Gonna try going through all those replies myself!
Off-topic: For quote magic, it's a lot of hand-editing in the BBCode directly. I prefer using the SCEditor editor option for that since it has more buttons than the MyCode one. ...and SCEditor's Visual mode isn't to my liking unless I'm working with a list. (It also eats spoiler tags and tables because we had to code those in ourselves. The options can be found here: Edit Options BBCode looks/acts more like HTML wrappers, but I wouldn't say that Markdown, which is used by Discord is any better. (In fact, Discord isn't even making use of a complete specification and it lacks a bunch of things that other Markdown dialects offer!)
A long time ago, RPC only had the Linkshell Hall. And it was never cleaned outside of user request/reports. Fast forward a few staff changes and cleaning was implemented on seemingly random occurences. Then we moved to monthly cleanings, but found that for most users, this was problematic because people didn't bump their posts often enough. Then we added the FC Hall to better separate Linkshells and Free Companies based on feedback. And finally relaxed cleaning to every 60 days, which still takes users by surprise. (It tends to always be at the end of even months/start of odd months. Sometimes I miss a cycle and forget to ask other staff to do it.)
But when I look at Discord, even after maybe a few listings, it's gotta retrieve that from the history. Doesn't that make browsing for a listing a bit of a hassle? For Calendars/Events, Discord bots are pretty good at that, but from my own experiences when RPM was active and in the Mateus RP Hub, locating information seems less of a priority than having one of the more recent posts on the bottom of the chat. Static content wasn't really a design feature for Discord.
But what if the RPC ceased to be because everyone went to insular Discords? I think it's great that many of the Mateus RPers have the link handy and can give it out, but it'd still ultimately fail to bring in new people who are browsing around.
Other sites like Guilded/Shivtr/Enjin are definitely a personal sticking point for me. In my time just with FFXIV, I've seen tons of them come and go, sunk money into keeping some alive, and watches as others were abandoned, resulting in a complete loss of content. They're great for say, Free Companies and planning, but I've also been asked by friends before to manually archive content on them because otherwise, their posts are gone forever. With the updated RPC, I'm hoping the LS/FC Hall replacement ("clubs") will actually tempt people away from those types of sites because they'll be able to make subforums on demand right here on the RPC! (Including the blog, calendar, and gallery modules.)
Currently, I agree that our Calendar and Event sections could use a lot of work. We had actually thought of making the Events forum into a Hall-like entity with filters, but the work required to make all the custom code function was a bit of a nightmare. Hard to write and hard to maintain. I do think a functioning prefix system should fix that up nicely, however. Especially when we can easily add additional calendars.
For now, RPC's Calendar and Events are two separate things altogether. I'd definitely enourage people to make use of both to get their stuff out there! And as more Mateus users see their server's content, it'll hopefully encourage more to do the same.
I have seen more Mateus users being active here and there, especially in the Welcome Desk. I'm weird and just like seeing activity in general. (There used to be times where the recent threads section would be filled on the hour. A lot of times, it's by the day now. :< ) Go make other Mateus people chime in here too! Feedback is so so important, but rare. (Which is why I flock to threads like these myself!)
It's not always migrating, but yes, a lot of people tend to have alts on both. While others could argue otherwise, I think it's proof that we're all part of the same "RP Community" although I use that term very loosely. Even just on the RPC, there are so many users that there are no perfect agreements on everything. It's often easy to generalize an entire website, or a particular server, but I think people forget that those views all fall onto a gradient as well. Nothing's truly black and white unless it's something like "is Balmung closed?"
I did also notice the "founder" concept you've mentioned. It kinda fell into similar sentiments like "the Balmung exodus ruined my small server" and other things said by vocal minorities that can really hurt a growing server's perception and perspective. Building up sustainable RP encounters to the point that people can come and go without having to "work" to make RP happen is difficult. And that's partly why so many people flocked and stayed on Balmung until it was bursting at the seams. I totally agree with you here.
People love to start things until they realize how much work and organization it takes to keep things running. That's partly why I want Mateus and other servers to use the resources already available on the RPC! The wiki's pretty powerful with this stuff too. Like, as long as people remember to keep their categories in check, or use an infobox template that'll do it for them. They're all updated for Mateus and Omega so that people can get a full directory if they wanted.
This is probably all of us. I joined RPC while in college when I had tons of time. Then graduated and my time adjusted, but my shifts worked out well for it. Then I moved and moved work departments and barely have the time for any of that. I've largely stopped RPing because I can't even invest hours when friends are also free because of conflicting schedules.
