Reducing Clutter - Rank Removal

[Jamie]

Hey, for a few months now there's been a lot of chatter on how to handle ranks, specifically concerning the colorless ranks. A lot of people believe there is an issue with there simply being too many ranks, so here is an idea we've bounced around a bit. Two things that some of us think would be a good idea to change

1. Combine Competition Leader, Event Staff and Article Editor into one "Forum Volunteer" rank
Reason: Because the Competition Leaders post their own threads, Event Staff are listed in each Event thread, and Article Writers could easily be required to read a list of Article Editors before creating their article, confusion would not be an issue. Ultimately, it would reduce the clutter.

2. Completely remove non-forum related colorless ranks (Site Staff, Wiki Contributor, Webmaster)
Reason: As they have nothing to do with the forum, they just create useless clutter.

I'm certain many of you disagree with some or all of these ideas, so there is a three poll option, indicating full support, partial support (please elaborate in a post), or no support.

Feel free to discuss your reasoning here.

Thanks.

 

[Snow Queen]

do we get to remove the nobles too

 

[Azure Sage]

I don't really think there's anything wrong with what we have now. If there's a technical problem with there being too many ranks, like there's lag issues or they're taking too much space, or stuff like that, then I can understand. But if it's not broken, then don't fix it. As far as I know, it's not broken.

 

[Djinn]

While I do agree that the banner situation has expanded by a lot lately I still think that main site volunteers should be recognized since it is something we have recognized for a long time now. Perhaps something like separated main site staff and forum staff to differentiate then but still recognizing those that take time out to work for the site. They can both be clear as to follow the old philosophy of they are a part of a team and the team does a job, not to show off their personal accomplishment though bright colored names. Still I'm sure a few people still think that gaining a spot on the staff itself is an accomplishment so taking it away might be negative in their eyes.

 

[Mido]

Once I read your post, I decided that I am in full support for the first plan of action. The point is solidly made, and I think that a "Forum Volunteer" rank sounds like a substantial piece of memorabilia for said groups. Article Editors, however, I think could perhaps stay, since it is more aligned with the article section, which has some relation to the main site. Granted, I am rather unfamiliar with the Article Editor system!

As for your second proposition, I know that there's been some talk about making the Wiki Contributor rank a user award instead, and I support that. As for ranks such as Site Staff and Webmaster, I wouldn't mind them staying. (More the former than the latter.) I think both ranks have significance in regard to the website and community as a whole, and if it were that these two ranks get abolished, I feel that the same argument could perhaps be made to the article writers. Ultimately, I would rather have Site Staff stay aboard if we had to get rid of these colorless ranks. Webmaster, can go. (Despite that I like the design of the userbadge. )

 

[Justac00lguy]

I've already gave my thoughts, but I'll just pop in here for safe measure.

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I see both sides. First off I agree with Az in that I don't have any issue with the current setup:

I don't really think there's anything wrong with what we have now. If there's a technical problem with there being too many ranks, like there's lag issues or they're taking too much space, or stuff like that, then I can understand. But if it's not broken, then don't fix it. As far as I know, it's not broken.

This is how I view the situation and if things aren't seen as "broken" then I see no reason to fix it, change it, alter it etc. I've liked the setup of banners and ranks on ZD, maybe it's not exactly needed per se, but it's always gave me a good idea of who does what which was essential for me getting used to who does what around here when I was new.

On the contrary, I don't see no immediate problems with combining the three ranks (Event Staff, Comp Leader, and Article Editor) because they all sort of relate in helping out, manage certain parts of the forum. The only slight problem I have is the one rank being ambiguous to new members, or even returning members who don't recognise the new set up.

 

[A Link In Time]

I support the first idea. The Event Staff and Competition Leaders both run events. One event is simply held more often than the other. I like the idea discussed previously to make Event Planning the place for private discussion and Competitions for the posting of events. This would reduce clutter in the Community Area by quite a bit.

 

[JamesBond007]

How about keeping the ranks and including "Expand/Liimit" feature, like with the signatures?

 

[Maikeru]

I definitely like the idea of combining ranks where they can be combined. We wound out doing that on a forum that I help administrate. It still says that they're doing something.

I'm not entirely sure what the Wiki Contributors, Site Staff and Webmasters do here, as I haven't paid much attention. If the Wiki Contributors do help edit the ZeldaWiki though, then I wouldn't take their rank away. They deserve recognition for that.

Are the other two just people who help with the ZeldaDungeon site overall as opposed to just the forum? If so, I might consider combining them into one as well. Perhaps all three, could be "Site Contributors" or something like that.

 

[Sydney]

I voted for partial agreement. I do like these ideas, though. I have some issues with the second one: although I'm perfectly okay with the removal of the ranks (if it's in the best interest of the forum, we can also make Wiki Scribe and Article Editor colorless), I still feel members who've contributed to the forum deserve an award. Some kind of "Site Contributor" award would be perfect, and on the User's page it could specify on what they did to obtain the award (i.e. this user got this award because they contributed to the wiki, or helped improve the main site through staff management or technical improvements, etc).

 

[Justac00lguy]

How about keeping the ranks and including "Expand/Liimit" feature, like with the signatures?

I like this idea, seems efficient.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

How about keeping the ranks and including "Expand/Liimit" feature, like with the signatures?

This could work, than again it sort of avoiding the problem at hand. I personally agree all the ranks which really have nothing to do with the forum is a problem, but its hardly a major problem, in ways I sort of agree with Coolguy, if its not broken don't fix it until it, so far it hasn't caused any major problems that I know of.

 

[Locke]

AE needs to be a separate usergroup at the very least because they get limited mod capabilities in the article section. If its rank is combined with the others, there'd have to be a second copy assigned to the AE usergroup.

 

[DekuNut]

I'm all for the first idea, as they really are very similar, but the second I'm iffy on. They don't really have to do with the forums, but they're part of the site still. And I think Bond's idea is great.

 

[Deleted member 14134]

Can someone elaborate on the practical purpose of removing these ranks? As of right now this feels like nitpicking, maybe there's a negative that wasn't presented but as of now this appears to be a pointless poll. When this is elaborated on better I'll cast my vote.