CDT, TC, PR with horror maze

I am pretty competent if I say so myself. Business major in college so I know what I need to know about PR and other things. It's just that there are restrictions within the site which makes it hard to succesfully implement PR strategies.

Haha joker : D

 

[DaltyF]

Smh.

 

[SuF]

This whole development team (or teams) needs reconstruction. There's a lot of ego, and not much work (other than the holiday events) to back it up.
There are a couple questions you need to ask each other in order for this to aspire into what you anticipated, such as:

• Where do you see the site now?
  • Develop a list of current pros, which is benefiting the site in attraction
  • Develop a list of current cons, which is dragging the site down and describe a way to improve it (doesn't need to be fixed just improved).
• What can I do to benefit the site?
  • List a couple things that you can do, whether it's posting x many times, creating x amount of guides, creating an environment where it would attract folks
  • Evaluate each other, it's ok to be doing something that isn't benefiting the site, but the solution would be to improve that state, and advance to benefit it
• What brought me (or us) to the site, and why did we stay?
  • Understandably, not every member that registers to this site is going to stay. That's a given. I don't know the current amount of members that actually stay to just buy something and leave, but we can always improve. List (and I know there is a thread in the community section) what brought you to the site, and why you stayed and dedicated the amount of time you have (and money)?
• Where do you want to see Sythe in the future?
  • Some members may not care if Sythe is around or not, but a lot of us have dedicated time and money into improving and allowing it to grow. So really, do you expect Sythe to grow and develop into a more active forum, or do you see it dwindling down into nothing.
  • I agree that Sythe is at a low for activity, mainly because RS is arguably dying and members are growing older and don't have the same amount of free time they did previously
• What sort of goals can be created and reached?
  • Set goals for your team. If your section is in charge of recruiting members, then set a goal of recruiting x amount of active members per month (activity based on discretion)
• What'll make Sythe the "home" for browsers free time?
  • The whole scheme of things is to attract members to dedicate their free time to post about certain subjects and create conversation, so this can tie into previous bullets but what will make them actually want to stay? What incentives do they get?

These are just some bullets to ask yourself and your team (directed at the CDT/PR). You could have already addressed these or could just not do it, that's really your call but I am just trying to help because the team needs some sort of reconstruction to allow them to improve because quite frankly, as a members, I don't see much improvement. Again, based on opinion.

Direct yourself to opening up ideas and brainstorming things that can be utilized to help. Money is a really good way to attract people, because who doesn't love money? SytheGold was a really good idea, in my opinion because you could've opened up a whole new cryptocurrency within the site. Regardless; list of options of giveaways that members would like. Understand: the members want you to grow. We want to see this site succeed. We are willing to help, but you need to work with us. A lot of people pretend this whole site is a spam forum, but it really isn't. When not in the spam forum, be professional and polite. When in, do whatever.

• Create a budget/bank account
  • Doesn't neccisarily have to be a real bank account, but create something to allow yourselves as a group to create income. Have a treasurer to report such.
  • If people donate money, it's contribution. Sythe donations =/= Public Relations Fund
  • Raffles - create raffles where people purchase tickets ($1, $2, doesn't matter) and take 1-2% of the total (or more) to help improve the team and use the rest for the pot to giveaway.
• Work with the members
  • Your members are your "best friend", because without them, you wouldn't be able to even be in the position you are. Respect them and utilize their ideas and criticism, and don't get defensive.
  • Be professional -- any bickering and bitching should be discussed within the private forums (which, if I had my way I would restructure them into how it would be helpful and be utilized to its potential)
    • Professionalism is like such: pretend your a landscaper. You are working on someones yard, and your being polite to your current customer (the members of Sythe) in order to have their respect and develop a connection with them, but also presenting yourself professionally to equip with people driving by or stopping to talk to you (newcomers/unregistered users). More customers for you = more money, which is what it boils down to here if you use the market
• Work with each other
  • This falls under the category of above: work with each other. Develop a bond where you can work together and help Sythe grow

These are some more things to do within the group, to help your team grow and be able to offer more things. Please understand that if you don't give a shit, then don't. I am just trying to help orchestrate something, even though I am not apart of any group, rather than sit around with my thumb up my ass.

To be successful, you need to think to yourselves that you're a business. Whether it's money or more activity that motivates you, it's still the same concept. Ask yourself if it's just our forum dying or if it's the whole concept of forums? Where can we get more publicity? There's a million things to ask amongst each other, but find something. Please look at the way the teams are now, and hopefully they grow into what their potential. Thanks for letting me brainstorm some things on my mind.