I excluded a few pieces because we're getting into pretty long post territory, but I wanted to thank you for sharing! That's what forums are for after all. I see you've recently registered, which means your user wasn't automatically included on the last RPC Test Site import, but if you're curious about how it's gonna look and function (we're still making adjustments and naturally, old content will need to be editing to make the most use of new features), I'd welcome you to test out the new site layout for feedback. And ask others to do the same! Details can be found in this announcement post. We're also looking to add some technical staff as well if you know of any tech-savvy Mateus people who might be interested in keeping sites like this one alive.
(01-03-2018, 07:49 PM)MonevaQestir Wrote: Forgive me, I have absolutely NO FORUM SKILLS, so my quote formatting will be absolutely shitty. Took me 30 minutes probably just to write this from my lack of forum skills. xDDD BBC and I were never friends. If someone could tell me how you guys quote so beautifully, I will do better in the future. xDD
Off-topic: For quote magic, it's a lot of hand-editing in the BBCode directly. I prefer using the SCEditor editor option for that since it has more buttons than the MyCode one. ...and SCEditor's Visual mode isn't to my liking unless I'm working with a list. (It also eats spoiler tags and tables because we had to code those in ourselves. The options can be found here: Edit Options BBCode looks/acts more like HTML wrappers, but I wouldn't say that Markdown, which is used by Discord is any better. (In fact, Discord isn't even making use of a complete specification and it lacks a bunch of things that other Markdown dialects offer!)
(01-03-2018, 07:49 PM)MonevaQestir Wrote: We actually have admins where they delete all the posts in tabs where they get overtly cluttered once a month, in order to clean old FCs, LSes, Events, etc. Really helps maintain the said clutter you mentioned. c: Nice thing too, is we have an RP making connections where FC leaders can speak to those who post interest in certain types of RP FCs they are looking for and the like. It's a nice little system, I think personally.
A long time ago, RPC only had the Linkshell Hall. And it was never cleaned outside of user request/reports. Fast forward a few staff changes and cleaning was implemented on seemingly random occurences. Then we moved to monthly cleanings, but found that for most users, this was problematic because people didn't bump their posts often enough. Then we added the FC Hall to better separate Linkshells and Free Companies based on feedback. And finally relaxed cleaning to every 60 days, which still takes users by surprise. (It tends to always be at the end of even months/start of odd months. Sometimes I miss a cycle and forget to ask other staff to do it.)
But when I look at Discord, even after maybe a few listings, it's gotta retrieve that from the history. Doesn't that make browsing for a listing a bit of a hassle? For Calendars/Events, Discord bots are pretty good at that, but from my own experiences when RPM was active and in the Mateus RP Hub, locating information seems less of a priority than having one of the more recent posts on the bottom of the chat. Static content wasn't really a design feature for Discord.
(01-03-2018, 07:49 PM)MonevaQestir Wrote: Now, in terms of finding the discord, I can see the concern in that, but there should be a forum post somewhere here that has it...
Ah! Here it is:
 http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/showthread.php?tid=19767
But what if the RPC ceased to be because everyone went to insular Discords? I think it's great that many of the Mateus RPers have the link handy and can give it out, but it'd still ultimately fail to bring in new people who are browsing around.
Other sites like Guilded/Shivtr/Enjin are definitely a personal sticking point for me. In my time just with FFXIV, I've seen tons of them come and go, sunk money into keeping some alive, and watches as others were abandoned, resulting in a complete loss of content. They're great for say, Free Companies and planning, but I've also been asked by friends before to manually archive content on them because otherwise, their posts are gone forever. With the updated RPC, I'm hoping the LS/FC Hall replacement ("clubs") will actually tempt people away from those types of sites because they'll be able to make subforums on demand right here on the RPC! (Including the blog, calendar, and gallery modules.)
(01-03-2018, 07:49 PM)MonevaQestir Wrote: The server tags will help immensely with RP events. But I really think it's the same thing I mentioned above: I believe they find it more convenient to post the event on discord, where people can actively respond to you in a much faster rate than forums, they know the audience they are speaking to are 100% Mateus folk, plus the formatting for discord is much easier for people whom are quite inexperienced with making really cool, flashy adverts. (I know I personally suffer from forum post crappiness, but I try!) But I don't know. I sadly can't speak for all of Mateus (though I am the only one of present speaking about it) but ironically enough, it kinda feels like me being the only one speaking up about this kinda for my Mateus fam proves the point that Mateus people aren't really... on this site much, unless they are Balmung/Mateus alternators.Â
But definitely. I will try to get more FC leaders and such to post their events on here more, but I promise you, some sort of better formatting like those tabs would probably help more traffic from Mateus folk on here.
