Habbox Forum Activity and Suggestions for Change

[Nixt]

Before I start this thread is not about being negative or to criticise. This thread is about recognising what I believe is a current issue at Habbox Forum and discussing ways, with the people that are important - the members - to solve the problem and look to management to implement, where possible, the suggestions that we make.

It is my personal belief, shared with a number of people I have spoken to in regard to the issue, that in general activity on Habbox Forum has began to falter in recent weeks. I will give you the example that frustrates me:

CHF: Currently Active Users (http://www.clubhabbo.net/online.php): 90 (56 members and 34 guests)
HxF: Currently Active Users (http://www.habboxforum.com/online.php): 113 (48 members and 65 guests)

Yes, we have more active users overall but it is the amount of members that is important. Yes, this is just what I've checked a second ago but I have seen it happening on several occasions and when I resigned as AFM HxF would always have more members online than CHF. They were never real 'rivals', but now they are.

So, what are the reasons for this change in Forum activity?



The Forum demographic has changed.

The Forum consists of quite a lot of die hard members who have been here for quite a while; from the 'older' generation of Habbos. As they grow older, their interest in such a Forum begins to wane and they have further commitments such as school / college / university / work. Thus, the time they can spend on HxF is reduced and this has a significant impact on Forum activity as a whole. Yes, we have had new members and yes, some of them have stayed using HxF but the majority of registered members don't post or have never posted.



It is an awkward time of year.


I touched on the fact above that a lot of people are going to school / college / university / work. This is the time of year where a lot of people just start there new courses and are beginning to adjust to this change as it can be a lot of work. Therefore they don't have enough time right now to use the internet and chat on Habbox Forum. In theory this should improve as the year continues.



We are not retaining new members.

It seems to me that a lot of the time someone signs up and posts saying hello, perhaps makes a couple of threads or posts and then never comes back online. What we need to look at is why this is and how we can retain them in the future.

These are three key issues I can think of, I am sure there are many more - if you can think of any issues that you think are contributing to the change in HxF's member activity then please feel free to suggest them. However I would ask that you keep this constructive! I really don't want to see something like "well the Moderators are ****". If you think Moderation is bad, give examples, back up your points and explain WHY you think Moderation is bad so we can look at how to solve the problem (sorry to use the Moderation team as an example, they are the most commonly victimised).

So now it seems important to discuss ways to improve the influx and retention of members as well as the improvement of current member activity if possible:



Change / Remove the post approval procedure.


Yes, I can see it's benefits. It does very well to minimise the impact of spam bots on Habbox Forum. Yes it works fine on a lot of other Forums. In my opinion though, Habbox Forum is uniquely different.
I believe that the process of having posts approved is limiting the retention of new members and perhaps even the return of members who were previously banned. My experience in Moderation showed me that the post approval process was neglected by Moderation - and it could well still be. Not only that, our Moderators are not professionals but volunteers and they do not work on a time shift. If someone posts a thread and fails to receive a reply for a couple of hours because there are no moderators online to approve his thread, he's going to get frustrated and leave. I know I would.
Do the benefits outweigh the negatives of this though? The answer would be yes, in my opinion. We would get the occasional spam bot posting on the Forum. Normally, Moderators are quick to get rid of these though. Additionally, so what if you get three or four threads about Nike trainers on the Forum for half an hour? Most people are not stupid enough to go along with it anyway.
The other negative would be members coming onto cause trouble... I don't know how many of you remember SOLAR FLARE!!!!, but the post approval system would most certainly see him ruined. Once again though, the Moderators are usually quick to deal with this and indeed they are grateful for something to do. Not that I encourage rule breaking and not that I am suggesting we abolish the rules, people like SOLAR FLARE!!! caused controversy that made the Forum interesting once in a while. People don't like the images he posted, but it's quite funny to see Goatse spammed on the Forum... what I am trying to say is that Habbox Forum seems to have become too robotic, which leads me onto my next point.



Abolish the automatic ban procedure (i.e. after receiving x amount of infractions y is banned automatically).


This is no doubt going to be a controversial suggestion and it is certainly not one that I believe will be implemented. Most people are pro-automatic banning and indeed, so am I to a certain extent. However, I think automatic banning removes the 'personal' touch Moderation used to have. You might wonder how I think this impacts on members activity but I think it goes back to the point that it creates an atmosphere of that Habbox is run by robots. I just feel it's unnecessary and too uptight, and will make current members feel less constricted.
Instead of this I would suggest general banning guidelines for Super Moderators and a guidelines for when normal Moderators should suggest that someone gets banned. Return the personal touch to Moderation and take away the way in which anyone can get banned for pretty much anything. It creates a unified law for all but it does not take into account a Moderator's expert personal knowledge.



Introduce a new Habbox Council, or some form of Member Representatives.

There are two instances, in the form of the Habbox Council and the Community Support Team that have taken similar roles to what I am suggesting. There was a problem however. To quote a former member of both: "we were given a role and never the powers to complete it nor the support to get anything important up and running". So my suggestion would be to implement a new form of these organisations, perhaps have a small group (I would say around three) of members who are voted by the community to represent the community. They would then have regular meetings with Catzsy and they would together create and most importantly IMPLEMENT the ideas they come up with. Devolve power to the people and they stay happy. Give no one authority and don't try turn this into a hierarchy or a department.

If you have any further ideas, or have anything you could add to my suggestions then please feel free to post (constructively) and get involved. There are plenty more ways that we could solve the problem, I have just mentioned the ones I feel most strongly about and consider to be the ones I have the most knowledge.

You may or may not consider the activity on Habbox a problem and you may or may not care. I certainly don't think it's a crushing problem right now but the cracks are certainly beginning to show. If we nip this in the bud now we can keep Habbox going! You use this Forum and so you must enjoy it, lets team together and keep HxF the best Forum out there - even if you don't care so much any more, remember the times you did have a lot of fun here and get involved :).

P.S. FlyingJesus for Habbox God.

[GoldenMerc]

i think chf have a thing wer they stay online like 30 mins rather than 15 mins for hxf

[Nixt]

i think chf have a thing wer they stay online like 30 mins rather than 15 mins for hxf

That may well be the case, it could even be an hour or a day in regard to the point I am making. My point is before we were always ahead of them before and now we are not. I am not saying Habbox Forum is inactive but I believe it's activity is beginning to wane.

[FlyingJesus]

The Forum demographic has changed.
The Forum consists of quite a lot of die hard members who have been here for quite a while; from the 'older' generation of Habbos. As they grow older, their interest in such a Forum begins to wane and they have further commitments such as school / college / university / work. Thus, the time they can spend on HxF is reduced and this has a significant impact on Forum activity as a whole. Yes, we have had new members and yes, some of them have stayed using HxF but the majority of registered members don't post or have never posted.


True, a lot of us have been around a while and then gradually drop off once things begin to disinterest us. My activity is certainly less than it was a year or two or three ago, and a lot of that is down to no longer having many people I can relate to and/or like. That leads us nicely to...




We are not retaining new members.
It seems to me that a lot of the time someone signs up and posts saying hello, perhaps makes a couple of threads or posts and then never comes back online. What we need to look at is why this is and how we can retain them in the future.

Frankly I'd guess that much of this is down to the previous point. We have our own cliques within certain areas and points of interest on the forum and many of these are either impenetrable or just won't appeal to most people's tastes. On top of this is the xenophobic elitism that I'm sure many new members encounter where many view "outsiders" as beneath them, and won't take them seriously.

Let's say in a month perhaps 3 or 4 new members will be truly accepted in their chosen area (or areas) - that's really not many to be building up a real new membership base. I can't actually name anyone who's joined in the last couple of months and probably wouldn't recognise most if names were mentioned, which may just be indicative of the areas I frequent but nonetheless is a poor show of our (myself included here) hospitality to new members. It's not really our fault; as mentioned we're an older generation now and people joining from habbo are likely to be in similar mindframes as we were when we first came here, and most of us have probably changed a lot since then.



Change / Remove the post approval procedure.


{GARION RAMBLES ON ABOUT SPAMBOTS}
The other negative would be members coming onto cause trouble... I don't know how many of you remember SOLAR FLARE!!!!, but the post approval system would most certainly see him ruined. Once again though, the Moderators are usually quick to deal with this and indeed they are grateful for something to do. Not that I encourage rule breaking and not that I am suggesting we abolish the rules, people like SOLAR FLARE!!! caused controversy that made the Forum interesting once in a while. People don't like the images he posted, but it's quite funny to see Goatse spammed on the Forum... what I am trying to say is that Habbox Forum seems to have become too robotic, which leads me onto my next point.

Mark's still about lol, he was already an old member by the time he got bored and decided to do the whole @SOLAR FLARE@!!!!!!! thing. Post approval is fine I think, maybe it should be reduced to just a couple of posts needed though - after all, mods will soon enough pick up on troublemakers and spambots will still be stopped by this. Also, most newbies just spam up their own welcome thread for a while until they can post normally so it's not that useful in reducing spam


Abolish the automatic ban procedure (i.e. after receiving x amount of infractions y is banned automatically).


