Just lock please.

[The Observer]

Hmm, just lock/delete. Decided against it. At the start I was a bit interested in it, but now, just no.

[Yomyth105]

I agree with you, Killered. The post counts should determine how much of a veteran a member is to a forum. not someone that spams for post count either. These ppl should be awarded with some kind of privileges. I agree with some privileges you have there. In my post here on this section read about it because it has ur concepts added in with how to stop imposter sites from getting through.

[jemathonical]

But why? I'm more the happy for just the moderators to be able to make polls.

 

And why would you need to be able to lock your own posts?

 

 

 

Honoured Member would just be a pointless label for people to shove in people's faces. And having a different colour for the forums is also shoving it in people's faces. If people are looking for help, they will go to a moderator.

 

 

 

I think that the 'Honoured Member' is already rewarded (so to speak) by moderatorship.

[n_odie]

A double edge sword my friend. ;)

 

 

 

It would be a constant battle between people "thinking" that they should be added. I disagree with Jem about the Mods being honored members group. They are fantastic but there are many who turn down the invitation. I think this is another, "I honor and respect users that deserve it because they have earned it in my eyes." No badge needs come with this. Mods, Admins, Crew, Tet, Editorial staff all have the Tip.It logo because of the position and the work that comes with it. It is really needed for what we do.

 

 

 

There are many users around the forum I respect and honor, but what says my reasons are the same from every other person on the boards. If someone deserves it, they already have it from the people that matter.

 

 

 

This is just my opinion and in no way that of staff.

 

Odie

 

 

 

edit: I re-read my post and want to make sure you know I am not dissin on you guys and gals.... I <3 you all!

[Ginger_Warrior]

Nice idea, but it's too subjective. Then, you could also use that argument the other way round against the Tip.It Staff's privileges. Depends what side of the fence you're on.

 

 

 

My only concern is for those who have been offered a place on the Tip.It staff and refused it. Being an ex-staff member, I get a mention on the main site and I can also put something in my signature, but they receive no mention whatsoever, even though they've shown the maturity to be regarded just as "Honoured" as any one on the Tip.It staff. People contributing to the forum by posting is also vital to Tip.It, especially since its strong sense of community is so important to its longevity.

 

 

 

That said, I've been on plenty of forums which offer special privileges to "élite" members and they've been total hellholes. Full of ego-centrics who dismiss opinions for no reason other than "I'm bigger than you".

 

 

 

I'd say grant all users the ability to make Polls, keep an option for mods to remove that privilege in case of abuse, grant no special privileges, and Tip.It's struck that balance just right.

[Cowman_133]

I really don't see how any more of an "elitism" issue will occur because it happens with post counts anyway.

 

 

 

Have you honestly ever seen someone say they are better than another because of their post count? Maybe two or three times? Truth is, that's a total non- issue and cannot be compared to this.

 

 

 

Also, usually they will be well-known, so there will be less hostility. If someone abuses their status, it will be removed because that's not how they are supposed to act.

 

 

 

Who would be the person deciding who gets in and who doesn't? Who gets kicked out and who doesn't? If it's the staff, either way the words elite and biased will be thrown around from people who are ejected or for people not added. If its the users, a bunch of idiots would probably get their way in.

 

 

 

Bottom line: If it isn't broken, don't fix it. There is nothing wrong with the community structure presently and adding this will just split the forum into a few groups, which should be avoided. I agree, some are worthy of the position, but they should be happy enough contributing without the ability to make polls and lock their own post (which is really pointless..?).

 

 

 

Spiffin' idea, but too many flaws.

 

 

 

These views are my own and do not represent those of the Tip.It Staff nor the Tip.it Administrative Staff and should not be quoted as such.

[Turtlefemm]

There is no reason to separate users any further than they already separate themselves. The community structure is fine as it is and creating elitism is never something attractive in my eyes. In a perfect world everyone would be thrilled for the so called "honoured" members who earned the title through whatever reasoning existed, but in the real world, it only causes conflict and resentment. I think postcount is a silly reason to gain any kind of stature as well. Some of the most troublesome users on forums have the highest postcount and maturity level often creates abuse of the postcount thing anyway.

