Rare Values needs reform

[Dean]

I thought it apt to make a thread about how the Rare Values department needs reform so here I go.

First of all, this hasn't been sparked by my Habbo Globe thread but it has given me the chance to check out what other values are seriously out of date. I understand that Habbo has recently been muted but I don't find this a valid excuse to stop reporting values. I remember the days when the Rare Values department played a huge part in Habbox and was probably the main reason why a lot of people visited the fan site in the first place. I think it's a shame that a lot of these values haven't even been updated since February (way before the mute) and I don't see why people should even bother using it as a guide, and is there even a point in this department if it's not even accurate?

Even though I have no past experiences on how to manage a department, I do however have some ideas and improvements.

1) Seek potential rare values staff who are experienced and can actually update rare values regularly
2) With the help of the whole department, go through the entire rare values in the database and perform some well over due housekeeping
-or-
3) Get rid of the department if it's going to be a waste of time

I really don't have much else to say other than the department is rubbish and the rare values haven't been updated in a long time. Check for yourself. Search "throne", "dragon egg", "typewriter", "red amber lamp", "gold ice cream maker", "bronze dragon lamp" on the rare values page itself. Most of these I found were last updated in Feb/April/May.

I'll leave you to discuss etc...

[Xtina]

I completely agree with you there. Rare values has been steadily declining as a department. I remember when HxRV was booming during 2008/9 and a lot of traffic that the site got was mainly for HxRV and HxL (I won't get into that), and furniture was updated regularly and accurately. The decline of this department is mostly due to the introduction of the marketplace. To be completely honest, I think many users go to the marketplace to value their furniture, rather than going to Habbox, and I see why they do. The furniture on Habbox is not updated regularly enough for it to be valid. Habbox rare values should be guide not a history book.

[JerseySafety]

Think this is why they are introducing rare values furni editors to constantly update the prices.

[Dean]

Think this is why they are introducing rare values furni editors to constantly update the prices.

So basically updating rare values is a lot of hard work for a "Rare Values Reporter" and a new role had to be made? I don't see why...

[Xtina]

Think this is why they are introducing rare values furni editors to constantly update the prices.

HxRV didn't ever need these "Rare Values furni editors" before, I wonder what happened to the department to force them to introduce a new role?

[Mathew]

I don't really understand the idea behind the "Furni Editor". Perhaps I'm over-simplifying things... but surely the department doesn't need reporters, heads, editors, an assistant and a manager. Surely all you need to do is find a value and throw it up on the site? They weren't required when the department was thriving as the most popular destination for rare values... where's the sudden need come from? :P

[JerseySafety]

So basically updating rare values is a lot of hard work for a "Rare Values Reporter" and a new role had to be made? I don't see why...

Rare Values reporters dont update the rare values though? They just report them and Head RVRs' update them I believe, and atm there is only 1 head rare values reported, so I think introducing a new role is a good idea. The reason I left RVs' is because I hated posting reports, I just liked updating values and adding furni.

Over the next few weeks you will see values changing regularly.

---------- Post added 12-07-2012 at 10:52 PM ----------


HxRV didn't ever need these "Rare Values furni editors" before, I wonder what happened to the department to force them to introduce a new role?

Can say the same about many other departments tbh.

[Xtina]

I don't really understand the idea behind the "Furni Editor". Perhaps I'm over-simplifying things... but surely the department doesn't need reporters, heads, editors, an assistant and a manager. Surely all you need to do is find a value and throw it up on the site? :P

I know it's not as simple as you just said as I am an ex trade expert, however, it is very close to this. :P

[JerseySafety]

I don't really understand the idea behind the "Furni Editor". Perhaps I'm over-simplifying things... but surely the department doesn't need reporters, experts, heads, editors, an assistant and a manager. Surely all you need to do is find a value and throw it up on the site? They weren't required when the department was thriving as the most popular destination for rare values... where's the sudden need come from? P

Forgot one ;)

[Sloths]

So basically updating rare values is a lot of hard work for a "Rare Values Reporter" and a new role had to be made? I don't see why...

Technically the role of Rare Values Reporter is to report the values seen in trades, not to edit/update values on the site. That's part of the roles of Head RVR and the (asst) Manager. May have changed since I was HRVR but that's what it used to be, so the new role is to help them I'm guessing.

Edit: Oh already been said kay ignore this :P

[JerseySafety]

Technically the role of Rare Values Reporter is to report the values seen in trades, not to edit/update values on the site. That's part of the roles of Head RVR and the (asst) Manager. May have changed since I was HRVR but that's what it used to be, so the new role is to help them I'm guessing.

Edit: Oh already been said kay ignore this :P

Yeah this, can't have everyone updating values.

[Dean]

Technically the role of Rare Values Reporter is to report the values seen in trades, not to edit/update values on the site. That's part of the roles of Head RVR and the (asst) Manager. May have changed since I was HRVR but that's what it used to be, so the new role is to help them I'm guessing.

Edit: Oh already been said kay ignore this :P

So why isn't the Head RVR and the Assistant Manager updating values regularly?

[Sloths]

So why isn't the Head RVR and the Assistant Manager not updating values regularly?

They are constantly changing and I know they do all work hard to update most of the values but if the RVR only report prices of certain items and other items dont get seen traded for a long while it's hard to update and keep track of etc. Normally by the time the item has been updated the price has fluctuated again

[Mathew]

I know it's not as simple as you just said as I am an ex trade expert, however, it is very close to this. :P
Perhaps there's some unnecessary steps being taken then! :P

Forgot one ;)
Facepalm. Already too overcrowded then! :P

[Dean]

Perhaps there's some unnecessary steps being taken then! :P

Facepalm. Already too overcrowded then! :P

Maybe the department should be structured how it used to be? There never used to be problems back in 2008/2009, especially when I remember Mr-Trainor.

[Mathew]

Maybe the department should be structured how it used to be? There never used to be problems back in 2008/2009, especially when I remember Mr-Trainor.

I've never been in the department - how do the various positions differ from each other? :D

[JerseySafety]

I've never been in the department - how do the various positions differ from each other? :D

Rare values reporters are required to do 7 reports a week, experts are required to do 10 a week, head rare value reporters update values and give feedback on rare values reporters, furni editors edit the furni on the site, add furni, edit values and yeah ?

[Dean]

Rare values reporters are required to do 7 reports a week, experts are required to do 10 a week, head rare value reporters update values and give feedback on rare values reporters, furni editors edit the furni on the site, add furni, edit values and yeah ?

So why don't they just have more than one Head Rare Values reporter? I don't see the point in adding additional roles? It's overcrowding an already useless department.

[JerseySafety]

So why don't they just have more than one Head Rare Values reporter? I don't see the point in adding additional roles? It's overcrowding an already useless department.

Cause no one is up to the job? I dunno lol. I agree it is sort of over crowding, maybe remove expert rvrs? I want to get back into rare values if I get furni editor.

[Xtina]

I've never been in the department - how do the various positions differ from each other? :D

So when I used to work there, it went like this:
RvR (rare values reporter) The reports submitted by the RvR's were not as valid as the higher ups
TE (Trade Expert) Reports submitted by TE's were taken more seriously (don't know how else to word this) than RvR's
HRvR (Head rare values reporter) Reports submitted HRvRs were taken seriously and played quite a big role in the department.
Assistant manager
Manager

I think this is how it went anyway. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Dean]

Cause no one is up to the job? I dunno lol. I agree it is sort of over crowding, maybe remove expert rvrs? I want to get back into rare values if I get furni editor.

Should they make the Head Rare Values reporter role, redundant then? What's the point in having two roles that are the same except one says oh look I'm higher than you and can make remarks when all you do is the same job (probably more than me) and can't even make remarks.

[Mathew]

Rare values reporters are required to do 7 reports a week, experts are required to do 10 a week, head rare value reporters update values and give feedback on rare values reporters, furni editors edit the furni on the site, add furni, edit values and yeah ?

How many values would you generally give per report? I can't really believe there's an extra "rank" just for an additional three reports per week... omg I've never been told this stuff, haha. What kind of feedback would you typically offer a RVR?

Interested now! :P

[JerseySafety]

erm ask Samanfa; and Pigperson; i dunno I was only hrvr for like a day before I got hacked sighs. dont get me started on that.

yeah maybe remove expert rvr and replace it with furni editor. keep hrvr cause they provide feedback, ugh i dunno.

[Dean]

Why not restructure it like so...

Rare Values Manager
Assistant Rare Values Manager
Rare Value Editor
Rare Value Reporter

The reporter reports and the editor edits... lol. Simple? I don't see why it's so overcomplicated and there's a "head" role?

[Samantha]

I've been in Rare Values Management over a year, some people obviously haven't checked back in that year or before then as when me and Mr-Trainor; worked along side each other he dealt with all the content side and I dealt with the reporters (due to him telling me not to do things). He left and I had no idea how to do many things, I had HotelUser; and Inseriousity.; on my back countless times but I always updated values and actually did work, getting things done.

The Rare Values hasn't been the same since the Marketplace, we can't help if Habbo release something destroying trading on Habbo for the future - yeah I've been bored in Rare Values for months now but I still do my bit, I upload images in past weeks I've updated at least 200 per week and I still try to balance my other departments. Seriously I would update a lot more if I could but I can't so.

