Nevermind!
 

I've struggled off and on for years to do something to give back to Mene, improve Mene in my own little ways/make it more active (such as Role-player listings and votings, dream journals, my currents 'events' thread, giving to and welcoming noobs, etc.).

Unfortunately, all threads tend to die off, slow agonizing deaths because 1.) It's hard to post in places where other people only post once or twice a day and 2.) There isn't a whole lot of incentive to create fun interactive threads and keep them alive.

Now, don't get me wrong. There are lots of thriving-ish threads, and this is where I'm going with this.... A users, or moderators pick of those people who are doing a ton to make Mene a better, and more fun place. Kind of like the avatar pick, there could be a pick for those people, too. Then, they could be given x amount of gold to help in their giveaways, or even like the little star badges, there could be something that they can wear that helps keep them going and even gets MORE people trying to give back, so that they can win, too!

[eager]

Is that a great idea or is it a great idea? I mean, people like hummy totally deserve some recognition and maybe a little help from time to time, amiright?

Is this way off, or impossible to do?

[yumeh1]

---------- Post added 11-22-2014 at 06:09 PM ----------

BellyButton: Knerd: jellysundae:

I just happened to click on a thread by Alexander J Luthor that hadn't been responded to since July, so I thought it best to ping you guys since I wasn't sure if anyone would see this. *and I is excited to has ideas* [ninja]

Incentive sounds like a good plan even if it was just for events. Say at FoWN, someone who often runs christmas giveaways could be given x amount of gold, or even a free set of that event's EIs (for giving away purposes only, of course).

Something I suggested in my reply to the thread about email updates was mentioning interesting threads in the GD and Nations, and I think that could be extended as part of this idea. I dunno about a gold incentive for active threads (because it would be the same few people, you mentioned hummy, winning every time) but certainly recognition.

Also, as far as roleplaying goes, that part of the site isn't as busy as it has been in the past, and I knoooow that the mods don't like trawling the rp threads so much but maybe highlighting a large group rp that is looking for players, or an open rp even, could boost activity a little. A lot of new users come to Mene looking for rp opportunities and if those threads are kinda dead then they wander off again.

Naturally, the logistics of all this are not as simple as they sound, who decides? What are the criteria for a 'good' thread? Lots of questions. But there have been short term competitions previously for creating active threads to boost activity, and maybe it could be similar to that.

I think that it should definitely not be based off of 'good' threads, just based off that someone is trying hard and succeeding at boosting community participation. I've had very successful threads that I eventually quit putting my time into because they become so big and so much work. But if I'd known I could win something for just sucking it up and doing my part to keep things active, I might have. And there are more than a few people, I didn't mean that hummy would win every time, just that she certainly deserves recognition and even help (by winning gold or items) and that the point of this would be to get more people involved, so hopefully it wouldn't be the same people winning. And of course, if it was, then at least we tried, and it didn't work, and we don't have to keep doing it. *shrugs* No reason not to try something to get people more involved.

I've thought about creating a bunch of jump-in role-plays throughout the categories and basically just act as a moderator for them, so that people could come and go and when new people came to Mene for rp they would find something easily joinable. I just wasn't sure the rules on that, if I could do that. I need to look into it. I'd love to help and be a huge part of why Mene grows and becomes more active, I just need to know how! I know I've helped some newbs stick around in the past, but I want to do more MOOREEEEE! [twisted]

Nevermind!

Nevermind D: I never actually got to read this >< I bookmarked it so I wouldn't forget, too [:O]

I still think this is a good suggestion and would be worth considering, no matter the title. :)

It's one of those things that could be developed into something workable, I think, but manpower isn't on our side for this to be a staff thing. I think I can safely say we'd all go [gonk] at the kind of workload something like this would generate. Having said that, I'd be interested to see if some general brainstorming with you guys would throw up any ideas for how you, the users, could work something like this, via voting or something?

Perhaps voting could be an option!

That's putting the cart before the horse a little though, isn't it. There'd need to be a workable/managable way of making submissions first [ninja]

Poppy does a ton of good for the community. I'm sure this is well known by many, but wanted to put the information out there. I know Poppy is on hiatus now because real life called her back for a bit. But, before she left, she had just finished hosting an awesome Thanksgiving event, setting up three group roleplays for anyone to join, and donated thousands of her own gold and items to people who joined the contests or helped out in her thread. So, I think some sort of incentive for such active users would be awesome.

With regards to how to implement something like this... I really like how the Users' Pick thread is set up. I'm not sure where the gold and prizes come from for this contest (I guess from the users themselves?), but maybe something along those lines could work? Like a Users' Pick for, say, which charities or contests win a prize each week or month?

It could be like a "user's feature" or something...but then someone would need to spear-head the efforts to do so. But since it's for the users/by the users maybe a user is the one who could take this head on? If it's going to be run like UP. I know UP is currently run by a mod but it wasn't always that way!

Part of me is like *slowly inches hand up to volunteer* and the rest is going "YOU DON'T HAVE TIME". I might be keen to run something like this if I wasn't doing it alone perhaps?

