Nitpicky Notes: Improving the website & bolstering activity
Mar 8, 2019 14:35:22 GMT -5
Post by mysterymoogle on Mar 8, 2019 14:35:22 GMT -5
Hi. Uh. So for those of you who don't know me, my name is Mystery Moogle--but a long, long, looooong time ago, I went under the name of Pinky Rose.
"So get on with the suggestions already."
Sorry, and I do have a tendency to ramble, lol. It's just kinda awkward not being here for 4+ years and then suddenly being here and like...trying to suggest things to total strangers that may or may not even like you, y'know? I feel like I need to explain where I'm coming from and where my concerns lie so I don't look like an elitist asshole.
I looked over every nook and cranny of the website, and took notes on what I think needs some spitshine. Some of them are aesthetic, some are technical, and others are more new-user-friendly.
Key:
Needs a quick update
Priority
Needs an update, but it can be done slowly or later
Great Job!
The Front Page
You know that saying "making a good first impression?" Well that's your main page of the forum. Right now, it could use a bit of a sprucing up. I'll list what I feel needs to be updated. Professionalism in appearance is a good way for newer users to have some faith in your website-- I have no doubts you guys have it in the way you treat the community
♣ All themes need an update. The HTML is broken on a lot of them, and some of them haven't been updated since Sprow left. The main theme is plain, washed-out white, which doesn't exactly stimulate interest. Looks like a whiteboard. I can see math formulas written on them if I look too long....
That being said I have a metric fuckton of old themes that I'm happy to update and throw your way as you see fit. I'm a bit of a pack rat, and had things saved over. Don't you judge me.
♣ Image hosting needs to be done on a more reliable platform. The age of Photobucket is, unfortunately, over since they decided go pay to play. Images hosted from Photobucket now have this weird, ugly watermark on them that just doesn't look good. It's part of the reason why the themes are wonky.
♣ Still have changing of the guard posts from 2015 and I'm pretty sure that "we've been here for 8+ years" blurb needs updating too. Idk I'm bad with the passage of time, but I think it's been longer? Like 10? I wanna say Zexion started in 2009? It wasn’t long after KH2. I think. Don’t quote me on that.
♣ Member Board and General could honestly be put together under one main section, and then divided as needed into subsections.
♣ Recommend putting suggestions and OOC closer to the bottom of the board. As it stands now, it seems like RPing is more of an afterthought with the way things are structured. Again, I know that's not the intent--but half of advertisement is presentation.
♠ Love how you organized worlds by game. Good call. It makes things look less cluttered.
♠ God bless whoever got rid of the "world ruler" setup. Looking back I wish we'd thought of it. It only ever caused drama or awkwardness.
♣ Get rid of the Discord segment on the main page and just make it a link on the top of the page. It's a quick <a href="discordinvitelink">Your text here</a href> away!
♣ Staff Notifications implies that it's staff only. I know it's a weird nitpick, but I'd change it to something more general, like "News & Announcements."
Creation Segments
This is usually the second or third thing that your new users are going to see when they enter (after the main page and the rules section), so it's important that things be neat, orderly, and organized for both old hands at forum RP, and newer members looking to see what the hubbub is all about.
♣ Sticking all of the creation posts in one area makes things a bit cluttered and overwhelming for newer members. You have to remember most folks that you're appealing to are probably going to be first-timers to forum Roleplaying, and they do need a little bit of a guiding hand. There was a reason we had characters away from weapons and armor, and that was basically why. New RPers, especially on a forum, get pretty overwhelmed most of the time, and even old hands like me could have a hard time navigating.
♣ Recommend having a "canon" and "OC" section instead of lumping them together. I know hardly anybody makes canon characters (trust, folks usually never do, it's *always* been a thing,) but it does, again, feel a bit claustrophobic.
♣ I'm not sure any of these *need* to be stickied as announcements. These can be seen in every section of the forum, and a good chunk of them are fairly old. Could use an update. Sure, sticky them, but again I don't feel like these are ANNOUNCEMENT worthy posts. Updates on major systems, ect and so on, could easily go into the "Staff Notifications" section.
◘ ◘ Nitpicky Note ◘ ◘
I do have a laughable amount of bright, colorful, clicky things saved from ye olde days. If you want them, they're yours.
♣ Really needs a newbie guide for language (such as the difference between IC and OOC, ect.), to be a little more new-hands friendly. The more experienced members familiar with the system might know what to do, but the long, thick, big ol’ posts on a white background aren’t going to help much with keeping new blood’s attention. The same could be said with the character creation example--particularly since it’s weirdly positioned at the very bottom of the topics order. I realize it’s stickied, but again, this could be solved by removing the announced threads spoken about earlier. Give them information about posts, and what you get the more you do so. It's all about incentive--the forum has always rewarded people who dedicate their time and effort into the community. Make them feel welcome and informed.
