Action Plan

[Inseriousity.]

Hey,

I've been wanting to write this feedback thread for a while but decided to wait it out and see if I could be surprised. When I resigned from AGM, I resigned because I felt the general management team needed to be friends and while I don't think we hated each other's guts (could be wrong), there wasn't any of the banter and camaraderie that a good strong team needs. Habbox is in a slump so it really needed that to help boost it out of it. I recommended Jade because afaik Jade and Matt talked more consistently than the occasional conversations I ever had with him while also having the creativity and determination to improve things. I say all this because the general management team being good friends doesn't necessarily result in a more constructive team and some of the horror stories I've heard suggests that the current team is actually doing more harm than good so after Martin's firing, I decided to make this thread to perhaps turn the spotlight onto the general management team rather than the department managers.

No-one is irreplaceable
This is a principle I've stuck by throughout my time at Habbox. Everyone can be replaced; trialists, staff, management, general management and it's stupid to think that the higher up the ladder you go, the more irreplaceable you are. I've also seen how damaging it can be when someone believes they're irreplaceable. They get arrogant, they feel untouchable as if they can do anything and it doesn't matter or they no longer do the work they did to get to that place of feeling irreplaceable and too valuable to let go and do the bare minimum and allow others to do it.

Matt was going to resign but decided to stay after Jin persuaded him to. I don't have the full details obviously but from what I gathered, Jin didn't really trust anyone else to replace him and y'know what, that's fair enough because it's clearly a big job and you don't just want anyone in the position but from that moment on, they really should've been keeping a lookout for the next GM (even if that person wasn't necessarily staff or in the general management team already) because it feels like Matt is just going through the motions and I remember he turned into the worst troll ever for a few months (thankfully he calmed down). This brings me nicely to what I think is the main cause of the downturn.

Lack of vision + leadership
I couldn't stand Oli. He deliberately kept policies not because they were any good but because I got so wound up about them and clearly he found it amusing to have that control. However, on the rare occasion when we weren't trying to get our scalp, I remember asking him what his vision was and he was able to state it quite clearly (focus on the noobs in brief if you're wondering) and it was also where we agreed with each other. Everything Oli did was focused on that vision and if it didn't fit in with that vision then it was quickly discarded - that's not to say older members were completely ignored because obviously he had to find that balance and most things to attract newbies can appeal to older members as well - which people found harsh but that was leadership and he had the drive to see it through. I do not feel that Matt has any vision or idea what to do next. It has always seemed to me that he is merely biding his time for someone else to come up with the next ideas rather than working on his own. Rule 1 of how not to lead is to wait around for someone else to lead. I'd actually say that Matt is not alone in this and many managers have fell into this trap but it's more noticeable with Matt when he is top dog. To also be fair to Matt, when the chips are down, he can also see things through so he's not entirely incapable but it's not very consistent.

Laziness
This feedback thread isn't about how I was an amazing AGM who was perfect. I'll elaborate further in this point. I believe the lack of leadership has resulted in a lazy atmosphere in general management. There's no drive or passion from the leader then it's quite discouraging. Putting policies into place is tough. It's not as easy as saying here's a new policy. You've got to create a sustainable system or structure and identify potential issues before they occur so when obstacles inevitably arose, it was far easier to leave it and come back to it later than take it head on and there would be no consequence for not doing so because of Matt's lack of leadership. I think it'd be unfair to completely blame Matt for that. I am responsible for my own choices and fell into that trap myself but the point I'm making here is that it is made too easy a trap to fall into. Despite my AGM record not being particularly thrilling, I am very proud of my work in competitions management and we now have an AGM who hosted rare giveaways even though she wasn't a manager and as I recall was filled with ideas and thinking of solutions to problems (even if I didn't always agree with them). It's now been a couple of months and all we've had so far is a rehash of Hx24 besides from the usual seasonal events and I can't help but wonder if a combination of these factors mentioned already have helped this.

I think a lot of attention has been paid to how some department managers manage their departments and while they aren't completely off the hook, if recent stories I've heard are true then it is little wonder that morale is exceedingly low. General management should be supporting managers to help them improve not belittling them into the ground. You should be creating a dialogue where ideas can be discussed and bounced back and forth then support their implementation not simply berating them for not being good enough because yeah that'll improve things clearly.

Action Plan
The solution to all of this then I feel is an action plan. I think there's a fairly vague version already but a more detailed action plan to help establish a vision. By vague, I mean "improve listeners", "get more members" without actually saying how or what you're going to do or put in place to help that. This could be posted publicly then everyone will know where Habbox is heading. I don't really like threads that post a load of problems without any ideas so here are a couple of what I was working on as AGM and think could benefit if they were taken forwards.

1. Tokens/Habbo integration. I posted a thread in forum management ages ago about this then never carried it through: add credits to the tokens system and replace 'rep' in prizes with tokens. I came across the obstacle that everyone had lots of tokens already and figured it'd bankrupt Habbox straight away so see point 'laziness' because if you just weathered that storm then it'd calm down after that and mr-trainor came up with the idea of limiting the amount of times you can get it per month as well. I regret not pushing that one through.

2. Credit Exchange. If anyone is wondering what that little section to the side of my lottery room was all about, the idea was that it'd be the place of credit exchange with no commission. You have a gold bar and want bronze coins, here's 50 bronze coins. Not having to lose out on credits might have made it an appealing attraction to non-members. Again, bankrupting Habbox or just being saddled with all these gold bars because everyone wants bronze coins means that I got stumped by this one. I think a possible solution is below and it might be a worthwhile idea to revisit. I'm still 50/50 on this one.

3. Runescape Achievements. I think the awards system is pointless so adopting a Runescape Achievements system could be a way forward. For those who are unaware, the runescape task system is that you complete tasks (some serious, some not so serious) that have a range of difficulties for different areas of the game. Runescape is largely built so that this is fairly straightforward whereas at Habbox it'd be a lot trickier hence why this never really got off the ground either but I do think it's a good idea as it would be something to aim for and give newer members something to do to get involved with the easy tasks and older members more of a challenge with the harder challenges. It's also a way to show off all of what Habbox has to offer (instead of 'towns/cities', it'd be different departments: forum, habbox, habboxlive, events, hxhd). Obstacles for this are: what would the tasks be, how would you prove youve done the task.

4. Bring back HabboxTV. Admittedly, this isn't a project I was working on at the time but I think it's something worth exploring. I present to you HabboxTube: a youtube for Habbo videos. It's a bit of a niche area so perhaps that's a bit ridiculous although I still believe that a good way to get out of the slump is to offer something unique. I tried to introduce radio plays and that was a complete failure but I still believe in the concept and think it might be the perfect opportunity to bring HabboxTV back. I say this because afaik, Laura is the current content manager and is very keen on the idea herself (unless I've imagined reading this somewhere which would be embarrassing) so it could easily be incorporated into that department. To bring up why I mentioned radio plays, as well as the text on the screen that you can read, there could be voice actors as well. Might give it more depth or make them even more incredibly cheesy than they already are but yes that would be the main output for Habboxtube but there could be competitions or viral videos made. Anything to get Habbox back on the map really.

5. More big events. This one's cheating because I don't really have any ideas at the moment but there was a time when there was something big going on at least every 2 months. Nowadays it seems everyone just waits for the next seasonal event then everyone pitches in but everything drowns each other out. This point is more to the whole of management rather than just general management but general management do need to support that process as well. It's free advertising for your department if you do something outside the norm outside the usual timeframe. Do something big during a seasonal event and while appreciated, it just gets lost with everything else going on. Do something big outside of that and you can get a forum notice all for yourself! You can see for yourself on the "Habbox Competitions" page examples of how I did this when I was in competitions manager (and if you dare say 'well you were comps manager, im just a content manager so that's not what we do', I will bury you alive).

