Let's finally fix articles woo

[FlyingJesus]

SO as everyone knows, other than general management trying to show support no-one reads Hx articles unless forced by a comp, and that is ridic because some of them probably aren't that awful. The problem isn't so much that people don't like to read but that they're hosted on a site that a large number of users have no general need to visit, and they don't offer anything that a thread on here couldn't. It's been suggested and accepted several times in the past that we need to get the activity all in one place, but now let's actually doooooo it.

This is what we currently have on the site:

http://i.imgur.com/pVE1mDg.png

And what I suggest *again* is that we get rid of on-site commenting (which divides discussion and makes activity look utterly awful even when there's an incentive to post there) and instead...

* The full article is made as a forum thread
* On the site a summary is written just as it currently is, so things would outwardly look the same on the site buuuut
* The read more link goes to the forum thread, where people who like to comment on stuff 1) already have accounts and 2) are more likely to see it anyway
* This also brings any casual homepage browsers into the community without taking any activity away from the main site

It wouldn't necessarily require an official articles forum which I know has been loudly opposed in the past, as staff could very simply post the threads in what would already be the correct subforum, perhaps with a tag thingy only available to articles staff if that could be made. Really a very simple change but long long long overdue.


Having articles work through the forum would also make it possible for articles staff to perhaps pick up on an already existing popular thread and make a "blurb" summary (as they usually would for their own articles) and link that on the main site as a *+*+featured thread*+*+* or whatnot, which I believe would be incentive for people to make decent discussion threads rather than just What's Your Favourite Cereal ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) Joe; Elegance; haaa but yeah that's a little additional idea I had and would be nice but not as important as the main one

[David]

i asked for a script for v8 that auto posts articles on the forum but skynus said it's up to Joe; to ask for it


*+*+featured thread*+*+*

featured articles are a thing on v8

[Joe]

First off, thanks a lot Tom for writing everything down for me - I really haven't had prior knowledge of plans to do this as I will admit to waving it away when I first started here as Manager simply because I wanted to do my own ideas first (as they were a lot easier). I totally agree that activity is low compared to what it used to/could be and anyway of rectifying this would be a great for the department.

I do like the idea. We do recommend a summary is written above the 'read more' tag which allows any possible readers to understand what the article is going to be about the before the actually go onto read it - like you said, a blurb, so this wouldn't be a change that would be difficult to make at all. I like the idea of the 'read more and comment' linking directly to the forum - normal forum members will feel more inclined to comment and some have said they don't even have a site account. I can also see it's just extra hassle having to log in twice.

It seems like the only hard bits about this would be to

Automatically posting the article in the correct sub forum with the correct author information, as that's something I really don't want to lose.
The panel actually being able to pick the required settings.
Be able to port formatting settings over properly from HTML to BBCODE.



i asked for a script for v8 that auto posts articles on the forum but skynus said it's up to Joe; to ask for it

Well this is something that can now be genuinely used and have a meaning for it. I guess we'll have to have a chat to see how this can be done!

Also, if anyone wouldn't mind, I've set up a survey anyone can enter by clicking here (http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?t=832345) so you can give your opinions based on Tom's ideas!

[FlyingJesus]

Something that automatically posts them wouldn't be the worst thing ever but actually sounds like more hassle than just making the thread and then posting the intro and link to the site. Also I'm generally wary of waiting for big updates before anything gets changed as it seems to make things fall into obscurity and just get pushed back and back #rarevalues #v7

[Empired]

I was keen on making articles more forum-based when I was manager and I noticed it was something @Bikini; was interested in doing too but I do remember being told that it wasn't the job of the articles department to encourage posting on the forum and therefore I should just keep to habbox.com.
I'm sure this is what I was told because I was asking about why conversation starters (which were admittedly flawed but could easily have become more useful) had been halted after/just before Brad resigned.

I still don't understand why Habbo news like the example FJ posted above are still allowed to be articles. You can go onto the Habbo main site or a more reliable fansite and read all that information for yourself sometimes days before it reaches Habbox.com and I think it just makes Habbox look cheap and useless. I LOVED all the articles lemons; and Evanora; (can't remember which is habbo and which is hxf name sorry) were coming up with that were Habbo-related but still totally unique and I believe once those two left that style of article was dropped. They were hugely popular and always loads of comments so I have no idea why that isn't still happening.

So yeah, even if you don't pick up that style again PLEASE stop posting Habbo news. It's boring, we're just repeating what someone else has already said, and it doesn't generate comments. Don't do it :'(

[Samantha]

I was keen on making articles more forum-based when I was manager and I noticed it was something @Bikini; was interested in doing too but I do remember being told that it wasn't the job of the articles department to encourage posting on the forum and therefore I should just keep to habbox.com.
I'm sure this is what I was told because I was asking about why conversation starters (which were admittedly flawed but could easily have become more useful) had been halted after/just before Brad resigned.

