Feedback CMS and Site Feedback

Mitsuki

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Some of us have been waiting for this for awhile now. :) Just to let you guys know, there is a great possibility that we will have a CMS home page (front site) installed here very soon. I figured I'll make an announcement now in case LG installs the CMS (once he figures it out) and the site goes down for awhile. It could be any day now. Since he has a license for CMS when he purchased vBSuite last April (seems like any big site updates are usually happening around this time, huh?), it's about time we put it to good use.

I'm not sure how the setup will be yet, as far as presentation goes, anyway. But we will go the extra mile to regularly update articles on the main page, whether it's FF news, site news, or whatever content we can think of. (We're still in the beginning stages with discussing some ideas). I know I've mentioned game reviews last year, so we'll look into that as well. Every now and then we will PM some of you guys and ask permission to publish some of your game reviews or any interesting stuff that would interest our guests.

Big thanks to the members that have stayed with us, contributing to the community in any way they can. @Stevie - your forum roundup blog is awesome, by the way. Thanks for taking the time to do that - I couldn't stop smiling. :)

That's all for now. We'll keep you guys updated, and once we get things rolling and decide how we want to go about this, we'll turn to the staff and members for feedback and site improvements. This is going to require some great dedication and consistency from our staff and members, but we're up for that challenge, right? And no, not the Survivor challenge kind of deal.

Have a great week!
 
glad you like the idea mits :)

also, sounds to be a pretty sweet update, a front page will be great for posting news stories ETC on it, as well as foum updates, looking forward to seeing the final results
 
I mentioned this a while ago in relation to this but I'll bring it up again.

If you're doing something like this, you need a reason people will visit the site in the first place. You need to be pushing your efforts on social media more. Link SE updates on this site from Twitter and Facebook! Get fired in to hashtags like it's the last BBQ wing at the wedding between two fat clans.

I don't know how you feel about this, but I propose you create some kind of job role (not necessarily another member of staff - if nothing else, maybe just another coloured username, to distinguish that they do something else) which has one or more members posting/tweeting/blogging about what's going on with the site. Tweet weekly news roundups, post hot thread topics (Debates? Feedback Threads? Competitions/RPs?) on Facebook. Actively show the outside world that our community is still thriving and vibrant and don't just assume outsiders will come in and see that for themselves. There's no point in adding a new feature that highlights fancy new posts and updates if it's just your bank of regulars coming in to use it.

In a completely different direction, I might suggest branching out a bit from the forum layout - it's still highly FF intensive, and SE is by no means just the company that makes FF anymore. We've had this debate before, about staying true to our roots and whatnot, but if this front page is being installed as a small push to revamp the site and increase traffic, it might be worth having the debate again, now that we're several years on from having it the first time.

NB Anyone suspicious that I'm putting myself forward as a candidate for this role can settle down. :wacky:

On-topic - I'm excited to see what this will look like. It's a well overdue update! In the 7 years I've been here, no one's ever worked towards getting it.
 
ooooooo, having someone that focuses on updates and socal media might not be a bad idea, I far from see enough from the forum's twitter account
 
I mentioned this a while ago in relation to this but I'll bring it up again.

If you're doing something like this, you need a reason people will visit the site in the first place. You need to be pushing your efforts on social media more. Link SE updates on this site from Twitter and Facebook! Get fired in to hashtags like it's the last BBQ wing at the wedding between two fat clans.

I don't know how you feel about this, but I propose you create some kind of job role (not necessarily another member of staff - if nothing else, maybe just another coloured username, to distinguish that they do something else) which has one or more members posting/tweeting/blogging about what's going on with the site. Tweet weekly news roundups, post hot thread topics (Debates? Feedback Threads? Competitions/RPs?) on Facebook. Actively show the outside world that our community is still thriving and vibrant and don't just assume outsiders will come in and see that for themselves. There's no point in adding a new feature that highlights fancy new posts and updates if it's just your bank of regulars coming in to use it.

In a completely different direction, I might suggest branching out a bit from the forum layout - it's still highly FF intensive, and SE is by no means just the company that makes FF anymore. We've had this debate before, about staying true to our roots and whatnot, but if this front page is being installed as a small push to revamp the site and increase traffic, it might be worth having the debate again, now that we're several years on from having it the first time.

NB Anyone suspicious that I'm putting myself forward as a candidate for this role can settle down. :wacky:

On-topic - I'm excited to see what this will look like. It's a well overdue update! In the 7 years I've been here, no one's ever worked towards getting it.


Actually now that you're here and before you disappear for however long, do you remember that News Staff usergroup - the one in orange? (Can't remember the exact name). Was it ever used back in the days? I can't remember it being used when I signed up in 2006, but I assumed there were plans then. And thank you for the feedback, definitely helps!

I discussed some of the ideas with Tia last night, and we'd like to bring that back eventually, introduce editorials and even hire editors. Not necessarily moderators, but site writers willing to write original content for our site, make our community more of a 'main source' for members and guests. (Tia and I will also be participating with writing articles, along with whoever in staff have the time for it). Of course, it's going to take a few weeks of work before we can build something from the ground-up, but we will need dedicated writers/authors and will proofread articles before it's submitted. More about this later.


With a frontsite, there can only be original content written by reporters, and that needs to be regularly updated. Otherwise, we might destroy an awesome idea for the site. So I do emphasize the workload here, and that staff alone will not be enough for something big like this. We'll have to carefully plan this and take things slow before branching off with other ideas. The page layout will be something to greatly consider (we'll have to ask for more feedback later) because we do want the presentation to be user-friendly and not cluttered. We'll have to check if we'll need three-columns or stick with two-column...a lot of things to consider, really. And that's just the presentation aspect of it.