6. Funding. This isn't my own idea, it's FlyingJesus' but it's an idea I support in principle so I've added it here. If we can get funding for the events department to start giving out more consistently good prizes then that'd be great. I know Tom wants a fully funded department but I've done the maths and it sounds almost impossible to do so straight away (If you say an average event has 3 rounds and a 2c prize per round then maximum would be 1008 credits a week. More realistically, I'd say 600-700 when it's at its peak but you've got to account for these things) but it's definitely a goal to work towards. The grabber has been changed from 1 1c one to 3 different grabbers and while I've been critical in this thread, I'd say this is a welcome change so make this grabber a weekly event in the calendar at the very least especially now that there is also an event area for someone to host an event as well (another welcome change) and then use that funding to work with developing a better prize fund for the events department.

7. Habbo rooms. I've said this elsewhere but building more popular Habbo rooms and linking them up to the help desk would be a good idea (including the grabber/lottery room btw). One idea I had was one of those 1 room mazes where at the end you put yourself in for a big credit prize. If they signed up to the forum with a screeny of them in the room saying the message (changes every week/month) then someone logging in and welcoming all the newer members who signed up just for it in an attempt to get them to stay. Either way, linking to the help desk, there's usually someone in there (even if there isn't anyone behind the desk) who could welcome them and show them what Habbox has to offer.

Those are just a few ideas to consider. I am aware that making this thread means I am opening myself up to criticism of my own time as AGM and that's understandable but after hearing about what the general management team are (not) doing, I decided to speak up and hope this can raise an interesting discussion. Oh and I know this is really critical but I can only go from my own perspective and what I've been hearing from others so if someone wishes to make a defence of the general management team to provide a bit of balance then please feel free!

[dbgtz]

The problem I see with your action plan is you've listed what they should do but not how to get there. Everything you've listed needs some sort of investment and the only thing really possible to bring any return is HabboxTV and that's only if it was popular enough.

[Kardan]

The Tokens for Credits idea is really, really needed. It gives people a reason to sign up to the forum.

The credit exchange could work if they had to pay a token fee initially. Once again, they'd have to be limited on how many gold bar exchanges they could have. But if it gets people on the forum, it's a good idea.

The current award system is pathetic, I think pretty much everyone agrees. The only reason it is around is to give the content department one little thing to do every other month. If a new achievements system was put into place, which I think could be a good idea (Having Achievements: 49 in the userbit could be a good idea), we could give one off token payments for each achievement given. Which will get people posting for tokens for credits.

HabboxTube could work, but I think it would be more targeted towards current forum users, as those animation thingies that wixard; did proved to be pretty successful. To get new users, something would have to go 'viral' and I'm not sure if things can go viral within the Habbo community.

Events need so much improvement. It's been suggested for ages to have a big event where people need to sign up and post to enter, and I think Habbox tried that out for the first time recently with that crypt competition? It would be nice if we could get some stats on how many regular players took part, and how many new members signed up and joined. Chris;

Whilst better prizes would make Habbox events so much better, we need to make sure that this also converts into more people using Habbox. It would definitely give us more visibility, that's for sure. How would Habbox get the funding anyway?

To be fair, I think the majority of these ideas have been said before, but it would be nice to see if they would work or not.

[Lewis]

All of this would improve Habbox greatly.

It's just the question of how does it get done?

[Inseriousity.]

I am aware of the practical considerations and I even point them out myself as they were what stopped me. My point was however that there is a lack of a risk taking culture in general management and it is far easier to lie back and tinker around the edges when there is no leadership. I think point 6 could address some of the funding issues if maximised to its full potential. The lottery alone when running on all cylinders generates a good profit so adding 3 grabbers of various prices to the mix would improve that even further. Every idea needs determination to see it through to the end and put it in place because it is so easy to drop the ball on these things. How to get there? By pushing it through with blood, sweat and tears!

Those ideas aren't the whole plan, they were just some suggestions to go towards it and the more high-concept ones rather than improving the day to day which could also be added to the wider action plan.

[FlyingJesus]

Wow didn't take some people long to go right for the BUT YOU HAVEN'T SAID HOW TO FIX IT cop-out that we've seen so often. Keep in mind that it's the job of the managers to work out how to implement improvements, and if they can't do it (or reasonably state why it's impossible) then point number 1 should come into effect to solve that issue. Gonna go through point-by-point now but seriously people saying lul bt u didden mek it hapn alredi isn't worth a post

[Explorator]

Tokens to Credits will be a brilliant idea. It would encourage people to post more frequently.

For it to actually work properly, you would have to give out enough credits every so many tokens to not make people think that they are being ripped off, yet not give so many out that habbox would be lose funds.

With the HabboxTV idea, it sounds brilliant, but in reality, it isn't an idea that would really catch popularity.

Overall, I think you have a good few ideas here, and I hope some of these can help habbox for the good.

[myles]

credit exchange was a nice idea. but people do buy them for 49c so tht would be a problem. but you could use the goldbars for hhabbox prizes maybe i dont know

[Explorator]

credit exchange was a nice idea. but people do buy them for 49c so tht would be a problem. but you could use the goldbars for hhabbox prizes maybe i dont know

Ooh, you've got a point there.

People could be buying them for 49c and then trading them in for 50c each. They would be making 1c per time and If they were to be doing this all the time, they would make some money.

Also, would we have enough funds to do big trades and who would we trust with the money?

[Inseriousity.]

Yeah the credit exchange thing is a risky one and it is why I stalled it so many times. I know that people buy them for 49c but I was willing to risk that that was because that was just the way things are so the idea was more about throwing a spanner in the works and seeing if it attracted any attention. If you used the grabber to top up the bronze coins so it was sustainable then it could work and that was the intended plan. I was worried that demand would outstrip supply and that the grabber wouldnt be enough and then ofc the ultimate question that it gets potential new users using the service but how to get them to Habbox itself.

[Kardan]

Ooh, you've got a point there.

People could be buying them for 49c and then trading them in for 50c each. They would be making 1c per time and If they were to be doing this all the time, they would make some money.

Also, would we have enough funds to do big trades and who would we trust with the money?

This is why you'd have to propose a limit on how many exchanges you can do. And if you impose a token fee alongside it, it means only people that use the forum can try and get this profit, so it might get more people on the forum.

[Explorator]

Yeah the credit exchange thing is a risky one and it is why I stalled it so many times. I know that people buy them for 49c but I was willing to risk that that was because that was just the way things are so the idea was more about throwing a spanner in the works and seeing if it attracted any attention. If you used the grabber to top up the bronze coins so it was sustainable then it could work and that was the intended plan. I was worried that demand would outstrip supply and that the grabber wouldnt be enough and then ofc the ultimate question that it gets potential new users using the service but how to get them to Habbox itself.

A grabber is a really good idea.

I feel that if Habbox were to offer a much better deal than other grabbers, yet still try to make some profit off it, It would attract a decent amount of people

[Mr-Trainor]

In regards to offering 50c for everyone's gold bars, I can already picture a few people coming and selling a gold bar for 50 bronze to you, then going and buying one for 49 bronze and coming back to sell it for 50. Multiple people could keep doing this for their own gain and you'd be losing out and have none left for the person who comes along genuinely wanting to just exchange their only gold bar for 50 bronze.

What you could do instead, is something like giving 45 bronze and 5 goes on a 1c grabber (or 1 go on a 5c grabber) for a gold bar. That way people would be doing it far less often, I'd assume.

