New forum: Guilds?

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If I'm correct, this is just the novices. I think she was talking about "belonging" more as a citizen, and they can see the Tavern.
 

Kelgan al'Moranwin

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Several members of the Brand are also Novices, so I would imagine they'd be included in what she's looking for.
 
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Yes, We Want The Brand If THe Red Hand Threads To Be Open To All MemberS Of The Site. We Currently Have Brandsworn From Every Rank And Level Of Membership.

(Sorry For The crazy Capitalization...My Phone Is Acting Up)
 

Jahily al'Karee

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Can I throw in 2 cents? If your goal is to recruit/attract new citizens (?) then I would think you would want to be as accessible and visible as possible. Setting up a separate forum section might make you harder to find, whereas if you stay in General/Friv Fun you are more in the open where newcomers are looking for things they can can access.

Just throwing it out there, good luck! :)
 

Alora Sionn

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Ok just to clear up a little confusion (I'll need a good hour of being uninterrupted at home to get everything outlined for you all, sorry, its coming!) but the idea I had isn't specifically for the Band itself, but for it and other groups like it. My outline will include a list of possibilities but for now take a moment and think about the various groups that have formed or were already formed during the course of WoT. Think about the groups that had tied themselves to the Tower in various ways either throughout the series or towards the end (I am not giving spoilers). Don't think of it as specifically for one group here at tv.net but for the possibilities of many of them. I'll give examples once I actually have time at home to just breathe and write it so be patient :laugh:
 

Ajailyn Morrivinna

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I know in the past that "groups" and cliques got so out of hand our Admins had to limit them.. it got so bad with "clubs" and signatures.. that at some point they were stopped.

I think groups like this can go into FF or maybe open the apartments up to everyone citizen and above.. then again that would be out in the city and novices and recruits probably would lose that when they entered the tower..

*shrugs*

As for the guilds.. they were discussion forums based on common interests and that is what the discussion boards have kept..

As for comments about having other places to be "spammy" I don't feel places like what is being asked would allow for more spam.. when you first join up it is a great way to meet others.. that isn't in a spammy place like FF. For a place to just talk and get to know folks.. Alora I have maybe an idea for part of your proposal.. I'll drop you a pm.
 
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I must be old because I remember things differently. It was my understanding that everyone was a member of this site and only companies and ajahs were "exclusive" with membership "earned" through rank. Any other sort of "clique" or group wasn't encouraged if they were exclusionary. The "guilds" were groups of people with special interests that brought them together and were loosely based on the WOT series, like the "gleeman's guild" or the "tavern guild". While a "discussion" thread on cooking or writing is interesting and serves the same purpose as a "guild", it was the title of the guilds that I found very interesting and in keeping with the tv.net site and "wot theme." To me a discussion thread about cooking...titled "Cooking" is not as interesting as a thread called the "Innkeepers." One is "mundane" (as we would say in the SCA world...and I KNOW it is not the TV.net world) while the other is more like the books.

I remember starting the "wenches army" and it was a tongue in cheek forum (in contrast to the Younglings Army that spammed in the tavern) and open to all members (although we just spammed the heck out of a tavern thread) and pretended like we were "somebody" special. It was just a "spam thread" and we made a lot of good friends through it. So I agree that if one wants to start their own little "spam thread" in the spirit of the WOT books, fine. Put it somewhere that the admins will let them and make sure that it is in tune with the thread that it is in. To me, Frivolous fun was supposed to be games and jokes, not threads for groups to just spam the heck out of. Of course, I could be wrong about everything that I have spouted about and probably am...but that is my two cents.

BTW....I MISS the STABLES!!! I KNOW that there are some Novices that should be cleaning stalls :).
 

Sarramy Valtiele

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I miss the Guilds. It felt nice having a group to "belong" to. And it did feel different than the discussion groups do. I would support the Guilds coming back.

I also agree with Miri about Frivolous Fun. I had thought it was for games and jokes too, not just spammy talk threads.
 

Dars al'Kaskade

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A thought that occurs to me - "guilds" and "spam" seem a bit conceptually divergent from each other.

(Maybe it's just a disconnect in my mind. I realize that spam can and does occur everywhere to some extent, particularly in any sort of guild/clubhouse. I guess that when I think spam, I think random/unconnected to a thread's nominal purpose, unless that purpose is spam.......I'm just rambling at this point... :P )
 
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A thought that occurs to me - "guilds" and "spam" seem a bit conceptually divergent from each other.

(Maybe it's just a disconnect in my mind. I realize that spam can and does occur everywhere to some extent, particularly in any sort of guild/clubhouse. I guess that when I think spam, I think random/unconnected to a thread's nominal purpose, unless that purpose is spam.......I'm just rambling at this point... :P )

Dude!! Dars! You ki nda just spammed!!! LOLOLOL :giggle
This place rocks! Love to everyone!
 
