Beta Testing Club Registration

[Andromeda]

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

[Dodie16]

The LPer's of TFF have come to the decision to try out this new Beta testing for clubs! We decided that not only will it help bring in new members to the group, but hopefully help with activity on the forum as well. So here's the application all ready to go!

1. Name of Club/Group (This'll be what appears as the name of the sub-forum).

LPers of TFF

2. Summary of the Club/Group purpose or activities

This group is for the purpose of setting up games and playing them together.

3. Public or Members Only

Public forum please. We want to let everyone have the ability to post in the club without having to contact other members for access. We will have a Welcome thread made so those wishing to introduce themselves can have a chance to do so.

4. Representative Image of Club/Group

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0...play_super.png

^ I hope it's okay to use that image.

5. List of all members that need to be giving access if you're a members only group.

Not applicable

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this application, and hopefully we'll become one of the clubs that's able to participate!

[Andromeda]

Thank you Dodie for participating. I've created your sub-forum for your group. So it is all ready for your use. If you need anything updated with the description/summary and what not just let me know. It is a very simple fix.

[Alpha]

Will this entail the eventual demise of SGs? I'm wondering because I think the SGs still have a legitimate purpose. For example, Communists of TFF is purely for irony and humour; it has next to zero content, and doesn't require it -- the very presence of it is what the humour is based around. If it was transformed into a club, there wouldn't really be anything to warrant it having a sub-forum.

Basically, I think this will work well for active clubs, and indeed for clubs that require activity. But I still think that SGs fill a niche for less active groups. Will they still remain?

[Rocky]

Will this entail the eventual demise of SGs? I'm wondering because I think the SGs still have a legitimate purpose. For example, Communists of TFF is purely for irony and humour; it has next to zero content, and doesn't require it -- the very presence of it is what the humour is based around. If it was transformed into a club, there wouldn't really be anything to warrant it having a sub-forum.

Basically, I think this will work well for active clubs, and indeed for clubs that require activity. But I still think that SGs fill a niche for less active groups. Will they still remain?

SGs are getting the boot when the new TFF forums happen because they are not supported by the new forum software or w/e.

[Alpha]

OK, so are inactive or moderately-inactive clubs permitted, or will we be required to actually plot take-over of capitalist society? (Kidding.)

[Andromeda]

It is true that Social Groups are going to be cut from the vB4.0 TFF 7.0. There's a number of factors and so this beta test is actually in part going to help to provide a solution to that. It provides a number of solutions to Socials Groups that are a benefit to members and staff. So whatever we learn and make happen here will get ported over to the new TFF when we make the move.

As I said before all currently existing groups and clubs will be allowed to join no questions asked, aside from filling out the form (of course ^^). So whether you have little direction or purpose for your group is not really a concern. Activity and what not is also not a concern. What we are doing here is trying to in part mirror what social group has, but provide a more robust system that isn't delivered by social groups. You are more than welcome to participate if you wish and you'll be able to continue on as you were in the social groups without being punished for it. The rules have been significantly relaxed to match with the atmosphere of social clubs. So pretty much as long as you're not harassing, trolling or flaming someone there's probably not much you're going to have to worry about. If that is not reflected come to me and I'll investigate the matter.

But it is totally up to you right now. It was simply an invitation.

It is indeed the plan that this will replace the need for Social Groups and whenever that time comes it'll be closed down and you'll be able to continue as you had here. For now though it's just an alternative that's available to everyone.

[RagnaToad]

So basically the new clubs will be Social Groups who:

-are not private
-have posts that are added to post count

You mentioned that the purpose or activity of the new clubs will not matter and that the rules will be 'relaxed'.

Does that mean the content and relevance of posts doesn't matter at all, like in social groups now?

[Rhaps]

1. Name of Club/Group (This'll be what appears as the name of the sub-forum).
-The group's name is Red Leather

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.)
-Discuss the Antagonist of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and an RP based around his events

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.)
-To avoid "dead weight" members I keep it Members Only

5. List of all members that need to be giving access if you're a members only group.
-Rhapsoblarg, Alther Primus, Ralz, Heartless Angel, and Poking White Mage

--Had to go out of order to upload picture--

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.)

[Andromeda]

RhapsoBlarg thank you for participate. Due to me going to work immediately after writing this post I won't be able to get your forum set up now, but I'll do it when I get home immediately. I do apologize for the delay.

Ragnatoad, no one is being restricted, so private Social Groups can join but under the idea that they won't be able to be private.

And for now currently the rules and outline of this beta test is that yes it will mirror the environment of Social Groups. So you will be able to as much post and rules won't have as much of a focus. I mean if you go and abuse the fact that we aren't going to get after you about spam by doing nothing but spam we'll talk to you. But so long as you don't abuse the relaxed atmosphere we won't say anything.

This naturally subject to change as we are testing things out. But right now I'm just wanting to simulate the same environment you have in Social Groups so you don't feel that this place is restrictive. I do believe that the benefits you get from being here on the forums will help out, so it is pretty much the same as the Social Groups, but you get all of the perks of being in the forums. That should not change, but as I said if that gets over abused then we'll take some sort of action.

I hope that answers your questions Ragna, I wanted to respond to you as soon as I could, but I'm running out the door. So I may have missed or read something in error. So let me know and I'll clarify anything when I get home.

[RagnaToad]

That answers my question perfectly. Thanks.

So in a way the new system will allow members to 'run' their own subforums?

[Victoria]

Yeah, pretty much. Andro knows more of the specifics. I'm pretty much just his secretary at this point. xP

[RagnaToad]

Another question:

Will there ever be an option to make your subforum private?

I used to be against private, elite things like SOLDIER, but that was mostly because not everyone could start something like that himself. If everyone could do it, I would not mind I suppose.

