed it. I've got no personal vendetta against anyone.
Word it as you may, perhaps you also have some introspection to do. I didn't really intend to talk about this to begin with, since I obviously don't like you and as I told you previously when you tried to 'bury the hatchet' I am under no real obligation to like you either just like you don't have to like me.
But I'll help you with this one - perhaps your attempt to reach out wasn't as adult as you seem to remember. You felt the need to treat me like Mr. Fung Lee who had just arrived fresh off the boat and was taking his first ESL class by clarifying that burying the hatchet was an (English idiom) as if I were some boy with an extra chromosome. Perhaps my English is a little off at times, I sincerely apologize for that, but for someone who learned English as one of four languages in school, I like to think I do pretty well for myself. I'll excuse you for calling random strangers 'honey' in the most condescending way you could have ever done so. Please don't do that to strangers. We'd never even spoken before, I didn't know you before that point, I'd prefer not to be called things like that by people I don't know.
I mean, that's even ignoring that previously to that you decided to insult my 'whomst've'd cheap hack writing' for no real reason. And when I reminded you of that, the answer I got was basically 'hehe I thought you were a troll! lol oops' which wasn't much of an excuse as it was you deflecting.
The next time you insult my writing and English skills, however, I would kindly ask you at least try to write in an easy manner. People like me who cannot into the English language have trouble deciphering words like 'whom's'. (Or perhaps that word shouldn't belong there whatsoever because it is incorrect English, but who am I? Ah, mr Fung Lee. Never mind then.)
Do you really feel like this is the best time to talk about this though? I'm sure not. I'd love to know what you have to add, but perhaps it's better to PM me instead. You have access to the guild right? Contact me there.
The last time I had a private talk with you, you came across hostile and more interested in throwing salt than discussing the issue at hand. (An issue which you dedicated a single sentence to.)
The last time? The last time you politely informed me I was being banned. When I replied that I was appealing it, you said 'ok'. Then I gave you some tips. You didn't like said tips.
What, did you expect me to dedicate more time to me being banned? It was and is idiotic that I got banned. That's about all I have to say. My appeal was denied, as in, I never got to have an appeal. That's the end of the line, isn't it? The next step is begging Hank and Mahz on my knees 'please please can I enter the discord again, I promise I'll be a good boy!' and that really isn't happening.
If you want to apply the rule you banned me on equally on said offense, however, just search 'bellybutton' in the discord. You'll find a whole list of people harassing someone, and then you can ban them. Be consequent (is that the right word?) with the rules please. I already explained the idiocy in the reasoning behind my ban to Nutts and I'm sure he relayed it so I won't waste words here.
I've yet to see anything reported not get at least a response to. Prehaps you could offer concrete details of reports with nothing given in response?
Terminal informed me that all his PM's to you all have been ignored as he tried to get people assigned the titles they won during the time the contests were still alive and ran by him mostly. Perhaps that's a starting point.
Mahz decided we didn't need different versions of the rules stickied, and he's stated multiple times he thinks the fastest way to get people to not pay attention to something is to sticky it. I can't recall which of us actually removed them. Some of them were even posted by accounts we don't have access to. So if many in the Guild feel that would help, we could copy/paste the site rules into a sticky for each section. This is the first time I've ever seen anyone make a suggestion of this since the new rules went up, I will point out, so maybe we haven't met the "many" part yet.
I mean, yes, I'm sure Mahz knows a thing or two about coding. But I find it hard to believe that he would say a tried and tested and universally used forum standard is somehow a bad thing. I would really like to know what his line of logic was there because frankly I don't even believe he would say something this... well, stupendous, really.
That said, even if nobody reads them, who cares? If you pin them up there you will have even more to fall back on. If someone breaks the rules and they say 'I didn't see the big button on the front page' you can say 'well, what about the stickied threads?' It's redundancy. It's not like it hurts anyone either.
We care, and act when possible: like when I went to Aria regarding Contests. I never used Contests. Even back in the day when Jorick would try to talk me into putting in a submission, it was just never my thing, but I always loved that he enjoyed them. I still cared enough about the community to go to Aria about the section's current state, even though I personally never used it.
That's great - I presume you reached an agreement as to the future of contest then and we will either see it deleted or restarted soon then? Because that's the sort of outcome I would expect from moderator behind-the-doors talk. Something with an outcome. And not just a personal talk. So I'm eager to learn what will happen with RPG contests.