Rare Values is declining thanks for pointing that out but do you have any idea when people compare me to Luke and Dan how it makes me feel? Get over the past seriously, bring Luke and Dan back if you want but they won't bring it out from the ground, no one can.

Also, with Furni Editors I haven't really got any clue what they do, I didn't know they would be actual roles as of now and I believe they only upload the rares to the site as I never got told to do that when I was a Head or an Assistant too (figured out how myself).

---------- Post added 13-07-2012 at 12:14 AM ----------


Why not restructure it like so...

Rare Values Manager
Assistant Rare Values Manager
Rare Value Editor
Rare Value Reporter

The reporter reports and the editor edits... lol. Simple? I don't see why it's so overcomplicated and there's a "head" role?

Read my reply and you'll see why I think.

---------- Post added 13-07-2012 at 12:16 AM ----------

Oh also Dean; we can't just have Staff Editors (if they do update the values) due to them having to be approved or denied by the management. I have asked for a reconstruction in the Rare Values department but xxMATTGxx; said no due to working on v7.

[Xtina]

I've been in Rare Values Management over a year, some people obviously haven't checked back in that year or before then as when me and @Mr-Trainor (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=47332); worked along side each other he dealt with all the content side and I dealt with the reporters (due to him telling me not to do things). He left and I had no idea how to do many things, I had @HotelUser (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=420); and @Inseriousity. (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=26409); on my back countless times but I always updated values and actually did work, getting things done.

The Rare Values hasn't been the same since the Marketplace, we can't help if Habbo release something destroying trading on Habbo for the future - yeah I've been bored in Rare Values for months now but I still do my bit, I upload images in past weeks I've updated at least 200 per week and I still try to balance my other departments. Seriously I would update a lot more if I could but I can't so.

Rare Values is declining thanks for pointing that out but do you have any idea when people compare me to Luke and Dan how it makes me feel? Get over the past seriously, bring Luke and Dan back if you want but they won't bring it out from the ground, no one can.

Also, with Furni Editors I haven't really got any clue what they do, I didn't know they would be actual roles as of now and I believe they only upload the rares to the site as I never got told to do that when I was a Head or an Assistant too (figured out how myself).

---------- Post added 13-07-2012 at 12:14 AM ----------



Read my reply and you'll see why I think.

I don't think anyone is trying to compare you to any of the past managers, however, I am sorry that you feel that way. In my opinion, if you feel like you cannot keep up with all the departments and work, on top of your social life, I think it would be better for your sake and the departments' sake that you take a rest or leave of absence.

[JerseySafety]

I don't think anyone is trying to compare you to any of the past managers, however, I am sorry that you feel that way. In my opinion, if you feel like you cannot keep up with all the departments and work, on top of your social life, I think it would be better for your sake and the departments' sake that you take a rest or leave of absence.

Lol, made me laugh. Lets just stick to the problem of rare values not others peoples problems :)

[Samantha]

I don't think anyone is trying to compare you to any of the past managers, however, I am sorry that you feel that way. In my opinion, if you feel like you cannot keep up with all the departments and work, on top of your social life, I think it would be better for your sake and the departments' sake that you take a rest or leave of absence.

Oh believe me I've tried leaving, there's always something holding me back though. It's not that I can't handle it as the only social life is me seeing my boyfriend :( LOL. If I got a job I would consider it, however, people have compared me in the past and it doesn't feel nice at all Andii; can tell you all about that ly andi.

Anyway, I go away in two week, the last time I went away I came back with about 300-500 values not updated and an AGM telling me that it should be done, luckily I have an assistant who can easily sort that out now but I do try to do my bit as I said earlier. Can't help it if nothing is good enough. It really doesn't help that only the Manager and Assistant can actuall approve or deny the values as the current AGM team get confused when I talk about RV to them :(.

[Dean]

I've been in Rare Values Management over a year, some people obviously haven't checked back in that year or before then as when me and @Mr-Trainor (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=47332); worked along side each other he dealt with all the content side and I dealt with the reporters (due to him telling me not to do things). He left and I had no idea how to do many things, I had @HotelUser (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=420); and @Inseriousity. (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=26409); on my back countless times but I always updated values and actually did work, getting things done.

The Rare Values hasn't been the same since the Marketplace, we can't help if Habbo release something destroying trading on Habbo for the future - yeah I've been bored in Rare Values for months now but I still do my bit, I upload images in past weeks I've updated at least 200 per week and I still try to balance my other departments. Seriously I would update a lot more if I could but I can't so.

Rare Values is declining thanks for pointing that out but do you have any idea when people compare me to Luke and Dan how it makes me feel? Get over the past seriously, bring Luke and Dan back if you want but they won't bring it out from the ground, no one can.

Also, with Furni Editors I haven't really got any clue what they do, I didn't know they would be actual roles as of now and I believe they only upload the rares to the site as I never got told to do that when I was a Head or an Assistant too (figured out how myself).

---------- Post added 13-07-2012 at 12:14 AM ----------



Read my reply and you'll see why I think.

---------- Post added 13-07-2012 at 12:16 AM ----------

Oh also @Dean (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=398); we can't just have Staff Editors (if they do update the values) due to them having to be approved or denied by the management. I have asked for a reconstruction in the Rare Values department but @xxMATTGxx (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=1020); said no due to working on v7.

I understand Samanfa and I do wish to target you here but you are News Manager and do hold 5 roles within Habbox (you may be able to handle this, sure) and I'm against multiple roles because I know being in one department is a lot of work alone, on top of work/school/college or what ever you do. I believe that if you're finding it a struggle or you're getting bored then maybe you should step down or sort something out because it's probably not in the best interests of the department. I don't wish to sound mean and I don't really know you that well so I just tried to word it in the best possible way?

[Inseriousity.]

lol at clvr bolding words in her first post. was she taking the mick out of you or something ;P

Anyway regards RV department. The third one was discussed and it seems the department feels like they can continue and I don't see why they shouldn't. It's possible that the rare values dept has took on too much furni. Habbo seems to release more and more furni unlike the "old days" where new rares were... well, rare. This clearly means furni takes a while to get updated so perhaps discussion needs to be about streamlining what is being offered.

[Samantha]

I believe that if more people could approve/deny then we would get a lot more done.

Currently, the Expert Rare Values role is pointless, I said this months ago but Matt said only David could change it therefore it never got done.

If we changed the structure so that all head rvrs, and the (assistant) manager would update and approve then we would get a lot more done. This would mean the expert role would be the same as the old heads role and the heads the same as the management (apart from the management forums, reports etc.)

[Dean]

I believe that if more people could approve/deny then we would get a lot more done.

Currently, the Expert Rare Values role is pointless, I said this months ago but Matt said only David could change it therefore it never got done.

If we changed the structure so that all head rvrs, and the (assistant) manager would update and approve then we would get a lot more done. This would mean the expert role would be the same as the old heads role and the heads the same as the management (apart from the management forums, reports etc.)

Why can't more people approve/deny then? It seems stupid and it's really getting in the way of something that used to make Habbox so great. xxMATTGxx

[Samantha]

Dean; you didn't sound mean at all, luckily I'm on summer break now and I have completed college so I do have more time on my hands. sorry that was a short reply.

[xxMATTGxx]

Why can't more people approve/deny then? It seems stupid and it's really getting in the way of something that used to make Habbox so great. xxMATTGxx

Because that's not how V6 was built - It wasn't made easy to be able to change it so X and X can do this. Think of a load of teenager rooms that haven't been cleaned for a while. It's why we are scrapping this version asap.

[Samantha]

Dean; basically because no one could actually change it.

[Dean]

@Dean (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=398); you didn't sound mean at all, luckily I'm on summer break now and I have completed college so I do have more time on my hands. sorry that was a short reply.

Have you considered stepping down from 1-2 roles just to bring down the pressure? Especially as you are News Manager AND Assistant Rare Values manager! :P

[Xtina]

lol at clvr bolding words in her first post. was she taking the mick out of you or something ;P

Anyway regards RV department. The third one was discussed and it seems the department feels like they can continue and I don't see why they shouldn't. It's possible that the rare values dept has took on too much furni. Habbo seems to release more and more furni unlike the "old days" where new rares were... well, rare. This clearly means furni takes a while to get updated so perhaps discussion needs to be about streamlining what is being offered.

Oh I'd think you'd know when I'm taking the mick of someone haha :P

I do agree with you that the rare values are harder to update as there is a lot more furni. However, if this was solely the reason why HxRV is declining, shouldn't the obvious solution be to just hire more staff? But I know that this isn't the only reason, hence why HxRV is in such a pickle

[David]

Because that's not how V6 was built - It wasn't made easy to be able to change it so X and X can do this. Think of a load of teenager rooms that haven't been cleaned for a while. It's why we are scrapping this version asap.

whens v7 then

[Dean]

If V6 is built in such a way that only certain people can update the values then why don't they add more people to that role that allows approving of the values?

[Mathew]

How long does it take for a RV to report a value and then get it updated on the site? Dean said some items haven't been updated since February - surely if it was taking 5 months for a value to get through the system then the issue is a lot more pressing than we may initially think... :P

The big question, though, is what can Habbox RV bring that the Marketplace can't?

[xxMATTGxx]

If V6 is built in such a way that only certain people can update the values then why don't they add more people to that role that allows approving of the values?