I still don't understand why Habbo news like the example FJ posted above are still allowed to be articles. You can go onto the Habbo main site or a more reliable fansite and read all that information for yourself sometimes days before it reaches Habbox.com and I think it just makes Habbox look cheap and useless. I LOVED all the articles lemons; and Evanora; (can't remember which is habbo and which is hxf name sorry) were coming up with that were Habbo-related but still totally unique and I believe once those two left that style of article was dropped. They were hugely popular and always loads of comments so I have no idea why that isn't still happening.

So yeah, even if you don't pick up that style again PLEASE stop posting Habbo news. It's boring, we're just repeating what someone else has already said, and it doesn't generate comments. Don't do it :'(
As far as I'm aware they have to post Habbo news on the site - not sure of the reason, but it might be because without the articles there's nothing really Habbo related on the site.

Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk

[Empired]

As far as I'm aware they have to post Habbo news on the site - not sure of the reason, but it might be because without the articles there's nothing really Habbo related on the site.

Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk
But you can still post habbo-related articles without talking about new stuff? Surely that's the whole reason the department's name was switched from news to articles :P

[lemons]

articles should have some nice buzzfeed style articles

[David]

articles should have some nice buzzfeed style articles

spoof articles

10 Things About Matt Garner That Will Shock You To The Core!

[Lex]

I still don't understand why Habbo news like the example FJ posted above are still allowed to be articles. You can go onto the Habbo main site or a more reliable fansite and read all that information for yourself sometimes days before it reaches Habbox.com and I think it just makes Habbox look cheap and useless.

I agree with you, but therein lies the vicious circle. I join you in thinking that writing articles about Habbo itself can be incredibly redundant - especially when Habbo as a company is incredibly lacking in actually doing anything of late - they bring a few somewhat newsworthy changes every couple of months and then palm the rest of the activity and events over to the Habbo fansites (which is both a weak and terrible structure of doing things, but that's a whole different kettle of fish). That being the case, there isn't really a lot you can write an article on to do with Habbo. The articles worth writing are along the lines of 'there's a few new changes, so um, yeah, enjoy that.' They hardly break our target of at least 300 words, and those that do, all look lacklustre and pathetic on the Habbox site itself (often being outstretched by the sidebar widgets to the right).

As you say, going on to Habbo's main site to read about it is usually sufficient information, even if it is the same recycled bullshit that Sulake keep slapping on. It hardly seems enough to write an article on - especially by the time an article writer has come online, learned about it, and then logged on to chalk up their article, there's already a thread about it in the chat section of HabboxForum - or even then, encompassed by Habbox's Twitter perhaps. Though, I would eschew the comment of 'a more reliable fansite'. ;] Try as they might, I reckon Habbox would still want to angle for being the most reliable fansite as their mantra, Habbo news articles or not.

I also agree with you on the timing issue. I can find out things about upcoming content days before anyone here has insomuch as mentioned it. I don't think that boils down to anyone's fault in particular though (I personally wouldn't even know where to look for shit like that? Where does that information even get mined?), but it does raise the question 'why bother?' when folks like Puhekupla or HabboGuides have that exact information weeks in advance, and by then, no one cares anymore. Things like in-client events fall under that timing issue as well. I think the last people to find out about Habbox's own Halloween event was the Habbox community. I'd imagine it's mandated by Habbo to actually keep things like that under wraps, but there might also be an aspect of poor communication involved too (though to be fair, I think that was nipped in the bud by Christmas).


But you can still post habbo-related articles without talking about new stuff? Surely that's the whole reason the department's name was switched from news to articles. :P


articles should have some nice buzzfeed style articles

Haha, it's true that finding the right thing to actually write an article about is an arduous task in and of itself. People flat-out no longer read articles about Habbo updates or changes, and if they do, they aren't commenting (which is generally how I'd gauge how popular an article is/has been). Nor do people read Real World Happening articles - people have got BBC News or whatever open by default nowadays anyway - I personally get breaking news sent directly to my iPhone. Like, we could be posting every day on the site with updates about the flooding in the north of England, but who gives a monkeys when they know everything that's happened in the last three hours by BBC Breaking? It's not Habbox worthy, and no one would read it. So that narrows us down to things like celebrity gossip (??? rly), room/music/tv/game reviews (never really been popular, but they're there), or personal opinion and experience.

I don't think welshcake; will mind me singling her out by saying that she's had some successful personal experience/opinion articles that generated discussion - and those seem to work best. I cast my mind back to the most popular article of September which was about head lice mutations. In a sentence, that sounds ridiculous. Head lice, really? - and yet it received something like 13 comments, a thread on the forum, and even a discussion on the radio. Pinpointing what people want to read on Habbox and what they read elsewhere is a mission in itself that needs concrete foundation - otherwise we're just repeating ourselves and wasting voluntary time we could be using for something else. If the end product is then not productive, what's the point?

