Rising_Dusk

Forum Moving/Merging

• This is all for the better. The site had too many forums on the front page and was too overwhelming. Thanks to the merging, things are clumped together to allow for easier searching and so forth. Regardless, you all forgot to make mention that the new mixed JASS/AI/GUI section now has prefixes that distinguish which type of thread. I'm glad Ralle took this suggestion, because ultimately it will allow for internal indexing of an awesome degree in those forums.
  
  You also need to recall that this is a modding site, so off-topic discussion should be kept to its own isolated area (Refer here). This change is better because it tells users that "Hey, this is a modding site, but if you insist on discussing random things, there's a corner you can do it in." This makes the site appear more professional in its primary use.

Rearranged Staff Ranks

• This is a step in the correct direction, though obviously it is not perfect yet. This is a prelude to what is hopefully to come, a full staff purging and redo. Regardless of that fact, I do agree that some of the titles are a bit overwhelming and that new organization should be considered. The biggest problem is that certain users simply moderate too much, which is a direct result of there being too much to moderate in the first place. The entire site needs to be condensed down to a more manageable level, though I imagine if everyone keeps complaining about the smallest of forum changes, this will unfortunately never happen.
  
  What people also fail to comprehend is the obvious; before, the staff looked like this:

  User -> Mini-Mod -> Resource Moderator -> Forum Moderator -> Global Moderator -> Administrator

  That is way overwrought, too complicated, and the lines between half of the ranks are blurred anyways. What exactly is a global mod? People say that a global mod is an admin for all intents and purposes, but without access to the admin cp. Well let me ask you this, if you can trust a user to moderate every single section on the website, why can't you trust him with at least limited access to the admin cp? The reality is that this distinction makes no sense, so I vouch that global mod be removed altogether. This is the first good thing that's happened.
  
  Also, consider what the difference between a resource mod and a forum mod are. Are the resource areas not similar in structure to a forum? Does this distinction exist because of a technicality in how the resources are wc3s styled rather than forum-driven? I say that the distinction is utter bollocks and that a forum moderator and a resource moderator are the exact same thing as far as it matters. Therefore, this distinction should be removed as well, and thankfully it has.
  
  This is now the staff structure:

  User -> Mini-Mod -> Moderator -> Administrator

  Look how much more condensed and less-confusing that is. Now you don't have any silly and truthfully obligatory distinctions, now you have only to redo the staff list itself and everything will fit together like it should.

Loss of Colored Names

• The only purpose the colors served was to make you feel special when you got promoted or something stupid like that. The reality is that the only legitimate value of colors was on the main page (Not main forum page) so you could browse profiles according to staff rank. Really, though, this served no actual value as that is why these forums exist.
  
  Anyone that makes up complaints to the color being removed is just bitter because they feel like they aren't as cool anymore. Get over yourselves, this is a website that has to be run in an organized fashion, not a God damned popularity contest.

Staff Rank Titles Being Image and Linkless

• Moot point, I say; the links would have been a valid point if they linked to the forums that were being moderated themselves. However, though, the links were just to the staff list, which makes no sense and doesn't help users at all. If you are so worried about new users being unable to find the link at the bottom of the forum page that says "View Forum Leaders," then you should just provide an additional link in your signature. Still, though, it's incredibly easy to add the html links into the staff titles without making it an image, so losing links really doesn't constitute a problem in the first place.
  
  The images are just a similar issue as with the colors above. I mean "Ooooh, cooool, he's got a WYVERN ICON AMG!" is ridiculous. They served no purpose whatsoever, and the logic behind the titles being text is infallible. The titles as text allows users to see exactly which forums the specific moderator moderates. This is valuable because then they can know exactly who to turn to when they have concerns in those forums. Additionally, this allows the administrators to delegate certain responsibilities to the moderators within specific forums. God forbid the moderators might actually have to do something now.
  
  Other than the mistakes and sheer mass of forums that some users moderate, the new method is unquestionably superior to the old method.

Now I guess I have a list of random concerns that people had that I have to address somehow. Great, well, if all you cared about was my opinion on the topic at hand, stop reading now.
If they would abuse power like you suggest, they should be removed as moderators in the first place. This goes along with the need for the staff to be purged in order to come full circle in a total staff reconstruction.
What you need to understand is the following: All that has been changed is the nomenclature. The forum mods and resource mods were virtually identical in purpose before anyways. If a mod isn't qualified to have power in a certain forum, then don't give him power in that forum. It's a very simple solution, one that goes perfectly along with what I was saying earlier: the staff needs to be purged and redone entirely. Some people are terrible representatives of the site and the staff, but they do moderate resources pretty well. That is why the mini-mod rank still exists, because it allows people to help in the resource moderation without having the power to totally screw things up. Bingo, perfecto, exactly what you wanted in the first place.
One might also say that you're falling into the identical trap that Brad did. They still have different jobs, all that has changed is the nomenclature. Separating resource mods from forum mods in the infrastructure of the website is a ridiculous notion, but of course it makes sense that some people are better qualified to moderate forums than resources and vice versa! You'll notice that there are some users that indeed do only moderate resources, though they are called a moderator! Clear your mind of the fallacies with which you're thinking and it'll make perfect sense!
I also wanted to discuss this a little bit..

Consider that whether a question has to do with GUI or JASS or AI has little actual impact on what the solution to the question may be. In reality, these prefixes aren't even needed because now people will probably yell at each other for using the incorrect prefix. Regardless, though, consider that a GUI question may have a JASS answer, or that a JASS question might result in an answer that makes more sense to the user in GUI! The very distinction between a trigger question in GUI and a trigger question in JASS is blurred in the first place, so by virtue of splitting the sections up you have limited the range of given solutions to the problem! Now by putting them together, suddenly you've created a world where GUI and JASS are not so different; Were they ever? They're both programming, just one is less intimidating and the other makes lots of stuff easier for those that know it. Regardless of that discussion (Wrong place, as far as I'm concerned), this blurring makes things infinitely better in the long run, every other concern should be taken with a grain of salt.


So please, consider that these changes are for the better regardless of what you might think currently. With a little more focus and a lot more support from the users and the staff, the hive may yet become better still; but ultimately, this cannot happen if the users do not support the admins. Please, for the site's sake, support them.