MAJOR FORUM UPDATES THREAD!

[spezzy]

Alright, Rebels! There have been a LOT of changes over the last few weeks. We're still working on some, and tweaking some of these, but I wanted to share what we've got so far!

 

DISCORD / CHAT

We now have a Discord Server for the forums, as an additional way for you to chat in real time with your fellow rebels! This isn't meant to replace the forums - and we're starting out with one big general chat channel. We looked into multiple options to add a chat room back - and using Discord made the most sense as it has lots of features that we can use (like video for virtual meet-ups!) to help keep us connected in these crazy, pandemic lockdown times.

 

https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/discord/invite/general/

 

Here's the info:

 

WELCOME FORUM

We've removed the old FAQ forum, moved the posts, and created a new one that only has current information in it🙂

 

You can find that here:

https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/forum/1287-welcome-to-the-rebellion/ (and you're in it now!)

 

I plan on keeping this forum clean - so once a question is answered, it will be answered, added to an official FAQ / Help post and then locked, to avoid confusion and out dated FAQs.

 

I'll be creating FAQs and How-to's as we need them. If you have a specific question you'd like answered, or a how-to created, this is a great thread to use:

 

 

ADDITION OF 2FA:
You can now use 2FA with your account if you want to (it's optional) through Google Authenticator. Click on your name in the upper right hand corner, select Account Settings, and go to SECURITY AND PRIVACY.

 

PROFILES:

We've overhauled your user profile page (to see this, click on your name on any of your posts, or click on your name in the upper right hand corner of the screen, and then select profile).

 

 

A few additions to point out:

• We've added an ABOUT ME tab that is a free-for-all WYSWIG editor. Use this for whatever you want - your character sheet, your background story, or just a little blurb! It's completely up to you.
• You can input your current challenge URL and/or battle log URL and these will show up under your guild crest when you post.
• You can input your social media profiles, and those will show on your profile.

 

 

We added CURRENT CHALLENGE and BATTLE LOG options to your profile card (what shows up under your name when you post). If you don't use either challenges or battle logs, just leave them blank, and they won't show up

Note: you can not edit the text, just the URL that shows up behind the text.

 

 

Here's the thread on how to edit your profile:

 

MAIN FORUM OVERHAUL:

We got a lot of feedback that having so many subforums was not only overwhelming, but confusing as to where to post, that there was a lot of overlap, and that lots of people were missing new posts - so we've condensed the subforums into broader categories.

 

We're still working on updating the descriptions, adding suggested tags, and some small tweaks - but this subforum format should be easier to use for everyone.

 

Note - one thing we did was move the location of the previous year archives for the challenges. This was to keep the main page cleaner and easier to browse, especially on mobile devices - so to find those, just click on "Previous Year Archives" and you'll be transported to their new location.

 

NAVIGATION BAR UPDATES
I updated these.

 

TAGGING:

As a part of the main forum overhaul, we ask that you start tagging your threads. As we add the new descriptions, we will add in suggested tags. Here is more information:

 

5 WEEK CHALLENGES:

 

Will be in one main forum, now, instead of split out into guilds. You will tag your thread with the guild you belong to, which will add your thread to the search links at the top of the challenge forum. This system allows all of us to work together, regardless of class, and also allows you to multi-class, which is something that's been requested for years, but we were unable to do with separate forums.

 

 

Here's more information on tagging your threads:

 

COMMUNITY CALENDAR:

This lists all important dates coming up! Here you'll find upcoming challenge dates and forum-wide events, but also it's open for you to use to add any sort of meet-up you're hosting (virtual or in person!). You can find that here:

https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/calendar

 

FORUM SOFTWARE UPDATES:

We did a major update to the forum software, which fixed a ton of bugs. We also made a ton of small tweaks to make things work a bit better - I'm not going to list them all out because there were a lot and I've likely forgotten some 🙂

 

Here are a few big ones:

 

There is now a GIF button as a part of the visual editor, so you can search and post gifs straight from the forums.

 

Following users, user threads, subscriptions - all issues around these have been fixed, however, you may need to go and update your settings. To do this, click on your name in the upper righthand corner, and then select MANAGE FOLLOWED CONTENT.

 

SEARCH settings have also been updated, and this functions better now.