This is no doubt going to be a controversial suggestion and it is certainly not one that I believe will be implemented. Most people are pro-automatic banning and indeed, so am I to a certain extent. However, I think automatic banning removes the 'personal' touch Moderation used to have. You might wonder how I think this impacts on members activity but I think it goes back to the point that it creates an atmosphere of that Habbox is run by robots. I just feel it's unnecessary and too uptight, and will make current members feel less constricted.
Instead of this I would suggest general banning guidelines for Super Moderators and a guidelines for when normal Moderators should suggest that someone gets banned. Return the personal touch to Moderation and take away the way in which anyone can get banned for pretty much anything. It creates a unified law for all but it does not take into account a Moderator's expert personal knowledge.

Now you just sound senile darling. Automatic bans is a much better way of doing it than at a moderator's discretion I think, especially with the amount people already complaining about mods (deserved or not, they do complain and that's always going to be true). If someone's banned for breaking too many rules that's fair enough and they have no real grounds to complain as any disagreements over infractions should be sorted before it gets that far, but if a mod can just ban someone outright because they feel it's right there will be more complaints and more mess to sort out


Introduce a new Habbox Council, or some form of Member Representatives.
There are two instances, in the form of the Habbox Council and the Community Support Team that have taken similar roles to what I am suggesting. There was a problem however. To quote a former member of both: "we were given a role and never the powers to complete it nor the support to get anything important up and running". So my suggestion would be to implement a new form of these organisations, perhaps have a small group (I would say around three) of members who are voted by the community to represent the community. They would then have regular meetings with Catzsy and they would together create and most importantly IMPLEMENT the ideas they come up with. Devolve power to the people and they stay happy. Give no one authority and don't try turn this into a hierarchy or a department.

Honestly despite my disappointment with both the Council and CS team (in how we were treated and brushed off rather than how they actually functioned) I can't see it happening any differently a 3rd time around. The feedback subforum is here for all the ideas and such that need voicing, which takes away the need for anyone to ask around, and any good ideas from here are already implemented for the most part.



P.S. FlyingJesus for Habbox God.

Good plan +rep I heard he is a genius

Shut up Sam

Jay you're a fag00000000t.
Jake, just **** and gtf0.

somebody ban me off this sh1t f0rum pl0x.

I CANNNNNNN SPAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM


I hate COD5 snipers. Although, with the fact that you actually need to unlock a scope, I thought a lot more people would no-scope. I no-scope on COD4 still, love it. Tried it on COD5, failed, epicly.
GET THE F00K OUT OF MY THREADDDDDDDDDD


LOL, he's that sad. He can't survive without HxF yet everything he posts is ********.

HxF is like his version of nicotine :(
sure m8
go grow some pubes
ohwait, u r late puberty!
LOLOlOL

[Sammeth.]

The Forum demographic has changed.

The Forum consists of quite a lot of die hard members who have been here for quite a while; from the 'older' generation of Habbos. As they grow older, their interest in such a Forum begins to wane and they have further commitments such as school / college / university / work. Thus, the time they can spend on HxF is reduced and this has a significant impact on Forum activity as a whole. Yes, we have had new members and yes, some of them have stayed using HxF but the majority of registered members don't post or have never posted.

I think the uniqueness of this forum is in fact partly due to the fact we appeal to an older generation of users, rather than other forums which seem to have a much younger average. I think if anything focus should be put onto focusing on their interests and things older users would like to see occurin' as it would make sense to want to retain what makes us hot.





It is an awkward time of year.


I touched on the fact above that a lot of people are going to school / college / university / work. This is the time of year where a lot of people just start there new courses and are beginning to adjust to this change as it can be a lot of work. Therefore they don't have enough time right now to use the internet and chat on Habbox Forum. In theory this should improve as the year continues.

This is true.






We are not retaining new members.

It seems to me that a lot of the time someone signs up and posts saying hello, perhaps makes a couple of threads or posts and then never comes back online. What we need to look at is why this is and how we can retain them in the future.

These are three key issues I can think of, I am sure there are many more - if you can think of any issues that you think are contributing to the change in HxF's member activity then please feel free to suggest them. However I would ask that you keep this constructive! I really don't want to see something like "well the Moderators are ****". If you think Moderation is bad, give examples, back up your points and explain WHY you think Moderation is bad so we can look at how to solve the problem (sorry to use the Moderation team as an example, they are the most commonly victimised).

So now it seems important to discuss ways to improve the influx and retention of members as well as the improvement of current member activity if possible:



Change / Remove the post approval procedure.


Yes, I can see it's benefits. It does very well to minimise the impact of spam bots on Habbox Forum. Yes it works fine on a lot of other Forums. In my opinion though, Habbox Forum is uniquely different.
I believe that the process of having posts approved is limiting the retention of new members and perhaps even the return of members who were previously banned. My experience in Moderation showed me that the post approval process was neglected by Moderation - and it could well still be. Not only that, our Moderators are not professionals but volunteers and they do not work on a time shift. If someone posts a thread and fails to receive a reply for a couple of hours because there are no moderators online to approve his thread, he's going to get frustrated and leave. I know I would.
Do the benefits outweigh the negatives of this though? The answer would be yes, in my opinion. We would get the occasional spam bot posting on the Forum. Normally, Moderators are quick to get rid of these though. Additionally, so what if you get three or four threads about Nike trainers on the Forum for half an hour? Most people are not stupid enough to go along with it anyway.
The other negative would be members coming onto cause trouble... I don't know how many of you remember SOLAR FLARE!!!!, but the post approval system would most certainly see him ruined. Once again though, the Moderators are usually quick to deal with this and indeed they are grateful for something to do. Not that I encourage rule breaking and not that I am suggesting we abolish the rules, people like SOLAR FLARE!!! caused controversy that made the Forum interesting once in a while. People don't like the images he posted, but it's quite funny to see Goatse spammed on the Forum... what I am trying to say is that Habbox Forum seems to have become too robotic, which leads me onto my next point.



Abolish the automatic ban procedure (i.e. after receiving x amount of infractions y is banned automatically).


This is no doubt going to be a controversial suggestion and it is certainly not one that I believe will be implemented. Most people are pro-automatic banning and indeed, so am I to a certain extent. However, I think automatic banning removes the 'personal' touch Moderation used to have. You might wonder how I think this impacts on members activity but I think it goes back to the point that it creates an atmosphere of that Habbox is run by robots. I just feel it's unnecessary and too uptight, and will make current members feel less constricted.
Instead of this I would suggest general banning guidelines for Super Moderators and a guidelines for when normal Moderators should suggest that someone gets banned. Return the personal touch to Moderation and take away the way in which anyone can get banned for pretty much anything. It creates a unified law for all but it does not take into account a Moderator's expert personal knowledge.



Introduce a new Habbox Council, or some form of Member Representatives.

There are two instances, in the form of the Habbox Council and the Community Support Team that have taken similar roles to what I am suggesting. There was a problem however. To quote a former member of both: "we were given a role and never the powers to complete it nor the support to get anything important up and running". So my suggestion would be to implement a new form of these organisations, perhaps have a small group (I would say around three) of members who are voted by the community to represent the community. They would then have regular meetings with Catzsy and they would together create and most importantly IMPLEMENT the ideas they come up with. Devolve power to the people and they stay happy. Give no one authority and don't try turn this into a hierarchy or a department.

If you have any further ideas, or have anything you could add to my suggestions then please feel free to post (constructively) and get involved. There are plenty more ways that we could solve the problem, I have just mentioned the ones I feel most strongly about and consider to be the ones I have the most knowledge.

You may or may not consider the activity on Habbox a problem and you may or may not care. I certainly don't think it's a crushing problem right now but the cracks are certainly beginning to show. If we nip this in the bud now we can keep Habbox going! You use this Forum and so you must enjoy it, lets team together and keep HxF the best Forum out there - even if you don't care so much any more, remember the times you did have a lot of fun here and get involved :).

P.S. FlyingJesus for Habbox God.

I believe there are changes lined up for the post approval system, however abolishing it completely would be a mistake in my eyes. Removing the automatic ban system just seems unnecessary more than anything and your reasons to justify it don't seem that valid. If we didn't have the automatic ban system, there would still be strict guidelines in the moderation guide and still intense rules that moderators have to follow - all of which give less of a personal touch, granted, but still get the job done appropriately. I think a Habbox Council would only be good if it worked properly, but even then I don't think it would work that well. We rallied so hard for a Habbox Council last time and because of lack of attention to it, and really all it did was give members a sense of higher authority over other members and if their opinion was more valid. We have this feedback forum, and when nvr became General Manager, feedback had a lot more attention paid to it, and a lot of ideas do actually get implemented and the people credited.

I think this forum does need to improve with activity, but it isn't by any means a serious problem. I think maybe in a month or two if this still applies we have our work cut out for us, but right now we have a steady level of active members.

Or something like that I only replied cus you told me to.

[Nixt]

I believe there are changes lined up for the post approval system, however abolishing it completely would be a mistake in my eyes.

