What is it to be a UE?

I've done a lot of thinking, and have seen enough flack around the forums to see that not too many people take the User Education team seriously, and some of them, for good reason. Seeing as I'm now on summer, I'd like to dedicate some more time, specifically to implementing ideas to improve the UE, and I want you all to do some thinking and answer these questions. There's no right or wrong answer, all I want is honest opinion (and if any of the admins like Finn or Pen want to participate as well, I welcome the criticism).

So if you could be honest, that would be appreciated.

1. Why did you want to be part of the UE?
2. Do you HONESTLY enjoy writing guides? Why or why not?
3. Do you think that the checklist is helpful to other users and helpful in keeping up activity?
4. Do you think that each UE should cover a more eclectic amount of information? A more specified amount?
5. What is one thing that YOU specifically can contribute to the UE?
6. Does group UE projects appeal to you? Individual projects?
7. How much time do you actually spend doing UE activities (on a weekly basis)?
8. Do you think it would be wise to do more stuff that would benefit the Sythe community as a whole? Do you have any ideas on how to do this?
9. Do you think allowing people to request guides to other subjects previously prohibited in the UE (such as Runescape, WOW, etc.) would be beneficial? Should we continue to make it prohibited?
10. Are the current requirements for UE applications enough to really weed out people who don't deserve to be on the team?
11. What are some things that the HUE's can do to improve the team? improve the section? improve our moderating in the section? (I would really appreciate some answers on this!)

I'm not entirely sure what else to ask at this point, so if you would help me out with this, I would greatly appreciate it.

Also, go ahead and throw in your own opinion on how things are run here. Do you like nominations? Applications? The section index? etc.

Thanks so much in advance.

 

1. Why did you want to be part of the UE?
Its knowing you play a fairly active part (in most cases) in helping people and improving knowledge.

2. Do you HONESTLY enjoy writing guides? Why or why not?
On topics i like, yes, its a good feeling knowing your helping people.

3. Do you think that the checklist is helpful to other users and helpful in keeping up activity?
Fairly.

4. Do you think that each UE should cover a more eclectic amount of information? A more specified amount?
As in covering specific sections? I dont think so.

5. What is one thing that YOU specifically can contribute to the UE?
Not sure about the word, but i like to keep sythe a friends and spam/scam free environment.

6. Does group UE projects appeal to you? Individual projects?
Yes,yes.

7. How much time do you actually spend doing UE activities (on a weekly basis)?
Once my checklist is done i dont keep track of my time, i just do what i can when i can.

8. Do you think it would be wise to do more stuff that would benefit the Sythe community as a whole? Do you have any ideas on how to do this?
Yes, not now.

9. Do you think allowing people to request guides to other subjects previously prohibited in the UE (such as Runescape, WOW, etc.) would be beneficial? Should we continue to make it prohibited?
Allow them, but dont make them part of of being a UE

10. Are the current requirements for UE applications enough to really weed out people who don't deserve to be on the team?
Not really to be honest, we need to be harsher.

11. What are some things that the HUE's can do to improve the team? improve the section? improve our moderating in the section? (I would really appreciate some answers on this!)
Dalp's should be active, we should have more reasons to come to the private forum, HUE's should actively clean out the H+R of answered threads, and patrol for ripped guides better.

 