- - - Updated - - -

And yeah I assumed the credit to tokens had been scrapped or something because it's been ages and hasn't come out. There was discussion a while back with suggested prices and stuff from myself and others.

[Kardan]

Why does the competition department give out rep and not tokens?

[Mr-Trainor]

Why does the competition department give out rep and not tokens?
And the events department, unless it has changed now.

[FlyingJesus]

Hey,

'Sup


I've been wanting to write this feedback thread for a while but decided to wait it out and see if I could be surprised. When I resigned from AGM, I resigned because I felt the general management team needed to be friends and while I don't think we hated each other's guts (could be wrong), there wasn't any of the banter and camaraderie that a good strong team needs. Habbox is in a slump so it really needed that to help boost it out of it. I recommended Jade because afaik Jade and Matt talked more consistently than the occasional conversations I ever had with him while also having the creativity and determination to improve things. I say all this because the general management team being good friends doesn't necessarily result in a more constructive team and some of the horror stories I've heard suggests that the current team is actually doing more harm than good so after Martin's firing, I decided to make this thread to perhaps turn the spotlight onto the general management team rather than the department managers.

While it's definitely true that the most effective GM teams have been ones where those involved were chummy, it doesn't necessarily have to be the case with all involved. Sometimes having someone you don't like actually gets people working harder (like when we all strived to get Oli fired or secretly trained up new potentials to replace Garion when he started being a nonce) and I think too much camaraderie is definitely detrimental to how any team runs. That goes for singular departments, managers as a group, and the GM team: the people involved need to work well together but "together" isn't the only important word in that, there's also "work" :P


No-one is irreplaceable
This is a principle I've stuck by throughout my time at Habbox. Everyone can be replaced; trialists, staff, management, general management and it's stupid to think that the higher up the ladder you go, the more irreplaceable you are. I've also seen how damaging it can be when someone believes they're irreplaceable. They get arrogant, they feel untouchable as if they can do anything and it doesn't matter or they no longer do the work they did to get to that place of feeling irreplaceable and too valuable to let go and do the bare minimum and allow others to do it.

Matt was going to resign but decided to stay after Jin persuaded him to. I don't have the full details obviously but from what I gathered, Jin didn't really trust anyone else to replace him and y'know what, that's fair enough because it's clearly a big job and you don't just want anyone in the position but from that moment on, they really should've been keeping a lookout for the next GM (even if that person wasn't necessarily staff or in the general management team already) because it feels like Matt is just going through the motions and I remember he turned into the worst troll ever for a few months (thankfully he calmed down). This brings me nicely to what I think is the main cause of the downturn.

See this all the time whether it be a newly-promoted senior thinking they're owed a manager role just because it's open or someone already in management being offish and rude when given direction or suggestions. I know Matt's been around a long time and has had a lot of stuff thrown at him most likely but he's one of the worst for this - constantly either totally ignoring criticism or attacking those who give it to him. Still not sure why serial bully Cassie still has a job other than because she brings numbers up, Martin's only just been given the boot after months of ineffectiveness, news has gone back to having no forum integration (and therefore dividing the userbase) so not sure what Sam's doing, and then of course there's the whole of V7 development being unacceptably crap. That's just to name a few prominent cases


Lack of vision + leadership
I couldn't stand Oli. He deliberately kept policies not because they were any good but because I got so wound up about them and clearly he found it amusing to have that control. However, on the rare occasion when we weren't trying to get our scalp, I remember asking him what his vision was and he was able to state it quite clearly (focus on the noobs in brief if you're wondering) and it was also where we agreed with each other. Everything Oli did was focused on that vision and if it didn't fit in with that vision then it was quickly discarded - that's not to say older members were completely ignored because obviously he had to find that balance and most things to attract newbies can appeal to older members as well - which people found harsh but that was leadership and he had the drive to see it through. I do not feel that Matt has any vision or idea what to do next. It has always seemed to me that he is merely biding his time for someone else to come up with the next ideas rather than working on his own. Rule 1 of how not to lead is to wait around for someone else to lead. I'd actually say that Matt is not alone in this and many managers have fell into this trap but it's more noticeable with Matt when he is top dog. To also be fair to Matt, when the chips are down, he can also see things through so he's not entirely incapable but it's not very consistent.

Been that way from the start tbh, he had the role thrust on him because Sam had to leave abruptly and then with Jin being a non-entity ever since there's been no reason for him to want to do anything but keep things steady, which of course in modern times means going backwards fairly quickly


Laziness
This feedback thread isn't about how I was an amazing AGM who was perfect. I'll elaborate further in this point. I believe the lack of leadership has resulted in a lazy atmosphere in general management. There's no drive or passion from the leader then it's quite discouraging. Putting policies into place is tough. It's not as easy as saying here's a new policy. You've got to create a sustainable system or structure and identify potential issues before they occur so when obstacles inevitably arose, it was far easier to leave it and come back to it later than take it head on and there would be no consequence for not doing so because of Matt's lack of leadership. I think it'd be unfair to completely blame Matt for that. I am responsible for my own choices and fell into that trap myself but the point I'm making here is that it is made too easy a trap to fall into. Despite my AGM record not being particularly thrilling, I am very proud of my work in competitions management and we now have an AGM who hosted rare giveaways even though she wasn't a manager and as I recall was filled with ideas and thinking of solutions to problems (even if I didn't always agree with them). It's now been a couple of months and all we've had so far is a rehash of Hx24 besides from the usual seasonal events and I can't help but wonder if a combination of these factors mentioned already have helped this.

I think a lot of attention has been paid to how some department managers manage their departments and while they aren't completely off the hook, if recent stories I've heard are true then it is little wonder that morale is exceedingly low. General management should be supporting managers to help them improve not belittling them into the ground. You should be creating a dialogue where ideas can be discussed and bounced back and forth then support their implementation not simply berating them for not being good enough because yeah that'll improve things clearly.

I haven't actually been staff under Matt but as an observer that's exactly how it appears. We often get told that those we criticise "do a lot of work behind the scenes" or "are trying" (wow congrats) but even if that is true there needs to be an actual presence to front it all. I'm having to look through the staff list right now to see who the managers are because there simply aren't any strong characters who exude leadership in the entire lot of them, and half of them I had no idea held such roles. Our STAFF MANAGER is inactive and invisible, and that really says it all


Action Plan
The solution to all of this then I feel is an action plan. I think there's a fairly vague version already but a more detailed action plan to help establish a vision. By vague, I mean "improve listeners", "get more members" without actually saying how or what you're going to do or put in place to help that. This could be posted publicly then everyone will know where Habbox is heading. I don't really like threads that post a load of problems without any ideas so here are a couple of what I was working on as AGM and think could benefit if they were taken forwards.

1. Tokens/Habbo integration. I posted a thread in forum management ages ago about this then never carried it through: add credits to the tokens system and replace 'rep' in prizes with tokens. I came across the obstacle that everyone had lots of tokens already and figured it'd bankrupt Habbox straight away so see point 'laziness' because if you just weathered that storm then it'd calm down after that and mr-trainor came up with the idea of limiting the amount of times you can get it per month as well. I regret not pushing that one through.

I'm not a fan of tokens as I think it's essentially yet another way for Hx to lose revenue through giving away even more free VIP, although it does take a lot to get that. I think similarly it would have to take so many tokens to get credits that it wouldn't be worth anyone saving them for it because otherwise we're giving creds out from a fund that we already don't have, and since the option is already "furni or rep" (would then be furni or tokens) no-one is going to really want to collect tokens just to later get furni unless tokens are worth far more than we can afford to give out. Add tokens as a potential prize if there's a market for it, but credits for tokens just seems like a waste of resources


2. Credit Exchange. If anyone is wondering what that little section to the side of my lottery room was all about, the idea was that it'd be the place of credit exchange with no commission. You have a gold bar and want bronze coins, here's 50 bronze coins. Not having to lose out on credits might have made it an appealing attraction to non-members. Again, bankrupting Habbox or just being saddled with all these gold bars because everyone wants bronze coins means that I got stumped by this one. I think a possible solution is below and it might be a worthwhile idea to revisit. I'm still 50/50 on this one.