Currently, I agree that our Calendar and Event sections could use a lot of work. We had actually thought of making the Events forum into a Hall-like entity with filters, but the work required to make all the custom code function was a bit of a nightmare. Hard to write and hard to maintain. I do think a functioning prefix system should fix that up nicely, however. Especially when we can easily add additional calendars.
For now, RPC's Calendar and Events are two separate things altogether. I'd definitely enourage people to make use of both to get their stuff out there! And as more Mateus users see their server's content, it'll hopefully encourage more to do the same.
I have seen more Mateus users being active here and there, especially in the Welcome Desk. I'm weird and just like seeing activity in general. (There used to be times where the recent threads section would be filled on the hour. A lot of times, it's by the day now. :< ) Go make other Mateus people chime in here too! Feedback is so so important, but rare. (Which is why I flock to threads like these myself!)
(01-03-2018, 07:49 PM)MonevaQestir Wrote: Now that you bring this point up concerning the frequent migrating players, that may be part of the reason why people don't post on here! I didn't realize that so many folk do switch from Balmung and Mateus. I have an alt on Balmung personally myself, but I don't really frequent her as much as I would like to. But now mentioning that, that gives me more of an excuse for people not so on the boat for this site. If it can truly help bring more exposure to RP events for people whom migrate or seeking FCs for their alts, that could definitely bring more traffic.
The sad thing is, it's getting people motivated to do so. I think a lot of people joined Mateus as founders of sorts, thinking that starting up a community is easy and fun and pleasant, but in reality, it really isn't: It is fun, yes, but it's moreso fun AFTER the work is put in. Personally-- it seems a lot of people didn't realize the work people put into these sorts of endeavors and go "Oh shit i'm out." A lot of friends I have seen in my lifetime on Mateus have grown and disbanded FCs because they didn't realize that it takes time and effort.
It's not always migrating, but yes, a lot of people tend to have alts on both. While others could argue otherwise, I think it's proof that we're all part of the same "RP Community" although I use that term very loosely. Even just on the RPC, there are so many users that there are no perfect agreements on everything. It's often easy to generalize an entire website, or a particular server, but I think people forget that those views all fall onto a gradient as well. Nothing's truly black and white unless it's something like "is Balmung closed?"
I did also notice the "founder" concept you've mentioned. It kinda fell into similar sentiments like "the Balmung exodus ruined my small server" and other things said by vocal minorities that can really hurt a growing server's perception and perspective. Building up sustainable RP encounters to the point that people can come and go without having to "work" to make RP happen is difficult. And that's partly why so many people flocked and stayed on Balmung until it was bursting at the seams. I totally agree with you here.
People love to start things until they realize how much work and organization it takes to keep things running. That's partly why I want Mateus and other servers to use the resources already available on the RPC! The wiki's pretty powerful with this stuff too. Like, as long as people remember to keep their categories in check, or use an infobox template that'll do it for them. They're all updated for Mateus and Omega so that people can get a full directory if they wanted.
(01-03-2018, 07:49 PM)MonevaQestir Wrote: I can't speak for Omega or the other servers, or many of Mateus people, but from what I have seen, as mentioned above, I think some people kinda pulled the whole "Well, f**k you guys, I am gonna make xxx and xxx better than you ever were!" and then realized the work, and then dipped out of the effort process. I know for me, I wanted to put more effort to growing Mateus but I just don't have the time. Between juggling college, work, FC, etc. It becomes a LOT on your plate. And trust me, there are plenty of dedicated folks on Mateus, but there are a good amount too that just don't have as much time as they'd like to make it blossom as much as we'd like to.
This is probably all of us. I joined RPC while in college when I had tons of time. Then graduated and my time adjusted, but my shifts worked out well for it. Then I moved and moved work departments and barely have the time for any of that. I've largely stopped RPing because I can't even invest hours when friends are also free because of conflicting schedules.
(01-03-2018, 07:49 PM)MonevaQestir Wrote: OKAY. Jesus. I am sorry I wrote such a novel, but hopefully that helped answer some things! and hopefully my next reply won't be with such shit formatting lmfao.
I excluded a few pieces because we're getting into pretty long post territory, but I wanted to thank you for sharing! That's what forums are for after all. I see you've recently registered, which means your user wasn't automatically included on the last RPC Test Site import, but if you're curious about how it's gonna look and function (we're still making adjustments and naturally, old content will need to be editing to make the most use of new features), I'd welcome you to test out the new site layout for feedback. And ask others to do the same! Details can be found in this announcement post. We're also looking to add some technical staff as well if you know of any tech-savvy Mateus people who might be interested in keeping sites like this one alive.
