Staff Posting Quota

[Inseriousity.]

You can still disagree with someone without criticising someone's English or saying it's stupid so that argument is null.

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Rightios!! Considering that I've only returned and have been active here for nearly a month, I guess I'll just add a lil' bit of my 'inpoot' here based on the experiences I have so far since I've logged back on.

I'm not trying to be a suck-up or anything but Habbox has one of the best fansite communities (again, based on the experiences I have so far, but with fansites this time) because of the warm and small community you get while being here, so it's sad to see the forum slowly dying. I can see that there has been attempts to improve it (i.e Weekly Posting Stats) and I think the forum managers should keep it up.

I think one of the issues here are the fact that some new staff/non-staff/returnees are afraid/nervous of posting on the forum because:
1.) Criticism (which I personally think is a stupid reason but it's true, in my case anyway )
2.) *not something that often happens here at HxF but I'll just say it* Cliques. Some cliques and groups tend to overlook the new people on the forum so new forumers/new staff tend to loose interest on the forum/site if this problem persists.
Another problem that we all can't deny is the fact that Habbo is dying too. And since we (as fansites) originate from Habbo, we're all affected.

Maybe the management can look into team bonding (Monthly Skype calls as a whole dept/online karaoke/OMGPOP even that's not around anymore... but again, just an example)? That possibly would help get people motivated to post on the forum (especially spam.) Also this may encourage staff that can't be arsed to post/are inactive in terms of the community to be more active in the forum.

A poster said on here regarding Welcoming Commitee - I think that's useless because we already have one, which is basically the active forumers right now, and there's not much. Staff posting quota can be experimented in small doses (such as 5 posts for a staff per week) but it isn't guaranteed that it'll help in the long run. But that's experimentation for you anyway.

I think my post pretty much is irrelevant to the original topic but I just hope this little feedback helps, coming from someone who hasn't been working in Habbox/engaged in the community for a long time.

Don't your two points here contradict each other? I suggested reviving the Welcome Committee because of your point 2

[Phil]

Reading over the thread and it's quite interesting to see some of the things that are being discussed.

Nick and I were actually going to introduce a quota for Moderator Staff too reach, I haven't implemented it yet because I'm unsure how I feel about it. I just don't see how cautioning/warning people for posting around the Forum can be a good idea, stuff in departments like HxL will drop like flies.

I also just a had a look at the posting statistics from 27th-6th and 35 members of staff have gotten above 15 posts.

[Kyle]

This has been a pertinent issue for a long time and one I have considered on numerous occasions over the last 2-5 years where activity has dropped. Having been one of the few consistent top posters in recent years I feel I have some useful first hand insight that may throw light on what seems to be becoming the biggest problem for forum activity. I'll start by saying that increasing posts is not the solution per se; increasing new threads is. Last summer I compiled a list of Hxhd staff and their post counts and posts per day and set about finding out both what personally motivated individuals to post in high numbers and what was stopping others from not posting at all. My first test subject was welshcake, whom I tasked with creating one thread on a topic she was interested in that would promote discussion - because she studies film I suggested something to do with that. Had I not had other commitments and stuck around in the position I would have gone on to develop a similar target for each member that would both help them become accustomed with the forum and its users as well as, most importantly, facilitating wide ranges of discussions that would ultimately inspire others. What I'm saying here is that it is not post quantity that matters and those who do so on occasion and only instrumentally as a means to an end (for postcount/tokens) are often viewed negatively as "spammers" (Lewis, Scott) and because only a few users are interested in those ends, they soak up opportunities that might have otherwised established other others as community members seen to be contributing. The number one excuse for not posting is that there aren't any interesting threads; the excuses given when people are asked to create threads are that they've either all been done (so post it again, you might get a different discussion entirely!!!) or that people "don't know what to talk about. Encouragement to express and taylor threads to one's idiosyncrasies and personal views or stories is what is needed, not mindless quotas that have in the past only served to keep old threads alive.

People are followers, not leaders or visionaries. They'll lurk until threads that entice them appear, post a spiel in them, then fade into the darkness once again until a similar opportunity arises. The key to activity is to pull individuals from the darkness for longer periods or permanently and encourage them to create some content of their own. Post count quotas will not do this and posting will become another chore in the ever expanding rigmarole of administrative duties that make people not want to be staff. Mike has already rightly stated that a softer approach is needed if any results are to be had -- staff are not machines to programme, they have individuals with personalities and a plethora of contrasting standpoints on all kinds of topics. Exploit that and you'll get more threads and in turn more posts/higher levels of activity. Just don't make it compulsory so that it turns into a chore.

The moderator subject is an interesting one for me and I feel strongly that each moderator should be posting at least one thread (per fortnight) in each of his designated subforums that promotes discussion and encourages members to post outside of their comfort zones.

