What Can Be Done to Improve PokeBeach Forums?

[Gale]

NO BASHING ALLOWED. Of other members, of the website, or of staff members.

ALSO, Don't ask for a forum for games. - PMJ

Approved by pink guys

In this thread we discuss what should be done in order to improve the overall quality of the forum. Here's what I propose:


-MORE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN STAFF AND MEMBERS. None of this silly "This guy was demodded because he was" or "This change is happening because I said it is and that's final" stuff. Members should know if a project is happening, and what they can do to help with it.
-Get someone competent in charge of TCG. I have no idea who runs TCG right now, and TCG in general seems like a mess.
-Merge Player's Sandbox and State of the Game.
-Get rid of moderators who don't post regularly. You're a moderator because your job is to improve the quality of the forums in general and provide your input on projects. I don't see this happening from Steadfast, Afro-G, amisheskimoninja, Gary Walsh, Shakespeare, viper.fox, safariblade. I mean no disrespect to these people. I'm being completely honest, and it's not an opinion of any kind that Steadfast hasn't posted in almost two months. That just screams inactivity. Again, I don't mean to make anyone feel bad or anything.
-Don't "replace" moderators. We should focus on having less mods than we do now, not more.

I encourage anyone and everyone to post in this thread with your ideas.

 

[Glace]

-Get someone competent in charge of TCG. I have no idea who runs TCG right now, and TCG in general seems like a mess.

I'd like more TCG mods, but don't think merging State of the Game and Player's Sandbox is good. Player's Sandbox is more casual, and is for newer ideas. State of the Game is for techs, metagame, and ways to make matchups or decks better.

 

[Futa]

I'm for merging State of the Game with either Player's Sandbox or General TCG Discussion. Threads that go into the State of the Game forum can actually go into either one of these forums.

 

[King Arceus]

For reference, I am posting who is in charge of what:
Administrator -
Water Pokémon Master
Moderation/Forum Duties:

Super Moderators -
dmaster
Moderation/Forum Duties: Front Page News, Website Feedback, Article Submissions, Trade Council/Trading Corner, Forum Games & More
dragonexpert
Moderation/Forum Duties: Front Page News, Website Feedback, Article Submissions, Forum Games & More
omahanime
Moderation/Forum Duties: Front Page News, Website Feedback, Article Submissions, Trade Council (Head)/Trading Corner
PMJ
Moderation/Forum Duties: Front Page News, Website Feedback, Article Submissions, Forum Games & More
Shining Raikou
Moderation/Forum Duties: Front Page News, Website Feedback, Article Submissions, Trade Council (Co-Leader)/Trading Corner, Forum Games & More
Steadfast
Moderation/Forum Duties: Front Page News, Website Feedback, Article Submissions, Forum Games & More
Xous
Moderation/Forum Duties: Front Page News, Website Feedback, Article Submissions, Forum Games & More

Moderators -
Afro-G
Moderation/Forum Duties: Forum Games & More
amisheskimoninja
Moderation/Forum Duties: Organized Play & Reports, Card Questions & Game Rulings
AnthonyG
Moderation/Forum Duties: Trade Council/Trading Corner
Apollo the Incinermyn
Moderation/Forum Duties: Writer's Corner
Chariblaze
Moderation/Forum Duties: Fifth Generation, Past Generations
CMP
Moderation/Forum Duties: Lilycove Art Museum, Fake Creations
ESP
Moderation/Forum Duties: Deck Garage, Trading Corner/Trade Council, State of the Game
EspeonROX
Moderation/Forum Duties: Deck Garage, Player's Sandbox
Gary Walsh
Moderation/Forum Duties: Fifth Generation, Past Generations
Gliscor
Moderation/Forum Duties: Deck Garage, State of the Game, Player's Sandbox, Fake Creations
Mudkip
Moderation/Forum Duties: TCG News & General Discussion, Trading Corner/Trade Council
safariblade
Moderation/Forum Duties: Forum Games & More
Shakespeare
Moderation/Forum Duties: TCG News & General Discussion, Trading Corner/Trade Council
The Power of Three
Moderation/Forum Duties: Fifth Generation Competitive Play, 5th Generation Rate My Team
TheDarkLucario
Moderation/Forum Duties: Fifth Generation Competitive Play, 5th Generation Rate My Team
viper.fox
Moderation/Forum Duties: TCG News & General Discussion