So quit bitching to each other in the public, please. It looks bad. Overall, don't worry this will be my last post on the matter as it seems nothing I say gets across any of the current members, as they get defensive and their ego has gotten to the best of them. Oh well.

Edit: Since Mootrucks messaged me on discord telling me my whole post is "bs" and "wrong", please understand this: this is my opinion on the current situation and how to improve. As I mentioned within the post, if some of these things are happening, great, and if not, great. I am freely sharing my opinion on this situation and therefore, cannot be justified as "wrong". How I feel about the current state of things is just one side of the story, but the bottom line is becoming defensive over your own opinion is nevertheless a one way battle.

Again, thank you for allowing me to express my opinion on the situation.

This is a great post. It's too large for me really to respond to all of it but I agree that the teams need some reconstruction and better guided leadership. I don't think our problems are really about individuals and I think there are many systematic problems with what we have now.

 

Aroxez' post has a lot of solid info but I'd just like to put it out there that since communication has gone to shit in the past, why not have one thread somewhere in the forums that outlines what each team is currently doing and what they need of the other teams. Have the leader of each team (or someone else if they're not available) post twice a week (Monday & Thursday) every week to state any changes in their team.

Could be something simple like

TC:
Minecraft server - SuF - Waiting on plans from CDT
Forum stuff - Grave - n/a

PR:
Facebook event - Buyacc - Planning

CDT:
Find Steve event - Sonia & TTB - Waiting on gfx, deadline Nov 15th

That'd solve so much shit and wouldn't take that much effort once you got it running.

 

[jackthehackm8]

Aroxez' post has a lot of solid info but I'd just like to put it out there that since communication has gone to shit in the past, why not have one thread somewhere in the forums that outlines what each team is currently doing and what they need of the other teams. Have the leader of each team (or someone else if they're not available) post twice a week (Monday & Thursday) every week to state any changes in their team.

Could be something simple like

TC:
Minecraft server - SuF - Waiting on plans from CDT
Forum stuff - Grave - n/a

PR:
Facebook event - Buyacc - Planning

CDT:
Find Steve event - Sonia & TTB - Waiting on gfx, deadline Nov 15th

That'd solve so much shit and wouldn't take that much effort once you got it running.

#makesythegreatagain

indeed this would.

 

[Aroxez]

#makesythegreatagain

indeed this would.

Nah, I don't think what they're doing needs to really be public as long as they're doing something and progressing and showing progress.

 

Nah, I don't think what they're doing needs to really be public as long as they're doing something and progressing and showing progress.

Never said it had to be public. The whole point was to solve communication issues within & between the teams.

 

[Azie]

These groups are just like high school. They bitch about each other. They're their own "cliques" and they don't accept members unless they like you or think you're a cock sucker. I can guarantee I can do a better job than half the dipshits in these groups but hey that's just my opinion.

And that's the problem with the staff team in a whole. (Not saying every member is bad) They have no desire to give the average person a chance. It seems like it always has to be someone who already has some sort of "e power", gold seller, etc to join. Which results in heads swelling bigger and bigger. The whole sites in it's worst state that I can personally remember it being. What do we do? Poll up ways to "fix" it which results in everybody telling everybody else how stupid they are. Give up the damn join date bs already. Who gives a damn if member A has been here 3 weeks and member B has been here 8 years. Pull your heads out of your asses and unplug your ears. Step down off of your high horses if you give 2 shits about this site.

Again, this isn't directed at anyone particular, if the shoe fits, wear it.

Yeah this is true. The sad thing is that those teams will probably talk shit about you both and me now because we had the balls to post the truth lol. Its childish mentality and will never develop the community which ruins the purpose of the group in the first place. You're either popular enough to be accepted or have asslicked to a sufficient level to then be deemed ready for the group. Dalty I also agree with the lack of chances for an average member. They have probably missed out on many good applicants who had genuine intentions because of their e-egos. If a new member was to read some of the posts in just this thread they would just want to run away!

@Aroxez You have posted a lot of great stuff in this thread and even given direction that a leader would & should but I seriously don't think you're ready for a group like the CDT! hehe

 

Not understanding

I wasn't supposed to show up to open the maze.

(We talked about this and realised SuF wasn't aware he had to open the maze event, due to bad communications within the teams.)

Your trolling to try to increase your e-penis isn't necessary, go back to the spam forum.

