How to Improve

[Corri]

ADISC, we have all seen what has happened to us; and most of us are in agreement... the site has gone down hill... I do have to agree on that one. ADISC/TBDL has seen better times; much better times. Not that we aren't the best *BDL-incontinence site out there; we are.. but we are getting to not be anymore. For what reason's I don't know. But, out old members are leaving this place for broke. I will admit; I have been considering it... but I have more guts then that... I have idea's for improvement not everyone will agree with me; but from this we can have something even better then what we had in the “good times” while we will continue to grow and that sense of closeness will never return; except for the old blokes who hang out together in Skype chats, these changes should bring VAST improvement.

A. The VIP requirement needs modified. It's current state causes mistakes, accidental slips of the tongue, or even ignorance of the rules by actually GOOD members to continue to hurt them with rep.
I currently have 13 negative rep; 9 of which are from a year ago displaying my distaste for the current rep system and VIP requirements. Not that having big rep matters;having VIP matters. It really does.
The VIP system should be reworked to include ALL of your contributions to the site; but in some ways easier to get into.
(Take for example me... not that I am complaining about not being VIP but; why do I not have the big green letters?
Why is it someone who can post 60 times, get repped ten times have a "VIP" status over someone who has 1200 posts, 42 reputation, and has given large amounts of his times to the forum not considered a very important Person?)
Theres other members then me who are stung like this.



B SecondLife; You heard me... SecondLife. A lot of ADISCers are on SL. Many of them are long time standing members.
The current group counts 36 members.
There could be more; if there is interest enough we might be able to open a sim... given enough time and money attached to the babyfur sims; thus immensely increasing the potential number of members and those who see *B/DL in a good light.

C. More site content, we have the potential to increase traffic by putting in more community areas such as an art section, having frequent contests and challenges would also help. These challenges and contests would require that you participate and get to know other community member's better.


D: ACTIVITY BY STAFF!
Not that they don't already do this; but staff members need to be VERY active in the community. Letting themselves and their personality to be known is a must. Would you trust someone who just bans someone and hardly ever says anything?



That be all; you may now neg rep me for bitching about the site...

 

[Wegs]

I agree completely with EVERYTHING you have said there, I don't belive you deserve neg-rep. You have suggestions that could completely change the site for the better.

 

[TheFoxxehAssassin]

Let me break this down.

A. Now this is true. Members who just barely joined should not have VIP status. But this isn't really the place to discuss VIP requirements.

B. I don't use Second Life, so I can't really add much here.

C. This isn't a bad idea. Other sites, such as Fox Tales Times have an art section, why not us?

Challenges and contests: It's something new. I've never really seen anyone bring up the idea of a contest here. Like, best artwork, or best story, etc. (Although, I think the Member's Awards are kinda similar to those.)

D. Some staff just don't have the time to participate in the site as much as they'd like to. We have, what, 8 staff members? I think we have almost 1200 active members on ADISC, if not more. And this isn't counting the almost 5000 accounts we have.

9 staff isn't enough, in my opinion. Two of which technically aren't moderators, so that lowers it to 7. (I mean, they are, but that's not really their job.) One of them left, so that makes 6. This leaves us with Trevor, Lukie, Charlie F., Martin, Peachy, and Moo. A great staff team, but I think there could be at least 2 more.

Oh, and Corri, I don't see the need for neg-rep. You can voice your opinion, as long as you don't make drama out of it.

Just my :twocents:.

--The Silent Assassin--

 

[Corri]

9 staff isn't enough, in my opinion. Two of which technically aren't moderators, so that lowers it to 7. (I mean, they are, but that's not really their job.) One of them left, so that makes 6. This leaves us with Trevor, Lukie, Charlie F., Martin, Peachy, and Moo. A great staff team, but I think there could be at least 2 more.

I'm gonna agree with that one too.

 

[recovery]

A. The VIP requirement needs modified.

I feel this is irrelevant, why? Because VIP is used to pick out the role models of the forum. They have the bold green names to show other people the right way to behave and conduct themselves on the forum. I feel it does that fairly well. It doesn't matter how long you stick around or do entirely. It's if you stick around and make the forum a better place overall.

B SecondLife; You heard me... SecondLife.

Feel free, to set that up yourself, or anyone else willing to do the job. I just don't feel it's necessary. We've got IRC and going outside and playing with different comunication mediums such as SL or skype may not appeal to everyone or be out of their reach for one reason or another. So don't expect everyone to hop on the bandwagon.

C. More site content, we have the potential to increase traffic by putting in more community areas such as an art section, having frequent contests and challenges would also help.

Again, feel free to do so. Abby has the member awards under control. We have a Wiki and Art gallery as well as the forums. We've got groups as well. So you've got what you could possibly need. It's just upto some people to lead. But with that, you'll need followers. So it needs to appeal to all again. The Member awards seem to do that very well.