1. Why did you want to be part of the UE?
I've always wanted to contribute to this site, in one way or another, I have a varied knowledge of things, and good at making guides, the rank is just a benefit.
2. Do you HONESTLY enjoy writing guides? Why or why not?
It's not the most exiting thing in the world, but I love the feeling of accomplishment when I've finished writing one, and I can feel proud.
3. Do you think that the checklist is helpful to other users and helpful in keeping up activity?
In a way, I would say so, it makes people not slack off so much and a way to see if they are active or not. Personally I would allow two attempts at not completing the checklist before kicking them off.
4. Do you think that each UE should cover a more eclectic amount of information? A more specified amount?
I guess that would be a good idea, everyone could help out, but if one person doesn't do something, It could make the other people who are doing something seem there work pointless.
5. What is one thing that YOU specifically can contribute to the UE?
Carry on fulfilling the checklist, giving constructive criticism to guides and being mature, helpful to give a better look towards UE.
6. Does group UE projects appeal to you? Individual projects?
Yes, personally it brings the UE's together, after all it is the UE team, we should be engaged with work.
7. How much time do you actually spend doing UE activities (on a weekly basis)?
I check the private forums, and give logical decision to applications which usually takes me around 10-15 minutes. I read about one or two guides a day usually although I need to start giving criticism more, as I just read them, and don't reply which I will do more of. I would probably say around 1 or 2 hours a week.
8. Do you think it would be wise to do more stuff that would benefit the Sythe community as a whole? Do you have any ideas on how to do this?
Of course. However at this present time, I have no ideas, I will try and think of some though.
9. Do you think allowing people to request guides to other subjects previously prohibited in the UE (such as Runescape, WOW, etc.) would be beneficial? Should we continue to make it prohibited?
Personally, I would like to see this, many people need information on how to do things on such games as runescape.
10. Are the current requirements for UE applications enough to really weed out people who don't deserve to be on the team?
I think they might be a bit too easy if I'm honest, I've given some idea's below.
11. What are some things that the HUE's can do to improve the team? improve the section? improve our moderating in the section? (I would really appreciate some answers on this!)
I have a few idea's to improve, firstly for the applications perhaps bring a requirement such as have to be on the forum for over three months for example, if someone who has joined may 2010 has 100 post count applies, and by having extreamly good guides get in, in my opinion it gives a bad image to UE. Also instead of just guides int he application as guides isn't just the only thing in user education, they have to give 10 examples of guide critiques, and 10 H&Rs, so it's not just a two day application. Also I think it would be an idea to just allow one gaming guide allowed into the application, or runescape WoW guides could be classed as a half guide in the application or something. My final idea is that maybe if you could bring some benefits to UE's such as being able to change thread titles for themselves would encourage others to apply for UE. I've just thought of a final point, when a HUE departs, perhaps the UE's could have a chance to apply, and then pen or whatever could choose one from there, or another person.

 

1. Why did you want to be part of the UE?
I like being a part of something. I like the other educators, and it gives reputation.

2. Do you HONESTLY enjoy writing guides? Why or why not?
Sometimes, if I find a subject which interests me. But I like reading the feedback and improve.

3. Do you think that the checklist is helpful to other users and helpful in keeping up activity?
Yes, but I think the guide requirement is abit hard.

4. Do you think that each UE should cover a more eclectic amount of information? A more specified amount?
No, I'm OK with the way it is.

5. What is one thing that YOU specifically can contribute to the UE?
Back to the subjects.. Hard to come up with. I think I can give good feedback to other guides and answer questions. I'm staying calm and friendly even if it's questions I've been asked 58359573 times before.

6. Does group UE projects appeal to you? Individual projects?
I've never competed on any UE projects.

7. How much time do you actually spend doing UE activities (on a weekly basis)?
I do answer all questions I get, and help people out with issues. Lots of that is related to my mod duties though.

8. Do you think it would be wise to do more stuff that would benefit the Sythe community as a whole? Do you have any ideas on how to do this?
Maybe have guide of the month or UE of the month. Might also add as a requirement to stay helpful and active outside of UE too.

9. Do you think allowing people to request guides to other subjects previously prohibited in the UE (such as Runescape, WOW, etc.) would be beneficial? Should we continue to make it prohibited?
I think to expand we could allow people to have guides about games. This will of course also let us use answers to game related issues in the monthly checklist.

10. Are the current requirements for UE applications enough to really weed out people who don't deserve to be on the team?
I don't think it's about being enough or not. I don't think the checklist is the way to do it. I think we should have a system like the modlogs. Say we'll get "points" for answering questions, writing guide analysis or guides. We'll need a total amount of points each week. I'd refer using weeks instead of months.

