The TFF Council

[Kilala]

Okay this is my last post before I sign off for my mini break of no net - should be back on Sunday.

::Update::

We have taken all options of the MSN issue within the TFF Council and now they reside in this poll:

http://www.snappoll.com/poll/297699.php

Each member may vote once, and once only. The choice with the highest number of votes shall be the winner - and we will proceed to make it come true.
Yes there is a deadline for this poll. I say give her a week. The poll will be open for ONE week. You have this week to cast in your vote - it makes a difference so don't think it doesn't.

We are now open to discuss the next issue. On the list it appeared to be

"Adopt a Newbie, where we help new members feel at home."

If the fellow members are happy with this, then the discussion shall proceed. We want to work out how to revive it and how to go about it.

As this may be my last in here for the evening, Mistress Sheena and Fate now take the lead of this club until my return on hopefully Sunday.
So updates and reviews will come from them etc... You all know the drill <3
*Hands out cookies*

[Victoria]

Depends on what kind of warnings you're talking about.
I mean, a spam warning is just a measly 5 points. Even before then, we do our best to pre-warn new members who haven't read the rules yet.

But really? Everyone should read the rules when they join. If they don't, then they probably don't really care all that much about the community to begin with, but that's just my opinion.

[RagnaToad]

The problem with that is, that new members won't necessarily see that thread. Unless you consider new people who know their way around TFF still noobs.

Maybe someone can be put in charge to let every new member know that they can post in a certain thread to get some kind of godfather/godmother. But that would be a really tedious job, considering the new member rate on this forum.

[Fate]

But you do know that warnings are a factor in activity. You can't expect a member who first joined to know all the rules and what to and what not to post, can you? I mean, they just joined, after all, and to some people, this might very well be their first forum. They're having fun and posting, and all of a sudden, they get a Private Message titled "You Have Been Warned." They open it to find that one of their posts which they don't even know was not valid. You'd think that that would discourage them from posting, right? Well, it does, since they fear for more warnings, and ultimately, a ban, if they continue to post. And even Loco, the very person who laid forth the rules, said that "spam is one of the hardest things to classify," so you can't blame a complete newbie to forums to know what it is, right? But I do think that a week is a fair amount of time for them to realize all those rules.

And about the Adopt a Newbie idea, maybe we can ask Fuzz to fix that little PM that he always give automatically to new members with a link to the Adopt a Newbie thread?

[RagnaToad]

And about the Adopt a Newbie idea, maybe we can ask Fuzz to fix that little PM that he always give automatically to new members with a link to the Adopt a Newbie thread?

Best idea I've heard all day.

[Chez Daja]

Adding in ideas for adopt a newbie...

And about the Adopt a Newbie idea, maybe we can ask Fuzz to fix that little PM that he always give automatically to new members with a link to the Adopt a Newbie thread?

That could be possible. That said, though, let's sort out the major technicalities of how the actual adoption system would function. We can sort out the luring of noobies later because that's easily fixed with an auto PM or a visitor message to each new member. I have a few ideas for that, but the actual running of the adoption is a lot harder to maintain than the luring of newbies. (I know this because I've been part of the old Adopt-A-Newbie foundations in the past.)

So if you don't mind, could we perhaps delay that part for now and get right down to the core of explaining what the system would be like??

In the older Adopt-A-Newbie foundations, there were two main threads. The first thread was where the adopters would write a little about themselves. The other thread would be for the noobies to sign themselves up for adoption. In the old foundation, we didn't really think about giving the noobie the choice of who to pick so a lot of members got stuck with people they didn't want.

Of course, the adopter should be given a choice to refuse some people if they don't think they can do it, (this should be a total rarity, though), and there should be a limit to how many people you can adopt at one time. After about a month of activity, you will no longer need to supervise that person about the board.
I think if we created two main veins in the system (a thread where members could choose their adopters) and (a thread where noobies would allow anybody to adopt them) then we might have more newbies' who'd like to stick around because they were given that choice and therefore felt important as a new person.

That's just my idea though. Of course it's not the only one out there.