D: ACTIVITY BY STAFF!

I feel they do enough, And I trust them all enough. I don't know what your trouble is here. Don't expect them to do as much as everyone else as to blog about everything interesting in their lifes. They may feel for one reason or another not to share.

As for improving Adisc? Just put a smile on and be nice and considerate when you post. Not that difficult. We may not be at a peak for customer satisfaction. But most of us still like being here.

 

[Corri]

As for improving Adisc? Just put a smile on and be nice and considerate when you post. Not that difficult. We may not be at a peak for customer satisfaction. But most of us still like being here.

How about no... if we don't continually try to improve this place, it will go downhill. It takes action.. not smiling and being nice.
Being nice doesn't get you good grades in school, and it sure as shit wont fix the kitchen sink. We have plenty of smiles and niceness around here.

Not that you should stop being nice, but it takes more then that.

 

[Butterfly Mage]

I'm not sure I see the ADISC vs Second Life connection. I have an account with both services but for very different reasons. My "Second Life" account is mostly for participating in Pagan/Wiccan activities. But hey, I wouldn't object to a Pagan/Wiccan section on ADISC -- I just don't think there are a lot of witches on ADISC.

 

[Mako]

How about no... if we don't continually try to improve this place, it will go downhill. It takes action.. not smiling and being nice.
Being nice doesn't get you good grades in school, and it sure as shit wont fix the kitchen sink. We have plenty of smiles and niceness around here.

Not that you should stop being nice, but it takes more then that.

No, really it doesn't. What we need to do is continue having a welcoming environment to adisc.

It's pretty annoying "senior" members have been treating newer members to ADISC like some sort of disease. Things haven't been going downhill, things just change and grow with time. Only problem with ADISC is that people keep thinking theres a problem.

 

[Mesmerale]

Spoiler

ADISC, we have all seen what has happened to us; and most of us are in agreement... the site has gone down hill... I do have to agree on that one. ADISC/TBDL has seen better times; much better times. Not that we aren't the best *BDL-incontinence site out there; we are.. but we are getting to not be anymore. For what reason's I don't know. But, out old members are leaving this place for broke. I will admit; I have been considering it... but I have more guts then that... I have idea's for improvement not everyone will agree with me; but from this we can have something even better then what we had in the “good times” while we will continue to grow and that sense of closeness will never return; except for the old blokes who hang out together in Skype chats, these changes should bring VAST improvement.

A. The VIP requirement needs modified. It's current state causes mistakes, accidental slips of the tongue, or even ignorance of the rules by actually GOOD members to continue to hurt them with rep.
I currently have 13 negative rep; 9 of which are from a year ago displaying my distaste for the current rep system and VIP requirements. Not that having big rep matters;having VIP matters. It really does.
The VIP system should be reworked to include ALL of your contributions to the site; but in some ways easier to get into.
(Take for example me... not that I am complaining about not being VIP but; why do I not have the big green letters?
Why is it someone who can post 60 times, get repped ten times have a "VIP" status over someone who has 1200 posts, 42 reputation, and has given large amounts of his times to the forum not considered a very important Person?)
Theres other members then me who are stung like this.



B SecondLife; You heard me... SecondLife. A lot of ADISCers are on SL. Many of them are long time standing members.
The current group counts 36 members.
There could be more; if there is interest enough we might be able to open a sim... given enough time and money attached to the babyfur sims; thus immensely increasing the potential number of members and those who see *B/DL in a good light.

C. More site content, we have the potential to increase traffic by putting in more community areas such as an art section, having frequent contests and challenges would also help. These challenges and contests would require that you participate and get to know other community member's better.


D: ACTIVITY BY STAFF!
Not that they don't already do this; but staff members need to be VERY active in the community. Letting themselves and their personality to be known is a must. Would you trust someone who just bans someone and hardly ever says anything?



That be all; you may now neg rep me for bitching about the site...

. . . I don't belive you deserve neg-rep. . . .

Second.

. . .

A. Now this is true. Members who just barely joined should not have VIP status. But this isn't really the place to discuss VIP requirements.

. . .

9 staff isn't enough, in my opinion. Two of which technically aren't moderators, so that lowers it to 7. (I mean, they are, but that's not really their job.) One of them left, so that makes 6. This leaves us with Trevor, Lukie, Charlie F., Martin, Peachy, and Moo. A great staff team, but I think there could be at least 2 more.

Oh, and Corri, I don't see the need for neg-rep. You can voice your opinion, as long as you don't make drama out of it.

. . .

--The Silent Assassin--

Um, second, (Edit: Forgot to change this.) not second (/edit), second.

