Forum Stars

[Sui]

As of this week we are implementing a ranking system on our forums. This system will be based on the following criteria:

5 stars - Staff
4 Stars - OFPEC Patrons
3 Stars - Honoured Contributors
2 Stars - Contributing members
1 Star - Members

The status of Patron is awarded to those who assist OFPEC financially (ie. make a donation of over 25 Euro or equivalent). The high number of stars for this is to show our gratitude, as though money is not our main concern, the site doesn't pay for itself
Donations below 25 Euros are still very welcome of course...

Honoured Contributors are those who have submitted several quality resources (be that missions, addons or scripts/tutorials etc.). It can also be awarded to members who are particularly helpful on the forums. Here is a great place to start for how to make contributions to our great community.

The status of contributing member is awarded to those who have submitted a quality resource to the site, or answer questions and help others on our forums.

Awards will be made based on staff member recommendations. They are made at our discretion, and are not open to debate.

We will be updating ranks of contributing members in the coming weeks. The process involves us individually editing users accounts, so may take a while. So if you haven't got your stars yet, don't panic

[dmakatra]

Good idea... Perhaps... I dunno, but I've always felt that OFPEC Forums are so great because there is no difference between a newly regged noob and an old bugger. Ah, what the heck.

:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat:

[Uldics]

Nice idea to rise activity

[rado1265]

Hmmm, from my point of view this is not so good idea.  As dmkatra says, this could-will cause a segregation amoung the members.

If you need money (who doesen't  ;D) for the maintainance or whatever, just say so, I'm sure some people will gladly donate.  Also do not lure the memebers with those stars in attempt to somehow 'revive' the site, this will do no good; I'm now expecting a flood of all kind of 'trivial stuff' from younger members, jockeing for those stars.

[macguba]

If you need money (who doesen't  ) for the maintainance or whatever, just say so, I'm sure some people will gladly donate.

Don't worry, we will.    ;D    (And we know from past experience that people do.)

I'm now expecting a flood of all kind of 'trivial stuff' from younger members, jockeing for those stars.

It is a concern.   However, this system is based on quality, not quantity.   Trivial stuff gets you nothing other than a clip round the ear from a moderator.  

[rado1265]

It is a concern.   However, this system is based on quality, not quantity.

The positive thinking as it is, it will happen quite oposite; the quantity, not quality.  And such positive thinking can-will not turn out the people, and can-will not stop the predicted incoming flood.  And this will not be anoying just for the moderators, but for the other members also.  And what you'll do then?  Use a ban?  Another negative aspect of this idea ...

[macguba]

We now have the strongest moderating team we've had for some years.    If there is a flood of bad people and bad posts, we have the resources to deal with it.

What we are hoping, of course, is that there will be a flood of good things.

Which will it be?   Or will there be no flood at all?   Nobody knows....

[rado1265]

What we are hoping ...

Yea, you just do that.

Have I deserved my star yet? ;D

[dmakatra]

"Bribing" members to write tutes and help in the forum is not a good idea. Everyone do this in their free time, and that is what makes it so good. We don't need any kind of 'elitism' in the world, much less in OFPEC. Help is good, yes, but help should come from your heart (wow, that sounded gay...) and not because you want another star.

And in these cases there are always people feeling left out or forgotten. People get angry because of this. And it's not really your fault, but you always forget somebody.

Maybe it's not my concern, as I am hardly active no more. But you might as well go ahead and turn on post count as well.

Damn, I sound like an old bugger. I'll go sit down and play bingo with the other old people now.

:beat: *Gets Old* :beat:

[Artak]

It's not bribing and it's not a sneaky way to make more cash flow. All it is, is a way to show our appreciation to the people who've contributed to OFPEC and the community.

We used to have the forum build-in feature of post count on, which ranked members by the amount of the posts they made. This was disabled because of two reasons. One being the fear of some people spamming for a higher post count, the other being the fact that every OFPEC member is equal.