---

Front Page News - Super Moderators
Website Feedback - Super Moderators
Article Submissions - Super Moderators
General Pokémon Discussion - Moderators
Off-Topic Discussion- Moderators
Entertainment & Games - Moderators

*Pokemon Trading Card Game*

TCG News & General Discussion - Mudkip, Shakespeare, viper.fox
Trading Corner - Trade Council, Anthony G, ESP, Mudkip, Shakespeare, omahanime making trade rep threads
Deck Garage - EspeonROX, ESP, & Gliscor
State of the Game - ESP & Gliscor
Player's Sandbox - EspeonROX & Gliscor
Organized Play & Reports - amisheskimoninja
Card Questions & Game Rulings - amisheskimoninja

*Pokemon Video Games*

Fifth Generation - Chariblaze & Gary Walsh
Past Generations - Chariblaze & Gary Walsh
Fifth Generation Competitive Play - The Power of Three & TheDarkLucario
5th Generation Rate My Team - The Power of Three & TheDarkLucario

*Community Works*

Lilycove Art Museum - CMP
Writer's Corner - Apollo the Incinermyn
Fake Creations - CMP & Gliscor
Forum Games & More - Super Moderators, Afro-G, safariblade

 

[Nengeni]

Don't the Super Moderators have the power to mod any section they please?

 

[Glace]

Merging General discussion with State of Game is a good idea.

 

[King Arceus]

Don't the Super Moderators have the power to mod any section they please?

Yes, but those ones listed are pretty much specific to the supermoderators.

 

[Zorua]

First off, Gale, thank you for saying every problem I have with this site in one post.

I agree with everything in the OP.

Another thing I think that can be done to improve the forum and make it look more professional is to change the names of the forums to something more Water/Beach like considering we are Pokebeach. Ex: The Watercooler was given as an example for the off topic discussion forum.

And what I agree the most with is TCG Mods. Yeah, what we have at the moment really just isn't cutting it. Im saying this as a very active member of the TCG portion of this site, and we need this to happen if we want to expand on the focus of TCG.

 

[safariblade]

I don't see why you think I don't post anywhere, Gale. Haha. (I know you don't mean any disrespect. I'm in no way offended.)
I NEVER see Xous post anymore. :[
But just because someone isn't posting it doesn't mean they are not involved. WPM and SR are good examples of this. They don't post casually, or often, but we all know they are involved. Steadfast is very involved as well.

I agree with member-staff communication.
I agree with less mods with more duties. I think the number is fine how it is now though.

One thing that needs to be improved is the attitude about the forums. Lately it has been terrible negative it seems. I'd be surprised if some of that doesn't show up in this thread.

One aesthetic thing that I noticed is the forum descriptions. Some of them could be updated, and the TCG ones are way too long to look nice.

 

[Professor Palutena]

I really think that the VG forum needs some changes. The program has a lot of potential for greatness. I think the biggest problem is that its just TPO3 and TDL modding it, with no active super moderator present (active implying posts a lot in said forum). I don't think the problem is that we lack good battlers, as we do have skilled battlers on these forums.

The Community Team was a fantastic attempt to get more activity in the Competitive VG forum. It needs ideas like those to help it along; ideas that make people want to post. It probably doesn't help that the forum can be basically narrowed down into three threads: Comp Discussion of the Week, Movesets and Metagame and Questions thread.

 

[Zorua]

One thing that needs to be improved is the attitude about the forums. Lately it has been terrible negative it seems. I'd be surprised if some of that doesn't show up in this thread.

One aesthetic thing that I noticed is the forum descriptions. Some of them could be updated, and the TCG ones are way too long to look nice.

It's as if we lost the thing we hold best already, community.

We definetely need to step it up attitude-wise. Yes we do need a better forum in terms of our players in TCG and VG, but we have to be sure not to lose our aspect of friendly-ness and community in the process.

 

[Gale]

I don't see why you think I don't post anywhere, Gale. Haha. (I know you don't mean any disrespect. I'm in no way offended.)
I NEVER see Xous post anymore. :[
But just because someone isn't posting it doesn't mean they are not involved. WPM and SR are good examples of this. They don't post casually, or often, but we all know they are involved. Steadfast is very involved as well.

I agree with member-staff communication.
I agree with less mods with more duties. I think the number is fine how it is now though.

One thing that needs to be improved is the attitude about the forums. Lately it has been terrible negative it seems. I'd be surprised if some of that doesn't show up in this thread.