11. What are some things that the HUE's can do to improve the team? improve the section? improve our moderating in the section? (I would really appreciate some answers on this!)
Close answered threads in H&R, you're doing a great job except of that.

 

1. Why did you want to be part of the UE?
- I love Sythe so much. I want to contribute to the site so more members of Sythe will become more educated.

2. Do you HONESTLY enjoy writing guides? Why or why not?
- Not really. But when I'm done, I have that feeling of accomplishment and I feel very happy that I've written a guide.

3. Do you think that the checklist is helpful to other users and helpful in keeping up activity?
- Yes. Otherwise, some UE members can just slack off and bear the rank even though they're not doing much.

4. Do you think that each UE should cover a more eclectic amount of information? A more specified amount?
- I'm fine with the way it is right now, to be honest.

5. What is one thing that YOU specifically can contribute to the UE?
- Keeping Sythe safe, critiquing guides in a mature fashion and helping others.

6. Does group UE projects appeal to you? Individual projects?
- I'd prefer projects as a group so we can strengthen our bonds of friendship and teamwork.

7. How much time do you actually spend doing UE activities (on a weekly basis)?
- I check the H&R forum to see if there's anything I can do to help. Then I go to the guides forum to review guides.

8. Do you think it would be wise to do more stuff that would benefit the Sythe community as a whole? Do you have any ideas on how to do this?
- Of course. I haven't really thought of it, but when I think of some, I'll be sure to let you know.

9. Do you think allowing people to request guides to other subjects previously prohibited in the UE (such as Runescape, WOW, etc.) would be beneficial? Should we continue to make it prohibited?
- No. I believe User Education is for the more general aspects of life. Not everything in life is about an online game.

10. Are the current requirements for UE applications enough to really weed out people who don't deserve to be on the team?
- I'd really like to implement what Sindre suggested. We use logs and points to keep record of how much we actually did. That way, the HUE can review those logs and see how much we did.

11. What are some things that the HUE's can do to improve the team? improve the section? improve our moderating in the section? (I would really appreciate some answers on this!)
- Patrol for ripped guides. Clean out the H&R section. Maybe add a H&R archive so it looks more neater and we can find threads that need help more easier?

Thanks.
Paul.

 

1.Why did you want to be part of the UE?

I think I joined UE a month and a half after joining Sythe. I enjoyed hanging out in the UE guides section, and thought it was something I could do. Def thought it would be cool to be part of a group and belong to it.

2. Do you HONESTLY enjoy writing guides? Why or why not?

Yes I do, simply because I enjoy writing.

3. Do you think that the checklist is helpful to other users and helpful in keeping up activity?

I think the checklist serves a limited purpose. It forces people to stay at least mildly active, and potentially weeds out the people who really shouldnt be here. I think however that the checklist should be changed slightly however. Rather than having a requirement of 5 posts in the help section (it honestly is difficult at times to get in an answer there before someone else does, and if it has been answered well, then you obviously dont want to spam), I would say change it to 10 posts per month citing specific cases where the UE has answered a question on any of the forums on Sythe. This makes it more generic, yet will encourage more activity, in addition to encouraging UE to extend their influence beyond our small section.

4. Do you think that each UE should cover a more eclectic amount of information? A more specified amount?

Not really.

5. What is one thing that YOU specifically can contribute to the UE?

Activity. I consider myself one of the most active members on Sythe, and consistently help out people with questions about UE, PM, and chats over MSN for anyone who needs it.

6. Does group UE projects appeal to you? Individual projects?
I think this would be a good idea, such as Sythe weekly, as long as each person is delegated a specific task, and are REQUIRED to complete that task. I think the HUE's could run it fine, or could delegate the responsibilty of tasking and organzing to someone. If those criteria were met, I think it would work.