The above questions are not raised in the way we're handing out the stars. You won't get another star even if you made 5000 posts. Everyone is still equally treated.
And I don't think we will have a problem members submitting spam or trivial material. A lame submission is easy to delete with a press of a button. Moderating the boards have never been this easy - people have obviously learned to behave themselves in the course of time.


Anyway, you can only have two opinions on the new star system. Either it's good or it's bad. We thought it would be good to show our appreciation and since we can't send out t-shirts or GOTY editions, this is the only best way we could think of.

[MachoMan]

Yeah, if people where that worried about getting more stars they would have joined the team ages ago!

[Planck]

Indeed, getting a star is not based on how many times you post.

The staff decide based on how helpfull someone has been over however long, helping others in a constructive and meaningfull way.
And those members that have taken the time to write a good resource or mission also get noticed.

Posting answers willy nilly that don't help gets noticed as well as posting in a constructive manner.
Equally submitting a faulty mission or resource will probably not attract any stars.  
 


Planck

[Baddo]

In my humble opinion it is very good that post count is not visible on the forums. In some other forums I can sense that there are people who post only to get their post count up. Post count does not reflect anything useful. How good a member is for a community is not in any way related to post count. So keep it hiding, thank you. The star system is different from post count because OFPEC staff considers who really deserves a star and who doesn't. That doesn't mean that you are not a good community member if you don't get more stars. The staff just hasn't seen enough of you and your good will yet.



In general, I think that members who have actually given something useful back to the community, should be thanked somehow and stars are an appropriate way to do that imho. It may not be completely fair, but hey that's life for you.

Having a positive and friendly attitude in the forums has definitely a huge effect in who deserves a star and who doesn't.

[bedges]

yes indeed.

besides which, who in the ofpec 'family' is seriously going to be concerned with how many stars they have when they participate in the forums? use of ofpec is for editing in flashpoint, not as some strutting ground for over-inflated egos - we moderators see to that

the way i see the system working is that the staff, being knowledgable about flashpoint, recognise when a member is being both knowledgeable and genuinely helpful, not simply an avid poster. the staff then flag that member up with an extra star or two to let everyone else see they are an example, a trusted source.

frankly i think that's what everyone should be aiming for, regardless of whether there's a bunch of stars in it or not.

[dmakatra]

Post counting supports elitism, as you all know. In many ways, so does this new star system.

I'm not against thanking contributors to OFPEC. They are absolutely brilliant, and I can only regret that I was a total idiot and didn't contribute as much and/or as good as I could've most of my active OFPEC time. I know what I've done for OFPEC, and what OFPEC has done for me. I don't need stars to say that to me. I think this goes for many members of OFPEC, I just took myself as an example.

Another example is macca. He's a great chum. He's done loads of stuff for OFPEC. Now, I know that he's a moderator now so he'd have five (five extra flashy stars, mind you ;D) stars anyhow, but let's say this system was introduced before he went all flashy. You noticed that he was (and is) liked. People even started to ask questions where the bloody hell he was when he went on vacation for crying out loud! Now, I'm not macca, but I think he felt (and still feels) that he was liked and felt responsible for all his children in the big OFP editing playground. He doesn't need stars to verify that.

The internet is a dictatorship, no doubt about it. It's just part of it's design. But I've always thought of this place as one of the few webpages where it at least felt like you were part of some kind of, well, not democracy, but something not entirely ruled by the administrators and moderators. In my active days (probably is now too), there was such a good connection between the members. Again, I can only regret that I was such an idiot that didn't do my share. Members were treated all alike. Everyone had one star (one star, one vision, one dream; to become the greatest OFP scripter of all time ;D) and were all part of one OFPEC. Now new members will start to feel, well, not left out, but definately not as welcomed as they only have one star while everyone else in the thread has 2, 3 or even 4. "Spamming" tutes or replies is just a minor drawback. After all, the warmth and spirit of this website is far more valuable than a few semi-crappy tutes/missions/replies/etc.

This new star-system only has drawbacks as far as I can see. It supports elitism. I know it sounds exaggerated. After all, it's only a little detail. But it's those details that make OFPEC better than everyone else. I'd like to see my stars removed as I don't support this change at all.

:beat: *Gets Shot* :beat: