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#1
Old 05-29-2009, 10:48 PM

User-Run Event Rules and Guide

This guide should contain all you need to know about running a user-event. It lays out the rules, the fees involved, and provides a dead-honest guide to running one yourself. It is highly suggested you read all information provided. If you still have questions, please feel free to send a PM to one of our Assistant Administrators ( listed here ) or any online staff member.

Disclaimer: We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions at any given time.


Table of Contents
  1. Rules.
  2. Fees.
  3. Guide
  4. FAQ..

Last edited by BellyButton; 04-18-2016 at 03:22 AM..

Bootylicious
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#2
Old 05-29-2009, 10:48 PM

Rules
Please read all rules carefully. Anyone making a planning thread will be held accountable for them!

  1. Only users who have been a reasonably active member of the site for 3 months may organize a User Run Event.
    This does not mean people who assist the organizer have to have an account that age, but the main person's account must be that old and reasonably active on the site. ("Reasonably active" means logging in and posting at least once a week.)
  2. Event organizers wishing to start an event must have:
    ...a) A clear event theme,
    ...b) Projected dates (which may not overlap site-run events),
    ...c) A minimum of three months pre-planning.
  3. Fees are required paid in full to "Bootylicious" 1 month before event launch.
    Please pay by donation.
  4. All winners must be announced and prizes must be awarded within one month of the event end.
    Excepting in cases of art prizes, which are up to the artist's rules on time of delivery.
  5. All donations towards the event must be used towards event prizes unless gifted otherwise.
    Event fees and event graphics (such as banners and artwork) may only be paid for with funds specifically stated (in the trade comments) as being able to be used for such things.
    Event hosts and helpers may not take a 'fee' for hosting from a donation, as that is considered scamming those who were kind enough to donate. However, donations specifically stated in the trade comments as a gift for the hosts may be used at the event's discretion.
    Donations that are to be used for fees, banners/artwork, or host-gifts are to have a note from the donator saying such in the trade comments in case there is any question later. Any donations without this note will be considered to be used for event prizes only. It is suggested you encourage even those who donate pure towards the event do so by trade so they can include this note.
  6. Donations for the event must be used for the event you are currently planning only.
    A year is forever on the internet. Something may come up preventing you from hosting a repeat of your event "next year". All donations are required to either be used for the event being planned (ex: "My User Event '09") or returned to those who donated. No donations are to be set aside for the "next event".
  7. Event hosts are required to fully document donations in their planning thread.
    You will likely want to set aside an entire post of your planning thread for this purpose.
    This documentation includes what was donated and who it was donated by. Event hosts must also document what they have purchased with their donated funds.
    (ex: User21 donated 30k.
    Event used 15k to purchase 10 Super Frilly Pink Dresses for event prizes.)

Rules last updated: May 29, 2009.

Bootylicious
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#3
Old 05-29-2009, 10:49 PM

Fees
These fees are to be paid by donation to "Bootylicious" one month before event launch. The fees are an assurance to the staff that you are serious about hosting your event. All gold from the fees will be deleted from the system.

It's up to the user-run event hosts and helpers which of these features they will need for their event, though true "events" (as opposed to "contests") need a sub-forum.

Fees may increase or decrease according to a "fair rate" as determined by staff.

  1. If a user-run event wishes to have its own sub-forum, the cost is 3.5k for the sub-forum.
    The event host and their helpers will be given access to their event forum in order to organize their threads two weeks in advance of the actual event. They will only have access to view and post that forum and not given any special moderator-like permissions.
    > Please note that the event sub-forum will not be created until you have paid the fee and ask for it to be opened on a certain date. PM one of our Assistant Administrators ( listed here ).
  2. An Event-Mule can be rented for the cost of 1k per 3 months.
    This includes a free name change to give the account a name reflecting your event. If you do not choose to rent a mule, you will have to make-do with whatever second account someone on your team has. No third accounts will be granted for the purposes of user-run events.
  3. Front page banners and an Announcement can be purchased for 1k (or 500 gold each).
    The site will allow you to purchase a banner for the front page to advertise your event five days before it starts and the first three days of your event (8 days total) and an Announcement forum post the day your event starts.
    These are only offered to events - not any thread in general.

