Many changes needed

[The Don]

There are so many things wrong with habbox and in every department, it would give me a headache writing about all of the issues. Forum decline is the main issue, the way departments are being ran is another. We have an AGM here who is frequently inactive, why hasn't he been removed? Nothing is being done to try and bring in new members here... The moderation department is sloppy, sending out incorrect pm's and following rules literally without using common sense. I've had an encounter here today which reminded me of the ---MAD--- era, in fact, at least during that era there was an active presence amongst general management, something which can't be said for the current one. There are loads of outdated pages on the habbox website which aren't being updated as "there's no point" since a new versions coming out soon (where have I heard that before?) Hxl is pretty much dead and do people even use habbox wiki? There are so many problems with habbox and I don't see management (which looks like a one man team tbh) coming up with any solutions.

[Aiden]

I know I use HabboxWiki but as I can see not many others do besides the staff. HxL has just got it's manager back so needs time to sort it self out! Some admin could be a LOT more active and I 100% with the moderation team! They are slow.. and give out inappropriate warnings!

The only thing I disagree with is the HxL thing.. with Jade and Gina it should get much better!

[David]

there shouldn't be an S in "graphics designer/manager"

thought i'd throw that in

[GoldenMerc]

Not sure why this thread was moved somewhere then moved back, (Chris did move it back) AGM, more like AGM's none post on the forum, There is one rule for some, one rule for others, Some users consistently break the rules (& know their limits to stop at, so they will troll up to that amount) which i find is totally unfair.

I believe v7 is being coded by Intricat; now as Recursion doesn't have time now, so to be fair, I will now bet this v7 will be released soon :)./
HxL is completely dead, Although Richies thread sums it up ;)
I like HabboxWiki, not sure why, I've only just got into it since ChippieJin started being manager, Like the updates he has done (Although i get disappointed using random page as it always takes me to pages being made (Must be some sort of way to disable them coming up in random page)?

I believe HxL could return, with a wealth, Heck you'd get me coming back to using it if Spotify wasn't around, or you could have a 3 hour show of old school HxL, funny DJ's, people who have emotions, people who enjoy DJing as DJing is fun, not as oh im staff on Habbox.

I mean Jade (HxL Manager) pretty much proved dedication (15h a day DJing) can / could get you to HxL manager in 2 months, not complaining considering shes a good DJ, she donated a lot to Habbox (Although i disagree with her doing that) she done well.

To be fair Habbox needs a kick up the ass, Im sure Jin will do it once he has some time, That is if he ever has time to return.
Ross

[GommeInc]

HabboxWiki does seem like a wasteful project. Last I saw of it there was no need, no demand for a Wiki as people who gave up Habbo who would be the main demographic interested in the past of Habbo would have left Habbo behind entirely.

As for the Forum, they seem to have double standards. They make changes on a whim with no logical, reasonable debate yet when a real debate occurs they don't want to revert the changes, and then act a bit frustrated that a real debate has happened and not want to change using the "why change something that isn't broken" quote not realising the irony in what they are saying. It's odd as they believe in being professional yet makes changes against the majority of the forum, then when they have reasons read out to them why the reason for the change was silly they completely ignore it, claiming " we aren't making any changes". It's completely unprofessional.

And don't get me started on the lack of communication lately, where a certain someone won't admit he's out of the loop yet will claim he is like he's receiving the same political training as some party leaders.

[sex]

There hasn't been three active AGM at habbox since like 2007 i don't think lol, theres always one who just does the work loads and thats it, doesn't interact, doesnt post, doesnt come on Habbo. It's either been Mr.Osh, Bomb-Head or someone else. Now its Myke lol

[-:Undertaker:-]

I can't comment on the present management (they seem an alright bunch to me) but I will just say that it has always been, generally, the case that the Habbox hierarchy is based on who is 'in' and who isn't, and ultimately that leads to people who aren't the best for the job getting management positions over those who know their stuff better.

Just as it has always been the case (in my two stints at least) that department managers don't have nearly enough freedom from central management. Indeed if you ask me, department managers should be the main focus or driving force of this website and the position of General Manager (and all the rest) should merely be there as a co-ordinating or emergency role, rather like the Queen is to the Prime Minister.

Decentralise it, radically and get things moving.

[Lee]

I was contemplating posting a similar thread regarding AGM's posting on the forum. Seriously why is xxMATTGxx; not enforcing that they post 40+ a week. If a forum moderator is required to post 40 then AGM should be required to triple that - they are running Habbox and if dont use it why should anybody else - I'd love to see this tackled.

[Samantha]

There's 3 staff who normally work on the actual site and one (Assistant) Manager who is site orientated (me and Will being the exceptions for that) but recently a lot of Habbox.com things are being updated due to the want for it. HabboxWiki I think is needed and it even comes up on Google when I search for things, there's also a little addition at the bottom saying how many times a page has been accessed, regardless of it being random page or not it shows how many use the Wiki.

Last I checked there were 12 active Wiki users, about half were the staff I believe but others such as ,AAiden; and @runeaddict99 etc. do use it, likewise with other staff members.

The General Manager isn't usually away, it's only really been this month when members have started to notice more as it seemed reason after reason cropped up (good and bad), a lot of staff are away at the moment too which could be why there doesn't seem to be a lot getting done.

[David]

bring back danube

[Samantha]

I can't comment on the present management (they seem an alright bunch to me) but I will just say that it has always been, generally, the case that the Habbox hierarchy is based on who is 'in' and who isn't, and ultimately that leads to people who aren't the best for the job getting management positions over those who know their stuff better.

Just as it has always been the case (in my two stints at least) that department managers don't have nearly enough freedom from central management. Indeed if you ask me, department managers should be the main focus or driving force of this website and the position of General Manager (and all the rest) should merely be there as a co-ordinating or emergency role, rather like the Queen is to the Prime Minister.

Decentralise it, radically and get things moving.

This has changed since you were a manager Dan, I think it started to change when I was Assistant Rare Values Manager the first time - we had to PM General Management when sending out the PM reports, warnings, staff changes, anything. Now we only tend to do it if we're warning someone (in some cases) and if it includes them i.e. name changes. A lot more freedom was given though.

[GoldenMerc]

bring back danube
6t ~ mind did get it back 9 months later

This has changed since you were a manager Dan, I think it started to change when I was Assistant Rare Values Manager the first time - we had to PM General Management when sending out the PM reports, warnings, staff changes, anything. Now we only tend to do it if we're warning someone (in some cases) and if it includes them i.e. name changes. A lot more freedom was given though.

RVR Dept died once marketplace came out

[-:Undertaker:-]

bring back danube

But did he not stay all that long? this is my point. If we are going to have Community roles etc, why are non-staff members (who aren't interested in climbing the management ladder) considered for the posts? the likes of GommeInc, FlyingJesus and others would be much better suited.

The present system seems to me like an escalator system into positions higher and higher up. I was never interested in going above Rare Values and would have turned it down - and i'm sure there are many managers (Adzeh stayed as News for a very long time did he not?) who are the same.

[Aiden]

There's 3 staff who normally work on the actual site and one (Assistant) Manager who is site orientated (me and Will being the exceptions for that) but recently a lot of Habbox.com things are being updated due to the want for it. HabboxWiki I think is needed and it even comes up on Google when I search for things, there's also a little addition at the bottom saying how many times a page has been accessed, regardless of it being random page or not it shows how many use the Wiki.

Last I checked there were 12 active Wiki users, about half were the staff I believe but others such as ,AAiden; and @runeaddict99 etc. do use it, likewise with other staff members.

The General Manager isn't usually away, it's only really been this month when members have started to notice more as it seemed reason after reason cropped up (good and bad), a lot of staff are away at the moment too which could be why there doesn't seem to be a lot getting done.


6t ~ mind did get it back 9 months later


RVR Dept died once marketplace came out

TBH I Don't think that RV has died that much because when I'm trading on Habbo people always say to me 'wait.. I'm checking habbox.' So yeah! Might just be me though :P And yes I am a active wiki user.. I like to learn the history of Habbox really!

[Samantha]

But did he not stay all that long? this is my point. If we are going to have Community roles etc, why are non-staff members (who aren't interested in climbing the management ladder) considered for the posts? the likes of GommeInc, FlyingJesus and others would be much better suited.

The present system seems to me like an escalator system into positions higher and higher up. I was never interested in going above Rare Values and would have turned it down - and i'm sure there are many managers (Adzeh stayed as News for a very long time did he not?) who are the same.

Community is mainly the Habbo side of it, hence why they overlook Events, Help Desk, Competitions, Rare Values and Habbox Live as you need to play Habbo for some of them.

[xxMATTGxx]

There are so many things wrong with habbox and in every department, it would give me a headache writing about all of the issues. Forum decline is the main issue, the way departments are being ran is another. We have an AGM here who is frequently inactive, why hasn't he been removed? Nothing is being done to try and bring in new members here... The moderation department is sloppy, sending out incorrect pm's and following rules literally without using common sense. I've had an encounter here today which reminded me of the ---MAD--- era, in fact, at least during that era there was an active presence amongst general management, something which can't be said for the current one. There are loads of outdated pages on the habbox website which aren't being updated as "there's no point" since a new versions coming out soon (where have I heard that before?) Hxl is pretty much dead and do people even use habbox wiki? There are so many problems with habbox and I don't see management (which looks like a one man team tbh) coming up with any solutions.

Your warning's been removed by the way. Everything you have said has been mentioned in other threads and been answered by those departments, especially the one about outdated content where changes have been made for them to start editing those pages again.

Is HabboxWiki a waste?

No not really. It actually gets a pretty good amount of hits and more than the HabboxLive site to be fair. It's got great information on and can offer more detail than the main Habbox site can.

Will the General Management Team post 40+ a week?

Most likely not. The only person who actually would is myself because I do that without having to force myself every week and often do over 40. Does that mean they should be fired? Everyone will have different views on that but does seem to silly to fire staff members over that. Forcing people to post doesn't seem to be an an ideal solution - When does that actually work? I'll let you post your views on that one.

Do Managers have freedom?

You could say they have too much freedom now. But I often get PM's or spammed on msn to do this that and the other because the department manager hasn't done it for them or they have disagreed.


But did he not stay all that long? this is my point. If we are going to have Community roles etc, why are non-staff members (who aren't interested in climbing the management ladder) considered for the posts? the likes of GommeInc, FlyingJesus and others would be much better suited.

Best to ask Jin that question as he has more say over General Management than anyone posting in this thread.

[GoldenMerc]

I can say since MP, iv seen 2-3% say let me check Habbox, or lower.

[The Don]

Your warning's been removed by the way. Everything you have said has been mentioned in other threads and been answered by those departments, especially the one about outdated content where changes have been made for them to start editing those pages again.

Is HabboxWiki a waste?

No not really. It actually gets a pretty good amount of hits and more than the HabboxLive site to be fair. It's got great information on and can offer more detail than the main Habbox site can.

Will the General Management Team post 40+ a week?