I feel this is irrelevant, why? Because VIP is used to pick out the role models of the forum. They have the bold green names to show other people the right way to behave and conduct themselves on the forum. I feel it does that fairly well. It doesn't matter how long you stick around or do entirely. It's if you stick around and make the forum a better place overall.

... I luff you!!! *nuzzles* We has the same view about VIPs!!

. . .

As for improving Adisc? Just put a smile on and be nice and considerate when you post. Not that difficult. We may not be at a peak for customer satisfaction. But most of us still like being here.

Don't second. :/
We need to do something, not just smile. As has been said below me! Yay!

No, really it doesn't. What we need to do is continue having a welcoming environment to adisc.

It's pretty annoying "senior" members have been treating newer members to ADISC like some sort of disease. Things haven't been going downhill, things just change and grow with time. Only problem with ADISC is that people keep thinking theres a problem.

Oh.. Maybe I was thinking of a different post? Mako didn't say what I was saying at all... *shrugs* Oh well!

Don't second.

ADISC IS going downhill, the problem is that people aren't paying attention to how far. Everything goes downhill, at least in America. ^_^ Yay Capitalism.

Communism stays steady, but people don't seem to like that so much.. (Remember, I'm working based off of most likely very biased American history classes.)

Basically, everything has ups and downs.

:up: Spoiler'd due to size.

 

[starshine]

staff isn't enough, in my opinion. Two of which technically aren't moderators, so that lowers it to 7. (I mean, they are, but that's not really their job.) One of them left, so that makes 6. This leaves us with Trevor, Lukie, Charlie F., Martin, Peachy, and Moo. A great staff team, but I think there could be at least 2 more.

There is enough staff. In the event of an emergency, Dannytheninja and I both have the power to deal with things until a normal moderator is available.

 

[FullMetal]

I do not see why you guys are being led to believe there are not enough staff. I have not seen any rules being broken without a mod coming in and defusing the situation. I would understand if there was some problem which takes a long time to address and that is why you believe that there are not enough mods, but right now, none of that is happening. Maybe give us a reason why there should be more?

FullMetal

 

[Wegs]

I do not see why you guys are being led to believe there are not enough staff. I have not seen any rules being broken without a mod coming in and defusing the situation. I would understand if there was some problem which takes a long time to address and that is why you believe that there are not enough mods, but right now, none of that is happening. Maybe give us a reason why there should be more?

FullMetal

I don't think he is talking so much about mods doing their jobs as participating. I rarely see mods post their opinions in threads. The only mod I see post such often is Lukie. Maybe I just don't look enough. *shrug*

 

[Mako]

Spoiler

ADISC IS going downhill, the problem is that people aren't paying attention to how far.

Spoiler

People are creating a false super happy sunshine image of the former site. The past always looks good with the bias of nostalgia.
Good luck paddling up the water fall. I'll point out while older members piss and moan that the sky is falling, new members joining have been taking note about how good ADISC is. Communities change over time, it keeps them from becoming stagnant. It would be a problem if adisc wasn't changing. These calls to action as of late are meaningless, and I feel have the completely wrong direction.

ADISC doesn't need more security, exclusiveness, etc. It needs to be a support community, somewhere people feel welcome to be. So that extra effort to be nice is exactly what ADISC needs. Not this cynical commitment to fix an imaginary problem.

 

[Mesmerale]

People are creating a false super happy sunshine image of the former site. The past always looks good with the bias of nostalgia.
Good luck paddling up the water fall. I'll point out while older members piss and moan that the sky is falling, new members joining have been taking note about how good ADISC is. Communities change over time, it keeps them from becoming stagnant. It would be a problem if adisc wasn't changing. These calls to action as of late are meaningless, and I feel have the completely wrong direction.

ADISC doesn't need more security, exclusiveness, etc. It needs to be a support community, somewhere people feel welcome to be. So that extra effort to be nice is exactly what ADISC needs. Not this cynical commitment to fix an imaginary problem.

Mako, why'd you quote me for that?

I was saying that, while I agreed that ADISC is going downhill, it isn't going down very far, and will quickly rise back up, just as any other economical system and social system does.

I wasn't saying that we should do anything extreme to try to stop it.

 

[Butterfly Mage]

I don't think that ADISC is going downhill at all. Sure, there has been a regrettable security breach by some jerk. There has been some uber-VIP drama as a result. But 2-3 weeks from now, that will be forgotten by and large. Put it this way: we have a lot of interesting people here from a variety of backgrounds, economic profiles, religions, political views, ages, and ethnicities. I think that's *really* a good thing!

 

[Mako]

Mako, why'd you quote me for that?

I was saying that, while I agreed that ADISC is going downhill, it isn't going down very far, and will quickly rise back up, just as any other economical system and social system does.