The majority of this is nothing new. We've had these issues in the past, as I stated in the above. Some people stayed and continued on with the Guild, some people went elsewhere and created new homes on other sites. We want improvements, we want resolutions to issues, we always know we work at the speed of Mahz and just try to keep the site functioning in accordance with site rules in the meantime. It's not perfect.
I'd imagine you want to keep people on this site, as a method to foster the community and make it grow. Ergo, you must work to fix problems as they arise. Perhaps not all the problems I perceive are real, I am willing to admit that, and perhaps not everything is as perfect as the moderator team likes to say it is, I am willing to show you that, and because of that we need to find a middle ground.
Then fine. Let's find that middle ground. Let's find what is working and what isn't. But for that, there needs to be a dialogue, and that dialogue is very far and hard to find. It seems that the moderators really want to work on things - at least, I'm being naive here and I believe that that is what you guys all really want. But they want to do it in their own way, entirely on their own, with nobody else interfering.
I'm telling you that won't work for all of us.
Perhaps you're .. well, not scared. Scared is a strong word and if we're being real, there is no way someone higher up the hierarchy would be scared of someone as small as me. But perhaps you're not entirely sure as to the intent I have. I don't mean to get people booted, I don't intend to harm RPG, I don't intend to be a guild terrorist. I intend to help RPG and I intend to do what I can to make it better. But I do it in my own way.
I had little to no powers as an Arena mod, I'm just able to keep those fucks in check. As far as changing colors, that something I do on a fairly regular basis, when before it wasn't that I was too lazy - it was that I did not know how. Once I learned, to change... Fenrir's? color, I've been doing it every couple of days, depending on how often I'm asked(or how often I kick Blaze).
They don't RP is not an argument I'm familiar with using, because I don't follow them enough to know if they actually do. They very well could, but it's not something I go behind and check unless they were interested in one of my RPs, like Allaria.
You are not obligated to disclose whether or not you RP, public or private. So long as you, and whichever partners you have know, that's really all that matters. Just the same as any modding I do. Lazy mod is just a take off of my arena persona of being lazy, even when I'm actually doing stuff. Anyone whose come to me on both Discord and Guild, has had any issues they've had taken care of as best I can, when I can - usually immediately, unless I'm working or sleeping or killing Uruks or playing with my chap. Whether or not they wanna admit to that, is entirely on them. I've no interest in putting whose come to me with issues.
Like I said to Hank, I think the problem lies therein in that the public image is something entirely different from the truth. So, what I mean is that, it's not entirely related to what you do, but more so in how you represent yourself and how others perceive you.
And in this case that is of someone who is lazy and/or doesn't do much - which like I said, isn't helping the situation if the consensus among moderators is that there are too few moderators with too little time as it is. Do you see where I'm coming from if I say that acting like a lazy person, even if it's just an act, isn't conductive to what would be a better option?
The thing is Odin, you yourself state that you 'generally shit on moderation' you surround yourself with people who actively dislike the guild, or have been banned for misdemeanours in the past, and yet you still put yourself forward as this freedom fighter standing up to moderation and speaking for those who won't or can't do it themselves. Have you really thought about your ideas and wondered how many of them are misinformed by your own biases and the people you surround yourself with?
Geez, I wonder if that's why I specifically listed my biased opinions under the header 'biased opinions'. I don't see myself as a freedom fighter (what kind of stupendous assumption is that?) and if you'd bothered to read you'd know that all the listed ideas are in fact collected from the previous thread that everyone was free to participate in. Hence, there are ideas in there that I don't agree with.
I'd honestly want to know just how populist your ideas are. I find myself in a position where I don't really have a weighted interest in either side of any debate, I'm just a guy who's been on this site for six years, and I rarely if ever find myself sympathising with your position.
Good, then this thread was made for you. Posting this here to a) remind the moderators that the list of suggestions does in fact exist, and b) to see what other people think. That 99% of the guild refuses to interact on a meaningful level is hardly something I can do something about and, adding to that, it's not like I've shunned other people's ideas, have I?
I find the majority of the issues you raise incredibly nit-picky, demanding to know what moderators do for example is a bizarre concept to me, are you paying them? Do they have some responsibility to you personally to declare their activities?
Not what I'm suggesting.