Most likely not. The only person who actually would is myself because I do that without having to force myself every week and often do over 40. Does that mean they should be fired? Everyone will have different views on that but does seem to silly to fire staff members over that. Forcing people to post doesn't seem to be an an ideal solution - When does that actually work?

Do Managers have freedom?

You could say they have too much freedom now. But I often get PM's pr spammed on msn to do this that and the other because the department manager hasn't done it for them or they have disagreed.



Best to ask Jin that question as he has more say over General Management than anyone posting in this thread.

none of those threads mentioned inactivity of agms which is one of the main focuses of this thread, otherwise it would be 'targeting'

[xxMATTGxx]

none of those threads mentioned inactivity of agms which is one of the main focuses of this thread, otherwise it would be 'targeting'

No they didn't but your others points did.

[Lee]

Will the General Management Team post 40+ a week?

Most likely not. The only person who actually would is myself because I do that without having to force myself every week and often do over 40. Does that mean they should be fired? Everyone will have different views on that but does seem to silly to fire staff members over that. Forcing people to post doesn't seem to be an an ideal solution - When does that actually work? I'll let you post your views on that one.

If that doesn't work why are moderators being forced to post 40 per week, but I think it does it increases their presence on the forum and im going to be honest 3-4 posts over seven days for somebody in such a senior position. Is it that they have no desire to use the forum and it's only the title keeping them here? Maybe not I don't know but can we really go on like this?

[xxMATTGxx]

If that doesn't work why are moderators being forced to post 40 per week, but I think it does it increases their presence on the forum and im going to be honest 3-4 posts over seven days for somebody in such a senior position. Is it that they have no desire to use the forum and it's only the title keeping them here? Maybe not I don't know but can we really go on like this?

I am aware that I am the only person in the GM team who will go round and post so much a week. But that's because they want to post in threads that they care about and not just post for the sake of it. Maybe I just find threads to post in or stuff to post about more often than others?

You wasn't forced by GM to do that, you was forced by your own manager to start posting that amount per week.

[GoldenMerc]

Maybe if they can't be bothered helping a good conversation carry on they should carry on their position here, Plus why do mods have to do 40 posts yet AGM's dont? If anything they should be doing more, Your lucky to get 4 posts a week from Myke or Mike, let alone 40...

[xxMATTGxx]

Maybe if they can't be bothered helping a good conversation carry on they should carry on their position here, Plus why do mods have to do 40 posts yet AGM's dont? If anything they should be doing more, Your lucky to get 4 posts a week from Myke or Mike, let alone 40...

I'll let them answer that then :P

[Lee]

I am aware that I am the only person in the GM team who will go round and post so much a week. But that's because they want to post in threads that they care about and not just post for the sake of it. Maybe I just find threads to post in or stuff to post about more often than others?

You wasn't forced by GM to do that, you was forced by your own manager to start posting that amount per week.

Ok, but this isn't about you posting so much (albeit you do) it's that they post so low and if the case is they don't want to go around posting random things that don't interest them they should as part of their job welcome new members (nearly all of them) in the welcomes forum. Just by doing that they could get more posts than they do normally. Then maybe create discussion that interest them to see where others interests may overlap with theirs. For example I did this with @Mathew with rugby league and now we're always discussing the weekly rounds (well not now because the season ended!)

[xxMATTGxx]

Ok, but this isn't about you posting so much (albeit you do) it's that they post so low and if the case is they don't want to go around posting random things that don't interest them they should as part of their job welcome new members (nearly all of them) in the welcomes forum. Just by doing that they could get more posts than they do normally. Then maybe create discussion that interest them to see where others interests may overlap with theirs. For example I did this with @Mathew with rugby league and now we're always discussing the weekly rounds (well not now because the season ended!)

I kinda explained on why the other two don't post as much as I know they have expressed their feelings on the matter before. I'm sure Mike/Myke will post soon in this thread in regards of their posting and what they think about it though.

[Inseriousity.]

I'm currently working on something that'll hopefully get the Habbox name out there. Sadly I think some people seem to think that doing lots of events, comps and giveaways will get everyone here but Habbox was at its peak when it was the go-to site for rare values and everything else would've been added extras to keep them here. Essentially it means that Habbox needs something else unique that other fansites or Habbo (which has taken away a lot of the functions that fansites provided) do not offer and that Habbos actually want before Habbox will ever see signs of improvement and that's a task that's easier said than done.

[sex]

i see mike post way more than 4 times a week lol (well recently anyways)

[GoldenMerc]

By the time that's released (if thats v7 or not) Habbox won't b a fansite, it will be a dead gold fish :(

[xxMATTGxx]

By the time that's released (if thats v7 or not) Habbox won't b a fansite, it will be a dead gold fish :(

Mike isn't talking about V7.

---------- Post added 28-10-2012 at 11:19 PM ----------


i see mike post way more than 4 times a week lol (well recently anyways)

Mike as in Community Mike has posted more than 4 times for the past few weeks yeah.

[Kieran]

By the time that's released (if thats v7 or not) Habbox won't b a fansite, it will be a dead gold fish :(

Version 7 is coming along just nicely :)

[Inseriousity.]

It's not v7, it's something else that I don't really want to go into detail about right now cos they still need fine-tuning but as far as I know, it's something fansites don't really do.

As for the posting thing, I do not agree that moderators need to be posting 40 a week. As I've explained before, the whole point of a forum is that people post when they want to in the threads they want to post in. If there was a requirement, wouldn't you just be wondering if the only reason I posted in a thread was because I had to? I wouldn't really want that from any staff member regardless of rank. Instead, I believe moderators + management need to be creating the environment/atmosphere/spirit/whatever you want to call it that encourages people to post rather than forces them to. Whether the forum is successful at this is up for debate but as it's being described as a return to the --MAD-- era and this thread was seemingly moved, I'm going to suggest that there is still a lot of work left to be done.

[Chris]

The reason I brought moderator posting statistics back is because I think it's important for us to be involved more with the community. I have said to them that posts in any section will count towards it except for the staff forums so it really isn't difficult to make 6 posts a day. If you feel you are forcing yourself to post then whats the point in using the forum? It would look terrible if none of the moderators made posts when it's their job to look after the forum.

As for this thread being moved, I was expecting it to be something else which was a private issue that shouldn't have been put in the public forums.

[Inseriousity.]

I don't feel like I'm forcing myself to post that's the point. I would be forced if someone forced a quota per week on me.
So you moved a thread before you'd even read what it was about? Seems a backwards way to do moderation!

[Chris]

I don't feel like I'm forcing myself to post that's the point. I would be forced if someone forced a quota per week on me.
So you moved a thread before you'd even read what it was about? Seems a backwards way to do moderation!

Well seeing as the two previous threads were threads that had to be removed I thought it was the best option. No harm done by it as it was back within 30 seconds.

[Chippiewill]

Should AGMS have a minimum post count? Moderators should, they work on the forum. Mike works on the Habbo client, therefore he should be spending time in game visiting events, the help desk etc. making sure everything's up to scratch. Just like Myke should be checking up with any discipline issues within departments, and just like the non-existant AGM Dev should be whipping the site coders.


HabboxWiki I think is needed and it even comes up on Google when I search for things
I'd like to add to this point because it's so freaking crucial, I don't think that Habbox Wiki was every going to grab our own userbase and get them active in it. What will happen, I hope, is the same as Wikipedia. Our search engine rankings are slowly increasing and our self-linking is also improving, as this happens when people start to search for Habbo related stuff like say the Ochre Ice Cream maker (http://www.google.com/search?q=Ochre+Ice+Cream+Maker) Habboxwiki will be a nice high, or even top, listing with the Habbox name displayed proudly. Hopefully bringing in some new players interested in getting an edge.

[David]

I'd like to add to this point because it's so freaking crucial, I don't think that Habbox Wiki was every going to grab our own userbase and get them active in it. What will happen, I hope, is the same as Wikipedia. Our search engine rankings are slowly increasing and our self-linking is also improving, as this happens when people start to search for Habbo related stuff like say the Ochre Ice Cream maker (http://www.google.com/search?q=Ochre+Ice+Cream+Maker) Habboxwiki will be a nice high, or even top, listing with the Habbox name displayed proudly. Hopefully bringing in some new players interested in getting an edge.

http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=758835&p=7677262#post7677262

please. embarrassed for ever making the current logo

[Grig]

I'd like to add to this point because it's so freaking crucial, I don't think that Habbox Wiki was every going to grab our own userbase and get them active in it. What will happen, I hope, is the same as Wikipedia. Our search engine rankings are slowly increasing and our self-linking is also improving, as this happens when people start to search for Habbo related stuff like say the Ochre Ice Cream maker (http://www.google.com/search?q=Ochre+Ice+Cream+Maker) Habboxwiki will be a nice high, or even top, listing with the Habbox name displayed proudly. Hopefully bringing in some new players interested in getting an edge.

I think wiki will eventually gain more and more momentum.

One recommendation though is to standardize pages more. It seems that one page is laid out completely differently from another page about a similar think- case in point departments, look at radio and comps and see the difference. I'd prefer a standard layout, such as the main wiki does- intro, history etc etc. Also, need to make an account to edit the fact that someone wrote a lovely peace of propaganda that the radio gets 50 unique listeners off-peak. This isn't 2007 :P!

[Kieran]

Should AGMS have a minimum post count? Moderators should, they work on the forum. Mike works on the Habbo client, therefore he should be spending time in game visiting events, the help desk etc. making sure everything's up to scratch. Just like Myke should be checking up with any discipline issues within departments, and just like the non-existant AGM Dev should be whipping the site coders.


I'd like to add to this point because it's so freaking crucial, I don't think that Habbox Wiki was every going to grab our own userbase and get them active in it. What will happen, I hope, is the same as Wikipedia. Our search engine rankings are slowly increasing and our self-linking is also improving, as this happens when people start to search for Habbo related stuff like say the Ochre Ice Cream maker (http://www.google.com/search?q=Ochre+Ice+Cream+Maker) Habboxwiki will be a nice high, or even top, listing with the Habbox name displayed proudly. Hopefully bringing in some new players interested in getting an edge.

Not entirely sure that dig at the site coders was needed. If you hadn't noticed I do have a full time job. I gave up all my last days off to code the latest part of V7.

[Richie]

I'm sure someone has asked this already but I don't want to dig through threads, when is v7 coming?

[Kieran]

I'm sure someone has asked this already but I don't want to dig through threads, when is v7 coming?

It comes when it comes.

[Richie]

It comes when it comes.

Wasn't there a set date months ago? Surely if it was months ago it should nearly be completed?

[lawrawrrr]

I'm assuming things keep getting in the way - notably their jobs.

Anyway I agree with some of the things being said - and I think most of the issue comes from there being a lack of AGMs. When there was the 3 AGMs then Matt things seemed to work better - as people knew where to go and stuff to ask questions. I just actually sent Matt and Jin a little proposal I made for Habbox to make this work.