That being said, I've heard it mentioned in the past that we're not BuzzFeed, and we shouldn't be aspiring to ridiculous clickbait articles, and I agree. So, as Empired said, it's about finding that bridge between it relating to Habbo/x, but with a fresh take. I'm not pointing the finger in any way because I'm undoubtedly guilty of it too, but we also can't keep writing about the same shite either. Every couple of months there's a 'Habbo secrets guide' or something along those lines. We definitely need a comprehensive list of articles that have already been done, though I appreciate that would be winding and probably endless - but it would be a similar method that Competitions Staff use to avoid repeating their competitions - in the same breath that we don't repeat articles, or Events don't host Fridge Races four times in one night. :]


* The full article is made as a forum thread
* On the site a summary is written just as it currently is, so things would outwardly look the same on the site buuuut
* The read more link goes to the forum thread, where people who like to comment on stuff 1) already have accounts and 2) are more likely to see it anyway
* This also brings any casual homepage browsers into the community without taking any activity away from the main site

I am loathe to oppose you, darling Tom, but I fear I must. ;] The way that I look at it, HxF is a by-product of Habbox.com, and not the other way around. If we take Articles away from the main site and on to the forum, that's another reason people aren't visiting the main site - and I'm under the impression we want it to receive as much traffic as possible? Isn't that why HabboxLive was abolished and instead the radio was integrated into the main site? If people aren't going to the main site to read some articles, then the only thing it's being used for is the Radio, the links at the top, and as a portal for Rare Values/the forum/twitter/etc - and aside from the radio, those are all things that people who frequent Habbox are likely to have bookmarked or remembered in their browser anyway.

I see how you might think it wouldn't deter traffic through a Read More Tag to the forum, but I reckon that might be a naive assumption - truth be told, I'd probably just carry on reading and close the tab that's on the main site? Needing an account to post a comment can be burdensome, I admit. You don't have to have one to make a request or shoutout on the radio, so it seems puzzling to me that you'd need one to simply comment on an article - though I don't think that's anything that can be rectified - just the way the current software system works.

The other issue I have with Articles being forum-based is that the tool used to currently write articles is a GOOD one. The current WordPress system is elaborate, expensive and does almost everything an avid blogger or journalist would need. It makes everything pristine and with the right formatting, syntax, GPV, and pretty images, an article can look very nice on the site, indeed. Much more so than any thread would look - and sorry, but when it comes to writing and reading, appearance can be everything. That's why it can take us a while to smash articles out - because we spend (or I do, at any rate) time making sure that they look proper and presentable. It does make a difference, imo. The issue we have at the moment, though, is that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear - it doesn't matter how good it looks if it's the same withered husk of an article that comes around every few months.

I'm not entirely opposed to the notion of it being forum-based though, I understand your logic as to how and why that might be a sensible idea, but if we're doing everything we can to keep the main site alive and active and not just a portal for everywhere else (which is in no way a downfall, don't get me wrong), it doesn't make much sense to me to take something else away from it.

[FlyingJesus]

When it's a choice between 3 less people going on the site a month or the entire department being a waste of time and effort because only those 3 people read the work that's published, I'd say it's an easy decision. There's no sense in throwing away potential and just sitting around hoping that more people will magically start reading articles on a site that they never visit - that's the one thing that's guaranteed to fail

[Alkaz]

Really all they're doing is: posting main article on the forum, putting intro and a link to forum post on the main site? Sounds pretty easy.

Would be good if they posted real life stuff on the forum as well, that would help generate some more posts and chat!

[Brad]

Goodluck if this actually pans out.
FJ said it perfectly. :)

Also, with the "Conversation Starters" I wanted it as a side task to draw people to go to habbox.com, because there's nothing really on there that is useful besides the radio, which I'm not getting into that. (haha)

But yeah. There needs to be a focus on more thought-provoking articles... I'm surprised Debates Leader hasn't collabed with articles department, or something similar. buttons; 's debates are perfect and could easily (with some effort obviously) be put into a debates article.

[buttons]

Yeah I'm actually just talking with Matt; about collaborating my debates with forum events, comps etc and surely articles could come into this too. Are there ever any articles that result in interaction, debate etc? Could even think of some rewards for getting involved in articles?

(sorry not read thread yet so dunno what's being proposed)

[Brad]

Yeah I'm actually just talking with Matt; about collaborating my debates with forum events, comps etc and surely articles could come into this too. Are there ever any articles that result in interaction, debate etc? Could even think of some rewards for getting involved in articles?

(sorry not read thread yet so dunno what's being proposed)

There used to be an Articles Award for those who interact with the articles. I tried to bring it back but it was a lot harder and I will admit that I didn't push it as much as I should have. Articles should technically be blended into the forum because there's not much motivation to bring someone to go over.

And that's good to know that that is already underway.

[FlyingJesus]

Are there ever any articles that result in interaction, debate etc?