[Victoria]

No. We will not have anymore private forums like that. And for good reason, I'm sure you understand. No hard feelings.

[Andromeda]

Yeah, for now we will not be having private groups. I thought it would be fine, but there were some pretty good arguments that were made that made me change my mind. So for now at the very least everything will be open to the public. There are a certain level of options I can play with on visibility. So I may explore those at some point.

If you have an idea for how it could work out then you're welcome to put it down in the suggested features thread. We can hammer out some details and see if there is something workable. But I make no promises.

[Andromeda]

RhapsoBlarg I finished getting your forum setup for you. So it should all be working out. Let me know if there are any issues with it or any members unable to post or access.

Also I wanted to let you know of an option that is available. How it all works out is not clear, so we need people to test it. But I wanted to make it available to you. I can make your group joinable. Which means that it'll appear on everyone's User CP under Networks as Groups. There interested members would be able to click that to put in a join request. I believe that the request then goes to me to accept.

So it can be a way to speed up entry into your group after you've accepted someone. Just let me know if you want to be part of that test. You'll still probably want a thread in the main club forum for people to come in and ask to join.

[Rhaps]

I've no problem whatsoever with the User CP attachment, that sounds like the answer to my prayers as far as getting new members but managing real ones or not. Thank you again, I think this beta will be just the thing to boost club activity.

[Rocky]

When is this Beta Testing for the club over, and where can we go to give our comments about this Beta? I'd like to see some things changed when the real clubs roll out.

[Victoria]

http://thefinalfantasy.net/forums/cl...ggestions.html

Here. The other sticky topic labeled Feedback and Suggestions.

[Andromeda]

Alright, I made the switch for the usergroup to a Public Joinable group now. So you'll be able to find the access to that from the User CP -> Network -> Group Memberships. There it'll list all of the available groups that can be joined. Now this will only be for members only groups for the time being since open groups won't be requiring you to join up before posting.

I don't know all of the details on how it'll work, but we'll learn. I'm going to try to use it on anyone willing to test it out. So we can see what it is capable of doing.

The quick answer to when the beta testing is over is when we've reached a point with the system that we feel that it is either complete or robust enough that it is satisfactory enough to roll out for everyone. Until then it'll just be an optional thing that will bridge between Clubs and Social Groups. eventually it'll replace both.

[RagnaToad]

@ Andromeda: I am interested in the arguments that were made against private subforums.

Any chance you could talk about them here?

[Andromeda]

It would probably be better discussed in the feedback and suggestion thread since I'd imagine there could be counter arguments made and whatnot. And considering the nature of the topic could become a lengthy and heated debate. I'm not opposed to having it. I'm not planning on keeping any sort of secrets about it. It's not like it is some private matter between the staff that the members don't need to know about. At least as far as I know. So bring it up there and I'll answer your question.

I'm willing to answer questions in here, but more directed to how things work and whatnot.

[Merlin]

Well I had posted the reasons here, but I'll move them there... Private forums have been nothing but a hassle from the start.

[Alther Primus]

I'll betcha there'll be a Sephiroth group soon, so why not have a group for all 3 SOLDIERs?

1. Keepers of Honor
2. Here is where we discuss Angeal in depth and such. Possibly slight RP, no guarantee though
3. Members Only
4.
5. N/A

[Andromeda]

I'm going to need a list of members for your group so that all of your members are able to have access.

[GypsyElder]

By Ally lol Shit, I say keep the period topics. I GOT NUTHIN TO HIDE!

Oh well, We'll participate...hopefully lol The social group has died down some.

1. Name of Club/Group

PRK9

2. Summary of the Club/Group purpose or activities

Welcome to the sorority, Por Rorr Kitty9, we welcome all female members of every shape and size. This is for girls only.(....except for Alpha) Yes, that's right. No boys allowed, keep your underwear drawers locked at all times to avoid the panty raids*.

3. Public or Members Only

Members only

4. Representative Image of Club/Group

This is the one we have now: http://thefinalfantasy.net/forums/im...ine=1257582339

And the sig I had from Ceaser's pic: http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...g?t=1277809886

5. List of all members that need to be giving access if you're a members only group:

Alpha
Cheesevixen
Dodie16
DragonHeart
Gypsy Elder
Halie
Hyzenthaly
Insufficient Mage
Mistress Victoria
OceanEyes28
Storm
Tiffany
Unknown Entity
Violet
Winterborn86

(I left some people out that haven't been on to save some hassle)

[Andromeda]

Sorry for taking so long to get back to you to confirm that I received your post. I ran out of time in the morning and I'm heading out again after work. But I'll get it setup when I get back. I would have done it earlier, but I'm going to have to go through all of the members to get them in the usergroup and that'll take more time than the rest of it. So there wouldn't be enough time to get it all done in a single setting and it wouldn't be fair to have half of it done. But I promise I'll take care of it when I get back.

[GypsyElder]

Okaaay ^^

There's no hurry lol

ty

[Andromeda]

It's all done now. Let me know if there's anything wrong and I'll fix it as fast as I can. Also I set you to the not joinable option. Let me know if you want to test out that feature for your group. I still don't know the full extent of how it works, but the more people that test it the more we'll know.

Also you are available to make a thread in the main club forum for people interested in joining to come in and write their name. You can use the thread however you want to advertise and present your group.

[Taco-Calamitous]

1. Name of Club/Group Vile, Unlimited
2. Summary of the Club/Group purpose or activities We represent the card-carrying, moustache-twirling villains and villainesses of TFF! (Girls have moustaches?!) The trully despicable and low down ornery varments are welcome here.
3. Members only
4.
5. List of all members that need to be giving access if you're a members only group.
Telegraph, Meier Link, Sinister, Violet, Soldier #819, Nix, Gravis, Rameses II, Chez Daja, Silver