Restructuring the Mod Team

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

And the other two?

If he had something to say publicly, he would have said it. I know it's tiring thinking things will be swept under the rug, but it's clear that the desire for improvement is universal this time. Trust that the mod team is doing stuff, and be patient for it to come to light at the appropriate time.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

And the other two?

Same as before. Some say end of month but if I can get it sooner then I'll certainly do it.

[Simping For Hina]

I'm in contention for mod. I want to bring this up since Night is leaving. CowCow and Tormry have asked me to replace Night as Aesthetics moderator due to my underlying connection to Night and Sakura's determination to portray me as him. If anyone has anything to say about this, please bring it up here.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

I'm in contention for mod. I want to bring this up since Night is leaving. CowCow and Tormry have asked me to replace Night as Aesthetics moderator due to my underlying connection to Night and Sakura's determination to portray me as him. If anyone has anything to say about this, please bring it up here.

I'll be honest even I don't know if this is a joke or not.

I may have said something and forgot for all I know.

Note I don't think I did but I don't want to rule it out

[Mr. Best Male 2008]

I'm in contention for mod. I want to bring this up since Night is leaving. CowCow and Tormry have asked me to replace Night as Aesthetics moderator due to my underlying connection to Night and Sakura's determination to portray me as him. If anyone has anything to say about this, please bring it up here.

 

 

I'll be honest even I don't know if this is a joke or not.

I may have said something and forgot for all I know.

Note I don't think I did but I don't want to rule it out

 

holy sheet dae 4 mod. where i have failed, more talented and handsome men appear to make up for my failures.

 

#daeformod

[Phantom Roxas]

So, Night has formally stepped down and been demodded, while Zai will be stepping down at the end of the month. There is a thread discussing whether or not Bree will be added to the team, and I would rather not speak one way or the other regarding how that thread may turn out. Unless I'm missing anyone, I believe the only person left to focus on is what may happen with Sakura at the end of the month?

[Tormented]

So, Night has formally stepped down and been demodded, while Zai will be stepping down at the end of the month. There is a thread discussing whether or not Bree will be added to the team, and I would rather not speak one way or the other regarding how that thread may turn out. Unless I'm missing anyone, I believe the only person left to focus on is what may happen with Sakura at the end of the month?

 

That is correct and once Sakura returns from his hiatus we will deal with that as appropriate.

[Dad]

A decision is still being made, but this appear to be leading toward demoting Sakura from Super after his return.

 

Once a final decision has been made, I'll ask Flame to render the verdict.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Regarding @@Flash Flyer - Sakura

 

Putting it bluntly, I think he has funked up time and time again, and then blamed userbase for being too hard on him

 

He took a certain type of glee in my extrajudicial ban, and repeated that episode with Enguin again

 

But none of that matters, as @@Yui pointed out in my status, two of the main reasons YCM is having a new member retention problem is (1) the card maker is not updated. Only @@Nathanael D. Striker (and maybe Dova unless we have other coders) can fix that problem

 

The other as @ has pointed out many times, people just don't funking respond to CC posts. That's what drives YCM, Yugioh, card, making. 

 

https://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/topic/371661-written-yūzai-henkō/#entry7089549

 

The guy had to bump his post 6 times and no one replied.

 

I wish I were better at CAC so I could do my part in fixing this, but I'm not.

 

 

At least not now. You don't have to love your co-workers.

 

Spoiler, I don't like 7/10 of the current mods. But most of them are competent at their jobs. Only 1 likely considers me a mutual friend, and the other is a pretty on off relationship.

 

The point being, I voted for and pushed people I don't love to become mod, because I knew they can do their job. 

 

Which brings us back to Sakura. CC not living to it's potential is a large part of why the site is dying. 

 

(1) Suggest reforms (like your DP idea today)

(2) Step down if you have no ideas

(3) It's a big task, if you need help, hire another mod

 

Everyone thinks I'm out for blood, I'm not, I prefer 1 or 3 or some combo of both. I do hate inefficiency though. My suggestion, a demotion to regular mod for sakura (done) and hiring another active CCer to help cover that front and push more people to be active there. Black had much to do with the revival of the section in 2010, so he might be able to help in some degree too. 