Nopeeeee almost never which is what this proposal aims to fix :P would definitely make it easier to combine department activity too yeah

[Empired]

BUZZFEED STYLE ARTICLES WOULD BE SO GOOD

I had such fun coming up with some examples but copying buzzfeed's hideous style of capitalising the first letter of EVERY word regardless of its importance in the title bugged me more than I would have expected
Basically just went on Buzzfeed, looked at their titles and changed them to habbox

18 Unforgivable Things Habbox Did to Bertie in 2015
10 Reasons the Rare Values Department is the True Backbone of Habbox
Can You Identify These HabboxForum Members' Profile Pictures After They've Been Distorted?
9 of The Craziest Posts in 'Current Affairs' of 2015
29 Unspoken Rules That are Way Too Real for HabboxForum's Debates Section

I thought of another one but I think I'd like to give a go at writing it myself if @Joe (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=114801); still accepts that kind of thing x ok actually I'm not prepared to commit to this in writing but maybe

[Gina]

BUZZFEED STYLE ARTICLES WOULD BE SO GOOD

I had such fun coming up with some examples but copying buzzfeed's hideous style of capitalising the first letter of EVERY word regardless of its importance in the title bugged me more than I would have expected
Basically just went on Buzzfeed, looked at their titles and changed them to habbox

18 Unforgivable Things Habbox Did to Bertie in 2015
10 Reasons the Rare Values Department is the True Backbone of Habbox
Can You Identify These HabboxForum Members' Profile Pictures After They've Been Distorted?
9 of The Craziest Posts in 'Current Affairs' of 2015
29 Unspoken Rules That are Way Too Real for HabboxForum's Debates Section

I thought of another one but I think I'd like to give a go at writing it myself if @Joe (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=114801); still accepts that kind of thing x ok actually I'm not prepared to commit to this in writing but maybe

hahahah I would enjoy reading those

I dont bother reading any Habbo news really because Habbo itself I dont really care about so it just bores me which is a shame cos loads of the articles posted are Habbo news
tru fact my fave article was 1 about headlice
it was v interesting espec cos majority of peeps hv prob had headliceb efore so I enjoyed reading it thumbs up to whoev did it

[Inseriousity.]

lol only 9 posts charlie? surely there's more to choose from :P

I actually thought the department was doing quite well at creating conversation starters but it tends to vary depending on what staff you've got and I haven't seen it for a while (although I haven't been paying much attention). 6 comments on an article is incredible these days lmaoooo.

I think Tom's idea appears (??? I may have read it wrong though) to be more radical than most of the ideas here and that's moving Articles completely away from Habbox and onto the forum whereas most people tend to respond with "post mainly on the site and then post it on the forum." The reason this has never really gone forwards is because this is more of a general management decision rather than an articles manager one. If this is the idea you're suggesting, do you have an idea for plugging the space that removing articles from the site would produce? Perhaps they'd be more willing to consider it if they had ideas about what else to put there as I think that tends to be the major obstacle to this proposal.

- I tend to enjoy reading Buzzfeed style articles even though I know how stupid some of it is lol. "19 crazy things said in a courtroom" cracked me up.
- When I was AGM I had the idea of turning Habbox into a more campaigning role where we'd find out the wider Habbo issues and come up with fun campaigns to tackle the issues and challenge Habbo. News (at the time) department would work on the research and finding out what Habbos were interested in etc etc. News management at the time didn't really find the idea too appealing and it definitely is one of my stupidest ideas lol.
- Generally speaking though, I do like the more in-depth articles that are the opposite of the Buzzfeed articles as well.
- I also had the idea of HxL doing a podcast. Jade was management at the time and said "what's a podcast" so that idea never went anywhere either lol. I think it's something that Articles might be interested in as well. A weekly/fortnightly/monthly podcast where there's a couple of regular hosts and guest commenters (Habbox members could join in because it's pre-recorded. that was the original USP) where they debate the latest Habbo(x) news, comps, games etc etc of a regular podcast.

[thms]

if u want interaction stay tuned for agony aunt its coming back i swear! jk idk

i like the buzzfeed idea, it sounds fun and ppl would love it i'm sure

[FlyingJesus]

If this is the idea you're suggesting, do you have an idea for plugging the space that removing articles from the site would produce?

There wouldn't be a space, the front page would look just like it does now - unless "featured threads" did become a thing, in which case there'd be even more on the site

[Inseriousity.]

Ah I did just misunderstand then :)

[dbgtz]

I don't know if this has been mentioned, but one thing I really dislike about it is how much "dead space" there is on each page. If you look at any news site there will be 10+ articles linked before you even have to scroll. I get Habbox doesn't output nearly that much, but having to scroll and then go between pages is fairly off putting.