Huge investment considering the sheer number of credit trades that go on all the time, and we'd of course be at a constant loss. There's also the issue of availability - if you start this scheme with a few hundred credits then you're letting the first 5 or 6 people benefit and that's that, hardly a worthwhile investment of Hx funds as well as likely being used mostly by current members anyway as they'd be the ones who know that the exchange event is about to happen. It's a nice idea but can't see it being beneficial without having several thousand credits to start off with


3. Runescape Achievements. I think the awards system is pointless so adopting a Runescape Achievements system could be a way forward. For those who are unaware, the runescape task system is that you complete tasks (some serious, some not so serious) that have a range of difficulties for different areas of the game. Runescape is largely built so that this is fairly straightforward whereas at Habbox it'd be a lot trickier hence why this never really got off the ground either but I do think it's a good idea as it would be something to aim for and give newer members something to do to get involved with the easy tasks and older members more of a challenge with the harder challenges. It's also a way to show off all of what Habbox has to offer (instead of 'towns/cities', it'd be different departments: forum, habbox, habboxlive, events, hxhd). Obstacles for this are: what would the tasks be, how would you prove youve done the task.

Wouldn't mind this, badges on Habbo are popular even when they're connected to really crap quests so there's almost certainly a market for it and it would give the graphics department a reason to exist. Obviously it would require a bit of work (hi there comps with your ridiculously low minimums) but I think this would prove popular with both new and old members as it would be something that's a bit of fun just for a short while but enough to keep an interest in the site, as well as potentially spark some good discussions and if done properly perhaps forge new friendships (awwww) by having group activities. Workload aside I don't see a downside to this one


4. Bring back HabboxTV. Admittedly, this isn't a project I was working on at the time but I think it's something worth exploring. I present to you HabboxTube: a youtube for Habbo videos. It's a bit of a niche area so perhaps that's a bit ridiculous although I still believe that a good way to get out of the slump is to offer something unique. I tried to introduce radio plays and that was a complete failure but I still believe in the concept and think it might be the perfect opportunity to bring HabboxTV back. I say this because afaik, Laura is the current content manager and is very keen on the idea herself (unless I've imagined reading this somewhere which would be embarrassing) so it could easily be incorporated into that department. To bring up why I mentioned radio plays, as well as the text on the screen that you can read, there could be voice actors as well. Might give it more depth or make them even more incredibly cheesy than they already are but yes that would be the main output for Habboxtube but there could be competitions or viral videos made. Anything to get Habbox back on the map really.

Could be very fun, myself and some of the Old Spam guys made plans for a new version a few years back and just the planning of it was enjoyable even though we then realised that none of us had any time or money to pull it off. People LIKE crap usermade videos (look at Tara's stuff and the old Dom_C videos etc) because it's short and a bit daft and just fun for people to feel involved with - and feeling involved is what we need from people so that they stick about. Teenage Lives as a written project was huge and had a tremendous following so yes I think it's definitely time for Productions to have a comeback in a recorded version, assuming we can get the staff for it not to be too rubbish to watch


5. More big events. This one's cheating because I don't really have any ideas at the moment but there was a time when there was something big going on at least every 2 months. Nowadays it seems everyone just waits for the next seasonal event then everyone pitches in but everything drowns each other out. This point is more to the whole of management rather than just general management but general management do need to support that process as well. It's free advertising for your department if you do something outside the norm outside the usual timeframe. Do something big during a seasonal event and while appreciated, it just gets lost with everything else going on. Do something big outside of that and you can get a forum notice all for yourself! You can see for yourself on the "Habbox Competitions" page examples of how I did this when I was in competitions manager (and if you dare say 'well you were comps manager, im just a content manager so that's not what we do', I will bury you alive).

Just more events at all... would be great if other dept management got going with something, yes, but at a time when we've got 6 or 7 events booked in a day out of a possible (although perhaps not entirely plausible) 24 we really just need anything to boost our visibility. I suggested in one of the many threads bashing events that we allow for guest hosts in slots that are coming up and not booked, provided they are supervised by senior events staff or a manager. These people would not be staff and would not have to work to specified minimums so it's a more relaxed way of filling up event slots as there are many people, myself included, who wouldn't mind hosting an event from time to time but don't want to be in among the peasant class of staff or don't have the time to commit to regular events. Big events are great, but the number of new people we get from them is negligible really since they get swamped by screaming regulars who are high on points, so I think while events is in a slump it's best to work on building up continual presence rather than treating ourselves to watching Kirsty and Laura have a breakdown


6. Funding. This isn't my own idea, it's FlyingJesus' but it's an idea I support in principle so I've added it here. If we can get funding for the events department to start giving out more consistently good prizes then that'd be great. I know Tom wants a fully funded department but I've done the maths and it sounds almost impossible to do so straight away (If you say an average event has 3 rounds and a 2c prize per round then maximum would be 1008 credits a week. More realistically, I'd say 600-700 when it's at its peak but you've got to account for these things) but it's definitely a goal to work towards. The grabber has been changed from 1 1c one to 3 different grabbers and while I've been critical in this thread, I'd say this is a welcome change so make this grabber a weekly event in the calendar at the very least especially now that there is also an event area for someone to host an event as well (another welcome change) and then use that funding to work with developing a better prize fund for the events department.

This is a fantastic idea and whoever came up with it should be GM. Seriously though even if grabbers have gone down in popularity recently they're still often very active and people seem to like gambling on them despite the hideously poor odds of actually winning more than you put in, which is obviously a good thing for a fundraising plan. I'd suggest having the grabber running as often as possible - although obviously not in detriment to other events that are booked - whenever management are around and free to man it, as this way we not only get maximum potential income but also make more of a name for ourselves. Habbox might be the biggest and oldest fansite but we're not the most popular or even famous any more necessarily, so being known as the fansite that does good grabber events rather than the one that has cheap rooms and robotic hosts would be fab


7. Habbo rooms. I've said this elsewhere but building more popular Habbo rooms and linking them up to the help desk would be a good idea (including the grabber/lottery room btw). One idea I had was one of those 1 room mazes where at the end you put yourself in for a big credit prize. If they signed up to the forum with a screeny of them in the room saying the message (changes every week/month) then someone logging in and welcoming all the newer members who signed up just for it in an attempt to get them to stay. Either way, linking to the help desk, there's usually someone in there (even if there isn't anyone behind the desk) who could welcome them and show them what Habbox has to offer.

Problem with mazes is that recently Habbo seem to enjoy changing all their physics systems which messes them all up periodically :P I do think having more Habbox rooms up and running would be a good thing though, again for the added presence. Currently we have HxHD and then whatever event may or may not be on and that's it - we even have management asking people not to use Habbox in tags on really popular games rooms for some reason, when really we ought to be looking for more sponsorship/endorsement

[Sho]

Why does the competition department give out rep and not tokens?

This is something I've been thinking about starting but never got around to actually discussing. We give tokens for big events, but I'm not too sure about having them for individual competitions as well.

[Chug!]

It's very well having Tokens to Credits, and getting people to post more often but that means moderation would have to be stepped up too, otherwise people would troll and trolling would increase. do you not think we have enough of that already with certain people, lol??

