ORG, TWC, and the Official Forum - what would the ORG specialize in?

[Rhyfelwyr]

I think the first thing that needs adressing is the .org's blatant racism towards the Japanese.

Top-notch thread here btw, can't believe I missed this. I like how Sasaki Kojiro became "Saigo", echoes of Bartix there, nice.

[johnhughthom]

Definitely agreed here. Lots of changes have been implemented by TinCow and the group.

Seconded. I have been a member here for nearly five years, and lurked a good three or four before actually signing up, the past year or so has easily been the most productive in terms of staff efforts to improve the org. If I had an idea, I would certainly feel comfortable bringing it forward, and confident it would be assessed fairly by the staff.

[Axalon]

Absolutely. I'm not sure if people have really noticed, but the Org has changed more in the past year than it did in the previous five years. We want to keep this place alive, so if you've got actual plans that can be implemented we are eager to hear them.

Ok then... I'll try to write it down somehow...

It assumes that the volunteers at the Org have twaddled their thumbs, refusing to do anything to make the experience better, when things are constantly being looked at and changes are being made, most notably, the Org "brass" itself.

Not necessarily, I think it is a matter of applied perspective. However at this point, we do have bigger fish to worry about then that (I will not deny you that attempts to change somehow has indeed been made - as outlined - and at least in some limited regards I certainly do too believe it is for the better). What truly matters here is that I (and all others) have had a straight answer, both from you and TinCow - loud and clear. Now, I'll act accordingly and somehow post up some ideas for you guys to ponder upon and I will discuss them with you - once I have something "to bring to the table" so to speak.

There are some fantastic support facilities currently deployed and are being deployed for Mod creators,

Such as? I honestly don't have a clue what that exactly means... This could be interesting...

... Vidya-Crowd ...

Help me out here because I don't even have a clue what that means? I can only do wild guesses here. Sorry...

, and other content creation aspects of the TW series which look quite exciting.

Such as? (I'm honestly asking)


Anyways, I'll try to write some stuff down somehow...

- A

[Beskar]

Such as? I honestly don't have a clue what that exactly means... This could be interesting...

I am unfortunately not the best person to go into details as I have been merely "Looking over the shoulder" so to speak. But I believe we are assembling effectively a "Modders Toolbox" of sorts, such as offering File Sharing services. @frogbeastegg is person who should probably speak about this.

Help me out here because I don't even have a clue what that means? I can only do wild guesses here. Sorry...

I might be using the term incorrectly, but I basically it is Video-Game-Videos. This might be replays, streaming, or even videos about games. Example of where to access this on the forum is here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/media.php

Such as? (I'm honestly asking)

Have to tie that into the answer of the first question.

But as a general answer, feel free to bring forward suggestions, from my limited experience behind the scenes (I haven't been a volunteer team member myself that long), if a good idea comes up and it is feasible to implement, then it will most likely occur.

[Maltz]

Conclusion:
We decided to do as a halfway system. Allow people to "Give Thanks" to a contribution without intruding and allow that other user to feel appreciated for their contribution. There is no real "gain" or "point scoring" involved, it is simply warm felt gratitude and appreciation.

Actually I did not realize there is even a "thank" to click on - the current design is not very obvious for users.

I understand and respect the wish to keep the ORG mature and well-intended. This is why I am still posting and sharing things I find... but as a contributor, we naturally want our works read by as many as possible, and receive appreciations and constructive criticisms from readers.

If the contributors find that their work does not get many counts or thanks, and there is little hope for the situation to improve, they will naturally migrate. Some time ago I wondered whether I should post in the TWC this time, but then I realized there are still many good people in the ORG and I can simply go advertise things in other forums.

There is a saying "the clearest water has no fish". It is the most precious thing to stick with our judgment and principles, but we have to use simple languages in order to get our words spread around. A simple langauge for the forum is that we want to find some ways to keep the contributors. Sainty contributors who require no thanks or acknowledgement only come once every century.

[Andres]

@Axalon:

Please, let the ideas come, it's good to have food for thought. I think I'll bundle some of the ideas from this thread and put up polls about it. Don't hold back on ideas, even if you think they'll be "revolutionary" or a complete different style than the .Org style. In the end, we (and with "we" I mean all of us, all members), need to decide on our direction: keep everything as it is with the risk of this place eventually simply fading away or change some things drastically, which may mean (no guarantees, there never are) more new blood, but also losing a bit of our current identity (you can't have everything).

I'd like to hear input from as many members as possible; new members, senior members, regular members, oldtimers, people who just signed up 5 minutes ago; everybody. Be open. Share your thoughts and no idea is too crazy.

So yeah, feel free to post your thoughts. Small things, major changes, crazy stuff, it doesn't matter, I want to hear it. I want to hear the community where both you and I are part of.