[SOLDIER #819]

It'd also be a good idea to figure out how many people in our ranks are willing to join in in the adoption process. It certainly can be time consuming, so that alone raises a question of viability. After the system is fleshed out and we have an idea of what it takes to get this sucker moving, we should run a poll to see who is willing to join in.

Then there's the question of adopter qualifications. Some years ago when the idea first came out people had to have a certain number of months/years in order to be an adopter. I think the bar was set quite high and limited the pool to a select number. I think that should either be thrown at the wayside or dumbed down significantly. We have members who have not been here relatively long but have demonstrated that join date matters very little. Our Supreme Leader and the members of this club are proof! It would be wonderful if members who were once adoptees became adopters after "graduating".

It may also be nice to consider another way of partnering people. We may want to make it into something more group oriented as opposed to a one-on-one sort of thing, which may isolate certain people. If all adopters get along relatively well, keep in contact with each other via the TFF Chat/etc., and are active, then there is less need to force each adoptee into their own partition. I think doing it this would also give them the opportunity to meet more people, which is not bad at all.

Heck, you could even make it into a TFF Family thing. Have "parents" (regardless of gender, mind you >_>) and then group adoptees together with them. Anything to get them more involved with more members at TFF. I think it would also take some pressure off of adopters. 2:6 is much, much more manageable on a daily basis than 1:3, since adopters can pick up each other's slack.

[Chez Daja]

Heck, you could even make it into a TFF Family thing. Have "parents" (regardless of gender, mind you >_>) and then group adoptees together with them. Anything to get them more involved with more members at TFF. I think it would also take some pressure off of adopters. 2:6 is much, much more manageable on a daily basis than 1:3, since adopters can pick up each other's slack.

That sounds really good. I think that's what we were missing last time. The adopters were the ones the adoptees "relied" on to talk with at first (or at least most of them); so it would make it easier for newer members to make friends, with each other and the adopters.

But now I'm just repeating you.

[Victoria]

I already told you, Fate. We pre-warn new members who do it the first time. Do you not read anything I say? -_-;

And usually if a forum is someone's first forum, you would think they would read the rules when presented to them in their intro thread.

We seriously can't make people read the rules. We can encourage it, but ultimately it's up to them to read them or not.

If they choose not to and end up getting warned or something, then that's not our problem if they get steered away, because it was their decision to ignore the rules.

And by your logic, Fate, sooner or later a week won't be enough. Then someone'll say a month. Half a year, etc, etc.

Sure, a newbie wouldn't know how the warn system works. But that's why we have the rules, and that's why we inform them of how it works in the automatic PM.

You're really making a big deal out of nothing; and I'm making an even bigger deal out of it by responding to you.

And I don't think there's an automatic PM for a new member. Is there? Did you get one? If so, then yes, we could contact him about that.

[Fate]

Forget the warning issue, then.

But we do get automatic PMs.

[IceColdPillow]

I think that solves the adopt a newbie thing, right off the bat, new members see that. Let's keep that thread on the front page always, we gotta start newbie friendly. [sorry for the lack of participation last 5 pages ]

[Victoria]

Well since that idea pretty much solved that, we'll move onto the next one.

4. Member recognition.

Aside from the yearly TFF Awards, what do you think we should do to gain more recognition for members and such?

I'm heading off to work right now, so I can't give any ideas.

But, discuss~.

[Fate]

This... is a difficult one to think of... Maybe for every year that a member has been here, we can do something special for them? Like add a glow to their name or something so that they stand out?

And remember to vote. But only once, please.

http://www.snappoll.com/poll/297699.php

[RagnaToad]

This... is a difficult one to think of... Maybe for every year that a member has been here, we can do something special for them? Like add a glow to their name or something so that they stand out?

What purpose would that serve?

We already have Post Count, Join Date and Reputation automatically displayed...

Individually they might not tell you much about a member, but if you combine them they provide a lot of information.

[IceColdPillow]

I like the amount of time idea, its better than basing that off the number of posts, so we know that persons legit.
hm, a glow sounds alright with me, but what about actual titles? Is that only for the old timers, or would staff members like me get some sort of title?