Great ideas though - as everyone said, how to get there -I think the GMS will need help, and tbh im not even sure the GM team are that strong anymore - this isn't because of who they are but ideas seem to be drowning out; just a thought.

[lawrawrrr]

Skimmed Mikes post but tend to agree with bits & pieces.

Lazy AGMs and managers lead to a general disillusionment in staff and members alike. As well as when relationships start to get strained... it really rubs off on managers. But I think a general attitude here is that managers & especially AGMs are almost untouchable. Which they shouldn't be. If they can't function well within the various situations Habbox throws at us, then they shouldn't have the job.

Credit exchange has the opportunity to be massively exploited - people buying them at 49 and getting profit from Habbox.

Habbox TV - it's something I'm looking into after Christmas, I wanted to focus on that but I am considering different alternatives!!


on phone xx

[Inseriousity.]

I don't think it'd be a waste of resources. Atm its 'whats rep' then at best even if you say 'rep on habboxforum.com wooo sign up wooooo' generally its a no thanks whereas with 'furni or tokens' they'll still ask 'whats tokens' and you can say 'currency on habboxforum.com register and you can work your way up to a gold bar is a lot more appealing.

You've basically pointed out why the credit exchange thing never got started. I do think there's potential there but there's finding a balance between limiting it to not be totally outrageous and not making it so stifling that there's little point using it or it diminishes its intended effect (attract non-members who find it appealing). On balance I don't think the pros outweigh the cons but it's an example of trying to think outside the box which I don't think is happening very much at all so I kept it in.

I always found the idea of HabboxTV appealing so maybe my attempt to bring it back is just cos I'm gutted I missed out on it. I know Sammeth tried to revive it cos I wrote a script for it myself but it petered out. If it was taken on by someone who could drive it through then I think there's potential there to build something and it's an old idea that would seperate us out from other fansites.

When I made the grabber the intention was to have it running more consistently so yes definitely more work on this!

The maze was just an example because I remember enjoying them and they're always full (that one where the whole room was basically just avoiding the pillows, stepping on the tile to open the gate was always very popular and very difficult because of everyone getting in the way!) and it could entice them over to the forum but it could branch out to other popular rooms as well.

[MKR&*42]

This is something I've been thinking about starting but never got around to actually discussing. We give tokens for big events, but I'm not too sure about having them for individual competitions as well.

In addition to this, I would only like to give out tokens as prizes if more items were added into the tokens shop. I'm sure it's around 1000 tokens needed to actually claim a prize and that it's a bit silly there's nothing for lower amounts considering new members will struggle awfully to be motivated to get to 1000. This issue has come up time and time again in feedback though, but no-one has really suggested (well minus now) what the lower value prizes could be.

[AgnesIO]

I like the ideas, although I think it is important to remember that the gradual decline of Habbox is NOT all this websites fault. Habbo has lost a dramatic amount of users, so no matter how hard you try, realistically you are not going to suddenly see herds of new users. HFFM has all of these wonderful events, for example, yet currently has 12 listeners on their radio?

This may sound defeatist, but I do think Habbox needs to stop blaming itself completely.

[-:Undertaker:-]

I have always taken note of what you say concerning the forum, we're often on the same page on things.

One thing I would elaborate on from what you said about friendships and people being close - it does make a huge difference. Take me for example - I have waning interest in Habbo and only visit due to Habbox commitments and for the odd chat. The fact is that people like me shouldn't have to be coming back to help out but of course we are because of such low numbers - and in many cases this same feeling seeps into management where you have what I remember years ago with certain managers where they had little interest in the game anymore yet they were clinging on for a few months in the post. I'm not saying they did a bad job but it just wasn't the same as having someone still engaged with the game in the post.

I'm not saying I have lost complete interest as I wouldn't hang about, but I really would like to see younger blood doing jobs that I did a long time ago and shouldn't really still be doing. It's the Habbo-related side of things that I think needs addressing hence why I think the HxHD managers application idea was a good idea in that somebody Habbo-based is likely to get it.

Of course to get young blood we need to attract newcomers to the forum and that's the problem. :P In terms of General Management I haven't a problem with General Management, although maybe perhaps they ought to start picking more junoir people for posts in General Management from more Habbo-based departments such as Events rather than (and I may be wrong) the Moderation department which has dominated GM for years.

[Inseriousity.]

I would not have been able to do what I did in the comps department if it weren't for Alex being a good support/friend so while I don't think it's necessary, I think it helps immensely but both parties clearly need to work and crack on with things as Tom says or you end up with a friendship group that gets away with doing the bare minimum so there is that danger but the potential benefits when a team does click outweigh that danger imo.

As for younger Habbos, absolutely. That's how communities are supposed to work: refresh of talent, things evolving. I have been to a few places that became isolated and didn't allow enough new blood to come in so ended up dying out and it'd be a shame if Habbox went that way too.

[FlyingJesus]

On the point of younger members I think it's important to remember that part of a manager's job is or should be to train people up to do the best they can in their role, and while I think "staff bonding" events are a waste of time that just look good on paper it should be noted that if a manager leaves after a decent time in their role and none of the staff below them are suitable for the role they themselves are partly to blame. New leader types don't just appear out of nowhere, and if managers are just playing boss rather than building up the next generation of staff then they're failing in their jobs

[Grig]

I like the ideas, although I think it is important to remember that the gradual decline of Habbox is NOT all this websites fault. Habbo has lost a dramatic amount of users, so no matter how hard you try, realistically you are not going to suddenly see herds of new users. HFFM has all of these wonderful events, for example, yet currently has 12 listeners on their radio?

This may sound defeatist, but I do think Habbox needs to stop blaming itself completely.

That's mostly due to their events side being strong and their radio side being extremely weak.

I fully agree with the aspect of training the future generation as well. This is why we have put various mechanisms in place at HabboxLive to do just that and it's not working too bad so far :P.

[MissAlice]

I don’t have much to say.

HabboxTv or whatever you wish to call it could certainly attract new members. New members would probably want to take part or even attempt to get a starring role. A Habbo version of Waterloo Road could certainly be fun. Other members and potential stars of the screen will no doubt come up with ideas.

[Yupt]

I will probably reply in a little more depth later on, but it's late and I am in the middle of a film. But some of the things which came to mind when reading:

Regarding HabboxTV HabboxTube whatever you wish to call it, and also the big events! Can we not bring back the productions team as well and start putting on Habbo Plays? I seem to remember numerous plays put on by habbox in the past, things like Cinderella I think was the last one. These could grab plenty of attention and also be put on our HabboxTV.

I have to admit that in my tiredness I only somewhat skimmed through the posts, but in regards to your Runescape achievements thing, do you mean things like "award for posting 100 times in the feedback section", "award for making 20 threads in the entertainment section" and such? Because if so then I am ALL FOR IT. this could even link with your tokens idea and how you can exchange for creds. which is also a fab idea.

I've always been a fan for having more habbox public rooms and it was something I pushed for quite heavily in my own feedback thread regarding the habbox hub help desk thing. Problem is, we could have all these fabulous rooms, but people only ever visit them if they've got people in them in the first place. I can't see a way to get these rooms popular unless we had staff dedicated to doing just that, making rooms popular.

Events funding I think is just so important, and it's something that I think NEEDS to change.. but we need funds to be able to do that. Correct me if I'm wrong, because it may have changed, but isn't there a way to earn different amounts of habbo credits by taking part in surveys/watching adverts etc? Could Habbox set up a voluntary scheme for staff/members to perhaps take part in 5 a month and donate all creds to habbox? Effectively like a non official staff department or something.. I don't know. but it's an idea.

i've probably forgotten at least one of my ideas that I had whilst reading your post, but as I said, ill reread it again tomorrow and see then.

