Org Issues and Improvements

[TinCow]

Monk is just the first, there will be a few more popping up in the near future (likely today). The Org is making a major push to increase unique content generation, and the Content Managers will be leading that effort. They are being given all resources at the Org's disposal to aid them. I believe the Content Managers will be seeking assistance from the members as well, though it's more appropriate to let them introduce themselves and discuss the process they intend to use.

[edyzmedieval]

Monk is just the first, there will be a few more popping up in the near future (likely today). The Org is making a major push to increase unique content generation, and the Content Managers will be leading that effort. They are being given all resources at the Org's disposal to aid them. I believe the Content Managers will be seeking assistance from the members as well, though it's more appropriate to let them introduce themselves and discuss the process they intend to use.

Brilliant.

May I suggest the restarting of the Gahzette as a measure of content generation?

[caravel]

Congratulations Monk.



//edit: suggestion - I may be out of date, not to mention out of touch with this, but wasn't the Gahzette distributed in some kind of downloadable .pdf format? I would suggest that in future it be part of the front page. That way it's much more accessible - with an archive for previous versions.

[TinCow]

//edit: suggestion - I may be out of date, not to mention out of touch with this, but wasn't the Gahzette distributed in some kind of downloadable .pdf format? I would suggest that in future it be part of the front page. That way it's much more accessible - with an archive for previous versions.

PDF copies of all back issues of the Gazette are available in the downloads section. Visibile and ease-of-use of the downloads section remain an issue, and we're actively working on improving it. However, it is a long-term project and will take some time.

[caravel]

Yes, I understand that's how it worked in the past - I was suggesting maybe scrap the .pdf format altogether and instead have it as part of the main page, if possible?

[Monk]

Monk is just the first, there will be a few more popping up in the near future (likely today). The Org is making a major push to increase unique content generation, and the Content Managers will be leading that effort. They are being given all resources at the Org's disposal to aid them. I believe the Content Managers will be seeking assistance from the members as well, though it's more appropriate to let them introduce themselves and discuss the process they intend to use.

A guy makes a hundred avatars and the next thing he knows, he's got a bag thrown over his head. Wakes up in a dark room and.. well.. I wont go into it.

But yes. [professor farnsworth] Good news everyone! The org staff have invented a new device that lets you get the word out, quickly and easily about the things you want the community to know about. It's called official support![/professor farnsworth]

I'll be doing content things around the org in the comming weeks. Part of that is me setting up the steam group linked below in my signature (if you haven't joined and are on steam, you should! Our numbers are growing fast.) Maybe even making more avatars and doing fancy things with images. But my primary function here is to facilitate aid to you, the members. If you have an event or a contest you'd like to see run, send me a PM. I can arrange official support in the way of: Announcements, front page posts, Steam group posts visitor message advertisements, and so on. In certain cases I may also help take on the heavy lifting of the project, if you were to need help getting it off the ground.

I can also arrange for you to have access to the content forums, letting you organize bigger projects behind the scenes before you post them.

Congratulations Monk.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

What more can I say..

Congratulations Monk!

[Kocmoc]

Monk is good choice! Hes here since a long time and actual he seems eager to get something done. Congrats!

[Monk]

Monk is good choice! Hes here since a long time and actual he seems eager to get something done. Congrats!

I will work very hard to be worthy of that endorsement.

Thank you, everyone.

[a completely inoffensive name]

There is a bug in the system that seems to keep handing me infractions whenever I post. Could you guys look into this?

[TinCow]

There is a bug in the system that seems to keep handing me infractions whenever I post. Could you guys look into this?

Hmm... looks like a flaw with the ACIN code itself. We don't have the tools or access required to fix this at the moment, so you'll just have to wait until the ACIN code is patched to correct this bug.

[Askthepizzaguy]

I'm not sure where to post this, but I must have eaten a really funky pizza, because I'm seeing all sorts of weird colors associated with some of our finest orgahs. I worry I could be having a psychotic episode.

Can someone explain what all the new colors mean?


Here's what I have so far.