The org is in desperate need of members and the greatest source for such are the new TW games. The org is based around what TW was 8-10 years ago and it catered to people that played the then TW games - this is all water under the bridge; TW games are much different in their orientation and so is their clientelle. Org's rules and tradition are to me its greatest attraction but, that's very bad news for the forum overall. That my own humble modding effort for MTW was voted mod of the year here is embarassing to say the least. As was the voting participation for the new game.

Just-get-the-new-people-in. You don't need only veteran minded people that are more mature here. Froggy guides won't get you new people in. You need the younger lads and ladies that play newer TW as well and that may mean dropping 'quality standards' where those are to be lowered. Mature discussions are well and good, but they won't fill in the numbers - and without people that play the games there isn't anything to discuss, nor potential new migrators at other areas of the forum.

The problem is that the org had isolated itself for many years in order to preserve its character, to the point that new influx became so little that in the end its us and us. Unless one is from the 'old' generation its quite difficult to get the place's spirit and get into it - you'll get thrown at a corner or busted. A turning point is fast approaching and this year's awards prove that beyond any shadow of a doubt. More discussion about whether the forum should open up in case the regulars get upset will only bring the inevitable faster. As for becoming TWC copycats, its too late to worry about that - the org has already copied TWC policies/means and devices.

Just get moving on - there is less and less time every year.

[Hamata]

just so you know guys i have made an alternate logo! Attachment 5357 hope you like it

[Maltz]

just so you know guys i have made an alternate logo! Attachment 5357 hope you like it

I really like the writings of Total War. Is it possible to make Org a similar style?
And maybe we can rearrange the two elements a bit.

[Maltz]

Ops. repeated reply - needs to figure out how to delete...

[Marshall Louis-Nicolas Davout]

Is there a way to cancel your account? That would be really nice as for some members who are leaving, I'm not sure which way to do it.

[TinCow]

Is there a way to cancel your account? That would be really nice as for some members who are leaving, I'm not sure which way to do it.

Yes, stop posting.

[Andres]

Yes, stop posting.

Most of us are mere mortals and do not have TinCow's iron will and self-control.

Is there a way to cancel your account? That would be really nice as for some members who are leaving, I'm not sure which way to do it.

We have a seperate usergroup who want their account to be suspended on a voluntary basis. Just pm one of the Forum Admins and we'll put your account in that group. Whenever you'd like to use your account again, you can contact one of the FA's and we'll put it back in the group it was in before the voluntary suspension.

[frogbeastegg]

How about changing Thanks to red or something more obvious and perhaps a passionate icon? Or move it to the right so people notice it it while clicking reply.

We'll take another look at the system, see what we can do. I agree that the current system is not perfect.

Another way to encourage people to give thanks is to have a "thanks received" and "thanks given" counter for each member.

We tried that on one of our test versions. A lot of people complained because they felt it was too close to a reputation system.

Sainty contributors who require no thanks or acknowledgement only come once every century.

Precisely. One simple "Thank you!" can mean a lot - there's a reason why it's considered a vital part of polite conversation out in the real world. Too often people's efforts go unrecognised, people don't take the time to post some thanks. The button system was supposed to help counter this by making it possible for people to show appreciation without feeling like spammers.

I am unfortunately not the best person to go into details as I have been merely "Looking over the shoulder" so to speak. But I believe we are assembling effectively a "Modders Toolbox" of sorts, such as offering File Sharing services. @frogbeastegg is person who should probably speak about this.

That one died a slow death due to lack of interest amongst those we hoped would use it.

[Vladimir]

Is there a way to cancel your account? That would be really nice as for some members who are leaving, I'm not sure which way to do it.

What? You already requested to be banned once and now you're back. We need oddballs to keep this place interesting.

One of us. One of us.

[frogbeastegg]

As you will hopefully have noticed, the thanks button has changed colour. It's now a dark red with a red thumbs up icon. If you can't see the change you may need to do a forced refresh with your browser. Feedback would be appreciated.

We can continue to tweak as necessary, and this version is a quick tester change to see if it's helpful. Colour is much easier to change than button position, although both are possible. We'd like the button to be more noticeable, without becoming so dominant that it becomes distracting when reading.

[Andres]

I see the colour has changed, but in all honesty, it doesn't make the button more noticeable to me

Perhaps a redder red (does that make sense?).

[Askthepizzaguy]

It would have to be a particularly bright red to be eye-catching, and then perhaps too much so.

I'd kind of prefer a cooler color like green, which is a common color for a thumbs up button. See how that looks, maybe?

[Arjos]

I agree with Pizza here: like this it gives a negative response feeling...

[TinCow]

It is now lime green. Too bright?

[Mouzafphaerre]

​

It is now lime green. Too bright?

