Remove the Newcomer rank?

Discussion in 'Suggestions & Ideas' started by Guy, Oct 17, 2015.

?

Should the Newcomer rank be removed?

  1. Yes

    13 vote(s)
    72.2%
  2. No

    5 vote(s)
    27.8%
  1. Guy

    Guy Admin admin

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    Someone suggested to me the Newcomber/Newbie rank be removed, effectively making everyone who joins a Regular by default. I assume this individual preferred to remain anonymous, for whatever reason, but feel free to take credit where credit is due.

    Anyway, I think this change would be for the better, and I voted accordingly. It would mean a bit less work for staff. Less often might appear the question, "Why has [x] not been promoted to a Regular yet?" The rough "one month" incubating period serves no real point anyway.

    Still, because it is a fundamental change (and because I would need to change several things around), I would like to hear everyone's opinion on the matter. If you don't feel like posting, please at least vote.
  2. Squishy

    Squishy tl;dr this is all, still, toko's fault admin

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    I... don't really have an opinion on this. The only thing that comes to mind is, what are we going to do with the PWC points? As far as I know the extra point is the only perk of being a regular at the moment, seeing as there's no restricted races anymore.

    So yeah I guess if we can do something with the PWC it doesn't really matter if we remove it? And we don't have that many newcomers at the moment, so this is probably also the best time to do it to avoid confusion and lots of checking things.
  3. Guy

    Guy Admin admin

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    Everyone that is a Newcomer would become a Regular--and they would of course have the Regular amount of PWC points to distribute.
  4. Devil-Steel

    Devil-Steel Your friendly neighborhood devil reg

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    Probably just leave the points as is. +4 for Member +5 for Veteran Member (since they are able to support the mods).

    Though as far as removing the rank, I'm all for it. I don't really see there being much of a point in having it since the only difference between Newcomer and Regular is a single PWC point. I don't really see any need for the newbie rank, since it doesn't really serve any true purpose to me. I think the only distinction we need is between Regular Members and the Veteran Members that know what the mods expect in things like profiles and quests (since they can in fact grade those.)
  5. Knight_of_G

    Knight_of_G Member reg

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    Yes, for the love of God, remove the newcomer rank. I joined here literal years ago, and have been back for well over a month, and I'm still a 'newcomer.'
  6. jdd2035

    jdd2035 New Member new

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    I vote no. I'm a newbi here and well it stands to reason that I should prove that I'm going to stay before getting rewarded with extra base stats. :D
  7. Eevachu

    Eevachu Admin admin

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    I don't have a particularly strong preference, but I agree it is kind of arbitrary. Even with having to 'prove' yourself, the regular rank was, in theory, designed for every at least somewhat active member to become regardless of how skilled of an RPer they were(assuming they weren't like doing chat RPs). Plus, even once you become a Reg, you only get a single PWC point and that's it, so there is not a major difference between the two. Because of that, I think most people who can actually promote people to Regular completely forget about it anyway unless a member specifically requests to become a Reg.
  8. Darth_Slaverus

    Darth_Slaverus Member vet

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    I vote yes to get rid of the Newcomer rank. It would be harmless if it were just a title, but the fact that it carries a minor mechanical "penalty" of sorts in the RP itself feels arbitrary and leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Between that and the fact you're reliant on someone to nominate you to become a Regular, I could see how it might even appear slightly elitist (I know it's not meant to) to someone who has just joined or was thinking of joining the site.

    So yeah, I'd either get rid of the rank entirely or give everyone 4 PWC points to start while making promotion to Regular based on time with the site. And since the former is probably a lot less of a hassle to implement than the latter...
  9. Guy

    Guy Admin admin

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    At the time of this post, the record stands at 8 votes in favor and 4 votes against.

    ... As with most suggestion-polls, I usually only go through with something if it has more than a two-thirds majority. So. Someone vote.
  10. Guy

    Guy Admin admin

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    Normally I don't double post, but this is worthy of a bump. At the time of this post, the record stands at 12 in favor and 4 opposed. Still, there is more reluctance than I expected. Someone suggested to me that the promotion just be automatic. The bot which does this only runs about once an hour, so the result may not be immediate, but...

    While Newcomer is still a rank, promotion to Regular should occur automatically for ever Newcomer once he or she meets three conditions:
    - The member has joined at least 30 days ago.
    - The member has at least 10 posts.
    - The member is logged in.

    Sometime down the road Newcomer might be gone for good, but given the feedback so far, I think everyone can agree this is better than the system currently in place.

    Thoughts? :ralts:
    Last edited: Oct 22, 2015
  11. Blonde Panther

    Blonde Panther Not always sweet and delicate vet

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    I approve. The 30-days + logged in requirement sees to it that members who sign up but never return aren't given the Regular Rank, and the post requirement ensures that the member actually participates on-site before they're lifted out of their Newcomer status. Depending on how inquisitive the new member is outside of the Cbox, 10 posts may be a little low (I think Soulvis, for one, may have reached that number just with her introduction, profile, and 'looking for RP thread') but that's just my personal opinion and varies from person to person; which is not something the bot can check for. Unless you can make it check '10 posts combined in subforum X through Z' with X through Z being the in-character areas.

    But that's nitpicking; the principle of an automated system checking for these three factors should work much better than manually promoting Newcomers to Regular.
    Guy likes this.
  12. Squishy

    Squishy tl;dr this is all, still, toko's fault admin

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    Sounds good :0 I don't really have anything useful to say on it, other that I agree. Bots aside, most people that make over 10 posts are at least going to try to stay and RP, so yeah, that's a good requirement.

    So yeah, good plan.
    Guy likes this.