Some of the changes you recommend are frankly non-issues, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. For example, free, casual and advance aren't descriptors of players, they're descriptors of the rules for the style of roleplay. Do I want to roleplay in a free environment, a casual environment, an advanced environment? The descriptions work fine for that purpose, they have for as long as I've been here.
I guess we never should've installed those brand spanking new robots with fully automated AI. The hand-crank 'robot' cranes we had before worked just fine, don't fix it if it ain't broke I guess!
Nah, just because it works doesn't mean there aren't better alternatives. Who is being nitpicky now?
Making reporting easier will certainly increase the number of reports, of course, it will also massively increase the amount of spur of the moment reports that waste moderator time because they hold nothing substantial. If people are seriously concerned about something, they will go to the slightly greater effort of reporting it with the current system, and they can send their report to every moderator if they want a speedy response time.
That's a pay off that I honestly would prefer over manually doing it because it makes the entire system a lot easier to go through, as in, you no longer have to type out an entire PM, the moderator no longer has to go through the efforts of responding to it, and can just ban, warn or something else directly from 1 screen. If properly implemented I can see the report system being a step up.
Also, do note that if a report system comes into existence I also expect a new rule to be made for false reports ;) that seems like common sense and I imagine you already thought of that since you're a smart guy.
That being said, some of the smaller issues and fixes like stickying help guides and the rules on each sub-forum seem reasonable enough. It's just a shame that some of the good ideas in here are intermingled with the mass of general 'moderator' critique that I can't help but find myself highly sceptical about. Anyway, that's my two cents, maybe I'll remember to check back in and see what the general opinions are of people on the guild.
These are suggestions from 5 months ago and stickying help guides takes like.. what, 2 minutes. Having to read critique on the moderators to find a suggestion like that hardly seems like an excuse not to do it anyway? But please do come back.
EDIT: also, Hank is no longer a moderator but a co-admin. Just a small tidbit of info for you.
@Rilla because when they don't, it's used as an attack on their merit, like I did to you, and like others have done to me (and hence why I have now started disclosing my private RP, and why I explicitly state that I still RP to avoid that comment before it happens).
And, perhaps it's old news, but 'he doesn't RP anyway' was used as an argument to ban both Nytemare and j8cob. Both of them are now active again on RPG. It's easy to forget - but you yourself (as in the mod team as a whole) has used that same argument against people in the community. Sure, it was a mistake that was corrected, but it happened in the first place, and if it weren't for people speaking out against it, it was unlikely to change.
So, I am now speaking out against you, someone whose only actions so far I have actually seen was saying you were too lazy to change users colors in the discord. Is that representative of you? I don't know, probably not, but if that's the only thing I can see, I hope you can understand why I and many others with me get the idea that you don't do much. Especially since you had leeway before being an arena mod. But that's an argument that can't be used anymore, I don't think.
@Rilla definitely does stuff, you just don't see it.
I mean, I personally think that there in lies the problem. Like I PMed to Sherlock, I know there are things going on (precisely what I cannot know) but we just don't see any of it and that leads to an image of laziness. Adding 'hehe le lazy mod' to that isn't really helping that case at the moment.
More chat moderators will be added soon(TM). I need to figure out how to do so, however, because user roles are currently handled by GuildBot in the Discord and I have no power over him, and then I need to make my selections. I have a free weekend ahead of me (at long last) that I plan on dedicating to the Guild.
That's all I have to say for now.
I'm assuming, since you're not stupid, that you have already tried manually doing the roles in the same way you would make and assign colored roles. I'm sure by now you're aware of how the settings of a server work so I'm not going to belittle you by walking you through that.
But how specifically are you going to define these chat mods? Note that it's not of interest to me personally anymore since obviously I no longer have access, but for the sake of others in the chat I should ask because I'm already seeing some people saying that they don't really like the idea of people being hand picked by the moderators as that'd just lead to the same people being moderator that we always see, which hasn't exactly turned out well in the past and in the case of GCS.
If I may offer that advice - you should look at GCS and see what didn't work. Use it as a case study to avoid making the same mistake. If there is an interest in that from your side/moderators side, there are a few people you could contact, namely me, Nytem4re, Midnight_Howl (Beth) or Cynder to get some information on that specifically (I suggest either Nyt or Beth since they're easy to reach and for the most part not biased at all).