 

 

 

Moderators are hired in their volunteer capacity to handle the forums and questions and help that the rest of the users need. The tools that they use really don't need to be meted out to "honoured" members as some kind of reward. They are tools.. Not prizes.

 

 

 

So, while in an idealistic way, it is a spiffin' idea, it is not something that I think would work well in our forum environment.

 

 

 

~Turtlefemm

[ThruItAll]

Who says mod's are respected? Has anyone looked at Pryo lately? :P

 

This topic screeams Tia.

 

Na, I'm only kidding, but should totally be able to make polls, that would make hosting my tournement a whole load easier.

[dsavi]

Well, I was thinking and I think that a new rank could possibility be added.

 

If this was implemented at all, no new rank. Just the user permissions. And make the memberlist hidden, so few people know who else has it.

 

These members could be able to:

 

• 
   
  ...
   
  [*:ijp2eq3e] PM 5 people every minute

 

We need phpBB 3.0.3 for that.

[DarkDude]

Who says mod's are respected? Has anyone looked at Pryo lately? :P

 

This topic screeams Tia.

 

Na, I'm only kidding, but should totally be able to make polls, that would make hosting my tournement a whole load easier.

 

 

 

Very few topics actually require polls, if we allowed users to create polls then the amount of discussion that goes on will go down as people will read the topic then vote and not add to the discussion which is a very bad idea.

 

 

 

If you do need a poll making for a topic then PMing a mod of that board and stating why you want a poll and they will decide if the topic warrants it or not.

[InkofDeath]

These members could be able to:

 

• 
   
  [*:1mgyqpng] Create polls
   
  [*:1mgyqpng] Lock own posts
   
  [*:1mgyqpng] PM 5 people every minute

 

Those reasons are useless, and aren't sufficient enough to be given to any 'honoured' or even respected members of the community. The only real use of one I can picture is the 5 people per minute. One thing that can be added is a decrease in the wait time of the time you must wait before you can make another post. Honestly, Tip.It you need to either make it so that topics that contain only 5-10 lines of text are locked, or posts must be longer than 4 lines, or reduce the flood control time for those with X amount of posts, or X time of registration. It is too frustrating abiding by the rules, not spamming, hardly one-line posting, and being stopped by the darn flood control. When you're replying to a post in a topic, you've already read the topic, regardless if you can read the main post and the three replies in under 30 seconds, and form a good solid post in the other 30 seconds, and trust me it's not hard to do, and since you've read it, all you're doing is waiting for someone to reply and then you can read their reply, and reply to it. All to much I've been replying to one post, and then three other people reply to my own post, or bring up another opinion that I must reply to, and every single time I get stopped by the flood control. The most I've ever encountered the flood control was 10 posts in a row. This happens to me every day and it just keeps building up my anger towards it. Tip.It is punishing those who don't spam, and post constructively through it, and it's not fair to us (who can type fast and accurately, or actually know how to use forums for discussions).

 

 

 

But yea, this is just one thing that could be a benefit to those 'respected' or 'honoured' or whatever name could be given. Don't let members create polls, it's horrible to go and see what was made with polls. Perhaps enable polls in the Questionnaire forum, but that's about as far as members should be able to use polls, there's too many idiots who would abuse it on Tip.It. And yes, these idiots are easily identifiable and most likely wouldn't get any kind of rank in the future. If anyone wants to bring up the old discussions from the previous topics regarding polls, then link us to them, so we don't have to repeat the same thing three times over again. If you're new to this forum, I highly suggest you go and read the topics regarding polls, before you post about them. Darkdude just hit the icing on the cake with his reply about polls.

 

 

 

There already is an elitism community on Tip.It. Whether you want to call them the atheists, the university members, or those who actually can post intellectually, there is one here on Tip.It, and it will always be home to Off-Topic. I realize I'm stepping on toes here, but that's how it is. The elitism community has evolved from knowledge to wanting to mock/make a joke out of someones post for the fun or popularity of doing so to the OT regulars who read the same topics regularly. The admins & mods can't really do much about it as it's just a natural thing that occurs within any forum, because forums actually require you to use your head, and some people are just better at that then others. It is in our nature to form a competition with others, whether we know it or not while posting we are wording our posts or sentences to feel superior than others.