I think you don't understand even what your groups do. Here is a quick point of knowledge: when you have people who are ranked (and yes, I use you and your kronies as ranked members), and you have newcomers coming in and the first couple threads they click are of a bunch of these members arguing amongst each other about stupid shit (aka, bitching about each other), it doesn't look good. The problem with you is that you don't understand when to quit it. You get so defensive over this sort of "feedback" about how to not only improve as a group, (i.e., quit bitching) and as a leader, it's unhealthy. Understand that I am a member, and I call it as I see it.

SuF just commented saying he wasn't suppose to show up, yet you keep bringing it up about it's someone else's fault? Have it lik..., this is a never ending argument that you can't seem to grasp.

Just going to remind you. Even though I'm a leader of a development team does not take away from the fact that I am also apart of the community. If someone responds with feedback albeit negatively however with constructive criticism, then that is something we can work with. If you respond guns blazing, with insults like this is the Spam Forum without any integrity in actually displaying what you're trying to get across, then really I cannot be expected to try understand you past the insults. Especially as I am not trolling, I'm just a very blunt person.

Of course I will get defensive if all I see is someone attacking myself or the CDT when they have minimal understanding of what CDT is or what I do. Do you think it is a good sight to also see members cursing in a feedback thread like it's going to get you anywhere? Sorry but like I told SuF once, I don't react positively to those who curse when they try to get something across. And I'm perfectly fine with having that known publicly. If you are incapable of being professional when trying to give feedback, or suggest something then it will be difficult to communicate with you. Your following post is a much better version of trying to get what you mean across.

This whole development team (or teams) needs reconstruction. There's a lot of ego, and not much work (other than the holiday events) to back it up.
There are a couple questions you need to ask each other in order for this to aspire into what you anticipated, such as:

• Where do you see the site now?
  • Develop a list of current pros, which is benefiting the site in attraction
  • Develop a list of current cons, which is dragging the site down and describe a way to improve it (doesn't need to be fixed just improved).
• What can I do to benefit the site?
  • List a couple things that you can do, whether it's posting x many times, creating x amount of guides, creating an environment where it would attract folks
  • Evaluate each other, it's ok to be doing something that isn't benefiting the site, but the solution would be to improve that state, and advance to benefit it
• What brought me (or us) to the site, and why did we stay?
  • Understandably, not every member that registers to this site is going to stay. That's a given. I don't know the current amount of members that actually stay to just buy something and leave, but we can always improve. List (and I know there is a thread in the community section) what brought you to the site, and why you stayed and dedicated the amount of time you have (and money)?
• Where do you want to see Sythe in the future?
  • Some members may not care if Sythe is around or not, but a lot of us have dedicated time and money into improving and allowing it to grow. So really, do you expect Sythe to grow and develop into a more active forum, or do you see it dwindling down into nothing.
  • I agree that Sythe is at a low for activity, mainly because RS is arguably dying and members are growing older and don't have the same amount of free time they did previously
• What sort of goals can be created and reached?
  • Set goals for your team. If your section is in charge of recruiting members, then set a goal of recruiting x amount of active members per month (activity based on discretion)
• What'll make Sythe the "home" for browsers free time?
  • The whole scheme of things is to attract members to dedicate their free time to post about certain subjects and create conversation, so this can tie into previous bullets but what will make them actually want to stay? What incentives do they get?

These are just some bullets to ask yourself and your team (directed at the CDT/PR). You could have already addressed these or could just not do it, that's really your call but I am just trying to help because the team needs some sort of reconstruction to allow them to improve because quite frankly, as a members, I don't see much improvement. Again, based on opinion.

Direct yourself to opening up ideas and brainstorming things that can be utilized to help. Money is a really good way to attract people, because who doesn't love money? SytheGold was a really good idea, in my opinion because you could've opened up a whole new cryptocurrency within the site. Regardless; list of options of giveaways that members would like. Understand: the members want you to grow. We want to see this site succeed. We are willing to help, but you need to work with us. A lot of people pretend this whole site is a spam forum, but it really isn't. When not in the spam forum, be professional and polite. When in, do whatever.

