Recently, we've been looking to assign a herald to each subforum. Since not everyone hangs around Wiki Talk, I'm making this thread to see if there's interest from people here.

Now, you may ask, what is a herald? Well, here's Fast Eddie's take.

A herald has to write a draft to welcome newbies into this subforum. The draft must be informative as to the purpose of the subforum and the rules. The process is basically meant to show someone the ropes and make the place look less confuzzling. A welcomebot will send the PM automatically to anyone who posts here for the first time.

Anyone who wants to apply can post their draft here and I'll consider them. A few desirable traits we're looking for from a herald:

• A history of civility, especially in this subforum.
• Being a frequent OTC poster.
• Insight into Best Of's weaknesses so I can blackmail him the next time we have a fight. ^note Joking!

Sooooo...anyone interested?

I'm not really sure if this one's up to our standards, but I guess I'll be generous and open it, just this once.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

Someone's hurt.

So... let me get this straight, an automatic PM from the herald account is sent to a newcomer? No need to click and send?

Correct.

It does show up in your mailbox after being sent, but it's done without notification to you or anything. I check every so often and clear out the ones I've sent (though not replies (I'm the Wiki Talk herald)), since I already know what they say.

Several candidates are already here

I'm still interested and available I suppose.

For the record, a few qualifications given in the Wiki Talk thread:

• A good draft welcome PM. If there are multiple applicants, best draft will win, most likely. Also check the already in-use PMs.
• A good knowledge of the ins and outs of OTC is required, as is reasonable availability.
• Heralds should act as examples for newcomers. This means that long thump histories, hot-headedness, incivility etc. are disrecommended.

I'm still up. (might as well say it here too)

This may be a stupid question, but couldn't we just appoint Best Of?

I mean it's pretty much already his job so it's not like his work load would be doubled.

He has shown to be respectabable and responsable and it seems (at least to me) choosing a Herald for OTC has been problematic.

I think the idea is that heralds are supposed to be specifically not moderators, but I could be wrong.

Well, we've got Willbyr and Daltar who both double as Mod and Herald (plus Komodin, Discar who double as P5 and Herald).

Also, please don't take it that I mean nobody else would qualified, it just seems more "economical" to me.

Well, if we already have a precedent of Herald/Mods then sure, I say Best Of is the Best Of those gathered.

I'll submit a draft for the message tomorrow so you can comment on it.

Draft:

Welcome to OTC, [[troper]]!

Before I start, I should introduce myself. I'm Best Of, the Herald for OTC and a Mod. Actually, as a Mod my primary focus is OTC - so in this message, I'm speaking as a Herald and as a Mod. (So when I say "we," I might mean "we the posters in OTC" or "we the Mods.")

OTC stands of On-Topic Conversations. An OTC thread has a (usually rather specific) topic, and participants in the thread are expected to stick to that topic. This is the main difference between OTC and Yack Fest. People who want a relaxed chat about a very broad subject that is often forgotten when an interesting derail beckons go to YF, while those who seek a more serious and focused discussion are invited to post in OTC, where derails are strongly discouraged. In this subforum, we try to encourage a friendly, mutually respecting culture with elements of a debate (though we're not as formal as an actual debate,) and thus we don't want random posts that disrupt the flow of the discussion.

Now that I've mentioned a couple of times that we're about all about discussing a topic and sticking to it, I should tell you about a couple of things that are specific to OTC.

First of all, we've got some standards as to what discussions we want to have. Threads that are likely to cause a flame fest by their very premise are not hosted here. This doesn't mean that we (the Mods) ban controversial subjects, but we do remove threads that are set up to be negative, such as threads about why something sucks. Experience has taught us that threads like that tend to descend into personal attacks.

It's entirely possible to have a perfectly enjoyable heated discussion or argument while remaining civil. The discussion is ruined when someone decides to make it personal, or to argue in bad faith. This is something that we try to keep in mind at all times. If you feel that you're offended or angry or upset, you should take a break until you calm down. If you feel that someone is being uncivil, Holler about it.

To this end, we've established a special rule for OTC: when a new thread is made, it starts out without the "add a post" button. The system automatically sends a Holler about the thread to the mods, and our job is to read the OP (Opening Post) and decide whether or not we want to open the thread for discussion. This way, we avoid the damage that a problematic thread would cause if it went unnoticed. We might send you a suggestion as to how you can improve the thread, or we might edit the OP directly.

Another rule we have about new threads is that we don't allow "link-discuss" threads. A "link-discuss" thread is one where the OP has a link, You Tube video, long quote or other such source and little to no discussion or explanation as to what the subject is, usually followed by the word "discuss."

Ideally, you should be able to enter any OTC discussion by reading the OP. Thus, a good OP provides definitions and any other information that is needed to frame the discussion and to put things in context. This doesn't mean that you have to explain what a car is if you want to talk about traffic, but if you're bringing in terms that are probably not familiar to people who aren't already involved in the general discussion about your broader subject, you should make it easy for anyone to enter the discussion.

If a thread's topic is too specific, it will usually be buried in the archives before it gets more than a few posts. So try to frame your discussion broadly enough that there actually is something to discuss. On the other hand, if the topic is too broad, it will derail a lot. You should keep this in mind when you're creating a thread.

So, to recap:

• OTC means On-Topic Conversations.

• Derails are strongly discouraged.

• The general tone of discussion here is more serious and focused than the other subfora.