 

 

 

Post counts add to this, but they are hardly the majority of the cause. Post counts are motivation to the members to post. I know when I hit 3000 posts I'm going to brag about it to people on here, and to other people else where. I'm also proud to have 3000 posts that are relatively good quality, and not much trouble has come from them. This is what the majority (yes, even the elitist members) do strife for, but are side-tracked. I'm not glorifying myself, I'm just using myself as an example, and I've probably flamed someone several times and enjoyed it. So post counts are irrelevant and it doesn't count for much to continue to bring them up if Tip.It won't disable them. This only says that the admins support Post Counts to keep the activity flowing in (or that the forums don't become too much of a money sink). So until they are disabled, Tip.It needs to use them to increase activity, and by creating a rank as suggested, will most likely do this. So yes from a post count view this new rank is in the best interest of Tip.It.

 

 

 

Just because someone has been here since 04, and has 6k posts, doesn't mean they deserve anything. I'm friends with someone people on TIF, but whose to say they are nice to everyone? Killerred may be friends with QueenValerie, but whose to say QueenValerie would deserve a 'Honoured' rank when QueenValerie has been ignorant to those that believe in certain ideals? There is no way Tip.It can be non-bias when choosing the people to promote for the rank if they do not check at least 3 months back into the post history (and let's not forget the rollback, and how many members have probably tried to act good now since then). I'm creating the story of Killer & queen up by the way if you hadn't processed that...>.>

 

 

 

Honoured Member would just be a pointless label for people to shove in people's faces. And having a different colour for the forums is also shoving it in people's faces. If people are looking for help, they will go to a moderator.

 

 

 

I think that the 'Honoured Member' is already rewarded (so to speak) by moderatorship.

 

I already feel pushed around and isolated from the different member groups here on TIF. I only feel at home with the regular members. I don't feel connected or in tact when I discuss something with someone who is ranked. This is because they have influence and power over me. This is because when you are promoted to any of the current ranks, you are no longer a member, but a staff of Tip.It. There is a barrier made between the staff and the members, and it will always be there. So in fact you are just saying that your or other staff members groups are doing a lot of harm than good. So for that reason if you aren't an admin, then your name doesn't need to be coloured, all you need is the text and the picture (or scrap that too). Notice how useless, and meaningless things are when you take away the things that actually create your or others ranks are? Sure some ranks advertise what you guys do, but that's irrelevant when you start thinking about the harm ranks do. Basically I'm saying if you truly believe what you are saying, then you would be putting in topics to get rid of coloured member groups, get rid of staff related signatures and avatars, and only have the basic necessities that would inform the members of who and what the certain usergroups are for. Am I right or wrong here? The coloured text is to make the usergroups stand out. They do that for sure, but of course it'll create an elitist community between members and staff.

 

 

 

How do you combat this to actually implement a 'Honoured' or 'Respected' rank? First off, you start by getting a usergroup name that doesn't:

 

 

 

1. Claim that the staff has decided on the person. 'Honoured' means that those members have appealed to the staff, and are basically one of the staff since they probably share the same ideals. Basically the name can't create a connection to the staff in any way. This will allow no barrier to be created between the regular members and the promoted members.

 

 

 

2. The rank name needs to imply that they are still members, and do not control or overpower regular members in any way. It almost needs to be unappealing to regular members.

 

 

 

3. The rank name must imply that the usergroup or individual has person responsibilities.

 

 

 

Names that may fall in these categories, but are subject to whatever are:

 

 

 

Entrusted Member

 

Promoted Member

 

...

 

 

 

You also want to make it so that the promoted member gets some work to do. Most obvious choice is to help answer questions, or help out members on the forums for any reason. The benefits? You mods get to spend more time cleaning the boards instead of answering the same variation of a question 3 times in a week. And because there will definitely be 50-70 worthy members to promote the highlighted member name in the 'Whose Online' box will definitely attract more attention than a few single purple, or green names.

 

 

 

I think that the 'Honoured Member' is already rewarded (so to speak) by moderatorship.