Besides that, are you/the other mods OK with me bringing up some additional comments I have or that I had in the past and that were ignored? I feel like if there is any one place suitable for that, it'd be here because it means others can also weigh in on it.
First off, it is easy to presume that I am here to shit all over the moderation again. It's easy to assume that, because that's what I generally do. And I am no above admitting that. The point is that this has come forth from a growing frustration with the way things are ran here. Not because I want to see RPG burn. Contrary to popular believe, I am and continue to be a roleplayer and frankly it is very strange that I have had to 'prove' that I add to this community to avoid being permadeleted. Yes, I roleplay. I'm not here to whine and cry. I'm here because I believe standing up and saying what you think is better than sitting back and quietly crying about how everything sucks. My ancestors smile upon me, Roleplayerguildial, can you say the same?
For a long time now I've been seen as a 'guild terrorist' and I understand that this is, at least partially, because of my own actions. Again I am not above admitting that. I don't mind having this reputation as long as the merits of my ideas and what I say are carefully weighed for their value and intent, not for the reputation behind it. I also want to make it clear that, although I share a friend group and a Discord server with people who might have done things to offend you (personally) or who have done things that are less than kind to the Guild as a whole, I will never feel or take responsibility for those peoples actions because they are their own, not mine.
So I must kindly ask that you try to leave this behind you when reading this, so that we can have a good discussion, and not a he-said-she-said fest.
Special thanks to [@Cynder] and @Grimhildr for kickstarting the process. Special thanks to everyone else that participated in a deliberation on how we can improve the guild. Your efforts are appreciated and valued, because only through discussing things can we reach new ideas and solutions to the problems that festered and continue to fester in RPGuild - as a community and as a forum.
This was how I started my thread to brainstorm suggestions and ideas with the community five months ago. Looking at the front page, it's easy to assume nothing has changed. After all, most of the front page is still the same (and the same goes for most other parts of the forum that is visible in one go). But how much has really changed, and how much of the priorities have actually been handled?
I have decided to do it this way, as it seemed to have better effects last time and discussion on discord seems impossible at this point in time. I will set out, once again, to do so within the boundaries of the rules as they are written down, and to do so within sense and reason, and above all, I will do so with the goal to include the community in this effort. If you are unaware of the topic from five months ago, I would strongly suggest reading at least the first two posts. Thank you.
Special thanks again to [@Cynder] and @Grimhildr for providing the basis for this thread and in part opening discussion. Special thanks to @Nytem4re and @Briza for providing a proof-reading to improve the thread and wording.
Please keep these pointers in mind when discussing ideas.
o No flaming o No ad hominem o Act according to the Rules of the Guild and act according to the spirit of the rules, not the letter of the rules. o Constructive criticism only, naming an issue is one thing, complaining and whining another o Motivate your answers o Try to think of solutions as well as problems
If we can all keep to these pointers, the discussion from here on forward should be pleasant and enlightening as opposed to a flamefest.
To avoid starting on a bad foot, I want to start with the things that have been completed. Then, I will move on to the 'partial' section where I will list things that are partially complete. Then the subjective section for 'subjective' things that I cannot answer in good faith because I believe I am biased. I will add my own opinions in hiders to avoid swaying people who aren't interested in what I think personally. Finally the things that aren't completed no matter how you look at it.
Keep in mind that these were user suggestions. The moderators are under no obligation to follow these. They were not to be seen as a checklist even if they have been called that by an administrator. Never the less it is strongly suggested that the moderators and admins look at these for ideas.
What has been completed: Bear in mind these are direct quotes from previous thread, with both the priorities and regular suggestions sections being quoted, and as such there may be duplicates.
✓ PM system is considered 'top priority' as a deletion method for PM's is to be included ASAP
Although rudimentary at best and with it's fair share of flaws (namely the strange way deletion is handled + the way we get back accidentally deleted PM's) the deletion method is implemented and you can now effectively delete PM's. The mass deletion button is a nice touch.
✓ Preferably a way to filter out mature 1x1's could be added which, at the height of escalation, could become it's own subforum
The 18+ tag is in place and can be used to filter out mature 1x1's in theory. All that remains is to make the search function better so that we can actually use it.
✓ 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.
Besides some additional comments on this, I have nothing to add as to the way the suggestion was written. The way the rules are written is more clear than before and the actual rules themselves are decent enough.
