Suggestions for Change

[Martin]

Not everything's about power. I have no interest in accessing staff forums on an online forum for cyber-power. I do it cos I like it, I resigned from events because I didn't really like it so I think it's fairly natural I'm against it.

Mathew's not comps staff and he disagrees with it too btw.

I think that kind of sums it up really. They are two different roles, which require different amounts of creativity/activity etc.

Hosting events are client based, and more interactive, wheras competitions are forum based, provide something for the forum members, lure new members in etc

Competitions are not all about Habbo (not many of them are), whereas events are mostly orientated around habbo, with all furniture as prizes etc, rather than forum VIP/reputation etc.


I don't see how having "one big department" would improve things, when it's far easier to spot problems/work on individual things within the department when they are seperate.

You may regard comps as "an easy way to get into the staff forums" but there is still work involved, the originality, creativity and admin work gives competitions staff lots to do, and we really enjoy doing this. Mike and Alex are brilliant managers, and they are always pulling out the stops to make competitions popular, and this works really well for the forum.

It's worked all these years having them seperate, and I really don't think they would benefit from being merged. There are far more important things on the forum/site which need attention, and comps and events can do just fine standing on their own merrits.

I don't see why it can't happen. Staff don't have to lose their jobs, they can be offered positions in the new, larger department. It would create a stronger department I really believe that.

If there are problems with the departments as they currently are, then surely these can be looked at individually. You can't always fix something (that isn't really that broken anyway) by clamping two things together.

Both departments have strong management, and I really believe they do fine as seperate departments offering different things to the community.

I joined comps because I love the creativity side of things (and michael obv), but it's just nice being able to think up things, plan them out, present them in a thread and actually see people enterting your competitions and getting something out of it. VIP and rep prizes are good for forum members too.

I don't think merging them would gain much, since the people who joined events will be more into that side of things, wheras us comps staff may not particularly feel like hosting events on habbo all the time and using up an hour a time that way. Seperate managers, seperate ideas tailored to the needs of that department is better in my opinion.

[Yupt]

The point of matter is, from an onlookers point of view, both department are similar. But as staff, it's alot different than you might think. A merge if these two departments would simply not work. And saying that competitions staff use comps as 'easy access to staff forums' here's a fact for you. I am the only competitions staff member who works only for comps, so all of my collegues do it out of choice. All members of comps are extremely dedicated towards it, so competitions is not just an excuse to enter staff forums..

EOs host events on the client for up to an hour per event (I think) where multiple people can win, competitions on the otherhand are written, video, creative based which last for however long depending on certain aspects.

There is nothing wrong with how each department is going currently and there is no need for a merge to take place.

[Richie]

The point of matter is, from an onlookers point of view, both department are similar. But as staff, it's alot different than you might think. A merge if these two departments would simply not work. And saying that competitions staff use comps as 'easy access to staff forums' here's a fact for you. I am the only competitions staff member who works only for comps, so all of my collegues do it out of choice. All members of comps are extremely dedicated towards it, so competitions is not just an excuse to enter staff forums..

EOs host events on the client for up to an hour per event (I think) where multiple people can win, competitions on the otherhand are written, video, creative based which last for however long depending on certain aspects.

There is nothing wrong with how each department is going currently and there is no need for a merge to take place.

That just proves that you 'don't have much to do' you make a thread and wait a few days, close it and give out prizes. A ****** could do it.

I don't really care though, I very rarely use either departments.

[Shar]

That just proves that you 'don't have much to do' you make a thread and wait a few days, close it and give out prizes. A ****** could do it.

I don't really care though, I very rarely use either departments.

Until you are actually a staff member in either departments you can't really be the judge of that. Competitions need time and creativity, thus you can't say that staff don't do much.

[Richie]

Until you are actually a staff member in either departments you can't really be the judge of that. Competitions need time and creativity, thus you can't say that staff don't do much.

Not nessesarly I could do a non-habbox comp on the forum, think of something decent, create a thread in 10mins and just wait.

[Inseriousity.]

We never said it wasn't easy. No competitions staff could say that we work harder than a DJ or a HxHD staff for example. However, as Shar says, there is creativity needed and after a while, it's harder to think of good comps you haven't already done.

Just because it's easier than other departments doesn't mean a merge is a good idea.

[Martin]

Not nessesarly I could do a non-habbox comp on the forum, think of something decent, create a thread in 10mins and just wait.

You have to think up unique, interesting competitions that will gain member participation, easy to enter, not overcomplicated and fit in with a particular style. Everything about the competition has to be perfect and has to be checked over etc. You also have to choose the winner in most cases, so read through the entries too and judge etc, which in itself can take a while.
Apart from doing this, there's also the idea's that get discussed in the forum about bigger habbox competitions for special times and the sharing of ideas. The competitions department has a lovely internal feel to it and everyone gets on well, and in my view the job gets done. The admin side to it is far greater than that of the events department, since the external giving of prizes, sorting out vip, sorting out the calendar of when competitions are posted, ensuring things are varied, and ensuring special times of the year there are special competitions etc takes time.

As mentioned above, I think you really have to be part of the department to see what goes on behind the scenes. The department structures have worked well up until now, and I don't think it's worth fixing something that isn't really broken. Competitions get a good number of entries. Looking through these threads you will notice that a lot of them are new members signing up to get involved. It's raising the profile of the forum, letting us come up with ideas for competitions and doing something which we enjoy doing.

Some departments will be naturally easier, however there's still a lot of thinking involved, and I for one love the job.

[Jsoh]

personally even if i mentioned it at some point (i may have) i don't really care if competitions and events are merged together after reading this, they are both two different things. events have a very important factor of bringing people into habbox, they introduce outsiders from habbo to habbox and habboxforum. competitions are different, from my eyes the job of competitions is once the people have been dragged in via the events is to essentially keep people on the forum, once people join the forum because of the events they are looking for more ways to earn prizes just the way they did with events but via the forum, and this is where competitions come in. so to put it basically, events bring people in, competitions make the people brought in stay. personally i don't think merging them together will bring any good results.

[Mrs.McCall]

I think people need to be careful here. I don't think Competitions isn't important, it absolutely is and, as a previous Competitions Staff member and Head Of Member Competitions I know a LOT of thought goes into competitions and a lot of what you lot have said is very insulting and demeaning to the work they do and I don't think that's fair. It DOES take a lot of creativity to do what they do and they don't get a lot of credit for it either. I used to love working there and making up new comps.

SO Comps IS important yes but I still think it'd work well as a partnership with events.

[nvrspk4]

I disagree that the departments should be merged. They're two departments with very different job descriptions. What would result would be a department with two different types of positions, EOs and Competitions. In essence it would really just be appointing a dual manager for Events and Comps.

A better solution, in my opinion, is to downsize comps and demand a comp per week (with one week off) from members of staff. When you think about it, it's not that difficult. Having one major piece of work to do per week (I'm not saying that's all they do, but that's the real bulk of the work) isn't too inconveniencing. With this structure, Comps could function with a manager and two staff members. This would also allow for real quality staff to be hired, and also make it easier to fill new positions.