The Near Future - Forum Overhaul

Howdy :)!

This is a long, detailed thread, with many things to absorb all at once so I hope your seat is comfy and the room temperature is set appropriately ;).

For the past few weeks, behind the scenes I have been compiling a list (with the help of my fantastic assistants!) of problems at Habbox Forum and ways to improve each area we have problems in. Obviously nothing is perfect and every forum has it's own unique problems and struggles, however many of these problems can and will be (with a lot of time and effort) overcome with these planned changes which I will be outlining here and then reading your feedback, which as always, we greatly appreciate! Obviously we don't expect everything to get sorted over night, some things will require weeks to settle and show their true effects and obviously some things will have to be tuned further as we move forward.

As you know, a new forum was set up titled "Forum Polls" where we asked you to vote in a few polls regarding each main area of the forum and leave comments if you felt necessary. These polls, and comments, have really boosted these plans forward (which I actually put together before the polls, the polls simply ensured the plans moved forward and ensured they addressed each area appropriately).

We are committed to solving many of the our present problems and will be spending a lot of time, energy and money to ensure they are resolved (with no short cuts!).

The plan is to discontinue the Forum manager (FM) role as we know it. Instead, FM will be known as the Forum Management, who each Assistant General Manager (AGM) (Immenseman, Joshuar, Nvrspk4 - yes them, the green little men :P) will be part of. They, as they have been for a very long time (and will be), the ones with the final say, making changes to the forum and discussing many aspects of the forum.

We will be introducing two, new big managerial roles, each with a department to look after.

First New Department
The first new role will be the Community Manager (CM). This person's role will be to ensure that the community aspect of the forum is at the highest standards, ensuring that users looking for help, are given the advice and information they seek - not just in regards to information about Habbo(x), but in all general areas.

The department will be ensuring the FAQ has all the information necessary, both accurate and detailed. The department will also ensure to provide forum support which, at the moment, for problems regarding bannings etc and taking over the contact us email isn't the best we can do, we know it and you have told us about it many times therefore you, also know it therefore it's about time we sorted it out and fixed it don't you agree?

Although it may sound like a simple task to under take, the role of the manager and the staff members of this department have a challenging and an important role ahead of them.

To be continued.......

I will be adding to this thread (new posts) over the next few hours as it is a lot to absorb all at once.

Please leave us know what you think, so far in this thread.

The Second Department
With the community department focusing on support, the next department is obviously going to be the department that keeps everyone in line, ensuring rules are followed etc. This department is not really new however the managerial role of Moderation Manager (MM) is and the department itself will be completely revamped. This person's sole job is to ensure the moderation department is working around the clock to ensure rules are followed, to improve current moderation systems and keep the people that are here to cause trouble off the forum.

With the new role, we will be simultaneously, completely rewriting the moderation guides and altering the tools given the both moderators and smods to make things clearer for moderators and smods and also ensure that we are treating each case uniquely and not putting all cases under the same category meaning moderators have to take a look at the whole situation not just the specific post before issuing warnings/infractions or sending private messages to the user.

We will also be relaxing how strict we are with certain things and also becoming stricter with other rules. This does not mean we will be changing our rules but simply changing how harshly we deal with each rule. For example dealing with users who constantly flame more quickly and harshly than a new user who has double posted.

We have many ideas and solutions to many problems we currently face (ie banned users quickly coming back on a new account and causing trouble) which should save moderators and smods a lot of time.

In regards to how we assess how well a mod or smod performs, we will be taking into consideration how often the forum staff member posts on the forum which should motivate moderators and smods to post more around the forum and be part of the community, creating a bigger, stronger bond with the members and not seen as aliens who are there simply to infract and/or ban.

We will also be looking for ways to promote and motivate users to report posts more often to help with moderation around the forums and in the end allow us to deal with problems and catch troublesome users faster.

So who will be taking these 2 new roles now that the FM title will be discontinued?
We will be putting new faces to these new roles to really boost the new roles and departments, allowing new ideas and new improvements to the way we deal with certain things on the forum.

As mentioned earlier, please post your feedback in this thread:
http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?p=4770636

To be continued...

So what else is going to be happening?
Lots, however most will remain secret until the plans advance further and are solid. We don't want to disappoint anyone by offering false hope.

We can however assure you, you will not be disappointed with what we have planned and we hope these changes will make your summer much more enjoyable!

When will all this start coming into place?
I cannot offer a precise date however once most of the staff involved have finished with their exams (which is around start-mid june), we will start making the changes talked about here and other changes we have planned.

Who will be running these two departments?
More information later on in the week about that ;).

What will happen to Elkaa and Nick- (current (A)FMs)?
Elkaa will be remaining with us as a Forum Administrator, helping out in other areas of the forum.
Nick- will also be remaining as a Forum Administrator as the VIP editor.

If you wish to discuss any things mentioned in this thread or leave any feedback, please do so in this thread:
http://www.habboxforum.com/showthread.php?p=4770636

Thanks,
---MAD---
General Manager