Well, UP's run by a mod at present, but only because she's a mod...am I making any sense at all? [lol] It's not run in a staff capacity, just the person currently hosting it happens to be staff.

Bearzy, that feel...we know it xD Something like this would absolutely need an organised and dedicated team of people. Probably not loads of them, but it would require a fair whack of planning and logistics and coordination and all that for it to run smoothly.

Absolutely nothing stopping people brainstorming though, and seeing where things end up. :D

Sorry for not responding. I actually was busy over the holiday like a real live human, this year. [lol]

Here are my comments, anyway:

People who do things out of genuine kindness don't need (or even want, in many cases) to establish rank or reward for themselves. (Just try giving hummy a gift sometime, you'll see what I mean.) I worry that this feels like a contest as described, rather than a "thank you for being so great" thing (which I'd be more receptive to).

I worry that something like this might actually discourage a great many people from doing the good things mentioned. One's ability to perform acts of generosity here is closely tied to one's wealth - how is this going to feel for people who are new or "poor," when their small act is overshadowed by some established rank/reward system? Once it's made into a contest, will people who know they can't "win" even bother participating? Will they feel shitty if their small act isn't big enough to be acknowledged? (This is why I don't let folks discuss donations in the Wishing Tree thread - when there's a visible reward/rank for a charitable act it changes the whole dynamic into something icky. It's not about HOW MUCH you give, for me, but that you're willing to do it at all.)

That said, if users want to do it, go fer it. :)

I'm opposed to staff running this, though.

There isn't a "fair" way to reward "best" threads/people/efforts when you're a staff member.

We already get accused of favoritism when we choose (or don't choose) avatars for AP, and that's just a simple matter of our own personal opinions on which avatars look really neat to us. :) So, yeah.. I'd kind of rather kick a beehive than participate in something like this directly.

Rather kick a beehive...[lol]

Lot of sense from Belly there! Puts thing in a different perspective for me, most definitely.

The way I was picturing didn't include the word "best". I was thinking of a system that was less of a "let's reward this person for having a good thread" and more of a "hey this thread looks like it would interest a lot of users but it's not getting much notice, let's promote it." So rather than being a competition between users to get lots of activity in your thread, it's kind of like a charity for threads. It could be nomination and vote based, like users pick, so even a nom would be good publicity for a thread, which could remove some of the "BUT MY THREAD WAS GOOD TOO WHY DIDN'T IT WIN YOU GUYS ARE BIASED" complaints.
But I'm (thankfully) not quite as familiar with user complaints as you two are, so I could be wrong.

Something that highlights neat threads and things people are doing around the site could be really nice for people, especially if you can maintain a supportive/inclusive (rather than overtly competitive) environment. :)

I'm not a huge fan of overt competitiveness unless it's optional and in the spirit of fun. A site wide competition is not my idea of a good time.

Nor mine. From any angle. [lol]

Well, why just award one charity, when you can award all of them? :)

What I mean is -- to get rid of the competitiveness that might accompany a contest, we can instead award gold or items to each charity on an individual basis.

For example, 2600's new charity is starting to pick up. It's based on a classic lounge theme, so users can request any item from Snack Attack. So, 2600's charity might benefit from having at least a few of each Snack Attack item in stock at a time.

On the other hand, Utopia's charity donates a wide variety of items. Maybe this charity would benefit more from some pure gold, rather than specific items from one store.

We could make it so that every month or so, every charity receives, or can request, a donation to ensure that they continue to run smoothly. :)

Of course, that is if we figure out who would be able to maintain it. ^_^

I like that idea Sal, but I don't think charities are the only goal for the idea. I think that part of it was building activity, which means also promoting hangout threads, user run contests (such as in the Avatar chat or the one offs in the contests forum), or even interesting discussion points in the Critical Thinking subforum. I know that as a newer user (and sometimes even now) I found it hard to go into new threads, particularly busy ones, without an invitation. And like Poppet said in her post, The way I was imagining this working would be an invitation to people to join a thread. That invitation could certainly lead to people who didn't know about a particular charity to donate items or gold to it, but that isn't the main point. I don't think so anyway.

Once again, Belly has been able to articulate something from the inner depths of my being.

Yes! Belly is very good at that isn't she?!

See, there's good discussion going on in here now, and a much greater likelihood of workable options coming from it. [boogie]

Good to see that this is something people might be interested in. No worries that no one was able to reply guys! I took a hiatus for loads of reasons. Number one that I spend too much time here, lol. S'pose you guys aren't looking for more staff? [lol] If I got paid to be here, that would be an entirely different story. XD As it stands, I need more time to dedicate to my blog and family and find a way to get a little income on my part, even if it's doing some photography on the weekends or selling little things here and there. I feel a little worthless around here these days, not contributing while spending so much time on the computer. It was just really weighing down on me for a while, so I decided to let it go. LET IT GO CAN'T HOLD MEH BACK ANYMOOORREEE!

Sorry. I've watched that movie way too many times.

If you got paid for being staff on here you'd be the only one who did. [lol] Is that the general perception, that staff are paid? [shock]

I'm still interested to see what workable ideas pop up from this discussion =3