The TFF Council

[Fate]

Welcome, Chez Daja!^^

Anyway, I think I like that Adopt a Newbie idea a lot. It saves them trouble, and by trouble, I mean them getting warnings. And they feel more welcomed, leaving them with guilt to the people who adopted them to not log on every day, you see? Guilt can be a good thing, if it'll get members more new active. And like Dragoon said: about 60% of the new members don't even go on for more than a day.

[Ralz]

Yes, this would help promote activity. If it is allowed, how would we go about assiging members to newbies?

[Fate]

No, but we can't tell first off when a person registers how active they're gonna be. For all we know, I might get a newbie that won't log on for ten years! And once we do get to see which ones are active, they usually know enough about the forum to get along and manage by themselves. I think we should just make a thread where experienced members volunteer to have their name put up there, and the newbies can choose which one they want to adopt them. They know themselves how active they'll be, but we don't.

[RagnaToad]

Yeah, I'm assuming no one's read my post. -_-"

I guess I'll try and get the TFF Pop Poll things going myself.

[Fate]

Okay, I can see what's going on. It appears that we have too many ideas going in different ways, making it confusing and hard for people to get their ideas noticed, so why don't we agree with five ideas at a time? That way, we can discuss them all without anyone else coming up with new ideas to interrupt them. So, I will go back and compile the list of ideas we have to far, and everyone gives their opinion on those ideas, alright? Too many ideas = complete disorder...

[Azuteor]

The adoption thing was such a great idea. Sadly when I arrived it wasn't really active. However we could take it upon us to revive it. What are your thoughts? If you new members have someone to chat to and look after them it encourages them to return.. at least thats what I think.

Thanks Kilala!

Yes, I believe we should revive it. Newer members keep popping up and they don't even stay that long. Usually some newbies post in the video game threads for help or advertising and disappear. I'm not sure if that is the case, but it is what I have been seeing. I sometimes get random private messages from people who want me to join their forum.

One factor could be being caught for making a mistake in the threads, especially when they are new to forums. It can be very uncomfortable and displeasing. Members can be so quick to catching errors other members make and concentrate on that mistake rather helping them out.

We must make TFF an enjoyable place to be. We do a great job at welcoming them to our home, but we lack enough activities for them to participate in. With RagnaToad's idea, I'm sure that it will spark a lot of opinions. RagnaToad, is it possibly to do it once every two weeks or a month? There is a lot of topics we can cover and I'm sure we wouldn't want to wait a year to do it, haha. Nice idea though.

[Fate]

Okay, as of the moment, here are our current ideas that are interesting people.

1. MSN Night, where we get to know each other.
2. Adopt a Newbie, where we help new members feel at home.
3. Pop Poll, where we vote for popular stuff outside the forum.
4. Recognition of Members, where we highlight valuable members.
5. Tier System, where we rank everyone of the club. (This is a given, right?)

Anyway, tell me if I forgot any important ones, but now everyone can give their opinions on each one, so that we know which ones to keep and which ones to eliminate. And please, until these five get resolved, no more new ideas. It gets out of control when there's so many thoughts processing all at once.

[RagnaToad]

1. Not to diss on all ideas but my own, but the MSN night idea will reach a very limited public. People who have full-time jobs, kids or are in college don't have that much time. Though I'm only speaking from my own experiences (not with job/kids obviously). And I don't know if people are looking for MSN convos at fixed times. But if you're just referring to the TFF Council MSN "meetings", the issue with that would be the opportunity for everyone to throw something in at any moment. It would require some discussion mediators.

4. I don't see what is meant by "recognition". We already have the Reputation, sorry, Thanks system working well and people can always mention other members in their sig. If it is limited to 1 member at a time, like the MotM idea, it would be a good thing though. But only if everyone can only vote once, not like those elimination threads in Word Games.

And I'm considering starting the TFF Pop Poll thread some time this week since everyone can only post once in it, but maybe an "IMPORTANT"-tag attached to it wouldn't hurt. Though the end of 2009 is not nearly in sight.

Maybe I'll ask Chez or so to make it an "IMPORTANT" thread once I get it going with all the questions and everything. I don't need approval from any staff to open a thread like that do I?

Nah.

[Victoria]

No, you shouldn't need approval from staff for a thread like that, but where do you plan on posting it?

You'd have to ask the proper staff member of the forum to sticky it. =P

And also, Fate, why are you so eager to take control of this club that Kilala created?
Stop doing her job for her. =P

She said that she appointed you in charge when she's in a leave of absence. Leave of absence doesn't mean logging out.
Leave of absence means going on a vacation where there is no internet, or to the hospital, or dead, or loss of electricity, or things such as that.
Otherwise, she remains in charge. ^_^

[Unknown Entity]

1. MSN Night, where we get to know each other.
2. Adopt a Newbie, where we help new members feel at home.
3. Pop Poll, where we vote for popular stuff outside the forum.
4. Recognition of Members, where we highlight valuable members.
5. Tier System, where we rank everyone of the club. (This is a given, right?)