Basically if a user is given "Rare Values Manager" you can update the values. (That's If I remember this correctly)

[Samantha]

I don't believe it's because v6 is built that way, I requested this change in December 2011 afterall :rolleyes:.

---------- Post added 13-07-2012 at 12:34 AM ----------


How long does it take for a RV to report a value and then get it updated on the site? Dean said some items haven't been updated since February - surely if it was taking 5 months for a value to get through the system then the issue is a lot more pressing than we may initially think... :P

The big question, though, is what can Habbox RV bring that the Marketplace can't?

If an item hasn't been reported we can't update (unless we've witnessed one ourselves of course).

[David]

I don't believe it's because v6 is built that way, I requested this change in December 2011 afterall :rolleyes:.

most likely deleted your request

[Dean]

So WHO can actually update the values? I still haven't got a concrete answer on this.

And why haven't some rare values been updated since February?! Does anyone even update them? I don't wish to be rude but to be honest, the person in charge of updating these values haven't been doing so. Rares like the throne etc haven't been updated in a while and the values are so different in comparison to what people actually trade in the hotel.

[xxMATTGxx]

I don't believe it's because v6 is built that way, I requested this change in December 2011 afterall :rolleyes:.

---------- Post added 13-07-2012 at 12:34 AM ----------



If an item hasn't been reported we can't update (unless we've witnessed one ourselves of course).

Then you are blaming people who are no longer working here at Habbox.

[Xtina]

How long does it take for a RV to report a value and then get it updated on the site? Dean said some items haven't been updated since February - surely if it was taking 5 months for a value to get through the system then the issue is a lot more pressing than we may initially think... :P

The big question, though, is what can Habbox RV bring that the Marketplace can't?

All I use HxRV for is to look at some of the furni that was released when I wasn't playing. So basically it's a catalogue of all the furni on the hotel for me

[Samantha]

I'm just anticipating the essay from -Danube-; ngl.

We do need more updating people though.

---------- Post added 13-07-2012 at 12:36 AM ----------


Then you are blaming people who are no longer working here at Habbox.

Tbh though not being funny but anything I wanted to in RV got shot down because David was in charge of the content. I couldn't do anything right by him.

[JerseySafety]

reow. whens v7?

wait so furni editors dont directly update values? if they did, then theres the problem solved. scrap experts when v7 comes out

[xxMATTGxx]

So WHO can actually update the values? I still haven't got a concrete answer on this.

And why haven't some rare values been updated since February?! Does anyone even update them? I don't wish to be rude but to be honest, the person in charge of updating these values haven't been doing so. Rares like the throne etc haven't been updated in a while and the values are so different in comparison to what people actually trade in the hotel.

People who are Head or whatever can change the value but that isn't saved to the public, it is then sent to the manager in terms of an approval system. Anyone with the "Rare Values Manager" role can change the values willy nilly, approve values from other staff and that would then be shown publicly.

[Samantha]

Dean; only me and Pigperson; can update them. (well allow them to be updated. auffant1; can ask for them to be updated).

However, Inseriousity.; xxMATTGxx; Jin; SyrupyMonkey; or sierk; can update if they wish.

[xxMATTGxx]

reow. whens v7?

wait so furni editors dont directly update values? if they did, then theres the problem solved. scrap experts when v7 comes out

Furni Editors are Furni Editors, nothing to do with the values from what I can see.

[Dean]

Furni Editors are Furni Editors, nothing to do with the values from what I can see.

So the blame is pin pointed on the Head Rare Value reporters and the managers, yes?

[xxMATTGxx]

So the blame is pin pointed on the Head Rare Value reporters and the managers, yes?

Well in theory I blame the lack of us being able to change the roles with ease but sure. The real issue is that we don't have enough staff to update the values because they can't actually update them.

[Dean]

Well in theory I blame the lack of us being able to change the roles with ease but sure.

Then we need to work around this. If we can't change the roles then we need to do something with the current system and the current roles.

[-Danube-]

I was a manager in the RV department over 2 eras, once in 2008 and once in 2010 (i think). There was a massive difference between 2008 and 2010. In 2008 the popularity of the values looked after itself, all was required to do was to keep the values updated and add a few new rares, EVERYONE used Habbox Rare Values.

Then i came back in 2010 and the department was DEAD. The marketplace had been released and i seriously think Habbox did itself a massive misjustice in this period, when the marketplace was released there needed to be massive promotion of Habbox Rare Values, something to challenge the marketplace at this time. But this didn't happen and rather quickly the Habbo marketplace took over and it basically destoryed Habbox Rare Values, they are not used no where near as often as they used to be.

Some people may just say 'Close the department, it's pointless' but i totally disagree. When i came back as manager in 2010 i was very shocked to see the state of the rare values, i love that department and i put alot of work into it and to see it loose popularity and basically start dying was horrid. So with the release of V6 i made some changes, removing an old feature called Rare Watch and basically combining it with the Rare Values. So rather than it all just being Values driven, it would be more of a resource. I went so far but i think it needs to go further, the site got updated with all these new furni images, furni descriptions and other things but the department just stayed the same. I think i made a big mistake not trying to restructure the whole deparment.

The Rare Values will never be what they were so they need to be develop and form a use. It should become like a Furniture Museum on Habbox. All items of furniture should be uploaded on the site with a dedicated team of people making sure every item is there with all their images and that their names and descriptions are up to date, they should also be added nice little facts about a certain item of furni like 'This item of furniture was given out by Ione on her birthday, click here to learn more about this (maybe links to Habbox Wiki)' and then obviously the value of the item should be there.

The department could be restructured in 2 ways.

One way could be to have to distinct type of staff, one group of Rare value Reporters and another group of furni editors, with more of a content type of role. But this way could lead to a saturation of the department, far too many staff for the amount of stuff to actually do week by week.

A better way could be to remove the 'Expert Rare Values Reporter' rank but keep the normal RVR and Head RVR roles. Each RVR in the department should be given a range of categories of furni for them to look after and they need to make sure all the images, descriptions, titles and values are ok for all items of furniture plus adding any extra little bits of interesting information, plus they should aim to update every item of furni in their categories once a month, to stop things not getting an update for 6 months. Then the HRVRs would act as 'team leaders' they would be given a group of reporters and they would have to oversee these reporters, giving them targets for the week, telling them if something needs doing in their categories etc. Each category on Habbox should have a corrisponding thread in the RV Staff Forums for the assigned reporter of that category to post things in and for their team leader HRVR to post tasks for the week etc. As more and more furniture is released and more furni categories are made, more staff are to be hired so the department will slowly grow by 1 or 2 members of staff each month or 2.

Habbox has really started to focus upon it's Wiki side of things and i think this is a great direction for Habbox Rare Values to go. It needs to be an Off-Client Furni Museum, a resource of all things Habbo Furniture, not just values. And a dedicated team of people is needed for this.

No current manager is to blame for the decline in popularity of Habbox Rare Values, it's not their fault, it's the Habbo Marketplace. I think we need to admit we have lost this battle of popularity, but we have not lost the war. As long as Habbox is still running there should always be space for something to do with Rare Furniture, after all Habbox owes it's further existance to Rare Values.

So yeah my opinion:

1) Make Rare Values into an Off-Client Furniture Museum
2) Restruture the department to fit in with the above, giving reporters a set amout of categories to update and keep fresh.

[JerseySafety]

Then we need to work around this. If we can't change the roles then we need to do something with the current system and the current roles.

Make everyone manager, only way to get around it.

[Samantha]

Then we need to work around this. If we can't change the roles then we need to do something with the current system and the current roles.

NOTHING BEING DONE TIL V7 UNFORTUNATELY. I did suggest going to forum reporting like for experts to ask for something to be updated. The heads would only need the manager part of it then they could update them.

[JerseySafety]

I was a manager in the RV department over 2 eras, once in 2008 and once in 2010 (i think). There was a massive difference between 2008 and 2010. In 2008 the popularity of the values looked after itself, all was required to do was to keep the values updated and add a few new rares, EVERYONE used Habbox Rare Values.

Then i came back in 2010 and the department was DEAD. The marketplace had been released and i seriously think Habbox did itself a massive misjustice in this period, when the marketplace was released there needed to be massive promotion of Habbox Rare Values, something to challenge the marketplace at this time. But this didn't happen and rather quickly the Habbo marketplace took over and it basically destoryed Habbox Rare Values, they are not used no where near as often as they used to be.

Some people may just say 'Close the department, it's pointless' but i totally disagree. When i came back as manager in 2010 i was very shocked to see the state of the rare values, i love that department and i put alot of work into it and to see it loose popularity and basically start dying was horrid. So with the release of V6 i made some changes, removing an old feature called Rare Watch and basically combining it with the Rare Values. So rather than it all just being Values driven, it would be more of a resource. I went so far but i think it needs to go further, the site got updated with all these new furni images, furni descriptions and other things but the department just stayed the same. I think i made a big mistake not trying to restructure the whole deparment.

The Rare Values will never be what they were so they need to be develop and form a use. It should become like a Furniture Museum on Habbox. All items of furniture should be uploaded on the site with a dedicated team of people making sure every item is there with all their images and that their names and descriptions are up to date, they should also be added nice little facts about a certain item of furni like 'This item of furniture was given out by Ione on her birthday, click here to learn more about this (maybe links to Habbox Wiki)' and then obviously the value of the item should be there.