• Create a budget/bank account
  • Doesn't neccisarily have to be a real bank account, but create something to allow yourselves as a group to create income. Have a treasurer to report such.
  • If people donate money, it's contribution. Sythe donations =/= Public Relations Fund
  • Raffles - create raffles where people purchase tickets ($1, $2, doesn't matter) and take 1-2% of the total (or more) to help improve the team and use the rest for the pot to giveaway.
• Work with the members
  • Your members are your "best friend", because without them, you wouldn't be able to even be in the position you are. Respect them and utilize their ideas and criticism, and don't get defensive.
  • Be professional -- any bickering and bitching should be discussed within the private forums (which, if I had my way I would restructure them into how it would be helpful and be utilized to its potential)
    • Professionalism is like such: pretend your a landscaper. You are working on someones yard, and your being polite to your current customer (the members of Sythe) in order to have their respect and develop a connection with them, but also presenting yourself professionally to equip with people driving by or stopping to talk to you (newcomers/unregistered users). More customers for you = more money, which is what it boils down to here if you use the market
• Work with each other
  • This falls under the category of above: work with each other. Develop a bond where you can work together and help Sythe grow

These are some more things to do within the group, to help your team grow and be able to offer more things. Please understand that if you don't give a shit, then don't. I am just trying to help orchestrate something, even though I am not apart of any group, rather than sit around with my thumb up my ass.

To be successful, you need to think to yourselves that you're a business. Whether it's money or more activity that motivates you, it's still the same concept. Ask yourself if it's just our forum dying or if it's the whole concept of forums? Where can we get more publicity? There's a million things to ask amongst each other, but find something. Please look at the way the teams are now, and hopefully they grow into what their potential. Thanks for letting me brainstorm some things on my mind.

So quit bitching to each other in the public, please. It looks bad. Overall, don't worry this will be my last post on the matter as it seems nothing I say gets across any of the current members, as they get defensive and their ego has gotten to the best of them. Oh well.

Edit: Since Mootrucks messaged me on discord telling me my whole post is "bs" and "wrong", please understand this: this is my opinion on the current situation and how to improve. As I mentioned within the post, if some of these things are happening, great, and if not, great. I am freely sharing my opinion on this situation and therefore, cannot be justified as "wrong". How I feel about the current state of things is just one side of the story, but the bottom line is becoming defensive over your own opinion is nevertheless a one way battle.

Again, thank you for allowing me to express my opinion on the situation.

I totally agree with majority of how you see the teams should focus their aims on, and what we should do to try and better the forums. Prior to my joining of CDT, I was constantly trying to give feedback for things they could do to better the team, make things transparent, and publicly available for the community to understand the CDT better.

A few of these things you have mentioned I have written about in a CDT meeting we are having. To try and understand our team better. Where we are as a team, members or leaders, how we behave around the site etc. A lot has happened since the removal of veteran members, a leadership change, and new members, new dev teams. Therefore I personally feel currently the CDT need's to understand themselves first, to try and better ourselves internally (who we are and why), before we can work on our inward goals (developing) which effects our outwards goals (community), communications between team, professionalism around the forums etc.

When I had joined the CDT it was a very confusing place, especially for a newcomer, since then there are literally no veterans other than -Ryan, Time To Buy, Upper Staff and myself (somewhat vet). As a leader I am aiming to try and set out a clear understanding for what the team is. Who are our members. Who are our leaders. What do we or should we do as members and leaders, how we should do it. This is something that is necessary to do as we have a newer team.

When the CDT was at a time of disarray (I wasn't a leader). I had created a Project Tracker so the CDT could keep track of all things CDT. (Yes this was something that hadn't been made previously). I had at the time been running majority of the Summer events myself, the quarterly and pretty much single handed-ly kept CDT alive through a time where majority of CDT members was removed (it was only newcomers and Matt), the leadership at the time had completely vanished. I had taken the role of doing something, rather than sitting around and waiting. I was one of the newest members to the CDT at the time. I made sure something changed, because I was unable to do everything by myself, so I took the initiative to contact Richard to try and get applications through and new members, thankfully if I hadn't had done that we wouldn't have the members we have, Island, Mootrucks, Yankiee, (Matt at the time), who had helped keep CDT even standing.

Now why am I telling you this? Not to show off. But I'm trying to show how much I genuinely care for what CDT is and how it impacts the community. I have always said that I'm not in CDT for myself, but I'm in CDT to better the community, here for the community. As a leader I want to try and make my ideas and views implemented, but this is something that will take time. As of now, I am attempting to try and ensure newcomers are aware of exactly how they should behave via forums, towards feedback (as well as myself). This is something we(I) are going to work on as well. If it looks like I'm bitching, I'm not. I'm simply questioning how the other members in teams can work with CDT to try and recreate another event for the community, we don't really have a place other than our discord chat to discuss things with each other, without it becoming annoyingly intruding into another teams section, hopefully we'll work on this.