[Samantha]

FlyingJesus; what? News integration on the forum is still there - when Inkwell; managed the rule was that we needed to link to the Habbox Forum thread if it was posted, and this is still happening. Recently though some of the reports we have done haven't required that as we got an interview with ediootti;, a badge report that wasn't on the forum and things like that. Although, I am starting to warm more to the idea that News could be on the forum - however, Habbo wouldn't agree!

Inseriousity.; what I think is needed more with General Management is communication firstly, as that is rather poor at the moment depending on who you go to. Since my return to management I proposed an idea that Plebings; gave me - a giveaway whereby they need to sign up to receive anything. Something out of the kindness of my heart, but originally when I proposed it I was ignored, no one told me yes or no and no one replied to the thread it was in. I then propose it again this month for nearer Christmas and get jumped on asking how it would fit within my department as having one just to help isn't enough and a waste apparently (sorry the manager who is reading this and knows who said this, although I'm sure we sorted it out). So, I've attempted to expand my department and gone from the norm due to it being a content based department, but to no avail.

However, funding I think is on the up as I donated to Skynus; the other day. I would donate to Habbox, I really would - I worked out how long I could fund the Competitions Department for and back then it was a year, if it worked out at 5c per comp + 40 comps per month, now I could fund it for two or more years. However, I'd like to know just where that donation was going, ensuring it was going on what I wanted (competitions was just an example, but it works out at that and more). Overall though, funding I think is improving whether it's just small things - I do agree with you though as event prizes are still flawed sometimes.

As far as I know the prizes should be 2/3 good norms, a couple of credits or a rare etc. the norms I get I would struggle to sell 3 for 1c and I've noticed that in harder events the prizes for them aren't good at all.

I agree with a lot of your points Mike, the first also being the GM thing - activity has increased on some boards for most of the GM team. It's gone down so much and sometimes it really is a shame that I can't get hold of any of them without a delay.

[Inseriousity.]

Whichever manager said that should be fired immediately sigh

[FlyingJesus]

Egocentric post of the year goes to...


Also no, news integration isn't still happening as the point wasn't just look for a thread and link to it if it exists but to actually create such a discussion if there wasn't one already. "Read more & comment" is as popular as ever (that is, no-one uses it) and was supposed to have been completely taken out as it not only makes it look like news is completely unread but also gives no incentive for any readers you do get to integrate with the community. In the whole of October and November so far there have been 4 comments on articles, 2 of which were Laura wanting to win VIP for looking at articles (seriously worst use of free VIP ever) and the other 2 not related to the article at all. In 37 articles that's nothing, so the feature is obviously pointless

[Samantha]

Egocentric post of the year goes to...


Also no, news integration isn't still happening as the point wasn't just look for a thread and link to it if it exists but to actually create such a discussion if there wasn't one already. "Read more & comment" is as popular as ever (that is, no-one uses it) and was supposed to have been completely taken out as it not only makes it look like news is completely unread but also gives no incentive for any readers you do get to integrate with the community. In the whole of October and November so far there have been 4 comments on articles, 2 of which were Laura wanting to win VIP for looking at articles (seriously worst use of free VIP ever) and the other 2 not related to the article at all. In 37 articles that's nothing, so the feature is obviously pointless

Well then that's not my fault lmao? That was the solution the management at the time came up with and honestly no I didn't agree with it (I can't remember if I said this in the news forums), but before I can change things like that I've needed to build my team up and the amount of reports posted.

Also, Laura didn't win VIP for those 2 reports she commented on, it was for the months previous that she had done - she wasn't searching for reports to comment on (as this was under Ryan's rule), so I told her to comment on them as I felt she deserved it for previous months. Then of course, I didn't know I'd be the manager in a couple of weeks time.

I'd like to integrate it more onto the forum though, like I said - I wanted to at least reward for the discussion on the forum (as that's what actually helps us do reports sometimes). I'd also love to know your ideas or whoevers of what they think would help integrate it more (just link me to previous threads if needs be). I'd have done more if I knew it wasn't enough!

Don't see how it's an egocentric post though as I want the best for Habbox and I've tried to give that :rolleyes:.

[FlyingJesus]

Well then that's not my fault lmao? That was the solution the management at the time came up with and honestly no I didn't agree with it (I can't remember if I said this in the news forums), but before I can change things like that I've needed to build my team up and the amount of reports posted.

Not your fault that as manager you haven't properly enacted an important change despite having relatively few staff to watch over? Righto.


Also, Laura didn't win VIP for those 2 reports she commented on, it was for the months previous that she had done - she wasn't searching for reports to comment on (as this was under Ryan's rule), so I told her to comment on them as I felt she deserved it for previous months. Then of course, I didn't know I'd be the manager in a couple of weeks time.

Really not the point; was more illustrating how scarcely the feature is used and how as such it's ridiculous to 1) carry on using it and 2) give an associated reward equal to MOTM which usually requires some actual effort


I'd like to integrate it more onto the forum though, like I said - I wanted to at least reward for the discussion on the forum (as that's what actually helps us do reports sometimes). I'd also love to know your ideas or whoevers of what they think would help integrate it more (just link me to previous threads if needs be). I'd have done more if I knew it wasn't enough!

Pretty certain you already know the idea since we've discussed it before on more (http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=781374&p=7944274#post7944274) than (http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=781438) one (http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?p=7865191#post7865191) occasion (http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=774133&p=7866151#post7866151) although to be fair in that first link it's a thread where the idea has been discussed in some detail but you didn't respond to it yourself - you just ignored the suggestion and started talking about yourself


Don't see how it's an egocentric post though as I want the best for Habbox and I've tried to give that :rolleyes:.

lmao you talked about your promotion, claimed a proposal as your own even while saying that it was someone else's idea first, bigged yourself up for how great and nice it was of you to use it, had a sob about being told no (aren't you a manager? Shouldn't it be down to you to choose how your department is run and not other people?), and then insinuated that your donation is the dawn of a new Habbox. All this while denying not only that a huge problem exists in your department but now pretending to not know of the proposed (and previously accepted (http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=781438&p=7973570#post7973570)) solution

[Samantha]

Not your fault that as manager you haven't properly enacted an important change despite having relatively few staff to watch over? Righto.



Really not the point; was more illustrating how scarcely the feature is used and how as such it's ridiculous to 1) carry on using it and 2) give an associated reward equal to MOTM which usually requires some actual effort



Pretty certain you already know the idea since we've discussed it before on more (http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=781374&p=7944274#post7944274) than (http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=781438) one (http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?p=7865191#post7865191) occasion (http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=774133&p=7866151#post7866151) although to be fair in that first link it's a thread where the idea has been discussed in some detail but you didn't respond to it yourself - you just ignored the suggestion and started talking about yourself



lmao you talked about your promotion, claimed a proposal as your own even while saying that it was someone else's idea first, bigged yourself up for how great and nice it was of you to use it, had a sob about being told no (aren't you a manager? Shouldn't it be down to you to choose how your department is run and not other people?), and then insinuated that your donation is the dawn of a new Habbox. All this while denying not only that a huge problem exists in your department but now pretending to not know of the proposed (and previously accepted (http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=781438&p=7973570#post7973570)) solution

There are more important things to deal with in News instead of integration to the forum - I have asked about it though, but I need to be more in depth when I explain before anything can be carried out. The only burden currently is Sulake. However, above that I do have more important things to do regardless of how many is in my department. I'm sure I've said already that the reports we did need to increase, in which they are doing, but without those reports we cannot integrate to the forum.

