For now I've decided to separate out the existing club registration from the beta testing registration to keep everything straight. So if you wish to just simply make a club how things have always been then you're in the wrong thread and will need to click the other registration thread. If you're here for the beta testing of the new Club System we're going to be working on, then you're in the right place.

Welcome and thank you for participating!

Here is an explanation of the new Club System project that we are going to be testing.

A brief explanation of the project: the social group format that currently exists as a separate group where members can create threads and post freely will be recreated within the Club Forums through the use of Sub Forums individualized for each Club or Social Group.

That is the short of it, here is the longer version please read everything before making your decision so you understand what it going to happen.

What we’re going to be doing is running a base model of the final fully feature product that we have envisioned. It will have all of the basic functionality we want, but it will lack all of the bells and whistles that we want to add to make things more robust. The beta test will be a way for us to get things started to see how people like it and where we can make improvements. Even without the bells and whistles it can still functional fully as intended, as a Club or Social Group. Everyone that participates will be able to provide feedback and suggestions on additional features to add to make it something that everyone can enjoy.

The base model is pretty simple for now, but as we have the time available to make the mods needed to it things will grow and you’ll be able to test out the new stuff we add. What the base model will be is a sub forum located in the Clubs Forum of the main forum. There the sub forum will be given whatever name the group that participates wants along with a brief description. With the sub forum you’ll be able to continue discussions and talk as you have previously in the social groups. This will mean that the clubs rules from before will be relaxed significantly more than they ever have to accommodate the posting environment of the social groups.

The club forums will become a “Main Club Forum” which will be the hub for all of the groups. The main club forum will be used as a “front desk” for the groups or as I like to call it a job fair. Each group will have a thread where forum members wishing to join will sign up and you’ll be able to look at your applicants. All requests for giving forum members access will go through me first and I’ll handle the work.

So that is how things will work for the beta after the setup. The creation of a sub-forum for your group will be very similar to how clubs are made. You will make a post in the registration thread of the club forum requesting a sub-forum for your group. Do note that if your social group or club already exists it will be automatically approved all you’ll be doing is giving me the necessary information to fill out to personalize your sub-forum to your group. If anyone wants to make a new group in the sub-forum that doesn’t already exist then it will go through an approval process that you see happen in the thread currently. You’ll want to read the main post to see the form that you’ll need to fill out since it’ll be different from the norm as well as necessary so you can have your sub-forum read the way you want it.

Now to answer why you would want to do this if it is going to be mirroring the social groups. With this move to the club forums as a sub forum you’re threads and post will appear in the main forum providing greater visibility to your group as a whole (such as the “new posts” and “posts in the last 24 hours”). This can help to promote and increase your own group’s interest and activity in the forum. Your social group will no longer be hidden in a specialized area that does not even provide updates or notices to its members. All of the features you use in the forums will be available for you to use such thanks, new posts in your User CP and forum subscriptions.

I want to take a little time to explain what we want to eventually make the final product of this to look like. The plan will be to allow the sub-forums to be customized with icons and images that represent the groups. They will also be available to be listed in your own profile like inventory items are so you can show off and advertise for your own groups. You’ll be able to select which ones you want to display just like items. Some of these features will require us to create our own mods to have it happen as they don’t exist. So it should be understandable why they won’t be available at the start.

As said before, any additional features can come from the suggestions and ideas you give us. We won’t be able to promise to do everything, but it will never hurt to give every idea you have. We’ll let you know if it is possible and if we will try it out. Anything new we do will be run through the beta testing groups until we hit an end point that we feel it is finished.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact me through PM or responding to this in here. I’ll answer everything that I am able to do.

This does open immediately and there will be no limit on how many groups we accept into beta testing. There will also be no time limit on joining the testing. It will always be open unless we deem it unsustainable or the project fails. Please check the Club Forums for further updates and work for the beta testing.

Here is the form to fill out:

1. Name of Club/Group (This'll be what appears as the name of the sub-forum).
2. Summary of the Club/Group purpose or activities (This'll be what appears under your name. I'm not going to set a limit to the length right now, but please don't abuse it.)
3. Public or Members Only (This means do you want anyone to be able to step in and be allowed to post or you do want it to be members only. Members only will require them to be accepted by your group or leader and I will add them to your group giving them permission to post in the sub-forum. Otherwise all they'll be able to do is read and nothing more. This doesn't mean private. The current plan will not allow any private sub-forums.)
4. Representative Image of Club/Group (This is completely optional, for now I'll store it, but we'll use it in the upcoming features we will be adding. So when it comes online your sub-forum will personalized.)
5. List of all members that need to be giving access if you're a members only group.

When needing new members added to your group send all requests to me through a PM. I will be handling all matters for the Club Forums. If you do not hear anything from me after a day and there's notice of my unavailability then send your request to Loco or Cain. However, please direct everything to me first so to limit the load on them.

As I said before if your group or club exists currently there will be no approval process required of you. All you'll be doing here is signing in your group/club and filling out the form so I can create it your specifications. Afterward, I just hand you your key as it were and you have fun!

However, if you are wanting to participate and don't have a currently existing group/club you will go through an approval process. The approval process will not be as restrictive though as the existing one for club threads. So it's quite likely you will be approved.

That is everything for now. If that changes I'll update it and let everyone know.

If you're a members only group you will want to create a thread on the main club forum for people to sign up and ask to join. What you provide there is up to you, but it'll be an easy way for you to get members to come in and ask. It is certainly up to you if you want to make an invite only sort of group.

Please remember that this is a beta test so remember it is to be expected that there is a chance for things to be broken, fail or lost. We will try to ensure that does not happen, but do keep in mind that there's the possibility.

Thank you!

Beta Testing Participates:
SOLDIER
Evil Bad Guys
LPers of TFF
Red Leather