Thoughts on Member Driven Mod List

[Lamont]

Currently the Mod List is populated by whoever has the time to do a sweep through the forum and spot threads that are not already on the list. This is pretty simple and works nicely when anytime the list is updated, it is updated with all of the threads up to that point in time -- but this isn't always happening.

Sometimes mods are only adding their own threads to the list, which then invites a higher rate of misses as the next person to update the list cannot easily tell when last a sweep was done. Or, sometimes mods are hard for time and a sweep just doesn't get done for so long that now the next sweep through the forum is a huge time and energy suck.



Members know better when their own thread needs a mod.


So... What does everyone think of changing the current flow of mods fishing through the forum to members submitting their thread to the list when they want to be queued for a reply?

• Allows more flexibility for members if they want to do more than 1 round of posting before a mod comes in.
  
  
• Reduces the time mods spent on searching for threads across the forum, which could instead be spent doing the replies or other updates.
  
  
• Removes time spent on uncertainty on whether a member wants a reply.
  
  
• Reduces the likelihood of missing threads, and in turn helps the lists resemble the oldest > newest sort order.
  

I have experimented with some stuff and unfortunately completely automating it is just not feasible with how complex our sorting is and the way we need to use the lists. It introduces all kinda of different annoyances and problems but on a slightly more technical level which would probably just be more frustrating than the minor issues we encounter now that are easily rectified.

With this change, mods could either just directly reference the submitted entries or copy them over into our sorted sheet. Which would still be a lot faster than hunting through the recents and/or every board for missed threads.


The only change from the member side would be having to remember to submit your thread(s) to the list in order to receive a reply.

[Tiki]

I used to be on a different forum with this system. I'm ok with it. Seems a bit more fair

[Lamont]

Just going to add that the member submitted entries would exist as another sheet inside of our current mod list. So no one would have to go somewhere else to see them. Would all still be in the same place :3

[cryptidwiafu]

Sounds great to me.

[Marchbaby]

I am all for it, the less likely it is that we miss a thrrad for one reason or another the better. I know missed threads can always happen as we are all human but having more safeguards to reduce the chance of it happening is sothing I fully support.

[antonius]

Just to be clear, this is only for submitting to be added to the list and NOT a specific list, correct? This would help all of us on staff as long as the staff makes a note on which thread got submitted. I've been guilty of going through the board\list and adding threads that already exist.

[Tarlar]

Well, since I suggested something similar ages ago, I'm all for it Back then I just suggested members to post in a thread and then mods would pick threads from there, although that was before the split of priority of the modlist so that won't work anymore ^^

How is it going to work with another sheet inside the current one? Would be need to go fetch them there, or are you planning on linking them together somehow?
Is it clear to everyone where there post is supposed to be? ^^

[Pixel]

I would suggest there be some sort of form system such as:

Thread Link: (Url here)
Place: (City/Quest/ETC)
Date/Time:

That way we can better track where things need to go.

[Professor Oak]

Sounds good to me, I’m always up for automation. I like your proposal Lamont of everyone (members and mods) adding their thread to a publicly editable sub list first and then that list gets a quick look over and copied across to the main one. Not sure exactly how permissions would work but sounds like you have something in mind already. I’d prefer that over getting the member to post them in a thread as it’s still administratively burdensome for someone to go through and sort them in order before adding them manually to the list.

[Pixel]

Would a format like this make sense? Because this is what I am imagining. Very similar to our current list but with reservation swapped with date/time. Of course definitions and such would need added:

[Lamont]

The idea would be to use a Google Form like this: forms.gle/EFLfVuquT83SNPZp9
(would prolly reorder the dropdown for easier finding)

We can hook it up to our mod list as it's own sheet (like the Code Refs is). All form submissions would appear on that sheet. From there, Mods could copy entries into our existing sorted mod list and then remove them from the submitted list. Everything would otherwise work exactly as it does now, just instead of hunting through the forum you only need to grab stuff from the form submissions.

Why can't we just use this as our list?
- You cannot format form entries. They are automatically thrown in there as-is regardless of whatever formatting you put on the sheet. New entries never inherit the formatting or set filters.

- You can create a sheet that grabs values from the cells in the form submissions and do all the formatting there... But then filtering, sorting, and deleting become complicated due to the previous point. Forms are great for additions. Not good for data that is removed and changed.

- In order to have our 3 sets of lists automated from submissions (Bike, Eye Contact, Regular) we would have to triplicate the data through filters and deal with a headache around deletions as previously mentioned. Just far more complicated and prone to confusing technical errors instead of just the idea of copy-paste over & remove.

[Tiki]

Uh... members would then have to know if they're eye contact or regular.
new members or returning members.

prob just a note on the form would do.

[Lamont]

Mods placing the entry would know if new/returning so that would not be on the members to fill. It's not forum scouring dependent.

The only 'Eye Contact' that we would need from the form is the 1:1 modding one; which is there. Bit of an honor system, but it is right now anyways so nothing new there ;)

[Professor Oak]

The Google Forms idea looks promising. Is there a way we can test this in a dummy environment?

Think regular members can submit their threads via the form. Mods transfer (and categorise) them to the main list with public visibility before adding their own thread to be modded. They also delete the entries once they've modded them.

The only thing to keep an eye out for is new members who may not know to use the form. But that can be easily trained and just means we should be vigilant and scan the New Bark and Cherrygrove threads. Once they have been around for a month or so, the onus will then fall on them to use the form and submit their thread.

[Lamont]

I have a sample sheet I was using to test here. You can submit the form linked previously and it updates the 'Form Responsonses1' sheet.

The Sheet 1 was a test for auto grabbing and formatting those submissions but it is very very easy for it to go out of sync and break just from a single deletion :p