The department could be restructured in 2 ways.

One way could be to have to distinct type of staff, one group of Rare value Reporters and another group of furni editors, with more of a content type of role. But this way could lead to a saturation of the department, far too many staff for the amount of stuff to actually do week by week.

A better way could be to remove the 'Expert Rare Values Reporter' rank but keep the normal RVR and Head RVR roles. Each RVR in the department should be given a range of categories of furni for them to look after and they need to make sure all the images, descriptions, titles and values are ok for all items of furniture plus adding any extra little bits of interesting information, plus they should aim to update every item of furni in their categories once a month, to stop things not getting an update for 6 months. Then the HRVRs would act as 'team leaders' they would be given a group of reporters and they would have to oversee these reporters, giving them targets for the week, telling them if something needs doing in their categories etc. Each category on Habbox should have a corrisponding thread in the RV Staff Forums for the assigned reporter of that category to post things in and for their team leader HRVR to post tasks for the week etc. As more and more furniture is released and more furni categories are made, more staff are to be hired so the department will slowly grow by 1 or 2 members of staff each month or 2.

Habbox has really started to focus upon it's Wiki side of things and i think this is a great direction for Habbox Rare Values to go. It needs to be an Off-Client Furni Museum, a resource of all things Habbo Furniture, not just values. And a dedicated team of people is needed for this.

No current manager is to blame for the decline in popularity of Habbox Rare Values, it's not their fault, it's the Habbo Marketplace. I think we need to admit we have lost this battle of popularity, but we have not lost the war. As long as Habbox is still running there should always be space for something to do with Rare Furniture, after all Habbox owes it's further existance to Rare Values.

So yeah my opinion:

1) Make Rare Values into an Off-Client Furniture Museum
2) Restruture the department to fit in with the above, giving reporters a set amout of categories to update and keep fresh.

@Samanfa;
@PigPerson;

Wow.... lol. I agree scrap experts doing 3 extra reports is useless.

[Samantha]

-Danube-; with descriptions and stuff you may as just direct them not habboxwiki ;l

[-Danube-]

@-Danube- (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=69260); with descriptions and stuff you may as just direct them not habboxwiki ;l

I do not understand what you mean by this?

[Samantha]

I do not understand what you mean by this?

Like you said this was given out by Ione, that's all on the wiki anyway lol.

[Mathew]

Also, with Furni Editors I haven't really got any clue what they do, I didn't know they would be actual roles as of now and I believe they only upload the rares to the site as I never got told to do that when I was a Head or an Assistant too (figured out how myself).
I think there needs to be some communication between Will and yourself if you "haven't really got any clue what they do"! :P

[Dean]

I think there needs to be some communication between Will and yourself if you "haven't really got any clue what they do"! :P

I agree. I was shocked when I saw that you didn't have a clue what a furni editor was and this is your department.

[xxMATTGxx]

Scrapping experts role in 3...2...1.

[-Danube-]

Like you said this was given out by Ione, that's all on the wiki anyway lol.

Thats what i meant, you need some integration with the Wiki.

So somewhere on the pages which has the Throne, Russian Samovar (lol) and Holoboy you could put 'Was one of Iones gifts, click here to read more about this' and link them to the wiki. It's all about finding a use for the Rare Values, and by adding links to the wiki and other places you are bouncing traffic around the site. Like on the wiki is they are talking about a range of furni, they should link to the RV Category page so people can iteract with the item more.

Basically you need to move away from just 'values' and branch out into more of a content kind of thing. Like i keep saying, Off-Client Furni Museum is the whole idea.

People keep saying 'this needs changes and so does that' which is true, but it doesn't need doing right this second. The popularity of RV is already rock bottom so waiting a little longer and actually getting things right is the main concern here. Get your head down and start thinking up ideas for a massive reform and launch this alongside V7.

You need something interative and informative and this needs to affect both the front end (Habbox.com) and the backend (your staff structure).

The deparment needs to be almost unrecognisable that you maybe consider a deparment name change, although i would love the name to stay just for nostalgia sake.

[Mathew]

http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/space-shuttle-launch3a.jpg

good stuff! :)

[Kyle]

Furni Editor should not be a separate role, just an add-on for existing, trusted RVRs. If there is only one head RVR then you should perhaps consider promoting more to get the job done faster.

[xxMATTGxx]

Furni Editor should not be a separate role, just an add-on for existing, trusted RVRs. If there is only one head RVR then you should perhaps consider promoting more to get the job done faster.

Furni Editor is basically adding furni to the site, not updating the values. It was part of the reporter role but many staff members found it hard to find time in creating sprites and adding them to the site. So hence the separation after it being suggested by previous RVR management and current RVR staff.

[-Danube-]

Yes it was always part of everyones role to make images and such but many people never did it, i know when V6 was released i must have spent around 50 hours producing 2000 images to add to the site with little help from others, but it had to be done.

The role of making images was an add on to values, so a intergrating it into the actual weekly targets is a better idea then just asking people to do it if they can.

Thats why i think if each reporter is given a group of categories to look after and are set targets by a Head RVR which looks after a group of reporters would be a better idea. The Head RVR should be able to make sprite images etc so that if certain reporters found it hard to make images they could help them/ show them how to make them.

Basically it needs to be less about the values really. Values needs to be just one part of the whole resource. It needs to be a section on the site which is for light reading for people to have a look at what different furniture there is.

I also went down the root of making it interative. Maybe you could set up a feature where members on Habbox.com could suggest items of furniture that complement each other in a room. So if you click on an item of furniture it could say 'Why not try this item on furniture in a room with these items?'. I know that when i used to build rooms i'd think 'What furni would go nice with this' it would have been great to look up the item i had and see what other people have been using with it.

You could even get habbox members to upload pictures of their rooms using lots of a certain kind of furniture as an example, this would really interest all the room builders out there.

Basically you need to have a 'Rare Values Reform' meeting and open a thread in the RV Staff forums and get brain storming ideas. The title of the meeting should be "How can we extend and expand Rare Values into an informative and interactive resource that will interest many different types of Habbo User, not just traders'.

:)

[OllzIsTasty]

Years ago, the department had specific reporters who were able to update the website with new values / furniture. It worked very well, I feel with the role coming back, the department may sort itself out. My first job here was 'Rare Values Reporter' back in 2004.

[Pigperson]

Can I firstly say, it's great to be receiving comments but I don't see why people can't keep them constructive. For example remarks such as close the department is slightly unneeded as we have had this discussion and the polls told us that people still use Rare Values. Constructive criticism does't hurt.

So reading through the replies, a lot of people are confused by the department, so,
How the Rare Values system works currently:

Rare Values Reporters post weekly 7 reports (consisting of 4 different furnis) showing trades which they have seen of each of these furni.

Rare Values Furni Editors are a new addition and after a suggestion from a ex-RVR manager, we felt it a good idea as the backlog of missing furni was getting bigger and we had interest from staff. Also Samanfa did know, she just wasn't sure when it was going to happen. Maybe we will communicate about issues a bit better in the future. The role is solely to keep the content side of the site up to date by adding furni etc however they have the option to report.

Expert Rare Values Reporters do the same but 10 reports. Tbh I've kinda felt that it was unneeded but I do remember ex RV management having the opinion that a middle rank is needed and I do kinda agree with it as the jump to Head RVR is quit big.

Head Rare Values Reporters are regardless of what people say a very vital role in the department as they are the ones who read over the reports made by other members and actually suggest values because you can't change a value based on just 1 trade.

Management as well as keeping the department together, writing weekly reports etc. we go through the heads' reports each week approving/denying to make sure the values are fairly accurate.

The current problems:
1) Rare Values is based on Habbox.com and it was coded by HotelUser who unfortunately resigned and now not really anyone is sure how to edit things such as perms. Furthermore as we are working on V7, the requests to change V6 have been denied as V7 is starting from scratch. We have requested a huge (like 15) changes but we have to wait till V7 and these are huge changes which change the staff roles to make values more up to date.
2) The marketplace. Whoever wants to go on about how Rare Values is declining, well I wouldn't disagree too much with that as it is true. However people who say it is so much worse in comparison to 2010 is barking up the wrong tree because the marketplace has massively affected the Rare Values department with an alternative source however we strive on providing values when the marketplace is rigged or for values not on the marketplace. Our values may not all be correct but when I joined rare values the valuing of norms was introduced making it very hard to keep everything up to date. However we have had requests to make our values more accurate.

These are the main problems and they create huge difficulties for our job. We have wanted to change the roles around for a while now and have been waiting for V7. We have wanted the heads to be approving/denying values with experts creating the suggestions, and recently the rvr's as well as we feel it would cut out the unnecessary jobs and would mean we get around 150 value updates a week instead of 30. This would improve the accuracy incredibly but we have to wait for the perms to be changed.

If you want to comment, feel free to but just understand that we work so hard and we have worked incredibly hard to try and bring RV back after it's downfall and we do hope that when V7 comes out, it will be very different as we have some news things in progress. I probably forgot to say something but I'll remember it as I read the replies :P

Will

[-Danube-]

The current problems:
1) Rare Values is based on Habbox.com and it was coded by HotelUser who unfortunately resigned and now not really anyone is sure how to edit things such as perms. Furthermore as we are working on V7, the requests to change V6 have been denied as V7 is starting from scratch. We have requested a huge (like 15) changes but we have to wait till V7 and these are huge changes which change the staff roles to make values more up to date.