Old System:

Blue- One of the little peoples.
Green- Demigod, capable of inflicting great wrath down upon the little peoples.
Red- The most feared and respected of the Old Gods. RUN AWAY!!!


New System:

Blue- One of the little peoples.
Green- Demigod, and ever so much wrathful awesomeness still
Dark Green- Buh?
Dark Red- Pluh?
Dark Blue- Snuh?
Red- I cower in fear.
Other colors- I need my medication.

[Populus Romanus]

Congratulation Monk!

[GeneralHankerchief]

I'm not sure where to post this, but I must have eaten a really funky pizza, because I'm seeing all sorts of weird colors associated with some of our finest orgahs. I worry I could be having a psychotic episode.

Can someone explain what all the new colors mean?

Blue refers to our new position of Content Manager (currently only possessed by Monk) whose goal it is to... well... create special content. As for the dark green, our Tech Admins have gotten a bit drunk with power and are going through a painstaking process of deciding exactly which shade looks most lordly and impressive. This may take a while to figure out.

(again, there will be an official announcement on this quite soon, we're just ironing out the minor details.)

[Askthepizzaguy]

Yes, I just noticed it's a very bright blue. And now the blue that I have looks sad. Let me rearrange the colors.


New System:

Lame blue- One of the little peoples.
Green- Demigod, and ever so much wrathful awesomeness still
Dark Green- Buh?
Dark Red- Pluh?
Awesome Blue- Snuh? CONTENT OVERLORD!!!
Red- I cower in fear.
Other colors- Are there others? If so, how shall I worship these, o Lords?

[Monk]

Dark green and dark red are basically the Tech admins experimenting with colors, as GH said. As for me? Well, i'm quite fond of my blue. It especially stands out on the STW skin.

[Kocmoc]

Usually you see me complaining and moaning a lot, so you will probably be happy to see a much more positive post from me today.

Well done guys!

1. I like the video thing on the right side, thats the way
2. the rider on top are getting better
3. working on tourney and give that in the hand of people like monks is the right direction

Keep the pace up. If I can help out with something, feel free to contact me.

[edyzmedieval]

Couple of content generation/general Org improvements.

- the relaunching of the Gahzette - advertising it in the Entrance Hall, Frontroom and Total War Center could really help out in order to recruit more members
- create a War Room, official forums style - that way when you check the people's profile they can see what games you play and what achievements/stats you have (this should be optional and NOT linked to your Steam account like on the official forum, it's up to everyone if they want to include it)
- a new Mead Hall contest - with a Japanese theme
- STW Multiplayer Competition (cmon, we're good at STW)
- post ranking system - something similar to the S2TW skill tree, the more you post, you get different avatars and other incentives which kinda make it more interesting to stay here
- more content generation - encourage people to post AARs, perhaps a separate subforum at the top of the S2TW main forum is required? That way we ensure content generation and views for the members who take their time to post

And of course the big idea given to Monk, for which I will keep my mouth shut for now.

[therother]

Glad you like the videos Koc. We've also just updated the tournaments add on to a nicer looking, more featured version.

[Ibn-Khaldun]

Must say that I really like this Mobile skin! Much easier to browse the forum using my phone. :-)

[Kocmoc]

Id like to see a Clan-overview, with a good list of clans.
There should be a Clanleader-mail-system, the steamgroups listed....

It would make things a lot easyer, if we could inform all the different clans out there with just one "mass-mail". It came into my head, while working on the tourney.
I meet people online each day, who never heard anything about the Org, those people wont know anything we do here, this could be a way to ensure, they know whats going on, without to be very actice here.

[Rahwana]

and the shogun skins is somewhat too heavy to load compared to the guild skin

[TinCow]

and the shogun skins is somewhat too heavy to load compared to the guild skin

Yes, I agree. Looking at the style, it uses a lot of images instead of simple colors, and some of the image files are rather large. That's probably slowing it down. I'll go in and optimize the images and see if that can speed it up without losing visual quality.

[Kagemusha]

........

