Suggestions to improve the org

[Zim]

Interesting thread.

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.

Going off the front page example, is that something that people would like? Serious question, I've been here for years and I have to admit barely ever glancing at the front page. I always went straight to the forums

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

I do. Somewhat to my chagrin I post almost exclusively in my section, although I've tried to make more forays elsewhere since becoming a moderator.

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".

For me that's easy. The main reason I joined and stayed at the Org would fall under the "community" answer, but there is one other thing. In addition to a healthy hotseat community that I could probably find elsewhere we have the TW Rpgs. I'd never seen anything like them when I joined KotR years ago and I'm not aware of similar games being done elsewhere. I know that might not be what you're looking for but it is something I find here at the Org and not anywhere else. A strong runner up after that would be that the EB team makes their home here, whose mod has provided the vast bulk of my single player tw playing for years.

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

Good point, I should take another look at the stickies in the Throne Room...

[Monk]

Interesting thread.



Going off the front page example, is that something that people would like? Serious question, I've been here for years and I have to admit barely ever glancing at the front page. I always went straight to the forums

Since the front page has lingered unused for years, with only the occasional post once every few months, of course that's the attitude to be expected. I'm of the opinion that unused as it is, it gives a poor image of the site that is perpetuated elsewhere. That there's not a lot going on. Either do something with it or tie totalwar.org to redirect to forums.totalwar.org and be done with it.

And even if ignored, it doesn't change the fact there was significant lack of any attempts to spread the media given freely by Sega about Shogun 2. Like CA or not, the Org is a fansite and as I stated above I was getting new stuff on a near daily basis. Not only screenshots, but trailers, dev diaries and gameplay footage. There was a real opportunity to spread that media and by proxy, spread the image that this site actually gives a damn. But alas.

For me that's easy. The main reason I joined and stayed at the Org would fall under the "community" answer, but there is one other thing. In addition to a healthy hotseat community that I could probably find elsewhere we have the TW Rpgs. I'd never seen anything like them when I joined KotR years ago and I'm not aware of similar games being done elsewhere. I know that might not be what you're looking for but it is something I find here at the Org and not anywhere else. A strong runner up after that would be that the EB team makes their home here, whose mod has provided the vast bulk of my single player tw playing for years.

Absolutely that's what I mean. Something to offer that you can't get elsewhere. Ie. A reason to stop lurking in guest mode and actually create an account. Things like that should be held up, touted from every corner and advertised heavily. People should know from a glance at the Org things they can do here, activities and games they can take part in. As it stands that simply isn't the case.

[Passion]

I know exactly what you are saying Monk. I used to come here a long while back before a heavy break. I have only signed up again to feel a sense of nostalgia. I can't quite put my finger on what is "different" it just feels so. I can however remember a lot more activity so something must have gone a little pear-shaped. I am talking about the RTW/ MTW2 forums which obviously have become older titles but compared to say TWC they are absolute graveyards. More so the likes of the Mead Hall and Frontroom are very quiet, I remember fine pieces of literature being produced by different people most weeks. The likes of Fall of Constantinople are still going strong thankfully. I do see that the authors are having to double post their works on TWC to gain views and feedback!

I think The Org was and still is in a very good position to offer something different to the whining and kindergarten of the official forums but in terms of activity and popularity they must be doing something The Org is not. I just don't know what that is!

[Tellos Athenaios]

Whining and kindergarten as you put it? What the ORG definitely lacks in comparison with TWC is interest in modding M2TW on the one hand and ETW/NTW and by extension TWS2 on the other. So if you want modding tools, tutorials, guidance and by extension mods that are not prefixed with “Europa Barbarorum” the TWC is where you go.

(Funny thing: recently the internal EB forums where the magic happens passed its 200K post mark, so I checked: EB 1 with both public and private forums included accounts for 94.5% of the RTW mods section on the ORG.)

[Passion]

Undoubtedly they have a great community Tellos and the modding foums are one aspect of that. You just don't get the same community feel, quality of posting etc. TWC seems to excell with members constantly trying to out do each other which thankfully doesn't happen here often.

If we could attract such an array of modding projects here than that would be great. You know how popular EB is! I would actually like you to broaden your stats to encompass even the 'vanilla' RTW posts, maybe even th older Medieval/ Shogun forums.

Other forums which work well are the writing forums. Lots of monthly competitions too which could be something to look into.

[phonicsmonkey]

I posted this in a similar thread on this topic a while back (it can be seen a little further down the forum)

I think it speaks to Monk's points 2) and 3). It's a bit easier for those of us who are involved in games however as there's a definite reason for us to be here checking the forum and posting on a daily basis. Without the Throne Room I confess I would long have drifted away from the org as I'm not that interested in off-topic chat and my capacity to post on a particular game is limited.

By the way, and with regard to 1), Zim and I will be looking to provide a regular update on Throne Room games on the front page. Hopefully that will increase the level of interest in our forum as well as giving the general impression that stuff is happening at the Org.

Having said all that I've seen a revival of activity since TWS2 came out and many of the old names are back (for now) and posting in the Tea House and Multiplayer forums for that game. When I get my copy I'll be active there too.

[therother]

There seems to have been a fair few threads like this lately... Of the them, I was most saddened to read Caravel's. Not because I agreed with every point he made, indeed one or two points I strongly disagreed with, it was more that some of his experiences with the staff mirrored many of my own and I'd rather hoped things had improved over years since I've been more or less inactive.

It was certainly my experience that, with some very notable exceptions, that getting many staff members to do anything to help with things outwith their immediate fiefdoms was very difficult. A prime example is the two (still pinned) EH threads I wrote on behalf of the staff 6 years ago now, both of which are now ridiculously out of date (I would guess that these are two of the threads Monk mentions in his opening post). I got essentially no help from most other forum leaders, and wrote most of the forum descriptions in the Synopsis myself as few responded to either the organisation thread or my PMs (all I asked was a sentence or two describing their forums ). This, along with the general lack of staff support for, or enthusiasm in, a number of other initiatives (both mine and those of others) was rather demoralising and very much led to my own resignation. I asked a number of staff members to take these threads over when I resigned, although no one would agree to do so. In that time, only Monk has done any updates to the forum synopsis. To be fair to him, he did so off his own bat as I'd long since given up on anyone doing anything with them.

I put an awful lot of effort into The Guild FAQ in particular and feel it's a real shame no one has taken it over (it's been 4 years since the last update, and frankly it was probably at least a year out of date then). It's been a long time since I've known enough about the various parts of the forum to reliably update the FAQ.

Anyway, with that aside, I'll say that 1) is the key: there's no question that people sign up for content and the Org needs to do far more to engender an atmosphere that members will believe that the staff will actively support initiatives. Concerning the CMS though, I very much agree that it needs to be more active, but it's still an enormous improvement over the old front page.

Not sure having active moderators is essential, although I agree it would help. Personally, given the level of posting here, I think the Org should probably have a half dozen or so Super Moderators with full mod powers over all forums, with a larger cadre of Forum Assistants who are there to help organise and participate in the forums, who come and go more frequently as their time motivation fluctuates, but who have no moderation responsibilities except post/thread organisation powers.

As for 4), I'd be very happy if someone would take over The Guild FAQ and/or the Synopsis...

[Monk]

The only reason I didn't continue to further expand on your threads is because, at the time, the Guides section for ETW was going up and I was planning a few starter faction guides. I was shifted in mod duty from the EH to the guides and lost rights to edit your threads, otherwise I would have done much more in my first go than just a quick touch up.