As for Mod post count - Chris enforced that; not Matt. If Jin wanted AGMs to be more active then I'm sure they'd deal with being made to post by him, but he's the only one with authority. To be honest, and I say this about all management - wouldn't you rather they were doing their jobs than posting on the forum all the time?

Oh wait, no, you'd rather moan at them for not doing their jobs and posting too much on the forum to be doing a good job. It's a vicious circle!

[Richie]

I'm assuming things keep getting in the way - notably their jobs.

Which is understandable but what I don't understand is, the release date was in like august or something? so surely if it was that long ago it was close enough to finish, so I'm a tad bit confused :P Can we at least take down the habboxlive website and have a basic request / radio player with no content until the main website is completed, everything has been out of date for so long now which makes the website look completely dead and when you're listening / browsing the website it makes the radio seem worse than it actually is, i don't think that even makes sense but I can't explain it properly. A small basic page with a player / request form with frank confused saying 'something new is coming soon...' is much better than a website that looks years old, at least those who don't use the forum will know things will be changing and might decide to stick around. That was designed when myke was the graphics manager, thats a long long time ago now lol.
xxMATTGxx;

[lawrawrrr]

Which is understandable but what I don't understand is, the release date was in like august or something? so surely if it was that long ago it was close enough to finish, so I'm a tad bit confused :P Can we at least take down the habboxlive website and have a basic request / radio player with no content until the main website is completed, everything has been out of date for so long now which makes the website look completely dead and when you're listening / browsing the website it makes the radio seem worse than it actually is, i don't think that even makes sense but I can't explain it properly. A small basic page with a player / request form with frank confused saying 'something new is coming soon...' is much better than a website that looks years old, at least those who don't use the forum will know things will be changing and might decide to stick around. That was designed when myke was the graphics manager, thats a long long time ago now lol.
@xxMATTGxx (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=1020);

I don't think they've ever had a release date. There was one they were trying to work to, but multiple things got in the way, and from what I heard there were components missing - I for one would rather wait for it to be completely finished and polished (and that's saying something considering the state of the news panel on v6).

Taking habboxlive.com down would impact the radio even more I think - there is information and things on there that will be on v7 (I assume) but isn't on v6.

[Calvin]

Wasn't there a set date months ago? Surely if it was months ago it should nearly be completed?I thought it was supposed to be done a while ago, but after reading Ross' post earlier in the thread about Rec not having time to do it and now it's only Kieran Intricat; doing it himself I think fair enough. Is there not any other coders that could help out with it?

Fair play to Kieran considering he has a full time job too.

[David]

I don't think they've ever had a release date. There was one they were trying to work to, but multiple things got in the way, and from what I heard there were components missing - I for one would rather wait for it to be completely finished and polished (and that's saying something considering the state of the news panel on v6).

Taking habboxlive.com down would impact the radio even more I think - there is information and things on there that will be on v7 (I assume) but isn't on v6.

they did have a date, they had it down to the hour but zuth delayed it cause hes a ****

[lawrawrrr]

they did have a date, they had it down to the hour but zuth delayed it cause hes a ****

They had a date which they published on their Twitter but it wasn't just Zuth that delayed the release. I know it was blamed on other departments and staff!!

[xxMATTGxx]

Wasn't there a set date months ago? Surely if it was months ago it should nearly be completed?

We did have a plan for August but a last minute (when I say minute, I mean by hours) issue caused us to not release it at all. A decision was made to continue work on V7 and then see where that would take us, a number of decisions has changed since then which you could say are good things. Not going to go into major details but like Kieran has said, it will be done when it's done.


Which is understandable but what I don't understand is, the release date was in like august or something? so surely if it was that long ago it was close enough to finish, so I'm a tad bit confused :P Can we at least take down the habboxlive website and have a basic request / radio player with no content until the main website is completed, everything has been out of date for so long now which makes the website look completely dead and when you're listening / browsing the website it makes the radio seem worse than it actually is, i don't think that even makes sense but I can't explain it properly. A small basic page with a player / request form with frank confused saying 'something new is coming soon...' is much better than a website that looks years old, at least those who don't use the forum will know things will be changing and might decide to stick around. That was designed when myke was the graphics manager, thats a long long time ago now lol.
xxMATTGxx;

That can be done but I have a feeling the Jade/Gina won't be too happy with that as that would limit them in a way of having control over the content. Unless we did pages for them on Habbox.com but urgh. I know Jade has been updating the content on the site though in terms of information.



I thought it was supposed to be done a while ago, but after reading Ross' post earlier in the thread about Rec not having time to do it and now it's only Kieran Intricat; doing it himself I think fair enough. Is there not any other coders that could help out with it?

Fair play to Kieran considering he has a full time job too.

We had an internal deadline and we hinted a release date on twitter. We aren't aware of any other coders who can be trusted with such a project.


they did have a date, they had it down to the hour but zuth delayed it cause hes a ****

I could blame him but I wouldn't blame him fully, although we did redesign the layout because of him but we could also say that was a good thing as we like it more than we did when Ben saw it.


They had a date which they published on their Twitter but it wasn't just Zuth that delayed the release. I know it was blamed on other departments and staff!!

I'll say certain people instead of departments but I won't go there :P

[Richie]

lethal gfx skills coming through +*+*+

http://i.imgur.com/k3qwi.png


obviously i was just messing around but you could do something like this maybe instead of having a massive dead page (not sure if the snippets are the same) just an idea

[David]

slow work in progress hahahaha

[Grig]

I preferred it when AGMs had a much more defined role. I can't tell what departments Myke looks after for example, or who takes care of news etc. There seems to be a radical shift of the role of staff AGM. I remember the staff AGM was the right hand man, defending and defining HX policies with the GM. It would be great to have a more vocal presence from people like that. To me it seems like atm some people are sticking around simply to stick around, and not because they genuinely have loads of ideas, want HX to improve or enjoy their jobs.

One thing people shouldn't do is that.

[Martin]

groggy 5am post: (will reply properly when I have woken up a bit)

V7 will be nice when it comes, but I don't think we should pin everything on it being a huge success or helping to improve Habbox just yet. I think there are far more current issues that could be resolved and improved and work needs to go into those. The same thing happened with V6 and I can't say it improved that much overall really in the end, sure it was a nice refreshing change, but it's not going to bring in stacks of new members.

Some of Habbox's problems can be blamed on Habbo's decline and Habbo introducing things conflicting with Habbox which has made us suffer. Fansites don't have the same presence on the client that they used to at all. I agree completely with Mike- people used to know the Habbox name for its rare values and stuff, always used to see it being advertised around the hotel, and now we can barely mention it without getting a ban haha.


In regards of AGM's, I think some of the roles have changed dramatically over the last year. The AGM Staff role seems to have been more laid back, sure enough adding permissions and occasionally telling a staff member off is okay, but I just feel like more could be done in terms of engaging with staff, getting to know staff, organising staff events to improve morale and promote team work and working closer with the GM and helping them with duties too and making their presence more known. Community wise I think it would be nice if Mike did a normal event occasionally, or went on the radio occasionally and stuff like that to just chip in and get involved with staff and stuff. I know there are other important things to do too but sometimes getting the basics right too can work wonders. Its all about creating a known AGM team on Habbo with people recognising the 'big 3' and them showing a united front working as a team. Barely see the three of them together these days. :P

One thing Matt told me which did concern me, but Im not too sure on was that AGMs dont give reports to managers/departments anymore or have much involvement in that. Sure giving managers lots of freedom is a good idea, but it is also important that a 2nd opinion from an AGM is gained sometimes and that things are constantly checked. Writing reports for community managers was my way of clarifying between us what was going on, what needed improving and to set some targets to ensure things moved up. It usually provided a nice discussion and stuff. Same with having regular chats with managers, making sure they are on top of things and discussing any ideas they may have and working with these. This enabled for cross-department communication too. Whilst managers meetings were a pain (with some being silly and misbehaving occasionally), I personally found them quite good for bonding with other managers, finding out quite interesting things and generally it was good team work, with people chipping in little ideas that perhaps nobody had thought about.

Really there has just been a big change to the dynamics of how people work, the defination of some of the roles, and there are quite a few staff who just lack the passion that some previous staff have had in making Habbox do well and putting time and effort into doing so. Of course people will have work and will need to prioritise, but I believe if you are going to pledge to give up time to make something a success then its not fair on everyone else if that isnt being done to a set standard, it just lets other people down and ends up screwing things up. Quite often it boils down to managers/AGMs not setting the required standards in the first place or monitoring effectively, but also quite often its just that some staff take the biscuit and just think its okay to not do much and get a free ride.

[xxMATTGxx]

lethal gfx skills coming through +*+*+

http://i.imgur.com/k3qwi.png


obviously i was just messing around but you could do something like this maybe instead of having a massive dead page (not sure if the snippets are the same) just an idea

I like your skills.


I preferred it when AGMs had a much more defined role. I can't tell what departments Myke looks after for example, or who takes care of news etc. There seems to be a radical shift of the role of staff AGM. I remember the staff AGM was the right hand man, defending and defining HX policies with the GM. It would be great to have a more vocal presence from people like that. To me it seems like atm some people are sticking around simply to stick around, and not because they genuinely have loads of ideas, want HX to improve or enjoy their jobs.

One thing people shouldn't do is that.

I liked it better when it was that as well but at the time of when Danube was around and Department Managers not being a fan of him they wanted it all changing so we didn't actually cover/focus on specific departments. It's something that would be good to bring back in a way but still let the managers have the freedom to do what they want to do with the departments. I have been sent a PM which mentions the idea of bring that back and making it clear to everyone who does what in terms of covering what departments and so on. I'll share it with the others later on today to get their thoughts on the idea.



One thing Matt told me which did concern me, but Im not too sure on was that AGMs dont give reports to managers/departments anymore or have much involvement in that. Sure giving managers lots of freedom is a good idea, but it is also important that a 2nd opinion from an AGM is gained sometimes and that things are constantly checked. Writing reports for community managers was my way of clarifying between us what was going on, what needed improving and to set some targets to ensure things moved up. It usually provided a nice discussion and stuff. Same with having regular chats with managers, making sure they are on top of things and discussing any ideas they may have and working with these. This enabled for cross-department communication too. Whilst managers meetings were a pain (with some being silly and misbehaving occasionally), I personally found them quite good for bonding with other managers, finding out quite interesting things and generally it was good team work, with people chipping in little ideas that perhaps nobody had thought about.

I've taken most of your post out, hope you don't mind. Not that I didn't read it just I wanted to reply to the part you mention my name and reports. While that is true I did mention earlier on this month that if there was improvements needed for that specific department then you should expect some kind of a report from a member of General Management that would list or go into depth about these changes and what needs to be done.