✓ Someone or some group could write up a guide on how to GM and not kill their RP's.
✓ A karma system/blacklist system. Karma system was criticized for potentially ostracizing people for OOC reasons not related to roleplay.
We can now ban users from our threads.
✓ Make the existing fan-hosted discord into an official RPG discord by displaying it on the front page.
Although I am not a fan of the way (some of) it happened, I must admit the suggestion was met and the end result is passable and good enough for me.
✓ More complicated captchas to help discourage the spambot plagues
I believe this suggestion was met through disabling sign in at certain hours, but I could be mistaken. Not an optimal solution and more work is required but it satisfies the original need I suppose.
✓ No trust in community to 'elect' moderators either. Popularity contest.
This didn't happen. Thus the suggestion was met.
✓ A blacklist (off-site) for people that are known to ruin RP's with hostility and other problematic things.
Was attempted for a short while, but it was found to be useless because it'd require manual updating and for people to read it, plus suggestions were made for arbitrary reason and/or falsehoods.
✓ 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.
As mentioned before.
✓ Maintain the current system of simplicity that makes RPG feel 'like home' compared to other sites that 'try too hard'.
If 'maintaining' something was the end goal then we succeeded.
✓ PM System is horrid and needs to be revised. Deleting PM's is to be #1 priority for Mahz before doing anything else.
As mentioned above.
What has been partially completed: Bear in mind these are direct quotes from previous thread, with both the priorities and regular suggestions sections being quoted, and as such there may be duplicates.
- Moderators need more capacity to do things or otherwise a secondary co-admin with equal or slightly less powers should be appointed
I was going to place this in my 'bias' section but I remember Hank himself told me that despite his status as co-admin, he can't actually do much with the powers. With my knowledge of code being limited I can still say confidently that I think the fix to this would tke about 2 minutes of copying code from one place to the other. I understand that Mahz is still busy, but I don't find it unreasonable to expect small changes like these to occur in a timely manner instead of being left waiting for five months for a new role (co admin) only to have it result in no real changes.
- The forum should be more aesthetically pleasing.
I like the new buttons. I still think improvements could be made left and right.
- Community events (videogame night, story telling night, etc.)
We had that '10 years of RPG' thing and then nothing happened with it. The big celebration was getting to read that people wrote things about RPG.
- Actually reporting people to the Moderators as needed in order to make the website feel less "lawless".
I have no way to check this aside from actually just saying 'maybe????' I feel like nothing still gets reported so this may as well be a non-reached goal but I'll cut some slack here.
- Nobody reads the rules and even if they do, there is no enforcement anyway so why follow them?
With the big button that says 'guild rules' I feel it is hard to say 'I didn't see the rules' anymore. The reason I didn't give this a pass is because the rules were removed from sticky in every single subforum. I honestly don't see a reason for them to be unstickied, which is not user friendly and should be reversed back for clarity sake.
- 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.
Promises were made. I don't think we have much to show for them but.. in the future?
- The most pressing problem with the site is the lack of updates from the site or Mahz.
This was fixed for approximately one-to-two (maybe 3) months before Mahz disappeared again. Those who do not use discord are unaware of why. None of the moderators decided 'lets post a public statement about it for him so nobody wonders where he is.' We're back to square one.
- 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.
We have a new introduction bot in the discord that alerts people to new introduction threads. A high-tech attempt to improve this (I suppose) that doesn't really actually help because to my knowledge nobody actually responds to these.
What is subjective: Bear in mind these are direct quotes from previous thread, with both the priorities and regular suggestions sections being quoted, and as such there may be duplicates.
/ Moderators are too inactive
You have 7 mods. 2 have been AWOL for more than 3 days, 2 have their online status hidden, one is a moderator lifted up from section-moderator who has made his entire persona revolve around being 'the lazy mod' that doesn't do anything. I understand having a personal life but is it an unreasonable expectation that we can at least be aware of the moderators' activity or otherwise have moderators that log in at least once a day? Adding to that, it is hard to sell activity to me if there are posts/suggestions in Mahz update thread that go unanswered for almost a full week. Somewhere during that time, one moderator has to have been online, has to have had the time to reply with atleast a message that recognizes or acknowledges the suggestion. The mods are active on discord but due to what I can only presume to be personal reasons seem to not be able to find the time to reply within the hour in most cases, even if they are online.
