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Ch... Ch... Ch...Changes! (or... not, as the case may be)
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19-05-2009 12:54pm#1Join Date:Posts: 29920
Ok, I've been meaning to bring people up to date for some time but tbh, nothing we've been doing affects the user population just yet so I prioritised things above it for simple pragmatism. I am but one man.
So, where were we when we last talked? We've hired a few people, Dav and Darragh have joined the office to help with the stuff I wouldnt expect mods or admins to do. (the new FAQ is Dav's work for example, have a gander at it).
We've hired IRLConor to allow Ross to spend sometime outside occasionally and to help build a solid platform for the future.
I renamed Smods to Admins because thats what they were being anyway and it inordinately annoys me when something is "a rose by any other name".
I tend to slap a label which reads "<-- ROSE." on such things.
We also gave them the tools to do what they need to do because all that was happening is that they were asking the old admins to do things, and we'd do them. Eventually. Thats inefficient and needed fixing. So I fixed it.
I've had a meeting with Adverts Moderators to discuss the future of Adverts which is massively in flux right now. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that Adverts needs a plan and a big "fix". If I told you anything else, I'd have to come back tomorrow and tell you something different most likely.
When I have a solid answer I'll let you know.
We're going through a process of trying to streamline the mods work, get a list of guidelines for posters and agree a consensus on how mods should mod.
More of that shortly.
Now, there is an underlying current of wanting to be kept in the loop around here and I think you'd be hard pushed to find someone who is MORE about consultation and consensus then I am. That doesnt mean I need to consult everyone about every change. When we created non-admin "mods" (waay back when) there were howls of indignation. We did it anyway. In fact we've quite a history of "just doing things" so I dont think thats changed at all.
I've just created non-founder "admins". The rationale is *exactly* the same as when we created non-founder "mods". The site needs the extra "bandwidth" of hands and eyes. We're lucky to have people who are willing to step up, just like the mods.
We now have three flavour of admins.
"founders", the original 5...
"community", those who were previously called Smods.
"ambassador" those who are tasked with real world stuff and jobs that are too much like "work" to ask others to do (too long, too boring, too unpleasant etc).
So thats what has happened, but as you can see, not actually a lot has "happened". I've renamed some stuff, I've talked to a LOT of people about what-it-is-that-they-do-for-us, and I've fixed a few things that were blatantly broken.
The major thing is where I'm going with this. I'm setting up a structure that is self sustaining and self powering for the next "jump". When we appointed "mods" we exploded past the incumbent "communties" who were run by their founders, founders who couldnt let go of the steering wheel and let the community drive itself.
I'm hoping this is the next logical step. Removing the admin bottleneck to an extent. Creating a technical platform that doesnt creak alarmingly occasionally.
My intent is that in 2 years we'll have 10 times the traffic here on 2-3 times the number of forums. That Boards will mature (painfully, I'm sure) into the platform for Ireland. (Take a look at the thread in AH about the hospital closures to see a hint of that). We cant do that without some structure and certainly not with just 5 admins.
Boards LTD is going to become the best *platform* for that to happen on, but Boards.ie is being handed to the people who genuinely make it go.
Where it "goes" ... I've only some visions of that... its now, quite literally, not completely in my hands any longer. Thats pretty scary, but also exciting.
DeV.Post edited by Shield on49
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I'd have thought Boards was nearing saturation point, or at least starting to see a slow down in the growth of the number of forums.My intent is that in 2 years we'll have 10 times the traffic here on 2-3 times the number of forums.
Of course, just because I can't think in terms of that kind of expansion don't mean squat. 0 -
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You might just be missing on the probable structure changes that will naturally come about (though this is not what is "planned" by a longshot).I'd have thought Boards was nearing saturation point, or at least starting to see a slow down in the growth of the number of forums.
Of course, just because I can't think in terms of that kind of expansion don't mean squat.
As opposed to being one community site where you can discuss things in the various forums with all the people you know, the site is well down the road of developing its own sub-communities. Just look at Poker, Fitness and Cycling to see these in action. Within these sub-communites I think it can only be expected that these will act as mini-boards.ie's of their own, spawning their own subforums so their communities can discuss niche topics. So "Fitness" spawns, "Weightlifting", "Cardio", etc, while Cycling spawns, "Commuters", "MTBs", and so on.
Yes, there has to be a limit of sorts and there will be points where crossovers occur and forums are amalgamated or removed, but there is huge scope for expansion at the moment. Yes, people will tell you there are too many forums, but that's only if you're consider "boards.ie" to be the community. If you consider "Fitness" to be your community, then you might think that there aren't enough forums. 0 -
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I'm fairly sure I know the answer to this already but for the record, from a regular mod's or user's point of view, the founder admins and the community admins are effectively the same right? As in there is no higher power to appeal to if say you don't like a decision by Beruthiel or BuffyBot.
Why pick on me
Who doesn't like my desicions?*
*question should not actually be answered.0 -
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