Over all the CDT team have kept up all their side of Halloween events, the maze did go badly. It was a new adventure working with the other teams on a collab event. With my post in our CDT section (the meeting), we will look at how best to work with other the other teams. As well as ensuring that we can move on from this situation and try and attempt to get better communications, and future collab events. Currently the CDT are aiming to release a Halloween Results Sythe Quarterly, SytheDebates, in future many smaller events. We are also looking at ways to create events that new members would be interested in, or to gain new members to the site.

We are also looking at opening a sub-section, where CDT things can be public; i.e. previous event organisations, archives, etc. We're deciding what and how we would like this to be done. This may also follow over onto the other two dev teams where they can place things publicly for the community to view. This will enable transparency, so you as the community can see what the CDT have done, what they may be doing etc. This will help a lot in trying to make what we as CDT are trying to do, understandable for you the community.

Otherwise a lot of the things you have posted I do agree with and hopefully we can look at the teams and how best we can reconstruct ourselves.

Again negative feedback is fine. If it is constructive criticism we can work with it. If it is insults... I unfortunately cannot work with that.

Aroxez' post has a lot of solid info but I'd just like to put it out there that since communication has gone to shit in the past, why not have one thread somewhere in the forums that outlines what each team is currently doing and what they need of the other teams. Have the leader of each team (or someone else if they're not available) post twice a week (Monday & Thursday) every week to state any changes in their team.

Could be something simple like

TC:
Minecraft server - SuF - Waiting on plans from CDT
Forum stuff - Grave - n/a

PR:
Facebook event - Buyacc - Planning

CDT:
Find Steve event - Sonia & TTB - Waiting on gfx, deadline Nov 15th

That'd solve so much shit and wouldn't take that much effort once you got it running.

See my post above; We do have a Project Tracker in CDT, PR/TC also have their respective to do lists. Perhaps the admins can rethink about opening the Dev Center (the middle section of our teams sections). Whereby we can better communicate between the three teams. Currently I feel that the TC aren't as active when updating what they're doing. Although speaking to Darkgroove, he states that not everything they work on can be done within days, but can take weeks to complete. So their work tends to take a long time, developing and coding etc. Therefore it can be really tedious for the CDT to try and work with the other team when we are not sure what they're doing as they are not as updated. Also see the post about the idea of a public sub-section for the dev teams.

We have a joint discord chat with the dev teams also.

Yeah this is true. The sad thing is that those teams will probably talk shit about you both and me now because we had the balls to post the truth lol. Its childish mentality and will never develop the community which ruins the purpose of the group in the first place. You're either popular enough to be accepted or have asslicked to a sufficient level to then be deemed ready for the group. Dalty I also agree with the lack of chances for an average member. They have probably missed out on many good applicants who had genuine intentions because of their e-egos. If a new member was to read some of the posts in just this thread they would just want to run away!

@Aroxez You have posted a lot of great stuff in this thread and even given direction that a leader would & should but I seriously don't think you're ready for a group like the CDT! hehe

I wasn't even that popular on sythe, or even asslicked. I simply liked CDT, events, and I was very annoyed that they weren't up to date in doing what CDT should be doing. See my post here. If anything I was a complete jerk, and really passionately annoying to the CDT members at the time. That's when they felt it would be best for me to sign up because I showed interest, wanted stuff done, wanted a change, wanted to better the team as an outsider.

We don't look at applicants based on our e-egos. We look at applicants based on who the applicant is. Your application, and how you are in the forum, who you are, how we may have interacted with you if ever, what you can bring to the team etc.

Personally if I was ever to discuss with members of my team, I would do so in a way where it upsets me that the community feels so negatively towards myself, or us. And for me that is something which I don't like, not because I don't want to be at fault, but because it genuinely isn't nice to know the community is not benefiting from what you're trying to put out.

If half of you was accepted to the CDT and saw what we did or how we did things you would think differently. It's unfortunate that the amount of work we attempt to put in to everything isn't showcased for the community to enjoy and understand what we do and how. Hopefully a sub-section can show this.

Again the maze was something... was new to all of us, working together etc. And all I can say is at least the teams can work from the mistakes that were made and to only better ourselves in the future. Whether it be in organising an event, communications, or how we display ourselves publicly.

It is a working progress.


Also if you guys want I'll post my CDT application/leadership application so you can understand me better, and what I want in CDT, or for the community.

Let me know.