Martin, you just want to see my Doctor Who show become a permanent feature of Habbox ;)

[Foregetfuhl]

Which is understandable but what I don't understand is, the release date was in like august or something? so surely if it was that long ago it was close enough to finish, so I'm a tad bit confused :P Can we at least take down the habboxlive website and have a basic request / radio player with no content until the main website is completed, everything has been out of date for so long now which makes the website look completely dead and when you're listening / browsing the website it makes the radio seem worse than it actually is, i don't think that even makes sense but I can't explain it properly. A small basic page with a player / request form with frank confused saying 'something new is coming soon...' is much better than a website that looks years old, at least those who don't use the forum will know things will be changing and might decide to stick around. That was designed when myke was the graphics manager, thats a long long time ago now lol.
xxMATTGxx;

Have you not been looking at HabboxLive.com recently? It's been updated a substantial amount. Yes it still needs work but I updated it a small amount so that it least it looks like we care about the website instead of it being tossed aside. My main focus is and always will be the DJs and their listeners but I did note that the website was VERY outdated and its a work in progress. Nevertheless if v7 isn't here by Christmas. Expect a Christmas layout on HabboxLive

[Kieran]

That "release date" given for V7 back in August was an internal deadline that we as site coders were trying to work to. However, things such as Zuth releasing the original layout meant a new one had to be designed and completely reintegrated and then on the actual release date I was called in to cover some flights and beings as I have the main access to the development site it meant it would be hard to get a release out.

On top of this, we faced major issues with staff access as V6 was missing a lot of features that staff required and also a lot of the original features don't work properly. I recently opted for the decision to completely recode all the staff panels hence the delayed release time. I have now got Chippiewill; lending a hand with the coding so this should speed up the process slightly.

In terms of release date, who knows... I would say the site its self is probably about 95% complete. All that is left to do now is finish recoding the staff panel system.

[Inseriousity.]

As it was you tryna get out of them by getting dept managers to write their own that put a halt to reports it is quite funny seeing you advocate them now Martin. I suppose it's easier to be in favour of them when you don't have to write them. :P
Matt's recently brought in a new policy regarding AGM reports. I think the downside to them is that they often get repetitive. I don't think the roles have changed much. The focus has just shifted to a new medium. There was a time when an AGM checking up on you was a quick PM to see how you're doing but most communication has always been done in things like MSN conversations. I am always suggesting things for managers for their department. This idea that AGMs now just give total freedom to managers is a myth, we still hold them to account if things are going off course.

Meetings were pointless.

[Samantha]

Mike looks after Events, HxL, Comps, RV and Help Desk.
MattG looks after News, Graphics, Content and Forum.
Myke doesn't look after any specifically but can do if he sees fit.
That's what I was told, maybe bring back AGM Content?

[GommeInc]

It's amusing Habbox thinks it's a real business in need of meetings and AGM reports. Such a formal approach to being a fan site seems really damaging and sort of diverts attention away from what is actually important - current users, the quality of the site and new users. It explains why old staff didn't find Habbox a pleasing experience, as it's made what is essentially a project into a wannabe conglomerate.

It might explain why Habbox.com is a total mess as far as content goes and why no-one seems to care about the Habbox Wiki other than the content designers - the Wiki does seem like a wasteful project that seems more pleasing to create than to actually view. Judging by the lackluster comments about the Wiki, there isn't and wasn't a demand for a Habbo Wiki, although the poor choice of name might be the reason (it does seem like a Wiki about Habbox as far as the name goes)...

Wasn't the Wiki even created when Habbo was pulling out of fan sites? It seems a poor decision to ever create it based on that alone. It would of been good in 2004, but certainly not now.


Mike looks after Events, HxL, Comps, RV and Help Desk.
MattG looks after News, Graphics, Content and Forum.
Myke doesn't look after any specifically but can do if he sees fit.
That's what I was told, maybe bring back AGM Content?
Or just get rid of AGMs and replace them with the titles "Content Manager", "Community Manager", "General Manager" etc. They're not AGMs, another thing which never made sense with Habbox as it over-complicates a simple hierarchy structure by adding worthless titles. Those who currently hold the x,y,z Manager titles could be reduced to "Assistant xyx Manager" or simply "Head Content Designer", for example, as that's all they boil down to.

[xxMATTGxx]

It's amusing Habbox thinks it's a real business in need of meetings and AGM reports. Such a formal approach to being a fan site seems really damaging and sort of diverts attention away from what is actually important - current users, the quality of the site and new users. It explains why old staff didn't find Habbox a pleasing experience, as it's made what is essentially a project into a wannabe conglomerate.

It might explain why Habbox.com is a total mess as far as content goes and why no-one seems to care about the Habbox Wiki other than the content designers - the Wiki does seem like a wasteful project that seems more pleasing to create than to actually view. Judging by the lackluster comments about the Wiki, there isn't and wasn't a demand for a Habbo Wiki, although the poor choice of name might be the reason (it does seem like a Wiki about Habbox as far as the name goes)...

Wasn't the Wiki even created when Habbo was pulling out of fan sites? It seems a poor decision to ever create it based on that alone. It would of been good in 2004, but certainly not now.


Or just get rid of AGMs and replace them with the titles "Content Manager", "Community Manager", "General Manager" etc. They're not AGMs, another thing which never made sense with Habbox as it over-complicates a simple hierarchy structure by adding worthless titles. Those who currently hold the x,y,z Manager titles could be reduced to "Assistant xyx Manager" or simply "Head Content Designer", for example, as that's all they boil down to.

Habbox don't do meetings and haven't for a long long time, departments do reports to let their staff know how their performance is doing which they have always wanted and liked. In terms of AGM reports - That's only us suggesting improvements and what the department can do if a department is having a bad time. Otherwise it's mainly mentioned to them straight away via PM or a MSN chat like Mike has said.

The Wiki was created because Jin saw a need for one when he was looking at other wiki's and seen the quality of them. He then suggested the idea of HabboxWiki/HabboWiki and then it all started from there. You may not use it but it isn't a waste and offers a lot of information to people who need it.

Also ChippieWill's post:



I'd like to add to this point because it's so freaking crucial, I don't think that Habbox Wiki was every going to grab our own userbase and get them active in it. What will happen, I hope, is the same as Wikipedia. Our search engine rankings are slowly increasing and our self-linking is also improving, as this happens when people start to search for Habbo related stuff like say the Ochre Ice Cream maker (http://www.google.com/search?q=Ochre+Ice+Cream+Maker) Habboxwiki will be a nice high, or even top, listing with the Habbox name displayed proudly. Hopefully bringing in some new players interested in getting an edge.



Or just get rid of AGMs and replace them with the titles "Content Manager", "Community Manager", "General Manager" etc. They're not AGMs, another thing which never made sense with Habbox as it over-complicates a simple hierarchy structure by adding worthless titles. Those who currently hold the x,y,z Manager titles could be reduced to "Assistant xyx Manager" or simply "Head Content Designer", for example, as that's all they boil down to.

Titles are just titles at the end of the day. Doesn't mean they are worthless or anything like that. I suppose when you suggest changes like "Community Manager" that would be managing all community departments? So then for example the Events Manager will then become the Assistant Events Manager?

[Martin]

I like your skills.

Martin, you just want to see my Doctor Who show become a permanent feature of Habbox ;)

I think it is really nice when you do shows and stuff because a lot of members, especially new ones and stuff who have heard your name mentioned in the helpdesk etc, love to see GM getting stuck in and its a good way of doing so and setting an example etc.


As it was you tryna get out of them by getting dept managers to write their own that put a halt to reports it is quite funny seeing you advocate them now Martin. I suppose it's easier to be in favour of them when you don't have to write them. :P
Matt's recently brought in a new policy regarding AGM reports. I think the downside to them is that they often get repetitive. I don't think the roles have changed much. The focus has just shifted to a new medium. There was a time when an AGM checking up on you was a quick PM to see how you're doing but most communication has always been done in things like MSN conversations. I am always suggesting things for managers for their department. This idea that AGMs now just give total freedom to managers is a myth, we still hold them to account if things are going off course.

Meetings were pointless.

it was never a case of trying to get out of them, I guess I saw the same point as you that there isnt always that much to say in certain departments, I always struggled with departments like competitions who were always doing so well with not really that much that could be changed or improved. I don't think you understood my reasoning for them at the time, it was just made as a change to listen to them more rather than me banging on about the same old stuff, it worked well in some departments, however im pretty sure things reverted back to normal not long after. Personally I got a lot out of them, we set up targets and strategies to improve and in some cases just had a good natter which was nice. I know you think I just wanted to get out of them and/or was lazy but I really did try my hardest to work with people and muck in rather than just sit above them and observe and I guess that can either be a good thing or a bad thing

I'm not totally sure, but I'd say I probably wrote the most reports during that period than anyone and probably had the most to do. I didn't miss that many though and did try my hardest to get them done on time as per the policy set by the GM at the time. The fact is something has changed communication wise. Yes its always done on msn etc, but is it being done enough, is there a close enough bond with general management like there used to be. I find it worrying when certain department managers find it hard to talk to their own agm and instead go looking to others for help on basic department things and queries they have that could easily have been directed elsewhere.

I think there was a mixed opinion on meetings at the time, they were never really that formal, more like a big group chat and I guess I just enjoyed them because I found it interesting to hear what other departments are doing and stuff. I guess we could say that the weekly briefing which managers are forced to do each week has kind of taken over that and is the new way of finding out what people are doing minus the chat/getting to know each other more/fun bit. Can totally see Gomme's idea that its become far too serious in some cases and like a workplace rather than a fansite, but the overall morale of staff seemed much better back then, managers had a firm grip on departments and staff werent going above them moaning etc because things havent been done.

Maybe Myke can get staff working together more and push the emphysis that team work really does work. I would love there to be staff challenges again providing they are run properly, an incentive for staff to mix with others, get to know other departments and how things work more, reignite a passion for making Habbox stand out from the rest and how wonderful it can be. Far too much moaning these days from a lot of people when really it should be more fun, if we enjoy it I think the members will more too and get more involved.

The idea you have had for engaging a new userbase to Habbox sounds really good and you are totally right in that something unique and exciting needs to be introduced that other fansites can't offer. If 'ThisHabbo' can get 60+ listeners each day easily and be massively ahead of us in that way, then I don't see why we shouldnt be able to match that, we were top at one point and had a far bigger userbase. Working together is the key and ensuring staff members don't take the piss by being away all the time or barely online enough to contribute enough.

[GommeInc]

Habbox don't do meetings and haven't for a long long time, departments do reports to let their staff know how their performance is doing which they have always wanted and liked. In terms of AGM reports - That's only us suggesting improvements and what the department can do if a department is having a bad time. Otherwise it's mainly mentioned to them straight away via PM or a MSN chat like Mike has said.

The Wiki was created because Jin saw a need for one when he was looking at other wiki's and seen the quality of them. He then suggested the idea of HabboxWiki/HabboWiki and then it all started from there. You may not use it but it isn't a waste and ofters a lot of information to people who need it.

