Notes from first '405th Veterans' meeting - Sean's notes
In attendance: Jake (xtremetactics), BobvanDijk, James Graham (Hirgon), Walter Green (Spase), Tahuphoenix (Tahu), Cliophina (Phxix), Lorenzo Maffin (Shadowsail) Adam Grumbo (Adam), Sean Bradley (me). And probably some that I missed.
This meeting's purpose: To identify current problems with the 405th forums and to brainstorm solutions and action items to resolve these problems.
First issue: stickies, overcrowding of information, forum organization. The first suggestion of simply linking all the current stickies in a single stickied thread will not work because the active threads will continue to be bumped making organizing the stickied threads impossible.
It was suggested to separate the stickies from the discussion forums to a separate FAQ section. Adams has a template which would allow for a separated FAQ/Tutorial section. This section would retain the current stickied topics as published articles, in a static format, however for each article there would be a discussion thread linked.
For this migration we would need a FAQ Project manager, who would oversee the publishing of the stickies as articles in the FAQ section, enlist help where needed, and update the FAQ's when requested. Adam is going to write up a position description for this job.
Second issue: Removal of the Elite Gallery. the elite gallery will be dissolved, the threads in the elite gallery will be moved back to the appropriate sub-forums. A new 'Featured Members' section will highlight noteworthy individual members and projects. The 'Top 25' lists that are being created now will be integrated in this section.
Third issue: Donations for Pepakura creators. It was proposed that the 405th's pepakura files will be hosted by the 405th in a database similar to the 'Halo Reach Files' database thread. Everyone agreed that this was an excellent model for how the new pep database shoudl look. In addition Adam would like to institute a voluntary donation system for people who want to contribute to the creators of the pep files. Donations won't be mandatory for downloading, but beside each creators name would be a donation button for those who want to pay back to the file modelers.
We will also need a Pepakura Section Moderator that will work with Adam to design the new Pep Database and will become head moderator or the Pep Forums. Adam will write up the job description.
Fourth issue: we need a new Editor-in-Chief for the publishing team. This person will work with Adam to manage the writing and publishing of 405th articles. Adam is writing up the full job description.
Fifth issue: New Classifieds section rules. We discussed the need for new rules to be instituted in the Classifieds section to govern the way sales are conducted. We all agreed that the RPF (Replica Prop Forum) has an excellent model for this and that we would emulate the way that every thread in the classifieds is indentified by the type of sale. The forced classification system would be similar to the RPF thread, every thread would have to adopt a similar naming system: FS (For Sale), WTB (Want to Buy) INT, (Interest Thread) etc
In addition to this change some new rules were decided on. Interest threads cannot solicit money, only finished work can be sold with the exception of 'services offered' threads. Sellers may not solicit money for work that has not been created, molded or otherwise readied for sale. No money should be involved in interest threads.
A new limitation will be also put in place for limited runs of items in the classifieds: Only one run can be conducted by a seller every thirty days. This rule is intended to prevent a single seller from flooding the market with their products, or setting up multiple runs of different items at the same time. These rules safeguard sellers as well as buyers.
Additionally Adam will look into whether the threads in the classifieds can be set to automatically lock or close when the 30 days has been reached. The threads should stay visible so that buyers can still access contact info of the seller as long as needed. In lieu of making this possible, a new Classifieds Moderator will need to close threads 30 days after they have started.
At this point we reviewed our information and accessed the new positions needed:
1. Pepakura Project Leader/Moderator
2. FAQ/Tutorial Moderator
3. Editor-in-Chief of the Publishing Team
4. Administrator/Community Manager
In addition to these positions, a new moderator system will be organized by these positions:
1. Head Moderator
2. Global Moderators
3. Individual Forum 'Leaders'
We discussed that the appointment process for naming new people to these positions will be a democratic system: After Adam writes up descriptions for each position, applications will be accepted for each position. The discussions of applications will take place in another conference meeting, and appointment decisions will be made by current 405th staff.
It was also decided that inactive moderators must be removed to make way for the new moderators.
Lastly we decided on a date and time for these conference meetings to take place: the meetings will be held every 1st Sunday of each month at 4:00pm Eastern Standard Time, beginning with the next meeting to occur on August 1st 2010. Adam will be away on his honeymoon, but the meeting will still take place in his absence.
In the meantime, Adam will write up descriptions to all the above positions and pass them onto Sean (bradlesk@hotmail.com) for presentation to the members and Q&A. XtremeTactics (Jake) will assist by accessing specific projects and making progress where possible..
I think that's everything I have.. feel free to fill in if I missed anything else.
-Sean