[Martin]

Any updates on this? Would be good to see some thoughts from General Management too maybe? :D

In my opinion it certainly can't hurt to try the whole forum integration thing again. It would definitely be a way of generating more discussions on the forum providing the articles are fun, interesting and discussion provoking! Buzzfeed style articles would definitely be a nice refreshing change and they can be quite fun!

Think it's definitely time for some kind of shake up in terms of what articles provides to Habbox. I think a recruitment drive at the same time would be good too as there appears to only be 2 members of staff at the moment and the apps thread hasn't been bumped for a few months. There's been no articles so far this year too!

Slightly off topic, but I'm sure there used to be a widget that had which departments were open for applications too? Like a Job Openings app? If there was it doesn't seem to appear for me anymore! :(


But you can still post habbo-related articles without talking about new stuff? Surely that's the whole reason the department's name was switched from news to articles :P

Agree with this so much! Obviously when it was the 'News Department' back in 2010 our primary aim was to post news, but one thing I was always pushing for was for reporters to go beyond what was already reported and be inventive. This meant finding things that hadn't been officially reported by Habbo, finding and reporting gossip and fun things that had happened, getting opinions and reactions from some of the more 'famous' Habbo's and making it more personalised and interactive than Habbo in collating opinions to summarise peoples thoughts on the news to make it more journalistic and less formal.

I think now the department has shifted to articles it makes more sense to do more fun things when it comes to the Habbo style articles (I think they should still exist definitely as we are a Habbo fansite and so Habbo content on the main site seems important). Engage with the community and make it more interactive and fun!



Something that automatically posts them wouldn't be the worst thing ever but actually sounds like more hassle than just making the thread and then posting the intro and link to the site. Also I'm generally wary of waiting for big updates before anything gets changed as it seems to make things fall into obscurity and just get pushed back and back #rarevalues #v7

So long as it isn't as dodgy as the one we had back in 2009 that used to post articles into the Habbo forum! The News Bot used to spontaneously combust most weeks and end up spamming the same article several hundred times which was annoying and clogged new posts up!

Personally I think if anything it should be the other way around because articles staff posting on the forum would be a better way at engaging with the community and people may be more inclined to reply to a person rather than a robot.

[Empired]

I was thinking about this thread just last night! I haven't seen any changes but I guess everything comes to a bit of a standstill over Christmas. Actually, hardly any articles have actually been published since Christmas. Is everyone away? :(

[FlyingJesus]

So long as it isn't as dodgy as the one we had back in 2009 that used to post articles into the Habbo forum! The News Bot used to spontaneously combust most weeks and end up spamming the same article several hundred times which was annoying and clogged new posts up!

lmao oh god that thing was horrific, definitely not needing that monstrosity back

[Joe]

I was thinking about this thread just last night! I haven't seen any changes but I guess everything comes to a bit of a standstill over Christmas. Actually, hardly any articles have actually been published since Christmas. Is everyone away? :(

Don't worry - the big changes in this thread are impossible the implement quickly, especially as we really want to try and line anything we have up to run alongside the release of v8. I'm currently really busy moving back into uni, Lex has been semi-away over the Christmas period due to real life commitments and Coral has a department to run and other roles. It really comes down to the fact the team just aren't around, which is obviously a shame but there's nothing we can do apart from hope members are interested in joining the team or the guest articles scheme that will be releasing February will bring in more potential members.

[Inseriousity.]

lol v8

Edited by Empired (Trialist Forum Moderator): Please do not post pointlessly!

[FlyingJesus]

What it's totally possible to do it quickly, you just post in a different place and turn off site commenting

[-:Undertaker:-]

one of the annoying things i found as articles staff in my last stint was how you couldn't copy and paste from the editor on the main site. it made writing up much harder as well as wanting to post it to the forum and vice versa. is it still the case that you cant copy and paste in that editor?

[xxMATTGxx]

one of the annoying things i found as articles staff in my last stint was how you couldn't copy and paste from the editor on the main site. it made writing up much harder as well as wanting to post it to the forum and vice versa. is it still the case that you cant copy and paste in that editor?

Copy and paste works flawlessly

[-:Undertaker:-]

Copy and paste works flawlessly

ooh that's good.

can't tell you how annoying it was when i couldnt copy my stuff and then my internet would go before i'd posted the article

[Samantha]

one of the annoying things i found as articles staff in my last stint was how you couldn't copy and paste from the editor on the main site. it made writing up much harder as well as wanting to post it to the forum and vice versa. is it still the case that you cant copy and paste in that editor?

Do you mean copying and pasting into the editor itself to then post on the main site? You could copy and paste, I didn't find out either until very late you just had to paste it without format or something! If not there was also a preview button that made it easier to do so too, it showed how it would look on the main site etc.

[Joe]

What it's totally possible to do it quickly, you just post in a different place and turn off site commenting

Yes it's rather easy to just go gung-ho into anything but I'd much prefer it's planned and implemented in the best way possible.

[FlyingJesus]

Well that's all there is to it

[FlyingJesus]

Knock knock

Who's there?