Also ChippieWill's post:

Titles are just titles at the end of the day. Doesn't mean they are worthless or anything like that. I suppose when you suggest changes like "Community Manager" that would be managing all community departments? So then for example the Events Manager will then become the Assistant Events Manager?
Aren't reports just another way of saying "We do not know what communication is?" Instead of writing reports, actually communicate with staff members and keep it up so that if a problem arises it's dealt with as soon as possible. You seem to partly do this already, but you may as well cut the reports nonsense completely as you do not need them. A fan site is meant to have a group of people interested in what they are doing and keeping up communication all the time, and if this goal succeeds then reports are not needed - unless you're purposely trying to make yourself seem more important than you actually are.

There wasn't an opening for a Wiki, perhaps in 2004 but not know. Anything outside the Habbo-sphere is useless information, Habbo have closed the doors that access fan sites and third-party information. It will never be popular, especially when it seems the Wiki is closed to the general editing public, completely ignoring why Wiki sites becomes popular - that anyone can edit. But that seems rather typical of Habbox, ignoring rather important details. If I read an article on, for example, the Sims Wikia or Nookipedia(?), I could edit it and it will appear or be read by a editor who will allow it or disallow it at their pleasure. People like to use Wiki sites to contribute if there is false or bias information (e.g. the Fansite page).

And you've over-complicated a simple hierarchy structure by chucking "assistant" in there for some unknown reason.

Top-level e.g. Owners and Senior Managers. Because Habbox Owners are uninterested, you can break top-level into two sub-levels - Owners at the top then General Manager.

Then you get Middle-Managers which the Assistant Managers fit comfortably within. So Community Manager, Staff Manager, Content Manager etc

Then you get First-Level Managers, people in charge of a group or department but report to a single middle manager when and if they need to. Under the Community Manager, you could have Forum Manager, Competition/Events etc. A Staff Manager is usually just a communication point or editor but have powers that keep them in the Middle. Content Manager would have under their line Trade Manager, Wiki Manager, Page Manager, News Manager etc.

It's really rather simple, the Assistant General Managers all have their own powers at present but the Assistant part makes them sound like the female dog to the General Manager, when this isn't entirely the case :P

[xxMATTGxx]

I'll reply back to it all fully in a couple of minutes just need to pop out but the wiki isn't closed off, you just need to create an account and you can then start editing away.

[GommeInc]

I'll reply back to it all fully in a couple of minutes just need to pop out but the wiki isn't closed off, you just need to create an account and you can then start editing away.
That's closed off. A real Wiki uses the guest system as it contains a heck of a lot of potential, gets people signing in and keeps interest. If people are coming on just for information then they are doing just that, there's little there to make them join the Habbox-sphere and get them involved with Habbox.

[xxMATTGxx]

That's closed off. A real Wiki uses the guest system as it contains a heck of a lot of potential, gets people signing in and keeps interest. If people are coming on just for information then they are doing just that, there's little there to make them join the Habbox-sphere and get them involved with Habbox.

If I remember correctly it wasn't always closed off we just had to do that due to the abuse. Chippiewill; can explain better hopefully.

---------- Post added 29-10-2012 at 03:33 PM ----------

No reports aren't that. Reports are there to show statistics to each staff member to show them how well they have done for that month. Example:

How many graphics they have made
How many hours they did in the HxHD
How many events they have done

Then normally they have comments which can contain good and bad things. These normally help the staff members to keep having a good activity in that department and then can also encourage others to do more. Do you have another way in mind that can be done?

I put the Assistant in there because you somewhat mentioned it in your post but I may have read it incorrectly and got confused by what you meant.



Aren't reports just another way of saying "We do not know what communication is?" Instead of writing reports, actually communicate with staff members and keep it up so that if a problem arises it's dealt with as soon as possible. You seem to partly do this already, but you may as well cut the reports nonsense completely as you do not need them. A fan site is meant to have a group of people interested in what they are doing and keeping up communication all the time, and if this goal succeeds then reports are not needed - unless you're purposely trying to make yourself seem more important than you actually are.

There wasn't an opening for a Wiki, perhaps in 2004 but not know. Anything outside the Habbo-sphere is useless information, Habbo have closed the doors that access fan sites and third-party information. It will never be popular, especially when it seems the Wiki is closed to the general editing public, completely ignoring why Wiki sites becomes popular - that anyone can edit. But that seems rather typical of Habbox, ignoring rather important details. If I read an article on, for example, the Sims Wikia or Nookipedia(?), I could edit it and it will appear or be read by a editor who will allow it or disallow it at their pleasure. People like to use Wiki sites to contribute if there is false or bias information (e.g. the Fansite page).

And you've over-complicated a simple hierarchy structure by chucking "assistant" in there for some unknown reason.

Top-level e.g. Owners and Senior Managers. Because Habbox Owners are uninterested, you can break top-level into two sub-levels - Owners at the top then General Manager.

Then you get Middle-Managers which the Assistant Managers fit comfortably within. So Community Manager, Staff Manager, Content Manager etc

Then you get First-Level Managers, people in charge of a group or department but report to a single middle manager when and if they need to. Under the Community Manager, you could have Forum Manager, Competition/Events etc. A Staff Manager is usually just a communication point or editor but have powers that keep them in the Middle. Content Manager would have under their line Trade Manager, Wiki Manager, Page Manager, News Manager etc.

It's really rather simple, the Assistant General Managers all have their own powers at present but the Assistant part makes them sound like the female dog to the General Manager, when this isn't entirely the case :P

[FlyingJesus]

just get rid of AGMs and replace them with the titles "Content Manager", "Community Manager", "General Manager" etc. They're not AGMs, another thing which never made sense with Habbox as it over-complicates a simple hierarchy structure by adding worthless titles. Those who currently hold the x,y,z Manager titles could be reduced to "Assistant xyx Manager" or simply "Head Content Designer", for example, as that's all they boil down to.

I think AGM roles used to make sense when Hx was a bigger and busier community. Back then the Staff AGM was the one who disciplined, rewarded, encouraged, and loosely organised all of the staff and to whom the managers were answerable if they were being lax in making the tighter organisational decisions within their departments, but now it seems like their actual titles mean nothing at all and instead it's just 3 "super managers" who shepherd a group of managers when that shouldn't be necessary. Nowadays it certainly makes no sense to have as many management figures as there are, so yeah I agree there needs to be a major reshuffle and new laying out of what ones roles actually are

It's a shame that the Staff AGM role was essentially nerfed just because staff were complaining about being made to actually do the work they'd signed up to do - Hx has been going down in slow skips and lazy bounds ever since staff roles were made more lax as people use their "jobs" just as a status rather than actually being passionate about it.

[sex]

I agree, you could easy do with getting rid of Myke and just have mike and matt do everything because that seems what is it basicaly atm.... myke does perms and the odd warning lol

[GommeInc]

If I remember correctly it wasn't always closed off we just had to do that due to the abuse. Chippiewill; can explain better hopefully.

---------- Post added 29-10-2012 at 03:33 PM ----------

No reports aren't that. Reports are there to show statistics to each staff member to show them how well they have done for that month. Example:

How many graphics they have made
How many hours they did in the HxHD
How many events they have done

Then normally they have comments which can contain good and bad things. These normally help the staff members to keep having a good activity in that department and then can also encourage others to do more. Do you have another way in mind that can be done? I know a lot of staff like their reports.

I put the Assistant in there because you somewhat mentioned it in your post but I may have read it incorrectly and got confused by what you meant.
Does your version of the Wiki system not have the Guest management system where they can edit Wiki pages, but the edits are not made active until a checker has evaluated the changes? Completely closing off the Wiki is just going to make you lose potential people interested in Habbo who may hold valuable information, and may then move on to joining other parts of Habbox.

It all seems a bit pointless telling people how many graphics they've churned out when it seems statistically valueless, consequential information they should individually be aware of. If they're doing good work just tell them and offer advice when and if they need it (providing hours worked seems more like you're going to harass them over how little they're on, when really it's on the value of the information given and individual merit, plus other environmental factors). Effective and continuous communication provides feedback immediately while a report just creates a you and them environment and is a waste of time when things should be done near on immediately, something that shouldn't exist on a fan site and barely should exist in an actual business. This is voluntary after all :P

[MKR&*42]

Does your version of the Wiki system not have the Guest management system where they can edit Wiki pages, but the edits are not made active until a checker has evaluated the changes? Completely closing off the Wiki is just going to make you lose potential people interested in Habbo who may hold valuable information, and may then move on to joining other parts of Habbox.

That used to be the case. We had to go through the list of changes made by non-staff and approve them, but for the life of me I cannot remember why it was disabled. I remember saying that it was faulty and then it sort of vanished/got removed I believe. This was a month or more ago.

[xxMATTGxx]

Does your version of the Wiki system not have the Guest management system where they can edit Wiki pages, but the edits are not made active until a checker has evaluated the changes? Completely closing off the Wiki is just going to make you lose people potential interested in Habbo who may hold valuable information, and may then move on to joining other parts of Habbox.

It all seems a bit pointless telling people how many graphics they've churned out when it seems statistically valueless, consequential information they should individually be aware of. If they're doing good work just tell them and offer advice when and if they need it (providing hours worked seems more like you're going to harass them over how little they're on, when really it's on the value of the information given and individual merit, plus other environmental factors). Effective and continuous communication provides feedback immediately while a report just creates a you and them environment and is a waste of time when things should be done near on immediately, something that shouldn't exist on a fan site and barely should exist in an actual business. This is voluntary after all :P


I do believe it does but It's been a while and I can't remember the reason why we took it off. So best way to see what Will has to say in regards of that.

I was giving you examples because nearly all the reports have a similar structure. So If I was a member of the events department I would get something like this:


xxMATTGxx
Total Events Held - 9
Events Booked - 10
Events Cancelled - 1
Events Missed -0

Comments:

*Good points and any improvements that could be made*

Targets

*Targets here, not used in all reports by using Events Department as an example*


I think it would be better to ask staff members if they like getting reports and seeing stats really.

[GommeInc]

I do believe it does but It's been a while and I can't remember the reason why we took it off. So best way to see what Will has to say in regards of that.

I was giving you examples because nearly all the reports have a similar structure. So If I was a member of the events department I would get something like this:



I think it would be better to ask staff members if they like getting reports and seeing stats really.
Hmm, that seems fine if reports are as simple as that. They seem a bit weird though, Inseriousity. makes a point that they seem a bit repetitive. Would they need these reports if continual feedback is given, like after each event by discussing how it went well etc? That seems a better learning process than a report which might not show the exact details, and the benefits of having information fresh in your head will fizzle out over time if the report is a monthly thing :P

If staff like them then it's fine, but keeping up communication between those involved should be key than a report which is more about statistics and quality feedback.


That used to be the case. We had to go through the list of changes made by non-staff and approve them, but for the life of me I cannot remember why it was disabled. I remember saying that it was faulty and then it sort of vanished/got removed I believe. This was a month or more ago.
Has the Wiki been updated or is there any update to resolve the problem? It would be worth while to allow guest editing. Over time you could get rollback editors and have the system entirely open to guests, and the rollbackers can be on hand to revert any bad edits :) It works surprisingly well on Wikia sites and independent Wikis.

