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Upgraded Forum Status for Certain Posters

AuthorMessage
Adherent
Mar 18, 2009
2737
With a new community manager, I would like to propose that certain forum posters be given the same status as fan site owners on the forums. Why?

1. Fan site owners rarely post on the official forums (probably since they are busy communicating to the community through their own fan site).

2. There are some fantastic "helpers" on the official forums that regularly interact with the community on a consistent basis. They invest their personal time to make the official boards a better place.

From my understanding, the upgraded status is simply a different color name and the ability to moderator (or their posts are simply given accelerated moderation). Not much, but a good way to reward these members.

There are a few of these individuals on the boards, but I would like to specifically point out just one as an example - Chrissy the Blesser. She is always welcoming new players, providing advice, good communicator and generally an overwhelming positive force on the official forums.

Just to be clear, I am not one of these few....but for those few that KI agrees with, it would be nice to recognize them with a distinguished name (even without moderation permissions).

Delver
Jan 20, 2013
246
Coming from someone who was originally a "Community Leader" and then eventually upped to "Moderator," I can confirm that the forum status fansite owners have does not allow them to moderate. It just changes their name color and allows them to post instantly (skipping the waiting for approval).

When I was promoted, I was told that I was the first (and as far as I know) only community member to ever be given moderator privileges on the official message boards. So, it's definitely not something they do very often.

That said, I'm curious to see Sparck's thoughts on this. :)

Illuminator
Aug 03, 2016
1475
I have seen so many message board communities devolve into cliques. It usually began with a system that gave titles and roles to different people.

I have no issues with the existing titles or people in roles here. I'm talking about something else. People who've seen it too will know what I mean. Pretty soon people are climbing over each other to get more points and to be top dog.

The 24 hour hold here stops a good deal of flame wars, which other places are prone to. But there can be subtle things that begin, where people form cliques, and so on. It's rare to find a community that hasn't been damaged by that.

Everyone should feel free to post without being lauded overly or attacked, and everyone should feel equal.

Just my opinion.

Armiger
Jan 18, 2010
2280
This is an interesting thought.

I actually do agree with this.

While to your point. many of us here on the boards for example don't seek extra admiration or praise for the advice/assistance that we may offer, I cannot ignore the fact that this may actually be a very enlighting thing to do.

If this cannot be done, I'm also curious as to why and how the official process works.


Armiger
Aug 03, 2014
2101
I'm not sure a hierarchy like this is necessary but perhaps I'm not fully understanding the OP's thoughts.

While heavy posters are likely on the site regularly and could make excellent moderators I've also seen what Sparkletude has mentioned, where people who are active on a forum are elevated to moderators and the power seemed to go to their heads. They turn a blind eye to reported posts when the person being attacked is someone they don't like or they just don't like their opinions about things. They constantly moderate the posts of people they have taken a disliking to or who have opinions they don't personally agree with.

I think this site is much better because it is moderated by impartial employees of KI. We don't need a report feature for flaming or bullying. Users of the site are equals and views are shared respectfully without one opinion being more important.

Being professional and unbiased is essential in a moderator...if we could clone Vanessa Mythdust I'd approve a dozen of her roaming the site though

A+ Student
Dec 24, 2009
1895
If I understand the original suggestion, it's that members who have posted consistently in a helpful and supportive way, long enough and often enough to have earned a solid reputation, might possibly be awarded community leader status. This is not a bad idea, assuming "Community Leader" just means their posts can be trusted and may go through an accelerated moderation period.

Advancing them to moderator does not seem appropriate, however. Only KI staff should have the ability to lock threads, edit posts, or remove posts.

Alia Misthaven

Adherent
Mar 18, 2009
2737
SparkleTude on Aug 7, 2018 wrote:
I have seen so many message board communities devolve into cliques. It usually began with a system that gave titles and roles to different people.

I have no issues with the existing titles or people in roles here. I'm talking about something else. People who've seen it too will know what I mean. Pretty soon people are climbing over each other to get more points and to be top dog.

The 24 hour hold here stops a good deal of flame wars, which other places are prone to. But there can be subtle things that begin, where people form cliques, and so on. It's rare to find a community that hasn't been damaged by that.

Everyone should feel free to post without being lauded overly or attacked, and everyone should feel equal.

Just my opinion.
Good point Sparkletude, never thought about that aspect. I personally wouldn't mind, since I know those players are putting in legitimate extra effort and not just upping numbers. Official fan site owners are already treated differently/special over regular players....and they should be treated differently given all the hard work they invest back into the game and other players.

If implemented, I assume KI would see through who was honestly helping and who was trying to be "top dog", especially since there are already players posting just to up their numbers with the current forum system that tracks your post count.

Geographer
Dec 14, 2009
916
I would simply like to see more mods on the boards period. Too often the community posts about game issues, and it never even gets printed. (even though it meets the criteria) Another problem is that too often KI fails to even comment on important topics. I have seen an improvement since Sparck took the helm, but I think this trend should continue. Adding more people would certainly help.

Administrator
Thanks all for the feedback! I'm trying to respond as much a I can, but there's so many great posts here to get to... you can make an entire job out of just posting in the forums :).

Delver
Mar 10, 2009
236
That is VERY sweet of you to say and your thoughts have indeed blessed the Blesser for sure. I know of many prolific and helpful posters on both forums that would be worthy of such trust and it would be a nice way to reward those that love to help others and keep things positive. Many are more knowledgeable and prolific than I and we have all been touched by their kindness. Finding a way to judge who is eligible for such instant posting status would be the hardest task for our Sparck and I would not envy the extra work involved in such a quest. I totally understand if this never happens for that very reason but I am beyond touched by our community that appreciates the kindness we all try to bestow on each other.

Adherent
Mar 18, 2009
2737
Victoria FireHeart on Aug 7, 2018 wrote:
I'm not sure a hierarchy like this is necessary but perhaps I'm not fully understanding the OP's thoughts.

While heavy posters are likely on the site regularly and could make excellent moderators I've also seen what Sparkletude has mentioned, where people who are active on a forum are elevated to moderators and the power seemed to go to their heads. They turn a blind eye to reported posts when the person being attacked is someone they don't like or they just don't like their opinions about things. They constantly moderate the posts of people they have taken a disliking to or who have opinions they don't personally agree with.

I think this site is much better because it is moderated by impartial employees of KI. We don't need a report feature for flaming or bullying. Users of the site are equals and views are shared respectfully without one opinion being more important.

Being professional and unbiased is essential in a moderator...if we could clone Vanessa Mythdust I'd approve a dozen of her roaming the site though
Just to be clear, I'm not asking for these few distinguished players to have moderation over other players. I wrongly assumed some type of moderation came with the upgraded status already given to fan site owners. Mythdust cleared that up indicating that she might be the only one with that ability over other players. I think the only moderation that fan site owners have is the ability to auto-moderate their own posts.

I'm just proposing that these few players be distinguished on the official forums, since that is basically their fan site. The special color designation is already used for fan site owners and that's what I'm proposing for these individuals, but it could just simply be a different title than one associated with your post count.

Chrissy, Willowydream, etc seem to log into the forums every day and provide meaningful and helpful posts. It would be nice if new players could walk away with a recognition from an official "fan site owner" since, as Sparck already pointed out, official KI employees can't respond to every post.

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
i like this idea as well. there are so many kind, helpful people on these boards, and it would be nice to see them recognized in some way.

(just to clarify, i would not be one of those people; i am not helpful at all; i am a horrible person, and making weird jokes during long cheaty battles is pretty much my only redeeming quality.)

-von