[TinCow]

Ok, I converted the images to jpg from png and did a TINY amount of compression on them (2% on the background and about 10% on the rest). That's cut the total file sizes down to about 1/4 their previous size without any quality difference I can tell. That should improve it at least a bit.

[PershsNhpios]

This is very minor, and perhaps unnecessary, but the first issue which springs to mind in using the forums (Especially as a new member).

Is there a reason why forums such as the MTW Singleplayer need to include an empty, unused 'Singleplayer' forum with the 'Main Hall' (Which is the real singleplayer forum) as a sub-forum to that?

Surely, new members will not all realise that the Main Hall (And I use the MTW fora as an example, this setup is also elsewhere) is the Singleplayer discussion, but this can't this be remedied with a subtitle or annotation (e.g. 'Main Hall - Singleplayer')?

I realise that other fora such as ETW and NTW are merged equals and so require this system, but new members clicking on MTW Singleplayer are currently met with the vast, empty void, and must search for the more obscure 'Main Hall' title beyond this.

It's all about convenience and first impressions - and titles such as the Main Hall lead members (Especially those dedicated to one area) to become a family of their own within the Org. It shouldn't be known that there is just a Singleplayer MTW discussion on the Org, people should rather acknowledge 'The Main Hall of the Org' as a sanctuary of our favourite passtime.

-------------

I am also completely against the idea of removing AARs to an AAR sub-forum or separate forum.

I would rather see AAR sub-forums dedicated to each game, but I strongly disapprove of the current wash of different, stagnant and unsorted AARs in that dedicated forum.

AARs are one of the most invigorating parts of membership participation - the most attempted, the most unique and enthusiastic. They have revived the Main Hall many times and they will often be all that remains of some otherwise dead fora. See the EB forum for an example of this - that area still thrives because it has an AAR sub-forum all on it's own.

AARs should be kept close to the source - as close as possible.

[Zim]

I always thought EB having its own aar forum was kind of a bad thing. Such a marvelous mod (in general and for AARs) but the stories that could have been a showcase for it were buried in the mod forum where they'd be hard to find for anyone that didn't already play it...

Paradox forums have separate AR forums for each game, and it works very well when you're interested in one in particular (or learning about a new one). But they also have a very high volume of new stories. I wonder if it might not be even worse having a dozen AAR forums with one or two stories each (at least one of which is defunct) than just one forum with a dozen stories.

[gollum]

Dear org staff:
Glenn is absolutely right. Keep the AARs as close to the source as possible. What he describes has been true not only for EB and teh Main Hall, but also for the Sword Dojo that was experiencing various revivals over time due to the AARs that were contagious in both getting the interest back to fans of the game and to others to try their hand at an AAR. I'm pretty sure that similar things apply for RTW, M2 and Empire.

The org instituted the TreasAARy in late 2009 if memory serves. Till then there was no specialised AARs forum for quite a while. I know because, among other people, i asked for it back in early 2009.

Once the TreasAARy was set up, an array of popular AARs was moved from the Sword Dojo to the treasAARy, and, nearly on the spot, both died out - the sword dojo and the treasAARy - a check mate move.

Having a specilised AARs forum forevery AAR is a good idea if that had caught on and if the forum has enthusiastic en masse SPers to write AARs. Those are NOT the cases for the org at this point in time.

Community building in the respective subfora needs to be given priority - let people in the respective sub-fora organise their stuff as they think is best and have a flexible approach, and in that context, having AARs in subfora as well as the treasAARY is the best way forward. Trying to force everything to the treasAARy will not work imo, and there is considerable evidence from past experiences to this.

I would insist in particular leaving the EB people to organise their community as they see fit rather than trying to "fit them" to general org organisational schemes. Comparing the paradox forums is apples and penciles; org conditions are not even remotely related to what the paradox fanbase and games are. Paradox games have a very specific context and attract a very specific fanbase. The org and its members are far more pluralistic than that in their relationship they have to TW. Its best to play on ALL of org strengths rather than standardise which is a good move when you have a large mass of people interested in the same thing.