And, seriously, as part of your incentive to recruit more active mods, you bring back Kangaroo, who left because he didn't have time, and then continues to not have time despite saying he does? I really don't get this decision. I would love to have it explained to me. Maybe there's a very rational reason.
/ Moderators need to be present in the community more
Pretty much the same as above. If the whole community is Discord, you could make a case, but I barely see them on RPG.
/ New faces in the moderators are desired if not downright required
I don't think the three choices that were made after the suggestion thread were satisfactory. The 'new faces' weren't new but were old moderators that returned, each of them bringing baggage with them.
I mean no offense when I highlight it, but Rilla remains nonactive and maintains the arena-style moderation which, in my opinion, was even more inactive than a janitorial style moderation style, Kangaroo remains inactive despite this being his initial reason for dropping from the team.
Furthermore, I'm not personally satisfied with Ruby's performance and attitude, but given the situation between us I'd feel it would be biased and unfair for me to comment on that any further.
/ 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.
AFAIK, my suggestion to change the names was accepted and my suggestion for the new names was also accepted (that was the last time I heard about it) and the few times I've reminded them nothing has happened. I am presuming this will not happen for x reason. I say presuming, because I've not heard anything since the first time I suggested it.
/ 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.
Now this has just straight up not happened, I'm just putting it here because for the love of god this takes like 5 seconds. WHY!?!? Why not just do it? Maybe nobody will use it but by god, it'll look like you actually thought about what you want stickied on top of a board instead of nothing!! WHY!?!?
/ Communication skills of the community itself.
I have tried numerous times to open communication channels but (in the case of me talking to mods) I either get ignored, get talked to in a condescending manner, or I just get promises that are not followed up on. This is my own experience so perhaps others have had more luck. The original comment was talking more about the entire community as a whole but I've not felt like there was any place where I could even 'improve' my communication skills.
/ Actually reporting people to the Moderators as needed in order to make the website feel less "lawless".
Multiple people I have spoken to have said to report things and didn't receive anything in return.
/ Nobody reads the rules and even if they do, there is no enforcement anyway so why follow them?
Adds a big button to link to the rules, but then unstickies the rules. Why? I can't see any reason why. This must've been an accident, or a moderator looking to busy themselves and decided this was a good idea. There is no rational reason why you would unsticky this.
/ 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.
This has been increasingly the case in my experience, where I would make a suggestion and just flat out got ignored, was given a cold shoulder or a passive aggressive response (akin to 'We don't need your help!') or was promised something that wasn't made good on.
/ Moderators appear uncommitted and seem 'okay' with how things are now even if the community disagrees and has stated they are not satisfied.
I can't say I've seen less commitment at least, but there certainly hasn't been an increase in investment or willingness to work on the guild as far as I've seen.
/ RPG moderators seem unaware of or uncaring towards the problem that a lot of problems occur offsite and are carried over into RPG.
I've gone out of my way at least twice, and possibly more, to warn the moderators that things were starting to get a little out of hand and that off-site grievances might transfer into the guild discord or so. I have not received a reply to this.
/ 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.
At this point I would take community-elected power-hungry mods over the people that are consistently put into the position by the existing mods. We need a breath of fresh air. Before you cry that I'm calling out mods - please, take a look and ask yourself if the people that have been added to the roster have really been able to dedicate their time and efforts to RPG, and have lessened the burden on the moderators shoulders. If yes, then evidently there has been no incentive to make further changes, if no, then what is the purpose of their position being given to them?
/ Agreeing that we need to change doesn't mean people will change, because we cannot control other peoples actions and words.
Every action has a reaction - this has held especially true in the past five months as I have seen in my own personal experience on the guild. A perceived lack of action on one side would lead to an action on one side, that would then cause an action on the other side. Narrativism prevents any side from reflecting and seeing how the other side might have made a valid point.
RPG is, in my opinion, trapped in a vicious circle and I see nobody who is prepared to break that circle. Even Mahz himself participated in it briefly, resulting in the ban and unban of two members.
There is no improvement in this area and I have come to the realization that as far as RPG is concerned this will never happen and the best we will get is one side wiping the other side off of RPG, and a new side taking the old ones' place. That is my prediction.