All right if you ask me.
​

[Askthepizzaguy]

I just noticed that you guys are probably seeing a greener button than I am.

I always use the indisputably best skin, which is "The Guild". On the more modern skins, the button is green. On The Guild and STW, etc, the button is uh, grey.

The button looks awesome on the other skins, but it's not enough for me to break up with my beloved.

[TinCow]

Sorry about that. Should be fixed now on all skins.

[Arjos]

Perfect now: noticeable, yet not distracting nor imparing reading

[Askthepizzaguy]

That looks absolutely perfect now. Thank you, TinCow.

Really handsome looking button, not distracting and also not hidden.

[Cute Wolf]

honestly, and to be very blunt, some of things that can make you get infracted by overly leftist moderators here are perfectly fine on TWC, for example is name calling some of those abominable lewd behaviours

and ORG is the only place you can get infracted by just being "unfriendly" to certain idiot member.... ckckck

[Askthepizzaguy]

Well, honestly, I don't really want to be part of a forum that specializes in lewd name calling, for either political or apolitical reasons. I like how the moderators keep the backroom relatively chilled out, and the rest of the .org calm and polite. I stay away from TWC's off-topic sections because of all the deadlocked partisan shouting matches. I also prefer a thread I can engage in a normal conversation in, with familiar faces... more of a corner cafe, rather than the floor of a political convention.

I prefer it how it is now, I wouldn't want the tone to become less friendly, the debates less civil, or the moderation more sloppy.

I always thought that the political viewpoints represented in the backroom were pretty diverse. We just don't really allow things to sink to the Michael Savage level of discourse, and I thank the administrators and moderator team for that every single day. There's a place in this world for that kind of stuff, and it's a place where people have no standards and nothing in particular worth discussing.

[a completely inoffensive name]

This forum has been a part of my life for 25% of the total number of years I have been in existence. I feel like I should do more, but I already post a lot of stupid stuff on here everyday. I don't know what else I could do.

Maybe I should do another reading contest, but turnout for the last one wasn't that great. No one even guessed the right number until I practically gave it away.

[Secura]

honestly, and to be very blunt, some of things that can make you get infracted by overly leftist moderators here are perfectly fine on TWC, for example is name calling some of those abominable lewd behaviours

We do not and will not condone bullying at the Org, and name-calling is a form of that. Personal attacks are not appropriate, regardless of your opinions/feelings of that person; if you don't like them, there's an Ignore feature.

I am willing to embrace a great deal of change if the community wants it (be it forum appearance/structure, content, staff behaviour/rules, whatever), but bullying is one thing I truly stand against and won't budge over.

and ORG is the only place you can get infracted by just being "unfriendly" to certain idiot member.... ckckck

I'm more than willing to discuss these infractions with you at your discretion.

[Andres]

I agree with Secura that we can't allow bullying. That said, perhaps Cute Wolf's point has merit. It's not always easy to draw the line; moderating has never been exact science. Is two members getting a bit "rougher" against each other immediately a problem? Should we wait longer before stepping in, in the hopes members will simply work it out for themselves. I've seen it happening on a few occasions; stumbling upon a thread with a post that made me cringe, but no moderator intervention. Then a page further, you see members moderated themselves and get along just fine again. Such threads warm my heart.

What about off topic posts and frivolous spam? Should staff act against that or should we allow more "forum chemistry". After all, the idea of this place is to have fun and threads full of good old fashioned completely nonsensic spam posts are usually the most funny threads. I can understand there's a difference between the Guides fora, where people look for specific information and where spam is really annoying, but maybe we should be more relaxed in other areas? Just me spouting random thoughts here. How does the membership feel? As I said, we need to be open for everything. Can I hear some thoughts on this, please?

[a completely inoffensive name]

I agree with Secura that we can't allow bullying. That said, perhaps Cute Wolf's point has merit. It's not always easy to draw the line; moderating has never been exact science. Is two members getting a bit "rougher" against each other immediately a problem? Should we wait longer before stepping in, in the hopes members will simply work it out for themselves. I've seen it happening on a few occasions; stumbling upon a thread with a post that made me cringe, but no moderator intervention. Then a page further, you see members moderated themselves and get along just fine again. Such threads warm my heart.

What about off topic posts and frivolous spam? Should staff act against that or should we allow more "forum chemistry". After all, the idea of this place is to have fun and threads full of good old fashioned completely nonsensic spam posts are usually the most funny threads. I can understand there's a difference between the Guides fora, where people look for specific information and where spam is really annoying, but maybe we should be more relaxed in other areas? Just me spouting random thoughts here. How does the membership feel? As I said, we need to be open for everything. Can I hear some thoughts on this, please?

I think the moderators should just admit that the most exhilarating and interesting period was when me and the rest of the tavern was being super active and spammy. There was something happening every day.