Suggestions in the public eye

[SuF]

As with most of my threads recently, I am going to try to keep this short and sweet. As of now it seems as if there are a ton of discussions happening in the staff lounge that dramatically effect the site and topics, such as luring, as being decided on without the community really knowing what is going on. Other topics however are not being decided upon at all which causes a problem.

What I am suggesting is that ALL discussion about changes to the forum, rules, structure, and essentially everything else, be done in the suggestions forum for everyone to read and post. A staff member could either create a new thread about the issue or the discussion could happen in a user created suggestion thread. All of the staff members would be informed about the pending decision about a topic with a thread in the staff lounge which would direct them to the thread in the public eye. After there seems to be a strong idea created collectively, a private vote would take place in the staff lounge for whether it should pass or not (if a staff vote is desired or needed).

I am going to make a simple list of pros and cons so that everyone is aware. Please feel free to add any.

Pros:

• Allows user input into decisions. This would help to avoid situations like the Tiny-Chat incident.
• Greater transparency
• Decisions would actually get made
• Staff still get to have private voting where they can privately post their concerns
• Increased user knowledge about decisions being made

Cons:

• Stupid members contributing nothing
• Individual staff opinions made public

 

[FireZ]

I'd be willing to give this a trial run, can't hurt anything.

 

I'd also be willing.

 

[SpacedLlama]

yeah it would be nice ( as in the community ) to have some say in situations

 

[cosrob97]

/support

Hopefully it would be like the debate made in spam forum by FireZ.

 

[Returning Truth]

/support

Hopefully it would be like the debate made in spam forum by FireZ.

I raised the question in the spam forum, which FireZ continued

but support i think it would be cool

will a sticky be made, and if its approved how long till they actually do it

 

[normalcy]

I support this as it's worth a shot and I think the community deserves to know what is going on. More transparency would be a nice thing and if certain staff members don't want their opinion public, they can discuss it privately like you stated. The community will be more aware and have more of an input and I think better decisions will be made.

If things don't work out, we can always go back to the old way. I really don't see many negatives to this approach and if staff members are willing to do it, I say why not?

 

[Dingo212]

Really like this idea.

But a separate forum inside/outside can be created to differentiate from actual staff discussion from user suggestions.

Site Improvement (or something like that) would have 2 sub forums
- Open Suggestions
- Pending Suggestions
- Approved Suggestions

The staff can discuss the topic in Pending Suggestions along which can be taken as the 2nd stage of on-going discussions. Whether to allow users participate in this has to be discussed as there are pros and cons due to spam, etc.

Of course what can be publicly discussed should be defined too.

- Forum features?
- Adjustment/Clarification of rules?
- New rules and how it will affect users?

 

[SuF]

Really like this idea.

But a separate forum inside/outside can be created to differentiate from actual staff discussion from user suggestions.

Site Improvement (or something like that) would have 2 sub forums
- Open Suggestions
- Pending Suggestions
- Approved Suggestions

The staff can discuss the topic in Pending Suggestions along which can be taken as the 2nd stage of on-going discussions. Whether to allow users participate in this has to be discussed as there are pros and cons due to spam, etc.

Of course what can be publicly discussed should be defined too.

- Forum features?
- Adjustment/Clarification of rules?
- New rules and how it will affect users?

I dislike massive amounts of sub forums, but a single staff discussion sub forum of suggestions would work. Clearly defining what goes in the public eye really is not necessary. Essentially all suggestions could be made within the sight of everyone. Of course in the case that there is a special case I would not mind if an admin made the decision to move a thread to the staff lounge for private discussion.

 

[Duddy_Crow]

So what you're saying is we should be able to discuss the topics in the staff lounge but they still get the final vote? It's just a sort of way for them to see what we like?

If that's the case then I support

 

[SuF]

So what you're saying is we should be able to discuss the topics in the staff lounge but they still get the final vote? It's just a sort of way for them to see what we like?

If that's the case then I support

More of the staff having their discussions in a place where the users can post as well while still voting in the staff lounge to voice private opinions.

 

[JohnK]

I think this could work. It would be good if we, the users, had some insight and input into what is going on.

 

[Dingo212]

Ya except "I support this" spam posts would be a hassle. Since the discussions are serious, pre-mature opinions can ruin it.

 

[JohnK]

I was thinking that too. Perhaps some sort of post requirement to have access?

 

[SuF]

I was thinking that too. Perhaps some sort of post requirement to have access?

Post count won't help. It will just take good moderation.

 

[Travis]

Would this help get topics, that are ignored, noticed, or just make us aware that they are getting ignored?

I do like it though.

 

[Aroxez]

Post count won't help. It will just take good moderation.

Couldn't you just make it so you need x amount of characters in your reply? That'd cut down the "I support", and also state rules that you have to put thought into your post, while making it include why you think/don't think this would be a good idea.

 

[SuF]

Would this help get topics, that are ignored, noticed, or just make us aware that they are getting ignored?

I do like it though.

It could do both.

Couldn't you just make it so you need x amount of characters in your reply? That'd cut down the "I support", and also state rules that you have to put thought into your post, while making it include why you think/don't think this would be a good idea.

Eh. There really is not much point. Mods can moderate.

 

[Karl]

I think this is going too far, I understand how you guys would like to input on a decision made, which you can via suggestions and feedback, but Transparency.. is that really needed? should we have to openly discuss all decisions we make? IMO, we are not a democratic system.

 

[Deacon Frost]

I think this is going too far, I understand how you guys would like to input on a decision made, which you can via suggestions and feedback, but Transparency.. is that really needed? should we have to openly discuss all decisions we make? IMO, we are not a democratic system.

You fail to see the problem if you think that's the case. Yes, Sythe is not a democratic system, but not allowing users to have any say in these matters is ridiculous... not to mention, since the users do not vote for staff, they are represented in votes by people who they know nothing about.

I see no problem with this suggestion, in fact, I think everything that the staff does should be transparent, short of bannings. Why? Because there's NO reason to keep it secret... I mean... if you keep things secret, it only tells people that you're shady and unwilling to discuss things openly.

I understand the desire for 'unbiased' posting, but those of you who post differently in the staff lounge than you do in the public eye are corrupt individuals and have no right to be on staff. If you can't handle posting an opinion because your friends might find your character to be less than desirable, then you most definitely should not be governing the content of others.

Suggestions affect how the community progresses. I even think that staff votes should be made public because there's no reason to keep them private at all. Again, if you're going to be making decisions that affect the community as a whole, there should be no secrecy or hidden agendas.

I don't care if we're a non-democratic system, there's no reason for it, and it needs to stop.

Now, lately, public threads have been made asking for input, and these are a good step, but there's still far too much being hidden for absolutely no purpose other than "personal feelings".