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Post by Geralyn on Dec 8, 2014 22:25:33 GMT
Discussion on Forum membership.
As you all know, the forum has been the repository for all of our documents concerning the fleet, its history, and its stories. And though it has never been mandatory to sign up for the forum, it has been highly recommended, due to the volume of useful information found there. And as it stands, the overwhelming majority of our members already have accounts. However, recently there has been increasing numbers of members who have been requesting a change to this policy. So today we're opening discussion to the fleet on the topic: Should we make forum signup a prerequisite for new members? Mind you, this is a discussion for proposal put forward by fleet members for forum signup as a prerequisite to fleet membership, NOT any kind of mandate to institute a “posting quota”. This is solely a discussion about signing up on the forum so members have access to the information there. Arguments in favor:There's too much information to relay through chat. With the 200-character limit in chat, and in-game email not much better, there is no realistic way to convey all of the information found in our forums by any other means. Rules, our charter, our resources, and our stories have been compiled over years of time and game play. By not being on the forum, members can not realistically keep up with the news and announcements as they happen. And it puts unfair burden on others by expecting them to give this information in chatbox-friendly fragments over and over and over to each new member. Refusal to sign up shows a lack of engagement or commitment to the fleet. The argument here is that if a player cannot put forth the effort to sign up on a forum or read the contents thereof, what effort will they put into being a part of the fleet? Considering how easy it is to sign up, this is a compelling argument. Arguments against:I'm worried about privacy. The only information required for the forum is an email address, which can be made invisible to all but administrators. This is a prerequisite of the forum host, not ours. It is not given out, it is not used for any other purpose, and we do not use it to contact you by. And no other information is required. And given the second argument in favor of the proposal, arguments against which amount to “I don't feel like it” (yes, that's been said) really aren't being considered. What are your thoughts? Should we make forum membership a prerequisite for membership? Post in the comments below. EDIT: Due to a rather excellent suggestion by a member, the discussion is no longer about making forum membership a prerequisite for joining, but for making it required to sign up no later than the end of their two week trial.
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Post by firebringeraxel on Dec 8, 2014 22:53:31 GMT
Yes!I've always been a big supporter of the Forums. They give us an easy way to communicate that doesn't require everyone to be online at the same moment; a repository for knowledge, lore, and information; and a way to expand our RP further via logs and fiction. As a GM there is a lot of information and lore on this site already that I refer to on a regular basis. Especially for Hammerhead(and I wrote that myself but I still need reminders at times). No matter if you want to be a casual RP'r or a member of our many events and ships with numerous alts the Forums are an important part of that experience. I personally check them at least once a day as a matter of course. There's not always something to see but it's worthwhile to know when an event may be coming up as these events tend to be fleet wide and effect us all on some level. The only other point I would make is if we do make the Forums mandatory then it is our job GM's to actually check our threads regularly. In the past I've seen replies on this forum go unnoticed for weeks on end and I personally as a GM find this rather appalling. This cannot continue to happen if we want to require membership. I'm worried about privacy. The only information required for the forum is an email address, which can be made invisible to all but administrators. This is a prerequisite of the forum host, not ours. It is not given out, it is not used for any other purpose, and we do not use it to contact you by. And no other information is required. If you are truly worried about Privacy on such a level I know 1 easy solution. Make A New Email Account. If you make an account at any site for free and use it to register then now that worry is nullified.
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Post by starjumpersix on Dec 8, 2014 23:03:23 GMT
I'm going to put my name down in the yes column.
I want to also point out that if you hide your email from the view of the public, nobody else can see it, thus I consider the argument against to be invalid.
Edit: After reading 12's post down the way, I have to agree to that option more than just an out and out yes.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2014 23:11:02 GMT
I personally dont care about the email I use here. but as for being a must I think that is being overly demanding. It should be strongly encouraged but if you force something on people I find they react back.
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12
Member
Posts: 108
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Post by 12 on Dec 8, 2014 23:13:25 GMT
A definite yes for members to be signed up.
As far as a pre-requisite, not entirely. I think it should be part of the process, sign up by the end of the 2 week free trial or something along those lines. That would cut down on clutter with applications. However it should be noted that in my experience actually signing up to a forum and or website can be a deterrent if required before membership( silly as it is ). A lot of players don't want to bother with that sort of thing till they "know" and just want to click the accept invite button and be done with it.
The privacy bit, just make a bogus email if you are worried about it.
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Post by innocuous9 on Dec 8, 2014 23:50:36 GMT
I'll offer a dissenting opinion and vote no.
My view: What becomes of the people who are currently fleet members, who have not joined the forums and will refuse due to privacy concerns or some other concern? Are they out? You'll toss loyal, creative people over the fence because they don't want to make use of the forums? And even if you decided to "grandfather in" those people, and only require forum membership from the new guys, you're still creating a potential barrier for people who might otherwise make excellent fleet members.
Besides, even if you require that they join the forums, there's no guarantee they'll actually *use* them for anything.
To my mind it makes more sense to leave it as it is: Optional but strongly encouraged.
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ryftlord
Member
"The first lesson you learn is loyalty. The second is where it shouldn't be placed."
Posts: 86
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Post by ryftlord on Dec 8, 2014 23:55:41 GMT
I put my vote in the yes column.
If they don't have interest in joining the forums, they have no right to complain about not finding RP.