Indeed I didn't necessarily mean abolish it completely and I think changes such as reducing the amount of posts needed for approval and sorting Moderators out in terms of approving posts is much needed.
In terms of automatic bans I am probably biased and stuck in my old view from when I was originally a Super Moderator. When it was implemented I didn't like it purely because it removed the personal touch but I do see it's benefits. It is because I am an old man.
I agree Habbox Feedback is indeed becoming much more used and recognised. My time as AFM taught me that Habbox Feedback is an invaluable way of improving the Forum but I think that something like the Habbox Council on a much smaller scale (even if it was merely one member) would have some benefit to the Forum providing they are given power.



I think this forum does need to improve with activity, but it isn't by any means a serious problem. I think maybe in a month or two if this still applies we have our work cut out for us, but right now we have a steady level of active members.

Granted it is not a serious problem as yet, but when you notice a problemit is best to deal with it as soon as possible to prevent it becoming a difficulty in the future. Hopefully in a month or two as Christmas comes and people have more free time things will improve, but it wouldn't hurt to try and improve member retention and happiness regardless!

I love you.

[Chippiewill]

I think that moderators need to check it for often, and as for reducing spam. I think not, I once made an account for the specific intention of pissing someone off once and all I had to do was make 15 quick posts in 'welcome to habbox' (then wait an hour for my user group to change) and I was able to post because it's not limited. Also having post count increase in the welcome forum seems pointless aswell because:

a) Spambots can get posting easily
b) People can boost their post count by making a 2 second post.


Basically I think all moderators should be able to allow new posts, even if not in their section and post count shouldn't increase in the 'welcome to habbox' forum.

[lick]

I think the uniqueness of this forum is in fact partly due to the fact we appeal to an older generation of users, rather than other forums which seem to have a much younger average. I think if anything focus should be put onto focusing on their interests and things older users would like to see occurin' as it would make sense to want to retain what makes us hot.





HabboForum tried that and look where it ended up

[leah]

Yeah, loads of people have left that were regular posters and the activity, particularly in spam has decreased loads recently.

[adaym]

Well without a doubt the forum was much better when ---MAD--- was in charge. What a controversial statement.

I'm not saying get rid of Nebula, it's not even related, but it's just an observation...

[Immenseman]

Before I start this thread is not about being negative or to criticise. This thread is about recognising what I believe is a current issue at Habbox Forum and discussing ways, with the people that are important - the members - to solve the problem and look to management to implement, where possible, the suggestions that we make.

It is my personal belief, shared with a number of people I have spoken to in regard to the issue, that in general activity on Habbox Forum has began to falter in recent weeks. I will give you the example that frustrates me:

CHF: Currently Active Users (http://www.clubhabbo.net/online.php): 90 (56 members and 34 guests)
HxF: Currently Active Users (http://www.habboxforum.com/online.php): 113 (48 members and 65 guests)

Yes, we have more active users overall but it is the amount of members that is important. Yes, this is just what I've checked a second ago but I have seen it happening on several occasions and when I resigned as AFM HxF would always have more members online than CHF. They were never real 'rivals', but now they are.

I was meaning to make a similar thread and was going to draw pretty much the same comparisons you have with regards to ClubHabbo. With all due respect to CH, HxF has always been seen as the bigger and better fan site. I'd like to make it clear now that I still believe it is however the gulf has decreased considerably.

Now there is where the issue is in my opinion. We all know CH has attracted newer users, I'd say it has a bigger influence than Habbox on the actual Habbo client itself. This has been the case since I started using both forums in 2006/2007. HxF was more established but CH was more attractive to the newer user.

Two years on they are seeing the beneficial side of this. Those newer users are sticking around and making their forum more active than Habbox. OK, they don't have the same amount of users but if you look on there "New Posts" then you do the same on HxF - they have much more active posters throughout the day.

For example, our highest poster is like 22k (excluding jins test clone) and there highest is 33k. Our highest would only be 3rd on that site and that'd be close in itself. I know this is a small representation but I think it sums up my point that although they still have less members it seems to be a lot busier.


So, what are the reasons for this change in Forum activity?



The Forum demographic has changed.

The Forum consists of quite a lot of die hard members who have been here for quite a while; from the 'older' generation of Habbos. As they grow older, their interest in such a Forum begins to wane and they have further commitments such as school / college / university / work. Thus, the time they can spend on HxF is reduced and this has a significant impact on Forum activity as a whole. Yes, we have had new members and yes, some of them have stayed using HxF but the majority of registered members don't post or have never posted.
The regular posters who are leaving or not posting as frequent any more aren't being replaced by new active users. That's the issue. It's always going to be the same for any forum - people come people go. The problem here is those who come aren't really posting - certainly not to the extent of the people who have left anyway.



It is an awkward time of year.


I touched on the fact above that a lot of people are going to school / college / university / work. This is the time of year where a lot of people just start there new courses and are beginning to adjust to this change as it can be a lot of work. Therefore they don't have enough time right now to use the internet and chat on Habbox Forum. In theory this should improve as the year continues.
It's an awkward time for all fan sites though. I actively use quite a few - it's not the same on those. I know summer is going to be the most active period and this arguably the quietest period so the contrast between the two might be making the problem seem worse than it actually just. Just a suggestion.



We are not retaining new members.

It seems to me that a lot of the time someone signs up and posts saying hello, perhaps makes a couple of threads or posts and then never comes back online. What we need to look at is why this is and how we can retain them in the future.

These are three key issues I can think of, I am sure there are many more - if you can think of any issues that you think are contributing to the change in HxF's member activity then please feel free to suggest them. However I would ask that you keep this constructive! I really don't want to see something like "well the Moderators are ****". If you think Moderation is bad, give examples, back up your points and explain WHY you think Moderation is bad so we can look at how to solve the problem (sorry to use the Moderation team as an example, they are the most commonly victimised).I don't think it really has the pull back factor. Unless you want to be on HxF, you're not going to stay. When I first joined I was determined to be a Rare Values Reporter (:P). If you didn't have such determination then I don't think you would really visit again. The community is hardly thriving.

Adding onto the example you gave. HxF is seen as the harshest fan site - it's strict and this keeps people away. I know for a fact that this is true because I've heard so many people say it. This doesn't bother me because I'm used to it and don't really mind it (hence why I'm the most active member :eusa_danc) but it's bound to have a detrimental effect on the amount of people posting and signing up.


So now it seems important to discuss ways to improve the influx and retention of members as well as the improvement of current member activity if possible:



Change / Remove the post approval procedure.


Yes, I can see it's benefits. It does very well to minimise the impact of spam bots on Habbox Forum. Yes it works fine on a lot of other Forums. In my opinion though, Habbox Forum is uniquely different.
I believe that the process of having posts approved is limiting the retention of new members and perhaps even the return of members who were previously banned. My experience in Moderation showed me that the post approval process was neglected by Moderation - and it could well still be. Not only that, our Moderators are not professionals but volunteers and they do not work on a time shift. If someone posts a thread and fails to receive a reply for a couple of hours because there are no moderators online to approve his thread, he's going to get frustrated and leave. I know I would.
Do the benefits outweigh the negatives of this though? The answer would be yes, in my opinion. We would get the occasional spam bot posting on the Forum. Normally, Moderators are quick to get rid of these though. Additionally, so what if you get three or four threads about Nike trainers on the Forum for half an hour? Most people are not stupid enough to go along with it anyway.
The other negative would be members coming onto cause trouble... I don't know how many of you remember SOLAR FLARE!!!!, but the post approval system would most certainly see him ruined. Once again though, the Moderators are usually quick to deal with this and indeed they are grateful for something to do. Not that I encourage rule breaking and not that I am suggesting we abolish the rules, people like SOLAR FLARE!!! caused controversy that made the Forum interesting once in a while. People don't like the images he posted, but it's quite funny to see Goatse spammed on the Forum... what I am trying to say is that Habbox Forum seems to have become too robotic, which leads me onto my next point. I agree. I want to see it taken down to 5 to be honest. It will still eradicate the issues of spam bots which was the biggest problem. The current regulations on post approval is keeping people away. Why should they have to wait 15 posts before they can post freely?

A key concept of a forum is being able to discuss. If a new member is to post in a discussion their post won't be added straight away. It must be incredibly frustrating for them. Even when it is added the thread could be on the second page or something so their post is totally ignored.

They are basically excluded for their first 15 posts, which can be around a week say they make a couple of posts a day. A week is more than enough for people to get fed up and give up with the system and just stop posting altogether. It's happened and will continue to happen until necessary changes are implemented.



Abolish the automatic ban procedure (i.e. after receiving x amount of infractions y is banned automatically).


This is no doubt going to be a controversial suggestion and it is certainly not one that I believe will be implemented. Most people are pro-automatic banning and indeed, so am I to a certain extent. However, I think automatic banning removes the 'personal' touch Moderation used to have. You might wonder how I think this impacts on members activity but I think it goes back to the point that it creates an atmosphere of that Habbox is run by robots. I just feel it's unnecessary and too uptight, and will make current members feel less constricted.
Instead of this I would suggest general banning guidelines for Super Moderators and a guidelines for when normal Moderators should suggest that someone gets banned. Return the personal touch to Moderation and take away the way in which anyone can get banned for pretty much anything. It creates a unified law for all but it does not take into account a Moderator's expert personal knowledge. Funnily enough I actually disagree with you here. I think that the current system is better than leaving things done to discretion. Primarily because people are incapable of making decisions correctly in the related departments - it will be awful.