1. We already have TFF Chat, so maybe we could advertise that more? I like the sound of a TFF Chat Night too, but we all live in different time zones and we have lives other than that, so that could prove a little awkward. But I really like the idea. ^^

2. Adopt a Newbie sounds awesome! I like the sound of that. =333

3. I like the sound of thise also.

4. Sounds a little like favouritism. Just a little. I don't think people would be too happy if they are ranked on how well how other people view them.

5. How does the tier system work exactly? From what I got in my head, it could work out to be like 4. =S

Sorry, I'm slow this evening. =S

[RagnaToad]

[...]We already have TFF Chat[...]

How is that?

Unless you're referring to arranged MSN conversations, there is no TFF Chat.

[Kilala]

Welcome Chez Daja! I'm so happy that you decided to join in the end (albeit from a bit of prompting from me.. <_< *HUGGLES*) thank you so much for coming!!! Means alot to me ^^.

RagnaToad that is an excellent idea. And it's all here on record! Not to worry. We really should discuss this with members of the moderating staff as well as here! Sadly I wasn't here last year when they did the voting and nominations so I don't know how early it's done...

As for the adopt a newbie system we'll have to develop a new system perhaps? Clearly the previous one has died down a little. Once a new member makes a 'noob' thread then it is promising that they will come back and check up on it. So somehow from that we can devise a plan for members to adopt this new member and encourage them to stick around. An affective way is through chatting in VM's I find sometimes.

And about the members which sign up and never post - I suspect these are just bots. So they're not going to post whatever - nothing we can do about those. All we can do is encourage the real members and hope for the best!

MSN nights will be hard to coordinate due to peoples different time zones. But the MSN thread is now back on the first page in GC. So if you haven't already, add as many people as you can! Take the initiative now. No one is going to bite you <3

As for The TFF Council Tier system, I truly believe that it should be done by the join dates of the members. Older members obviously are more reliable - wiser and more knowledgeable about the forums here. It also keeps it far and doesn't have people wondering why they're been put where they are.



Also, I thought I'd just say, if anyone has any suggestions they don't feel confident about you can PM them to me and I can drop them in anonymously for you.

I would also like to mention that tomorrow I travel back to my 'home'. And won't have the internet until Sunday. As soon as I sign off for this short period I will put it in here. So You know that I'm not ignoring anything or being slack.

In my absence there will be two Second in Command for the mean time. The wonder moderator known as Mistress Sheena, and Fate.
When my notice for the period of time that I will be absent has been handed in, they will become the temporary Leaders of the club.

I don't think I said this before, but if anyone has ANY questions concerning this club, please feel free to ask me. I'm always ready for anything you could say.

Might I make a suggestion? It's pretty heavy having multiple things going on at once here. Perhaps we the people shall choose an issue one at a time and talk it out until we've reached a conclusion. That way things get done and it's not a multiple suggestion thing and nothing happens.

[Sato Arashi]

1. It's an ok idea, but with those at different time zones, it's a difficult one.
2. I like that idea, just one drawback can happen, which I don't know that drawback clearly
3. It's a good idea, definately going for it
4. Does this really affect the goals of this club?
5. I like the idea except it should be done by date that the member joined. There are many people who has been on other forums that would undermine the purpose of that.

[Kilala]

1. It's an ok idea, but with those at different time zones, it's a difficult one.
2. I like that idea, just one drawback can happen, which I don't know that drawback clearly
3. It's a good idea, definately going for it
4. Does this really affect the goals of this club?
5. I like the idea except it should be done by date that the member joined. There are many people who has been on other forums that would undermine the purpose of that.

Regarding point 4 - the goals of this club is to make TFF a better place. Maybe like the Golden days. This includes promoting more activity etc... Appreciation and recognition can fall into it too. A council can cover many aspects.

Also I really do think it would be simpler to tackle one idea at a time... I feel more would get done in this manner.

[SOLDIER #819]

After stating my interest, Fate recommended I submit an application and see what happens!

Do you care about TFF?

It can certainly be a fun place to be when there's a spark of activity. Even though I just lurk, it'd be nice to keep that going. So you could say I do.

Are you willing to group together with fellow members and attempt to make this a better place?

I usually don't join clubs anymore because I don't like making commitments with people I don't intend to keep. That said, I think I can work together for others if it's for something like this.