Just a quick question, what do you mean by the bolded thing, you don't mean people don't know how to edit the staff permissions for a HRVR? Maybe just barking up the wrong tree as you could be talking about something else here. But if it is staff permissions i can give you a point in the right direction.

And yes, the only reason why i kept the Expert RVR roles is just because it was a stepping stone and a form of motivation for staff. Staff get board easy but if they have the chance to get promoted they try hard, and when you see the are putting in alot of effort you promote them. This gives them an extra boost as they feel valued, then they work even harder to get to HRVR, it was all about motivation. But i feel if you have a massive over hall of the staff structure you could safely remove this extra rank.

Nice to see you've got things up your sleeve, was the Ex-RV manager me who suggested the content role, i know i posted alot in other threads about this? I would hope you would listen to my others ideas too will :) i love that department and i want it to shine again!

[Pigperson]

Just a quick question, what do you mean by the bolded thing, you don't mean people don't know how to edit the staff permissions for a HRVR? Maybe just barking up the wrong tree as you could be talking about something else here. But if it is staff permissions i can give you a point in the right direction.

And yes, the only reason why i kept the Expert RVR roles is just because it was a stepping stone and a form of motivation for staff. Staff get board easy but if they have the chance to get promoted they try hard, and when you see the are putting in alot of effort you promote them. This gives them an extra boost as they feel valued, then they work even harder to get to HRVR, it was all about motivation. But i feel if you have a massive over hall of the staff structure you could safely remove this extra rank.

Nice to see you've got things up your sleeve, was the Ex-RV manager me who suggested the content role, i know i posted alot in other threads about this? I would hope you would listen to my others ideas too will :) i love that department and i want it to shine again!

Dan you speak so much wisdom, just wish I had you on MSN :P

To answer the question, with Hx.com there are difficulties with changing the perms of what each can do as it isn't that simple without HotelUser and as we use Hx.com a lot, it poses problems.

I do agree that expert provides motivation and that's why we kept it as it seems like a good stepping stone but like you said, I think we can easily remove it.

Will

[-Danube-]

Sadly i don't use MSN anymore :(

If i'm around when you have a meeting and if it'd be allowed, i wouldn't mind coming in for a chat and putting a few ideas forward for RV.

Yeah all HotelUser set out was 3 forms of permissions for Rare Values on Habbox.com.

Basically you put the staff member in the "Rare Values Reporter" usergroup and they can see all the RV stuff and it allows them to send a report in.

You then add the person into the 'Senior Rare Values Reporter' and they can access the Rare Value Manager which allows them to update actual values and do other things, but before these changes go live it has to be approved by a Manager.

Then there is the Rare Values Manager usergroup which basically gives you access to do everything.

Thats as far as it goes with permissions. I don't know what else you were looking to do but thats all that can be done unless it was edited further, and like you said, without David it's pretty useless.

Just get yourself prepared and ready for V7 and only launch when everything is done. I know i had loads of ideas for V6 that never got done when we launched, they were always promised but never came, i think that held us back more.

[Pigperson]

Sadly i don't use MSN anymore :(

If i'm around when you have a meeting and if it'd be allowed, i wouldn't mind coming in for a chat and putting a few ideas forward for RV.

Yeah all HotelUser set out was 3 forms of permissions for Rare Values on Habbox.com.

Basically you put the staff member in the "Rare Values Reporter" usergroup and they can see all the RV stuff and it allows them to send a report in.

You then add the person into the 'Senior Rare Values Reporter' and they can access the Rare Value Manager which allows them to update actual values and do other things, but before these changes go live it has to be approved by a Manager.

Then there is the Rare Values Manager usergroup which basically gives you access to do everything.

Thats as far as it goes with permissions. I don't know what else you were looking to do but thats all that can be done unless it was edited further, and like you said, without David it's pretty useless.

Just get yourself prepared and ready for V7 and only launch when everything is done. I know i had loads of ideas for V6 that never got done when we launched, they were always promised but never came, i think that held us back more.

Yeh I know what you mean. I really have big hopes for V7 though because we have requested a lot of changes that really should be successful. As of now before V7, we will look into changing the roles around.

Will

[Fifty-Six]

One question I've always had with the Rare Values here is, do norms really need to be in the values list? I feel like having a value on every single furni item is the reason that there can be up to 6 month waits for updates. That's a huge task and, especially with only a few who can edit them directly, clogs up the whole system. I know that HxRV isn't just about Rares, but providing accurate values for all furni in Habbo, but for cheaper, smaller norms, why can't people just use the marketplace? For the big ticket rares like the Dino Egg, Nellies, Thrones, etc I can understand. But shouldn't those be the main focus of the value reporting? It is, after all, called Rare Values.

Just my two cents.

[Dean]

One question I've always had with the Rare Values here is, do norms really need to be in the values list? I feel like having a value on every single furni item is the reason that there can be up to 6 month waits for updates. That's a huge task and, especially with only a few who can edit them directly, clogs up the whole system. I know that HxRV isn't just about Rares, but providing accurate values for all furni in Habbo, but for cheaper, smaller norms, why can't people just use the marketplace? For the big ticket rares like the Dino Egg, Nellies, Thrones, etc I can understand. But shouldn't those be the main focus of the value reporting? It is, after all, called Rare Values.

Just my two cents.

It used to be separate, so you'd have Rare Values, Normal Values and Seasonal Values. Now it seems like it's all been merged and maybe they need to separate them again so the bigger priority can be put on Rares?

[-Danube-]

One question I've always had with the Rare Values here is, do norms really need to be in the values list? I feel like having a value on every single furni item is the reason that there can be up to 6 month waits for updates. That's a huge task and, especially with only a few who can edit them directly, clogs up the whole system. I know that HxRV isn't just about Rares, but providing accurate values for all furni in Habbo, but for cheaper, smaller norms, why can't people just use the marketplace? For the big ticket rares like the Dino Egg, Nellies, Thrones, etc I can understand. But shouldn't those be the main focus of the value reporting? It is, after all, called Rare Values.

Just my two cents.

I think the whole consensus here is that we need to develop rare values into something else. In the good old days it was fine to just cover the main 'Rares' and the odd seasonal but now with the marketplace people don't use Habbox for it's values anymore so a different focus for the values needs to be found. This is why i suggested making it like a Furniture Database, a one stop shop on everything about Furni. This should be targetted at everyone and not just the traders. It should be helpful for room builders, people interested in Habbo facts, the normal Habbo and still traders.

It's not hard to keep everything updated if you assigned each reporter a group of categories, this way you could ensure that every item of furni on Habbo gets some kind of update each month. Not just in terms of Values but in terms of Furni Descriptions and Titles (habbo changes them quite alot). Even if nothing changes with an item, the reporter could just save the item as it is now and it will update its 'Last Updated' date and so people know this item is fully up-to-date.

My main argument here is moving away from having values at it's core, but having it more as an informative resource, which they need to look at ideas to make it interative with the public. I added the whole thing of being able to add your own comments to the rares but i don't think it took off really. More things could be added, it's all about user interation and pushing this.



I did suggest before V6 was released that we should have had some kind of feature where you could click like 'Old Style Rare Values' and once someone clicks this it would only show them Normal Rares and Super Rares. It's not a hard thing to do as we did tag every item of furni with a Normal Rare and Super Rare tag.

[Dean]

I think the whole consensus here is that we need to develop rare values into something else. In the good old days it was fine to just cover the main 'Rares' and the odd seasonal but now with the marketplace people don't use Habbox for it's values anymore so a different focus for the values needs to be found. This is why i suggested making it like a Furniture Database, a one stop shop on everything about Furni. This should be targetted at everyone and not just the traders. It should be helpful for room builders, people interested in Habbo facts, the normal Habbo and still traders.

It's not hard to keep everything updated if you assigned each reporter a group of categories, this way you could ensure that every item of furni on Habbo gets some kind of update each month. Not just in terms of Values but in terms of Furni Descriptions and Titles (habbo changes them quite alot). Even if nothing changes with an item, the reporter could just save the item as it is now and it will update its 'Last Updated' date and so people know this item is fully up-to-date.

My main argument here is moving away from having values at it's core, but having it more as an informative resource, which they need to look at ideas to make it interative with the public. I added the whole thing of being able to add your own comments to the rares but i don't think it took off really. More things could be added, it's all about user interation and pushing this.



I did suggest before V6 was released that we should have had some kind of feature where you could click like 'Old Style Rare Values' and once someone clicks this it would only show them Normal Rares and Super Rares. It's not a hard thing to do as we did tag every item of furni with a Normal Rare and Super Rare tag.

I do like this idea but we still need to look at why the rare values haven't been updated in months, don't you think? So shouldn't the department clean everything up and then move onto this new proposed idea?

[-:Undertaker:-]

Oohh whats this about Rare Values Editors to help update the prices? is this the same idea I pushed back under 8Freak8 that was knocked straight down without any consideration when I warned that the number of rares was becoming too much for two people to update on their own? is this the same idea that I pushed last year or the year before and was knocked down for despite the problem being even worse? (and then told values weren't being updated, when they actually were - but at least I can say that I never had any complaint threads made about the department at that time with only management having the problem). All that I can say is that i'm glad it's been finally done, around four years too late.

I have pointed this out before, the department back in 2006/2007 was around twenty five people+ .. and yet now it's much less despite the number of rares increasing around tenfold. But then again I say, when I tried to correct this the second time I headed the department, management placed a limit (what for, I do not know) on how many staff members we and other departments could have ... yet another road block. The problem with Habbox departments has always been management, sure it's much better now - but the problem has always been usually management as opposed to the departments themselves meaning that when you have a problem the manager or staff members take the heat for it.. despite being the ones who simply did as they were told, or tried to change things and thus upset those in more senior positions.

Here's it simplified

2006/2007

Staff numbers: around 25
Number of people editing values: 2
Number of rares: 600 odd at most?
Management: blocked any suggestions that more people were needed to update values.

2010ish

Staff numbers: around 15
Number of people editing values: 2
Number of rares: 1,500 to 2,500?
Management: blocked any suggestions that more editors were needed, also placed a limit on staff numbers.

Anyone see the backwardness of it?

[-Danube-]

I agree with Dan here the number of staff is very low considering the amount of new items of furniture being added. I think it was silly to have department staff limits, not sure if they are still around but i know they were still in play when i was in management. If they are, scrap them.

@Dean (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=398)

This is my suggestion really. They need to get a much larger team of staff, maybe 30? and each person will be given 2-3 categories on Habbox to look after and each and every item in their categories must get atleast 1 edit each month, even if it just means pressing the save button on a rare but keeping the values and everything the same, atleast this item of furni has been looked over and people can see it's up to date. This should mean that no item on Habbox will be displaying information which is over a month old, i think that is an acceptable target. Head RVRs should have a group of maybe 10 reporters to look after to ensure all updates are being made. And by updates i don't just mean Values, they need to insure all images are working (and maybe upload all the rotation image and double clicks for each item), make sure descriptions are up to date, make sure names are correct, make sure all items are added to that section if Habbo release anymore.

Giving reporters ownership over a set number of categories will help greatly in making sure everything is up to date.

xxMATTGxx

Matt why are loads of the images not actually showing up on the rare values, for example:

http://assets.habbox.com/images/99Gigantic_Beanstalk.png

It's the image for the beanstalk but yet it says it's forbidden to view, i've seen a few others like this. For example i made every single rotation and double click for the Rare Voodoo Doll but yet the images are broken :S

~Dan

[xxMATTGxx]

I agree with Dan here the number of staff is very low considering the amount of new items of furniture being added. I think it was silly to have department staff limits, not sure if they are still around but i know they were still in play when i was in management. If they are, scrap them.

@Dean (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=398)

This is my suggestion really. They need to get a much larger team of staff, maybe 30? and each person will be given 2-3 categories on Habbox to look after and each and every item in their categories must get atleast 1 edit each month, even if it just means pressing the save button on a rare but keeping the values and everything the same, atleast this item of furni has been looked over and people can see it's up to date. This should mean that no item on Habbox will be displaying information which is over a month old, i think that is an acceptable target. Head RVRs should have a group of maybe 10 reporters to look after to ensure all updates are being made. And by updates i don't just mean Values, they need to insure all images are working (and maybe upload all the rotation image and double clicks for each item), make sure descriptions are up to date, make sure names are correct, make sure all items are added to that section if Habbo release anymore.

Giving reporters ownership over a set number of categories will help greatly in making sure everything is up to date.

xxMATTGxx

Matt why are loads of the images not actually showing up on the rare values, for example:

http://habbox.com/assets/images/99Gigantic_Beanstalk.png

It's the image for the beanstalk but yet it says it's forbidden to view, i've seen a few others like this. For example i made every single rotation and double click for the Rare Voodoo Doll but yet the images are broken :S

~Dan

Because http://assets.habbox.com/ needs changing to: http://habbox.com/assets

http://habbox.com/assets/images/99Gigantic_Beanstalk.png

[Inseriousity.]

Staff limits have not been around for a while now so do not think this complaint really holds up at the present time. This is because we trust our managers to be sensible and not go OTT but recognise that different times may require different levels of staff. I don't want to blame the managers either as I'm aware that applications across the board have been down a bit recently.

As for furniture database, who's going to use it, whats the point of it, is it just a tokenistic gesture to keep a department that's been run into the ground already. The only (imo) viable alternative to rare values is the habbox marketplace idea that was always talked about but never actually acted upon for a number of reasons during v6. If there's one thing you can blame management on, it's that there is always a lot of talk and little results. Hopefully we will get there in the end. Is it too late? I don't think it is time to write the department off just yet.

[Dean]

Oohh whats this about Rare Values Editors to help update the prices? is this the same idea I pushed back under 8Freak8 that was knocked straight down without any consideration when I warned that the number of rares was becoming too much for two people to update on their own? is this the same idea that I pushed last year or the year before and was knocked down for despite the problem being even worse? (and then told values weren't being updated, when they actually were - but at least I can say that I never had any complaint threads made about the department at that time with only management having the problem). All that I can say is that i'm glad it's been finally done, around four years too late.

I have pointed this out before, the department back in 2006/2007 was around twenty five people+ .. and yet now it's much less despite the number of rares increasing around tenfold. But then again I say, when I tried to correct this the second time I headed the department, management placed a limit (what for, I do not know) on how many staff members we and other departments could have ... yet another road block. The problem with Habbox departments has always been management, sure it's much better now - but the problem has always been usually management as opposed to the departments themselves meaning that when you have a problem the manager or staff members take the heat for it.. despite being the ones who simply did as they were told, or tried to change things and thus upset those in more senior positions.

Here's it simplified

2006/2007

Staff numbers: around 25
Number of people editing values: 2
Number of rares: 600 odd at most?
Management: blocked any suggestions that more people were needed to update values.

2010ish

Staff numbers: around 15
Number of people editing values: 2
Number of rares: 1,500 to 2,500?
Management: blocked any suggestions that more editors were needed, also placed a limit on staff numbers.

Anyone see the backwardness of it?

I agree so much

[Samantha]

I agree so much

Furni editors don't update values.

---------- Post added 13-07-2012 at 03:31 PM ----------
-:Undertaker:-;

[MKR&*42]

Furni editors don't update values.

---------- Post added 13-07-2012 at 03:31 PM ----------
@-:Undertaker:- (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=24233);

Ok a few pages in and I'm still confused, if they don't update values what do they update? o.o

[xxMATTGxx]

Ok a few pages in and I'm still confused, if they don't update values what do they update? o.o

They basically add or edit the furni into the values system. So If new furni has been released on Habbo and it needs adding to the site, these guys are the one who actually adds it. They create the name, get the images/create the images and put into the system. They do not touch the value of any furni.


Furni Editor is basically adding furni to the site, not updating the values. It was part of the reporter role but many staff members found it hard to find time in creating sprites and adding them to the site. So hence the separation after it being suggested by previous RVR management and current RVR staff.

[MKR&*42]

They basically add or edit the furni into the values system. So If new furni has been released on Habbo and it needs adding to the site, these guys are the one who actually adds it. They create the name, get the images/create the images and put into the system. They do not touch the value of any furni.

Oh ok, I get it now. Doesn't sound like a bad idea tbh if it's becoming too much for ordinary RV staff to handle xD.

[Samantha]

Oh ok, I get it now. Doesn't sound like a bad idea tbh if it's becoming too much for ordinary RV staff to handle xD.

The problem was only me will and Jason could add them before lol.

[MKR&*42]

The problem was only me will and Jason could add them before lol.

Oh, is this all because of how perms work? (From what I gather by the past few pages). If so, looks like you'll be glad (and many others) for V7 :P

[Dean]

Even when V7 comes around, how do we know the department will improve?

[Pigperson]

One question I've always had with the Rare Values here is, do norms really need to be in the values list? I feel like having a value on every single furni item is the reason that there can be up to 6 month waits for updates. That's a huge task and, especially with only a few who can edit them directly, clogs up the whole system. I know that HxRV isn't just about Rares, but providing accurate values for all furni in Habbo, but for cheaper, smaller norms, why can't people just use the marketplace? For the big ticket rares like the Dino Egg, Nellies, Thrones, etc I can understand. But shouldn't those be the main focus of the value reporting? It is, after all, called Rare Values.

Just my two cents.

To be honest, I've never truly been sure why norms were introduced but I guess it was to provide a broader database. We have told staff that they should not be reporting on norms if the value is staying fairly levelled. So I do not really feel the norms hold us back.


I agree with Dan here the number of staff is very low considering the amount of new items of furniture being added. I think it was silly to have department staff limits, not sure if they are still around but i know they were still in play when i was in management. If they are, scrap them.

@Dean (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=398)

This is my suggestion really. They need to get a much larger team of staff, maybe 30? and each person will be given 2-3 categories on Habbox to look after and each and every item in their categories must get atleast 1 edit each month, even if it just means pressing the save button on a rare but keeping the values and everything the same, atleast this item of furni has been looked over and people can see it's up to date. This should mean that no item on Habbox will be displaying information which is over a month old, i think that is an acceptable target. Head RVRs should have a group of maybe 10 reporters to look after to ensure all updates are being made. And by updates i don't just mean Values, they need to insure all images are working (and maybe upload all the rotation image and double clicks for each item), make sure descriptions are up to date, make sure names are correct, make sure all items are added to that section if Habbo release anymore.

Giving reporters ownership over a set number of categories will help greatly in making sure everything is up to date.

Can I firstly say, (also -:Undertaker:-) in the past we have opened apps very often due to a lot of people resigning and a lack of applicants. So yes in an ideal world, we would love to have 30 staff but in reality we can only reach a peak of about 12.

I do like the idea of splitting up the jobs for each staff and having heads to overlook though, and this may be implemented in the role reform.

For the future we could maybe make the furni database on the site more informative with information such as: Tradable? Stackable? etc. but I'm not sure if people would find that useful.

So yeh we would love to have a lot of staff to cover everything and we may need to think about removing norms to cope with the important rares which are the ones which most people look at.

Tbh when it comes to blame, I don't really think it is down to us because we have worked with what we have and problems arise left right and centre. I really want to get more staff and atm it looks like the new Furni Editor role is a popular one although we only need a few which is a shame.

Will

[Dean]

To be honest, I've never truly been sure why norms were introduced but I guess it was to provide a broader database. We have told staff that they should not be reporting on norms if the value is staying fairly levelled. So I do not really feel the norms hold us back.



Can I firstly say, (also @-:Undertaker:- (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=24233)) in the past we have opened apps very often due to a lot of people resigning and a lack of applicants. So yes in an ideal world, we would love to have 30 staff but in reality we can only reach a peak of about 12.

I do like the idea of splitting up the jobs for each staff and having heads to overlook though, and this may be implemented in the role reform.

For the future we could maybe make the furni database on the site more informative with information such as: Tradable? Stackable? etc. but I'm not sure if people would find that useful.

So yeh we would love to have a lot of staff to cover everything and we may need to think about removing norms to cope with the important rares which are the ones which most people look at.

Tbh when it comes to blame, I don't really think it is down to us because we have worked with what we have and problems arise left right and centre. I really want to get more staff and atm it looks like the new Furni Editor role is a popular one although we only need a few which is a shame.

Will

I just wanted to bring one more thing up. I've been reviewing the rare values over the past few weeks and I've seen that the "Latest Rare Updates" box on the Habbox homepage hasn't changed since I first checked on June 29th. Is this broken or haven't any rare values been updated since?

http://i45.tinypic.com/ors55s.png

Also, the middle sprite is missing.

[Samantha]

I just wanted to bring one more thing up. I've been reviewing the rare values over the past few weeks and I've seen that the "Latest Rare Updates" box on the Habbox homepage hasn't changed since I first checked on June 29th. Is this broken or haven't any rare values been updated since?

http://i45.tinypic.com/ors55s.png

Also, the middle sprite is missing.

not been updated some down to the mute and away time etc.

[Pigperson]

I just wanted to bring one more thing up. I've been reviewing the rare values over the past few weeks and I've seen that the "Latest Rare Updates" box on the Habbox homepage hasn't changed since I first checked on June 29th. Is this broken or haven't any rare values been updated since?

http://i45.tinypic.com/ors55s.png

Also, the middle sprite is missing.

Simply due to mute, it should be updated this week. Also the broken images has been brought up as the url of habbox assets is different so this is currently being sorted.

EDIT: I just fixed this, the other broken ones should be fixed soon :)

Will

[Dean]

Glad to see the values have been updated, as I said earlier, I still don't think the mute is a valid excuse to stop updating them as trading will always continue.

[Pigperson]

Glad to see the values have been updated, as I said earlier, I still don't think the mute is a valid excuse to stop updating them as trading will always continue.

When the mute went on, no one was talking so no one was trading in trade rooms :S Also I've just spent a while on Habbo to update some out of date values and I have worked on sorting out the images (chairs, tables and sofas so far).

Will

[HotelUser]

I believe that if more people could approve/deny then we would get a lot more done.

Currently, the Expert Rare Values role is pointless, I said this months ago but Matt said only David could change it therefore it never got done.

If we changed the structure so that all head rvrs, and the (assistant) manager would update and approve then we would get a lot more done. This would mean the expert role would be the same as the old heads role and the heads the same as the management (apart from the management forums, reports etc.)

Huh? Matt has more authority than anybody else save for the owners when it comes to overseeing changes in roles (infact, if this had been put forth to myself (and it wasn't) then I would of just relayed it to Matt because I wouldn't of been able to put through a role change just by myself).


Because that's not how V6 was built - It wasn't made easy to be able to change it so X and X can do this. Think of a load of teenager rooms that haven't been cleaned for a while. It's why we are scrapping this version asap.

It was coded to spec so I hope you're not shooting the coder ;) from what I recall senior members of the department can approve changes, not just folks with department management permissions. If that's not the case then the quick fix would just be to give the staff you want to be permitted to update values manager access and password protect the files you don't want them to have access to. This is extraordinarily messy but if the outdated system is to be corrected in v7 then there's no sense reinventing the wheel before then!


I was a manager in the RV department over 2 eras, once in 2008 and once in 2010 (i think). There was a massive difference between 2008 and 2010. In 2008 the popularity of the values looked after itself, all was required to do was to keep the values updated and add a few new rares, EVERYONE used Habbox Rare Values.

Then i came back in 2010 and the department was DEAD. The marketplace had been released and i seriously think Habbox did itself a massive misjustice in this period, when the marketplace was released there needed to be massive promotion of Habbox Rare Values, something to challenge the marketplace at this time. But this didn't happen and rather quickly the Habbo marketplace took over and it basically destoryed Habbox Rare Values, they are not used no where near as often as they used to be.

Some people may just say 'Close the department, it's pointless' but i totally disagree. When i came back as manager in 2010 i was very shocked to see the state of the rare values, i love that department and i put alot of work into it and to see it loose popularity and basically start dying was horrid. So with the release of V6 i made some changes, removing an old feature called Rare Watch and basically combining it with the Rare Values. So rather than it all just being Values driven, it would be more of a resource. I went so far but i think it needs to go further, the site got updated with all these new furni images, furni descriptions and other things but the department just stayed the same. I think i made a big mistake not trying to restructure the whole deparment.

The Rare Values will never be what they were so they need to be develop and form a use. It should become like a Furniture Museum on Habbox. All items of furniture should be uploaded on the site with a dedicated team of people making sure every item is there with all their images and that their names and descriptions are up to date, they should also be added nice little facts about a certain item of furni like 'This item of furniture was given out by Ione on her birthday, click here to learn more about this (maybe links to Habbox Wiki)' and then obviously the value of the item should be there.

The department could be restructured in 2 ways.

One way could be to have to distinct type of staff, one group of Rare value Reporters and another group of furni editors, with more of a content type of role. But this way could lead to a saturation of the department, far too many staff for the amount of stuff to actually do week by week.

A better way could be to remove the 'Expert Rare Values Reporter' rank but keep the normal RVR and Head RVR roles. Each RVR in the department should be given a range of categories of furni for them to look after and they need to make sure all the images, descriptions, titles and values are ok for all items of furniture plus adding any extra little bits of interesting information, plus they should aim to update every item of furni in their categories once a month, to stop things not getting an update for 6 months. Then the HRVRs would act as 'team leaders' they would be given a group of reporters and they would have to oversee these reporters, giving them targets for the week, telling them if something needs doing in their categories etc. Each category on Habbox should have a corrisponding thread in the RV Staff Forums for the assigned reporter of that category to post things in and for their team leader HRVR to post tasks for the week etc. As more and more furniture is released and more furni categories are made, more staff are to be hired so the department will slowly grow by 1 or 2 members of staff each month or 2.

Habbox has really started to focus upon it's Wiki side of things and i think this is a great direction for Habbox Rare Values to go. It needs to be an Off-Client Furni Museum, a resource of all things Habbo Furniture, not just values. And a dedicated team of people is needed for this.

No current manager is to blame for the decline in popularity of Habbox Rare Values, it's not their fault, it's the Habbo Marketplace. I think we need to admit we have lost this battle of popularity, but we have not lost the war. As long as Habbox is still running there should always be space for something to do with Rare Furniture, after all Habbox owes it's further existance to Rare Values.

So yeah my opinion:

1) Make Rare Values into an Off-Client Furniture Museum
2) Restruture the department to fit in with the above, giving reporters a set amout of categories to update and keep fresh.

This complete stranger to me makes the most sense out of anybody. Personally I think the department is in a rough spot because of both a lack of strong management (and don't take that as an insult to yourself Sam-- you were sort of just thrown into the position without much help from the rest of us), and a lack of software updates (to which you may blame me if you'd like, but as just one person I had a lot of other things to see to first, which is why I'm thoroughly happy Habbox has a developing team at the moment who can accomplish a lot more then just one person could :)).

Speaking of the coding group, I still think it would be cool for them to pursue a rare market for the fansite, if there's enough time to push one out, of course :P

[Samantha]

HotelUser; I don't take it as an insult but I came off holiday and found nothing had been done because I got told someone else would do it, you then told me that it all should have been done anyway (in a negative attitude) and also I wanted one small change for Rare Values and you showed your authority and said 'I would have to inform the other General Managers of such a change.' I didn't think changing the day when RV was reset was a big change in all honesty. Although you did help during the end of your reign admittedly. If I had known more I wouldn't have got more done but at least I would have been wiser :P. Thank you.

