No Thanks New 'Elite' Usergroup

If I had any ideas, I would have posted them. To be honest I'm completely stumped at the moment as far as to what some good perks would be for this new group. (other than maybe the few that were mentioned). The only one I thought that was really exclusively great was the skin testing idea. But that doesn't really warrant a new group, sadly. I think maybe once Xenforo gets more updates and we add more mods, there will be more options to give to an "elite" group.

But yeah like I said, any ideas would be great. Whether they come from staff or members. Also keeping the first post updated with current ideas would be extremely helpful.

 

That's appreciated. If you could spread word to other staff members saying "Hey, if you like the idea or have any ideas and want to see it move along, go suggest them." that'd be majorly appreciated.

Tell me, would a separate thread for people in favor of the group to throw ideas at the wall be a good idea? I think it'd divide the numbers better than a poll, showing how many are in favor and gives the people in support of it a conflict-free environment throw ideas at the wall and see what sticks.

 

I don't see why not, especially if this op isn't going to be dedicated to updating the first post.

 

Suggestions area okay? Heck, I think it should be stickied, lol.

The amount of staff here is making me incredibly uncomfortable. No aggression today guys, sorry.

 

I am curious though... since I notice Chev has already brought it up (I think on page 8 or so) do you guys think it would be better to focus on an entirely new group or simply re-amping the premium group to make it better? Because it has been the running joke that premiums don't really get many benefits, and so I just have a hard time seeing much of an upgrade for something else.

 

Mmm, alright read over the thread again to get it more fresh in my mind.

I can't really quote posts because ive been regulated to using an iPod the past two weeks, but I'm still hesitant on a new usergroup.

This is just -my- thoughts on the matter, I'm cool if it does go through, but I think the ideas could just be applied to the Premium usergroup as earlier posts have mentioned.

Rehauling Premium would be easier than having to deal with the color arguments and other such things that may happen.

As I believe someone said earlier, boosting the Prem requirements and tiering things through a single usergroup (2500 for beta testing skins and such).

This probably sounds scatter brained (LIKE ME WOO), will post something more coherent when I get new laptop charger. ;-;

But yeah just voicing support for incentives + personal concerns about a new usergroup

 

I think the main problem here would be whether or not to requirements to premium and would that make certain people lose premiumship, which would be unfair either way (if they lose it, it's unfair to them. If they don't, it's unfair to those in the future who have to meet stricter requiremetns).

 

I've honestly been wondering the same thing. But personally, I want a Teal name so I'm going with new group.

 

The only thing is, no one gave any confirmation that this would actually happen? No one said people would lose their premium status. And I would hope it didn't happen.

As for the stricter requirements, if any would be added I don't think anything exaggerated would be added. Maybe something to do with the likes system, but nothing that would make people cringe.

If anything, it'd be better to add ALL THE POSSIBLE PERKS to one usergroup instead of having to thin them out between two different groups. I don't see why adding more perks has to mean more requirements, either.

 

Because the problem this is addressing is lack of activity.

 

I think a revamp of premium should be done.

 

Except, and I mean no offense, it would make the goal of this idea entirely pointless.

We're not just trying to improve a members' days, guys. We want to see the site more active with more people working to become a respected member of the community. People who actually leave the spamzone.

 

Would it really make the goal of the idea pointless?

The main goal is to motivate members to post more but adding a new tier mostly motivates the Premium members to post more and Premium members are very much the minority. If we want more activity then we should do something that motivates members with fewer posts to post more instead of motivating members with a lot of posts already. I have heard many normal members say that there's not much to being a Premium member nowadays and thus they don't really bother with posting much and take their time. If there was a revamp of the premium system and it was made more appealing then normal members would be motivated to post more since they feel there's more to gain. If a majority of people aren't motivated enough to make it to 1000, then what makes you think that anybody would be motivated to make it to 3,500 besides premium members who already have a lot of posts?

 

The thing is, Premium is the motivation for normals. This gives premiums something to shoot for as well. Making it so everyone has something to shoot for.

 

I can see why it'd be a good idea for encouraging premiums to post and be active, but i'm not so sure it's a good idea overall.

From the point of a normal member, if there WAS a second group and you needed to meet even MORE requirements...well it seems as though i'd never make it to the 2nd group, because there's so much involved. Hell, i find it difficult to even make it to premium! I think it's fine just having premium, plz don't make a 2nd group :(

Also, and thank you to GS for reminding me, i DO find it difficult to maintain that motivation to post. It seems really difficult to get to premium for me. Not saying anything should be lowered, just saying there shouldn't be a 2nd usergroup.

 

But premium isn't a big enough motivation for normal members nowadays. Have you seen how many normal members become premium nowadays? It isn't many. A Noble usergroup is good idea and I like the idea of having something to motivate premium members to post more but in the end, premiums are a minority. There are around 150 of us. Less than half of those members are actually active. Motivating us to post more should be secondary. We've already posted a lot already. It'd be better in my opinion to motivate a much bigger group, the normal members, to post more.

 

And I understand this sentiment, but the desired outcome just turns into a cycle (Prems want more, Nobles happen; Nobles want more New Tier happens)

To actually have more activity, there has to be incentive to post from a larger group of people---which goes back to what GS was pointing out.

I realize being a premium member already means there's 'nothing' to shoot for, but if the core sentiment behind wanting a new usergroup is to elicit increased activity, then wouldn't giving Premiums more perks actually accomplish that for Normal Members, which are the majority, thus creating much more activity for the site as a whole?

This would also mean not having to divide perks per usergroups and avoiding color issues.

 

So far, I don't see:

• A need for another usergroup. If to increase activity, there are other means for which to try and achieve these, some which members aren't using now. I'd rather a promotion of the current post incentive perks of the site like Medals, Premium, etc, be worked on before considering a new usergroup.
• A unified agreement on the requirements for the new usergroup nor perks. If they are sorted out, I would get a better idea of if I liked this idea or not.
• How this will be an incentive or benefit for members who already meet said requirements. Sure that might be a handful of people, but they still should be considered in this
• How this benefits a majority of members. This will be quite elitist with the fact that I see no more then 5 active members at most having access to it at once.

I feel that these are barriers to it being a relevant or needed part of the forum. It'd be nice see these covered and addressed before I agree with it.
Fundamentally, good threads and good posts will mean people will want to post more. The rest is just encouragement to do as such. I'd rather people just post not worrying about some type of perceived status, but alas I suppose not, we need some reason to post besides to talk.

 

After reading PaW's and GS's posts, I'm leaning more towards a revamp of Premiumship. As much as I would love to be part of a new usergroup, the side for revamping current Premiumship has some good points.
Right now, Premiums lost some perks because of Xenforo: a bigger inbox, two images in sig, bigger avatar, at least.
What about adding some of the accepted perks of "Noble" to Premium?
Let's also change "Premium" to "Noble."

 

Yeah this is a great idea. But instead of calling it the noble group, it should be called the platinum members. Their username will be highlighted with platinum calors.
Or call them gold members with their names in gold.