Regards

[Monk]

Dear org staff:
Glenn is absolutely right. Keep the AARs as close to the source as possible. What he describes has been true not only for EB and teh Main Hall, but also for the Sword Dojo that was experiencing various revivals over time due to the AARs that were contagious in both getting the interest back to fans of the game and to others to try their hand at an AAR. I'm pretty sure that similar things apply for RTW, M2 and Empire.

The org instituted the TreasAARy in late 2009 if memory serves. Till then there was no specialised AARs forum for quite a while. I know because, among other people, i asked for it back in early 2009.

Once the TreasAARy was set up, an array of popular AARs was moved from the Sword Dojo to the treasAARy, and, nearly on the spot, both died out - the sword dojo and the treasAARy - a check mate move.

The forum designated for AARs was the Throne Room, but you're more or less right. The traditional PBM style had always brought with it campaign stories and a general narrative. One person stops, another begins all in the same thread. It was a lot of fun taking part in those.

By 2009 the Throne Room had moved more toward hotseats and TWRPG style games. Much different in style, and if i recall, there was genuine confusion on where to put normal style AAR. So people were just putting them wherever.

I truly believed if we had a dedicated forum for AAR's that it could serve as a "one spot for everything." Even if you were interested in Shogun 1, you might see an MTW AAR after you finished reading a shogun story, get interested and read that. The traffic the treasaary gets is an indication that things haven't gone as well as we wanted. It really fills me with sadness to see that project less than successful.

Comparing the paradox forums is apples and penciles; org conditions are not even remotely related to what the paradox fanbase and games are. Paradox games have a very specific context and attract a very specific fanbase. The org and its members are far more pluralistic than that in their relationship they have to TW. Its best to play on ALL of org strengths rather than standardise which is a good move when you have a large mass of people interested in the same thing.

Yes i believe that was Zim's original intent, what works for them isn't going to work for us for a variety of reasons. I am unsure of how to proceed to be truthful. Do we scrap the Treasaary? Put it in the Attic? Encourage the posting of AAR's in the relavent game's 'parent' directories? Much more input's needed.

I believe there's a popular thread in the Main Hall: Pics & History of your Empire. I made a similiar thread for the citadel and it got quite the reaction if i recall. Perhaps that 'structure' could be used for Shogun 2 and encouraged elsewhere?

[gollum]

Originally posted by Monk
I truly believed if we had a dedicated forum for AAR's that it could serve as a "one spot for everything." Even if you were interested in Shogun 1, you might see an MTW AAR after you finished reading a shogun story, get interested and read that.

i don't think that this is how it works in reality because most players coalesce around a game they prefer -at least for long periods before they go to explore another for good. Some like MTW but can't stand RTW and the other way around, and this can happen with various installments of TW (even STW and MTW or RTW and M2 etc).
If you keep the AARs in the respective subfora however its success guaranteed. People only need a spark to come back to the game and a good AAR often is that spark - i mean we've seen it so many times in the Main Hall and the Sword Dojo by now. If its running in the main SP forum for the respective TW game then its on the money - like the post your empire thread in the main hall - a small sub community forms and that small sub community can generate lots of content and bring new people in pretty quickly.

The traffic the treasaary gets is an indication that things haven't gone as well as we wanted. It really fills me with sadness to see that project less than successful.

Some people try to write AARs in the treasaary like RTW AARs but they get far less attention than they would get in the Collosseum. All in all the treasaary is a good thing to have and there is no need to blame yourself - setting it up is a plus and nobody says that it will stay unpopular for ever.

I am unsure of how to proceed to be truthful. Do we scrap the Treasaary? Put it in the Attic? Encourage the posting of AAR's in the relavent game's 'parent' directories?

Its simple imo: keep both. Let people decide where they post their AARs, while make it clear that having them in the SP main forums for each games is ok and even desirable (encourage it). Proceed flexibly and see how things develop, and then can put yourenergy where the action is at. As much as i predict that this will be in SP fora, i also akcnowledge the need for a dedicated AAR forum. Keep the treasAARy by all means, but puch forward AARs in SP; they boost participation and community building considerably.

Regards