Main Street - How Should it be Built?

[Dragon]

So, I'd just like your opinions on the newly reformed Main Street, which was put together by merging Celebrations and TWL, and doing away with the Member Encyclopedia board. The board was created now, not to just be a haven for newcombers, but for the general memberbase of PC;a sort of front on introducing the PC forums as a whole.

But yeah, do you guys have any thoughts on any new stuff we could do for it? Maybe we can incorporate the Ask Me Anything threads again somehow? Perhaps user spotlights? Maybe any other events?

What do you guys think of Main Street, and what should we do? Feel free to share any thoughts!

 

[Desinishon]

Yo!

Hmmm....I just saw in VIP feedback and suggestion thread that some topic are not getting reply. So, here is what I want to say Dragon, I planned two event forn playground ( I'm still waiting for approval )

But I think this one is better for Member encyclopedia so
It's a contest between all members who have made a thread in ME.


*. A non-thread maker person or a person who made thread is going to post a question in main contest thread.

*. After that the person who have existed thread in ME is going to answer his question.


*. If a person whose thread is in ME posted question then he/she can't answer his own question. He/she is going to get 1 point per question.


*. Whoever answer question is going to get 2 point. After a full week the person who got most point is going to win and become " Member of the week ".


So, how's it?

 

[gimmepie]

Personally I'd like to see blogs integrated with main street rather than a return of anything resembling the Member Encyclopaedia. I think it's a far better way of achieving the same goals and would help turn Main Street into a fantastic hub for all kinds of members to meet and learn about one another.

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

Personally I'd like to see blogs integrated with main street rather than a return of anything resembling the Member Encyclopaedia. I think it's a far better way of achieving the same goals and would help turn Main Street into a fantastic hub for all kinds of members to meet and learn about one another.

*face swivels at the mention of blogs*

What do you have in mind by an integration?

 

[gimmepie]

*face swivels at the mention of blogs*

What do you have in mind by an integration?

I imagine it as a link that appears as a sub-forum but rather than taking you to a legit sub-forum it takes you to the already existing blog index. Then add a back link to Main Street to the blog index and remove the link to blogs from the bottom of the page.

That way you integrate the blogs but don't force anyone to restart and lose all their past entries. The parameters for who gets the ability to start a blog could also be changed to make them more accessible, but I'm less sure on that since it's a supporter perk amongst other things.

 

[El Héroe Oscuro]

I imagine it as a link that appears as a sub-forum but rather than taking you to a legit sub-forum it takes you to the already existing blog index. Then add a back link to Main Street to the blog index and remove the link to blogs from the bottom of the page.

That way you integrate the blogs but don't force anyone to restart and lose all their past entries. The parameters for who gets the ability to start a blog could also be changed to make them more accessible, but I'm less sure on that since it's a supporter perk amongst other things.

I like this post. I like this post a lot. We should execute this.

The only thing I wouldn't do is remove the link at the bottom of the main page to blogs. I'm worried that if it was a subforum of sorts people would be less likely to visit blogs (as is the case with many subforums) Everything you said should be implemented, but keep the bottom link on the main page available as well.

 

[Mab]

I imagine it as a link that appears as a sub-forum but rather than taking you to a legit sub-forum it takes you to the already existing blog index. Then add a back link to Main Street to the blog index and remove the link to blogs from the bottom of the page.

I like this idea a lot as well. I think the whole idea of Main Street was that it would be a sort of community hub, but that hasn't really happened - at the moment, it's still just The Welcome Lounge renamed and seeing some more activity that doesn't solely involve welcoming new members would be nice. Blogs being a subforum would certainly be a step towards that goal.

I've made a picture of it with Firebug. I also wrote the best description of all time.

is it 2000 posts? i think it's 2000 posts.

I like the idea of using the Blogs system as the new platform for AMAs as well, seeing as I don't see a ton of activity in blogs except from a few people who use them frequently. I always find it hard to find things to talk about there, and being able to use my blog to answer questions would give me a reason to use it.

The parameters for who gets the ability to start a blog could also be changed to make them more accessible, but I'm less sure on that since it's a supporter perk amongst other things.

This is a bit of a concern, if blogs are going to be something linked to in Main Street - a section most frequented by brand new members - it seems a bit silly to keep them restricted to supporters. I personally think that the postbit/username colors/profile options are enough perks for supporters and that blogs should be opened up - if not to every member, then at least to a much lower post limit (say 200, like the old AMA forum had I think?). Of course this is something that will have to be discussed seriously in the HQ, so I doubt that'd be a change that happens anytime soon.

 

[moon]

Said it before, the blog idea is really nice (: Still, it's a nice supporter perk, so how about just lowering the post requirement to 500 or so, and also let silver supporters make them?

Still, if we're only letting new members create threads there, I don't think it can or needs to be a "main street" of PC, a community hangout spot. Treehouse is seriously the hangout spot. Rather, it should be the front gates of PokéCommunity, the first forum to click and find introductions side by side with official help & feedback as well as the Bulletin Board and Daily. I never saw much wrong with TWL, but I get that someone somewhere had a vision when ME was closed and C! moved.

