Proposal: [Agony aunt sub forum]

[Skyler]

Proposer: Skyler (from an idea made by LoZz and suggestions made by various citizens)
Supporters: Ferrets54, SirPaladin, Voltaire le Philosophe, Shaun and ~The Doctor~

Apologies if I am being intrusive about this topic and its place here,

A member named Lozz brought forth an idea nearly a month ago, that other members, including myself, found pretty darn good.
This idea is an Help and Advice sub forum to be placed within the forum index; further reading and reference to the thread can be found by clicking this link:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=133475

I am aware of the notion that has been made regarding the discussion about this topic as ongoing by the counsel officers but I am equally aware of some of the justifiable reservations on negative in- and output and the effects of it that can influence the advice asker’s decision for the worse.

But when I think of the above said ramifications I cannot help noticing that they already exists; when someone places a serious topic in which he or she asks for advice in the crowded and spam rich TD for instance, the topic starter will likely get some good advice, that is after the TS wades through the less useful advisements like ‘’go kill yourself’’ or ‘’kill your father and marry your mother.’’

It is a given that no sane person would follow the extremes of above even without the lack of some sort of disclaimer which would state that advices and actions taken by the advices given are for the end user’s own responsibility and not for the site or the user that gave said advice.

As I already have hinted above, we currently have little oversight when someone wants serious and helpful advice for oftentimes serious topics but not being able to enjoy it to a full extent because of people posting responses which offer no constructive or logical help at all. In my view, when someone who is comfortable enough with this site to post his/her problems and expose some shred of his/her personal life, they should be encouraged to do so without the fears of being ridiculed and disheartened.

As it stands now, TD isn’t the place to spill your hart but it is a given that it does happen none the less. My opinion on the matter is that moderators would have a more difficult time moderating TD for such topics than when it is given a forum of its own. Because this forum will be new, moderators will have a much easier time maintaining moderation for some time to come.
With a strict disclaimer and sound rules such a sub forum could be an ease to handle and a blessing for those members that want to share their burden, get away with it and have some sound advice to boot.

Without further meaningless dribble on my part I would like to present some my flawed guidelines for the Help and Advice forum and as always: if you have advice (likely), improvements (extremely likely), corrections (unavoidable painful truth) etcetera feel free to write them down as this is a no-man’s undertaking but everyone’s benefit.

-----Help and Advice forum--------------------------------------------------

----Disclaimer------
Advice given by members leading to actions or results of end users are in no way accountable to the site on which the advice is given or the members which give said advice; the user is responsible for his own actions and the results thereof.

--Usage----
The Help and Advice forum may be used by all registered members of TWc whom have personal problems and wish to ask advice/input as well as members that want to give advice/input.

To avoid unwanted spam and to mantain quality, the Help and Advice forum will use appointed local, as well as normal moderators. Members can PM any moderator asking to start a thread in which members can post their topic, whether a thread stays open or not for the duration is left at the discretion of the moderators towards the content of the threads.

--Behavior------
Mature behavior should be promoted and maintained (ToS reference?).

--Moderation----
Emphasis on constructive and mature communications between members will be upheld, anything less than that will be deleted or punished by the moderator's discretion.

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If the guidelines were written and worded better, citizens, would you support the proposal?

[removeduser_487563287433]

Support - though I would much prefer it be called the 'Help and Advice' forum. Agony art just sounds too teen girl magazine for my liking. Anyway, I think this would be a helpful addition, even as a forum or sub-forum of the TD.

[Skyler]

Support - though I would much prefer it be called the 'Help and Advice' forum. Agony art just sounds too teen girl magazine for my liking. Anyway, I think this would be a helpful addition, even as a forum or sub-forum of the TD.

Yes, you are right.

''Help and advice'' would be a better name to apply.

Original post edited to replace Agony aunt with Help and Advice.

[iudas]

I support.

[Marie Louise von Preussen]

I support this proposal, as long as it doesn't retain the old name "Agony aunt".

[pannonian]

Is it possible to have a forum run by local moderators, where only they and other moderators can start threads? If someone has a personal issue, they send a PM to one of these mods, who starts a thread on it. That way, confidentiality is kept unless the member wishes to discard it.

[Noble Savage]

Is it possible to have a forum run by local moderators, where only they and other moderators can start threads? If someone has a personal issue, they send a PM to one of these mods, who starts a thread on it. That way, confidentiality is kept unless the member wishes to discard it.

I agree with this idea , with carefully selected Local moderators this could be very helpful and informative if the spammers were kept away!

[rez]

Ill repeat what I said in the original thread.

All of the problems with this idea can be very easily fixed by putting an agony aunt section in the Helios rather than have a forum for it.

1. Less cluttery forums.

2. NO spam or bad advice filters through as the agony aunt/writer picks which problems to answer and is directly responsible for his advice. Reporting to the editor and of course staff.

3. People can PM their problems to the Helios and maintain anonymity.

4. There can be a cool race to see who gets the agony aunt spot....

Or a fight to the death.




Simply put we remove all spam related problems, kill off all notions of poor advice but allow for people to have their problems talked about anonymously. or not if they so choose.

[Skyler]

I do not know Rez, I think that directness, variety and fast responses would appeal better to the average poster.

Having to wait for something to be made first then be ''printed'' would take a longer time.

Pannonian might have a good idea about notifying a moderator first, so that the moderator knows of the existence of the thread and keep an eye on it.

Anyway, we would still have the issue of people posting problems and getting stupid replies even if there was an agony aunt in the Helios, so what exactly is holding us back about creating a helpful forum for it with more oversight?

[rez]

I do not know Rez, I think that directness, variety and fast responses would appeal better to the average poster.

Thats fair enough, its just a suggestion. But don't come crying to me when you realise this system doesn't let you organise a fight to the death.

[Skyler]

Thats fair enough, its just a suggestion. But don't come crying to me when you realise this system doesn't let you organise a fight to the death.

Oh don't get me wrong Rez, enough blood will be spilled to appease the ancient bloodgod that is the ''Help and Advice'' forum.

By the way, supporters please feel free to diddly down your views on how members should behave, moderators should moderate the policy and other such suchness.

[Harry Lime]

pannonian & ~portent~ have put forward the best ideas to implement this. If it follows those lines I would support. I also nominate the 'shockingly mature' Ferrets as a local moderator.. .

[removeduser_487563287433]

I disagree with the notion of only local mods being able to make threads. If people want privacy they may do that anyway, otherwise it will just stagnate the forum. I also disagree with it being implemented as a portion of the Helios because a) it doesn't provide the role of giving someone a place to talk things through with people, which they may well need at that given moment and b) because, frankly, not that many people read the Helios.

[pannonian]

I disagree with the notion of only local mods being able to make threads. If people want privacy they may do that anyway, otherwise it will just stagnate the forum. I also disagree with it being implemented as a portion of the Helios because a) it doesn't provide the role of giving someone a place to talk things through with people, which they may well need at that given moment and b) because, frankly, not that many people read the Helios.

Having intermediaries ask the question makes privacy the default condition. The member may then speak up in the thread if he or she wishes to discard that privacy and communicate more directly. Giving the local moderators and all staff moderators the ability to start threads means there should be plenty of people around who can ask the question immediately, with the member able to then follow the thread anonymously. Have a separate local and staff mods-only subforum to keep track of who's asking the questions, so each question has a public thread where all members can post, and a private thread detailing who asked the question.

[Shaun]

Support. As long as it's not called the 'agony aunt' forum though ...

[Scorch]

I think this would be better served as a Curial decision, asking for one to be created. I would also rather that one 'agony aunt' was not elected, but that everyone was free to offer advice, with more strict moderating standards that we would be more than happy to enforce.

[Skyler]

The name agony aunt is out, Help and Advice sounds much better so I will stick with that name for the moment.

As for the moderators, whom are the only ones that can start threads, maybe we can reach a compromise. Because the forum will be new there shouldn't be too much problems on keeping it clean plus there will be local moderators focussing especialy on that part of the sub forum.

I also think general anouncements can go a long way in preventing spam.

Edit: That is exactly what I am aming for Scorch, I do not like the idea of a fixed advice giver, everyone should be able to give their own advice.

[Scorch]

The name agony aunt is out, Help and Advice sounds much better so I will stick with that name for the moment.

As for the moderators, whom are the only ones that can start threads, maybe we can reach a compromise. Because the forum will be new there shouldn't be too much problems on keeping it clean plus there will be local moderators focussing especialy on that part of the sub forum.

I also think general anouncements can go a long way in preventing spam.

Okay, then you need to get more specific. Draft a decision about it, as realistically, this is how the Curia should influence the site, not through the constitution. Include basic things such as:
Name of the Forum
Purpose
Description
Moderation standard
Perhaps a description of how local moderators will be chosen? Though there needn't be many of these, I'd say staff can choose them from those that express interest, but that's just my advice.

[Skyler]

Okay, then you need to get more specific. Draft a decision about it, as realistically, this is how the Curia should influence the site, not through the constitution. Include basic things such as:
Name of the Forum
Purpose
Description
Moderation standard
Perhaps a description of how local moderators will be chosen? Though there needn't be many of these, I'd say staff can choose them from those that express interest, but that's just my advice.

Done.
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Forum draft:
The curia has decided that it would be benificial to the site to create a forum on the following features/description;

Name: Help and Advice


Purpose: The purpose of the Help and Advice forum is to provide registered members of this site the opportunity to start topics concerning personal problems, be it just to get it of their chests or to ask advice from various members about their situation, without the fear that those topics will be hijacked with spam, flames, negativity or other ill purposed contents.

Discretion, transparent, thoughtfulness, anonymity (if one desires it), mature dialog are all but a few keywords that will sum up and define this forum, a niche that is currently both a reality and unfulfilled for certain members (non citizens mostly though not exclusively).

Note: Advice given by members leading to negative or undesired actions, situations and or results for end users are in no way accountable to the site on which the advice is given nor for members who gave said advice; the user is responsible for his own actions and the results thereof and this shall be emphasized at all times!


Description: This forum can be accessed by all registered members for reasons of personal nature, that would otherwise not be fulfilled in other areas in the forum index such as the Techincal help and advice forum, and by all members who want to contribute sharing advice/information about those topics created by thread starters.

This forum will be different from other forums in that it will be strictly moderated in its content to assure that it will persist in its desired quality for which the forum is created for.
This means there will be zero tolerance towards violations against the Terms of Service and the interpretation of the Terms of Service by the moderators.

The forum will use local moderators which will be carefully selected out of those members that have an interest in keeping the forum alive and healthy. Local moderators furthermore will be assisted and supervised by regular and global moderators to help those moderators overcome obstacles and problems, take note that official moderators take precedent over local moderators at any time and their decision will be final.


Moderation standard: Moderators will enforce the strict rules and regulation of the Terms of Service in moderation of the forum as outlined in the Terms of Service and will promote mature and constructive posts:

http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/TWC:Terms_of_Service


Choosing methods of local moderators:
Local moderators will be chosen via general anoucements made by staff, those members interested in the job will be screened and contacted by staff appropriatly.
The exact number of local moderators at any given time will be left at the discretion of staff.

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[pannonian]

The name agony aunt is out, Help and Advice sounds much better so I will stick with that name for the moment.

As for the moderators, whom are the only ones that can start threads, maybe we can reach a compromise. Because the forum will be new there shouldn't be too much problems on keeping it clean plus there will be local moderators focussing especialy on that part of the sub forum.

The Mafia forum, moderated by Jubal Barca, is a forum which is run by a local moderator, where only the local moderator (and I think staff mod) can start threads. This can run in the same way, with a larger pool of local mods.