What is subjective: Bear in mind these are direct quotes from previous thread, with both the priorities and regular suggestions sections being quoted, and as such there may be duplicates.
x Moderators are too inactive
Hard to say anything has happened with this, as mentioned above, you have 7 moderators, 2 have been gone for 3 days or more, 2 have their online status hidden, one maintains his persona as 'the lazy mod' so do the math.
x New faces in the moderators are desired if not downright required
Old moderators were 'rehired' and nothing has really changed as a result of that beyond more arguments.
x Moderators need more capacity to do things or otherwise a secondary co-admin with equal or slightly less powers should be appointed
I realize I also put this under 'partial' completion but what use is a co-admin if he can't do anything an admin can do. There was no point to this new role otherwise.
x 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
Give us the ability to report things in an easier manner. I guarantee you will see an increase in reports.
x 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.
No comment required.
x Custom tags and tabs for threads would be a nice addition.
Seems to not be an option momentarily, so no hard feelings over this one.
x 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.
Takes five minutes.
x RPGNews is inconsistent, but a fanmade and hosted version could be made. Potentially riddled with the same problems as old RPGN.
No comment needed except that RPG news is really dead now.
x Updating/adding guides to the appropriate section and linking newcomers to them.
Perhaps the intent of this was unclear. It meant for the relevant guides to be stickied to the relevant forums, i.e. GMing 101 would be linked to the roleplaying forums, etcetera.
x 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).
Technically, the suggestion is erroneous in nature. There is no need to revive it. There are two ACTIVE contest mods. I don't see any reason why there are no contests being held if both of these mods can be active in other areas (I am unsure about the situation of one of these mods, but the other is active in discord daily as a chat moderator, so again, no reason not to consider a contest.)
x Community events (videogame night, story telling night, etc.)
Purpose seems lackluster to me, but it was suggested and it can't do harm. Just need someone to shoulder the responsibility. GCS (unofficial chat server) had impromptu games that attracted a lot of people. If anything, RPG Official has more capacity and should therefore be able to host this even better. Not really a requirement, but it is a suggestion.
x 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).
I feel like the moderators are more visible, but it might purely be because of discord + the fact that their names are hard to miss in the rules. Not because they are more active. Perhaps a bit biased, I don't know. Regardless, I've had agreement on the point that the current mods are too thin spread and can't muster the activity to really do their duties properly, so I'll assume that it's also agreed upon in the mod team that having more hands on board wouldn't hurt. I'm left wondering why nobody is recruited. Again, I'd love to be explained this. There is, perhaps, a really good reason for this.
x Free-, casual-, and advanced sections separate the userbase into a non-enforceable 'made up' idea of who is free and who is advanced.
x Preferable seperation based on commitment where free roleplay becomes low-commitment roleplay and advanced and casual merge into high-commitment RP.
The suggestion was made but so far not used.
x 'Tag' system replaces existing free, casual and advanced sections and thus the distinction in skill remains.
As far as I know this is currently one of the highest priorities but it is simply put unfinished and not even remotely close to the existing 'browsing' strategy for finding RP's. I don't see any reason to currently use this system.
x We need new faces in the staff/moderator board that are more capable of engaging and actively enforcing rules.
We need new faces in the staff/moderator board that are more capable of engaging and actively enforcing rules.
x The most pressing problem with the site is the lack of updates from the site or Mahz.
I'm double-posting this one because it's important and fits two roles. The solution seems simple - have moderators or other staff make a somewhat consistent post about the state of RPG and the end goal.
x Pin relevant guides to the relevant subforums i.e. GMing 101 could be pinned everywhere.
Easy thing to do. It can only help, not cause harm. No reason not to try it.
x Moderators themselves agree with the community that more moderators, and specifically more active moderators are required.
This problem persists even with the re-entry of old moderators which might be a cause to think if you don't need more people. Even if it is only to moderate the discord, and not the site itself.
x 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.
I don't often see communication about what is going on, even if I am directly involved. It seems users are constantly left out of the loop.
x 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) & Revert free to original title 'beginner roleplay' & Reduce the number of sections to the old free, casual, advanced.
Nothing was done with the sections. Not a high priority but worth considering as it occurs really frequently on the list yet nothing has happened with it.
x 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)
Seems to still be the case in most cases by my experience, seems o be based on rough interpretations of what a report actually is in other cases according to others
x People think another large issue is the defensiveness people have of their own cliques.
I haven't seen an improvement of this yet, although some of the more 'famous' clique's have completely vanished. Might just be me seeing things?
x 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.