[xxMATTGxx]

Hmm, that seems fine if reports are as simple as that. They seem a bit weird though, Inseriousity. makes a point that they seem a bit repetitive. Would they need these reports if continual feedback is given, like after each event by discussing how it went well etc? That seems a better learning process than a report which might not show the exact details, and the benefits of having information fresh in your head will fizzle out over time if the report is a monthly thing :P

If staff like them then it's fine, but keeping up communication between those involved should be key than a report which is more about statistics and quality feedback.

There is Feedback PM's from a number of departments if say Seniors/Managers have watched them host an event for an example and then they would get a PM highlighting the good parts and any bad parts if needed as well. Reports are more of a general thing which are normally done at the end of/start of each month.

I've created a thread in Habbox Staff only with a poll to see what they think about reports and go from there really.

[GommeInc]

There is Feedback PM's from a number of departments if say Seniors/Managers have watched them host an event for an example and then they would get a PM highlighting the good parts and any bad parts if needed as well. Reports are more of a general thing which are normally done at the end of/start of each month.

I've created a thread in Habbox Staff only with a poll to see what they think about reports and go from there really.
That should be fine enough, as long as the Managers don't over impose their ideas. An event could be a complete success even if it goes against a policy that may exist. It seems weird to PM when a Manager could just tell them on Habbo, but whatever seems most effective I guess.

Also I imagine people like the reports, when someone mentioned them earlier it seemed like they were huge, boring pieces of text done far too often. If they're that simple and done monthly then they could prove interesting, but emphasis should be on what made an event successful and go on from there rather than how many events were done :P It doesn't need to be written out formally either.

[xxMATTGxx]

That should be fine enough, as long as the Managers don't over impose their ideas. An event could be a complete success even if it goes against a policy that may exist. It seems weird to PM when a Manager could just tell them on Habbo, but whatever seems most effective I guess.

Also I imagine people like the reports, when someone mentioned them earlier it seemed like they were huge, boring pieces of text done far too often. If they're that simple and done monthly then they could prove interesting, but emphasis should be on what made an event successful and go on from there rather than how many events were done :P It doesn't need to be written out formally either.

I find it easier to talk to someone about something over the forum or even on Msn/Skype than Habbo itself to be honest. Plus you also got a record of what you have said to someone via the forum as well.

[GommeInc]

I find it easier to talk to someone about something over the forum or even on Msn/Skype than Habbo itself to be honest. Plus you also got a record of what you have said to someone via the forum as well.
You won't get banned for saying anything either :P

[nvrspk4]

Random comment: titles do matter, they keep people motivated and promote retention - something I've learned from an organization I run in real life.

[FlyingJesus]

I think reports are a good idea even as minimally done as they are, since it does provide an actual archive of someone's working history and allow for for management to take appropriate action without just being accused of making decisions on a personal level (not that there's a problem with doing that anyway on a site like this) but yeah I think it's a decent safety net for management to avoid potential uproar if someone loud gets suited and booted

Still think management structure needs redoing though :P

[MKR&*42]

Hmm, that seems fine if reports are as simple as that. They seem a bit weird though, @Inseriousity. (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=26409) makes a point that they seem a bit repetitive. Would they need these reports if continual feedback is given, like after each event by discussing how it went well etc? That seems a better learning process than a report which might not show the exact details, and the benefits of having information fresh in your head will fizzle out over time if the report is a monthly thing :P

If staff like them then it's fine, but keeping up communication between those involved should be key than a report which is more about statistics and quality feedback.


Has the Wiki been updated or is there any update to resolve the problem? It would be worth while to allow guest editing. Over time you could get rollback editors and have the system entirely open to guests, and the rollbackers can be on hand to revert any bad edits :) It works surprisingly well on Wikia sites and independent Wikis.

The wiki does get updated fairly regularly, I'm not too sure still why it hasn't been re-added in one of the updated @Chipppiewill; . When I was Senior Content Designer on the Wiki I believe I had the chance to rollback certain edits (and all wiki staff can undo the latest revision I believe). I agree with the option to allow guests to edit and to have their edits moderated, it was a shame it got removed.

[GommeInc]

The wiki does get updated fairly regularly, I'm not too sure still why it hasn't been re-added in one of the updated @Chipppiewill; . When I was Senior Content Designer on the Wiki I believe I had the chance to rollback certain edits (and all wiki staff can undo the latest revision I believe). I agree with the option to allow guests to edit and to have their edits moderated, it was a shame it got removed.
It would be nice to see it returned. It was an interesting experience when I did a few edits on a few independent Wiki sites - seeing how Guests and Members interact, and promoting long time editing members to rollbackers and gradually see them climb up through the system :)

[Grig]

I think AGM roles used to make sense when Hx was a bigger and busier community. Back then the Staff AGM was the one who disciplined, rewarded, encouraged, and loosely organised all of the staff and to whom the managers were answerable if they were being lax in making the tighter organisational decisions within their departments, but now it seems like their actual titles mean nothing at all and instead it's just 3 "super managers" who shepherd a group of managers when that shouldn't be necessary. Nowadays it certainly makes no sense to have as many management figures as there are, so yeah I agree there needs to be a major reshuffle and new laying out of what ones roles actually are

It's a shame that the Staff AGM role was essentially nerfed just because staff were complaining about being made to actually do the work they'd signed up to do - Hx has been going down in slow skips and lazy bounds ever since staff roles were made more lax as people use their "jobs" just as a status rather than actually being passionate about it.

Precisely, which is why I was campaigning for a change to the past in terms of the staff agm. It should be clear which AGM takes care of which department and the staff AGM role in the form is is now is extremely inefficient, but that could be down to the person within the role, who seems to be taking a laid-back behind the scenes approach, which is just wrong. I sometimes think it's just Matt and Mike running the place and forget Myke exists, which is a shame really.

Although I'm sure this issue has been brought up before, but not much was done.

[nvrspk4]

Could be argued that it's a good thing that the AGM structure changes with each team / as Habbox's needs change.

[Grig]

Could be argued that it's a good thing that the AGM structure changes with each team / as Habbox's needs change.

You could then argue whether the change is good nor not. Which is what I'm arguing in the sense that it's not :P.

[LiquidLuck.]

People are complaining, and I've read most of the previous comments on this thread and I do agree with them, but not many ideas are being given to step up the departments.

Events (mainly now with Habboxween) is hosting a lot, and EO's are doing their jobs.

The Help Desk has been loosing staff, but there is almost always someone behind the desk, again is there isn't, the problem is the Time Zone and I do think some departments should do like HxL and open applications for each time zone.

HxL DJs need to enjoy their job a bit more, indeed, because what I see a lot is users complaining that the DJs don't seem tor ead their requests, and I understand that if one DJ doesn't have that song then they can't put it, but they could download the song as their show is going on and try to put it on air when they have it. Also I've seen one DJ just saying that he didn't care if the listeners didn't like the songs he was playing as he did so that was all it mattered. I think this is one of the worse things a DJ can say, as he won't be a DJ if he doesn't have listeners.

Rare Values I think need to hurry a bit about checking the prices of furniture. For example now with Habboween, the furniture is going up and down and up and down, and even if some other non-staff people report it, they change it but just ignore and don't even check again. So yeah, I think they should go around shops and check the marketplace more.

The Department that I think has the biggest problems is News. We have so little staff and people don't care to join because they feel (and are right) that no one will read their reports. I enjoy being in News, but it is really sad to know that people just ignore my articles and just read it on the forum. One thing I suggested about this was that as soon as a member found out about new badges/furniture or whatever, they'd need to warn a News Staff and give them minimum two hours before posting it on the forum. Also other Habbox users should take a look at them and comment. Staff should give the first example and care about other Departments.

Other departments also have their problems but as I'm not exactly aware of what they are to be able to mention them, I'm just going to stop here.

[David]

the topic gentlemen, is unfair dismissals.
discuss!

habbox shouldnt take into account activity from external websites

[Kieran]

the topic gentlemen, is unfair dismissals.
discuss!

habbox shouldnt take into account activity from external websites

Be careful or someone will close this thread!

I disagree. I don't think Habbox has any business in what people say on other websites as long as it isn't directly related to the name Habbox and traceable back to the name. At the end of the day, this is a fansite for an online game.

[nvrspk4]

Discussing specific cases is the fastest way to get this thread closed...if you really want to discuss the general principle of off-Habbox interactions being used in firing then stick to a principle-based argument. Technically staff-discipline decisions rely very little on public input, unless one of their arguments appeals to a member of general management, but specific staff-discipline issues are not subject to member input unless submitted directly to a member of General Management (and even then, minimally so).

If you just want to talk about Ross's dismissal then at least do it in another thread so that you don't get this one shut.

Obviously I'm citing policies that I've known to be true, feel free to correct me if the policy has changed.

[Jordan]

If you want to discuss the unfair dismissals can you talk in general and not in specific cases as nvrspk has said.

[Grig]

The Department that I think has the biggest problems is News. We have so little staff and people don't care to join because they feel (and are right) that no one will read their reports. I enjoy being in News, but it is really sad to know that people just ignore my articles and just read it on the forum. One thing I suggested about this was that as soon as a member found out about new badges/furniture or whatever, they'd need to warn a News Staff and give them minimum two hours before posting it on the forum. Also other Habbox users should take a look at them and comment. Staff should give the first example and care about other Departments.

Other departments also have their problems but as I'm not exactly aware of what they are to be able to mention them, I'm just going to stop here.

Just touching upon news. Your suggestion was a bit silly because why should they? News reporters are expected to go out there, research and come back with the topic. There were feeds of unreleased rares even done for this, but no-one seems to keep track anymore. There was a possibility to build reputation like Pukehsldbdjshf (however you spell it), but it simply wasn't done. Unless it broke, then I'm mistaken.

Real life news returned, which I was against and also a lot of the time the articles are written in a more dreary way. There were some great reporters writing, I'm not sure if any are left (Alex for example). There were possibilities of integration with the forum, but that's very complicated. Sure, news has tons of things it can do differently, but at the end of the day it's up to whoever manages it and everyone has different visions.

[GommeInc]

Discussing specific cases is the fastest way to get this thread closed...if you really want to discuss the general principle of off-Habbox interactions being used in firing then stick to a principle-based argument. Technically staff-discipline decisions rely very little on public input, unless one of their arguments appeals to a member of general management, but specific staff-discipline issues are not subject to member input unless submitted directly to a member of General Management (and even then, minimally so).

If you just want to talk about Ross's dismissal then at least do it in another thread so that you don't get this one shut.

Obviously I'm citing policies that I've known to be true, feel free to correct me if the policy has changed.
It's sort of like you want this thread closed... No-one has mentioned a specific name yet in this thread yet you go straight ahead and say it... :P

Urgh, staff discipline on a fansite. Be human and just have a word, no-one is paid and if they've done a decent job then more reason to sort it out.


