Suggestion Box

[Tio Silver]

I was seeing it as more like option 1: an unconscious tick that pops into peoples heads. I wouldn't say people are forced to use it though. The word starts popping into people's heads one day with the unconscious understanding that it's a bad thing, but they absolutely can choose whether they get into the habit of saying it or not, like any other swear word.

[Pegasus]

Hi Tio,

So - there's been all kinds of chatter about this - because there's been an underlying concern about controlling pc actions / thoughts in people's heads etc. This is for a very minor, surface, fun thing - but also, we need to be clear about precedent-setting etc. So - it took us down all sorts of alleyways and stuff - hence, it's taken us longer to respond than I'd like - for that my apologies.

We've come to the majority vote of yes, we're happy with this - but there are a few caveats to that. This is entirely up to the PCs in question whether the word pops into their heads or not. There's no insistence on it being there - and if it's there, they can use it or not. Obviously, NPCs can also have the same thing happen, and that's up to the player / mod controlling them.

That work for you?

[Tio Silver]

Yeah that's absolutely fine. I wouldn't want it any other way.

[Pegasus]

Yeah that's absolutely fine. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Perfect!! I will add "Oh fer the love of Tio's tiny tackle" to Vega's stock phrases!

[Darius Baer]

Writing can be a lonely endeavour. Even collaborative storytelling takes on a form of multiplayer solitaire. A little bit of love from fellow readers and writers can go a long way to encouraging us to keep going!

I think it would be great if it was possible to click a link on an individual post and offer positive, private feedback on it. This would not be visible to other writers. It could be displayed in the recipient's User CP, so there would be no risk of it becoming a popularity contest - something I understand has been a concern with the idea of public feedback in the past.

I'm aware that there is a Kudos thread, which I think is great for public declarations of general adulation, but this approach would reward writers for specific posts where a reader has really enjoyed a particular post.

At another forum where I used to frequent, it was called reputation. You could offer positive or negative reputation, because it was initially intended as an IC measure of how famous/infamous your PC was, but over time, it evolved into people just offering positive OOC feedback on the work of their fellow writers. Such encouragement from peers was always a really rewarding thing to see when you logged in.

I'd be happy to send an example screenshot from the other forum and explain how that one works if there's any interest.

[Rakvald]

As an add-on to Darius' suggestion, were a feature such as that to be implemented, I'd prefer to have an opt-out function for it. Not that I anticipate much in the way of comments, but yeah. Also that the comments themselves not be anonymous.

[Darius Baer]

For what it’s worth, I’d have no qualms with it not being anonymous. At the other forum, I know staff were able to use the time stamp of the feedback to figure out who had sent it, although many users would put their own username in their feedback anyway. But not letting it be anonymous in the first place would be an improvement, in my view.

Opt-out sounds good, too - unsure if this makes it more of a technical challenge to set up - and those users just wouldn't have the feedback button (or something similar) on their posts. (Unless they opt back in, of course.)

[Darius Baer]

Just thought I might bump this, (after 7 months, lol), to see if it's something that is deemed worthy of discussion?

[Yeva]

OOC

Here, because I noticed the thread/topic mentioned on the front page. I think a post/thread feedback or 'like' system would be awesome. I've seen other forums that do that, and have always wanted it for our site. It's so rewarding to see others give positivity, even if it's just by emoji or something. Similar to an 'opt-out', there could maybe be an notification that would simple say "this user is not accepting feedback at the time", or whatever, to these who go to "like" the post.

I know I've met mixed reviews on the whole "critique" system, but I think writer workshops are such valuable tools for those looking to improve, and since the forum has been moved/deactivated, we have entire medals that can't be earned now because it feels hidden by most players on the site. With that being said, I think there should be a way for mods to track it if it is anonymous, on the off chance a troll wants to be hateful (although I've not seen that happen). As a writing site, I think we could really embrace the "community" aspect of things a bit more to really engage players. As a newbie, when I would get a like' or 'love' from a partner, it really motivated me to write more, and with more people. It made me less nervous to approach others.

Maybe comments activated on profiles? Or more interactive/customizable profiles on site at all? I'm not sure. I'm completely for the OOC feedback/approval. The 'how' is a flexible.

[Pegasus]

Just thought I might bump this, (after 7 months, lol), to see if it's something that is deemed worthy of discussion?

It's not that it's not deemed worthy of discussion - there have been a lot of discussions about it, in and out. It's more an issue that I have limited "tech guy" time. It is on a list to find out what the options are. Opt-in (or opt out) add-ons are where we're finding it tricky. It seems to be an all or nothing.