Community restructuring - Member Update

[Penfold]

Member update:

 As you know, we’ve gradually been rolling out the new structure for the Community. For the sake of expediency (and our sanity), this has been done in stages.

  1.Stage One:     a.This was the introduction of badges under people’s names to show their involvement in the Community be it a badge for Game, Admin, LAN, Community Supporter or whatever. This process is almost complete with the exception of the ‘Quality Forum Contributor’ and the ‘Golden Member’ badges. Once a criteria has been written for these and posted up, then these will come into play.
      b.Community Supporters:
We would very much like to thank the Community for the impressive take up on our voluntary scheme. Currently we have around 50 members who have contributed and this goes a long way in keeping the servers and forum running to its impressive levels. Apart from the odd network-related issue overall we hope you’re pleased with the levels of service.
   A list of the people who have generously donated can be found     HERE     (Thank you).
   Benefits of becoming a community supporter:
      1.Only Community Supporters will be entitled to use Avatars and Signatures.
      2.Community Supporters will be granted access to exclusive areas of the forum
    3.Community Supporters will be entitled to first sign-up for LANs and will also benefit from a £5 deduction from LAN fees. (This means that if a member attends both LANs, Being a Community Supporter has in essence cost £2).
      4.NON-Community Supporters will be limited to FIVE private messages   PLEASE NOTE: To become a Community Support is NOT compulsory. Those wishing to do so should click the Supporting Member link beneath the DONATE button or click HERE:

2.Stage Two:   The forum structure itself will change with the removal of the incumbent Bravo and Charlie sections and the introduction of several new sections. New private sections will include:
   Badge Holders Banter (for members who hold a badge of any description).

Supporting Members’ Chat (For those members who hold the Community Supporter Badge). This will include benefits such as advance LAN bookings etc.

In addition to the private chat areas, there will be the traditional game forums accessable by everyone and a separate forum for those game admins. There will also be a new forum for L4D â€" our latest adopted game.
Apart from that the forum structure shall remain largely as is.
   
  So what’s next?
   
  1. Over the next week or so you will see the forum structure change.

  2. The new permissions will be set in place. This will affect access for games, admins, and restricted forums.

 3. Non-supporting members will see their avatars and signatures removed. If non supporting members have more than five pm’s then they will not be deleted. It just means that you will not be able to receive/send any more until the number is reduced to five.

 4. Once the Supporting Member Chat forum has been set up then sign ups will begin immediately for the next LAN in April. First priority will go to Supporting Members (and volunteer helpers) and then to everyone else.
   
  Please note: The changes may involve some minor disruption to services as normal. Given the amount of administration work required they may also be the odd error. Should you find that you can’t see a forum which you think you should be able to then please let us know and we’ll rectify the problem.
   
 The new forum structure has been designed to be as INCLUSIVE as possible. We are a Community and we’re not some elitist club. We feel that by doing away with the existing Bravo and Charlie structure, everyone now has the opportunity to participate and contribute as much or as little as they like.
   
Finally, thanks for your patience, for your continuing support and for making dMw such a great place to be. We’d also like to thank Zootoxin for the sterling work he’s done on the badges and to those implementing the changes and the time they give in keeping us afloat.
   
   The Admins

[BrotherTobious]

Sounds great, good work guys

[GhostMjr]

Thanks Pen for the announcement . I have several constructive comments regarding the above and i thought i'd add them here below the announcement as i imagine this would be the most suitable place for other ideas.

Firstly, thank you to all those who have helped with the move. I am sure I speak for everyone when I say we are all very grateful and yet another milestone has happened within "our" community. It's amazing to think that many of us have become attached to the old bravo and charlie areas and i will be sad to see them go :crying: as they have been around longer than even i've been a member (almost four years now) and are part of our community's heritage even though that seems like only yesterday . Sorry, i'm a bit sentimental sometimes . If theres room to archive them then that would be great .

My only concerns are the lack of areas for members to communicate private information to those in a certain group such as admins. Such as a quick post section where members can post issues with people on the server or those to watch which are private to non registered or users with insufficient privies. Pm's do work fine and so do steam messages but maybe this area could help in another way so that everything is logged in one set area for admins and supporters to flag up relevant info if needed.

Another point to mention would be that will the match areas be seperate for each section or game. Currently I and a few players are confused as to where to post match reports private to only the members of the squad and the community but not the people who we have and will play.

