What purpose do honorary ranks serve?

**Kscott** · May 13, 2006, 09:51 PM

Well, like the title reads, what purpose do they serve. People lately have been focused on honoring members with some new ranks. Senatorii, Opifex, Divus and now Artifex. What good do any of these do?

Senatorii-Those that were formerly in staff don't need a badge to prove it. If I am respected simply because of the badge I wear then I don't deserve the respect carried with it.

Divus- Once again, why do former admins need a title to prove it? Sibs will always be sibs, regardless of his divus badge. Yes, he deserves alot of respect because of his hard work here and? I hardly see how a banner helps. Almost everyone worships these old members so is that not enough?

Opifex & Artifex- Modders like former staff should command respect, but not becuase of the badge. If their name isnt reconizable for their work then I doubt a badge will do them any good. Their work stands for itself and the downloads are proof to their greatness. When I modded the occasional great job meant everything to me. Thats how you respect your modders, not by giving them a pointless rank.

Now, I know everyone likes to feel apart and have a nifty rank. I admit, i do, but at the end of the day I realize the futility of such things. All it does is create pointless seperation. Maybe somoene can enlighten me on why they are good?

**Fabolous** · May 13, 2006, 09:59 PM

I also am not a big fan of having the honorary ranks much. Senatorii is the only one I would even consider keeping, both for tradition, and becaues it does have some practical applications in terms of the Syntagma. A few bills require a certain number of senatorii to be involved, and for things like saying that senatorii can are eligible for a position. Overall though, I think they should be removed.
(I know, I am a fun killer.

)

**vizi** · May 13, 2006, 10:08 PM

I also agree, I voted no or abstained for all of the honorary ranks, save one.

I never liked them and never wanted them.

**Sétanta** · May 13, 2006, 10:10 PM

It is good to honor members but I think that all honor ranks except Senatorii and [/B]maybe[B] Divus should be abolished

**Kino** · May 13, 2006, 10:11 PM

Deleted by user.

**Kscott** · May 13, 2006, 10:14 PM

Well it might encourage people to post better or contribute to the sight more so that they may achieve the shiny badge. Opifex might encourage people to keep working on a mod even though they are bored with it. I don't know it's psychological.

I think the satisfaction of completing the mod would do much more for that.

Another thing, people like me. I don't know everyone personally so the ranks help you remember people and what they mean to the community.

What good does that do? I for example have the senatorii badge, yet that tells you nothing about me other than at some time I was in staff. Does that really tell you anything substantial about me or my character?

**Kino** · May 13, 2006, 10:18 PM

Deleted by user.

**Publius** · May 13, 2006, 10:22 PM

I would say this. That from a logical perspective, your actual rank will tell virtually nothing about you to others. However, on the subconscious level, there is some effect of these badges, whether you like it or not. Perhaps it is a flaw of human nature, but I personally am more apt to believe something said by say, a Consul or Imperator above that of a recent member. This in effect becomes an argument for the removal of many of these badges, as it discourages meritocracy in the forums.

**Obi Wan Asterix** · May 14, 2006, 02:27 AM

Would you remove the last vestiges of decorum on this site? I think these ranks were hard earned for the most cases, and ardently oppose their removal.

**Aemilianus** · May 14, 2006, 02:28 AM

I for one knew nothing about who modded or not except this way.

1. Halie Satanus would complain, so I knew he was a modder and he thought modders never got an ounce of respect. Ok, fine, because I never go in there, having no coding skills whatsoever. I needed help modding the descr_strat, for crying out loud, so I am not the authority on that, and I know very few of the more "famous" modders. Halie is right, they are deserving of recognition, we just don't get to see them in the CC or even the outer TW forums very often, as they're usually confined to a very techy, specific portion of the site.

2. A modder would get Opifex or be considered for Opifex. Since 75 percent of my time here is now spent in the Curia, I would be like hey, Seleukos is a mapper, or Darth Vader is responsible for the DarthMod (not sure what it is, but I am sure it is useful judging by response). That is the way modders get recognition, and I wholeheartedly support that title.

The other titles are the same way. Artifex should serve its purpose as well. Regarding the Divi- I had no idea who Siblesz and tBP and all those guys were....until they had divus ranks and I had to check the rank list to see what it meant. They had them when I got here, but I still had to check. Without that, they'd be members with a good number of posts. That on it's own puts them on the level of Squeakus Maximus, who takes pride in being the Lord of all Spam Lords (no offense) which really doesn't distinguish them except as "having a lot of posts". Divus makes people look.

Finally, regarding the Senatorii. I've seen you, KScott, against the Senatorii badge on more than one occasion, and I've seen your reasoning, but personally I think I like it. It isn't as important as Divus or Opifex, but it is being legislated into the Syntagma (meaning it is going to serve a real, practical purpose) and it is also a mark saying "hey, I did some work for this site in the past". I think those who have done 12 weeks service of that nature do deserve some kind of recognition, especially for those who have no clue.

**Halie Satanus** · May 14, 2006, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by Aemilianus

I for one knew nothing about who modded or not except this way.

1. Halie Satanus would complain, so I knew he was a modder and he thought modders never got an ounce of respect. Ok, fine, because I never go in there, having no coding skills whatsoever. I needed help modding the descr_strat, for crying out loud, so I am not the authority on that, and I know very few of the more "famous" modders. Halie is right, they are deserving of recognition, we just don't get to see them in the CC or even the outer TW forums very often, as they're usually confined to a very techy, specific portion of the site.

Well i never went that far but thanks for the support. The way i see it and call me a pragmatsist and or bubble buster, all ranks are honoury no rank has any power its a role play game this is not ancient rome, senatorii are not retired old men they are X staff uls are not high ranking military guards with shiny armour and bigger swords than the rest of us, they are staff, as with Questors, consols all of the higher ranks are staff, civitates are people given an award because other people like their contribution to the site, not becuse they are better than anyone else not becuase they have better breeding and not because their smarter, because some one said hey wanna play in our game. if the guys at ON decide Today! that they can't be botherd with this site anymore and pull the plug thats it GAME OVER, there will not be a vote you will not have your say you will not be able to whinge about it "THE REVOLOUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED".*

That being said I like the game I want the game to go on and I want as many people to join in the game as possible, its a big sand pit people and only petty minded bullies stop other kids from playing in sand pits, i keep seeing"we have Opifex isn't that enough""but we have site awards isnt that enough" "but modders can be Civs isn't that enough" There poor and unproductive reasons to not have Artifex, and i say as the site membership grows we have to evolve, no community should be happy with stagnation, no community can survive on its roots alone it has to reach for the sun and spead its branches. so "enough"? Piff and twaddle, anyone who says that can send me five pound and i'll send you a comfort blanket and a tourch so you can hide your self away from the big bad world. or i'll post you a link to a site for procrastinators current membership 0, I've also seen, but there will be to many colours on the screen it will be like a rainbow, WHAT!! :laughing: oh dear i'd like to extend my help for this also, send me 50p and i'll send you some quality shades, with special desaturation! lenses.

So to sumerise, Neh sayers are people who've lost site of the game, but fear not if i become captian the only entry reqiurement will be bring your own bucket and spade and your in.

One love.
Hs

*Gill Scott Heron.

Edit i also do a nice selection of pipes and slippers, for those of you that are OLD before your time.

**Shadows** · May 14, 2006, 10:45 AM

I don't think that ranks like Senatorii are that bad. The Senatorri are an older rank and shouldn't be eliminated. Divus is a little much though. And Opifex and Artifex,

, not neccessary but they make the place look prettier since we have more badges everywhere.

**Muizer** · May 14, 2006, 11:11 AM

I think we should have more titles. Seriously! Except they shouldn't perhaps stress the "honourary" bit so much. I'd like to see diversification in titles that make it easy to see in what way member contribute to the community. I can imagine members think of themselves that way too, as a modder, debater, politician, official, writer etc. etc. Liven up the place a bit. TWC is a big site, it doesn't have to be so elitist as it is perhaps, but it shouldn't all be uniformal either.

**Lusted** · May 14, 2006, 11:20 AM

As a modder i like the honouary ranks that are there for us, asd they give us an extra something to strive towards(though im sure most modders are not aware of them). The problem is we get very little recognition for our work. I am luck to have had quite a few good comments about my mod TE, but i would like more recognition for all the hard work i have done. The main problem is very few people tend to congratulate people, they are far more likely to post with a complaint in my experience. Having honouary ranks congratulating our contributions is a good way to show that we are valued and people appreciate all that we have done.

**Spiff** · May 14, 2006, 01:04 PM

I never really saw the point in Divus, the majoirty of those eligible dont even post here anymore, and of the two who actually do, one wears the Urbanis Legio badge instead.. not the most useful user group ever created. Opifex was simply a response to this though, if we honour the best contributing staff members, we should honour the best contributing non-staff members.

And thats fine by me really, i think we have a good amount of ranks just now, not too many i think. If any were to be dropped i would hope it would first be Senatorii, as it doesnt really recognise anything other than "Person X was a staff member", whereas Opifex is useful for new people, it lets them see who are the greatest contributors to the site.

**Ardeur** · May 17, 2006, 10:09 AM

While I feel Senatorii and Divus are well-deserved. I do feel the others tend to water-down the whole idea of honoring those who have contributed to the smooth-running of the site.

**Valus** · May 17, 2006, 10:13 AM

Originally Posted by Ardeur

While I feel Senatorii and Divus are well-deserved. I do feel the others tend to water-down the whole idea of honoring those who have contributed to the smooth-running of the site.

My thoughts exactly...

**Belisarius** · May 17, 2006, 10:18 AM

All Ranks were voted in by the civitates and are Law. :laughing:

I dont think I have to say anything else about the situation?

**Sinuhet** · May 17, 2006, 02:41 PM

There is a lot of shiny titles and medals in each dictatorship . And we have still a dictatorship, havent we ...

This is a good susbstitute for a "hard" political competition - only "soft" one is in dictatorships desirable, so there is necessity of greater non-political "aims" possibilities in such reigimens... So I tell you - still more titles, to preserve the colourful features of real life in our Community.