Off the top of your head, name one/two things you would like to see improved / or to happen with TFF. If possible, try not to say more activity <3 Thats the primary reason for the club.

An obvious one would be making the place a bit more user-friendly for newer members. To start, that would mean consolidating the stickies in Member Business and various other rule threads scattered about the forums into something easy to find and read.

Going with the same theme: an index cleanup. There are a lot of older forums that need to be deleted or hidden, maybe some consolidated. I naturally just scroll by them, but I think it'd be a bit overwhelming if I had just joined.

Why do you want to be a part of this group?

I want to keep this place fun and interesting. I may not be particularly active, but I think after 8 years with some good times sprinkled throughout, I should try and give a little something back.

--

Now the wait...

[Kilala]

Welcome to The TFF Council SOLDIER #819. Good to have you here!
I'll add you to the member list! Thank you for joining us <3. And your suggestions are realistic and helpful! They will be documented ^^;

[SOLDIER #819]

Thank you for you allowing me in.

For my first suggestion as a member of this club... uh... Maybe it'd be good to have Our Very Pink Leader decide on a topic of debate to avoid the clutter. Until that happens we're stuck evaluating 20 things at once. >_>

[Kilala]

Okay, so I'm going to say first issue to address shall concern communication.

That is the MSN issues. It would be nice to have TFF Group Chats - and it is possible. I've been a part of one tonight (well it's night for me.)

My proposal is, that the existing MSN thread in GC may be stickied so it's always on the front page and allows members to attain e-mails with ease in a single click.
It's also important perhaps that the Council members are able to communicate with the other members offline TFF as well.
Question is, should we ask a mod to sticky this thread http://thefinalfantasy.net/forums/ge...sn-please.html in GC.

[Unknown Entity]

I think it should be stickied, but I also think to save on the clutter, a new one should be made and locked. I like how you gathered everyones MSN into one post, but it would be better if it was stuck in a first post so that people don't have to look foor it on a different page. A bit like the TFF Member Picture thingy. ^^

[Kilala]

Yes that would make it tidier... so you propose the old one is closed and move to CoD/deleted.
A new thread created with the list AND stickied for members to see.
That sounds doable. Another reason I wanted to pick this one to start off on is... if we can do something and action IS taken, then it shows we really are a pro-active group.

[Fate]

No, it shouldn't get archived, since if we have a closed one that is a compiled list, no one will be able to post anymore. So if we have both, a Mod can update the closed one if someone posts in the main one.

[SOLDIER #819]

The only issue I would see is that there are so many stickies in GC that it could be lost among them. Personally, when I see Bold Orange Text nowadays it's more like a cue to avoid the thread since the active threads are below it. That would mean you either should prune some other stickies or finding ways to keep it at the top through activity.

I think the latter can be done if you don't mind keeping it unlocked. It's easy if you're generating interesting conversations and quotes through the chat to post in the thread. I think it will also show members who may be hesitant to post their MSN names or don't have it that it's friendly and fun, too.

[Kilala]

I just find it amusing that MySpace has been stickied... it's so random xD
Keeping it on the front page through activity is a another valid solution indeed. Problem is, this could lead to pointless spam if not controlled if you know what I mean. But again another good point you have made SOLDIER. It would show what a friendly bunch of people we are *wink wink* ~^.

So possible outcomes so far:

• New thread is made and stickied with ALL listed addresses for easy use.
• We keep current thread on front page through activity.

[Fate]

But how do we keep the current one active if a member already posted once? Is the thread... chattable or something? I never looked at it.

[Kilala]

Well the last poster could like delete their post and repost it haha xD That would keep it up ^~
But yeah it could be liable for spam and bad rep etc etc etc.

[RagnaToad]

It is so weird how Laura is analysing all these thoughts by saying what "we are going to do" ^_^. As if we're the ones in charge, hehe.

But I think the TFF Pop Poll doesn't need approval from any staff, and the end of 2009 is not nearly in sight.

@ Kilala: Due to its irrelevance and to spend more attention and time on other issues, my proposal can be removed from the list. Not every idea needs approval. I don't know why I mentioned it in the first place.

[Fate]

So I guess the only option is to sticky it, then?

[Kilala]

RagnaToad we can come to it! Don't you worry <3 But if you wish for it to be removed - it will be done so. But it may come up again in future discussions.

Well as a group we all make the decisions. Perhaps before final judgement a vote between all the members should be carried out. Majority rules?

As all suggestions are made and approved by the members, I think that seems fair... It makes things appear more professional and thought through

[Fate]

So are we voting for whether or not to sticky both the current and the new MSN thread?

[Kilala]

Well from what I see we have two options. So each member could vote for an option?
I don't know if that's the way to go forward (voting I mean). Your thoughts? <3