Fees last updated: May 29, 2009.

Last edited by BellyButton; 04-18-2016 at 03:09 AM..

Bootylicious
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#4
Old 05-29-2009, 10:49 PM

A Guide to Running User-Run Events
This guide is rather blunt and honest. There have been a nice handful of user-run events that have come to pass - and about as many that have never made it out of the planning stages. Even the ones that made it to their own event have had varying degrees of success. This guide is to help you decide if you want to put in the time and effort and to warn you about what you should expect.


-> Pre-Planning Your Event: Ideas and Dates

TIP: You absolutely need an idea for your event before you even set up the planning thread in Community Discussions.
WHY: You will not interest helpers or people who might donate to your event if you do not have a clear direction. The only people you will attract will be those who are as disorganized as you currently are and those who would normally make donations will keep their items or gold firmly in their pocket.

TIP: Choose a strong theme.
WHY: If your event doesn't have a theme that is exciting, who will be interested? While an event idea you have might be a "worthy" and "thought-provoking" idea, do they have the power to draw in users? Do they lend themselves to ideas for sticky-thread games or giveaways? Will people have fun?

TIP: Do not plan an event that will fall just before or just after a site-run event.
WHY: If you plan an event to run just before a site-run event, users will be saving their gold and preparing for the site-run event and ignore yours. If you plan it to run just after a site-run event, people will have spent their gold and be "burnt out" of events. It is recommended that you plan an event no sooner than two weeks before or two weeks after a site-run event.
Your very best bet for running a user-run event is either the "Menewshaversary"/"Yumeh's Birthday" (January 20th being the anniversary) or during the summer, between mid-May and mid-July.


-> Choosing Helpers/Assistants

TIP: Remember that user-run events are "sink or swim". Do not expect the staff to help you out.
WHY: User-run events are exactly that - user-run. That does not mean staff are not allowed to run events as a "user", but they can expect no more privileges than a regular user.

TIP: Be ruthlessly selective when choosing your helpers. Choose those with the best organizational skills, are active users, are dependable, and have common sense.
WHY: A big reason why user-events have a bad reputation is because of how disorganized and slap-dash they tend to be. You need people with good organization skills, or they will lose information or will put together awful-looking threads which turn people off to the event. You need people who are active, or how will they keep up-to-date with how the event planning is going? They need to be dependable users so things get done on time or they will let you know if they are having issues with being dependable (rather than simply disappearing on you with no word). And them having common sense is, well... common sense.

TIP: Expect people to bail on you and have stand-by helpers just in case.
WHY: Doubling up on thread hosts is always a sensible idea. Things come up. People get sick, have problems at work or school, or have personal issues crop up at the worst possible times. Be prepared for that! Be ready to assist your assistants.


-> Advertising Your Event

TIP: Expect people not to care about your event. At all.
WHY: People need a reason to care. Give them a reason and they will. But first they have to know about your event in the first place - and that requires a lot of very hard work.

TIP: Advertise legally.
WHY: Don't spam threads about your event. Don't make a thread to advertise your event (your event planning thread in Community Discussions is your "advertising" thread). Don't do anything that would get you an infraction on your account or the account of any of your helpers.

TIP
: Don't just rely on the front page banner and Announcement to do the work for you, get word of mouth out there in as many legal ways as possible.
WHY: Relying on only the front page banner and Announcement will only get you those people who log in and happen to see the main page or Announcements forum. Ask and encourage people to advertise your event in their signatures, in their link-exchange sections of their permanent threads, and so forth. The more people who know about the event, the more likely they will be to show up or direct other users to the event when it's underway.

TIP: Have signature banners that advertise your event planning thread, a different one to promote the event just before it starts, and a third one to advertise during the event. Other, alternate banners are even better.
WHY: Users will "tune-out" a banner if they've seen it too many times. The more, different banners your event has, the more likely people are to notice them and remember your event.