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[Richie]

This has been a pertinent issue for a long time and one I have considered on numerous occasions over the last 2-5 years where activity has dropped. Having been one of the few consistent top posters in recent years I feel I have some useful first hand insight that may throw light on what seems to be becoming the biggest problem for forum activity. I'll start by saying that increasing posts is not the solution per se; increasing new threads is. Last summer I compiled a list of Hxhd staff and their post counts and posts per day and set about finding out both what personally motivated individuals to post in high numbers and what was stopping others from not posting at all. My first test subject was welshcake, whom I tasked with creating one thread on a topic she was interested in that would promote discussion - because she studies film I suggested something to do with that. Had I not had other commitments and stuck around in the position I would have gone on to develop a similar target for each member that would both help them become accustomed with the forum and its users as well as, most importantly, facilitating wide ranges of discussions that would ultimately inspire others. What I'm saying here is that it is not post quantity that matters and those who do so on occasion and only instrumentally as a means to an end (for postcount/tokens) are often viewed negatively as "spammers" (Lewis, Scott) and because only a few users are interested in those ends, they soak up opportunities that might have otherwised established other others as community members seen to be contributing. The number one excuse for not posting is that there aren't any interesting threads; the excuses given when people are asked to create threads are that they've either all been done (so post it again, you might get a different discussion entirely!!!) or that people "don't know what to talk about. Encouragement to express and taylor threads to one's idiosyncrasies and personal views or stories is what is needed, not mindless quotas that have in the past only served to keep old threads alive.

People are followers, not leaders or visionaries. They'll lurk until threads that entice them appear, post a spiel in them, then fade into the darkness once again until a similar opportunity arises. The key to activity is to pull individuals from the darkness for longer periods or permanently and encourage them to create some content of their own. Post count quotas will not do this and posting will become another chore in the ever expanding rigmarole of administrative duties that make people not want to be staff. Mike has already rightly stated that a softer approach is needed if any results are to be had -- staff are not machines to programme, they have individuals with personalities and a plethora of contrasting standpoints on all kinds of topics. Exploit that and you'll get more threads and in turn more posts/higher levels of activity. Just don't make it compulsory so that it turns into a chore.

The moderator subject is an interesting one for me and I feel strongly that each moderator should be posting at least one thread (per fortnight) in each of his designated subforums that promotes discussion and encourages members to post outside of their comfort zones.

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so do you agree or not?

[Calum0812]

What was the last thing you watched?
What was the last thing you bought?
What games do you play?
What are you listening to?
Favorite seasons...

If the extra posts we get from a staff quota are posts like that then I would rather they didn't post at all. Introducing a quota should encourage discussion and interaction with the community (as people have mentioned) something those types of threads do not encourage.

[Kyle]

so do you agree or not?

I disagree that a posting quota is going to be of any benefit, in fact I think it would harm activity and decrease staff numbers. I suggest honing in on individuals and encouraging them to create threads that spark discussion on things that interest them. The only quota I would support is one for created threads by moderators in their respective sections, everything else can be achieved through a less aggressive method.


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[Calum0812]

The only quota I would support is one for created threads by moderators in their respective sections.

Serious question:
What would you like to see from the Super Moderators and Forum Management whom are global moderators?

[Inseriousity.]

staff are not machines to programme, they have individuals with personalities and a plethora of contrasting standpoints on all kinds of topics. Exploit that and you'll get more threads and in turn more posts/higher levels of activity. Just don't make it compulsory so that it turns into a chore.

Yes totally agree with this and I think that really goes to staff and non-staff. Get to know them as people and you can nudge them into the community.

[Kyle]

Serious question:
What would you like to see from the Super Moderators and Forum Management whom are global moderators?

As global moderators these people should be au fait with posting habits of all members and I would personally like to see them working to revive (or otherwise delete or consolidate into existing forums) the most dead sections of the forum by posting more in those. But really the same as normal moderators in terms of creation and facilitation of discussion on their personal subjects of interest.


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[Empired]

THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN THOUGH, FGS.


In the link you supported above, scott disagreed with his opinion. It wasn't a great suggestion. If everyone on the forum was told they're 'intimidating someone' by not agreeing with them, there would be no point in a forum. Opinions are meant to be diverse.

Actually I think it does happen. I think you've been around long enough to have become mostly immune to those kinds of things, but newcomers don't and shouldn't have to know that Scott is that negative with everyone and will end up feeling victimised even if that's not how he intended them to feel.

As a relatively new member compared to most people in this thread, I thought I should add that up until about 4 months ago I really hated posting new threads for fear of a negative reaction from older user. Similarly, up until about the same time I felt I couldn't post in spam because I wasn't part of the 'in-crowd'. That whole spam clique seems to have died down a lot now which is great, but I'm still not the greatest fan of making threads.

I don't think forcing staff to post will do anything. It might increase the overall post count ever so slightly but most staff members will ignore the targets and just take the warnings. I think managers would then be unhappy with firing them all just because they won't post. I want to agree with Kyle and say it should be the manager's job (or the seniors' in huge departments like HxL) to work personally with each member of staff and encourage them to post about what they are interested in. It should also then be the manager (etc)'s job to post in the thread their staff members make to encourage them to feel part of the community.

I'd be interested to see how other newcomers like @Expling; @Zealoux; and @bloop; felt when they first joined HabboxForum last year.