 

My vote for new hire is @DoaHusando

 

---

 

@Yemachu  sorry mate, didn't mean to rob you of credit. Thanks for all you're doing on the card maker

[Yui]

-snip-

Now hold up a moment. I wouldn't be upset with Sakura getting a full demodding either, but there are some things about this post I want to address since you lead off by mentioning what I said in your status. I'll try to be brief (no promises) so as to not derail the thread, then will comment on the matter of the team's structure itself, since that's what we're here for.

[spoiler=My status response, for context]I wouldn't be the guy to ask about what precisely keeps new members from getting into the community since I'm still fairly new compared to some of y'all, but my main guesses are the cardmaker's poor functionality since that's the selling point of this site, the lack of responses to many threads in CC for similar reasons, and that awkward feeling of being the new kid in a group of people who already know each other. I used to pin TCG as a factor too, since that's got a reputation as a bit of a dog-eat-dog section, but the more I sat down to think about it, the more that didn't seem quite right.

 

Out of those, I think the only one we can directly affect as-is would be the lack of CC reviews. Having said that, I don't know about you, but I'm not going to go to a section I have no concern for, and review every card and archetype somebody posts, just to help them get into a community that's honestly fine in its current state, even if it isn't all that big. If you take that initiative, I applaud you, but warm and friendly introductions for the newbies are about as far as I'm going to go; once they're here, staying or going is on them, not us.

 

It may also be a sectional thing. I realized while typing this that the members who flake out are often the ones who come here intending to create their own cards and archetypes (which brings us back to the first paragraph) or discuss the game with other players. On the other hand, people who come here because of the community itself, or a non-YGO section (RP in particular comes to mind; we've done a surprisingly good job at retaining newbies who come for our section somehow), tend to stick around.

 

 

The thing that bothers me most about your post, considering you used my three (not two) guesses as to why we aren't getting new members, is you seem to have either completely forgotten about or blatantly omitted what I think is actually the most important reason we can't retain new members. That awkward new kid feeling. This is both the biggest thing that could drive someone away from the site (You know when you get invited to sit at a new table in high school and you kinda don't want to talk to anyone because they all know each other and you just met them? Same general idea), and the one that none of us - not even Sakura - have any sort of control over, short of making them feel welcome in Introductions when they say hey.

 

An update on Dova & co's progress on the cardmaker would be nice, but as Sakura isn't involved in that last I heard, I'll skip that. However, I would like to go over the CC reviews point briefly. I don't know what they were since I don't pay attention to what goes down in CC, but I know that Sakura's made several attempts to incentivize CC reviews during his mod term. Sadly, incentivizing is all he really can do; short of tying us down to a chair with a gun to our heads, demanding we make reviews, there isn't really anything he can do to make people review. This is a matter that's ultimately beyond his control, but not for lack of trying.

 

I also proposed that it may be a sectional thing, since - in a stark contrast to CC - RP has managed to retain most of the members who came to the site for that section. However, I won't go into detail on that here, since this is already getting longer than I would like. If you'd like to further discuss how we can better retain new members (I'd love to; I agree we could do with some new blood), a dedicated thread for that purpose may be in order.

 

As for the team itself and Sakura's place on it, an immediate demodding after demoting him from super may be a bit hasty, if even necessary. Take some time (another month or so perhaps?) and see if he improves any, and make the rational decision from there based on his overall performance (that doesn't mean how long he's been on the team or how he used to be). With both the abolishing of section mods as positions and Black's presence on the mod team (he used to be a CC mod in the days of olde, right?), there's no reason to keep Sakura on if he doesn't perform up to par. However, and I don't usually get to say this, but overall I agree with Winter on this matter, albeit for different reasons. Except the part about hiring new mods. Let's focus on the CC mod we've already got, and the current potential incoming mod, before we add even more to the plate. Collaborating with CC's regulars can have the same effect without the confusion of additional new mods.

[Blake]

I'm going to say one thing Re:CC, but, again, please drop these side topics. Move it to another thread or make it its own thread.

 

YGO is not a game that is kind to custom card design. With the way the game tends to change its design standards, averages out to about once every three months, it is impossible to keep up with quality critiquing without being an active metagame player, which almost no one on this site is. It evolves and twists too rapidly to keep an interest in the topic, especially the last 2 sets of Arc-V onward, so it's no surprise that reviews are down.

