Suggestions to improve the org

[caravel]

1.) Create content.

There are a number of cool content features here at the org, from the social groups to the front page and blogs. Most users have access to these features in some form or another, but it'd be very nice to see a steady stream of content from those who actually maintain the site. No. I don't mean dumping it all on Tosa either, or expecting him to conjure up things on his own. The org has an entire team of moderators. One of them has spare time I assure you.

Example: The CMS (front page) has been a weak spot here for years and almost never gets updates. When i left last year I was happy that it at least appeared someone was going forward in my stead with those updates. Sadly I can see that's not the case. Some real opportunities were missed here with the lead up to S2. I still have access to the Sega PR site and every single day exclusive trailers and screenshots were landing in my inbox. Sometimes weeks before they were hitting most major news sites. I never saw those mentioned here at the .Org either in a thread about S2 or on the front page. The reason I didn't bother to post them here is simple: I didn't care.

I think this is a chicken before egg scenario. Content will appear once more people come through the turnstiles and start getting actively involved - at present that is not the case, so asking people to just get off their arses and create content won't cut it. I appreciate what you're saying and in the ideal world I would agree with you, but this is not the ideal world.

2) Have moderators who actually post in their assigned sections.

I dunno. Seems pretty straight forward. A mod team interested in things other than the Tavern would be great. I know how it is, its easy to get stuck in the hum-drum of moderating. You clean up spam and deal with reported posts then you just browse and take off. Still. Would be nice to see the moderators acting like forum leaders instead of just invisible custodians. There's some on the green team who actually do what I'm asking, others not at all.

Example: The Arena has two assigned moderators but it is effectively a dead forum.

It needs to be said that there are simply far too many moderators on this board. Recently there seems to have been a recruitment drive and now the frontroom has 4 moderators?! What on earth are these people going to do? There is just no need for that level of moderation on an offtopic forum.

People wonder why the frontroom is dead - it's because it's being stifled by staff that seem to be on a crusade to clean it up. Clean up what exactly? It's dead, there's nothing to do there, nothing to clean up. The reason you see problem threads, is because there are no other threads in there - so the problem threads stick out. When you post something and a moderator jumps on you and edits or send you a PM, that puts people off posting at all. If the board was a lot busier the mods would not have the time to "micro-moderate" every post.

The sword dojo now has two mods... there have only been a handful of posts this month so far in there. It's obvious to me and to others that I've spoken with as to what needs to be done - assign one or two moderators over the whole STW/MTW section and be done with it. At least that will give those involved a decent workload. At the moment it doesn't warrant one moderator let alone two.

3.) Give people a reason to register

Why should anyone join the Org at all? I'll wait while you think of something. No, you're not allowed to say "community".

I can think of no reason to join the .org or stay at the .org these days. I stay here to stay in contact with a few old friends, but that's it. There is no good reason for a new person to sign up here.

4.) Update things. For god's sake.

There are things around the site, things like lists of moderators or rule threads, that are just old and outdated. One still lists barocca as an administrator. Having these things go untouched for so long is.. well. It gives off an atmosphere of apathy. Which is furthest from the truth, I know you greens and reds work hard. The entire site has that old feeling to it like it's not been updated in ages.


That's all I can think of really, and its a pretty straight forward list. No, I don't care if I should post this in public or private because quite honestly I know what will happen if I post it privately. Maybe putting it in public will strike a nerve suffecient enough to get something to happen. Or maybe not. Either way ball's in your court folks, let's see what you do with it.

Yes. The reason there is an atmosphere of apathy, is because there is apathy and complacency here.