Unless that vision manages to become a reality soon, wouldn't it be useful with a section name change again? (pls don't flame me, I know it's unlikely to happen since name changes aren't supposed to be frequent). Main Street is very confusing next to City Hall; the feedback forum could have been named Main Street too tbh. "Front Gate" or "Community Courtyard" or something might be more clear and more inviting even. Just a thought, not expecting it to happen d: even if it would make sense imo.


I think Celebrations could perhaps be integrated with the Bulletin Board tbh. HQstaff can have thread moderation there if we want to make sure no spam threads end up on the Bulletin Board list, and also not several threads per day. I mean, if the front gate section still is mostly for new members (meaning only they can make threads) then it seems a bit weird to put C! as a subforum for it... however, making C! threads more visible would be really nice, as long as it's done with (literal) moderation. Not that many announcements and C! threads get made so it probably wouldn't clutter the bulletin board on the index too much. Besides, often events happen alongside celebrations, so it's not really a far fetched merge.

 

[moon]

Really not a fan of putting celebration topics in the Bulletin Board. :[

It's always been used to promote PC news and community events and I honestly don't feel like celebrations are a part of that.

Not? A community is its members (: everything we do is for ourselves and other members.

I'm also not a fan of how tucked away the celebrations feel right now, but they don't belong in the Bulletin Board, imo. Seeing "popular users birthday here" on our official news Bulletin would be super weird and doesn't strike me as inviting at all. At least celebrations are a bit more discreet in their own forum or just in a regular forum.

Right now, the Bulletin Board promotes events around the community that everyone can take part in. Celebrations for more well known users (and I can say for sure that it'll mostly be well-known users judging by the long history of that forum) aren't something that appeals to or includes new users.

You don't think seeing how members on PC celebrate each other seems inviting and friendly? Besides, it's not just member-related celebrations; already there are events announced in BB related to celebrations of different kinds, and temporary holiday forums could be announced there as an in between between celebration and announcement.

And let's assume that celebrations somehow became super active and full of celebrations for all users. It'd be great, but it'd just bump down the news and community events when getting said events seen more by the community is specifically the purpose the Bulletin Board was invented in the first place.

That's assuming the worst case scenario; I'm judging from how things are today. We haven't seen any remarkable change in C! activity regardless of where the forum has been placed lately. But if that would be an issue, perhaps threads with a [Celebration] prefix could be coded to simply not show on the index Bulletin list (:

I still think it would be a nice nod to members to put their celebrations on par with community events. Again, a community is its members. And it seems like where to best put C! has always been a mystery before.

But, it could be nice to see them get a prefix somewhere in a main forum so they can be more noticeable than they are now.

To mix celebration threads with welcome threads in Main Street's main forum could be interesting actually! That way, older members can make threads too, and threads have a common theme of being member focused and happy. And the name Main Street would make more sense then, if older members can feel like the main section is there for them too. It's a workaround to still avoid AMAs maybe, haha.

Idk if Dragon has considered prefixes instead of a subforum before? I feel like he probably has.

 

[moon]

I agree completely that the community is in the members, but considering Celebration threads have always been made by and for more popular and well known users, I don't believe that's more inviting to community at large than an event which invites all users to take part in. Getting the events seen means more of the community can take part. There's little for a new user to take part in when it comes to "Achromatic is celebrating his birthday!".

Like... let's say there's a posting event being run by Klippy. Anyone can take part in it, regardless of how long they've been a user. They don't have to worry about not being included (as in not getting a celebration thread when their birthday comes around) because they're new, they can just hop right into it and become a part if they'd like, which truly promotes the community feeling. It makes more sense to promote that on the index rather than Celebrations regarding birthdays and promotions, imo.

I can agree to that (:

Mentioning C! in this thread is of course because it currently is part of Main Street. But I don't think it fits well there unless we integrate it fully, as in your prefix proposal. Bulletin Board seems more fitting, even if [Celebration!] threads don't show up on the main index showcase. People who come to BB to check out events can discover member celebrations they wouldn't otherwise see, and the other way around. Both kinds of threads fall under the "something is happening" umbrella.

My goal here is to spout ideas and make sure they either come to fruitition or lead to something even better :senpai:

What was wrong with letting C! sit under Treehouse or as its own forum again? d:

 

[Dragon]

What was wrong with letting C! sit under Treehouse or as its own forum again? d:

It was better as it's own board imho, and I think it worked at the time, but, I think it wasn't that much active there, as compared to now...

...but maybe now it can be a part of Treehouse again, since it's being more and more active?

 

[moon]

It was better as it's own board imho, and I think it worked at the time, but, I think it wasn't that much active there, as compared to now...

...but maybe now it can be a part of Treehouse again, since it's being more and more active?

You feel like a merge with prefixes wouldn't work well, and that the welcome place should keep being for new members only to make threads in?