[RagnaToad]

Chez, good idea to leave the luring part aside for a while. What I'm wondering though, is exactly what the function of an adopter/godfather would be.

Is it to prohibit the new member from (unconsciously) spamming and pointing out when he has in PMs and such?

Or is it just a way to create friends quickly so that they will stay active and won't become another sleeping account?

I think if we're actually going for this, we should seriously include the first option. I don't see how else it would be useful to the forums (apart from preventing the sleeping accounts).

[Chez Daja]

Chez, good idea to leave the luring part aside for a while. What I'm wondering though, is exactly what the function of an adopter/godfather would be.

Is it to prohibit the new member from (unconsciously) spamming and pointing out when he has in PMs and such?

Or is it just a way to create friends quickly so that they will stay active and won't become another sleeping account?

It's both. You have to help them by PMing; giving them snipits from the rules to remind them of what they can and can't do.
Light conversation is good, too in VM's and whatnot. That way you can become friends with that person. We could also encourage other adopters to talk to the noobies as well. That way they don't feel left out and are able to make friends quickly.

[loaf]

Recognition can only go so far, and I honestly don't think that knowing how long someone has been here is need for recognition. Recognition would mainly be for someone who does something for the forums. And with the forums hacks, I doubt we can add anything next to their names. Only way I see any type of recognition that I feel is the best way. By having a specific thread for the people who do something nice and it needs to be recognized. So mainly something like, an idea from these 4 people that was a huge success on the boards, they could be in the recognition thread.

[Sato Arashi]

Regarding the MSN issue, I think it is best that for the club that we pm our msn name to you and you update the contact via the first post. That way, It can't get buried somewhere on the forum or people has to find it through this thread. I think that's the best option there can be.

[Chez Daja]

Yeah, like the Picture Index forum that OceanEyes28 created. I don't want to lumber her with such a tedious job though, so if nobody else wanted to volunteer, I'd be happy to create a list and send it to her for later stickying.

We need Kilala back; this thread dies quickly without her.

[Victoria]

Okay, so for the MSN issue, it seems the "Picture Index" idea is the latest suggestion.
Although I'm not sure how that's going to fly. Only one way to find out, I guess. Anymore ideas for this?

We do have that poll thing for the MSN topic: http://www.snappoll.com/poll/297699.php

And the topic after that is the Adoption thing. Did we come up with something for that or is it still being discussed?

Remember we're supposed to discuss one idea at a time to prevent chaos. xD;

[OceanEyes28]

I have a question. (No, I haven't joined yet, give me a sec. I want to put this out there)

Speaking of the Picture Index, I just deleted a lot of ****in people. Inactive people, people with dead links, etc. My next step will be to add new people/pictures. That is, if you guys still think the Index is a good/relevant feature to General Chat. I can also add MSN names under people's names, if they request it, and make it a Picture/MSN Index. Or would that be too much?


Also. Should staff members be adopters, or should we step aside and leave that to members? I'm cool either way, but I wanted to put that out there.

I will edit in a join app thing in a bit.

EDIT:
Do you care about TFF?
Sure.

Are you willing to group together with fellow members and attempt to make this a better place?
It's why I'm still on staff. I love this idea.

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.
Quite frankly, there are people listed on staff right now who haven't even logged in for one or two months. That doesn't look good.

Why do you want to be a part of this group?
So I can be part of the discussion and directly connect with you guys about what you'd like to see improved that I can help with.

[RagnaToad]

Quite frankly, there are people listed on staff right now who haven't even logged in for one or two months. That doesn't look good.

I've noticed as well. Bryan 2.0 hans't been on for a while I think, and Psychosyd has apparently not been on since november 2008.

If we're going for more mods we might as well go for temporary/new mods.

[Victoria]

Hmm. I personally wouldn't mind a Picture/MSN index. It would make things condensed into one sticky instead of tacking on another sticky. But that's just my opinion.

And as for Staff being adopters, I don't see why not. It would make the staff seem more friendly towards its members, which isn't a bad thing at all.