Also, I think the current system you know exactly what's going to happen and in some cases will encourage people to behave. I know when I had 4 infractions I made sure I didn't get my 5th for the caution.

Although it would eradicate such issues, I got my 5th. Cautioned for a week. Got it reversed when I returned. Then it happened again. Two weeks caution when they both reversed.

I can see both side of the argument but I think it's easier for the moderation department and it's made unequivocal to the members how the discipline system works so if they fall foul of it then it's completely their own fault because they knew what was coming.



Introduce a new Habbox Council, or some form of Member Representatives.

There are two instances, in the form of the Habbox Council and the Community Support Team that have taken similar roles to what I am suggesting. There was a problem however. To quote a former member of both: "we were given a role and never the powers to complete it nor the support to get anything important up and running". So my suggestion would be to implement a new form of these organisations, perhaps have a small group (I would say around three) of members who are voted by the community to represent the community. They would then have regular meetings with Catzsy and they would together create and most importantly IMPLEMENT the ideas they come up with. Devolve power to the people and they stay happy. Give no one authority and don't try turn this into a hierarchy or a department.Nvrspk4 was never keen on the idea if memory serves correctly so I doubt he has changed his mind. It wasn't handled right the first time and I think he was in charge of it so I don't see how things will get any better now that he's an even more advanced position.

Anyway, things do have to change. I've had enough of management posting saying change will happen and they are acknowledging the problems and trying to resolve them. I actually want to see action now and things implemented and scrapped as they need to be. I'm sure I'm living in false hope that things will improve though because management seem to have adopted a "put up or shut up" mentality.

It all comes down to complacency really. They thought they would always be the biggest forum when in reality it's not going to be like that. They need to get back to grass roots level and start getting the new members in rather than just relying on word of mouth for Habbox to get around. Recruitment campaign is needed, could be a job for the new member representatives campaign you suggested ;):P




Well without a doubt the forum was much better when ---MAD--- was in charge. What a controversial statement.

I'm not saying get rid of Nebula, it's not even related, but it's just an observation...

I agree.

[Mr-Trainor]

I think that moderators need to check it for often, and as for reducing spam. I think not, I once made an account for the specific intention of pissing someone off once and all I had to do was make 15 quick posts in 'welcome to habbox' (then wait an hour for my user group to change) and I was able to post because it's not limited. Also having post count increase in the welcome forum seems pointless aswell because:

a) Spambots can get posting easily
b) People can boost their post count by making a 2 second post.


Basically I think all moderators should be able to allow new posts, even if not in their section and post count shouldn't increase in the 'welcome to habbox' forum.

I believe that isn't possible. Super moderators have mod tools in all section and can therefore approve posts anywhere. However, moderators only have their tools in the sections they moderate. So to approve posts in every section, they'd need mod tools in every section but that's the job of a super mod :P

[lick]

anyone who posts after this is dating rozi

[Hecktix]

Im gonna have to keep this short as im on my phone, ill try and post a better response when im home tomorrow.

- The damned Post Approval System.
I hate this system and I often moan about it to other department members. In my personal opinion posts should be approved within 10 minutes or less. However in reality it can take well over an hour. On numerous occasions within unapproved posts you find two similar threads as the user has got confused and posted their thread again as they thought their first post had failed. Naturally this is gonna lose us new members. So I agree here. It's more trouble than its worth.

I cannot comment on bringing in new members as really the only way to do this is via Habbo and I dont use Habbo

[Plank]

I don't post much any more, just because I got bored basically :S This place doesn't feel the same as it used to be

Also, what has happened to the weekly updates?

[lick]

Mattgarner got bored of adding full stops to rules and changing forum names so he stopped

[xxMATTGxx]

I believe we are reducing the 'Post Approving' system down to around 5 posts. Which I shall look into tomorrow. I believe removing the automatic caution/ban system will cause more problems than it is at the moment and this way there will be good enough evidence that they have actually broken the rules and so on. To let people know that the other week that I made a thread addressing the moderation department on things what they should and shouldn't be doing. I'm also thinking about bringing something else into action to keep mistakes to a minimum. Although we are humans and everyone makes mistakes. But you have heard that line for a while now.


anyone who posts after this is dating rozi

Serious, just behave yourself and don't post stupid things.


Mattgarner got bored of adding full stops to rules and changing forum names so he stopped

Not really.

[lick]

I believe we are reducing the 'Post Approving' system down to around 5 posts. Which I shall look into tomorrow. I believe removing the automatic caution/ban system will cause more problems than it is at the moment and this way there will be good enough evidence that they have actually broken the rules and so on. To let people know that the other week that I made a thread addressing the moderation department on things what they should and shouldn't be doing. I'm also thinking about bringing something else into action to keep mistakes to a minimum. Although we are humans and everyone makes mistakes. But you have heard that line for a while now.



Serious, just behave yourself and don't post stupid things.



Not really.

Thats not stupid :S:S:S

Yes really

[Immenseman]

I believe we are reducing the 'Post Approving' system down to around 5 posts. Which I shall look into tomorrow. I believe removing the automatic caution/ban system will cause more problems than it is at the moment and this way there will be good enough evidence that they have actually broken the rules and so on. To let people know that the other week that I made a thread addressing the moderation department on things what they should and shouldn't be doing. I'm also thinking about bringing something else into action to keep mistakes to a minimum. Although we are humans and everyone makes mistakes. But you have heard that line for a while now.

Good. I hope to see it changed tomorrow then.


Serious, just behave yourself and don't post stupid things.

Not really.


Well at the time it was made very clear to us as users that management realise Habbox is a diverse place and to ensure it continues to do so well minor changes will be made on a weekly basis. As I said at the time it didn't last very long.

The thing is there could be beneficial changes every week, easily. You just don't bother - it's more of a 3 or so weekly thing rather than the weekly updates we were first promised. No surprise though.

[Chippiewill]

I believe that isn't possible. Super moderators have mod tools in all section and can therefore approve posts anywhere. However, moderators only have their tools in the sections they moderate. So to approve posts in every section, they'd need mod tools in every section but that's the job of a super mod :P

Hmm, if groups work in the only logicial way then I can't see it being difficult. On phpbb3 you would just make a new group that can do nothing except moderate new posters in every forum and then you would stick every single user who you want moderating new posters in it. Then again, I have never used VB and it may be more simplified.

[Nixt]

I think that moderators need to check it for often, and as for reducing spam. I think not, I once made an account for the specific intention of pissing someone off once and all I had to do was make 15 quick posts in 'welcome to habbox' (then wait an hour for my user group to change) and I was able to post because it's not limited. Also having post count increase in the welcome forum seems pointless aswell because:

a) Spambots can get posting easily
b) People can boost their post count by making a 2 second post.


Basically I think all moderators should be able to allow new posts, even if not in their section and post count shouldn't increase in the 'welcome to habbox' forum.


I agree. I want to see it taken down to 5 to be honest. It will still eradicate the issues of spam bots which was the biggest problem. The current regulations on post approval is keeping people away. Why should they have to wait 15 posts before they can post freely?

A key concept of a forum is being able to discuss. If a new member is to post in a discussion their post won't be added straight away. It must be incredibly frustrating for them. Even when it is added the thread could be on the second page or something so their post is totally ignored.

They are basically excluded for their first 15 posts, which can be around a week say they make a couple of posts a day. A week is more than enough for people to get fed up and give up with the system and just stop posting altogether. It's happened and will continue to happen until necessary changes are implemented.

The first thing that needs to happen is it needs to become a bigger part of Moderation. In my opinion during they key hours - that is probably 16:00 - 22:00 no new member should be waiting any more than half an hour for their posts to be approved. I know Moderators aren't superheroes, I know they're only volunteers, I know they have a lot of work to do but Management have decided to introduce this system and therefore it needs to become just as important, if not more important, than the control of rule breaking.
Secondly it should be reduced. It seems the general suggestion is to five and that probably is the safest amount to lower it to. Nevertheless I still think 5 is too much. I think 1 is too much :P. However providing the performance of the Moderation team improves as per my previous paragraph we should see a considerable improvement.


Yeah, loads of people have left that were regular posters and the activity, particularly in spam has decreased loads recently.

Yeah why is it people have to go and get a life :@.




I don't think it really has the pull back factor. Unless you want to be on HxF, you're not going to stay. When I first joined I was determined to be a Rare Values Reporter (:P). If you didn't have such determination then I don't think you would really visit again. The community is hardly thriving.

Yes that is indeed correct. I joined because I was becoming a News Reporter. A relatively high proportion of our active users are staff and it's easy enough for us to retain them! I think Tom made the point earlier in the thread that a big problem is the elitist nature of a lot of the categories or forums here on HxF. New members are ignored or actively antagonised and it doesn't make the Forum too appealing to those without a very thick skin!



Adding onto the example you gave. HxF is seen as the harshest fan site - it's strict and this keeps people away. I know for a fact that this is true because I've heard so many people say it. This doesn't bother me because I'm used to it and don't really mind it (hence why I'm the most active member :eusa_danc) but it's bound to have a detriment'#}l,/al effect on the amount of people posting and signing up.