FlyingJesus

FlyingJesus who?

FlyingJesus who doesn't get why nothing's been done still despite the change being the easiest thing in the world that requires one simple change that can be done whatever version of the site you're on and might as well be done now since there haven't been any articles in weeks and there's only one member of staff who would need to adapt what they (are supposed to-) do

[Joe]

*Answer's Door*

*REMOVED* whilst I focus on the start of the term at University where I study for the degree that will mean I get a job in my later life. Things will be done on the agenda's of the people that can make this happen, not you.

Edited by Samanfa (Forum Super Moderator): Please do not be rude to other members, thank you!

[FlyingJesus]

You've done shit all for months lol let's not pretend it's all about being a first year. If you can't stretch to performing a really simple job, don't pretend to be worth the post.


*answers
*agendas

[OldLoveSong]

hffm has this and we should totally implement it

[thms]

this is wild

[Joe]

hffm has this and we should totally implement it

Totally agree with you and it will be, will post something soon with all the planned updates!

[velvet]

*Answer's Door*

*REMOVED* whilst I focus on the start of the term at University where I study for the degree that will mean I get a job in my later life. Things will be done on the agenda's of the people that can make this happen, not you.

Edited by Samanfa (Forum Super Moderator): Please do not be rude to other members, thank you!

if you don't have time to implement a little change, why don't you give up your position as articles manager? surely it'd be better to have someone who has time to help the articles department thrive...

[Joe]

if you don't have time to implement a little change, why don't you give up your position as articles manager? surely it'd be better to have someone who has time to help the articles department thrive...

I completely agree! I've loved receiving feedback for the department and its really helped to see what the community thinks. My outburst was only written in the way I wrote it because people do forget that managers have lives outside of Habbox and its a shame that members (most importantly ones that have never been a manager) attempt to push and push and push when they know that it's not needed as plans have been made and will be implemented when they can be. I really wouldn't mind if I was being pushed to make changes by the management team that oversee my department but then again, they understand the pressures of being a manager at a fansite like this. Saying that, I do apologise for the manner I replied in FlyingJesus; but I'm quite happy to say I'd love to see you stepping into a managerial role, possibly of Articles, as you evidently have the ideas and personal drive to take it somewhere I no longer have the time for!

Typed this on my iPhone so there's probably mistakes!

[Samantha]

I completely agree! I've loved receiving feedback for the department and its really helped to see what the community thinks. My outburst was only written in the way I wrote it because people do forget that managers have lives outside of Habbox and its a shame that members (most importantly ones that have never been a manager) attempt to push and push and push when they know that it's not needed as plans have been made and will be implemented when they can be. I really wouldn't mind if I was being pushed to make changes by the management team that oversee my department but then again, they understand the pressures of being a manager at a fansite like this. Saying that, I do apologise for the manner I replied in FlyingJesus; but I'm quite happy to say I'd love to see you stepping into a managerial role, possibly of Articles, as you evidently have the ideas and personal drive to take it somewhere I no longer have the time for!

Typed this on my iPhone so there's probably mistakes!

Guessing you mean FlyingJesus; - he has been a manager, he didn't get the fancy merit badge for doing nothing!

Also, coming from someone who has been a manager like yourself, News Manager in fact (the revamped department you manage now) it's very much needed! For years we haven't actually had the say so on posting articles we publish primarily on the forum for the ease of commenting - it hasn't been allowed, but you have the power to change that and it's definitely a much needed change. It can be seen as 'pushy', but what isn't pushy is the fact this has been a work in progress since 2012 and it still hasn't been followed through much, it can now be possible I am guessing as General Management hasn't disagreed with it. It's not the biggest change in the world, but it could certainly change the way members view articles and your staff members will actually get their hard work noticed if that makes sense.

I won't comment on you as a manager as I do know how it can be, you have bad patches where things get on top of you, but whenever I was slacking, I got put in my place, I got pushed and I was so much more thankful for it. Perhaps you do just need that push, that drive to make something happen, it might seem weird if that push is coming from a forum members other than General Management - you might not think they have the right to, but it's someone who is actually wanting the department to improve! General Management I agree know how hard it can be managing a department, they also know how busy they've been planning the awards, planning other special things for the members of Habbox, so it might not seem you've been pushed recently, but like you said, you understand how hard it actually is.

[Alkaz]

Looks like you may as well send in your articles manager application now Tom.

[Martin]

I completely agree! I've loved receiving feedback for the department and its really helped to see what the community thinks. My outburst was only written in the way I wrote it because people do forget that managers have lives outside of Habbox and its a shame that members (most importantly ones that have never been a manager) attempt to push and push and push when they know that it's not needed as plans have been made and will be implemented when they can be. I really wouldn't mind if I was being pushed to make changes by the management team that oversee my department but then again, they understand the pressures of being a manager at a fansite like this. Saying that, I do apologise for the manner I replied in @FlyingJesus (http://www.habboxforum.com/member.php?u=24753); but I'm quite happy to say I'd love to see you stepping into a managerial role, possibly of Articles, as you evidently have the ideas and personal drive to take it somewhere I no longer have the time for!

