Two things

Two things (Full Version)

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The Bansheebot -> Two things (10/21/2010 18:59:22)
Avatars: I read the FAQ about custom avatars. I read the points, and I understand the points. I just don't understand how they relate. quote: 12) "How do I get a custom avatar?" The ability to upload a custom avatar is granted to people with a Helpful or Creative title, ArchKnights, Moderators, and other staff members. It is also granted to some people for past service such as the old Grand Council, forum beta testing, etc. Advanced Roleplayers and other group members do not get upload rights unless they have it from some other source. Some official contests will have a specific avatar as a prize that is not available to other forum members. We limit custom avatars to certain people because otherwise the forums would be overloaded with even small images. 13) "Why can't everybody have a custom avatar?" First, practically speaking, storage space can be tight sometimes. We have a lot of posts in the database, and a lot of members. Second, speaking on policy, custom avatars are a privilege used to denote status. They are given either to those who are helpful or creative or to those who volunteer their time. Third, aesthetically speaking, we have made the decision that all of our publicly-available avatars would be based on the Artix Entertainment games. This is an Artix Entertainment forum. If you're not satisfied with the choices, submit your own AE-related avatars or earn the privilege to upload your own. 1: One of the points is the storage space. I honestly don't think this is really a huge problem. In one forum I frequent, they have a size restriction of 19.5kb. There's about 166K members on the site, so that's only 3,237,058.5 kb, which is about 3.08gb or so (if my math is correct). That's really not a lot. Of course, there's loads and loads of posts, but there's also loads and loads of purges, and loads and loads of members that never post. 2: I think the avatars denoting status is somewhat, and very, elitist. I assumed that status was denoted by the custom titles, and, for instance, the large word that reads "Arch-Knight" or similar. And I find people much more recognisable with custom avatars as, for instance, I can say "Oh that is the guy with the Wu-Tang avatar" rather than saying "Oh that's one of the thousands of guys with an Artix avatar". 3: If it's an AE forum, then shouldn't the representatives of the forum also represent AE? Seeing as the representatives and officials of the forum are the moderators and, in general, the people with custom avatars, then I don't see why they should be able to use custom avatars, if avatars should really only be AE related. 4: I noticed the point with rule FAQ 12) that states that the custom avatar privileges has been granted to people from the beginning, active members, and stuff like that. They should get titels denoting that, not avatars. One personal point. With custom avatars, it's much more personal. By an avatar I can already find out a vague idea of some of the user's interests. The use of custom avatars creats more user personality, which I think really promotes and improves on user individuality. Individuality makes a community stronger, and a forum is, after all, one massive community. Now, onto my second thing. The report button. quote: 16) "We should have a report button/ mod alert system! Why don't we?" This has been brought up a number of times and each time it needs to be explained that, while a system like this might work on other boards, it won't on this one. There are a couple of main reasons for this: 1) It would be too easily abused. We would need moderators dedicated to weeding out the false reports from the legitimate ones and we need all the mods we have actively working on the game and the boards. 2) It's easier to just PM an active mod/AK. You can add the mods/AKs to your address book by clicking the button under their profile. Then, when you look in your inbox, you'll see who is currently online. That's the best way we've found to handle people needing to report troublesome threads/users. 1) I don't think it would. Abuse would be dealt with as spam is dealt with, as a warning, then as a ban (if it continues and/or escalates). As long as a strong rule about abusing it is enforced, it shouldn't be a problem. 2) No, it really isn't. Clicking one button and typing a short message is loads simpler than having to copy the post/thread URL, going to the message box, then sending a message to the appropriate mod. In fact, I've even not reported a post just because the process is more complicated than it needs to be. That's all. I doubt anything I say will actually change anything, as the mods and admins seem very adamant on these topics, but these are two things that I think really would improve the forum's community. EDIT: Thanks to whichever mod had moved this. I honestly didn't even see the Forums Suggestion forum. I thought it had been combined with Forum Support for some reason. :/

Tris -> RE: Two things (10/21/2010 19:30:49)
I understand all your concerns and your perspectives. But let's bring these to steps. Your first point - Each and every forum has different storage spaces. While some has a large amount of space, some has a tight and compact storage. So, even if 3.08 Gigabyte isn't that big of a number, more and more users register in the forums adding more bytes in the storage. Having extra space is always a good thing to have or you'll constantly have to get more and more. Your second point - I wouldn't consider avatars very elitist. The user who does have their own uploading rights earned it, so they deserve it. As there isn't a large number of ways to show your thanks in the forums, custom avatars are given to those who earned it by contributing and helping with the community. And again, the problem with everyone having a custom avatar is the storage space. Not everyone has a fast connection, so they can't access the forums with sleek ease like some of us do, so limiting file sizes is the best way to do that. It does state"If you're not satisfied with the choices, submit your own AE-related avatars or earn the privilege to upload your own," so you can have your own avatar that you have made, but it has to be AE-related and if it is approved, it is to be shared with everyone. 3rd point - As it does state that the publicly-available avatars are to be AE-related only, those who have custom avatars have the right to upload of their own choice. (But still under the Universal Rules) As it is given to those who earned it, they are allowed to use their uploading rights or still use the avatars available to the public, depending on what they want. 4th point - And they don't. Those who have Custom Avatars do have their own title; which includes "Creative," "Helpful," Constructive," "Friendly," and so on. But whether they get a title, but not uploading rights is up to the one who gives them the right. Not all custom avatars are earned by that way. They can also earn it from official contests, depending if that is (one of) the prizes. Now, finally, your second subject. 1st point - As it is a good idea, and may not be abused from time to time, Moderators/AKs also has other things involving in real life, so not a lot may be available, or may be too busy to deal with a problem. So instead, when a problem is founded, it can be reported via PM to an available AK of that board or the Head Moderator. Should no one be available, they can be dealt with ASAP as soon as one is available. 2nd point - This also ties in with contacting the AK/Head Moderator via PM, so a report button wouldn't be necessary.

Vivi -> RE: Two things (10/21/2010 19:44:37)
Avatars: Dedicating several gigabytes of storage space just for people to use custom avatars on top of all of the other things that we need the servers for (including game-related stuff) wouldn't exactly be practical. You have your signature space if you're interested in personalizing your profile, but it's hard to offer everyone on the forums more than that. As you noted, custom avatars make it easier to single out and identify a user and that's one reason why the privilege is earned the way it is. It makes more sense to have staff members and staff assistants stand out when they post, and it also makes identifying users we consider to be good role models (those with things like the Helpful title) simple as well. If everybody were using one, it would diminish the extent to which having one identifies these users. A title is a lot easier to overlook than an unusual avatar, especially those titles that belong to moderators or Helpful users who don't have the accompanying bolded "Archknight" tag that our AKs do. Reports: I think abuse is less of a problem with this kind of system than overuse to be honest. We don't need users sending in reports every time someone double posts, and yet it would be a safe bet to assume that some users will do it anyways with a report button available to them (maybe more than one user for the same offending post even). The number of reports for these kinds of small violations would likely be far larger than the number of reports for more severe violations like flaming that would actually require immediate attention from a moderator and so the system would be less effective. And yes, clicking a button would be easier than sending a PM in terms of how much work you have to do, but PMing an active moderator ensures much quicker action against problem posts. A report would sit around wherever it gets sent waiting for a moderator to deal with it, and if nobody is looking at the reports when the problem is brought up the post may end up sitting there for awhile. It might discourage people from pointing out that such-and-such user has 4 smilies in their post instead of the allowed 3 but those aren't the kind of issues that have to be dealt with immediately.

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