Real life news returned, which I was against and also a lot of the time the articles are written in a more dreary way. There were some great reporters writing, I'm not sure if any are left (Alex for example). There were possibilities of integration with the forum, but that's very complicated. Sure, news has tons of things it can do differently, but at the end of the day it's up to whoever manages it and everyone has different visions.
Depends on the demand really, but for all it's worth there is probably no reason to create a current affairs "real news" section. If anything you could have a feed that picks up BBC News, Sky, CNN etc., but nothing more.

[xxMATTGxx]

It's sort of like you want this thread closed... No-one has mentioned a specific name yet in this thread yet you go straight ahead and say it... :P

Urgh, staff discipline on a fansite. Be human and just have a word, no-one is paid and if they've done a decent job then more reason to sort it out.


Depends on the demand really, but for all it's worth there is probably no reason to create a current affairs "real news" section. If anything you could have a feed that picks up BBC News, Sky, CNN etc., but nothing more.

He was talking about a number of other posts that was in this thread. You seem to have missed it as it happened late last night/early morning but they were recently removed by a Super Moderator so yeah that is why it doesn't match up.

[GommeInc]

He was talking about a number of other posts that was in this thread. You seem to have missed it as it happened late last night/early morning but they were recently removed by a Super Moderator so yeah that is why it doesn't match up.
Is it not still inviting people to talk about his dismissal? I didn't know the reasons why but from that post you get a really good idea what the main reason was :P

[Samantha]

In some cases, I know the other day we didn't post the events returning thread until I'd written a news report for it, based on the number of replies in the thread and considering that they were just given the article link I think that was pretty successful.

Another thing is just the time from announcing news to get them out, don't get me wrong we have some staff members so eager to write and they do but it's just a process of getting more urgent news out sooner.

Grig; shockingly not many real life news reports are written and are usually only about Jan if they are, this could be due to others resigning but I don't think they want to write real life news as much.

When v7 gets here news reading and writing should get better.

[Grig]

It's sort of like you want this thread closed... No-one has mentioned a specific name yet in this thread yet you go straight ahead and say it... :P

Urgh, staff discipline on a fansite. Be human and just have a word, no-one is paid and if they've done a decent job then more reason to sort it out.


Depends on the demand really, but for all it's worth there is probably no reason to create a current affairs "real news" section. If anything you could have a feed that picks up BBC News, Sky, CNN etc., but nothing more.

Exactly. Why would I go on Habbox to read real-life news when I could get much better quality analytical news on a news website :P. It's a complete waste of time.

[xxMATTGxx]

Is it not still inviting people to talk about his dismissal? I didn't know the reasons why but from that post you get a really good idea what the main reason was :P

It was more ruining the general concept of this thread and making it change to talk about one specific person getting fired isn't really going to help the whole of Habbox.

[Kieran]

In some cases, I know the other day we didn't post the events returning thread until I'd written a news report for it, based on the number of replies in the thread and considering that they were just given the article link I think that was pretty successful.

Another thing is just the time from announcing news to get them out, don't get me wrong we have some staff members so eager to write and they do but it's just a process of getting more urgent news out sooner.

Grig; shockingly not many real life news reports are written and are usually only about Jan if they are, this could be due to others resigning but I don't think they want to write real life news as much.

When v7 gets here news reading and writing should get better.

The imperative being when ;)

[Samantha]

Exactly. Why would I go on Habbox to read real-life news when I could get much better quality analytical news on a news website :P. It's a complete waste of time.

Real life news focus on a variety of things. For example my weekly article is about gaming and goes on that type, others include others things that to someone could be valuable. I wouldn't get rid of it as afterall they're gaining experience. If habbo went down for a week, the habbo news would be minimal unless you want a running commentary on the downtime. No room reviews unless you ventured onto another hotel and interviews would get boring after a couple. That only leaves real life to write.

---------- Post added 31-10-2012 at 11:52 AM ----------


The imperative being when ;)

I wanted to sound hopeful as I want some things on v7 lol.

[FlyingJesus]

Real-life news on small articles of interest makes some sense as it might be something that people wouldn't otherwise see in mainstream news (as with the gaming article), but I think front page topics like Sandy and Iran and such should be left to the tabloids rather than making a bunch of kids who won't have access to the full facts attempt coverage, especially since as has been said people will go elsewhere for news on those things

[lawrawrrr]

Let me get this right...

Everyone moans when there's no real life news as none of you are interested in just reading Habbo...

So we bring back real life news.

Now you're moaning you don't want real life news?

I shouldn't be surprised really.

End of the day, Real Life news is often more popular with News Reporters, and we have it incase Habbo news is slow. It's difficult to get articles written before someone posts them on the forum, as it takes time to actually write, not counting getting the source and actually writing the article. It's just not possible most of the time - like Sam says, there is the occasional time when we do. Also trying to boost editorials more than articles - but these are a lot more difficult to write.

It would be easier if we had more staff, but it's difficult as not many people want to join.

[Zelda]

Yea me and Sam are probably the only ones writing them now.

I have to say tho that real life is a nice idea imo. I personally prefer like stories picked out from obscure sources or well hidden in news sites etc, but also reports more expressing views on current affairs and the like, as this offers something different.

News reading is a bit of a problem ill admit, but for outsiders it probably seems quite appealing due to no news on the habbo site now. We had quite a rise when me and Laura did a day in the life of, so I spose we just need to be looking at how to get more interest in.

[Futz]

how can you nitpick so many faults with such a small forum ran by a few people

[lawrawrrr]

I will be writing real life news again now - I've just been away from my roles for the last 3 weeks. Getting back into it this week though!!

[Zelda]

Ye that'll be good having lawrawrrrrrrrrrr back to writing again this week, but as you said we really are suffering from a small department. Also I do definitely agree more editorials would be useful, as that actually offers a unique service from both websites and from hxf.

[FlyingJesus]

It's difficult to get articles written before someone posts them on the forum, as it takes time to actually write, not counting getting the source and actually writing the article.

Which is another reason that having articles based on smaller and more specialised stories would be better than attempting to cover big news stories, especially since they are constantly changing and you're not a real news team with your own sourcing abilities, so as you say it's simply not possible to properly cover them


I have to say tho that real life is a nice idea imo. I personally prefer like stories picked out from obscure sources or well hidden in news sites etc

Absolutely, or if you have your own special interests (technology, medicine, social issues, etc) you might come across a story about that which can be put into an article and Hx will be one of maybe 5 sites to talk about it rather than one of 5,000, which is far better for the readership as they won't just be tempted to go elsewhere

[lawrawrrr]

Which is another reason that having articles based on smaller and more specialised stories would be better than attempting to cover big news stories, especially since they are constantly changing and you're not a real news team with your own sourcing abilities, so as you say it's simply not possible to properly cover them


We (generally) don't report on big news stories though... besides when it comes to sourcing, we have a long list, and I personally go through the news stories finding out correct facts and stuff to make sure they're good. Hardly any news team (college newspapers etc) have their own sourcing team, doesn't make the stories less authentic.....

[FlyingJesus]

Just as authentic storywise perhaps, but as you said most of the time someone will have picked up a source and flung it in Current Affairs long before you've had time to write a decent article about whatever's happened, and with big breaking news the whole story could have changed by the time it's published on Hx :P regardless, I still feel it'd be far more fun to focus on smaller stories that have more of a personal touch, especially considering the size of the department and readership

[lawrawrrr]

Just as authentic storywise perhaps, but as you said most of the time someone will have picked up a source and flung it in Current Affairs long before you've had time to write a decent article about whatever's happened, and with big breaking news the whole story could have changed by the time it's published on Hx :P regardless, I still feel it'd be far more fun to focus on smaller stories that have more of a personal touch, especially considering the size of the department and readership


No, I said that about Habbo News. The bigger news stories are discussed in current affairs, yes, but a lot of the real life articles we (I say we I mean Janice;) writes are things that aren't even mentioned on here. Could do with a lot more promotion and stuff, and I have plans, but I'd like to wait until V7 is released, if it isn't much longer, as it makes the whole system so much easier.

[Zelda]

Yea I do try to write stuff that people are unlikely to have seen on forum and hopefully even on websites much. A lot of this comes to articles on broader topics, particular interest in science ones for me but I try to keep it spread over a range of many topics. Would be nice if we got more reports of this sort wrtten, but the fact of the matter is our depart is so small atm, and therefore we really do need to focus on habbo a lot. Problem solved if we get more applying basically.

[LiquidLuck.]

Just touching upon news. Your suggestion was a bit silly because why should they? News reporters are expected to go out there, research and come back with the topic. There were feeds of unreleased rares even done for this, but no-one seems to keep track anymore. There was a possibility to build reputation like Pukehsldbdjshf (however you spell it), but it simply wasn't done. Unless it broke, then I'm mistaken.

Real life news returned, which I was against and also a lot of the time the articles are written in a more dreary way. There were some great reporters writing, I'm not sure if any are left (Alex for example). There were possibilities of integration with the forum, but that's very complicated. Sure, news has tons of things it can do differently, but at the end of the day it's up to whoever manages it and everyone has different visions.

Why should they what? Which part are you talking about? Wait to post something? It's not the fact that it's silly or not. Even when reporters do their researches on other fansites, it takes a few minutes to write the article and then get the images, when on the forum, you can simply say for example ''oh new badges out'' and post a poor picture of them. I'm in News and I think it's awful when someone is wondering about new badges/furniture, I tell them to check the news in habbox.com and they answer me ''Oh I just don't read the news'', when we put our time into those reports.
I think that the best that News could have is all the other staff from other departments should help out and read some reports, comment some articles. I think it's the department in worse state, but people don't care as much since it isn't the department that brings more people to join the forum.
I know it's up to the managers, and I think they are trying to make it better, but when there aren't suggestions, it's difficult to do anything, even more with the community doesn't care.

[Abrood]

(Y)

Edited by Matts (Forum Super Moderator): Please don't post pointlessly!

[Zelda]

Touhing on zahz point, I wouldn't say we the worst off depart (hxl and rv seem in worse state tbh), remember that we have people who aren't on the forum who will regularly come and read the news on the site. What we really need to focus on is attracting those on the forum from the point that's been establishes before - it is simply easier to check forum.

Methods such as edtorials, quirky real life, and extra research into info that ain't on the forum, as well as expressing opinions and evaluating things, should help with this, and it might be a nice idea for like moderators of the news forum section to edit in news report links to the first post once their done, to promote further awareness.

[Grig]

Why should they what? Which part are you talking about? Wait to post something? It's not the fact that it's silly or not. Even when reporters do their researches on other fansites, it takes a few minutes to write the article and then get the images, when on the forum, you can simply say for example ''oh new badges out'' and post a poor picture of them. I'm in News and I think it's awful when someone is wondering about new badges/furniture, I tell them to check the news in habbox.com and they answer me ''Oh I just don't read the news'', when we put our time into those reports.
I think that the best that News could have is all the other staff from other departments should help out and read some reports, comment some articles. I think it's the department in worse state, but people don't care as much since it isn't the department that brings more people to join the forum.
I know it's up to the managers, and I think they are trying to make it better, but when there aren't suggestions, it's difficult to do anything, even more with the community doesn't care.