I agree to a certain extent that we are probably seen as the harshest Forum around, however I don't think there is a massive amount we can do here because it's what makes Habbox different to a lot of the other Forums that are quite frankly immature and annoying. However this does lead me on to my next point:


Also, what has happened to the weekly updates?

In light of the fact that Habbox might be seen quite harsh to outsiders, and indeed it is seen as quite harsh by a lot of it's members I think it's important weekly updates are used to maintain a diverse and appropriate set of rules that maintain order but aren't too strict. There are two things that we do have to appreciate though:

1) From my experience as AFM, it was occasionally quite difficult to find updates every single week - week in, week out. Perhaps then we make it every two weeks. Even if the changes are only minor, such as changes in the wording of rules, at least it makes it seem as in things are happening. When we don't see any public updates it can frustrate members who can't see everything that is behind the scenes.
2) You are never going to be able keep every member happy. Some people would only ever be satisfied if we abolished the rules altogether.



Funnily enough I actually disagree with you here. I think that the current system is better than leaving things done to discretion. Primarily because people are incapable of making decisions correctly in the related departments - it will be awful.

I don't think anyone is going to agree with me here, and I guess you are right. My opinion here is just backward and outdated :P.




Nvrspk4 was never keen on the idea if memory serves correctly so I doubt he has changed his mind. It wasn't handled right the first time and I think he was in charge of it so I don't see how things will get any better now that he's an even more advanced position.

That's a fair point but I do really think it is something that could work if given the proper attention and the proper power. I just think it should be done on a much smaller scale and given to someone who can be trusted to exert a lot of power. If this is to happen then it could well be the perfect solution to the problems Habbox are facing.



Anyway, things do have to change. I've had enough of management posting saying change will happen and they are acknowledging the problems and trying to resolve them. I actually want to see action now and things implemented and scrapped as they need to be. I'm sure I'm living in false hope that things will improve though because management seem to have adopted a "put up or shut up" mentality.


I am forced to agree to a certain extent. I think the current management team are brilliant and they have the right people in the right positions however my recent browsing of the Forum upon my return suggested that things have lost the momentum they had in the Summer. This could indirectly be part of my earlier point that it is an awkward time of year, but the people in the positions of power should be exercising that power.


I don't post much any more, just because I got bored basically :S This place doesn't feel the same as it used to be


This kind of sums up my original points, something does need to be done before it gets serious.


Mattgarner got bored of adding full stops to rules and changing forum names so he stopped

As I mentioned previously it can be quite difficult to find things to update each and every week. The Forum Manager has nothing to do with name changes, last time I checked :eusa_danc.

[lick]

I mean the names of forums like "News & Gossip" etc not user names :P

[Nixt]

I mean the names of forums like "News & Gossip" etc not user names :P

I retract my statement you sexy hunk.

[Hecktix]

I said i'd post a proper reply so here goes.

I may repeat things I said earlier but this can be my full reply which Garion has been pestering me on MSN to post :P

Post Approval System

As I said earlier this is something I've been moaning within the Moderation Department about as some posts are in the approval system for well over an hour - this is evidently going to lose us new members as they're threads aren't appearing! The Post Approval System currently stands at 10 posts however it's highly expected that this is going to be reduced to 5. However I agree with Garion that it should be completely scrapped - Moderators are capable of dealing with Spam Bots quickly as they always have been. Spam Bots usually attack in the morning when there aren't many members on and even saying that we don't actually get too many spam bots, certainly less than 1 per day.

I can almost guaruntee that 80% of the people I approve posts for aren't seen posting much after their 10 approvals - I suppose this is because it takes a long time to get them approved really.

However if this doesn't get removed, which i'm highly doubtful that it will, I assure it will be pushed and pushed within moderation as far as I'm concerned.

Auto-ban System

I'm not going to say much about the AutoBan system as it seems to be working pretty well as they are almost impossible to get out of. Jake made a point of him being on caution for 2 weeks unfairly, if he had appealed the infraction via the Support Tool he'd have spent a maximum of 2 days on Caution so I don't think that's an issue either. I think for the purpose of evidence and explaining bans it's a very good system.

Also it keeps the members in touch with when they are crossing the line, I know several members who have had 7 or 8 infractions and have said "how many more till i'll be permed" and have actually bucked their ideas up for fear of losing their account.

Habbox Council

I'm not too sure on how this would work so I'm not going to comment although I like the general idea of this.

Finally my contributions:

One of our problems is admittedly retaining new members and this is something that needs to be dealt with before taking anything further. However looking at the bigger picture we certainly need to figure out how to bring in new members.

Obviously we only have one source of a fanbase; Habbo.
I don't think our registration stats have been fantastic lately, I suppose Nvr or Jin will be able to shed more light on this but judging on the amount of posts awaiting approval, we aren't getting that many new members.

I'd be interested to know if ClubHabbo is getting newer members or whether it's just their older members staying around longer.

Afterall as far as I'm aware ClubHabbo have a younger fanbase than HabboxForum, naturally as has been said many times in this thread a lot of our members are getting older and going to uni or "getting lives" as Garion said. I think Leah's comment summed it up pretty well.

Maybe Habbo has hit a generation that don't like fansites? We saw Help Desks die out and they used to be the most popular rooms on Habbo? Could we be seeing the Habbo Fansite dying out? We can all comment on the matter that people on Habbo nowadays are nothing like they used to be in '05 and '06 when a lot of us used to play. I suppose it's worth adding that Habbo have their own forums on the site now?

If that theory is correct (and CH have a younger fanbase) CH will also start to suffer when their members start leaving.

That's my penny, enjoy :)

[StefanWolves]

Also it keeps the members in touch with when they are crossing the line, I know several members who have had 7 or 8 infractions and have said "how many more till i'll be permed" and have actually bucked their ideas up for fear of losing their account.


was you thinking about me? :(

and yes, i agree, this forum is dying, slowly. things need to change, or else goodbye habbox.

abolishing that stupid post thing when you first register would help things, i'm sure, it's a pain, and often when the posts do get approved it's not relevant to the thread anyway as the thread has moved on, so it's just pointless.

i don't think we should get rid of the auto-ban system, but i think it needs t be revised, as sometimes people do get banned for infractions that were not worthy of an infraction, and even if we try to appeal the ban, it still takes ages, and often when you appeal they don't check the last infraction you got anyway to see whether it was fair. (i speak from past experience).

you do need to lure more members here, i for one have never been on chf or whatever it is, as i don't play habbo and haven't done for years. but it's obvious they are now competing and bettering this forum.

i don't know what you can do to get more people here, but i hope the things that i have said above will contribute to getting rid of some stupid things that this forum has, the stupid things that do eventually push members of this forum away.

also, ALL subforums on this forum need updating, they all need to be re-structured and re-thought out in my opinion, change is good, when something is broken, fix it.

edit; and while i'm at it, DROP THE OFFICIAL STATUS, for christs sake, your loosing money and members because of it, if VIP is brought back so that you can buy it, members will get more features, and will probably stay here longer.

[lick]

was you thinking about me? :(

and yes, i agree, this forum is dying, slowly. things need to change, or else goodbye habbox.

abolishing that stupid post thing when you first register would help things, i'm sure, it's a pain, and often when the posts do get approved it's not relevant to the thread anyway as the thread has moved on, so it's just pointless.

i don't think we should get rid of the auto-ban system, but i think it needs t be revised, as sometimes people do get banned for infractions that were not worthy of an infraction, and even if we try to appeal the ban, it still takes ages, and often when you appeal they don't check the last infraction you got anyway to see whether it was fair. (i speak from past experience).

you do need to lure more members here, i for one have never been on chf or whatever it is, as i don't play habbo and haven't done for years. but it's obvious they are now competing and bettering this forum.

i don't know what you can do to get more people here, but i hope the things that i have said above will contribute to getting rid of some stupid things that this forum has, the stupid things that do eventually push members of this forum away.

also, ALL subforums on this forum need updating, they all need to be re-structured and re-thought out in my opinion, change is good, when something is broken, fix it.

edit; and while i'm at it, DROP THE OFFICIAL STATUS, for christs sake, your loosing money and members because of it, if VIP is brought back so that you can buy it, members will get more features, and will probably stay here longer.


This i 100% agree with. I dont see why so many graphic sections are needed when they are hardly used? 1 with a few subforums would be ok, and please please please please please get new userbars the ones you have are **** ugly

[FlyingJesus]

edit; and while i'm at it, DROP THE OFFICIAL STATUS, for christs sake, your loosing money and members because of it, if VIP is brought back so that you can buy it, members will get more features, and will probably stay here longer.

Fairly sure it was mentioned a couple of hundred times when the whole VIP problem originally blew up that official status had nothing to do with it and we'd be forced to remove all Habbo-related content or something along those lines if we wanted to literally "sell" anything. You could argue that many of us don't use the forum for Habbo any more but especially at a time when we need new members it would be a bit daft to take away the theme of the place which we get people from

[Immenseman]

edit; and while i'm at it, DROP THE OFFICIAL STATUS, for christs sake, your loosing money and members because of it, if VIP is brought back so that you can buy it, members will get more features, and will probably stay here longer.

regardless of official status habbox will never be able to sell VIP again unless sulake change their minds, which they won't. all fansites official and unofficial have to stick by exactly the same rules. the only difference is official ones are checked out a bit more. habbox will always be used by staff.