We've contacted our FF moderators and they've
given us some key points concerning the SE News and FF section. As for non-FF section, I'm sure we can come up with something as well, maybe a Weekly Digest of some sort. I realize that we will be asking a lot from the staff and members, but with support and feedback, we'll get things rolling. =]
 
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I haven't read all of this yet, but your last post Mits, something like an "update team" not members of staff but like a FFF's Social Networking Group, they collect news, write updates and the likes. Staff can chip in. You are free to sign up but you have to have some activity going in order to be added to the weekly updating group etc. We can have a 'once in a while' entry as well, for people who have some news for us, but don't wanna write weekly.

"This week's Morning News has been brought to you by: username" xD

Sounds like a fun idea. :D
 
I'm very happy with this news. I think this will draw more attenion to our site when people browse the internet looking for details on individual games or specifics about them.

:busta:
 
CMS now enabled in the system, but we've disabled it for now so we can continue planning this week and most likely all throughout next week. Looking forward to some nice changes here as well. :)
 
Mitsuki said:
Actually now that you're here and before you disappear for however long, do you remember that News Staff usergroup - the one in orange? (Can't remember the exact name). Was it ever used back in the days? I can't remember it being used when I signed up in 2006, but I assumed there were plans then. And thank you for the feedback, definitely helps!


Look at me, shaping the site even now!

That usergroup had such potential. If anyone ever filled that role, I don't remember it. I vaguely remember one or two people being designated SE News posters for a while (and no members could post news AT ALL), but at most I think they were just two moderators who had their moderation rights extended to that forum.

Pushing my luck here, but since writing/news posting on the front site is something that you want to look quite professional and well-written, it might be worth reviving the good ol' application centre. :dave:

Good to see you've planned a time to take feedback, too. I'm excited to see where this goes - as I said, this is years overdue!
 
Pushing my luck here, but since writing/news posting on the front site is something that you want to look quite professional and well-written, it might be worth reviving the good ol' application centre. :dave:
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Few steps ahead of you, Mr. Dave. =P Well that is to say, the application center is not opened yet, but it will be - probably sometime next week. As you said, we want something well-written and professional, so to ensure we're taking the right steps for this, we'll be testing the applicants...on top of the interview questions. Tia's already created a new usergroup for this the other day, and we've implemented an Editorial Board for the writers/reporters. Then we'll have a team of editors lurking about. :)

Also, just a little note to everyone - CMS is enabled, but the permissions are not set yet (and will remain that way until we properly set up the homepage), which would explain why the site's giving you an error message. Click the 'Forum' tab and that should take care of it.
 
soooooo this CMS Install....

OMFG LOVE YOU

this seemed to fix the download block error I was getting in university.... goodbye time
 
Actually now that you're here and before you disappear for however long, do you remember that News Staff usergroup - the one in orange? (Can't remember the exact name). Was it ever used back in the days? I can't remember it being used when I signed up in 2006, but I assumed there were plans then. And thank you for the feedback, definitely helps!

I discussed some of the ideas with Tia last night, and we'd like to bring that back eventually, introduce editorials and even hire editors. Not necessarily moderators, but site writers willing to write original content for our site, make our community more of a 'main source' for members and guests. (Tia and I will also be participating with writing articles, along with whoever in staff have the time for it). Of course, it's going to take a few weeks of work before we can build something from the ground-up, but we will need dedicated writers/authors and will proofread articles before it's submitted. More about this later.

I'll do it. I understand some people write as they're thinking, but I like seeing writing in proper grammar and spelling when appropriate. I'd like to put my name in as an editor.
 
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I'll do it. I understand some people write as they're thinking, but I like seeing writing in proper grammar and spelling when appropriate. I'd like to put my name in as an editor.

Great to see your interest. :) We will actually be hiring for 'authors' sometime next week (had to push it back a bit), so do keep a lookout for that.

For authors, we took the time to get an Editorial Board set up for them so that we can communicate effectively. Schedules, planner, publishing queue, etc. We'll have to follow some form of routine. Alongside the Editorial & Feature, there is also a side project that we will be working on, which is actually going to take a lot of effort and time (and we're talking months). Tia will have more information soon, but we're both excited to get things started. :) We're going to need help from our members.

Anyway, the front site should be ready to go on Saturday, which might be Sunday for some of you. We're working on a few articles to publish that day, as well as for next week, so it's mainly down to giving a few people on staff some time to wrap things up. But ideally, we want to launch this before most of you head off for Survivor.

Finally got a good grasp of things and how we'll manage this. In a few days, we'll have a few announcements and explain everything then, as I'm sure there will be a lot of questions.
 
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Tia will have more information soon, but we're both excited to take get things started. :) We're going to need help from our members.

Tia will have more information soon, but we're both excited to get things started. :) We're going to need help from our members.

But ideally, we want to launch this before most of you head off for Survivor.

Finally got a good grasp of things and how we'll manage this. In a few days, we'll have a few announcements and explain everything then, as I'm sure there will be a lot of questions.

Ideally, we want to launch this before most of you head off for Survivor.

I finally have a good grasp of things and how we'll manage this. In a few days, we'll have a few announcements. We'll explain everything then as I'm sure there will be a lot of questions.

:monster:
 
Impressive. 8(

I should proofread my own stuff first, shouldn't I? :sad3:
 
troll lol, mits getting english lessons
 
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