More / Better Moderators needed.

[Catzsy]

I myself like the idea of a council for the forum however there are a few things to consider and resolve before taking the idea on board and implementing it. This idea, if sucessful could also expand to other areas of Habbox such as rare values, habboxlive and any other community based departments.

1. Most ideas that are suggested in feedback forum are read and considered anyway (unless its like "FIRE HIM" or "FIRE HER").

2. Most ideas myself and the rest of management find useful to the rest of the community, implement within days/weeks after the thread was made. IE When the gender thing was wanted back, even if it was a mistake, it was done the same day or maybe a few days later. A council might slow this process down a lot if they all have to agree on things.

With a good Habbox Council, perhaps there wouldn't be so much negative feedback in the section. Its up to you to see the Council is not slow and discusses things promptly.

3. I think whoever we pick for the council, some will still not like what the council does and continue using the feedback forum to make threads and post in them very often.

4. Regarding moderation etc. Council members can't really do anything about this since they are not mods/smods/admins - they are regular members of the forum which means they cannot comment on how good the moderation/staff are as its not their place to and is unfair on the mods/smods/admins that work so hard then get attacked or degraded by the council just because the admin/smods/mod infracted them or whatever.

Why shouldn't ordinary members comment on the standard of moderation on the forum and honestly is that what Habbox has become when you say ITS NOT THEIR PLACE.
Lol I have to laugh or I would cry about this comment knowing the old philosophy of 'free speech' on this forum. You know bad moderation/insufficient training reflects badly on the good moderators and I am sure they support any measure that improves the system. Anyway I am sure the council would be mature enough not to attack anybody personally. I think you underestimate the intelligence of both the forum members and the moderators here.

5. It seems that saurav or maybe others see this council as a way to get mods/smods/admins fired which is definitely not the case.

I do not see that the forum is likely to vote for members to do this and I think this comment is very harsh on Saurav who was a very good Super Moderator in his day but perhaps is not up to date with the current rules. This is a pretty negative way of looking at things.

I do like the idea and I think if done properly and the members hand picked, the council should work out well especially if members are picked from different categories of the forum (ie users that post in the general category / games cat etc etc).

Good idea but who would pick them? The idea is that the Forum would vote for a proportion anywise it is only natural for staff to pick people who have similar views to themselves and defeat the whole object of the exercise.I will have a think about how to set it up and have a talk with sierk about it. The reason I didn't respond earlier on is because I felt like I should monitor the thread and see what others think, gathering the suggestions and noting them down before coming to a conclusion.

Thanks everyone for your time and feedback, very much appreciated.

---MAD---
General Manager & Forum Manager

Thanks and maybe reply to say you are in fact considering it on another occasion and will get back to the members or they might conclude that they are being ignored?

[Mr.OSH]

I really like the idea of a council but I have a few concerns regarding how these members would be picked as you have 2 main ways of choosing them.

1) People who can do the job and can be rational and suggest good ideas
2) People who are popular and the public vote in

You may get some people who are popular and can do the job but unfortunately if you can't find lots of these people you'll end up with either a set of people who have good ideas and can be rational but they would probably get stick/complains from members like the moderation team and other department of Habbox do at the moment or you'd have a group of popular people who might not be able to be as good at being part of the council as others. I'd love to see a council but it's all about how these members would be picked and how the council would be ran. I'm not totally sure if this would stop tons of complains regarding departments etc but it could be worth a try. Maybe it would be a good idea if there were a few people picked from each section who post lots in that section and have a good knowledge of that section itself who could report ideas back to the members of that section and or take suggests from members about that section. Another concern I have is as MAD said this could take quite a bit longer to implement ideas. If there is a good idea that the management all agree should be added then it would normally be added straight away and members would not have to wait quite a while for it to appear. However with a council although you'd get a more accurate idea of exactly how much the update is needed it could take time to assemble the members of the council as not everyone is on at one time. If this went ahead if you had quite a few council members, management and possibly Representatives from departments how would you structure this? This wouldn't be easy but if it was done correctly it could pay off.