 

Fixing the card maker should help some, but... There's no guarantee it would be the boon it's made out to be. That's not on Sakura, that's not on YCMaker, that's not on anyone. YGO has a design environment that is incredibly unfriendly, so unless you're making reboots, Duel Links, or other sort of cards... No guarantee the design will last, which discourages large undertakings, and 1-ofs can  quickly fade.

[Dad]

I have to disagree with Black just a bit here.  I do think fixing the Cardmaker could be a great service to CC, despite critique.  Winter made the point that the Cardmaker (as in the site name) is a huge draw for new members.  And, believe it or not, it's a draw for some older members too.  I believe that with the Cardmaker functional again, we could see a resurgence in CC.  

 

While designs are ever-changing (and we certainly don't want ragnarok-esque posts flooding the section), perhaps loosening the restraints around CC's mandatory critique standards could open up a few possibilities, even if the slack is only slight.  I may be naive but I do still have hope for that section's future.  Hell, I'd love to make some cards again ^^;;

[Blake]

Oh sheet I thought this was the other thread, sorry @Yui ;;

 

Updatin the card maker will helps but I don’t believe it’s a fix on its own.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Wait, I'm not saying sack Sakura. Atleast not now. I'm suggesting hiring Dova or another quite active CCer so more ground can be covered

[Nathanael D. Striker]

I have to disagree with Black just a bit here.  I do think fixing the Cardmaker could be a great service to CC, despite critique.  Winter made the point that the Cardmaker (as in the site name) is a huge draw for new members.  And, believe it or not, it's a draw for some older members too.  I believe that with the Cardmaker functional again, we could see a resurgence in CC.  

 

While designs are ever-changing (and we certainly don't want ragnarok-esque posts flooding the section), perhaps loosening the restraints around CC's mandatory critique standards could open up a few possibilities, even if the slack is only slight.  I may be naive but I do still have hope for that section's future.  Hell, I'd love to make some cards again ^^;;

Well, the new Free Card Design section should help with this, I think. Only time will tell.

[Phantom Roxas]

Wait, I'm not saying sack Sakura. Atleast not now. I'm suggesting hiring Dova or another quite active CCer so more ground can be covered

 

While I'm not against that idea, I do think Yui made a good point that, that since Black was a former CC mod, he could be a good fit, so might I suggest combining yours and Yui's ideas? So, you have Sakura, possibly Black, and possibly a third person to help CC? The third person could be Dova as you said, or anyone else.

 

It wouldn't mean sacking Sakura or replacing him with this third person. Just that between Sakura, Black, and a potential third mod (I realize section-specific mods are being done away with, so forgive me if this comes across as ignoring that), we'd have that ground covered. And if Sakura does prove to be not up to par, and it's decided that he would be demoted entirely? Well, at least by then we could possibly have someone established enough that losing Sakura shouldn't hurt CC too badly, and this hypothetical third person could just pick up the slack.

 

Basically, think of this less as replacing Sakura, and more about having a back-up if he does get demoted.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

I've been considering Dova for a good while now as a potential co-moderator for CC. However, his name hasn't been brought up is due to him being busy with life (such as moving and getting ready to start college). Recently, he's told me that everything's settled so he's ready if you all want him on board. 

 

I trust him enough to help me run the place, given what I've seen out of him in AGM and in CC otherwise; plus his knowledge of all the policies in the area.

 

While designs are ever-changing (and we certainly don't want ragnarok-esque posts flooding the section), perhaps loosening the restraints around CC's mandatory critique standards could open up a few possibilities, even if the slack is only slight.  I may be naive but I do still have hope for that section's future.  Hell, I'd love to make some cards again ^^;;

 

(You know about the new Free Card Design area, right? That area came about because other members asked for it in the past, and I came around to the idea after some consideration.)

 

I loosened up the requirements in Casual in January so it's much easier to comment on stuff in there (most it amounts to is just "say 10 words pertaining to the card and you're fine"). Prior to that, Casual and Advanced shared the same standard of reviewing with 25-30 words about the card and its designs (which was in an attempt to get Casual up to shape due to the stigma it got as Pop Culture Cards at the time.)

