We're going to appoint people in each of the subforums to welcome newbies in by an automated PM and show them how things work in the particular subforum.
The appointment thing is so that at least one person knows it is their job, and so the newbie doesn't get buried under a PM onslaught the first time they post.
We will give the appointee (now called Heralds) a spiffy icon badge so people will know they are on the job for everybody. There will also be access to a report that shows who is new in the subforum.
If you want to apply for the position, all you have to do is post a welcome draft here. That way, a moderator will consider you. If someone else has already applied for the position, don't worry! Multiple people can apply for one subforum.
This is a list
of the heralds that have already been appointed and the subforums that still need heralds.
Open sections with inactive heralds:
- Betsyandthe Five Avengers — World Building
- Ori Doodle — Old Folks Home
- Cyto Zytokine — New Media
- Totemic Hero — Webcomics
- JHM — Music
- Parable — On-Topic Conversations
- GastonRabbit — Content Violation Discussions
Edited by GastonRabbit on Jan 7th 2024 at 8:33:43 AM
I'm still around pretty much every day, and I can't remember the last time I got a response to the herald message that went beyond "cool, thanks", and the ones I did need to respond to have been almost entirely on the order of "sorry, did I do something wrong?".
Live Action TV is probably a pretty straightforward subforum.
Fresh-eyed movie blog
Discarded and Feeling Blue
If that's what it boils down to, then I'd be fine with being a herald, so long as no other people come up and also decide they want it.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
I have a guess that media subfora as a whole is the most lowkey of all the options, but I think even TRS / Trope Talk (the closest equivalent to Long Term / Perpetual) heralds might not have that much herald-related activity. Paging ~SeptimusHeap and ~Discar
Edited by nombretomado on Dec 2nd 2019 at 9:40:10 AM
~EeveeGirlChey, I've got no problem with a switch to Troper Covens. Do you want to take a whack at writing what you'd consider an appropriate greeting? Going to do a quick drive-by and make sure other mods are aware/good with your volunteering.
~WarJay77, same, though I understand you might want to wait for the paged above to respond...
Edited by nombretomado on Dec 2nd 2019 at 9:33:38 AM
TRS has been largely the same. Automated messages are definitely still going out (I can see them in my messages), but I very rarely get a response, and even then it's just "thanks." You'd think TRS would be the forum where people have the most questions, but it doesn't seem like it.
Forever a hoopy food
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Let me think up something and I'll hopefully get back up with you before Christmas. We're currently in moving mode.
No worries, whenever works for you. ![[awesome]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minis/award_star_gold_3.png "[awesome]"){kind=small}
Just to be clear, but I am still active as a herald. I don't often get pms though.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Discarded and Feeling Blue
This all sounds pretty fine, then. Just dunno what I'd say...I'd need a lot of time to think about that part. (And of course to see if anyone else has any interest at all in taking the LT/P spot.)
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
I posted a pinned invite to some of the herald-less threads to see if we can get some interest stirred up.
The Unknown
Wait, so the herald messages are automated?
I might be interested in a Herald position, then. I'm on the site basically every day even if I'm not posting or editing.
If a tree falls in the forest and nobody remembers it, who else will you have ice cream with?
~Karxrida, correct, when a herald is added, a greeting is included. The greeting is usually along the same lines, with tweaks appropriate to each forum. It will get sent regardless of how active you are.
The Unknown
Yeah, I'll be the Video Game Herald.
If a tree falls in the forest and nobody remembers it, who else will you have ice cream with?
Discarded and Feeling Blue
Okay, I've thought about it long enough. I'd be happy to be the LT/P herald, though I'm still drawing a blank for what the message would look like...
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Discarded and Feeling Blue
Okay, I whipped up a greeting in a sandbox here. Thoughts?
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
~Karxrida, that's great, really great. This is the current greeting. Do you want to make any changes?
The Video Games subforum is the place where we, obviously, talk about video games. It does not matter whether that game is "hardcore" or "casual", mainstream or niche, awesome or terrible; if it's a video game, then it's all good to talk about. Our main goal is a simple one: talk with others about video games and have fun doing it. We also do recommendations; if you wish to read and provide some recommendations by some of our fellow gamer tropers, you can look in this topic thread.
Do note, however, that you should not take this to mean that "anything goes" here. Besides the general rules of the forum, there are three guidelines that you should follow if you want to have a good time with no problems.
For starters, let's talk about complaint threads. Now, we don't mean that you are strictly prohibited from raising any issues towards any game in any thread ever. We mean that you should refrain from threads whose only purpose is to complain about something you don't like. As our past experience with threads of this sort has shown, they have a tendency to incite thread-derailing flame wars and, generally speaking, invite an unwelcoming air to them, which goes against our main goal.
Next, there's the issue of fanboyish behavior. By this, we mean that arguing and whining over which consoles you play your games on and why the consoles you oppose aren't up to snuff is not allowed.
This ties in with Guideline #1 in that they generally go against our main goal, incite thread-derailing flame wars and, frankly, they are just annoying nonsense to read over. So, yeah, kindly refrain from doing this.
Finally, let's raise the issue of well-mannered conduct. By this, we mean that, well, you should be on your best behavior. If someone posts something about a game that you don't agree with, you should either address your concerns with it in a pleasant manner, or just be the better person and ignore it altogether. If you are having problems with a specific troper, report the situation either by hitting the Holler button or by posting in Ask The Tropers.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or any of the moderators. Do not be afraid to ask; we won't bite, really.
Thank you for your contributions, have fun here, and have a nice day!
~WarJay77, I do think it's on the lengthier side, but all the stuff touched on seems appropriate. LTP is definitely something that necessitates more specific guidance for newbies.
Setting you up now.
Discarded and Feeling Blue
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Yeah, I tried to be as concise as possible, but I know the things I talked about needed to be said.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
OK...slight snag in that I'm hitting errors through our herald set-up system. Since we haven't updated them in a while, not since the last major website upgrade, and I've never used it before, not sure the problem is ignorance or system-based. Paging ~Fighteer.
The Unknown
x3 I might request to change it later since it's a tad long, but it's fine for now.
Discarded and Feeling Blue
Alright. In the meantime, I'll try and trim the greeting down a bit.
Edit: I trimmed it as much as possible, while adding a little bit more information. Still a bit long, but I think it'll do.
Edited by WarJay77 on Dec 7th 2019 at 8:37:51 AM
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Have there been… any changes made since before the 2.0 update?
Fresh-eyed movie blog
Has anyone else applied for the New Media herald? If not, I feel like I could handle that.
~TParadox, doesn't look like it. I've been talking to one of the admins to bring the herald set-up into line with the rest of the website code, and did some tests, but ran into errors. It's still running for already established heralds, but bringing new content in is a different story.
~Primis, no, I don't believe so. Would you like to draft up a greeting?
Not sure now. I ain't too familiar with the New Media section of the forums. The Troper Covens section, however...
"My light shall be the moon, and my path the ocean, my guide the morning star as I sail home to you...."