[Fate]

And as for Staff being adopters, I don't see why not. It would make the staff seem more friendly towards its members, which isn't a bad thing at all.

I completely agree with this one. You know how members feel towards Mods that they are unfamiliar with: fearful and resentful. Even I didn't like Mods at first, because of the warnings, but I had a change of heart! I'm sure new members would like to get to know staff members.

But on another topic, it seems that we may need to go back to the MSN issue again. I think maybe we were rushing it too much, and SOLDIER told me that he talked to Sheena about it, and yesterday, only about 5 out of our almost 20 members actually participated in the idea, meaning it wasn't a group consensus after all. So should we move back to the MSN issue until we come to an agreement as a whole?

And oh yeah, glad you joined, Ally. I was gonna ask you, too!

[RagnaToad]

Even I didn't like Mods at first, because of the warnings, but I had a change of heart!

Ha. I don't hate Ally for my warning, since I kind of deserved it. A Mod's gotta do what a Mod's gotta do, right? But then again, I'm not a noob. It is true that Mods tend to be seen as unfriendly, while they are the members who care most about this forum and are trying to keep it a decent place. I also don't see a reason why Mods shouldn't be adopting noobs. Win-win, baby.

And what is the issue with the MSN thread?

I thought the thread would just be remade and stickied? The PMing would be spamming up some Mods PMbox I think.

[Meier Link]

I would have to agree with you on both points Sheena.

It is funny we are talking about the Adoption thing here, I recently brought it up (about a week ago) and the CBC8 house. I am also in with the general opinion that it can't just be anyone who wants to be an adoptor.

Damn I am gone for less then 24 hours and this thread goes 3 page crazy, awsome.

I was also thinking, with the TFF member profile that Ally recently opened we could use that so people can read a little about our memebers, of course that would take some expanding on what is already there. Wouldn't be mandatory but I have noticed that if the questions are there people are more likely to fill them out instead of just trying to make things up. Just an idea and I wanted to get it out before I forgot.

[Vivi97]

Here is my apllication (Again)|
________________________|

* Do you care about TFF?
Answer- Yes I do

* Are you willing to group together with fellow members and attempt to make this a better place?
Answer- Of course ^^ I wish to be friend's with all, and I wish to make this a great FF forum ^^

* 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.
Answer- Hm... This is a hard one... Maybe to see more member's? Idk... I think this is already a great FF site... Or maybe to stop cussing? Idk. Ya let's go with, New member's, and removing cuss word's.

* Why do you want to be a part of this group?
Answer- Part of it is because all the other club's were closed =P, And that it look's like a very nice club...

Your probably not going to except me so...

[Fate]

I thought we were just gonna sticky the current one!

See, it's confusing. I have no idea what the plan was yesterday, and whatever it was, it was only agreed upon five or six members.

[SOLDIER #819]

About the MSN thingy, there are a number of options to choose from. Looking at this poll gives 3 of the options in short, with the details scattered throughout the thread. Ally also presented another idea where we would combine the Picture Thread and the MSN thread into one super sticky. We should probably gather up all these new ideas, think them through, and then make another poll.

In every case except keeping the thread active as opposed to simply stickying, some of the other stickies in GC would have to go so it could shine. The general consensus is that too much orange may make it stand out less (I think?).

Personally, I'm not sure it's the best idea to combine the Picture and MSN threads alone. It seems like it would only save some space and could be a bit confusing. But, I think if we expanded it a bit it could work really well. If we're going with the whole "getting to know each other" theme then maybe we should combine those two threads with Ally's TFF Member Profile in the Member Business forum? I think it would be pretty cool to have everything in one thread. The mods could leave it open and let people post their own info and edit their pics in.

Or if you want to be more neat about it, you could let the members post their stuff, then a mod could come along and take the necessary info, edit it into their own comprehensive post, and then delete the original post. That could be a bit time consuming so the OP should be a non-mod who's active and trustworthy to give Ally a break, provided that's what she wants.

It's funny how far we could take an MSN thread. To me, non-stickying is the best for activity's sake, but this is certainly a close second.