Wait, you spend minutes on news articles?! It is a process much longer than that. Probably I don't get your post, so you need to be more concise than that. I would rather read news on the forum as it's posted quicker than HX is atm. Didn't get any of your questions and I'd reevaluate if you spend "minutes". Besides, news used to be respected, now you can get in with SPAG errors, I'm sure people like Adzeh would be turning in their Habbox corpse per say if they see it.

It's not in the worst state. However, it could be much better and it's ignored because not everyone understands the ins and outs of news.

Plus, I agree on specialized articles, don't cover crap that is on mainstream media etc. This is why myself and Martin were successful when we just had entertainment and tech news because people could make them unique etc. Only unique weekly articles with analysis should be allowed as real life news stories, not paraphrasing some news website that does the story more justice than a bunch of teenagers ever could.

[Samantha]

Wait, you spend minutes on news articles?! It is a process much longer than that. Probably I don't get your post, so you need to be more concise than that. I would rather read news on the forum as it's posted quicker than HX is atm. Didn't get any of your questions and I'd reevaluate if you spend "minutes". Besides, news used to be respected, now you can get in with SPAG errors, I'm sure people like Adzeh would be turning in their Habbox corpse per say if they see it.

It's not in the worst state. However, it could be much better and it's ignored because not everyone understands the ins and outs of news.

Plus, I agree on specialized articles, don't cover crap that is on mainstream media etc. This is why myself and Martin were successful when we just had entertainment and tech news because people could make them unique etc. Only unique weekly articles with analysis should be allowed as real life news stories, not paraphrasing some news website that does the story more justice than a bunch of teenagers ever could.

One thing, for a couple of weeks we've had less people editing News Reports and less SPAG errors go under the radar now, I seem to remember a while back that it was the same when you were in the department too. Anyway I know it takes me longer than minutes to write News Reports as I always delete it all if I don't like it and start again :P.

[Grig]

One thing, for a couple of weeks we've had less people editing News Reports and less SPAG errors go under the radar now, I seem to remember a while back that it was the same when you were in the department too. Anyway I know it takes me longer than minutes to write News Reports as I always delete it all if I don't like it and start again :P.

Which is why when I looked at a few latest news articles just now, I saw some SPAG errors...

[Chippiewill]

That's closed off. A real Wiki uses the guest system as it contains a heck of a lot of potential, gets people signing in and keeps interest.
This is actually a leftover from when Zuth was in charge. Originally anonymous editing was disabled whilst HxW was a "secret", this continued as we were having severe problems with spambots. Zuth was fairly against using using a captcha for whatever reason so we never set it up (As I believe would make most sense) so that people could anonymously edit with a captcha.

I'll change this tomorrow, need to think through some stuff first though as I think the captcha is a bit bugged at the moment.


Does your version of the Wiki system not have the Guest management system where they can edit Wiki pages, but the edits are not made active until a checker has evaluated the changes?
We used to have this system (Although still only registered users could use it) but it was very buggy, counter-intuitive, pages would go days (Sometimes months!) without being approved. All in all it was a terrible system.

[Samantha]

Which is why when I looked at a few latest news articles just now, I saw some SPAG errors...

If they've been on days then begin to worry, a few hours isn't as bad. Like I said we only have 3 people who can edit (some doing other things or who aren't online I might add).

[Grig]

If they've been on days then begin to worry, a few hours isn't as bad. Like I said we only have 3 people who can edit (some doing other things or who aren't online I might add).

Oh forgot to see that :P! I looked back and apart from lack of any interesting sentence structure (in which there are errors from time to time) and adjectives, it seems fine to me :). Although those two issues need careful editing!

[GommeInc]

This is actually a leftover from when Zuth was in charge. Originally anonymous editing was disabled whilst HxW was a "secret", this continued as we were having severe problems with spambots. Zuth was fairly against using using a captcha for whatever reason so we never set it up (As I believe would make most sense) so that people could anonymously edit with a captcha.

I'll change this tomorrow, need to think through some stuff first though as I think the captcha is a bit bugged at the moment.


We used to have this system (Although still only registered users could use it) but it was very buggy, counter-intuitive, pages would go days (Sometimes months!) without being approved. All in all it was a terrible system.
They take weeks if not months to work properly. The more people that edit the more people you can promote to be in charge of guest edits. It's what a few Wiki sites I helped out on did, it took quite a while but it is well worth it. After a while you can enable total guest edits and rely on any rollbacker editors to deal near on instantly with any malicious edits that arise.

It'll be worth it to re-enable guest edits in whatever way possible, if there is interest in the Wiki you may find useful information.

On a side note: Remove the Habbox entry from the "Fansite" page, it reeks of bias and being the only fansite on that page it comes off as self-glorification, when it's meant to be a Habbo Wiki, not a Habbox one :P

[RyRy]

These kinds of threads are made like every few months I swear. Isn't it just easier for Habbox to do a questionnaire on the HxF announcements every 6 months so Habbox can focus on what the users think is most important, thus letting the site cater for the current users and hopefully attract newer users?

Saying "the forum is declining", "Moderation is lacking" & "The site needs updating" from a couple of people doesn't account for the whole of the active user base you know. If there were actual numbers behind all this stuff I'd think the issues that users are most concerned about would have more attention.

[Catchy]

These kinds of threads are made like every few months I swear. Isn't it just easier for Habbox to do a questionnaire on the HxF announcements every 6 months so Habbox can focus on what the users think is most important, thus letting the site cater for the current users and hopefully attract newer users?

Saying "the forum is declining", "Moderation is lacking" & "The site needs updating" from a couple of people doesn't account for the whole of the active user base you know. If there were actual numbers behind all this stuff I'd think the issues that users are most concerned about would have more attention.

I agree with this, if I had £1 for the amount of times I'd heard "we not getin any new memberz" I'd be so rich!!! Need to stop talking about it and do something about it imo. Then again in Habbox's defense it has been going strong(ish) for how many years? I really can't see it growing anymore than it is now.

[Chippiewill]

They take weeks if not months to work properly. The more people that edit the more people you can promote to be in charge of guest edits. It's what a few Wiki sites I helped out on did, it took quite a while but it is well worth it. After a while you can enable total guest edits and rely on any rollbacker editors to deal near on instantly with any malicious edits that arise.

It'll be worth it to re-enable guest edits in whatever way possible, if there is interest in the Wiki you may find useful information.
Not sure what you're trying to argue here. Plan is tommorow to enable anonymous editing with captcha before you post. Any spammers / trashers will be efficiently blocked.

I will not re-implement a revision approval system, it is not worth the effort.


On a side note: Remove the Habbox entry from the "Fansite" page, it reeks of bias and being the only fansite on that page it comes off as self-glorification, when it's meant to be a Habbo Wiki, not a Habbox one :PMy response to the content of Wiki pages has and always will be that if you have an issue you should ideally change it yourself. If your change is reverted then PM me and I will fix it. In this case I will get it sorted however the content department is responsible for curating the wiki, not accepting content change requests.

[LiquidLuck.]

Wait, you spend minutes on news articles?! It is a process much longer than that. Probably I don't get your post, so you need to be more concise than that. I would rather read news on the forum as it's posted quicker than HX is atm. Didn't get any of your questions and I'd reevaluate if you spend "minutes". Besides, news used to be respected, now you can get in with SPAG errors, I'm sure people like Adzeh would be turning in their Habbox corpse per say if they see it.

It's not in the worst state. However, it could be much better and it's ignored because not everyone understands the ins and outs of news.

Plus, I agree on specialized articles, don't cover crap that is on mainstream media etc. This is why myself and Martin were successful when we just had entertainment and tech news because people could make them unique etc. Only unique weekly articles with analysis should be allowed as real life news stories, not paraphrasing some news website that does the story more justice than a bunch of teenagers ever could.

You realise ''minutes'' can go from 1 to how many you want.. About what Jan said, News looks like the one with less hits. At least in HxL they have some listeners, and Idk about RV, but even when I wasn't Staff, I used to look at it when I wasn't sure about a price, but like I said, I feel like they need to be quicker than they are in our days, and they should do regular updates for example each staff would have to pick one of the furni seccions and find out if the prizes are still the same, and for that reason right now I confirm with the marketplace.
But News only has like 1/2 comments, mostly from me, that's what I meant, and it's really a shame because like I said before, we spend time on those articles for more people to read them.
About the SPAG erros, that's not really true. Before the post of an article we have to do like the Microsoft word diccionary thing and check which words are wrong. Of course the managers/head reporters update some of our words/sentences, but I doubt they didn't before.

About real life news, this is a Habbo fansite so we need news about Habbo more than we need others. If people who aren't part of the forum read habbox for news, then that's what they will want.

[Grig]

You realise ''minutes'' can go from 1 to how many you want.. About what Jan said, News looks like the one with less hits. At least in HxL they have some listeners, and Idk about RV, but even when I wasn't Staff, I used to look at it when I wasn't sure about a price, but like I said, I feel like they need to be quicker than they are in our days, and they should do regular updates for example each staff would have to pick one of the furni seccions and find out if the prizes are still the same, and for that reason right now I confirm with the marketplace.
But News only has like 1/2 comments, mostly from me, that's what I meant, and it's really a shame because like I said before, we spend time on those articles for more people to read them.
About the SPAG erros, that's not really true. Before the post of an article we have to do like the Microsoft word diccionary thing and check which words are wrong. Of course the managers/head reporters update some of our words/sentences, but I doubt they didn't before.

About real life news, this is a Habbo fansite so we need news about Habbo more than we need others. If people who aren't part of the forum read habbox for news, then that's what they will want.

You don't need to tell how me the news process... I know the steps to write an article. If you think that MS Word is going to detect every single error, you're wrong. Often there is word order or some grammatical issues that MS Word does not detect. MS Word is for basic spelling and grammar.

I see what you mean by comments and I understand, it's a shame really. It has potential, but there's no point in maintaining a department if it doesn't generate hits. I would say it'll be interesting to see if they have a hit counter atm. I know on the old Joomla it broke; not too sure how the management system on the current website works.

[LiquidLuck.]

You don't need to tell how me the news process... I know the steps to write an article. If you think that MS Word is going to detect every single error, you're wrong. Often there is word order or some grammatical issues that MS Word does not detect. MS Word is for basic spelling and grammar.

I see what you mean by comments and I understand, it's a shame really. It has potential, but there's no point in maintaining a department if it doesn't generate hits. I would say it'll be interesting to see if they have a hit counter atm. I know on the old Joomla it broke; not too sure how the management system on the current website works.

It's not with MS Word. It's with a similar concept. And about the semantics problems in some articles, that's why the managers/head reporters are there for as well.

I think that if news is a department checked mainly by people that aren't a user of the forums, then if our users/staff did a little effort to read the news and even find out stuff they didn't know about, then it would probably generate more hits.

What do you mean by hit counter btw?

[xxMATTGxx]

A hit counter keeps a record of how many people have visited a specific page of a website.