7. How much time do you actually spend doing UE activities (on a weekly basis)?

Whenever I see a new post in the UE private or help section, I stop by. If it is pertinent to me, or is a question I can answer, then I do. I also check out the guides section maybe 2-3 times a week.

8. Do you think it would be wise to do more stuff that would benefit the Sythe community as a whole? Do you have any ideas on how to do this?

I think it would be wise and would give the UE a much needed boost. As stated previously, I think Sythe weekly was a great idea, and still is a great idea. Additionally, for anyone who read Spyikes post about possible UE ideas was the idea that a UE can apply for, or try out for a specific generic branch of knowledge, or be recognized as an "expert" in a certain area. A sticky of each of these experts could be created, and a method of contacting them with pertinent questions.

9. Do you think allowing people to request guides to other subjects previously prohibited in the UE (such as Runescape, WOW, etc.) would be beneficial? Should we continue to make it prohibited?

I dont really think so, because I think the UE shouldnt be so closely linked to any of those games. We dont want people to think of UE as "runescape experts" or some other shenanigans. I DO however, think that UE could be given a larger part in the blackmarket guides section.

10. Are the current requirements for UE applications enough to really weed out people who don't deserve to be on the team?

I think the application itself doesnt do a good job, but I think the UE's when examining an application do a good job of looking past the application requirements and digging into the person Sythe history to get a better view of their depth, helpfullness, and commitment.

11. What are some things that the HUE's can do to improve the team? improve the section? improve our moderating in the section? (I would really appreciate some answers on this!)

Possibly make sure that there isnt too much spam going on in the help section, alot of members will go in there and restate an answer 5 times to get PC up. Another thing would be to possibly just keep us more in the loop of future plans, activities, or other ideas that you are throwing out between yourselves or with the other staff.

 

Thank you for all of the feedback so far, it's really helpful. I'll be doing some more stuff this afternoon with it. As well, I'll be cleaning out the H&R over the next couple of days. If an admin approves, I'll try to get an H&R archive, otherwise we'll just have to use the current UE archive.

 

Alright, so a small update.

I've gone through a LOT of the H&R stuff, and I'm getting close to weeding out all of the answered the questions. Unfortunately, there will be no H&R archive, simply because we already have a UE archive. Getting everything from 2007-2009 moved was easy, but going through each of the 2010 questions has taken a while It will be done soon though.

As well, June's checklist may be started now if you haven't done so yet. Dalpra and I still haven't changed any reqs, but that will be next. As well, we will update all of the stickies soon.

 

Rob, marrow needs to be removed from the UE list as well.
Good job on H&R as well.

 

I thought he was done temporarily? And thanks

 

No, he left for lebanon for 5 months, so he wont be back for a while ; )

 

Gotcha. Thanks

 

Sorry r33l. My computer at home tweaked and messed up. When I get the chance, I go on my iPhone and it's hard to answer this on it. I'll get it done soon though.

 

1. Why did you want to be part of the UE?

• I've been writing guides for quite sometime, but never saved them. I decided to compile a few I've written and see what would happen.

2. Do you HONESTLY enjoy writing guides? Why or why not?

• Yeah. It helps me take stress out on the kids that do stupid things here over and over again (i.e. don't delete double posts).

3. Do you think that the checklist is helpful to other users and helpful in keeping up activity?

• Can't comment, I'm new.

4. Do you think that each UE should cover a more eclectic amount of information? A more specified amount?

• Can't comment, I'm new.

5. What is one thing that YOU specifically can contribute to the UE?

• Hopefully an addition to the Xbox support and some computer parts.

6. Does group UE projects appeal to you? Individual projects?

• Can't comment, I'm new. It looks cool though.

7. How much time do you actually spend doing UE activities (on a weekly basis)?

• No idea. It's one of the most hit parts of the site by me.

8. Do you think it would be wise to do more stuff that would benefit the Sythe community as a whole? Do you have any ideas on how to do this?