One aesthetic thing that I noticed is the forum descriptions. Some of them could be updated, and the TCG ones are way too long to look nice.

When I say post, I meant post in a way that contributes to the forum as a whole. Count to 50 threads or just posting things you could post if you were a member doesn't really count as far as I'm concerned. I meant things like, posting stickied threads, posting good information, things you need to actually have moderator powers to post.

Yeah, I don't see Xous post anymore ether.

Steadfast is involved? In what? See, the members don't KNOW he's involved. We just think he's sitting around doing nothing. If projects were made known to the public, we'd know he's doing something, and we wouldn't be talking about this.

The negative attitude reflects the fact that we're not moving forward. We're moving backwards. We need to change the staff before we have a chance to move forward. If we change the staff, we need to change it in a way that ensures we won't change it again until we improve the overall quality of the forums.

 

[Guts]

This thread has been waiting to be made for quite a long time. Just ask the guys on chat. So, here are a few things we could use improvement on. Again, no disrespect to members/mods. So:

- Staff: This is a really big issue, as Gale already stated. We've had multiple mods promoted in the past year who literally do nothing for the forums/site. PDC, XierH, Gary Walsh, amisheskimoninja are the most prominent ones. I've never seen anything contributed from them, or any of them using their mod status appropriately. I'm sure there were/are good reasons for modding them, but picking a moderating staff is not something that should be done lightly. With some recent mods demoted, we could be taking a step in the right direction. But we are still in need of more dedicated and active staff members.

- Content: From what I've seen and what I've heard from my associates on PB, our TCG forum is lacking. I really know nothing about TCG to be honest, so I won't criticize the staff who are in charge of it. But I do know about VG, and we are in need of some serious contribution there. The recent community team thread is an example of that; unorganized and novice attempt of even having a VG program. It is true that we lost good battlers, but that shouldn't reflect on our VG forum in any way. Sure, we're making attempts, but there really isn't any excuse for them being so poorly thought-out. Pride was sure to point that out, among others. I would be more than happy to get the ball rolling again, but I can't do that if I'm the only one besides the staff who wants to do anything. Laziness just isn't an excuse anymore.

- General Attitude and Communication: Gale mentioned this also. I feel that the competitive areas are just "mousetraps", waiting for someone to make a post that is incorrect, non-informed, or premature, and then members (mostly veterans) repeatedly bashing that member and his/her post because they are wrong or misinformed, without a single notion made of wanting to help said member (and the member usually isn't old/mature enough to understand some concepts of the game). This is why we have so much inactivity in the TCG/VG forums, there is no formal communication or respect between forum members/moderators, and it's become one of the largest problems on PB. In fact, I've had to make multiple "rant" posts in the previous month because of the terrible attitude and discussion people have against the recent changes. It's ridiculous. PB Chat and Skype seem to be the only refuse from this type of behavior. People are generally just being brainless jerks, and unless we try to fix it, we'll lose the #1 thing we have over forums: a friendly community. That's why I joined PB in the first place; the people here are so intelligent and friendly that I made posting here as opposed to other forums my first priority. If we can fix this, just this, then I think everything else can start falling back in place.

These are some of the main things PokeBeach needs to work on. Now is literally worse than I've ever seen before. But I am confident that with some effort, we can make PokeBeach better than it ever was. If everyone's willing to get up off their arse (or technically sit on it, since this is a computer website) to help, then I have no doubt in what we could achieve. Thanks for reading!

 

[Spammy]

I agree with you completely, Gale, especially your first point.

We need mods that actually know what they're talking about and can contribute to their designated forums, I think removing the Game Corner is the first step in this direction (mods will be more focused on their assigned forums).

 

[Zorua]

These are some of the main things PokeBeach needs to work on. Now is literally worse than I've ever seen before. But I am confident that with some effort, we can make PokeBeach better than it ever was. If everyone's willing to get up off their butt (or technically sit on it, since this is a computer website) to help, then I have no doubt in what we could achieve. Thanks for reading!

What's really sad is the fact that us members dont get much of a chance to help out on the site. It's just the mods and super mods. Yes, there's the occasional "You guys like this idea?" or "Got any ideas for this?", members don't get a chance to really help out and make the site better. And those with the chance to help, don't do a good job at it (No, this isn't anyone in particular. No, I'm not criticizing anyone. Yes, I think the important people could do better) This is also where member/mod communication on projects and such comes in also, but this is a separate issue in itself.