Anyway just a thought.

Sorry if any of my points are vague but i'm sure your use to my vagueness by now .

Anyway catch you all on the servers later for a left for dead hunting spree


Ghostey

[Snokio]

good job guys and nice one Zootoxin :thumb: (had no idea myself, they look professional)
 
The plans seem good and look forward to seeing the changes , the only single thing i would like to see is a appearance (theme) change to the forum's looks, nothing wrong with the current one, just maybe a slight change to go with the other new changes.
 
and as a side note, maybe it would be good to archive pre-2008 threads? just an idea

[smilodon]

The idea is to have as few 'elite private areas' as possible. We're an inclusive community and paid subscribers with a green badge should be able to have access to 99% of the forums.

That being said every community needs a few private places to chat about stuff. For example there are several private areas for each game type. There are forums where 'game green badge holders' can post tactics etc. that they might not want their next opponents to see.
There are also areas where game/server admins can talk about server stuff including discussion about player conduct, dull server configuration waffle and other tedious admin related stuff.

When the new forum goes live and the new user permissions kick in you'll see you'll have the relevant private forums available....... that or a great big dirrty 404 page not found warning :eyebrow:

[Gaara]

Hmmm most people probably won't agree with me on this, but whilst I think giving priveleges to contributing members is absolutely fine, I do feel that the cut down on non supporting members is way to harsh. In fact so harsh that it nearly feels compulsory to donate. Imo it would be way better to create new quality area's and benefits for contributing members than beating down the non contributing members.

Tbh, I myself was pondering about becoming a supporting member, but if anything, these changes have put me off doing that for now.

Please don't take this as a rant, just some constructive critism from my part.

[DuVeL]

A bit here with Garaa.
 
I try and make my donations during LANs and such and could be a community supporter aswell but I prefer it this way.
Also I'm wondering a bit about people coming from overseas for LANs being a non supporter, will they have advanced notice aswell or is this only for supporters?
 
I would have send a PM rather but I reckon this involves more people then just me.
 
Hope you don't mind setting me up this here.

[Luminance]

Seems we Dutch think alike.

After reading your post, the new changes (in my opinion) look more like a cut back of the privileges of non supporting members then an added bonus for supporting members. I'm not saying this puts me off or might put other people off, but it does look a bit greedy, and will put people off.

For me it won't change that much, as I already planned on supporting dMw, since its the only site/place that kept keeping me interested, and well its a great place to "hang" around, but that's besides the point.

I do wonder though, are we talking about lets say a 30 pound donation, or something like a paid subscription? And how will you bring it, will you "spam" it at the main page or?? And as Duvel mentioned, comming to the LAN and bidding on auctions there, also support dMw, so shouldn't that make you a supporting member also??

Any how, my main concern is that this might trow off (future) newly joining members, since as you described it, it might really strike as compulsory to donate now, and well thats not really the main point of having an open community, right?

[smilodon]

Good points. Any debate and comment is always welcome. I just do the forums but as I understand it the community i.e. the forum, the servers and the bandwidth cost a lot of money to provide. As a community we've always been lucky in the past with very reasonable hosting deals. But at the moment the only people  who contribute financially are those who attend the LAN and those who choose to hit the donate button. It's very much a case of the few paying for the many. The subscription model is designed to try to get people who use the community servers to fund the community servers and not just a small group of 30-40 people who seem to be the same people every year. The ability to donate has always been there but sadly as with the LAN fees, we find only certain few chose to contribute.

The subscribers will get new forums on the message board, nothing is being taken away. Whether these forums get used is up to the people who use them.

The advanced LAN notification is nothing new. Charlie members always got several weeks notice over Bravos who in turn got a week or two over the Alphas. We will no longer have Charlie and Bravo members at all. We now have a more inclusive community. Everyone here is a mature decent game player who wants to enjoy the community and the servers. They want (I hope) to create a little place on the internet where they can enjoy good company and good gaming. The only real differences are some people choose to pay £12 a year and some don't. Everyone still gets to play and contribute. Only now those who also feel able to make a financial contribution get a few little treats on top (sig files, more PM posts and a week or two's extra notice for the LAN). Also we always seem to have enough spaces at the LAN and I cannot remember when we actually had to turn anyone down for a place. So early or late notification really doesn't make much difference.