♣ Denied items could honestly be put in their own section. This is going back to the clutter issue from before. I do think it's a good idea to keep up examples of things that won't fly with the moderators and other people approving things, though. Good call.
♣ I'm not entirely sure of the purpose of the character deletion segment. If someone’s not using a toon, they’re not using it. Again, it’s just taking space, and it seems like staff would have a better time putting their energy elsewhere.
Technical Segments:
Things that didn't really fall into either category, but are still worth the merit of looking over. The devil's in the details, as they say!
♣ I suggest moving changing of the guard posts to their own section on the forums--not to be removed, but to be remembered--not idolizing or putting on a pedestal, but more of just a sort of timeline, for people interested in knowing about these things. This website has been built on a lot of people's hard work, and it kind of sucks that sometimes when there's a new change of command, the old stuff gets swept away. Even the cringy stuff that some of us are kind of glad got cast into the void. >.> It's important to know where people came from so we can ground ourselves where we want to go further on--and more importantly, so people don't make the same mistakes. It's a bit depressing seeing that people have left, especially figures of importance; it's not very conducive for new people and kind of puts them off a bit. Recommend using the "Roleplay History" segment for these sorts of things. Slapping it on the front page is important so everybody knows, but kind of a bummer though. Again that has more to do with updating the main page than anything.
♣ Not sure if moving closed topics to a "dead zone" is a good usage of moderator's time. That time and energy could be directed to RPing or doing something a little more productive. Recommend leaving "dead" topics where they are. Folks are smart--they can read timestamps and conclude that the thread is finished, and if someone makes an honest mistake and posts in one, that's alright. We've all done it at least once.
♣ Recommend re-implementing the formerly established Raid and Conquest systems back into the mix. Designate a moderator good with writing up conflicts and throw them at users. Sometimes people are just bored and want to fight a common threat, or they're struggling to open a new topic (lord knows that is literally one of the hardest things to do in terms of starting RP.) Throwing an NPC enemy at people is likely to get some attention. Not to mention, if there is an imbalance of "good guys" and "bad guys" being able to write up an opponent for them would likely lead to character interaction and development. You could really do a number of things with that kind of system. It's kind of like running a D&D encounter!
♣ Understand the purpose of the party system, but not needed, particularly with the inclusion of Discord.
♣ Now that the newest game has been released, recommend placing recruiting and promotion onto a willing officer or designated member. Who knows when Square'll put out another game. We can't rely on our age and name alone. We have to forge our own path forward.
♣ Speaking of KH3, recommend placing newest worlds in soonish.
So that's...basically all I've got. Again, I am more than happy to help with any and all of these things, since blasting off a whole bunch of suggestions without actually putting forth the effort of implementing them is kind of a dick move. You can't expect staff to handle everything, especially with so much on their plate IRL and on the forum. Running a community like this is a ton of work and effort, and it's absolutely worth the pain in the long run. But it does take everybody putting forth an effort--and it doesn't matter if you're just around posting, or you're knee-deep in code--every little bit helps.
This community has done a fantastic job keeping up as the years have passed. Now let's work together and dust off our knees, and keep going! Here's to another 10 years, lol.
I joined the original website in (I think?) 2009, when it was still under darkbb.com, back when forumotion was still young and fresh. I "survived" the great schism that ultimately killed the first website established by Zexion, and helped one of my fellow users, Jeremi Stewart, craft the foundation of the website you're standing on now. I became a moderator some several years later, where I spent three years attending to various jobs, approving characters, party members (back when it was a thing) weapons, armor, spells, items, and summons. During this time, I also successfully ran my own website, ffworldzcom.darkbb.com, which was considered the sister website to this one, for about four years before it ultimately was shut down.
I did eventually leave the website for my own personal disagreements with the way long-standing members were being treated. Now that time has passed, I am working not only to get my fresh start, and help contribute to the further growth of this website, but coax other veteran members who were more or less turned off by this place for about the same reason back into the fold. Even not participating, feeling alienated from said community for a long while, we all did check in here from time to time. In spite of everything, we'd all worked hard to build this place to what it was. It's just part of who we are.
So you're probably wondering why I just rolled out my resumé like I'm interviewing for a Harvard position--not to really intimidate or brag or anything, but more to show that I've got plenty of experience, and a dedication and loyalty to both this website and her community. I've seen this place go through huge boons in growth, and I've seen it stagger. I've seen people who could barely write a full sentence turn into magnificent authors with beautiful characters and amazing developments. That's the beauty of places like this. You get to watch things blossom. We've all been there.
That being said...using the experience I've gathered, I have some suggestions that might spark some new life into the place. I have no desire to see everything that not only the friends in the past have built, but what so many people have contributed, strangers who will become friends in due time, people I'll never meet who all the same did their best and had fun, fall to the wayside. So I will do everything I can to aid staff in whatever way they need.
I did eventually leave the website for my own personal disagreements with the way long-standing members were being treated. Now that time has passed, I am working not only to get my fresh start, and help contribute to the further growth of this website, but coax other veteran members who were more or less turned off by this place for about the same reason back into the fold. Even not participating, feeling alienated from said community for a long while, we all did check in here from time to time. In spite of everything, we'd all worked hard to build this place to what it was. It's just part of who we are.
So you're probably wondering why I just rolled out my resumé like I'm interviewing for a Harvard position--not to really intimidate or brag or anything, but more to show that I've got plenty of experience, and a dedication and loyalty to both this website and her community. I've seen this place go through huge boons in growth, and I've seen it stagger. I've seen people who could barely write a full sentence turn into magnificent authors with beautiful characters and amazing developments. That's the beauty of places like this. You get to watch things blossom. We've all been there.
That being said...using the experience I've gathered, I have some suggestions that might spark some new life into the place. I have no desire to see everything that not only the friends in the past have built, but what so many people have contributed, strangers who will become friends in due time, people I'll never meet who all the same did their best and had fun, fall to the wayside. So I will do everything I can to aid staff in whatever way they need.
"So get on with the suggestions already."
Sorry, and I do have a tendency to ramble, lol. It's just kinda awkward not being here for 4+ years and then suddenly being here and like...trying to suggest things to total strangers that may or may not even like you, y'know? I feel like I need to explain where I'm coming from and where my concerns lie so I don't look like an elitist asshole.
I looked over every nook and cranny of the website, and took notes on what I think needs some spitshine. Some of them are aesthetic, some are technical, and others are more new-user-friendly.
Key:
Needs a quick update
Priority
Needs an update, but it can be done slowly or later
Great Job!
The Front Page
You know that saying "making a good first impression?" Well that's your main page of the forum. Right now, it could use a bit of a sprucing up. I'll list what I feel needs to be updated. Professionalism in appearance is a good way for newer users to have some faith in your website-- I have no doubts you guys have it in the way you treat the community
♣ All themes need an update. The HTML is broken on a lot of them, and some of them haven't been updated since Sprow left. The main theme is plain, washed-out white, which doesn't exactly stimulate interest. Looks like a whiteboard. I can see math formulas written on them if I look too long....
That being said I have a metric fuckton of old themes that I'm happy to update and throw your way as you see fit. I'm a bit of a pack rat, and had things saved over. Don't you judge me.
♣ Image hosting needs to be done on a more reliable platform. The age of Photobucket is, unfortunately, over since they decided go pay to play. Images hosted from Photobucket now have this weird, ugly watermark on them that just doesn't look good. It's part of the reason why the themes are wonky.
♣ Still have changing of the guard posts from 2015 and I'm pretty sure that "we've been here for 8+ years" blurb needs updating too. Idk I'm bad with the passage of time, but I think it's been longer? Like 10? I wanna say Zexion started in 2009? It wasn’t long after KH2. I think. Don’t quote me on that.
♣ Member Board and General could honestly be put together under one main section, and then divided as needed into subsections.
♣ Recommend putting suggestions and OOC closer to the bottom of the board. As it stands now, it seems like RPing is more of an afterthought with the way things are structured. Again, I know that's not the intent--but half of advertisement is presentation.
♠ Love how you organized worlds by game. Good call. It makes things look less cluttered.
♠ God bless whoever got rid of the "world ruler" setup. Looking back I wish we'd thought of it. It only ever caused drama or awkwardness.
♣ Get rid of the Discord segment on the main page and just make it a link on the top of the page. It's a quick <a href="discordinvitelink">Your text here</a href> away!
♣ Staff Notifications implies that it's staff only. I know it's a weird nitpick, but I'd change it to something more general, like "News & Announcements."
Creation Segments
This is usually the second or third thing that your new users are going to see when they enter (after the main page and the rules section), so it's important that things be neat, orderly, and organized for both old hands at forum RP, and newer members looking to see what the hubbub is all about.
