originally posted in:Fireteam Sol
This thread will outline steps, that if taken, would improve a user's experience on Bungie.net. The contents of this thread will be expansive and detailed, but I implore you to read the entire thread. Some topics may be disagreeable, and I encourage you to form a well-written and easily understandable reply so that we (The Forum) may benefit from your viewpoints. I will not include instructions on how these steps may be implemented, but will include possible ways if applicable. These steps will evolve as the needs of the community evolve. Let us descend...
[u][b]Step 1[/b][/u]
The first step towards the optimization of this experience is to allow the user much more freedom. This means that a user should be able to perform many more actions within his/her threads and profile. Some suggestions as to what these actions could be are as follows:
▪ Allow the thread creator to lock the thread to all further comments and likes whenever he/she sees fit
▪ Allow more options for the user's avatar and profile background
▪ Allow the time delay for notifications to be chosen and allow the user to change the color that the notification icon glows
These suggestions are ever-changing.
[u][b]Step 2[/b][/u]
The second step towards the optimization of this experience is to allow private groups much more freedom. This means that a private group should be given more options to customize. Some suggestions as to what these options could be are as follows:
▪ Although not related directly, allow a user the opportunity to join a slightly increased number of groups before he/she hits a limit (A possible number would be 5 more groups)
▪ Allow an option for new threads needing to be admin-approved before they can be published
▪ Allow groups to be disbanded if all admins are in agreement
▪ Disband groups which have shown no activity, for an extended period of time, after contacting all members, as this will purge the database of "spam" groups
▪ Allow more options for the group's avatar and background
These suggestions are ever-changing.
[u][b]Step 3[/b][/u]
The second step towards the optimization of this experience is to reinstate an improved title system or a system similar to it. The members of the Bungie community want this, and it provides certain benefits as well, such as the use of alternative accounts dropping drastically and users being less likely to disregard the rules and Code of Conduct. Some improvements to this system could include the following:
▪ Title progression being based on the quality of the user's thread, rated by likes and replies (Likes being weighted and counting for far more than replies)
▪ Title progression also involving quality of replies to other users
▪ Title progression also involving years active and years subscribed
▪ Title progression also involving overall community contribution
▪ Title progression possibly involving follower count, with each follower being weighted individually by his/her credentials
▪Individual title/icon for the forum most participated/renowned in with stats on profile
These suggestions are ever-changing.
[u][b]Step 4[/b][/u]
The fourth step towards the optimization of this experience is to create a rewards system other than, but related to, titles. These rewards would be applicable to individual users as well as groups, and are as follows:
▪ Member of the Month post by Bungie recognizing an outstanding user, if wanted
▪ Group advertisement, in a conspicuous place, for outstanding groups, if wanted
▪ Username color (Possibly Light Blue) change for exceedingly exceptional users, if wanted
▪ Group name color (Possibly Dark Blue) change for incredible groups, if wanted
These are some suggestions that I believe the community would enjoy competing for, but more rewards could always be added.
[u][b]Step 5[/b][/u]
The fifth step towards the optimization of this experience is to instate an improved list of rules to help regulate the community. This list would greatly decrease the amount of "illegal" content on the site, and it includes the following:
▪ The posting of any form of pornography will not be tolerated and will be punished
▪ The posting of racist topics or any form of prejudice will not be tolerated and will be punished
▪ The use of threats will not be tolerated and will be punished
▪ Repeated offenses toward and individual will be seen as bullying and will not be tolerated and will be punished
▪ The excessive spamming of low-quality threads by a user will be punished
▪ Excessive trolling will be punished
Moderators should be able to once again wield their banhammers to dish out punishment. The punishments for these acts will vary based on the severity of the crime, but could include the following:
▪ Allow a moderator to temporarily or permanently ban a user from single or multiple threads, past and future, that he/she creates whenever he/she sees fit
▪ Temporary bans
▪ Permanent account bans
▪ Temporary loss of posting privileges
▪ Being put on probation
I believe that this rules and punishments would be a great addition to the Bungie website, but they are able to change based on the community's needs.
[u][b]Step 6[/b][/u]
The sixth step towards the optimization of this experience is to allow the individual user more self-moderation tools. These tools could include the following:
▪ Reports should be weighted by if the reporter has a clean record or not (if the reporter is a respected and amicable community member, his report should carry more weight than that of a "criminal") but all reports should be investigated
Much more can be added to this step in order to lift the weights off of the shoulders of Atlas (The Moderators).
[u][b]Step 7[/b][/u]
The seventh step towards the optimization of this experience is to overhaul the forums. The forums, as they are, have many issues that could be fixed by doing the following:
▪ Lock old and unused threads after three months of inactivity
▪ Increase the number of selections that can be present in a poll slightly
▪ Add the option for the creator of a poll to allow for multiple selections, but divide the percentage one person takes up in said poll by how many selections he/she chooses
▪ Create a FAQ in each category that answers frequent questions in said category
▪ Make sort by "Latest" the default
▪ Allow the creators of question polls to select multiple replies as answers
▪ Allow indentation in threads and comments
▪ Create a FAQ on the shield and septagon rating system and improve the system
▪ Show everyone whom likes a comment or post of yours in an available drop-down menu when viewing notifications
This is what I think would greatly improve the user experience when using Bungie.net. Also, the mobile app should be made available for windows phones and should also be updated with many new features, as many people use the app more-so than the website.
If you have made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read consider, and possibly comment on my post. Please spread this around to other Bungie.net users, and [i]follow[/i] my group [url=https://www.bungie.net/7_Evosol/en/Groups/Detail?groupId=63202]Evosol[/url] and myself if you enjoyed reading and discussing this topic. Bungie, I have faith that you will update this site before the release Destiny, whether it involves any of these points or not. Have a good day everyone!
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Okay, here is a list of everything I'm critical of in this post, it's actually not very much, I really liked almost all of your ideas! :D [quote] ▪ Allow the thread creator to temporarily or permanently ban a user from single or multiple threads, past and future, that he/she creates whenever he/she sees fit [/quote] I believe the mute button already covers this, you can select your experience, while others may want to see what the offensive person has to say. I’ve charged into many a thread in which I’ve revealed the diabolical nature of the OP, much to the praise of other users (to put it dramatically lol). Obviously I was having a positive impact on the forum, but the OP could kick me out in the middle of an argument if this feature was implemented. [quote] ▪ Allow the time delay for notifications to be chosen [/quote] So long as it was set by the poster, not the person who receives it, then sure. I like the delay because if I made a massive error I have time to edit. Other sites have this ‘wait period’ as well. [quote] ▪ Member of the Month post by Bungie recognizing an outstanding user, if wanted [/quote] They already do that ;) They just haven’t done it for a little while. [quote]▪ Group name color (Possibly Dark Blue) change for incredible groups, if wanted [/quote] Not sure if recognizing groups is good. On one hand you have Art&Stuff, BlackGarden and Marty’s Army. On the other you have Sapphire and SociopathsUnited. You are asking for Bungie and the Ninjas to judge a massive, and insane amount of content, since much of it is never even open to public likes and comments. [quote]▪ The excessive spamming of low-quality threads by a user will be punished [/quote] This would have nuked me up bad a few years ago >.> Okay probably not lol. I think community members do a fine job of dealing with the excited 10 year olds in #Destiny and such. [quote]▪ Excessive trolling will be punished[/quote] This is where the report/mute/dislike combo comes in, if a user gets enough of these then the Ninjas should start keeping an eye on them to find out if the hatred is deserved. If it is, ban. [quote]▪ Lock old and unused threads after a month of inactivity[/quote] No. This would be terrible in #Community, #Bungie, and #Destiny. For instance, if I want to find Cortana Five’s Joyeuse thread I rely on the fact that it got bumped within the last few months. Also I may bump some of my old, popular speculation threads once Destiny is released (providing they match up with Destiny haha!)
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The first two suggestions: absolutely not. Once you put your thread out there you should be at the mercy of the users and moderators. Users should not be able to post bullshit and have the ones that will correct that bullshit banned from their threads. If you want a little echo chamber of nonsense do it in a private group.
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Edited by FairlySplendid: 1/10/2014 4:53:00 PMI definitely feel like threads that are [i]lets say[/i] 6+ months old should be automatically locked where people can't bump them. Allow members to link to them and view them, but not add comments. I know there are some hidden gems out there that people don't want buried but, as someone who moderated forums for 2+ years, the benefit outweighs the cost. Look at #destiny for example. Even though in December we got a huge info dump that both confirmed and debunked 75% of peoples' speculation, members are still bumping old threads full of inaccurate and dated information.
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[quote]Step 4 The forth step towards the optimization of this experience is to create a rewards system other than, but related to, titles.[/quote] [quote]The [b]forth[/b] step[/quote] Grammar Gestapo time! That should be spelled 'Fourth' ;) My actual comment is coming soon.
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step 1 do away with cats nobody likes cats
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I agree with this. Anyway, make the rules more strict, give mods more power and stop using the "mute" button as an excuse because it decreases the amount of threads people will generally see and the "report" button doesn't work because most people don't even use it, they forget too and just ignore threads. I use the Report button though.
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step 8 learn to be concise btw op TLDR
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I'll comment on the whole rules section at once... What you find objectionable, might not be what someone else finds objectionable. That's the beauty of the Mute system. If you don't like something, and think the user should be banned for it, you can immediately "ban" that user from your view. You don't have to wait for a moderator to see and decide (possibly not in your favor) if a ban should be dealt out. You should of course use the report system as well, if you think something does break the [url=http://www.bungie.net/en-US/View/bungie/conduct]Code of Conduct[/url]. I do think the mute system should be overhauled with some additional features like temporary mutes, and rule based mutes. And the biggest problem with rule enforcement is the alts. I think the greatest benefit to the quality of this site would be mitigating the ease and effectiveness of creating an alt account.
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I do not like the idea of banning someone from a thread. That power would get abused.
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[quote]-Lock old and unused threads after a month of inactivity[/quote]why not just delete them? [quote]-Add the option for the creator of a poll to allow for multiple selections, but divide the percentage one person takes up in said poll by how many selections he/she chooses[/quote]Really, if you want people to be able to select multiple answers, you shouldn't be using a poll. But assuming they did implement a multi-select poll, if I was the only participant, and selected both A and B. They should both show 100%, not 50% each. [quote]-Create sticky threads in each category that answer FAQ in said category[/quote]How about FAQs on the forum pages, rather than sticky threads? [quote]-Make sort by "Latest" the default[/quote]This, or at least fixing the trending sort such that it doesn't have dead threads from last July. [quote]-Allow the creators of question polls to select multiple replies as answers[/quote]Like the polls, if you're asking a question that can have more than one answer, you shouldn't be using the question thread type. [quote]-Create a FAQ thread on the shield and septagon rating system and improve the system[/quote]Or just get rid of it. Does anyone care or use it? [quote]-Show everyone whom likes a comment or post of yours in an available drop-down menu when viewing notifications [/quote]The notification system definitely needs an overhaul. Either they shouldn't be stacked at all, or when you click on a notification where "3 people have..." that notification should expand to show the three individual notifications.
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[quote]-Username color change for exceedingly exceptional users, if wanted[/quote]This could start to look real tacky. I'd rather the site maintain a consistent look and feel. [quote]-Group name color change for incredible groups, if wanted[/quote]Same.
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[quote]-Title progression being based on the quality of the user's thread[/quote]How would you define quality? [quote]-Title progression also involving quantity of threads[/quote]I don't think quantity should be used. That only promotes spamming the forum. [quote]-Title progression also involving quality and quantity of replies to other users[/quote]Again, quality, sure, but how would you define it? Not quantity. [quote]-Title progression also involving years active and years subscribed[/quote]Subscribed? Are we adding a subscription now? [quote]-Title progression also involving overall community contribution[/quote]As always, how would this be defined? [quote]-Title progression possibly involving follower count[/quote]This one is a bit better than the quantity ones, as it's slightly harder to increase your follower count than your post count, but again, it seems like it would encourage creating alts... If followers were used, they would have to be weighted based on each follower's contribution to the forum. Noob followers would have to be worth significantly less than experienced, upstanding followers.
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[quote]-Allow the thread creator to lock the thread to all further comments and likes whenever he/she sees fit[/quote]Whats the point in that? Wouldn't that be [b]reducing[/b] the abilities of more users on the site? I don't think that the creator of a thread should get to decide when the conversation is finished. [quote]-Allow the thread creator to temporarily or permanently ban a user from single or multiple threads, past and future, that he/she creates whenever he/she sees fit[/quote]Again, I don't think a user should be able to control the abilities of another user. If you don't want to see someone's posts, the mute button is there for that. [quote]-Allow the time delay for notifications to be chosen and allow the user to change the color that the notification icon glows[/quote]Theres nothing wrong with this request, but it seems a bit extreme. [quote]-Allow the site's font size to be chosen for users that lack good vision[/quote]Your browser can do that, the site doesn't have to.