No Thanks Usergroup changes

Whether you have noticed or not, there is a lot of discussion going on about this thread. The basic idea behind it is that activity is down and we need a new goal to reach to make the members who are already Premium feel like posting again as well as give new members even more incentive to join in and become active.

The original suggestion includes adding a new user group above Premiums with added perks and higher requirements. A lot of people like this idea but everyone has their own spin on it, especially the colour and name. I personally think the colour can wait, so please leave that out of this poll.

Other members suggested that we do an overhaul of the Premium group, raising the requirements at the least and offering a few more perks on the side. That suggestion also got a lot of support.

This poll is about these two possibilities and whether we as a community are more interested in creating a new group, overhauling Premium, or doing both for the sake of activity.

Please keep in mind that the goal of both suggestions is to give members a heightened incentive to post and to boost activity, even among those who are currently Premium.

Read on for the pros and cons of each group.

New usergroup

This is the current suggestion in the OP of the thread, shortened for readability:

The pros of creating a new usergroup are:

• A new common goal for members to reach that requires them to post in counting sections, especially Premiums
• The incentive to make rep-worthy posts instead of just skirting by within the rules
• New perks that have never been given to members before
• Difficulty

Some cons that people brought up were:

• Potential elitism and exclusivity
• Could open the door to even higher groups later on
• Will eventually succumb to inflation just like Premium

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As personal side note I would like to bring up the point that that potential elitism and exclusivity existed with Premiums in the first place. It may be a legitimate concern, but it not not special to this particular usergroup, and elitism among Premiums seems pretty low.

Premium overhaul

The basic idea behind this one is straightforward. We will add some perks and make it harder to reach premium, most importantly adding a rep requirement and raising the post requirement.

Pros:

• Inspires further activity beyond the 1,000 posts that have become so standard
• Reduced inflation of the group and coloured name; the appeal of speciality is regained
• Quality is added to quantity
• Members that spammed to 1,000 and stopped posting will cease to be rewarded for it and be forced to contribute again to regain their status

Cons:

• Members who spammed or do not earn rep feel cheated or singled out
• The goal is not entirely new and may not inspire as much activity as a new group
• Many people will lose Premium until they meet the new requirements

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Doing both would bring the pros of both together while eliminating one or two of the cons, but it would be a much bigger change than either alone, so there is a lot to be considered.

What do you think sounds best? What does this community have more interest in?

 

Out of curiosity, what was the fate of the tiered perks idea?

 

Just a small correction here.

The maximum dimensions for Premiums' profile pictures are 250 by 300 pixels.

 

For now, more or less abandoned as I understand it. Most of the people voted for a new group rather than tiered perks, and tiered perks would not increase activity like a new group would.

My posts on that:

To be more accurate, the tiered perks would have to come with either the new group or the overhaul. They are not likely to increase activity by themselves.

 

Actually, it was ditched because each perk would require it's own usergroup. and it would be an overcomplicated and annoying.

 

While that is a concern, it is not as important as the fact that they would not help the activity anyway.

 

Your first post isn't exactly encompassing all that was said in the other thread. Wouldn't it be best to hold out a poll until everything is actually laid on the table and everyone knows all their options? Just a thought.

 

I don't "support" either, I just think those guidelines could use some work. Like I said before, 3,500 posts is insane.

 

I'm aware of that. I am just trying to gauge interest between the two. Most people have already laid out their opinions on the subject. I will say that I have read the entire thread and that I feel these are the most important points. General ones not related to specific requirements or perks.

I agree. However it would have been unfair of me to edit the number to my personal liking.

I wish to avoid any debating of specific numbers. I wish to determine which suggestion we want to work on right now. We can decide the particulars of the one we work on when we decide which one to debate.

 

If I had to decide between adding in a new usergroup or a premium overhaul, I would much rather have the usergroup added in, mostly because I don't feel it'd be fair for members who may not be here to vote on this subject, and as a result they get their premiumship taken away from them - if that is what is even meant? I'm assuming that people will lose being a premium and the requirements will then be made higher, so it becomes slightly harder to become a premium.

If premium is kept, and then the new usergroup is added in with the rep requirement and 3,500 posts, I feel those are fair numbers. I believe that this was mentioned in the other thread, but if this does become in effect, I don't think some people will feel like premium is just a milestone (though, technically it is). It will take a while for people to obtain 2,500 more posts, and some people may never make it there, which would keep them as a premium.

I'm not sure if I'm making sense, lol.

 

This

And this

is why you should wait. No one outright said or decided 'premiumship will be taken from some' when then are some workarounds to that. The first post is still missing a lot. People are still giving lots of divided opinions on the matter. Not only on this matter but on the idea as a whole.

 

I agree with this. If you add a new usergroup, it's 100% optional for existing prems. They can either choose to stay prem or strive for the higher rank. But if the requirements for prem are changed, existing prems don't get a choice; they either manage to make it in anyway because they happen to have enough, or they get booted out.

 

The entire point of making it harder to become Premium and/or of making the second the group is to increase activity, even among Premiums. To overhaul Premium yet not raise the requirements for it for everyone is unfair to those who were not Premium before the overhaul, and it means that those who were Premium before the overhaul are not affected by the attempt to boost activity because they get to keep what they had.

No one outright said it but me, but I assumed it was implied directly because anything else would be counter-productive. It feels like you are telling me that I should wait for others to catch up.

I fail to see what waiting would have done. Many members gave their input, but very few agreed on even the smallest of things. I feel that there are two separate debates going on and that we need to limit it to one suggestion, not two.

The OP has been edited to require 3,000 posts at the request and with the permission of Trigger, so that concern should be out of the way.

 

I'm leaning more towards the Prem overhaul, but as it has already been said, it would be unfair for several prems who are below whatever post count that would be required to become one again. I'm pretty sure if the overhaul was done, it'd be between 2,000 to 2,500 posts required. If that were the case, I would be one of the prems that would lose premiumship. For me, it will most likely upset me so I'm not quite sure what I want in the end.

If we made the new usergroup then I think only a decent handful would get it.There are very few who are already above the 2,000 post mark. The same thing falls with the overhaul. There would be a decent amount that would lose it and have to work to get it back, and there would probably be very little people that would keep it.

For the time being, I'll just vote for neither. Until we are able to be given the new requirements for Premiumship, I'd rather not vote for either of the two.

 

You are as fit as anyone to suggest numbers. I could add my own to the OP if you really want but the point is to limit the debate. If we get people arguing the numbers of each here then we will have two debates in the same thread again and that is what I wanted to avoid.

The idea is to focus on which you think is better for activity, which is why I said that in my opening post. Getting caught up in the details will get us nowhere. If you want details, then make them. Waiting around for others to lay things out is not going to get things done.

If we really wanted to discuss the particulars, I can make a separate thread for the Premium overhaul and we can start discussing the particulars there. But I do not want to waste time talking about one of them only to have it disregarded in favor of a completely different suggestion by multiple people in the same thread.

 

I'm starting to think this isn't going to go anywhere.

Everyone is constantly finding things to disagree with, and if they do disagree they shun the entire idea without putting forth any alternatives or suggestions of their own.

This was a hopeless endeavor from the beginning.

 

He is right about the way people react. The majority of those that comment complain about a specific detail they dislike and refuse to support it until it is perfect. They offer no alternatives. If not that, then they say that they will not express support until they have details to nitpick. They still offer no ideas to fill the voids themselves.

Nothing will ever get done with that attitude.