[Hecktix]

Fairly sure it was mentioned a couple of hundred times when the whole VIP problem originally blew up that official status had nothing to do with it and we'd be forced to remove all Habbo-related content or something along those lines if we wanted to literally "sell" anything. You could argue that many of us don't use the forum for Habbo any more but especially at a time when we need new members it would be a bit daft to take away the theme of the place which we get people from

This is right tbh.

A VIP return would be a fantastic change. Maybe if Sulake can be made aware that it's most popular fansite is actually suffering like this then maybe they'll do something.

I know things have been tried before but would a Habbox-generated petition be a good idea? Although we aren't as active as we have been in recent years we still have a lot of members. Well lets see how much support we can get?

Idk...

[StefanWolves]

The whole forum needs looking at, it needs updating, it needs re-forming, and re-structuring. Keep staff as they are now but update the forum, to suite both new HABBO members and old time non-habbo members. Re-structure the sections. (e.g. runescape has 4 subforums, and it's ALWAYS inactive, why are they needed? Sports section could do with subforums ect.)

[Nixt]

A friend and I were discussing a whole Forum relaunch. Not quite sure of all the details, but get everyone involved especially the members and just get everyone interested in HxF again.

[Immenseman]

might as well get new staff in :eusa_whis

[Nixt]

might as well get new staff in :eusa_whis

That's a different debate and it is not something that I want this thread to turn into a discussion about :P. I agree there could be staffing issues and perhaps they are having an impact on the community atmosphere but again we have to rely on management to highlight these issues and deal with them as is appropriate.

[Immenseman]

That's a different debate and it is not something that I want this thread to turn into a discussion about :P. I agree there could be staffing issues and perhaps they are having an impact on the community atmosphere but again we have to rely on management to highlight these issues and deal with them as is appropriate.
If the management are the issue then who sorts it? If Habbox was doing really well I'd praise management so when it struggles like I believe it is now I think it's only fair they're criticised. If they were good leaders they'd put the blame on themselves anyway. I know they won't because management aren't like that on Habbox any more.

Anyway, enough of that. I look forward to the post approval rule being changed today. I think the Forum Manager said earlier in this thread (or maybe it was another one) he'd try and change it today.

[Nixt]

Fairly sure it was mentioned a couple of hundred times when the whole VIP problem originally blew up that official status had nothing to do with it and we'd be forced to remove all Habbo-related content or something along those lines if we wanted to literally "sell" anything. You could argue that many of us don't use the forum for Habbo any more but especially at a time when we need new members it would be a bit daft to take away the theme of the place which we get people from

Yeah as it stands I am pretty sure it's don't sell VIP or you're not having anything to do with Habbo. That would prove pretty awkward as we're pretty much interlinked and if we had to get rid of all the Habbo content we would lose a sizeable chunk of our member base and that wouldn't at all help the situation.

I do however, agree that VIP would be extremely beneficial to the Forum. It makes it far more appealing and also brings in money that I think could be used to promote the Forum. I think nvrspk4 was in contact with Sulake staff in regard to this issue, hence the update a while back on what Donators get. Perhaps he could open up this point of contact again and attempt to improve it? As Oli mentioned perhaps we could strike up some sort of campaign? Habbo needs to realise they are essentially killing off their dedicated fansites by doing this.


If the management are the issue then who sorts it? If Habbox was doing really well I'd praise management so when it struggles like I believe it is now I think it's only fair they're criticised. If they were good leaders they'd put the blame on themselves anyway. I know they won't because management aren't like that on Habbox any more.

Anyway, enough of that. I look forward to the post approval rule being changed today. I think the Forum Manager said earlier in this thread (or maybe it was another one) he'd try and change it today.

That does make things difficult, I guess, but you have to remember there is a chain of command and if there are any problems there is a superior who should be able to deal with it. Minus the person at the very top of course, but nvrspk4 is a decent guy and I am relatively sure he would accept criticism and attempt to learn from it if it is fair. The important thing though is making sure criticism is constructive. I also understand that some members are worried about the possible repercussions of complaining. In the event that this is the case please do contact me and I will contact the relevant person on your behalf ensuring your criticism is constructive because I am not at all worried about repercussions because I believe that members of management do want to make sure as many people are happy as possible.

I also look forward to this change :).

[Hecktix]

In reference to nvr emailing Habbo I believe they stopped replying to him in the end :P

[FlyingJesus]

A friend and I were discussing a whole Forum relaunch. Not quite sure of all the details, but get everyone involved especially the members and just get everyone interested in HxF again.

You have no friends

[Nixt]

You have no friends

How did you find out?

[Mint]

The whole forum needs looking at, it needs updating, it needs re-forming, and re-structuring. Keep staff as they are now but update the forum, to suite both new HABBO members and old time non-habbo members. Re-structure the sections. (e.g. runescape has 4 subforums, and it's ALWAYS inactive, why are they needed? Sports section could do with subforums ect.)

Can I just say that calling the runescape section inactive is far from the truth. The runescape section has around 10 members that you will see posting quite regularly. Take a look at it for yourself, you will see all the subforums with recent posts. The only thing that needs improving with the runescape section is a mod that actually knows what runescape is (which I think we are in the progress of getting).

[efq]

Also stop treating us like kids on the filtering. ************ shouldn't be filtered, its normal, not offensive and its pathetic whoever put it in. If you don't know what the filtered word is then guess, 'Masturba....'.

Forum has changed so its suitable for 6-11 year olds. The majority aren't even near that age.

[Immenseman]

I just think little things should be unfiltered too. For example, lmao with the f. Now I know the F is a filtered word but it's so commonly used and I don't really see what harm it would do being unfiltered.

[lick]

I just think little things should be unfiltered too. For example, lmao with the f. Now I know the F is a filtered word but it's so commonly used and I don't really see what harm it would do being unfiltered.

i remember asking for that and catszy was like, whats the difference its only a f ?!?!?!

also what the f should be unfiltered

and fml should not be edited

[Immenseman]

what does fml mean

[efq]

I don't see why every swear word should be allowed, put on the rules/terms when you register that there is swearing.

Should get a system that filters swearing with people who registers with the D.O.B year below the age of 16 or 18. People over that birth year don't have filters.

Or give the option to turn filters on and off per user.

Edit above: **** my life

[lick]

**** my life i think

or fail my life?

Edited by invincible (Forum Super Moderator): I think the same explanation can be made without showing the word :)

[GoldenMerc]

for my life?

[efq]

**** my life i think

or fail my life?how the **** did you get **** unfiltered in your post?

[Immenseman]

No the filter should stay for sure. Just a few alterations to it and it will be fine. I'd hate to see f this and f that everywhere.

[efq]

No the filter should stay for sure. Just a few alterations to it and it will be fine. I'd hate to see f this and f that everywhere.
Well, you should have the option to choose whether filters are on or off or set to moderate etc.

[Immenseman]

Too much hard work and hassle. Few words need removing from filter or need to been as acceptable and then it'll be alright.

[lick]

i better not get infracted for that because i was only telling him what it meant.

[efq]

i better not get infracted for that because i was only telling him what it meant.
how the hell did you do it :S

[Robbie]

The Forum demographic has changed.

The Forum consists of quite a lot of die hard members who have been here for quite a while; from the 'older' generation of Habbos. As they grow older, their interest in such a Forum begins to wane and they have further commitments such as school / college / university / work. Thus, the time they can spend on HxF is reduced and this has a significant impact on Forum activity as a whole. Yes, we have had new members and yes, some of them have stayed using HxF but the majority of registered members don't post or have never posted.

This was always inevitable, as it is with everything in life really. People move on, get bored of things, people change etc. I do agree that we need to do something to get more members active and posting on the forum, I have a few suggestions that I'll put forward to Rosie/nvr/Matt and see where we go from there.

A problem with getting new members though, is that this forum is a very tight-knit forum where everyone knows everyone in their sections, and for the most part everyone seems to stay in that section. Then, when a new user comes along and tries to actively participate in discussions, the 'regulars' make it hard for new users to fit in sometimes. This is something that I think we need to change. The only exception to this really is the 'Habbo' sections, which is where most of our new members seem to post.




It is an awkward time of year.


I touched on the fact above that a lot of people are going to school / college / university / work. This is the time of year where a lot of people just start there new courses and are beginning to adjust to this change as it can be a lot of work. Therefore they don't have enough time right now to use the internet and chat on Habbox Forum. In theory this should improve as the year continues. This seems to happen every year I think, it's completely unavoidable and the only way to maintain a high level of activity when people go away is to attract new members to make up for the loss of others. This could be a vicious circle though, with members leaving and members joining, the activity level would just be stagnant, although, that said, it is quite stagnant at the moment anyway.




We are not retaining new members.

It seems to me that a lot of the time someone signs up and posts saying hello, perhaps makes a couple of threads or posts and then never comes back online. What we need to look at is why this is and how we can retain them in the future. I've outlined my view on this in the first point.


