Post by England on May 17, 2014 17:21:52 GMT -6
Hello, MoF members.
After a lengthy staff discussion today regarding recent events here at the forum, I am writing to everyone today to make some clarifications that the staff feels need to be addressed concerning Manor of Fate, changes that have been made in the past couple of months, and our future.
First off, let me start by apologizing on behalf of the MoF staff. We're aware that members here have felt singled out or made to feel uncomfortable and that is not what we are about. Our desire is to have a forum that people can participate in, feel welcome, and enjoy their activity here. That is the ideal for any forum no matter what the fandom. However, from what we have been given to understand is that our communications concerning the changes have not provided any clear indications of why these changes have been implemented or what we hope to achieve by putting them into effect.
For the last two months, MoF has begun monthly activity checks. Why? Because it takes a considerable amount of energy and effort on the part of staff to continually develop the forum as a whole. The recent site revamp, the expansion of areas to explore, the development of new Monsters sitting in the Hidden Bridge waiting to be unleashed, and future Events that we intend to hold throughout the coming months. We treat MoF as a body of work that is constantly evolving to keep it new, fresh, and current for our members.
We decided to change our activity checks to monthly because we felt that the consistent quality of new content we were providing made it fair to ask our members to participate with one four hundred word post a month. Ideally two. We based this model off of other forums where some of our members also participate where they meet and often exceed the required monthly checks. However, from the feedback we have received, it seems that this is considered a controversial action on the part of MoF's staff.
Also controversial was the implementation of the Ghost Roulette system. The Ghost threading system is intended as a means to allow members to temporarily engage in threads with other members in their spirit form. This provides fodder for meaningful, emotional threads between participants. As stated in the Ghost Thread section of the forum, members should be working towards getting their characters back to their bodies in a timely manner. The Ghost Roulette system was put in place when there became a new circumstance of multiple members creating multiple Ghost Threads.
The Ghost Roulette system ties directly into the plot of Manor of Fate. Ghost nations, upon death, are vulnerable to the negative influences of the Manor. Over time, they will warp until they become puppets of the place. If a character seeks out one person to encounter, then another person, so forth and so on -- the negative influences will continue to twist their personalities the longer that they are not in their living body. Each thread must be treated as a different event in time, and so it stands to reason that as time progresses the Ghost nation will become effected, even if the different threads are intended to take place throughout the course of one day.
Creating the Roulette system is the Manor's way of keeping its ghosts in check. It's that simple.
During the staff chat today, it was decided that we would return to the bi-monthly Activity Check system. We had not intended for it to cause stress to our members. We had simply hoped to stimulate increased activity for the forum we have been investing our efforts into. So we'll be returning to the former system and looking into different options.
We'll also be developing a Tumblr account for MoF -- specifically for members that wish to bring up problems or want to make suggestions anonymously. This will allow for people to post without being concerned that their IPs will be recognized or that their issue will get lost in translation. Right now, issues are being brought up to MoF staff through third parties -- which does not allow us the chance to get to the root of those issues. We can only make positive changes for our members if they communicate the problems to us. The Tumblr account will be created so that anyone and everyone can approach the staff as a whole rather than being forced to approach any singular individual.
We will post the Tumblr account name once it is created. For those who do not participate in Tumblr, the inboxes of the staff are always open on the forum. Please, please, please communicate issues to us directly. That will allow us to be proactive with addressing things that are problematic so that we can build MoF into that ideal place where everyone feels welcome. Help us grow together.
Thank you all very much.
-MoF Staff
After a lengthy staff discussion today regarding recent events here at the forum, I am writing to everyone today to make some clarifications that the staff feels need to be addressed concerning Manor of Fate, changes that have been made in the past couple of months, and our future.
First off, let me start by apologizing on behalf of the MoF staff. We're aware that members here have felt singled out or made to feel uncomfortable and that is not what we are about. Our desire is to have a forum that people can participate in, feel welcome, and enjoy their activity here. That is the ideal for any forum no matter what the fandom. However, from what we have been given to understand is that our communications concerning the changes have not provided any clear indications of why these changes have been implemented or what we hope to achieve by putting them into effect.
For the last two months, MoF has begun monthly activity checks. Why? Because it takes a considerable amount of energy and effort on the part of staff to continually develop the forum as a whole. The recent site revamp, the expansion of areas to explore, the development of new Monsters sitting in the Hidden Bridge waiting to be unleashed, and future Events that we intend to hold throughout the coming months. We treat MoF as a body of work that is constantly evolving to keep it new, fresh, and current for our members.
We decided to change our activity checks to monthly because we felt that the consistent quality of new content we were providing made it fair to ask our members to participate with one four hundred word post a month. Ideally two. We based this model off of other forums where some of our members also participate where they meet and often exceed the required monthly checks. However, from the feedback we have received, it seems that this is considered a controversial action on the part of MoF's staff.
Also controversial was the implementation of the Ghost Roulette system. The Ghost threading system is intended as a means to allow members to temporarily engage in threads with other members in their spirit form. This provides fodder for meaningful, emotional threads between participants. As stated in the Ghost Thread section of the forum, members should be working towards getting their characters back to their bodies in a timely manner. The Ghost Roulette system was put in place when there became a new circumstance of multiple members creating multiple Ghost Threads.
The Ghost Roulette system ties directly into the plot of Manor of Fate. Ghost nations, upon death, are vulnerable to the negative influences of the Manor. Over time, they will warp until they become puppets of the place. If a character seeks out one person to encounter, then another person, so forth and so on -- the negative influences will continue to twist their personalities the longer that they are not in their living body. Each thread must be treated as a different event in time, and so it stands to reason that as time progresses the Ghost nation will become effected, even if the different threads are intended to take place throughout the course of one day.
Creating the Roulette system is the Manor's way of keeping its ghosts in check. It's that simple.
During the staff chat today, it was decided that we would return to the bi-monthly Activity Check system. We had not intended for it to cause stress to our members. We had simply hoped to stimulate increased activity for the forum we have been investing our efforts into. So we'll be returning to the former system and looking into different options.
We'll also be developing a Tumblr account for MoF -- specifically for members that wish to bring up problems or want to make suggestions anonymously. This will allow for people to post without being concerned that their IPs will be recognized or that their issue will get lost in translation. Right now, issues are being brought up to MoF staff through third parties -- which does not allow us the chance to get to the root of those issues. We can only make positive changes for our members if they communicate the problems to us. The Tumblr account will be created so that anyone and everyone can approach the staff as a whole rather than being forced to approach any singular individual.
We will post the Tumblr account name once it is created. For those who do not participate in Tumblr, the inboxes of the staff are always open on the forum. Please, please, please communicate issues to us directly. That will allow us to be proactive with addressing things that are problematic so that we can build MoF into that ideal place where everyone feels welcome. Help us grow together.
Thank you all very much.
-MoF Staff