 

Advanced does have to retain the posting standard it has right now, given the quality of cards that go into the area, but the word requirement is already simple as-is (write 25-30 words about the card, and provide some details about it). I've seen many of you write several times more than that, and usually because you reference outside cards (or internal archetype stuff) that should be addressed in conjunction. Yeah, we can't have a repeat of Rag in the past, but I don't want to force essay writing in the section.

 

=====

This is a thread about fixing the mod team; not so much with CC, so I won't talk about it in here beyond this. 

 

An update on Dova & co's progress on the cardmaker would be nice, but as Sakura isn't involved in that last I heard, I'll skip that. However, I would like to go over the CC reviews point briefly. I don't know what they were since I don't pay attention to what goes down in CC, but I know that Sakura's made several attempts to incentivize CC reviews during his mod term. Sadly, incentivizing is all he really can do; short of tying us down to a chair with a gun to our heads, demanding we make reviews, there isn't really anything he can do to make people review. This is a matter that's ultimately beyond his control, but not for lack of trying.

 

Just a clarification here about my role in the new cardmaker's design. 

 

I'm basically providing the templates to be used (I'll release the Series 10 one for GIMP later as I have not updated the one in Showcase for quite a long while) and basically testing out the new cardmaker for anything that needs to be corrected. (The latter applies to everyone involved on the project; not just me.)

 

But yes, I am involved with the project, though I can't really do more than testing it frontside because it's hosted on Yemachu's RawGit server (which only he can access/edit). 

 

For those of you who missed my reply in Nai's status earlier when he inquired about the cardmaker's progress, it is going well. At the moment, the cardmaker is rendering cards properly and is editable for the most part. Major things needed are: 

- Making the Link Arrows clickable so you can select where stuff goes (and aligning them properly)

- Aligning the Level/Rank stars a bit so they line up properly with the image borders.

- Adjusting the templates (which basically involves cleaning the bottom right to remove the defaults)

- Correct fonts (though at last update, he's fixing that)

 

Right now, he's using the Series 9 templates that Zextra/I collaborated on, which generally do have the copyrights at the bottom. I sent him the Series 10 ones a few nights ago, which do not have copyrights.

 

When the final product is ready, he'll release the link publicly. You'd need to ask him about the projected ETA (if applicable) because that's something only he knows.

[Phantom Roxas]

Could we have the first post of this thread updated? While I'm sure everyone could look up the rest of the current mod team, for the sake of this thread, by itself, I think it'll help to acknowledge the changes in the team, such as Zai stepping down and Sakura demoting to a regular mod.

[Blake]

It is done.

 

I'm unsure if I should remove the sections from the OP, because... it basically hasn't changed. If anything, Cow's de-facto RP mod.

[Phantom Roxas]

With Dad stepping down, although I understand a decision is unlikely to have been made yet, could we potentially get some activity focused on this thread in the meantime regardless?

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

YCM really needs no mod outside of Tormey. There are enough competing factions that we self regulate. The only thing we can't do is code, and that's where Tormey comes in

[Simping For Hina]

Krow and I will cover the forum. The rest of you mods, besides Tormey, will not be needed.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

With Dad stepping down, although I understand a decision is unlikely to have been made yet, could we potentially get some activity focused on this thread in the meantime regardless?

 

I brought up the discussion in the mod area a little while ago; hopefully it gets a response in a timely manner. But yeah, Dad just resigned so nothing's been done yet outside of bringing up a potential successor. 

 

But in the meantime, anyone you guys think would be a good choice to replace him for General/Debates?

 

---

 

As a reminder, keep this discussion civil and don't shitpost in this thread. 

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

I brought up the discussion in the mod area a little while ago; hopefully it gets a response in a timely manner. But yeah, Dad just resigned so nothing's been done yet outside of bringing up a potential successor. 

 

But in the meantime, anyone you guys think would be a good choice to replace him for General/Debates?

 

---

 

As a reminder, keep this discussion civil and don't shitpost in this thread. 

Vla1ne or Jesse or Hina come to mind

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

Does misc/debates/general need a specific mod?

 

The forum has long since agreed that section mods were an archaic an ineffectual system, and nothing against Dad, but he didn't do anything for the sections that showed special merit above the rest of the team.

 

I'd say give it a bit of time, if the current team is unable to handle the workload with one less person, then look into expanding it, but knee-jerk replacements aren't going to do anyone any good.