If you think Moderation is bad, give examples, back up your points and explain WHY you think Moderation is bad so we can look at how to solve the problem (sorry to use the Moderation team as an example, they are the most commonly victimised).I couldn't agree more to be honest. People are seeing moderators as an easy target and so take things out on them without suggesting what could be changed (sensible suggestions). The moderation team works hard and it's all voluntary, I think people forget that. Matt has a lot of work being FM, and these complaints aren't really helping - maybe someone should be appointed as AFM again? (No, I'm not tryna suck up or anything to get AFM here)





Change / Remove the post approval procedure.


Yes, I can see it's benefits. It does very well to minimise the impact of spam bots on Habbox Forum. Yes it works fine on a lot of other Forums. In my opinion though, Habbox Forum is uniquely different.
I believe that the process of having posts approved is limiting the retention of new members and perhaps even the return of members who were previously banned. My experience in Moderation showed me that the post approval process was neglected by Moderation - and it could well still be. Not only that, our Moderators are not professionals but volunteers and they do not work on a time shift. If someone posts a thread and fails to receive a reply for a couple of hours because there are no moderators online to approve his thread, he's going to get frustrated and leave. I know I would.
Do the benefits outweigh the negatives of this though? The answer would be yes, in my opinion. We would get the occasional spam bot posting on the Forum. Normally, Moderators are quick to get rid of these though. Additionally, so what if you get three or four threads about Nike trainers on the Forum for half an hour? Most people are not stupid enough to go along with it anyway.
The other negative would be members coming onto cause trouble... I don't know how many of you remember SOLAR FLARE!!!!, but the post approval system would most certainly see him ruined. Once again though, the Moderators are usually quick to deal with this and indeed they are grateful for something to do. Not that I encourage rule breaking and not that I am suggesting we abolish the rules, people like SOLAR FLARE!!! caused controversy that made the Forum interesting once in a while. People don't like the images he posted, but it's quite funny to see Goatse spammed on the Forum... what I am trying to say is that Habbox Forum seems to have become too robotic, which leads me onto my next point.

I think it should be lowered from 15, but not altogether, so much spam goes through that system, but Matt said this is happening anyway. Maybe mods should see a message at the top of every page when there is posts waiting approval in their sections? That would, imo, make things get done much quicker.




Abolish the automatic ban procedure (i.e. after receiving x amount of infractions y is banned automatically).


This is no doubt going to be a controversial suggestion and it is certainly not one that I believe will be implemented. Most people are pro-automatic banning and indeed, so am I to a certain extent. However, I think automatic banning removes the 'personal' touch Moderation used to have. You might wonder how I think this impacts on members activity but I think it goes back to the point that it creates an atmosphere of that Habbox is run by robots. I just feel it's unnecessary and too uptight, and will make current members feel less constricted.
Instead of this I would suggest general banning guidelines for Super Moderators and a guidelines for when normal Moderators should suggest that someone gets banned. Return the personal touch to Moderation and take away the way in which anyone can get banned for pretty much anything. It creates a unified law for all but it does not take into account a Moderator's expert personal knowledge.


Can't agree on this at all, sorry.




Introduce a new Habbox Council, or some form of Member Representatives.

There are two instances, in the form of the Habbox Council and the Community Support Team that have taken similar roles to what I am suggesting. There was a problem however. To quote a former member of both: "we were given a role and never the powers to complete it nor the support to get anything important up and running". So my suggestion would be to implement a new form of these organisations, perhaps have a small group (I would say around three) of members who are voted by the community to represent the community. They would then have regular meetings with Catzsy and they would together create and most importantly IMPLEMENT the ideas they come up with. Devolve power to the people and they stay happy. Give no one authority and don't try turn this into a hierarchy or a department.

If someone wants something to change, nine times out of ten they will post in this section and other members will give their view on it, and usually, if it's a sensible suggestion that the majority agree with then it will happen.

Overall, I think the core root of most of these problems is attracting new members and getting them accepted into the community and active. I'm sure Rosie, nvr and Matt would appreciate all ideas.

[StefanWolves]

Can I just say that calling the runescape section inactive is far from the truth. The runescape section has around 10 members that you will see posting quite regularly. Take a look at it for yourself, you will see all the subforums with recent posts. The only thing that needs improving with the runescape section is a mod that actually knows what runescape is (which I think we are in the progress of getting).

the sports section has AT LEAST 20 ACTIVE members, we don't get any sub forums? runescape doesn't need 4 sub forums, they don't need any. this forum is topsy turby.

[GoldenMerc]

runescape forum for the scrap please

[StefanWolves]

tbh whoever above mentioned a whole new forum re-launch, whoever said it, good idea.

[Nixt]

Also stop treating us like kids on the filtering. ************ shouldn't be filtered, its normal, not offensive and its pathetic whoever put it in. If you don't know what the filtered word is then guess, 'Masturba....'.

Forum has changed so its suitable for 6-11 year olds. The majority aren't even near that age.

I agree that perhaps a look at making the filter a little bit more lenient for certain things would be advantageous. Certainly not some of the more harsh words, not because I think we need to protect younger members of the community but allowing harsh swear words would take insulting members and bullying to a whole new level and it would create an anarchy I think we could do without.


This was always inevitable, as it is with everything in life really. People move on, get bored of things, people change etc. I do agree that we need to do something to get more members active and posting on the forum, I have a few suggestions that I'll put forward to Rosie/nvr/Matt and see where we go from there.

Perhaps you could share these ideas with all of the Forum's members and we could all discuss what we think of these ideas? I think in order to improve things we need to involve the current members and rally them together :).



A problem with getting new members though, is that this forum is a very tight-knit forum where everyone knows everyone in their sections, and for the most part everyone seems to stay in that section. Then, when a new user comes along and tries to actively participate in discussions, the 'regulars' make it hard for new users to fit in sometimes. This is something that I think we need to change.

Yes it has been mentioned a couple of times in the thread that Forums take on an elitist stance toward new members. I agree that this needs to be addressed, perhaps a tougher stance on people who ridicule or insult new members?



I couldn't agree more to be honest. People are seeing moderators as an easy target and so take things out on them without suggesting what could be changed (sensible suggestions). The moderation team works hard and it's all voluntary, I think people forget that. Matt has a lot of work being FM, and these complaints aren't really helping - maybe someone should be appointed as AFM again? (No, I'm not tryna suck up or anything to get AFM here)

I think the issue is that as the Moderation team are representatives of the Forum itself, members grow frustrated with them as problems with the Forum develop. It is inevitable as people grow frustrated with things they are going to complain. Unfortunately people don't always complain constructively especially when they are frustrated.
It is down to Matt as to whether he feels he needs an assistant again. If he feels as if he is busy and the work is taking it's toll alongside normal duties then it would be a good idea to get an assistant providing he feels there is someone he can trust and will have the time and commitment to do the job. In my opinion escalating someone who is not ready for the position into that position would cause more bad than good.



I think it should be lowered from 15, but not altogether, so much spam goes through that system, but Matt said this is happening anyway. Maybe mods should see a message at the top of every page when there is posts waiting approval in their sections? That would, imo, make things get done much quicker.

Perhaps that is something Jin could look into. I can kinda see where you are coming from with the disagreeing with the total abolition of it thing. Nevertheless, the amount of spam that goes through the system is nothing that couldn't be dealt with by a decent team of Moderators working hard. In fact I think when using that system Moderators may be a lot more harsh on what posts they do and do not approve, which itself may well reduce members and posts on the Forum.



If someone wants something to change, nine times out of ten they will post in this section and other members will give their view on it, and usually, if it's a sensible suggestion that the majority agree with then it will happen.

Yes that's true. Occasionally though members post suggestions or complaints that get taken the wrong way or turn into an argument / discussion that isn't necessarily constructive. As I mentioned earlier sometimes this cannot be helped. I feel even one representative for the members would help remedy this and convey members' interests appropriately in the event members cannot do this themselves.
[/QUOTE]


runescape forum for the scrap please

Your post is not constructive and it doesn't help the discuss the issues we are having at the moment. Try again.


tbh whoever above mentioned a whole new forum re-launch, whoever said it, good idea.

That was me, and I agree it would be a good idea.

It would be nice to see more posts from more senior management members. I am sure they've noticed it and may well be discussing it but it would be nice to know!

[adaym]

I think that if you have a forum re launch, then 'talismanic' members should have a say in what goes and what doesn't along with active Habbo users as that is still the prime audience of the forum, yes? I don't think doing things behind the scenes would help anything.

My three pennies.

[Nixt]

I think that if you have a forum re launch, then 'talismanic' members should have a say in what goes and what doesn't along with active Habbo users as that is still the prime audience of the forum, yes? I don't think doing things behind the scenes would help anything.

My three pennies.

Yes, I totally agree. Anything like that should be a joint effort between staff and members.

[StefanWolves]

but you will need to underline HABBO playing members and NON-HABBO playing members, so that BOTH have a say as to what changes will happen.

[Immenseman]

We can't get to ahead of ourselves and start planning who is going to have a say when management are yet to confirm they feel change is needed. We know change is needed but whether they are still in-touch with the forum and what it needs is unfortunately an entirely another matter.