 

 

 

Well yes, if you want to think that moderating, and receiving intense duties (or so said by the staff), and having to do work and keep the boards clean, as well as helping out members, giving input on changes and the direction of the boards, and tolerating annoying idiots, or receiving hate PM's for no reason at all, is totally equivalent to a simple promotion, and that there aren't miles separating what a mod is and what a 'promoted member' would be. Getting a promoted rank is to me only 1/20th of achieving a moderation rank. There is such a huge difference in the requirements and how you have to be personality wise for each rank. Not to mention that with your logic, there's over a hundred people who have gone unrewarded.

 

 

 

No badge needs come with this. Mods, Admins, Crew, Tet, Editorial staff all have the Tip.It logo because of the position and the work that comes with it. It is really needed for what we do.

 

Responsibility earns you the colour, the sig/avatar, and the influence. Good, so thats apply that logic to whatever rank above members will be, and all arguments will be irrelevant. The only way a rank will come out of this is if there is responsibilities given to the promoted members. A huge one would be helping members out daily, and the admins advertising greatly to PM these promoted members for assistance rather than moderators, so that these promoted members are really pounded down with questions to take the load off of the mods. I think this in itself is just enough for a few 10-20 people to receive such a rank to help out or assist users wherever possible.

 

 

 

If someone deserves it, they already have it from the people that matter.

 

This is flawed when you have over 100 people who are able to moderate at the same exact specific level of expertise, yet you can only hire 10 of them. They all deserve it, however they all can't get it.

 

 

 

My only concern is for those who have been offered a place on the Tip.It staff and refused it. Being an ex-staff member, I get a mention on the main site and I can also put something in my signature, but they receive no mention whatsoever, even though they've shown the maturity

 

This is why I'm behind a 'Retired' rank for ex-staff members to have, if they want such a rank. They deserve it for the work they've put in in my opinion, and deserve some recognition for it. There should be no debate on this rank here. It should have already been a Tip.It rank a long time ago, with a page on the main site where the Staff List is, and have their own little 'Retired' area. I don't know why Tip.It is so ingrateful to the past contributions of retired staff.

 

 

 

That said, I've been on plenty of forums which offer special privileges to "élite" members and they've been total hellholes. Full of ego-centrics who dismiss opinions for no reason other than "I'm bigger than you".

 

Ah, I've also been on numerous forums where the ranks actually benefit the new, or regular users, and there's no conflicts between them, or very minor ones. But I would be ignorant to not state that I've seen the ego-maniacs that you're talking about. If you've read above you'll know that I strongly believe that giving the promoted members responsibilities, and of course encouraging members to report those abusing their privileges for a demotion are two things needed to create such a rank, but keep it healthy and a positive thing. One thing though, DO NOT CREATE THEIR OWN LITTLE FORUM THAT THEY CAN SEE ONLY, IT WILL CAUSE TONS OF ANGER. It will also put them as an enemy in front of members.

 

 

 

Have you honestly ever seen someone say they are better than another because of their post count? Maybe two or three times? Truth is, that's a total non- issue and cannot be compared to this.

 

Nope, but browsing off-topic as a regular you pick up on the indirect accusations of people saying they are better than others because of some of their status in real life, or for statuses on other forums and such. Not to mention some people will say someone else is better than person X because of post count or reason X. No one is going to be seen in plain sight picking a fight with someone right under the nose of a teacher/authority figure.

 

 

 

Who would be the person deciding who gets in and who doesn't? Who gets kicked out and who doesn't? If it's the staff, either way the words elite and biased will be thrown around from people who are ejected or for people not added. If its the users, a bunch of idiots would probably get their way in.

 

1. Create a list of requirements to be promoted to rank X.

 

2. Let the community members vote on the requirements.

 

3. The staff selects the members based on the requirements voted on.

 

4. Only 5-10 are promoted each month, or less.

 

5. At least a paragraph of reason & evidence are provided with each person getting promoted in the topic announcing the promotions.

 

6. Encouraging members to report the promoted members if they are failing to abide by the original requirements, or are abusing their rank in any shape or form, for personal gain.