Typed this on my iPhone so there's probably mistakes!


How much pressure is it though really? These days it must be a walk in the park with less members, less staff (I don't think you have any staff at the moment?) to manage and less output and stuff! :O Other managers have staff updates to contend with almost daily and actively seek to fill in the gaps when staff members are low too (by going on air, hosting events, writing competitions etc). The competitions manager writes competitions regularly so I find it weird that the articles manager doesn't follow suit and write articles regularly. Yes managers have lives, but at the same time there are people at Habbox that genuinely care about wanting it to succeed and it's never going to be able to function successfully if certain elements are miles behind and there isn't 100% co-operation between all departments and managers.

Is this month just a difficult one or something because of Uni? I'm in my first year of Uni (which doesn't even count towards my degree apparently!) but I'm finding I still have heaps of time to have a life and go out and stuff regularly!

What exactly does your role entail on a daily basis these days? You don't really have many staff to manage so the admin side of things can't be too heavy at the moment? I'm guessing you've been actively requesting graphics and stuff in anticipation of the site>forum articles plans and been actively involved in meetings with general management etc? Most managers have stuff they have to do daily/weekly etc.

I never used to have proof readers and stuff so had to check the articles myself most of the time and that was during a period where there were often 2+ articles per day. We're three weeks into January and no articles have been posted, so you've had the benefit of not having articles to check. One of the worst things back in the day was images as people could never get those right and I would spend hours resizing/editing them etc haha!

We used to provide feedback on articles too, to encourage creativity and improvement but mainly to offer praise to make the reporters feel like they were valued etc.

I used to write departmental reports weekly every Sunday at 10pm I think it was, and that was during a time where the average number of staff in the department was 6-12 so they used to take a fair amount of time too. Even with the basic stuff though, I think you need to be able to manage time effectively in order to implement things within a reasonable time. 3 weeks has passed already so really things should be almost at the stage to go live.

I used to output content myself when I could as I hated to leave the main site stagnant too long. I just feel that when visitors view the site and see nothing has been updated in a few weeks it just makes the place seem really lax in being up to date and current. If they see regular updates then it's obviously going to make it look more up to date and worth visiting more frequently.

I sometimes get the feeling that one of the reasons Habbox doesn't really have half as much output (this goes for every department) is purely because there are less 'addicts' these days, and I guess that's something that can't be helped really.


If you feel that you're not able to give some time to Habbox then maybe you need to consider asking for help? Maybe the AGM of content could help speed the plans along or you could get an assistant manager or something? It just seems a shame that something which realistically could take a few hours to make happen and could actually really significantly improve not just the department but the forum in my opinion is suffering! They really are exciting plans and it provides a platform for community engagement within articles which is something that has been lacking for years now, so I'm surprised you haven't been itching to get it all released! :P

I would argue that sometimes it's a good thing that members of the community are pushing for something to happen, it shows they care, shows they support the project (which is always a good thing believe me!) and it saves you a lot of thinking as it's practically planned out all for you! :P I think the fact that you've actively replied to this thread proves that you're dedicated to articles and do have the time to devote to make these changes happen though, but thinking long term, you're going to have more to do once you get staff/once you have to start making threads official and stuff, so you really do need to decide whether you feel you can do the project justice based on the time you have. I wish you luck and look forwards to seeing it all put into action! :D

[Joe]

Guessing you mean FlyingJesus; - he has been a manager, he didn't get the fancy merit badge for doing nothing!

Also, coming from someone who has been a manager like yourself, News Manager in fact (the revamped department you manage now) it's very much needed! For years we haven't actually had the say so on posting articles we publish primarily on the forum for the ease of commenting - it hasn't been allowed, but you have the power to change that and it's definitely a much needed change. It can be seen as 'pushy', but what isn't pushy is the fact this has been a work in progress since 2012 and it still hasn't been followed through much, it can now be possible I am guessing as General Management hasn't disagreed with it. It's not the biggest change in the world, but it could certainly change the way members view articles and your staff members will actually get their hard work noticed if that makes sense.

I won't comment on you as a manager as I do know how it can be, you have bad patches where things get on top of you, but whenever I was slacking, I got put in my place, I got pushed and I was so much more thankful for it. Perhaps you do just need that push, that drive to make something happen, it might seem weird if that push is coming from a forum members other than General Management - you might not think they have the right to, but it's someone who is actually wanting the department to improve! General Management I agree know how hard it can be managing a department, they also know how busy they've been planning the awards, planning other special things for the members of Habbox, so it might not seem you've been pushed recently, but like you said, you understand how hard it actually is.