Yes ideas have been given before, I haven't just ignored them it was more of I didn't agree with them so I don't want to reply. However, I did reply to some and back then ok I didn't agree with it as like I said in some of them - there was no motivation or leading role in the department and I couldn't do anything being normal staff (apart from do my work, go onto complain if I wanted to see change etc.)

I can't help it if the change that we got as normal staff was to link to the Habbox Forum post, that is all we got and like I said - currently, the integration isn't my top priority nor should it be. It already occurs even if it is minimal and I am trying to get it more onto the forum, but in a way that News Reporters aren't redundant and Sulake are ok with it!

I haven't replied to all of your points, but I will reread over the suggestions, the parts about me were mainly saying that the funds are there if Habbox do need them. As when Mike was AGM I spent all my Credits helping him do rooms and making sure Habbox was doing what was needed. That's not bigging myself up, it's helping out a fansite.

[Kardan]

First of all Samanfa; it is quite clear that Laura posts on the news articles just for the free VIP. Frankly, that is a poor use of VIP. I remember there being a thread in feedback a while back and I posted all the places you could win VIP, and frankly, it's too much. I think I'll go through and check again in a second, but that needs to be cut down.

Also, in general, why don't managers have full control over their department?

[Samantha]

First of all Samanfa; it is quite clear that Laura posts on the news articles just for the free VIP. Frankly, that is a poor use of VIP. I remember there being a thread in feedback a while back and I posted all the places you could win VIP, and frankly, it's too much. I think I'll go through and check again in a second, but that needs to be cut down.

Also, in general, why don't managers have full control over their department?

I do understand where you're coming from - the Reader of the Month award began in January (so 10 or so months now), an only 3 people have won throughout. So, in that way I haven't abused the VIP features too much, but it does need looking into (that's if it continues).

I have an alternative underway and I will bring it live soon, this will feature Habbo prizes more than VIP and such though.

[Grig]

Well from what I have been aware, by searching for new staff, there's not enough being done and going out to get people. It's crucial, even non-Habbox people who may have talent and write for smaller fansites. News has been in a massive dent ever since Inkwell (with all due respect), and without any proper reforms soon, it won't be getting any better.

I also swear the news editing process is poor, I've seem flimsy errors on articles on page 5 (so you cannot claim it's recent and hasn't yet been edited). If I saw such badly edited articles, I'd just turn away. You do have some excellent reporters such as Dan, but it's a shame that simple things such as a thorough editing process cannot be completed properly.

[Samantha]

Kardan; I just realised that the prize for Reader of the Month was 15c or VIP - Laura chose Credits whereas Luke chose VIP.

[Kardan]

I do understand where you're coming from - the Reader of the Month award began in January (so 10 or so months now), an only 3 people have won throughout. So, in that way I haven't abused the VIP features too much, but it does need looking into (that's if it continues).

I have an alternative underway and I will bring it live soon, this will feature Habbo prizes more than VIP and such though.

It's not that you're abusing VIP features, it just shouldn't award VIP at all.

- - - Updated - - -


Kardan; I just realised that the prize for Reader of the Month was 15c or VIP - Laura chose Credits whereas Luke chose VIP.

But why is there even a prize for reader of the month? It's a pointless feature.

[Samantha]

Well from what I have been aware, by searching for new staff, there's not enough being done and going out to get people. It's crucial, even non-Habbox people who may have talent and write for smaller fansites. News has been in a massive dent ever since Inkwell (with all due respect), and without any proper reforms soon, it won't be getting any better.

I also swear the news editing process is poor, I've seem flimsy errors on articles on page 5 (so you cannot claim it's recent and hasn't yet been edited). If I saw such badly edited articles, I'd just turn away. You do have some excellent reporters such as Dan, but it's a shame that simple things such as a thorough editing process cannot be completed properly.

When were the errors you saw, time frame etc? There's currently only me who can edit reports on site, apart from Charlie and GM - I've been going through them as soon as I can each time and I have missed some (when I thought I was getting help with editing), but most I have gone back on to ensure the quality is upped. I would love another Head News Reporter, but it's more who to promote currently and is it plausible with how many is currently in the department.

- - - Updated - - -


It's not that you're abusing VIP features, it just shouldn't award VIP at all.

- - - Updated - - -



But why is there even a prize for reader of the month? It's a pointless feature.

One of the main goals when I was originally appointed assistant in February 2012 was commenting on News Articles, we had ideas of guest commenting (something promised that never got done), awards (such as the VIP) and things like that. I brought it in (and it was in talks for months before going live) to improve commenting on the site and it did work for an amount of time. However, it hasn't been advertised that much and having only 3 winners showed it, but I'm sure more can be done as I said there were ideas floating when I was in my first part of assistant.

[Kardan]

When were the errors you saw, time frame etc? There's currently only me who can edit reports on site, apart from Charlie and GM - I've been going through them as soon as I can each time and I have missed some (when I thought I was getting help with editing), but most I have gone back on to ensure the quality is upped. I would love another Head News Reporter, but it's more who to promote currently and is it plausible with how many is currently in the department.

- - - Updated - - -



One of the main goals when I was originally appointed assistant in February 2012 was commenting on News Articles, we had ideas of guest commenting (something promised that never got done), awards (such as the VIP) and things like that. I brought it in (and it was in talks for months before going live) to improve commenting on the site and it did work for an amount of time. However, it hasn't been advertised that much and having only 3 winners showed it, but I'm sure more can be done as I said there were ideas floating when I was in my first part of assistant.

So why is it still around if it's not working any more?

[Samantha]

So why is it still around if it's not working any more?

It's only around in the fact I felt that over the months when it wasn't done there were people who fit the criteria to win it. Therefore, I rewarded them for previous months, without that people had forgotten it anyway and Ryan was going to bring it back before I was given the management job again. It probably won't return again, but at least we tried it to see how it went.

[FlyingJesus]

There are more important things to deal with in News instead of integration to the forum - I have asked about it though, but I need to be more in depth when I explain before anything can be carried out. The only burden currently is Sulake. However, above that I do have more important things to do regardless of how many is in my department. I'm sure I've said already that the reports we did need to increase, in which they are doing, but without those reports we cannot integrate to the forum.

What things do you have that are more important than having more than 3 people read the articles you put out? How on earth can Sulake be in the way of how you write reports? And why do you need more reports in order to make changes? It's an extremely simple change that could be implemented in just a few minutes to the effect of having everyone who comes on the forum see the news articles and potentially join in with discussion about them, and it would actually be far easier to do while the department is smaller than it has been as there would be only a few people who need to adapt the way they work


One of the main goals when I was originally appointed assistant in February 2012 was commenting on News Articles, we had ideas of guest commenting (something promised that never got done), awards (such as the VIP) and things like that. I brought it in (and it was in talks for months before going live) to improve commenting on the site and it did work for an amount of time. However, it hasn't been advertised that much and having only 3 winners showed it, but I'm sure more can be done as I said there were ideas floating when I was in my first part of assistant.