I can see that it would help members get more involved in decision making in the forum but at the end of the day it is the managements choice what is implemented into the forum, which is why they are the management after all. If all the management agree on something the council wouldn't get a huge say in the matter unless anyone raised huge concerns about a change or the majority of the forum disagreed, which you cannot tell from a council all the time as they are just individuals after all and the chances are it would go ahead anyway. This isn't because the members aren't listened to this is because at the end of the day if the management completely disagree and have a good reason too, it is not realistically going to come into place. This can be because normal members do not always see the reasons that the management can for not adding an idea. For example the management know how the forums security works and they may disagree on an idea because of that however normal member may not know about how this works therefore may not like the fact an idea was rejected.

If this goes ahead it could either work really well or just not work properly and I can see that people would always argue over who deserves to be councillors and still would complain if things didn't go the way they wanted it to. Yes, people want things to be ran the way that the forum members want it to be ran, however not all the member will agree on one outcome and it is the majority that has to count and with a council you would probably get a lot of personal feelings mixing with the choice of ideas which would not be showing what the majority want added or implemented which suggests that this forum in some respects is a better idea as the management can see if the majority of members agree with something or if they do not.

I agree 100% with fairness to the members and allowing them to have their say in the way Habbox is ran but would a small number of council Representatives be able to show what the majority want? Possibly but this would require a lot of time and you'd have to choose people who were only interested in what the majority wanted and not what they wanted personally and I'm not sure if this would work or not. I'd like to see this go ahead and how it would be ran but I do have certain doubts personally towards whether this would work or not although if it did it would be great.

[today]

People moan about not getting picked as a Moderator so there will be some moaning but that can be expected

[Cixso]

I really like the idea of a council but I have a few concerns regarding how these members would be picked as you have 2 main ways of choosing them.

1) People who can do the job and can be rational and suggest good ideas
2) People who are popular and the public vote in

You may get some people who are popular and can do the job but unfortunately if you can't find lots of these people you'll end up with either a set of people who have good ideas and can be rational but they would probably get stick/complains from members like the moderation team and other department of Habbox do at the moment or you'd have a group of popular people who might not be able to be as good at being part of the council as others. I'd love to see a council but it's all about how these members would be picked and how the council would be ran. I'm not totally sure if this would stop tons of complains regarding departments etc but it could be worth a try. Maybe it would be a good idea if there were a few people picked from each section who post lots in that section and have a good knowledge of that section itself who could report ideas back to the members of that section and or take suggests from members about that section. Another concern I have is as MAD said this could take quite a bit longer to implement ideas. If there is a good idea that the management all agree should be added then it would normally be added straight away and members would not have to wait quite a while for it to appear. However with a council although you'd get a more accurate idea of exactly how much the update is needed it could take time to assemble the members of the council as not everyone is on at one time. If this went ahead if you had quite a few council members, management and possibly Representatives from departments how would you structure this? This wouldn't be easy but if it was done correctly it could pay off.

I can see that it would help members get more involved in decision making in the forum but at the end of the day it is the managements choice what is implemented into the forum, which is why they are the management after all. If all the management agree on something the council wouldn't get a huge say in the matter unless anyone raised huge concerns about a change or the majority of the forum disagreed, which you cannot tell from a council all the time as they are just individuals after all and the chances are it would go ahead anyway. This isn't because the members aren't listened to this is because at the end of the day if the management completely disagree and have a good reason too, it is not realistically going to come into place. This can be because normal members do not always see the reasons that the management can for not adding an idea. For example the management know how the forums security works and they may disagree on an idea because of that however normal member may not know about how this works therefore may not like the fact an idea was rejected.

If this goes ahead it could either work really well or just not work properly and I can see that people would always argue over who deserves to be councillors and still would complain if things didn't go the way they wanted it to. Yes, people want things to be ran the way that the forum members want it to be ran, however not all the member will agree on one outcome and it is the majority that has to count and with a council you would probably get a lot of personal feelings mixing with the choice of ideas which would not be showing what the majority want added or implemented which suggests that this forum in some respects is a better idea as the management can see if the majority of members agree with something or if they do not.