So I don't actually thing the differences between subscribers and non subscribers is that great. To be honest the biggest differences are between those with green player badges and those without and all you need to do in order to get a green badge is turn up and play the games

Oh and it isn't just about subscribing, although that's the simplest way to contribute. Several people have sent in cheques, dropped some cash into Penfolds hands at the LAN's or generally made some financial contribution to the 'Cause'. Every month someone has to put their hand their pocket and pay for all this. I guess the question is 'Who's it going to be this month?'

Thanks for the comments and suggestions, they really help everyone get a clear idea of how people feel.

[DuVeL]

True but the people joining from abroad would like a faster notice as to planecosts etc. Going to LANs takes a tad more effort some times to arrange. It's not about getting a LANspot but arranging one in time.
 
I also make sure that my contribution to the server during LANs is more then proviciant then a normal contribution being it selling stuff or buying while @ the LAN.
Luminance also made quit a donation last LAN selling liquorice (spelling check please).
 
Hope you get my point.

[sulky_uk]

im all up for the changes,
 
but i have a concern, i have donated as often as i can over the last wee while, i havent done the 12 pound thing because before this was brought in i had donated about that amount and attended Lans, surely that means that ppl can donate 12 pound and get all the fancy forums and stuff, but ppl who may of donated more in the last year and have attended lans lose out ifthey dont want to give that amount at this stage
 
also i have 105 mails in my inbox , do i lose all of them?
 
clarification plz?

[smilodon]

Ok as the current unofficial spokesman tonight...

The LAN dates are already announced for the next two LANS

LAN XV has been booked in for the 24th -26th April 2009
LAN XVI has been booked in for the 23rd - 25th October 2009

Subscribers will simply get the chance to put their names forward first. If we ever did get more people wanting to come than we had places, then people who pay get first choice. I think that is very fair. I cannot think of a good argument why someone who does not offer some ££ help to the community should get the same notice as someone who does.

A contribution is a contribution. Every one of them is recorded and if you send a PM to Penfold/Tealeaf reminding them that you have paid money recently, then I am sure  you'll get the subscriber tag and perks.

I'm not sure if donating prizes/auction items counts but if it does remember those 7:1 surrogacy speakers I donated to the last LAN. That must be worth a badge eh ? :wink:

As Penfold said you don't loose any PM's at all. If you have more than 5 and you're not a subscriber you won't get any more.

[Zootoxin]

Thanks for all the pats on the back for the badges guys

Feel free to give me a shout when anymore badges or artwork is needed.

In terms of the contributions I have just paid my 12 pounds (been meaning to for ages) and I feel its a very fair price with or without the extra bits.

I have been in two 'clans' before and the last one had conplusory clan fee of (wait for it) 26 pounds every 3 months!!!!!
At the time I knew no different and believed the CL's when told it was server fee's (we had 3 IPs running)
It wasn't until a few new members asked to see a break down and receipts etc that many people realised something wasn't right.

We all get to see and feel where the contributions go, and our community is always moving forward.
I am sure you oversea's guys will get plenty of warning when it comes to the LAN

Hats off to you for the effort you make

[Snokio]

I have been in two 'clans' before and the last one had conplusory clan fee of (wait for it) 26 pounds every 3 months!!!!!
At the time I knew no different and believed the CL's when told it was server fee's (we had 3 IPs running)
It wasn't until a few new members asked to see a break down and receipts etc that many people realised something wasn't right.
 
We all get to see and feel where the contributions go, and our community is always moving forward.
I am sure you oversea's guys will get plenty of warning when it comes to the LAN
 
Hats off to you for the effort you make

The other good thing with this community is that the CL's have always (since i can recall) been very transparent with the incoming and outgoing of the funds, so you know where your money is going unlike other clans and clubs who 'pocket' the money for themselfs (which i think is illegal :g:)

[DuVeL]

The thing is, somehow we fell left out.
When we make an effort of going to a LAN, we make a big donnation for most of the Dutchies.
Although next few dates have been announced, it's sometimes pretty difficult to arrange flight and cars. Heck, I even bought a PC to go abroad.
Considering even LeRouge wants to join sometime I think admins ,might have to call in that people might get a more of a way more advance then regular UKlads.
 
No pun intended to the UKguys but belive me, it's sometimes quit difficult to arange.