Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]


Search Members FAQ Portal Dictionary
Welcome to Star Wars Legacy. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Giving FMs character approval powers; Any questions?
Topic Started: Jun 9 2012, 10:48:39 PM (201 Views)
Brotz
Member Avatar
Retired, extremely dangerous

So Silas told me to post my suggestions in a separate thread from Jason's goodbye thread, as they are "valid and need discussion." The suggestion that he seems to be talking about was the concept of forum moderators (i.e. faction leaders) being able to give an approval for characters specifically in the faction they lead/moderate. (their vote could count the same as a staff member's vote, meaning that a staff vote would still be required except in the Jedi's case due to having both Jean and Vallen). Oh, and please be appreciative that Silas did promptly apologize and approve Jason's character after reading Jason's "bye" thread, so we'll hope for the best that we did not lose a potential member here, but this has definitely been a wake-up call.

Anyways, the idea is straightforward. I think it makes sense that faction leaders should be able to pitch in their two cents in the event that two staff members (admins or globies) haven't already approved the character. It frees up staff members from this task. It means that no global moderators don't need to be appointed when the rest of the staff gets busy or takes vacations.

That being said, I see only three points worth bothering to discuss:

  • Do we need appointments anyone right now? - Well, the Chiss need someone, preferably Kura or Ramis, but we shouldn't start a flame war over whether we love one of them over the other. The Feds will get someone unless No becomes CoS, and Silas is already handling the Sith. That leads me to step two.
  • What happens if the faction leader is already a staff member? - I wanted to say that each faction should have a deputy leader outside of the staff that wouldn't have forum mod powers but could approve characters for their faction. However, most of the faction deputies existing now are already high in other factions or are staff members, and the rest couldn't really be trusted with that responsibility, so the answer is: we need more global moderators anyways.


I'm not putting out there whether characters should require one approval or whether forum moderators should be allowed to approve any character regardless of faction. I don't want to say those are off-limits, but characters should have more than one person looking at them, and having forum moderators review all characters removes the purpose of them being narrowly-focused and hence they might as well be global moderators, which is stupid.

In any case, keep in mind the whole purpose of this topic is to make sure no completed character ever goes a week without review ever again.
Note: I do not care about the order of posting. If you are waiting for me to post, I might be waiting for you.

Also, if you want me to do something, please tell me - I don't always catch enough hints to take the initiative to ask what you want.

If you don't tell me what to do, I'll tell you what to do.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Schmidt
Member Avatar
I'm Schmidt
New Sith Order
If the complaint is that it's taking too long to get profiles reviewed or approved because the needed staff votes aren't being looked at, then saying "but we'll still need one out of two staff votes" isn't solving the problem, is it? I personally think we should remove the need for two votes for approval. On another site I'm on, which has been running for two years now actively, there's only a need for one staff approval because the staff members are expected and trusted to read the bio carefully and give an informed, accurate decision.

Do mistakes sometimes get made? Yep, sure. That's life. But on the whole more character bios get through than ones that shouldn't. If people are actively leaving because things are taking too long, you remove the red tape that causes the delay, which in my opinion is the need for two votes.

As to the idea of a deputy, I don't think we need more global moderators per se. We just need individuals with the power to review bios. Saying "Global Mods" gives this idea of managing hotspots, reviewing fanon entries and starships etc, when we're just discussing characters. But I do agree; every faction leader should have a deputy within their ranks, for OOC, not IC, purposes. It would make sense for them to fit with IC positions though; for the Federation it might be the Chair of the Senate, for the Jedi Order it might be the Master of the Order (if distinct from the title of Grand Master, if not just a Senior Council Member), for the Sith another Sith of influence, and so on.
"His Supreme Imperial Highness, Autocrat of all the RP Threads, Lord and High Master of All, Schmidt."

Character List & Thread Tracker

Posted Image
Posted Image
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Silliras Ehra
Member Avatar

New Jedi Order
I got to say the two person review is not a bad thing. On previous site i was on we had 200+ members and had a large staff group which ment bios and things like that did get seen to pretty quick. (We had 3 admins, 4 head mods and 8 GM) So we had alot more people and we used a two person approval system and it worked ok.

Faction Heads should have the power to moderate there section of the site ie faction outposts and anything that is solely there factions. (Yet again this was same on previous site i was on. )

As for the approving of Bios it makes sense for the Faction head to be allowed to approve it as it is them who are going to be working with the character so is it not logical that the faction head will have a better idea of whats needed and the history of that faction?

This is just my two cents on the matter :D
Silliras Ehra Sith Apprentice (Lost tribe of the sith)

Kata Poirv Jedi Padawan

Otta Tala Mandalorian

Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Ramis
Member Avatar


I am in support of removing red tape, not adding it. I understand that the reasoning for having two admins look at a bio is to make sure that if there are things in it that the first one didn't see, the second one will see. However, I don't think it makes for a very quick system. If we want quick approvals, then one approval should be all that is necessary.