I wasn't saying that we should do anything extreme to try to stop it.

My bad then ^^!

It's just that many older members have been saying it for quite some time, and they're the only ones who think its going down hill. It's just really gotten annoying. I don't see this place going downhill at all.

 

[Mesmerale]

My bad then ^^!

It's just that many older members have been saying it for quite some time, and they're the only ones who think its going down hill. It's just really gotten annoying.

It's all good! I've always loved the way you voice your opinion anyway.

Just for the record though: You're a month older than I am on the site. :tongue:

 

[FullMetal]

I don't think he is talking so much about mods doing their jobs as participating. I rarely see mods post their opinions in threads. The only mod I see post such often is Lukie. Maybe I just don't look enough. *shrug*

Maybe, but do you want to have mods based on who posts the most or who is the most effective to when it comes down to protecting our site?

FullMetal

 

[Wegs]

Maybe, but do you want to have mods based on who posts the most or who is the most effective to when it comes down to protecting our site?

FullMetal

Is it wrong to want a mod who can be both be effective when it comes to the site and it's security, and be willing to share his/her thoughts on a certain topic fairly often?

 

[EmeraldsAndLime]

I'm going to dub this the "TBDL Reminiscent Syndrome" - people always seem to reflect back to how TBDL used to be and compare it to how ADISC is today and criticise everything about this place. People with this syndrome feel that this place has just taken a turn for the worse over the past few months, or as far back as when we made the switch to the new domain. I can't quite express this feeling in an analytical way, so rather I hope my own sentiments get my point across.

There are quite a number of reasons people are feeling this way, most notably how much tension and drama it has caused on the forum. This place has been stripped of it relaxed and fun atmosphere and given a serious and paranoid tone to it. People aren't so open anymore and (through no fault of their own) newbies aren't respecting the trends and ideals that older members held. Call it a revolution, but the whole vibe I get from this place just isn't what it used to be. Sure I still come on here, and I'm as active as ever, but to some extent I feel it's all done in vain since we don't have that closeness amongst each other anymore.

But this is to be expected as the place grows and develops. I can't blame Moo for changing over to the new domain and taking that action to see this place become much more dynamic and experience a steroid-injection of contributions. I have to admit, I saw all of this coming - a large number of people join up and the price we pay is losing the closeness and strong inter-personal relationships we had here. I am definitely not pointing the finger at anybody, particularly not newbies. You're all very much welcome here and have just as much right as I do to be here - so don't take this so personally. But for older members, I can see where they are coming from. We are losing the ability to become defined, unique people and are becoming just another face in the crowd at the cost of seeing this place become active beyond what we could have imagined it would ever reach. I am both thrilled and disheartened at the future of the website. I like seeing new faces around here as I feel it adds to the already bountiful pool of knowledge, resource and insight, but I fear that as we grow to unfathomable proportions, I will fade into the background too much.

I guess that's just how life works though. You can't always stay on top forever; even if you tried you'll still have to succumb to real life issues which take away from your time here. I don't necessarily believe that anyone will be purged off the site, but it's hard to imagine anyone will be here for the entire journey. As this place grows, so will the egos of members who strive to be apart from the crowd, holding their heads high and screaming with over-confidence. It will ultimately make this place a hot-headed, status worshipping culture of which I despise. The atmosphere of this place will become like the sky over a city struggling to deal with the pressures of a wasteful, inefficient society and in doing so become more volatile and out-of-control.

Then again, I probably read too many dystopian-future novels for my own good and that outlook is rather extreme. Nevertheless, I feel we should adopt principles that everyone has a right to be here, but that everyone should also respect what is already established. We are like any other society; there are unwritten rules that can only be learnt as you assimilate within the culture. People often try to take the easy path and skip these points, and I'm glad people here still have a level-headedness about them as to not let these other types of people through easily. I don't feel I need to elaborate on what these things are; after all they are unwritten for a reason. But I will say that this place does have a culture of its own, separate from other AB/DL websites, and just like any culture, there are values we hold dear and values we reject.

Nonetheless, people still need to re-evaluate how they are perceived on this forum. I’d love to have newbies join up and have all of them as insightful as the VIPs, but that’s just not the reality within this fetish. We have to take the good with the bad and try to demonstrate to these people that that’s just not how we roll here. I’d love to see regulars continue the trends that the VIPs have set, but we are all very different people in the way we think and act, so it’s not going to happen in all cases. I’d love to see the VIPs take a more proactive approach in developing this forum. We are still a set group of people who have the ability to change how others talk and act on the forum, but the reality is that it shouldn’t be our job to get people to behave. I understand that we all come onto this forum for our own reasons and that we shouldn’t have to care about what other people do here, but we should at least care to the point where if all this shit continues, we won’t have much of a good forum left to visit.