I agree 100% with fairness to the members and allowing them to have their say in the way Habbox is ran but would a small number of council Representatives be able to show what the majority want? Possibly but this would require a lot of time and you'd have to choose people who were only interested in what the majority wanted and not what they wanted personally and I'm not sure if this would work or not. I'd like to see this go ahead and how it would be ran but I do have certain doubts personally towards whether this would work or not although if it did it would be great.

I have to agree in some aspects.

But Jay!! You write a essay every time you post!

[Soil]

I think the FORUM management get together and decide on 6 people who they will will be the best council members. I dont see the point in rare values managers or articles managers recommending the members as this council will only be concentrating on the FORUM.

Those six people should be people who can put up a good argument, are active and listen to members.
Don't pick people who have the highest post as most of those post could be utter rubbish.

Thats my opinion.

[Lycan]

I really like the idea of a council but I have a few concerns regarding how these members would be picked as you have 2 main ways of choosing them.

1) People who can do the job and can be rational and suggest good ideas
2) People who are popular and the public vote in

You may get some people who are popular and can do the job but unfortunately if you can't find lots of these people you'll end up with either a set of people who have good ideas and can be rational but they would probably get stick/complains from members like the moderation team and other department of Habbox do at the moment or you'd have a group of popular people who might not be able to be as good at being part of the council as others. I'd love to see a council but it's all about how these members would be picked and how the council would be ran. I'm not totally sure if this would stop tons of complains regarding departments etc but it could be worth a try. Maybe it would be a good idea if there were a few people picked from each section who post lots in that section and have a good knowledge of that section itself who could report ideas back to the members of that section and or take suggests from members about that section. Another concern I have is as MAD said this could take quite a bit longer to implement ideas. If there is a good idea that the management all agree should be added then it would normally be added straight away and members would not have to wait quite a while for it to appear. However with a council although you'd get a more accurate idea of exactly how much the update is needed it could take time to assemble the members of the council as not everyone is on at one time. If this went ahead if you had quite a few council members, management and possibly Representatives from departments how would you structure this? This wouldn't be easy but if it was done correctly it could pay off.

I can see that it would help members get more involved in decision making in the forum but at the end of the day it is the managements choice what is implemented into the forum, which is why they are the management after all. If all the management agree on something the council wouldn't get a huge say in the matter unless anyone raised huge concerns about a change or the majority of the forum disagreed, which you cannot tell from a council all the time as they are just individuals after all and the chances are it would go ahead anyway. This isn't because the members aren't listened to this is because at the end of the day if the management completely disagree and have a good reason too, it is not realistically going to come into place. This can be because normal members do not always see the reasons that the management can for not adding an idea. For example the management know how the forums security works and they may disagree on an idea because of that however normal member may not know about how this works therefore may not like the fact an idea was rejected.

If this goes ahead it could either work really well or just not work properly and I can see that people would always argue over who deserves to be councillors and still would complain if things didn't go the way they wanted it to. Yes, people want things to be ran the way that the forum members want it to be ran, however not all the member will agree on one outcome and it is the majority that has to count and with a council you would probably get a lot of personal feelings mixing with the choice of ideas which would not be showing what the majority want added or implemented which suggests that this forum in some respects is a better idea as the management can see if the majority of members agree with something or if they do not.

I agree 100% with fairness to the members and allowing them to have their say in the way Habbox is ran but would a small number of council Representatives be able to show what the majority want? Possibly but this would require a lot of time and you'd have to choose people who were only interested in what the majority wanted and not what they wanted personally and I'm not sure if this would work or not. I'd like to see this go ahead and how it would be ran but I do have certain doubts personally towards whether this would work or not although if it did it would be great.