Lets look at the case of this Jason Altor guy, even with two approvals, it was still passed in his bio that he was at the top of the NCO ranks in two years. This never would have happened if we were going with realism, because it takes a lifetime of service as an NCO to reach that rank as Brotz pointed out.

Quote:
 
Saying a man could become a Sergeant Major in two years is like saying a man could become an Admiral or General in two years, which is pretty much inconceivable.


Now, that being said, I do feel that faction leaders should have some input into what goes into a bio here on Legacy. For example, if a Jedi joins, do we want a really awesome and original idea that has a few flaws to join, or do we want a perfect, by the books, Anakin clone to join into the Jedi? I would hope that we would want the first option and not the second option. And in order to get to that option, it should be up to the Jedi Grandmaster to guide that bio towards a better mesh with the rules while keeping the idea from being compromised. Second example, "Mandalorian Jedi." I have seen this designation by noobs countless times on forums, and I think it should be an option for Brotz to say, "Yeah...no," before we let the guy join because his bio follows the rules. Think of these guys as kind of like "Profile Coaches."

Yes this would be adding a new layer of responsibility to the cake of "Faction leader," however it could be a very productive one. And to keep time from stacking up, we wouldn't give this responsibility to just faction leaders, but also to the second in commands of those factions who presumably have earned that spot because they are, 1.) Very good for their faction, and 2.) Know all the stuff they need to know about their faction. Using the Jedi for an example, lets say that something happens that causes Vallyn to get busy irl, and she can't get online to take a look at a new prospective Jedi. But hey look, Jean is online and knows Vallyn can't get online. Jean's the second in command of the Jedi. So Jean looks at the profile quick, sees no problems and gives it his profile coach stamp of approval. Then the staff comes in and looks at it, approves it and we have a new happy RP'er who comes gallivanting into the Galaxy.

If we need a second example, the Mandalorians (kind of a hypothetical because when isn't Brotz online :P ) But lets say Brotz is out working, hanging with friends, doing lawnwork, or other assorted life responsibilities. A new Mandalorian profile pops up, but Brotz is out doing his thang. But EG is online (using EG because he's the highest ranked Mando, who isn't already staff.) He looks over the profile quick and finds it has very good Mandalorian values in it but needs some work, so he tells the newbie what stuff needs to be changed to make it a better Mandalorian profile. Note this: The coaches are only there to make sure the profile matches better with the faction, and the rules that have to do with profiles, nothing else. It is still the job of the staff to make sure it meshes with the board as a whole. Anyways, the newbie makes adjustments, End finds them satisfactory and gives his faction thumbs up. Now the staff members drop in and review it, and ultimately give it the final go-ahead.

Although not institutionalized I already tend to do this with the few prospective Chiss that are being made. When Aaray made her's for example, I coached her through parts of her history that I though needed to be expanded on like making the jump from the Ascendancy to the Empire.

Onto another point however, I do think we need to get one more staff member to bring the number back up to four. Right now we have three, and while things get done, it is summer and Sylus has a wedding hes planning, Sammi is busy with work, and Nonune is playing with his boat. Although I am in complete support with the decisions made by this staff when it comes to dismissing members, when we had four staff members things did not sit around very long. I think we need to add a new global moderator position to do just this kind of stuff. That way tech gets approved, as do profiles. Hotspot management gets done as well. This will keep things moving properly on the board, in terms of actual clerical work.

TL;DR
1.) I think Brotz is right in suggesting that faction leaders have some say over profiles, although I don't think they should get a formal approval, because this could lead to favoritism.
2.) They should review profiles however, and have a say in what gets admitted into their faction.
3.) I agree with Schmidt that profiles should be lightened down to one physical staff stamp, with the addition of as long as a faction leader has approved it.
4.) And I also think the promotion of a new global mod is necessary for the clerical work of the board.
Empire of the Hand 501st Lieutenant - Primary Character
Terath'ras'kerran
The Burned Sith - Secondary Character
Phaethon
Menage-a-Trois Smuggler - Tertiary Character
Drexl


Inactive Character:

Darth Furoris

Posted Image

And you can have it all.
My Empire of dirt.
I will let you down.
I will make you hurt.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Layne
Member Avatar


If it's being said to give the faction mods more power, well why not just add another actual mod that could help the whole site like Ramis was saying? Seems like the smarter option to me at least.
Also, Layne rules all. - The Vershyi
And the pimp that is Layne - Sammi
Yes, but Layne fucking terrorizes people in RP life and embalms people in real-life. - Brotz
Bannab Tahai, Pirate/Scavenger, Independent
Layne Driega, Terrorist/Mercenary, Independent
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Fully Featured & Customizable Free Forums
Learn More · Register for Free
« Previous Topic · Suggestions, Feedback and Questions · Next Topic »
Add Reply