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Post by emulator on Dec 9, 2014 0:15:43 GMT
Simply for the fact most of our IC information on characters and evetns happens passes through the Forums, my support goes to the yes camp
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Post by starjumpersix on Dec 9, 2014 0:22:53 GMT
Actually, I'm going to adjust my opinion after giving it some thought:
It should not be mandatory to be part of the fleet, however; GMs for RP ships/events/etc. can and should, in my opinion, reserve the right to say, "If you want to be part of my event/story, you MUST sign up on the forums." Thus, we leave it in the GM's hands. If a GM is alright with people not signed up, that's their prerogative.
This puts a carrot in front of members to sign up, if they sign up and watch the forums, there are more options for them to RP in the stories run by GMs that want to have people signed up on the forums.
My reasoning: A GM always has the right in any game to decide who may or may not participate in their stories. Leave the story in the GM's hands. Simple, but effective.
tl;dr version: Let the GM of a particular story/ship/event decide if he wants to make sign ups on the forum mandatory for their events.
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Post by Chris Winters on Dec 9, 2014 0:33:04 GMT
Yes, because good practice. Yes, because only way to keep up with current development/events. Yes, because already required for Exodus personnel. Yes, because your privacy is protected all the way through. Yes, because it only needs less than 5 minutes of your time and saves other people hours of explaining by just handing out one link to you.
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Post by Tiana on Dec 9, 2014 1:41:10 GMT
If you are truly worried about Privacy on such a level I know 1 easy solution. Make A New Email Account. If you make an account at any site for free and use it to register then now that worry is nullified.
One step beyond this suggestion is that there are free services that will create a disposal email address which exists for 5-10 minutes, just enough time to get the confirmation email and activate your account.
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Flynt
Member
I'm just here for the donuts.
Posts: 222
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Post by Flynt on Dec 9, 2014 2:08:46 GMT
I'm worried about privacy. The only information required for the forum is an email address, which can be made invisible to all but administrators. This is a prerequisite of the forum host, not ours. It is not given out, it is not used for any other purpose, and we do not use it to contact you by. And no other information is required. Given the recent and repeated attacks on Sony Online Entertainment, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that your privacy is more at risk by just having a PWE account, even as a F2P. If you're a paying customer, then forget it, that ship has sailed. I'm already posting on the forum, so I have obviously already voted yes. I'm not going to speak for anyone else's wishes. I would rather hear from people individually.
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Flynt
Member
I'm just here for the donuts.
Posts: 222
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Post by Flynt on Dec 9, 2014 2:13:18 GMT
A definite yes for members to be signed up. As far as a pre-requisite, not entirely. I think it should be part of the process, sign up by the end of the 2 week free trial or something along those lines. That would cut down on clutter with applications. However it should be noted that in my experience actually signing up to a forum and or website can be a deterrent if required before membership( silly as it is ). A lot of players don't want to bother with that sort of thing till they "know" and just want to click the accept invite button and be done with it. The privacy bit, just make a bogus email if you are worried about it. 12's point can be amended by pointing out that there are quite a few fleets out there that force the player to apply for membership via the website before they can even be considered for trial membership. We're not asking that here, and I think that we offer a nice middle ground between those fleets and others that invite anyone that sticks around more than 10 minutes. The idea of signing on to the forums by the end of the trial period is a decent trade off. At least that's how I would see it if I were a potential member.
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Post by hszmv on Dec 9, 2014 3:48:55 GMT
I'm going to say I am not in favor of making it manditory to being on the site... I will say that I like both Vil's and 12's ideas. Either GMs not allow people who are not on the forums to participate in GM run events OR we make it a requirement to get out of trial membership. I'm more inclined to the former, but I don't feel like we should take away the option of not joining the forums if someone is net paranoid.
Please note, I'm not saying combine the two. One or the other.
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Post by julianna on Dec 9, 2014 4:40:09 GMT
I'm voting no. Let the GM's have the choice for their events. When information is requested in chat, simply throw out the link to the thread, if they want that info, they can sign up. I am signed up, but obviously not very active.
JJ
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Post by greeneagle346 on Dec 9, 2014 6:40:01 GMT
I personally am in favor of this. Most other groups I have joined require forum accounts in order to disseminate relevant data easily. I feel this would make sense here as well.
Eagle
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2014 8:04:04 GMT
Having read the arguments both for and against...[seems a bit like the Yes-No vote we had in Scotland not that long ago]..I have this time round opted to sway towards the Yes camp[unlike the above previously mentioned Yes-No vote].
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Post by Pandora on Dec 9, 2014 10:48:05 GMT
I would have to say Yes. When I joined the fleet I found all the info I needed on the forum,including seeing all the current and all the upcoming events. It takes no more then 5 min to do it and only takes another 5 min to check the site everyday. And all that about privacy is just do what is already suggested make an alternative email account.
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Post by LoonyEclipse on Dec 9, 2014 15:43:39 GMT
I vote yes on this
For one, we have so much information about fleet practices, RP ships, etc posted here which is very difficult to explain via tells or the OOC chan- it's too long and clogs things up.
For two, it gives us a central communication medium to make fleet announcements etc. to the membership without having to log in game.
And yes, if people are concerned about privacy that much, they should make a dummy email account for forum use- it's not like any of this requires you to give personal information for anything anything.
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tewha7
Member
You can't be a hero unless you're rising above circumstance.
Posts: 141
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Post by tewha7 on Dec 9, 2014 16:15:09 GMT
Yes. Absolutely yes.
There are hundreds of free email servers out there if someone's concerned about privacy; go sign up for an email address somewhere just for this. (Like I did!)
Edit: Though you're wrong about the forum's requirements. I was also required to pick a gender, which I would have preferred to leave empty.
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