TIP: Have nice signature banners.
WHY: Ugly banners will indicate to users that you're an unprofessional event and quite likely a cheap one as well (ie: "will not have a lot of nice free stuff").


-> Tips on Sticky Threads & Prizes

TIP: Pre-plan your sticky threads. Spell-check them, grammar check them, have others read over your threads and see if there's anything they'd suggest for improvement, and look over your thread's formatting before the event opens to users.
WHY: It looks rather unprofessional to have errors everywhere or ugly formatting. It will turn people off to your entire event if your sticky threads look shoddy! Use the weeks you are given in your private event forum to test the formatting and perfect the looks of your threads.

TIP: Use fonts, colors and sizes that are easy to read!
WHY: The more trouble people have even reading what your threads say, the less likely they are to care. Bright yellow, hot pink and ice blue size super-tiny may be your favorite way to post, but to most people it hurts their eyes.

TIP: Make certain your rules are clear and cover everything.
WHY: The less confusion there is over what is won, how, and who can enter for it, the better.

TIP: Have your banners/other event artwork done in plenty of time for the event. They should look as cohesive as possible.
WHY: It looks unprofessional to have your banners/artwork done last-minute. And the less they look like they belong to the same event, the more disorganized and unprofessional your event looks as a whole.

TIP: Have all your prizes decided before the event even starts.
WHY: Who wants to enter a contest if they don't even know what they might win?

TIP: Have a lot of free stuff to give away/win.
WHY: Because people will likely not bother if you don't have a mountain of things to give them. Your event will not have an event rare or event rares associated with it. Nor will it have a release of new commons. Essentially, your event will be a boring sub-forum with only the fact that it's an event forum and has things to win going for it. Make it worth their while to participate.


Tips last updated: May 29, 2009.

Last edited by jellysundae; 04-29-2013 at 11:24 AM..

Bootylicious
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#5
Old 05-29-2009, 10:50 PM

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
Questions you may like to know the answers to. If you have any other questions, please direct them by PM to one of our AAs or any online staff member.


-> How do I get an event mule or sub-forum?
Pay "Bootylicious" by donation and PM one of our Assistant Administrators ( listed here ) to let us know the payment has been made.
When you are ready to start working on your event threads in your event sub-forum, PM one of our Assistant Administrators (ideally the same one ) to have it set up.

-> Does the staff make my homepage-banner?
No. You'll need to make one yourself. The dimensions are 280x160 and must have no typos and be appropriate for all ages. You will want your event dates on the banners.

-> Does the staff write my Announcement?
Nope - you have to write it yourself. Please spell-check it and format it in a readable manner. Please do not write in first person (ie: "My helpers and I are hosting an event!") Write it in third person (ie: "Join in on the fun of the [x] event!")
The Announcement will be made in the format of, "The users are hosting an event and have asked me to pass on the following information!"

-> Can I get a particular NPC to announce my event or appear at my event?
You can request it when you inform us about the event fees being paid, but the NPCs are busy people and the answer will probably be 'no'.

-> Who do I send my Announcement and/or front page banner to?
Please PM it to one of our Assistant Administrators ( listed here ).

-> If I don't want to purchase a sub-forum, where do I hold my event?
Well - it won't be considered an "event", but merely a series of contests - but host them in the appropriate subforum(s). If you have an art contest, host it in the Art Contest forum. If you have some sort of hang-out thread, host it in Menewsha Nations. If the thread is a game, giveaway, or other sort of thread that doesn't fit into any appropriate category, host it in the Community Contests forum. Please remember that word games belong in the Word Games forum.

-> Can I have an event rare made for my event, or make one myself?
Sorry - this is not possible. Event rares are solely for site-run events.


-> Why does the site seem to discourage user-run events?
Largely because the userbase itself doesn't seem interested. It would be worth the extra moderation work involved if the users were enjoying themselves as well, but for the most part too many user-run events are poorly planned, poorly advertised, and poorly run - resulting in poor attendance.


FAQ last updated: May 29, 2009.

Last edited by BellyButton; 04-18-2016 at 03:20 AM.. Reason: Replaced contact names

 


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