• As with any other subforum, you're expected to keep things civil. Be polite and respect the other participants in the discussion.

• Needless to say, the forum rules apply here, too.

• OTC threads are subject to review by the Mods before they're opened. This is to improve the quality of OTC threads and to avoid incivility.

• There are two Mods with a special focus on OTC: Katrika and myself.

• Have fun!

edited 20th Aug '12 12:28:28 PM by BestOf

Obligatory peanut gallery-ing:

• The "on-topic, usually for serious conversation but still not for fighting so please keep it cool" bits are be the most important ones. I'd reserve the top of the message to them.
• Most other messages have a link to the forum rules so that they don't have to go into extreme detail about them.
• I'd also nit-pick that I always confuse "Game Mod" with "Moderator" thanks to the Mod shorthand, but it's probably a smaller issue.

I fear tl;dr may apply, but that's probably appropriate for OTC; anyone who can't be trusted to read the Herald can't be trusted for the Serious Business that is OTC

It might be fun to add some Serious Business snark to the message. Something like, "Welcome to On-Topic Conversations, the Serious Business of the TV Tropes forums."

I was worried about being TL;DR, but I can't really decide what to cut. Maybe it's the bit about too broad or too specific topics.

I don't think I'll be moving the intro to srs bsns and civility any higher in the message. It makes sense to start by welcoming folks and defining OTC, and I introduced myself because I noticed that some parts of the message might not make sense if I didn't mention that I'm an OTC Mod.

Maybe section it a bit with headers. (I should know this, but do they work in PM's? I've never tried.)

edited 20th Aug '12 12:58:50 PM by Fighteer

Tested it. It works.

Draft 2:

Welcome to OTC, [[troper]]!

Before I start, I should introduce myself. I'm Best Of, the Herald for OTC and a Mod. Actually, as a Mod my primary focus is OTC - so in this message, I'm speaking as a Herald and as a Mod. (So when I say "we," I might mean "we the posters in OTC" or "we the Mods.")

What is OTC?

OTC stands of On-Topic Conversations. An OTC thread has a (usually rather specific) topic, and participants in the thread are expected to stick to that topic. This is the main difference between OTC and Yack Fest.

People who want a relaxed chat about a very broad subject that is often forgotten when an interesting derail beckons go to YF, while those who seek a more serious and focused discussion are invited to post in OTC, where derails are strongly discouraged.

In this subforum, we try to encourage a friendly, mutually respecting culture with elements of a debate (though we're not as formal as an actual debate,) and thus we don't want random posts that disrupt the flow of the discussion.

OK, so staying on topic is important. What else should I know?

We've got some standards as to what discussions we want to have. Threads that are likely to cause a flame fest by their very premise are not hosted here. This doesn't mean that we (the Mods) ban controversial subjects, but we do remove threads that are set up to be negative, such as threads about why something sucks. Experience has taught us that threads like that tend to descend into personal attacks.

A note about civility

It's entirely possible to have a perfectly enjoyable heated discussion or argument while remaining civil. The discussion is ruined when someone decides to make it personal, or to argue in bad faith. This is something that we try to keep in mind at all times. If you feel that you're offended or angry or upset, you should take a break until you calm down. If you feel that someone is being uncivil, Holler about it.

OTC threads have to be approved by a Mod.

There's a special rule for OTC: when a new thread is made, it starts out without the "add a post" button. The system automatically sends a Holler about the thread to the mods, and our job is to read the OP (Opening Post) and decide whether or not we want to open the thread for discussion. This way, we avoid the damage that a problematic thread would cause if it went unnoticed. We might send you a suggestion as to how you can improve the thread, or we might edit the OP directly.

No "link-discuss" threads

Another rule we have about new threads is that we don't allow "link-discuss" threads. A "link-discuss" thread is one where the OP has a link, You Tube video, long quote or other such source and little to no discussion or explanation as to what the subject is, usually followed by the word "discuss."

Ideally, you should be able to enter any OTC discussion by reading the OP. Thus, a good OP provides definitions and any other information that is needed to frame the discussion and to put things in context. This doesn't mean that you have to explain what a car is if you want to talk about traffic, but if you're bringing in terms that are probably not familiar to people who aren't already involved in the general discussion about your broader subject, you should make it easy for anyone to enter the discussion.

Framing the discussion

If a thread's topic is too specific, it will usually be buried in the archives before it gets more than a few posts. So try to frame your discussion broadly enough that there actually is something to discuss. On the other hand, if the topic is too broad, it will derail a lot. You should keep this in mind when you're creating a thread.

So, to recap:

• OTC means On-Topic Conversations.

• Derails are strongly discouraged.

• The general tone of discussion here is more serious and focused than the other subfora.

• As with any other subforum, you're expected to keep things civil. Be polite and respect the other participants in the discussion.

• Needless to say, the forum rules apply here, too.

• OTC threads are subject to review by the Mods before they're opened. This is to improve the quality of OTC threads and to avoid incivility.

• There are two Mods with a special focus on OTC: Katrika and myself.

• Have fun!

edited 20th Aug '12 1:09:53 PM by BestOf

Looks good. You're set up.

So this post should earn me a PM?

Didn't get one...

edited 25th Aug '12 8:35:29 AM by BestOf

Confirmed

The "clock" starts somewhere along 2011-2012. You've been longer around than that and I did post here earlier as well.

edited 19th Jun '13 11:26:20 AM by SeptimusHeap