• Can't comment, I'm new.

9. Do you think allowing people to request guides to other subjects previously prohibited in the UE (such as Runescape, WOW, etc.) would be beneficial? Should we continue to make it prohibited?

• It would bring more traffic here, so I think it is fine. I just don't think that these guides should be allowed into the UE Applications.

10. Are the current requirements for UE applications enough to really weed out people who don't deserve to be on the team?

• The application does enough to weed out the weak and the general vote by the UE's catch a lot of the people that slip through the cracks.

11. What are some things that the HUE's can do to improve the team? improve the section? improve our moderating in the section? (I would really appreciate some answers on this!)

• Can't comment, I'm new.

 

To help out others and share my knowledge with others.

Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't.

Yes, all the UEs are able to contribute to guide critiques and helping in the H&R. But some of the UEs don't get on Sythe everyday, so it's hard to tell if they're really keeping up with everything or not.

No.

Helping others on the spot, answering questions

Yes. Makes me want to play a role in them.

As much as time as I can.

Yes. I think the Sythe newspaper is a good idea for this.

Let the rule stand. We have the RS General, WoW General, etc. for a reason.

Yes

Dalps and Rob, you guys are doing the best you can. Keep it up.

 

1. Why did you want to be part of the UE?

Honestly, H&R is one of my homes on this forum. I remember many times in the past (and this still happens now) when I have something I need help with or simply just have a question I want to ask someone. Having somewhere to ask a question and to have it answered by other friendly people is a great feeling.

2. Do you HONESTLY enjoy writing guides? Why or why not?

I enjoy writing guides I'm interested in. I also enjoy writing in depth, extremely thorough guides that impress others and that I can be proud of.

3. Do you think that the checklist is helpful to other users and helpful in keeping up activity?

I think that the checklist does help keep up activity, but I really feel in an ideal situation we wouldn't need to force a monthly checklist to keep people going in the UE. Those that want to be here will be active of their own accord.

4. Do you think that each UE should cover a more eclectic amount of information? A more specified amount?

I think each UE has something they can bring to the table, and shouldn't have to worry about specifically answering only a certain type of question. What a UE needs to be careful of is to be well informed and accurate in their responses.

5. What is one thing that YOU specifically can contribute to the UE?

I personally contribute a lot more time than I feel others do, possibly because I usually have access to a computer and I check in often. However when it comes to education itself, I have a lot of experience with the Market and the concept of selling/buying/trading online as well as with many technology/computer related subject areas.

6. Does group UE projects appeal to you? Individual projects?

I was just going to suggest we revive the newspaper idea.

7. How much time do you actually spend doing UE activities (on a weekly basis)?

I want to say I'm on Sythe almost 12 hours a day on my laptop, but actually doing UE activities, maybe around 2-3 hours a day depending on my activities. I average around 10 hours a week.

8. Do you think it would be wise to do more stuff that would benefit the Sythe community as a whole? Do you have any ideas on how to do this?

Anything we do to involve the whole community will have to be market related. The best way to appeal to the Sythe community is through the thing everyone has been a part of: Runescape and the Black Market.

9. Do you think allowing people to request guides to other subjects previously prohibited in the UE (such as Runescape, WOW, etc.) would be beneficial? Should we continue to make it prohibited?

I think these guides should be allowed and so should requests. The thing we need to be careful about is to keep everything very tidy, neat, and accessible.

10. Are the current requirements for UE applications enough to really weed out people who don't deserve to be on the team?

At the end of the day anyone can write a guide. It's tough to say anything but time will reveal whether or not we want someone on the team.

11. What are some things that the HUE's can do to improve the team? improve the section? improve our moderating in the section? (I would really appreciate some answers on this!)

It's all about activity. I really love r33l2real and Dalpra for their wisdom, patience, and overall excellence, but we don't see enough of them online. They are awesome people who are great at what they do, but they simply don't do it often enough.