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And I see "spam" as a thread for fun and falderal that is something like "Let's change the Amyrlins study" and it just goes into a fun thing. I am probably definitely wrong in this. If the topic is "gardening" and the thread stays on gardening...then it is not "spam." If it is a fun thread meant for "spam" then it is a "Novices need punishments....lets conspire"...it is a "fun" thread but doesn't need to be in frivolous fun. It would be a spam thread in the novice hallways. If it is a "hey lets drink the amrylin under the table" then that is a "spam" thread that should be in the tavern forum.

However, I digress. The thread was about "guilds" and I think I was pretty eloquent over how I thought it should be. "Discussion" is mundane...not at all in keeping with the Wot theme. "Guilds" and then threads on each subject would be more "wot" can we do it without being a "member?" which we used to do? So that the title may be "Tailor's Guild" but it is about discussions on needlework and Innkeepers is about food? Just a thought.
 

Alora Sionn

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Ok, this is a rough draft for an outline describing in detail the idea. Thanks to Mai and Arec for their additions and Raevi for her input as well! Also thanks to everyone who is supporting this idea :hug

Ok, in retrospect “Guilds” wasn’t the best word for it, so from now on I’m going to use clubs.

First of all, what is a “Club” in this context? For our purposes, a Club is a group of people tied together either through fandom of a certain character/thing (ie: Mat Cauthon or Borderlanders or Foxes) or through a certain undefinable spirit that they all share. This is not a company or ajah type spirit, but a similar way of thinking or similar quirks that draws you to a casual, co ed group, comprising of people of all genders, ajah/companies, and ranks. You could start in one as a citizen and then stay with it as you grow through the ranks and find your Tower home, thus allowing citizens and above the chance to get to know and interact with SMs throughout their experience. True, there are ajah and company threads in the Tavern, Garrision and Hallways, but these clubs could be a stepping stone into these threads as some citizens expressed nervousness about jumping in. It would be a good way to get their feet wet at the site in a casual way.

Secondly, why I believe clubs could be a wonderful asset to Tv.net. Clubs would make a great addition as the classrooms were to helping enrich the community. A fun club to join would help to bring people together. The idea of clubs brings to mind
the “family” groups of novices that were created among the Salidar Aes Sedai, when they were gathering novices of all ages. There were so many of them, having a mini support system like that helped prevent runaways and provided support from within to all the novices.
Such a thing would help out new and old members, and would help keep new people who want to get involved with the community but don’t know how from falling through the cracks. As some people have said, they like the idea of belonging to a group right off the bat, it helps them to find their place here at tv.net. They would be able to have a nice, cosy place to get to know other citizens, JMs and SMs and grow with them as part of a group.

It would add even more interesting weaves to the tapestry that is tv.net. Think of how many mini groups you see in the Wheel of Time. There is the Illuminators guild, the Band of the Red Hand, the Children of the Light, the asha’man, The Knitting Circle, the Seanchan soldiers and Raken fliers and sul’dam/damane, I could go on. The Wheel of Time is so rich with interesting groups and races and people, it leaves room for thousands of possibilities. Some of the clubs that could possibly start or have already started on tv.net:

The Pyro-luminators Guild

The Darkfriend Coven

The Duckswans

The Wisconillinoiowasota Drunkblood

The Brand of the Red Hand

The Band of Borderlanders

The White Trifecta of Awesome

The only limit would be people’s imagination. They can be big or small, and rather than an excuse to spam it would just be a public place for groups of friends to hold conversations about various topics. PMs are good for one on one conversations but would not work for a multiperson conversation for very long, and having a club thread would make it far easier (and more fun as it would be just as entertaining to read as participate!)



Where to have it:

There has been much speculation about where such a forum or subforum would go. First let me get the other suggestions out of the way:

Why not the tavern? While this would be a good place normally, due to the fact that novices and recruits can’t see the tavern threads this would defeat the purpose. A good club is something you can grow with through your journey from citizen to SM. Missing out on the tavern is sad enough, if you love your club its even sadder! :giggle

Why not the Apartments? See above, but add Accepted and Soldiers to the list. Even worse than the tavern in that case. As for opening it up to all, I would hate to take away the resident citizens special place, they deserve that too! :)

I have also heard mentioned, why not use the chat rooms more often to help limit the speed in which threads reach their maximum page limit? One reason is, as you well know, there are members of the community from all parts of the world. It would be impossible for all club members to interact together using chat. Also new members to the site may feel intimidated or do not understand how to use chat. This would also limit the amount of interaction within the club, and may also prevent new members who join a club from feeling like they are a true part of the club, if they are missing out on conversations.