 

 

 

Bottom line: If it isn't broken, don't fix it. There is nothing wrong with the community structure presently and adding this will just split the forum into a few groups,

 

Hate to burst your bubble but the community structure isn't fine, nor perfect, nor anything short of 'a true internet community,'. Look at the Runescape Area, look at Off-Topic, look at Video Games & Consoles, look at The Gallery, look at the Varrock Library. I think I just named 5 sub-communities of Tip.It. I could then of course name the most popular users of each of these forums, and then continue to crawl down the social ladder of each forum, down to the members and then to friend groups, but then again friend groups probably change everyday...so I really don't see why splitting the forum into little groups is a big deal when it's ALREADY HAPPENED. A forum is just a collection of interests with members posting about the interest or multiple interests sometimes, to start discussions with other members, creating a group. The community is already broken down into small little groups, and as long as these groups aren't flame warring each other, or saying that 'OT is better than GD' (Oh crap, that happens everyday!! I think something about being superior in IQ or intellect...or something...?), things should be fine.

 

 

 

There is no reason to separate users any further than they already separate themselves.

 

Exactly, so create a rank above member, that has responsibilities, and contributes more to the community to compliment the other ranked staff, as well as the regular members, and there you go, you haven't separated anything anymore, or are we assuming that introducing a new rank would separate the community more, without thinking on how to mould this rank so that it benefits the staff, and the community, as well as being a positive role model for others and just writing it off as bad so we don't need to spend time on it?

 

 

 

*I would have replied to your second paragraph Turtle but I've replied to it in various parts of this post already - but I first must say that post count wasn't suggested to be a reasoning behind the promotions...*

 

 

 

Moderators are hired in their volunteer capacity to handle the forums and questions and help that the rest of the users need.

 

Exactly. Moderators have to do a lot of work as stated all the time by the mods and admins. Why not create this rank in the attempt to drag the user-support burden off of the mods so that they can focus on moderating or give input in the behind the scenes discussions? I'm pretty sure there's at least 5 moderators who would love to see a reduced amount of member-help PM's and such. Also those that get promoted will probably be acting 'positive' and all that does is give regular members the thought of 'so if I act like that, I get rank'. Boom you have probably a decrease in flames or vulgarness on the forum.

 

 

 

In my opinion though Tip.It has always had the potential to do many great things that would evolve the Tip.It community to higher and greater things. However for some reason none of the Tip.It staff ever want to take a risk with things. And unlike real life, if the risk starts to turn sour, you can immediately get rid of it. And repair the damages (if any) pretty easily. Tip.It has never been one to go out on a limb and try something new. Tip.It has always waited for others to do something, and then after a long while, Tip.It finally does it, but usually it's a lot better, but it's too late and those that would've used it have already left, or become loyal to the other 'place'.

 

 

 

People come and use the internet to get a sense of belonging. When you are offering a rank to people, you are offering them what they want. There may be side-effects of the ranks, but it only takes 30 seconds to realize a way to counteract such a side-effect from happening.

 

 

 

If Tip.It seriously considered this, and then took all the cons, and thought on them, Tip.It could easily create a pro-only update to the forums. It's not hard to realize ways that can make any negative update into an update that would benefit others.

 

 

 

A promoted rank would benefit so many people, not just members, but the staff as well, as I've stated already. A promoted rank would increase activity, and with the community voting on the requirements, it wouldn't be spam posts. It would be quality posts for those who truly want the rank. If people know what the requirements are, they will abide by them. You'll be able to set a better standard for the members. When someone acts out, they are looked down upon by the others. They probably won't act out again unless they want the attention, and thats when mods can step in.

 

 

 

Tip.It will benefit greatly if this is done properly. I'm not saying my way is the proper way, but it is a start to think about ways to implement such a rank.

 

 

 

Tip.It can't remain as the same dry and boring place forever, and there needs to be things to spice it up every once and awhile, and this is certainly it!

 

 

 

*I didn't mean to step on anyone with this post, I was just getting my points across, so don't hate me. <3*

[Ginger_Warrior]

As far as ranks go, I can't understand why the Tip.It Crew, the editorial staff, the IRC staff or Jagex staff need them. Far from what n_odie says, I don't think they serve any purpose and I don't think they're needed for them to effectively do their role at all, given about three-quarters of the submissions we dealt with weren't even in the public eye. I also thought the same when I was on the Tip.It Crew. Same goes for the garish purple text that accompanies them (which looks awful on most of the board styles anyway).