But why are you focusing on that when it's been shown time and time again to be unused and unwanted? Yes more can be done, but not the way you're looking at it - the way to get more comments is by having the article discussion on the forum (where people come to comment on things) rather than a separate little box that no-one looks at and forces any potential discussion to be split between forum and site at a time when activity on both needs addressing. You're pressing for something that is actually detrimental to the department if that's your master plan

[Samantha]

What things do you have that are more important than having more than 3 people read the articles you put out? How on earth can Sulake be in the way of how you write reports? And why do you need more reports in order to make changes? It's an extremely simple change that could be implemented in just a few minutes to the effect of having everyone who comes on the forum see the news articles and potentially join in with discussion about them, and it would actually be far easier to do while the department is smaller than it has been as there would be only a few people who need to adapt the way they work



But why are you focusing on that when it's been shown time and time again to be unused and unwanted? Yes more can be done, but not the way you're looking at it - the way to get more comments is by having the article discussion on the forum (where people come to comment on things) rather than a separate little box that no-one looks at and forces any potential discussion to be split between forum and site at a time when activity on both needs addressing. You're pressing for something that is actually detrimental to the department if that's your master plan

One of my ideas was more to post full articles on the forum and not use the site as much, but due to Sulake wanting content on the site we can't. I don't know if you've ever seen when I posted full reports on the forum and got a discussion that way? That's what I liked doing, but back then I wasn't the manager and got told to not post the whole thing and make people go to the site. I'd do it now, but I don't see the need of having to post it on both the site and the forum (unless there isn't a thread already on the subject). I'd happily post it all on the forum, as long as I get moderator perms to edit what I need to. What we could do, and I know it's been spoken about before is to not remove the site work, but make it more forum based (I've been saying I want to throughout and I have been steering away from ROTM etc.)

Anyway, what I think would be good to test at least, and I know I was against it at first, but it would help I think. Have a forum for news reports, reporters post in there and then I can edit it or a Head News Reporter can if any mistakes are made, this helps discussion at least. However, there's the problem on whether that would happen if there's already a thread about it.

Also, after editing it and everything we could then post about it on the site, or just link to the news report on the forum (this is what I actually wanted to try do on my return, but haven't got to it yet with what Sulake want).

If not, I'm not sure if there's a way we could post a news report on site and it'll post it on the forum? Again this would need editing twice which could be a problem, but I like the idea of posting it on HxF first before the site.

I hope you understood what I'm getting at with that, I know I repeated myself a fair bit.

[FlyingJesus]

If you've written a report is it really that much more work to paste it in two text boxes rather than one :P if Sulake want content on the site and for discussion it needs to be on the forum then it makes sense to have it on both, which is what was suggested anyway - it's just that the "read more & comment" button needs to be removed so that the discussions are all in one place. No-one is going to see a thread here and think "oh I'll go look that up on the site" so there's no point trying to make the forum users shift away, but since site comments require a sign-up anyway it logically follows that someone willing to do that to comment on an article would sign up on the forum just as happily, and then be part of the community properly

Not a fan of having a separate area for news reports as news often gets posted long before an edited report goes up on the site and so with that you would either get duplicate threads which no-one wants or the news forum would look ineffective and bare. Far better to just post them in the forum that they fit with if a thread isn't already up about whatever issue's come to light, then it's more community based (dare we even hope that it becomes community led?) and less divisive - as many departments seem to be to their own undoing

[Samantha]

If you've written a report is it really that much more work to paste it in two text boxes rather than one :P if Sulake want content on the site and for discussion it needs to be on the forum then it makes sense to have it on both, which is what was suggested anyway - it's just that the "read more & comment" button needs to be removed so that the discussions are all in one place. No-one is going to see a thread here and think "oh I'll go look that up on the site" so there's no point trying to make the forum users shift away, but since site comments require a sign-up anyway it logically follows that someone willing to do that to comment on an article would sign up on the forum just as happily, and then be part of the community properly

Not a fan of having a separate area for news reports as news often gets posted long before an edited report goes up on the site and so with that you would either get duplicate threads which no-one wants or the news forum would look ineffective and bare. Far better to just post them in the forum that they fit with if a thread isn't already up about whatever issue's come to light, then it's more community based (dare we even hope that it becomes community led?) and less divisive - as many departments seem to be to their own undoing

Unfortunately, it is more than just pasting in 2 boxes due to the annoying code on Habbox.com, if we go paste in the Habbox.com editor it will most probably break the font we set for a default news report or if we post on the forum we then have to add images, sometimes line breaks, alignment etc. I don't mind doing it, I was just clarifying that it's more than just pasting :(.

Also, yeah I see what you mean. I remember getting staff and myself to post our reports sometimes if they weren't posted, but I am a moderator of the Habbo forums on here anyway, so I could easily post it in the OP if Chris; would allow it? That would cut out a bit I guess, or I could just post it (or a news reporter) at the end of the thread to create more discussion.

Although, this week I've noticed more and more reports being done before the forum thread, which is great compared to how late we were doing them when I first returned!

[lawrawrrr]

I've got VIP until 2016 I'm not commenting to get free VIP! I comment to let the writers know that someone's read it - I know news gets a decent amount of hits but it's quite disheartening when no one comments, which is why I try to, since I've not been manager. Nothing else!


And also when I was commenting Tom & Ryan wasn't running news reader of the month and I had no idea Sam would retroactively reward me


on phone xx

[FlyingJesus]

So it's just a friend giving out freebies to a friend like what Martin was doing to get fired then

[Samantha]

So it's just a friend giving out freebies to a friend like what Martin was doing to get fired then

No not really? If it was a friend giving out freebies I would have just gave her 15c for no reason. The previous managers didn't do it and I had noticed month after month the comments we were getting and nothing was done about it (even when I PMed the manager at the time saying Mr-Trainor should win this month and Laura should win for this month etc.)

[Kardan]

I've got VIP until 2016 I'm not commenting to get free VIP! I comment to let the writers know that someone's read it - I know news gets a decent amount of hits but it's quite disheartening when no one comments, which is why I try to, since I've not been manager. Nothing else!


on phone xx

So your 1 post every few months makes everything better for the news team, does it? :P

And seriously there is absolutely no point to the news comment system. I've looked at the past 40 news things, and there's only one person that has posted a comment anything to do with the topic at hand. And that's Laura going 'Oh, that's ugly'.

I mean, I'm not even sure that deserves a reward.

[lawrawrrr]

So your 1 post every few months makes everything better for the news team, does it? :P

And seriously there is absolutely no point to the news comment system. I've looked at the past 40 news things, and there's only one person that has posted a comment anything to do with the topic at hand. And that's Laura going 'Oh, that's ugly'.

I mean, I'm not even sure that deserves a reward.

I commented on almost every article over the summer - I've been a bit busy since then. And yes, it does make people feel better to get comments, no matter how arbitrary!


on phone xx

[FlyingJesus]

(even when I PMed the manager at the time saying Mr-Trainor should win this month and Laura should win for this month etc.)

Ahhh well if you said it then that's it cemented as fact and there's no reason to possibly disagree

[Samantha]

Ahhh well if you said it then that's it cemented as fact and there's no reason to possibly disagree

I'm not saying that lmao, but if we have something set to award people for commenting it should at least be followed through.

[Empired]

errr this isn't really related to the original "Action Plan" in this thread but I'd just like to point out hi Samanfa; I would read + comment on news if it was on HabboxForum instead of Habbox.com

[Yupt]

Yeah in reply to the news on the forum thing, i'd read and reply, discussing them. The forum seem to be very good at posting news quickly anyway, but I suppose we could have them and also the official habbox report of it.

[Lewis]

errr this isn't really related to the original "Action Plan" in this thread but I'd just like to point out hi @Samanfa (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=68263); I would read + comment on news if it was on HabboxForum instead of Habbox.com

yeah me too @Samanfa (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=68263);

OR... If Habbox.com was brought back to a non-laggy, decent and SIMPLER layout... E.g.

http://i43.tinypic.com/25u03dx.png

[xxMATTGxx]

Just want to say no one in upper management is ignoring the thread. We'll be making a number of changes over the upcoming days and you should already see a start of some of the suggested changes with the latest development announcement by Chris.

[Inseriousity.]

Just a note that the main idea of this thread wasnt for my ideas to be done (in fact some of them have quite clearly been dismissed) but for general management to present their own action plan with their own ideas but kudos for the credits/tokens thing :)