You mention forum security, myself and quite a few others on the forum do understand why ideas can't go ahead because of this and won't even suggest some ideas because of it, you're assuming that all normal members do not understand the way a forum works just because they are not staff.

several times you mention, how would it be structured and surely represenative would show what a majority want, is that not what a represenative is? , someone who speaks on behalf of a larger population of people, who could infact be voted in to represent each catagory. perhaps a Bi-Yearly poll vote in each catagory to decide who gets to represent them so someone who doesn't do anything can easily be replaced

also you mention time, but doesn't everything require time, members are easily be able to dedicate amount of time to the working of a council, and surely if they can't they woudn't put themselves forward

The idea of a council with a majority vote to push forward ideas would be to remove someone pushing something they wanted to go forward, as there is a big chance it woudn't get past the rest of the group.

[today]

I think the FORUM management get together and decide on 6 people who they will will be the best council members. I dont see the point in rare values managers or articles managers recommending the forum as this council will only be concentrating on the FORUM.

Those six people should be people who can put up a good argument, are active and listen to members.
Don't pick people who have the highest post as most of those post could be utter rubbish.

Thats my opinion.

Its a vaild point,
I guess only forum related departments would matter? Though it wouldnt give all the staff a chance though would it? I think letting any staff as long as they post on the forum often and meet the application form can apply, otherwise your picking on certain staff to get a higer chance. Which at the end of the day wouldnt be fair. Though selecting the users as i said and some others either...

1) Application form.
2) Managment pick.

Either way someone will moan they didnt get the place on the council, so no matter how you do it someone wont be happy, but its tough luck.

[Mr.OSH]

I have to agree in some aspects.

But Jay!! You write a essay every time you post!

I can't help it, I have to give my opinion in detail, at least I don't post pointlessly, eh?

I think the FORUM management get together and decide on 6 people who they will will be the best council members. I dont see the point in rare values managers or articles managers recommending the forum as this council will only be concentrating on the FORUM.

Those six people should be people who can put up a good argument, are active and listen to members.
Don't pick people who have the highest post as most of those post could be utter rubbish.

Thats my opinion.

Yes I agree on this, however as I was saying 6 people can't give a overview of how the whole forum feels. Either Habbox should continue just having people post in this forum with ideas of they would have to think of an easy way that the councillors could address certain groups of people and how they would collect ideas and work out exactly what the majority of people want. At the end of the day you'd have to pick people who could take on board other peoples view with maturity and would also have to be able to keep their own personal feeling out of the way of the majority of the members ideas and feelings as we want the majorities ideas, not 6 people. If we couldn't find a way that these 6 people could represent the certain areas of the forum then there would be no point in having them as it would just be the same as the management making decisions as it would be a handful of people deciding on things rather than the members of the forum making those decisions. I'm not sure if this would work as look at the way counties in the UK work at the moment although they have councils to represent the area people still complain that their views are ignored even when the majority agree on something as at the end of the day it comes down to the councillors decision over the public which in some respects destroys the idea of getting the members/public to express their opinions. Not everyone can make decisions but some can suggest ideas which is what this forum is for at the moment. Unless the council members were perfect for the job, had great communication with the public and did not let their own views come into it this probably wouldn't work. Along with the fact at the end of the day there needs to be a decision maker and people are not always going to agree if they make the decision that is best for Habbox as some people may see things differently. This would turn the focus of this forum and looking at the majorities view like the management does at the moment into look at the councils view which I'm sure wouldn't make everyone happy as I'm sure lots of people would disagree with whoever was picked no matter who they are.

[Soil]

Its a vaild point,
I guess only forum related departments would matter? Though it wouldnt give all the staff a chance though would it? I think letting any staff as long as they post on the forum often and meet the application form can apply, otherwise your picking on certain staff to get a higer chance. Which at the end of the day wouldnt be fair. Though selecting the users as i said and some others either...

1) Application form.
2) Managment pick.

Either way someone will moan they didnt get the place on the council, so no matter how you do it someone wont be happy, but its tough luck.

Sorry what I meant is that rare values managers dont need to be involved in the decision making of who goes in the council ... but they can get picked themselves if they are active etc on the forum and meet the criteria.

[Lycan]

Perhaps an American congress style of voting in for counciling anyway i'll reply later on more, off to take my mind off things