[Pigperson]

Huh? Matt has more authority than anybody else save for the owners when it comes to overseeing changes in roles (infact, if this had been put forth to myself (and it wasn't) then I would of just relayed it to Matt because I wouldn't of been able to put through a role change just by myself).



It was coded to spec so I hope you're not shooting the coder ;) from what I recall senior members of the department can approve changes, not just folks with department management permissions. If that's not the case then the quick fix would just be to give the staff you want to be permitted to update values manager access and password protect the files you don't want them to have access to. This is extraordinarily messy but if the outdated system is to be corrected in v7 then there's no sense reinventing the wheel before then!



This complete stranger to me makes the most sense out of anybody. Personally I think the department is in a rough spot because of both a lack of strong management (and don't take that as an insult to yourself Sam-- you were sort of just thrown into the position without much help from the rest of us), and a lack of software updates (to which you may blame me if you'd like, but as just one person I had a lot of other things to see to first, which is why I'm thoroughly happy Habbox has a developing team at the moment who can accomplish a lot more then just one person could :)).

Speaking of the coding group, I still think it would be cool for them to pursue a rare market for the fansite, if there's enough time to push one out, of course :P

Btw hi David :P Haven't seen you for ages lol. I don't think the blame lies with the coding, because Habbox V6 was an amazing improvement, however it just posed a few problems down the line when trying to change things.

I really think the Habbox Market would be great and it has been requested.

Will

[Dean]

So how will the department be reformed? :D

[Xtina]

Yeah, I would like to know too :rolleyes:

[Pigperson]

I really think we have improved a lot and we are doing even more now.

Firstly thanks to everyone who pointed out flaws.

- We have sorted out missing images and are working on the rest
- We are planning to rearrange the staff roles to make it so we have more updates each week
- Sam had a good idea to have a thread to discuss value suggestions which will regularly be checked and acted upon. There will be an additional RV reward to the top contributor each month as well as the one for the Report Values Forum.
- We have our apps open and we are hoping to get more staff to update more values and we already have a good amount of Furni Editor applicants who will help sorting out missing furni

I probably have forgotten to say something but yeh, bad memory (A)

Will

[Netaxes]

So I'm not 100% sure how the department still works but when I was RVM, I found that having only one person updating the values worked well if they kept up and updated them regularly. I remember when I was RVM, I would constantly be editing values throughout the day, which is what the manager should be doing. If there are multiple people updating values, the value may not get changed at all (For example, manager raises the price from 4HC to 5HC, assistant manager decreases price from 5HC to 4HC).

I'm going to have to agree that having RVR, TE, HRVR and now a furni editor is way to many roles. Keep it simple, have some of the Rare Values Reporters have a part time job of making sure all rares are on the site and the pictures are up to date. Then, all you need really is this sort of structure:

Manager (Only people allowed to update the values)
Assistant Manager (Can only touch the values if the manager is away)
Head Rare Values Reporters (Similar to a supervisor for a real job)
Rare Values Reporters (Similar to a entry level position for a real job)

This keep the department simple and effective and one person updates the values so they actually get updated!

[Pigperson]

So I'm not 100% sure how the department still works but when I was RVM, I found that having only one person updating the values worked well if they kept up and updated them regularly. I remember when I was RVM, I would constantly be editing values throughout the day, which is what the manager should be doing. If there are multiple people updating values, the value may not get changed at all (For example, manager raises the price from 4HC to 5HC, assistant manager decreases price from 5HC to 4HC).

I'm going to have to agree that having RVR, TE, HRVR and now a furni editor is way to many roles. Keep it simple, have some of the Rare Values Reporters have a part time job of making sure all rares are on the site and the pictures are up to date. Then, all you need really is this sort of structure:

Manager (Only people allowed to update the values)
Assistant Manager (Can only touch the values if the manager is away)
Head Rare Values Reporters (Similar to a supervisor for a real job)
Rare Values Reporters (Similar to a entry level position for a real job)

This keep the department simple and effective and one person updates the values so they actually get updated!

We have requested that in the future the value updates can be grouped by furni so we don't make 2 value edits at the same time.

A few months ago we created a sub-forum for RVRs to help with missing images but it seemed that the speed of adding was much slower than the speed that new furni was coming out. After some feedback, we found out that RVRs didn't have time or struggled to do so. Hence why we have introduced the Furni Editor following a suggestion from an Ex-RV Manager. It is proving successful with a healthy amount of applicants (hence why we closed the apps for it after a day) and we have already had many images fixed that were broken. Also we are soon to remove the Expert rank.

Will

PS. Hiya Ryan :D Don't have turkey this christmas, have chicken x

[Andii]

lmao sam is this cause i was talking to your bf one time on msn :) :) haha not sure what im reading but WOOP WOOP GO ME :) i got a mention haha

[-Danube-]

I think any talk of trying to find someone to 'blame' for the so called dimise of RV should stop really, it's not helping anything and to be fair there is no one person to blame, the main thing to blame is the habbo marketplace really.

Also some people seem to think a furni museum/database is a good idea, whereas others think its pointless. Just a little reason why it's not pointless and will be used by many people, not just traders. For example alot of people will use it as a resourse to gather habbo related image (furni images) for doing graphic tasks, whether this be Habbox Staff or just any person who is interested in graphics, for example in a thread about Rare Values this was said:

http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=751295&p=7569355#post7569355

Then there are the people who like to find out information and just browse through furniture, like myself when i played Habbo. There is this guide on Habbo Rator:

http://www.habborator.org/furniture/v7.html

And i would find myself looking through all the furni for a long time and hovering over to find out little bits of information about furniture, i especially find it interesting to read about scripted furniture and super rare furniture like the White Parasol and where i can be spotted. There were links from thoses pages to other parts of the Habbo Rator website to read about something else or listen to the sounds that Trax discs made. This meant by just having a mini Furniture Museum on the site it was helping to bounce traffic around the site. Habbo Rators Furni Guide is good, but it's missing ALOT of furniture, it doesn't include values and loads of other stuff.

Like Will said, you can add other information about whether an item of furni can be stacked or not and then link to a stacking guide on Habbox.com. The list goes on about what information you can supply about furniture, theres loads of little interesting bits of information about furniture out there.

I think you also need to persue the Habbox Marketplace in V7 @HotelUser (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=420) Started something for V6, but like David said, he is only 1 man. A Habbox Marketplace will be great and it offers a place for people to sell their Furniture free of charge, something that rivals the Habbo Marketplace. It would have to be highly moderated though, to ensure people are not abusing it and are actually going through with the trades they make.

Another way you can make the Habbox Marketplace different to the Habbo Marketplace is you can get people to post what they are BUYING not just what they are SELLING, therefore if someone is just browsing the wanted section of the Habbox Marketplace they can send a message to that user and tell them that they own that item of furni and are willing to sell it to them for that price. The Habbo Marketplace does not offer this feature and it only allows you to sell an item, if the item you are looking for isn't being sold you have to then look around Furniture shops, but you could capitalise on this and get people to check the Habbox Marketplace if they can't find it on Habbo ;) It's all about challenging the Habbo Marketplace as thats our biggest rival.


I also think though that if you go through with making a Furniture Database type thing (which makes sense if you are starting to hire Furni Editors, they need something to do each week so may as well start building a database, and it wouldnt be that hard as most of the items of furniture are already updated). You should get something coded so that people can view the Rare Values in the old style way, so they can just view a full page of Normal Rares (with just small sprite images and price underneath) and then a full page of Super Rares with just small sprite image and price. This is a feature i wanted with V6 because the old style had been removed, but again David is only one person and didn't have enough time. I think you need to have something where you can filter out the rest of the furniture in the database so that hard core trades can just see the values.

[Pigperson]

Yeh -Danube- I do like the idea of a furni database in addition to values and it would be an additional role for Furni Editors when there is little work to do. I think fields such as Stackable? Tradable? etc. would be good, not sure what else to have because it is hard to get info for some and it would be bad to have an inconsistent database.

I think the marketplace is something that we really want and we are hoping to do what you say where you can put a buying as well as selling and also select the quantity for sale or wanted.

Will

[Fifty-Six]

How would the marketplace function? Would it be like we have now on the forums only more structured and with iTrader? People keep talking about a Habbox Marketplace but aren't really explaining it in detail.

[-Danube-]

How would the marketplace function? Would it be like we have now on the forums only more structured and with iTrader? People keep talking about a Habbox Marketplace but aren't really explaining it in detail.

It was actually created at the start of V6, but highly unfinished.

Basically people will list items which they have for sale, or items they want to buy and state a price. Not sure if people will Bid or if it's just a buy it now type of thing. I do know that when HotelUser created the basics Habbox Marketplace at the start of V6 (before it was abandonded) it was intergrated into the Habbox Rare Values. So you would search for an item and it would bring up its name, image and the current Habbox Value, you then set the price you wanted for it.

This is another argument for adding every item of furniture to a Habbox Database, so that it can be intergrated into the Habbox Marketplace. Because if we didn't add all the items of furni, some people would be unable to sell some of their items.

EDIT

i know that when i was talking to HotelUser about creating the Habbox Marketplace he kept bringing up another site for another online game, it was called basil market:

http://www.basilmarket.com/show/auction/15925399

Thats how it works. No idea what maple story is but i'm guessing it has a similar trading thing to Habbo, so a Habbox Marketplace could work under the same principle.