[StefanWolves]

We can't get to ahead of ourselves and start planning who is going to have a say when management are yet to confirm they feel change is needed. We know change is needed but whether they are still in-touch with the forum and what it needs is unfortunately an entirely another matter.

could not agree more. hopefully something will be done, maybe a whole re-launch of the forum is a bit OTT, but things do need to be changed, or else I can see HxF dying.

[The Professor]

I couldn't agree more to be honest. People are seeing moderators as an easy target and so take things out on them without suggesting what could be changed (sensible suggestions). The moderation team works hard and it's all voluntary, I think people forget that. Matt has a lot of work being FM, and these complaints aren't really helping - maybe someone should be appointed as AFM again? (No, I'm not tryna suck up or anything to get AFM here)

Tbh that's what the rudeness to staff rule was implemented for, as well as the private "complaints about staff" forum. The management atm are being too lenient on what gets posted in public and what gets dealt with in private, as well as what is allowed to be posted about certain moderators and remain in public view.

[Immenseman]

Just to pick up on the earlier comparisons you drew with CH. I just looked on both forums and went to see how active they both were in regards to post wise. As and when I looked HxF had 25 posts in the last 38 minutes. CH had the same amount of posts in 19 minutes. Works out exactly half. Like I stated before I know this isn't conclusive but it's the same all throughout the day (scrapping the "their userbase is younger" argument). Just thought people as sad as myself may find it interesting.

[Nixt]

Tbh that's what the rudeness to staff rule was implemented for, as well as the private "complaints about staff" forum. The management atm are being too lenient on what gets posted in public and what gets dealt with in private, as well as what is allowed to be posted about certain moderators and remain in public view.

Lol I think there is a couple of issues with the Moderation of certain complaints but overall I think it's fine. Be too harsh and it just pisses people off even more.


Just to pick up on the earlier comparisons you drew with CH. I just looked on both forums and went to see how active they both were in regards to post wise. As and when I looked HxF had 25 posts in the last 38 minutes. CH had the same amount of posts in 19 minutes. Works out exactly half. Like I stated before I know this isn't conclusive but it's the same all throughout the day (scrapping the "their userbase is younger" argument). Just thought people as sad as myself may find it interesting.

I find it interesting Jake, you are not the only geek. I'm still awaiting input from senior management though :(!

[StefanWolves]

They won't post, they might just ignore it, they can't live up to the truth that HxF is dying, and unless they CHANGE it will continue to go downhill.

[nvrspk4]

They won't post, they might just ignore it, they can't live up to the truth that HxF is dying, and unless they CHANGE it will continue to go downhill.

I have found that 95% of the time you post you are spewing baseless rhetoric. You had a good suggestion or two, but I do wish you would think before posting hopelessly baseless and intentionally inflammatory things like this.



As far as the changes that need to be made, I think we were planning on bringing down the number of required posts...I swear we did that a while ago?

Will we be giving the power to a group of users to conceive and IMPLEMENT changes? No, its that simple. If we wanted to give them the ability to implement changes, we would just make them staff.

Could a council be more effective under this system of management? Perhaps.

But I also think that the Council was a response to a rather nonresponsive management. I like to pretend that we do tend to be very responsive to Feedback comments. We may not always accept them, but we do reply to almost every one. Whether you agree or disagree with the decisions made by management, users that have been around and have given feedback over a long period (note emphasis) will recognize that we respond to almost all feedback which is a drastic improvement.

Could the argument be made that we might be more responsive to a council? Maybe. Depends who's on there. Some people make arguments that are rational and instead of trying to attack to make their points, they give well reasoned arguments that sometimes get a bit heated but are usually based in facts. Good examples of this are GommeInc, Mentor, and Immenseman about 50% of the time. Others like to spew the taglines "they never listen", "they always say no", "management is corrupt", and devolve into attacks on the management team when things don't go their way.

I'll be completely honest, when people are being ******** yes it does make us a little less likely to implement the change. We try to block it out but that subtle influence could be the difference. Presenting your case in a mature way can do a lot for you, and if the council was composed of cool yet forward thinking heads, it could be effective.

However, its from my experience that I find that having a council is a lot more work than its worth :P If a group of semi experienced and rational users wish to among themselves compose a council that collaborate, make their points in a rational and mature fashion, and do so regularly, I suggest they do so. We are more likely to legitimize a group that has shown they will be effective when given semi-official status than working to bring it from the ground up and watch it fall again.


Back on the topic of forum activity, its definitely waning. I would argue that the reason this is happening is because of the lack of influx, which is mostly our own fault - we're not attractive enough new users on Habbo. Our main focus has been retaining old users. We have always lost users at this rate, the difference was in the past there were large influxes from Habbo and we never really noticed it. We're not working hard enough to bring people in from Habbo - and perhaps there is less of a demand for Habbo users.

If we can't cement our place in the Habbo market, then HabboxForum will close. We can't sustain ourselves on current members, if we focus on current members they will invariably, one by one die out and the forum will die with them. Our main focus has to be on new members while yes, you keep current members happy.

[StefanWolves]

I have found that 95% of the time you post you are spewing baseless rhetoric. You had a good suggestion or two, but I do wish you would think before posting hopelessly baseless and intentionally inflammatory things like this.

To be honest, why doesn't it surprise me that you are attacking me yet again? I am not posting what you call 'spewing baseless rhetoric' - I'm speaking the truth, if things carry on CH will take over, and Habbox Forum will eventually loose enough members that there will not be a point in wasting money on hosting, FACT. Tbh, you always seem to be able to victimize someone, and quite often it's me. Why? Ask any MOD on this forum how I have been in the last month, they will tell you, go on, ask. Why is it they gave me MOTM then? if I 'spew baseless rhetoric'. Lately I have been one of the more active users on this forum, giving constructive posts and being on my best behaviour, then I get a kick in the teeth from you? great example to everyone aren't you.


As far as the changes that need to be made, I think we were planning on bringing down the number of required posts...I swear we did that a while ago?

That is 1 of a 100 things that need to be changed, this forum is stuck in the 1990s. If you reads the WHOLE thread instead of jumping in to attack me then you would see that there have been many possible and contstructive posts by ex-senior members in this threads, people who actually do care about the future of this forum, people who care about making this forum future-proof.


Back on the topic of forum activity, its definitely waning. I would argue that the reason this is happening is because of the lack of influx, which is mostly our own fault - we're not attractive enough new users on Habbo. Our main focus has been retaining old users. We have always lost users at this rate, the difference was in the past there were large influxes from Habbo and we never really noticed it. We're not working hard enough to bring people in from Habbo - and perhaps there is less of a demand for Habbo users.

Thank god you are back on topic, and thank you for actually admitting that you are doing something wrong, other Habbox staff wouldn't have. Yes you need get new members in, older members are growing out of this forum and that is shown by the lack of inactivity on the forum of late. Yes you could blame this on the time of the month, but I highly doubt this, compared to CH forum anyway.


If we can't cement our place in the Habbo market, then HabboxForum will close. We can't sustain ourselves on current members, if we focus on current members they will invariably, one by one die out and the forum will die with them. Our main focus has to be on new members while yes, you keep current members happy.

How do you plan to get new members in? Now lets all stop ******** at each other and find ways forward to get newer members in, shall we? :)

[StefanWolves]

Sorry to double post.

Found this quite interesting, bare in mind this is 10:30, peak time.

HabboxForum:
Currently Active Users: 179 (89 members and 90 guests) - as of 10:30pm

ClubHabbo:
Currently Active Users: 116 (83 members and 33 guests) - as of 10.30pm

About the same registered members online, but see the guests? we have 60 more than them, what does that tell you? well it tells you that people just aren't bothering to register, and if they are then they obviously aren't bothered to log-in and post something.

Thought I should just point that out.

[Immenseman]

I don't know if this is a factor or not just thought I'd point it out. When you first use CH it's a lot more user friendly - skin wise. This forums skin is horrible when you visit for the first time. It might have just been me but it genuinely put me off the forum until I realised how to change it.

[StefanWolves]

I don't know if this is a factor or not just thought I'd point it out. When you first use CH it's a lot more user friendly - skin wise. This forums skin is horrible when you visit for the first time. It might have just been me but it genuinely put me off the forum until I realised how to change it.

Yeah, I agree, the default skin is awful, the Blue Habbo skin is much more suited to everyones taste. I think most of the skins need a little bit of a revamp.

Also, I was just browsing CH for the first time ever... and I viewed like 3 threads, then after that it stopped me and said ''you need to register to view anymore threads!!'' - why shouldn't this be implemented on Habbox? surely that would bring in MORE users? or is this feature already installed on here?

[Immenseman]

I'm not bothered about a revamp of the skins I just think maybe they should change the first skin you see to one of the blue ones. If it's not any hassle I think it'd be better because at the moment I'd say the ugliest one is the first one you see. Although I fully realise that comes down to personal opinion.

[FlyingJesus]

I LIKE DEFAULT SKIN IT'S BRIGHT AND HAPPY

[StefanWolves]

I LIKE DEFAULT SKIN IT'S BRIGHT AND HAPPY

The 'Blue Skin' is bright and happier. :8

[Immenseman]

scene kid :l