Often conversations within a club are continued when members from a different part of the world are taking part of a topic at hand. For example, in The Brand of the Red Hand, there are members on the West Coast of the United States and in Isreal, who would find it hard to carry on a conversation using chat. There are also members of the club who live the Eastern United States, Europe and Japan, who could not easily interact as they do now, and who could not have built the strong friendships they have today, without partaking and continuing a same topic or conversation, by using chat.

Why not Frivolous Fun? Honestly this would work in a way, but only if the number of clubs stayed very small. On another forum there was a forum for Polls Clubs and Games, which seems like FF would be the equivalent. If we used FF, even at first, then I would recommend the tagline include starting or joining clubs, and a thread be stickied at the top outlining what clubs are and of course a list of rules. All ranks can visit FF so that would solve that problem. But if the number of clubs grew to even a few, it might be best to think about giving it its own forum/subforum, reasons below.

Why not its own forum/subforum? With even 3 or 4 clubs I would like to see it have its own forum/subforum for the very reason that I like to keep things organized. I hate clutter and if I have a few of a type of something I like to keep them together. If there are a few clubs scattered among the random other games and such in FF it would start to bother me, as I would want to pick them up and put them in their own basket so to speak :laugh:

Where would this forum/subforum be? I have a couple places where it would make sense to have it:

Forum in The Library, right under the classroom. You have classes, after class clubs, etc. Makes sense from a school point of view

Subforum in Classrooms. Less ideal just because it wouldn’t be outwardly seen as a possibility unless you clicked on the Classrooms or you put Join or start a club in the tagline for classrooms.

Subforum in General, right under FF: This would work because General is very popular and its one of the first places new citizens go. As a separate subforum it can have its own name and Tagline to encourage new people and old to click and explore.

Open to other suggestions!
 

Vallah al'Dera

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Alora, i see your point of view on this, but quite frankly i think there is zero chance of this happening, because in a nutshell, this would just be naming groups of friends, and letting them have their own subforums. and that, is too much of a headache from a admin point of view.



ETA:

Its kinda like a group of friends in school comprised of members of the football team, the drama club, and the school newspaper, saying they want a name and their own classroom to hang out in.

If they grant a special forum for one group, then every group needs one, and do you have any idea how many groups there has been over the 11+ years this place has been running... it would be ridiculous.

Your idea is nice, but it will cause way too many headaches to be worth it.
 
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Alora, i see your point of view on this, but quite frankly i think there is zero chance of this happening, because in a nutshell, this would just be naming groups of friends, and letting them have their own subforums. and that, is too much of a headache from a admin point of view.



ETA:

Its kinda like a group of friends in school comprised of members of the football team, the drama club, and the school newspaper, saying they want a name and their own classroom to hang out in.

If they grant a special forum for one group, then every group needs one, and do you have any idea how many groups there has been over the 11+ years this place has been running... it would be ridiculous.

Your idea is nice, but it will cause way too many headaches to be worth it.

WHOA!!! U are alive Vallah sedai!!!!!! :bow
I have been wondering how you are doing for quite some time. !!! Im glad to see you posting !! <3
 
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I've been following this thread since it began. Personally, I think it's a fantastic idea. I see what Alora is saying, and I see what Vallah is saying. It seems to me maybe there's a miscommunication. Maybe I'm misunderstanding Alora's post, but here's what I'm seeing from her post: We create *one* subforum for all the various groups, and each group would have it's own thread. Yes, we'd still lock a thread at 50 pages, but I've long wondered why we don't do just this. In my almost 9 years here (gah, I'm old), I've seen many groups. I thought you even belonged to one or two of them, Vallah. I was part of one that spawned from the roleplaying event we had a few years ago called "Rebel Tower." We just had our own chat room but that kind of died out. I'd love to see a way to bring that back. I think having it either as a subforum of General (side by side with Frivolous Fun) or a new forum entirely in the TarValon.Net Community section would be ideal, for the reasons Alora pointed out...it could be seen there and everyone would have access to it. So, for what it's worth, this has my own personal stamp of approval.
 

Alora Sionn

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Thanks Eli, you got it right :) thanks for posting the tldr version and for the support :pleased-1:
 
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The whole point of these clubs would be for a group like-minded friends from all over the world to create long-lasting friendships. This will happen regardless, the proposal would keep the General Forum from getting cluttered.
 
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Hey all, I like the idea of doing this. As a citizen myself (and still newer when compared to most of our other members), a public subforum for clubs sounds like an amazing idea. I'm also a Brandsworn, and I think this would suit our needs without disrupting everyone. <3
 

Jaryd Kosari

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I think you should check out the new forum in the City, Zandera. ^_^
 

Kassina Tendar

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That forum's only open for the duration of the fundraiser, though, right?
 
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