Fair enough, obviously haven't been around long enough to realise that. My mistake and thanks for the reply!


How much pressure is it though really? These days it must be a walk in the park with less members, less staff (I don't think you have any staff at the moment?) to manage and less output and stuff! :O Other managers have staff updates to contend with almost daily and actively seek to fill in the gaps when staff members are low too (by going on air, hosting events, writing competitions etc). The competitions manager writes competitions regularly so I find it weird that the articles manager doesn't follow suit and write articles regularly. Yes managers have lives, but at the same time there are people at Habbox that genuinely care about wanting it to succeed and it's never going to be able to function successfully if certain elements are miles behind and there isn't 100% co-operation between all departments and managers.

Is this month just a difficult one or something because of Uni? I'm in my first year of Uni (which doesn't even count towards my degree apparently!) but I'm finding I still have heaps of time to have a life and go out and stuff regularly!

What exactly does your role entail on a daily basis these days? You don't really have many staff to manage so the admin side of things can't be too heavy at the moment? I'm guessing you've been actively requesting graphics and stuff in anticipation of the site>forum articles plans and been actively involved in meetings with general management etc? Most managers have stuff they have to do daily/weekly etc.

I never used to have proof readers and stuff so had to check the articles myself most of the time and that was during a period where there were often 2+ articles per day. We're three weeks into January and no articles have been posted, so you've had the benefit of not having articles to check. One of the worst things back in the day was images as people could never get those right and I would spend hours resizing/editing them etc haha!

We used to provide feedback on articles too, to encourage creativity and improvement but mainly to offer praise to make the reporters feel like they were valued etc.

I used to write departmental reports weekly every Sunday at 10pm I think it was, and that was during a time where the average number of staff in the department was 6-12 so they used to take a fair amount of time too. Even with the basic stuff though, I think you need to be able to manage time effectively in order to implement things within a reasonable time. 3 weeks has passed already so really things should be almost at the stage to go live.

I used to output content myself when I could as I hated to leave the main site stagnant too long. I just feel that when visitors view the site and see nothing has been updated in a few weeks it just makes the place seem really lax in being up to date and current. If they see regular updates then it's obviously going to make it look more up to date and worth visiting more frequently.

I sometimes get the feeling that one of the reasons Habbox doesn't really have half as much output (this goes for every department) is purely because there are less 'addicts' these days, and I guess that's something that can't be helped really.


If you feel that you're not able to give some time to Habbox then maybe you need to consider asking for help? Maybe the AGM of content could help speed the plans along or you could get an assistant manager or something? It just seems a shame that something which realistically could take a few hours to make happen and could actually really significantly improve not just the department but the forum in my opinion is suffering! They really are exciting plans and it provides a platform for community engagement within articles which is something that has been lacking for years now, so I'm surprised you haven't been itching to get it all released! :P

I would argue that sometimes it's a good thing that members of the community are pushing for something to happen, it shows they care, shows they support the project (which is always a good thing believe me!) and it saves you a lot of thinking as it's practically planned out all for you! :P I think the fact that you've actively replied to this thread proves that you're dedicated to articles and do have the time to devote to make these changes happen though, but thinking long term, you're going to have more to do once you get staff/once you have to start making threads official and stuff, so you really do need to decide whether you feel you can do the project justice based on the time you have. I wish you luck and look forwards to seeing it all put into action! :D

Evidently not as dedicated and hard working as you, Martin! Thanks for your long thoughtful reply - if only Articles was the same as when you were manager as the activity I'd be loving and really enjoying. And when it comes to the degree, evidently you're a student who finds their degree relatively easy whereas I am finding it hard and the last thing I want to be focusing on is something that won't serve me well in later life.

As for giving the project justice, I completely agree with you.

[Martin]

Fair enough, obviously haven't been around long enough to realise that. My mistake and thanks for the reply!



Evidently not as dedicated and hard working as you, Martin! Thanks for your long thoughtful reply - if only Articles was the same as when you were manager as the activity I'd be loving and really enjoying. And when it comes to the degree, evidently you're a student who finds their degree relatively easy whereas I am finding it hard and the last thing I want to be focusing on is something that won't serve me well in later life.

As for giving the project justice, I completely agree with you.

I completely agree with that last part haha! Real life does have to take priority sometimes unfortunately and things have to be sacrificed. Sorry to hear you are struggling with your course, hopefully it will get easier soon! I know some degrees can be a lot more demanding than others. When I first started my degree I thought I would struggle as I'm old and I worried that 6 years of retail had made me brain dead but it's been amazing to realise there is actually some kind of brain up there haha! In terms of Habbox though unfortunately it can't always be put on hold for long periods, like the occasional week is fine but I don't think its feasible for more than that really, especially in a department with one manager/no other support up top!

Best of luck with everything Joe! :)

[welshcake]

Now Joe has sadly resigned I'm going to close this and just create a new one so it's a bit easier to read and a bit less feisty