 

[omahanime]

-Get rid of moderators who don't post regularly. You're a moderator because your job is to improve the quality of the forums in general and provide your input on projects.

So you equate posting with fulfilling your duties as Moderator?

 

[Futa]

Alright, since I'm allowed to say this, I will.

Lately, in order to improve the TCG Community, I've been working on a few "projects" to help increase activity, attract more players, and hopefully improve other players' skill. While out of sheer businesses, and due to the fact that I've been working on multiple projects at once, I don't have a lot of time to work on these projects, but with winter coming and the sports that I'm playing not being active for the winter, I can hopefully find more time. Anyways, onto the projects:

1. TCG Battle Videos
-This is simply to promote activity and hopefully the skill of the players. By posting videos, members can see the deck ideas, cards being run, and how other players play and react to different situations and matchups. Perhaps by including best video competitions (members can submit a video, it gets judged, winner gets a reward), we can encourage more videos to be uploaded.

2. TCG Dictionary
-This is to help attract new players into the game, by allowing them to understand what the more experienced players are talking about. While this isn't the best way to get new players into the game (making a "Welcome to the Game" article would be the best), it's a solid start, and can definitely help new players get into the game if they can understand terms like "The Truth", "Baby Killer", or "Primetime". If this is able to help get new players into the game, then from here we need to get them more experienced. Battle videos are one way, but...

3. Articles
-MORE. ARTICLES. Obvious way to help improve the community is to help teach/inform them about decks, the current state of the game, and just all around the competitive TCG in general. As stated before, I don't have a lot of time to work on articles, but I know a few members who have been working on articles. Hopefully more people can contribute to this, and help promote the TCG community on PB.

There's my two cents. It's probably not the best way to approach things, but for right now, having a start is good.

 

[Gale]

So you equate posting with fulfilling your duties as Moderator?

If you don't let people know you're doing something, then why are you a Moderator? Like I said, if there was more communication between members and moderators, then I would know that moderators who don't necessarily post a lot of helpful stuff are actually doing things. But because no one has any idea what's going on "behind-the-scenes", this is how it has to be.

Also, you should probably post so that you take care of spammy threads, and let people know someone is moderating their forum.

This brings up another point. Having one or two moderators moderate specific forums is stupid. It wasn't like that when I was a mod and it worked out fine. Just because ONE or two TCG guys approve RMTs or whatever happened, doesn't mean everyone else should be punished. Punish the guys who break the rules of being a moderator. If all the mods moderated all the forums, there would be more communication.

 

[Zorua]

@Gliscor

I find that option 1 will probably work the best in attracting players/making the TCG forum improve. I myself am 100% on board with videos, especially since a friend of mine has been dying for me to battle him and record it to put on Youtube, so this works. Dictionary is ok, but that's more to attract new players and isn't amazing for current members/the majority of the TCG players we already have. Articles, meh, we have those already. The more the merrier, I guess.

 

[Riskbreakers]

@Shadow Lugia

Guys on chat. You called?

Anyway, Gale is right on transparency between mods and members. We don't even hear the reasons as to why certain mods are demodded

So you equate posting with fulfilling your duties as Moderator?

You don't get it. Gale is pointing out that those mods who don't post are also the ones who are slacking off. Look at the list that he gave of moderators who don't post. They all have a common denominator. People don't know why the hell are they still moderators. Please, don't also give the excuse that "they are busy with life" because if the moderator knew that he would be busy with his personal life, he should at least have the decency to resign because his slot as a moderator could have been given to someone else who is more deserving.

The forums need to add moderators who are more credible in their areas and have been proven to have a good system in making their forum of responsibility a success. Look at our list of TCG mods, no offense to any of them because some of them like Gliscor is a very hard worker and that's what we need but most lack the "winning" experience. Some children probably look up to some of you moderators as inspiration or a "measuring stick" when it comes to TCG, VG or Art so we night as well set the bar high so that people can be better therefore having a better community.

Lastly, though this has already been going in a positive trend is moderator age. When I first joined here, Amt got demodded because of her age, I was a bit saddened by the decision but as time passes by, and seeing the recent moderators are hired, it has become a disturbing trend that mods these days are like, below 16. Though I have seen this slowly changing when some of the younger mods have been sacked. I would rant more but maybe later when others have given their inputs.