regarding the 'User-Ops' forum.....

[Henry Redacre]

on the main forum page, it still displays the 'Termination of Blight Shard' message next to the 'User-Ops' forum.

just for clarity's sake, Horizons_CS you might wanna either update that post, or that forum to get something else up there so old (and no longer accurate) info isn't so readily visible.

just a suggestion..

[gopher65]

I was thinking that same thing Henry sir.

[Menkure]

Aside from the obvious things we all see.. which are just on the surface... I can't even begin to imagine the work Rick and the others are dealing with in the offices right now, in order to get the whole mess they inherited from EI cleaned up and sorted out.

Virtrium, by all public accounts, has 3 employees right now.. limited people means prioritizing. The "user ops" forums is a collection of old news posts and announcements.. but that is but one of many things EI did that they will need to fix here on the forums. The countless number of people that EI banned, cause they complained about the billing, is another just off the top of my head, and is probably an even larger and messier problem that will take lots more work in order to fix.

A lot is on their shoulders right now. They are busy trying to show not only us, but past players who left during EI's tenor, that they are capable of making updates to the game, and that they are committed to customer support and satisfaction. The new secured billing system is most likely at the top of their to-do list.

For clarity's sake, it would be nice to clean up the forums and remove all trace of EI's ineptitude.. but when you have 3 people working on a game that looks like a china shop after a bull ran through it, little things like cleaning up old news posts is really just fluff..

I'm not trying to belittle anyone here.. I do feel it is something that does need to be taken care of as well. However, with the number of things that are of an even greater importance, as well as the realization that there's probably an even bigger mess in the back storage room of said china shop (which the bull did go through as well), which we can't even see.... I think that we could wait on forum cleanup for a little while.

-Menkure

[C`gan]

I know this is a silly idea, probably one which will get laughed at or ridiculed or somesuch by many here.

Under the Tulga admin, we had player moderators who assisted with the ins and outs of the forum. Under EI, they were second-guessed, undercut, sideswiped, and abused. When they found out that forum moderation was being done BEHIND THEIR BACKS and being attributed to them, they quit. I know it hurt both Peaches and Eileen to have this happen to them. However, at the current time, Virtrium is stretched to accomplish some of the basic things that they've deemed absolutely essential to keep this game afloat. Would it be in their best interests right now to have another go-round with player moderators, maybe one or two, who could handle forum upkeep while they focus on the tougher tasks? I say it would be. Peaches has already said she would NOT undertake forum moderation again. Would any of us volunteer?

[Menkure]

The question to that is, would Rick and Virtrium be okay with it?

It's not about finding volunteers, as I'm sure there would be several people who would volunteer (I noticed Eileen still has "forum moderator" under her name.. so it might be safe to say she still has moderator access).

The problem is finding people who are familiar with the forum software, and who can also be trusted with admin/moderator powers. Again, not knowing what all happened in that back storage room in the china shop, but given EI and the way the community also tore itself apart (there were quite a few flame wars that erupted cause of that), I would understand if Rick would feel unsure of letting someone from within the community moderate the boards... Please note that I'm not saying that as if any of the past moderators were to blame, but the whole situation on the forums just escalated beyond belief (of which EI was mostly at fault for).

I guess that, right now, there are no real blowups.. no major fights.. and best of all there doesn't seem to be any wars between camps (supporters vs bashers..etc). For once in over a year, the forums have actual activity. People are discussing things, and there really isn't any kind of fighting or bickering going on. Is there really an immediate need for a full time administrator-moderator, aside from the help and assistance that Reyem (Horizons_CS) has provided us so far?

Not saying it is a bad idea, but I could see why Rick and crew would be nervous, given what all transpired over the last year.

-Menkure

[Varangaard]

I second the idea of having forum moderators here again. Not with any elevated rights, but the usual ones they enjoyed during Tulga's reign. They could then take a look around and compose a list of what needs fixing around here and forward that to Virtrium. This at least spares them the time of having to look for things to fix themselves.

(No I'm not trying to put myself forward as moderator candidate. Moderating a forum is one of the jobs I would never inflict even upon my enemies. )

edit: There's something screwy how this forum software interacts with FF, BTW. Every time I try to make a post I need to log back in because the session has died.

[gopher65]

edit: There's something screwy how this forum software interacts with FF, BTW. Every time I try to make a post I need to log back in because the session has died.

Interesting, this doesn't happen for me. What version of FF are you using? I have 2.0.0.6 right now.

[Hasai]

Interesting, this doesn't happen for me. What version of FF are you using? I have 2.0.0.6 right now.

I have FF 2.0.0.6, as well. It works fine.

[Eileen Mavourneen]

So far, everyone is moderating their own words well, and joy for the recent changes is pretty universal, so a moderator doesn't seem to be much needed yet. Everyone is passionate about their own points of view however, so the time will come again for a moderator's gentle hand.

My moderator permissions are still intact, but unused on my part, and they don't include things like rearranging or deleting the different forums. To answer C`gan, if asked, I'd consider moderating posts, so long as there was assurance of direct communication when necessary and being treated fairly. I do agree with Menkure that with all that's on their plate at the moment, I can't imagine that appointing a moderator is very high on the priority list. If it is, they may already have someone in mind for the task.

[C`gan]

I'm glad you'd consider doing it again, Eileen. My only reason for bringing it up was to give Virtrium the time to do all they need while having a buffer, if you will, handling any sort of brush fires here in the forums. That and I agree with other posters that some of EI's posts should be eliminated since they really no longer apply. Something that doesn't take a major rewrite of forum coding or hunge amounts of time, just the little things.

Besides, I'm also certain that they're enjoying reading the forums, getting our feedback, and interacting personally here as well.

[LOVWYRM]

- I sign your statements, Menkure!

- Being quite sensitive concerning this forum, I´m very pleased of how things are going atm.
We present ourselfs as a constructive, consent- orientated community.
I know there were other times- not so long ago. I vote for implementing a mod
when it should be necessary again , but I hope, that we stay civilized.

- On the other hand I second C´gan`s idea to support the three musketeers,
if it is desired, concerning technical things and admin

[LOVWYRM]

lol- those with English-mother tongue were some minutes faster than I was^^

[Justa Mirage]

(No I'm not trying to put myself forward as moderator candidate. Moderating a forum is one of the jobs I would never inflict even upon my enemies. ).

Oh don't I know it... so the enemy of your enemy is your friend?

I must have had lots of enemies