♣ Sticking all of the creation posts in one area makes things a bit cluttered and overwhelming for newer members. You have to remember most folks that you're appealing to are probably going to be first-timers to forum Roleplaying, and they do need a little bit of a guiding hand. There was a reason we had characters away from weapons and armor, and that was basically why. New RPers, especially on a forum, get pretty overwhelmed most of the time, and even old hands like me could have a hard time navigating.
♣ Recommend having a "canon" and "OC" section instead of lumping them together. I know hardly anybody makes canon characters (trust, folks usually never do, it's *always* been a thing,) but it does, again, feel a bit claustrophobic.
♣ I'm not sure any of these *need* to be stickied as announcements. These can be seen in every section of the forum, and a good chunk of them are fairly old. Could use an update. Sure, sticky them, but again I don't feel like these are ANNOUNCEMENT worthy posts. Updates on major systems, ect and so on, could easily go into the "Staff Notifications" section.
◘ ◘ Nitpicky Note ◘ ◘
I do have a laughable amount of bright, colorful, clicky things saved from ye olde days. If you want them, they're yours.
♣ Really needs a newbie guide for language (such as the difference between IC and OOC, ect.), to be a little more new-hands friendly. The more experienced members familiar with the system might know what to do, but the long, thick, big ol’ posts on a white background aren’t going to help much with keeping new blood’s attention. The same could be said with the character creation example--particularly since it’s weirdly positioned at the very bottom of the topics order. I realize it’s stickied, but again, this could be solved by removing the announced threads spoken about earlier. Give them information about posts, and what you get the more you do so. It's all about incentive--the forum has always rewarded people who dedicate their time and effort into the community. Make them feel welcome and informed.
♣ Denied items could honestly be put in their own section. This is going back to the clutter issue from before. I do think it's a good idea to keep up examples of things that won't fly with the moderators and other people approving things, though. Good call.
♣ I'm not entirely sure of the purpose of the character deletion segment. If someone’s not using a toon, they’re not using it. Again, it’s just taking space, and it seems like staff would have a better time putting their energy elsewhere.
Technical Segments:
Things that didn't really fall into either category, but are still worth the merit of looking over. The devil's in the details, as they say!
♣ I suggest moving changing of the guard posts to their own section on the forums--not to be removed, but to be remembered--not idolizing or putting on a pedestal, but more of just a sort of timeline, for people interested in knowing about these things. This website has been built on a lot of people's hard work, and it kind of sucks that sometimes when there's a new change of command, the old stuff gets swept away. Even the cringy stuff that some of us are kind of glad got cast into the void. >.> It's important to know where people came from so we can ground ourselves where we want to go further on--and more importantly, so people don't make the same mistakes. It's a bit depressing seeing that people have left, especially figures of importance; it's not very conducive for new people and kind of puts them off a bit. Recommend using the "Roleplay History" segment for these sorts of things. Slapping it on the front page is important so everybody knows, but kind of a bummer though. Again that has more to do with updating the main page than anything.
♣ Not sure if moving closed topics to a "dead zone" is a good usage of moderator's time. That time and energy could be directed to RPing or doing something a little more productive. Recommend leaving "dead" topics where they are. Folks are smart--they can read timestamps and conclude that the thread is finished, and if someone makes an honest mistake and posts in one, that's alright. We've all done it at least once.
♣ Recommend re-implementing the formerly established Raid and Conquest systems back into the mix. Designate a moderator good with writing up conflicts and throw them at users. Sometimes people are just bored and want to fight a common threat, or they're struggling to open a new topic (lord knows that is literally one of the hardest things to do in terms of starting RP.) Throwing an NPC enemy at people is likely to get some attention. Not to mention, if there is an imbalance of "good guys" and "bad guys" being able to write up an opponent for them would likely lead to character interaction and development. You could really do a number of things with that kind of system. It's kind of like running a D&D encounter!
♣ Understand the purpose of the party system, but not needed, particularly with the inclusion of Discord.
♣ Now that the newest game has been released, recommend placing recruiting and promotion onto a willing officer or designated member. Who knows when Square'll put out another game. We can't rely on our age and name alone. We have to forge our own path forward.
♣ Speaking of KH3, recommend placing newest worlds in soonish.
So that's...basically all I've got. Again, I am more than happy to help with any and all of these things, since blasting off a whole bunch of suggestions without actually putting forth the effort of implementing them is kind of a dick move. You can't expect staff to handle everything, especially with so much on their plate IRL and on the forum. Running a community like this is a ton of work and effort, and it's absolutely worth the pain in the long run. But it does take everybody putting forth an effort--and it doesn't matter if you're just around posting, or you're knee-deep in code--every little bit helps.
This community has done a fantastic job keeping up as the years have passed. Now let's work together and dust off our knees, and keep going! Here's to another 10 years, lol.