Nothing has happened here, although perhaps the arena section has become slightly more active. Might be my eyes betraying me, though. It's still not a very active place.
x Changing decorum and communication tactics can be a fix to activity problems.
x 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.
I've seen more bans being redrawn over the past 5 months than in the time I was on here in the years before that. Not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation.
x 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.
AFAIK the idea hasn't been discussed whatsoever and perhaps the sentiment is not alive anymore at all. Altogether nothing has happened with this, which may be a good thing, or may be a bad thing.
x 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).
Honestly, I don't even know if it's my own bias or not, but I have not seen anything like this. Feel free to correct me if you think otherwise.
“There's no need to imagine,” Sakana idly commented on Tsukiko's remark as to what she'd do with rivals. He was right, there was no need. “You've already shown you are willing to do what it takes. I'm just asking you to apply that will in a different direction.” He agreed with her on the notion of an ambush though, as that was exactly what he'd been thinking. If the goal of this test was to acquire scrolls, then whether or not they did it by combat was irrelevant. A jonin that accomplishes his mission with no combat at all was, in truth, far more effective than one who had to slaughter a village to do it. All it would take was a willingness to use violence if it was required. Sakana, however, was not predisposed against going over other people's backs. Just preferably the backs of other teams.
Sakana couldn't help but feel the irony in her statement about embarrassment. She was right, in the sense that it'd be embarrassing if he was the only one to get promoted. But at the same time... it'd be far more embarrassing to be given a scroll on a silver platter and pass that way without having to lift a finger. He kept this comment to himself, however, as his eyes shot to Kamui.
“Find us a target.”
Once Kamui had understood, he looked back at Tsukiko. She was now, in a shared position with Sakana, the most influential member of the group. Although Usagi and Kamui were both strong shinobi in their own rights, they hadn't spoken up to either Sakana and Tsukiko. All Sakana could draw from that was that both of them were just waiting to see where the cards would fall. Tsukiko.. her loyalty was bought and, as a result of that, Sakana expected her to ditch them to hand in her scrolls if things went wrong. Usagi and Kamui? They had no insurance. Their betrayal, if it came, would be unexpected, unlike Tsukiko's. “I'm anticipating some of the other teams broke up too. We should go after loose targets, perhaps. People are tired, they just completed the first trial and some of them might have had to fight, unlike us. After Kamui healed me, I'm at full strength, and so are you and Usagi. We just need to guard our support shinobi, Kamui. Rely on him to snag scrolls, maybe. Unless you're intending to take them from the bodies?”
By now, Kamui must've found a group or a set of loose shinobi, preferably one with expended chakra reserves, if he was at all capable of finding that out. Sakana wanted to go for the easy targets - the weak ones. The weak fell behind and that was true for shinobi too. He turned around and made ready to leave, but remembered something that seemed important to note. He turned back around and faced Tsukiko and the others, before undoing the buttons of his flak vest. “Before I forget,” he noted, lifting his undershirt up a bit. A strange thing to do were it not for the obvious purpose - underneath it was the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing seal placed on his torso.
“In the event that I die,” he calmly stated, “it's better to run.” He stated it rather matter-of-factly, seemingly not really having any qualms that his death would trigger a jutsu that would kill those around him. Even in death, it seemed, Sakana seemed satisfied that he would serve a purpose, that he'd see what fate death would hold for him. He then lowered his shirt and did the flakvest up again, before turning around and making ready to leave to whatever direction Kamui directed them. “Okay, let's go.”
They're serious... What the fuck do they have to gain? How many immigrants have been true terrorists in the past 5 years? (And no one link me to a Trump site)
Perhaps they're scared of facing the same threat Europe is facing right now. Something that happens in Europe can happen in the USA. Not that I deem it likely, but then again if they're scared of it, they feel fear, and fear isn't really rational most of the time.
[center][color=gray][b]Just an Aragorn looking for his Arwen[/b][/color][/center]
[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FrPe6BA.jpeg[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/ugdwUng.jpeg[/img][/center]
<div style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><div class="bb-center"><font color="gray"><span class="bb-b">Just an Aragorn looking for his Arwen</span></font></div><br><br><div class="bb-center"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/FrPe6BA.jpeg" /> <img src="https://i.imgur.com/ugdwUng.jpeg" /></div></div>
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