 

 

 

The most they need is "Tip.It Crew" as their user rank. If the whole of the Tip.It Staff really were as selfless as they make out to be, they'd be happy with that. Also, I personally found the avatar a huge hinderence. Whenever I wanted to make a controversial opinion in OT, I couldn't because if I did, that would be seen as the Tip.It Staff's viewpoint. A couple of people actually contacted me after I left the Crew saying they'd noticed my writing tone was much more open and happier without the shadow of an official avatar hanging over me.

 

 

 

Like skatedog, I don't mean to hate on people, but I'm calling things the way I see it. It is somewhat ironic the Tip.It Staff constantly speak out against elitism, yet in my experience, this is one of the most elitist communities I have ever seen. It's too much about the rank, rather than the substance of the person behind it, if that makes sense? If you want proof, two hours in the IRC channel should make you see clearly.

 

 

 

As far as OT goes, I'm getting fed up of it too. I think 1_man_army's signature sums up my feelings. Why can't people admit to being just a tiny bit vulnerable, or 'wrong'? We all have our faults. Thinking back on members like Goddess, that's pretty much why people liked her. She had her beliefs, she was prepared to help people even if it meant making blunt comments about them to their face, she admitted she had faults (her bipolar status, which was removed , but nonetheless). It makes the experience much more... personal. What happened? She was bullied off the forum by a few cowards who thought the sun shined out their [wagon] because of her opinions on some fairly controversial topics they didn't happen to like. Instead of waiting for adequate protection, she left. That's not a "community without faults" by any stretch of the imagination.

 

 

 

There's other examples like her. People who made the OT community so pleasant who just got fed up of all the pretentiousness.

 

 

 

This is why I'm behind a 'Retired' rank for ex-staff members to have, if they want such a rank. They deserve it for the work they've put in in my opinion, and deserve some recognition for it. There should be no debate on this rank here. It should have already been a Tip.It rank a long time ago, with a page on the main site where the Staff List is, and have their own little 'Retired' area. I don't know why Tip.It is so ingrateful to the past contributions of retired staff.

 

To tell you the truth, I wouldn't want one. I want people on Tip.It to see me for who I am and what I believe in, rather than what a few people on the Tip.It Staff think of me.

 

 

 

One thing though, DO NOT CREATE THEIR OWN LITTLE FORUM THAT THEY CAN SEE ONLY, IT WILL CAUSE TONS OF ANGER. It will also put them as an enemy in front of members.

 

Indeed. The very idea seems very hypocritical, does it not?

[ThruItAll]

Who says mod's are respected? Has anyone looked at Pryo lately? :P

 

This topic screeams Tia.

 

Na, I'm only kidding, but should totally be able to make polls, that would make hosting my tournement a whole load easier.

 

 

 

Very few topics actually require polls, if we allowed users to create polls then the amount of discussion that goes on will go down as people will read the topic then vote and not add to the discussion which is a very bad idea.

 

 

 

If you do need a poll making for a topic then PMing a mod of that board and stating why you want a poll and they will decide if the topic warrants it or not.

 

 

 

I'd say pming a moderator every time I open a new voting topic for my tournement is a little hassling.

 

Anyway, my post voting is going well.

[InkofDeath]

I'd say pming a moderator every time I open a new voting topic for my tournement is a little hassling.

 

Anyway, my post voting is going well.

 

 

 

You know, you could just PM a mod, and ask them if they'll get an admin to make you your own personal permission mask (no not a new rank, or whatever it is that allows people to make polls, it can be kept similar or exactly the same as a member so there's no difference), and then you're able to create polls, only though, for your tournament or whatever. Though you'd probably only be allowed to make polls for the tournament thing, and nothing else. I also don't know how popular or useful this tournament thing is, and all of that would need to be decided by the staff. Just a solution.

[dsavi]

^ Too much hassle for the admins and then everyone would want it, I would think.