 

ONLINE VISIBILITY - Instead of logging in anonymously now, you must go to your Account settings (click on your name in the upper right hand corner and select ACCOUNT SETTINGS, then go to SECURITY AND PRIVACY), and select the option there. This way wherever you log in, the setting is saved. 

 

You can also decide how you want to view the main forums - condensed, grid, or fluid layouts. Those options are next to START NEW TOPIC - check them out and decide what you like best!

 

 

Added a back to top button that you'll find at the bottoms of your threads.

 

 

If you find any new bugs you'd like to report, please use this thread:

https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/117917-bug-issue-report-thread/

 

RULES AND GUIDELINES:

We've updated the rules and guidelines. You can find them here:

https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/guidelines/

 

KNOWN ISSUES:

(I'll add to this as these arise)

 

Tapatalk is currently broken - they made an update that doesn't work with our forum software. They (and our forum software) are all aware and are working on a fix.

 

Instagram embeds no longer work - this is due to a change with Instagram. The forum software is working on a fix.

 

BBCode has been depreciated by the forum software and no longer works. 

 

When uploading an image, if it is under 1500x1500px, it will not automatically link, and you can double click on it to get editing/resizing options. However, if the image is over 1500x1500px, it will automatically thumbnail, and add a link to it. This is a forum software setting - and if you double click on the image, it will not take you to an editor, but take you to the image itself, which sometimes causes your post to be lost. You can remove the link by highlighting the image (but be careful, it's easy to accidentally click on it) and clicking the LINK in the WYSWIG editor, or manually removing the link in the source code, by clicking SOURCE in the HTML editor. 

 

 

That's it for now! Any questions, comments, etc - add below!  Hope you enjoy all the updates!

 

 

 

 

[Scaly Freak]

27 minutes ago, spezzy said:

Will be in one main forum, now, instead of split out into guilds. You will tag your thread with the guild you belong to, which will add your thread to the search links at the top of the challenge forum. This system allows all of us to work together, regardless of class, and also allows you to multi-class, which is something that's been requested for years, but we were unable to do with separate forums.

 

I do not like this change.

 

A lot of the guild sub forums have sticky threads where we share recipes, general training advise, and general chit-chat, that we will no longer have without having dedicated sub forums.  One of my LEAST favorite features of the all-guild challenge is that it's impossible for me to use these threads, and to find that one thread by that one user I am looking for, or by brand new neophyte Warriors who are challenging for the first time. 

 

I am confused. Was there a complaint or a major drawback by having us in different guilds, aside from the lack of dual classing ability?

[spezzy]

13 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

I do not like this change.

 

A lot of the guild sub forums have sticky threads where we share recipes, general training advise, and general chit-chat, that we will no longer have without having dedicated sub forums.  One of my LEAST favorite features of the all-guild challenge is that it's impossible for me to use these threads, and to find that one thread by that one user I am looking for, or by brand new neophyte Warriors who are challenging for the first time. 

 

I am confused. Was there a complaint or a major drawback by having us in different guilds, aside from the lack of dual classing ability?

 

These changes were not made without a lot of thought and analysis of feedback and questions we have received over the last few years. 

 

We made this change for many reasons -

• To encourage cross guild participation and interactions
• We had feedback that individual guild subforums felt a bit cliquey and didn't encourage people to venture outside of their own guild, and made new forum participants less likely to join a smaller guild.
• Consistent experience for everyone, regardless of guild.  Every guild is run a different way,  has different pinned threads, different challenges, and activity levels, etc,.
• To make mini-challenges better. This way we run one across everyone, we set them up ahead of time, and every guild is getting mini-challenges - where now, it depends on the time and availability of the individual guild leaders that challenge, and some guilds will end up with one each week and others end up with none at all. With guild leaders all volunteering their time, and everyone at max capacity because of everything going on in the world - this provides a better experience for the entire community.
• To encourage participation and make it easier and less complicated, which is something we are focusing on at Nerd Fitness as a whole.  With one subforum for everyone, there is no added complexity of having to pick a guild or decide where you 'belong'. If you're here, you belong, regardless of if you've decided on a guild or not. If you're new, you can mark your challenge as level 1 - or not (we'll be adding that to the tags/sorts at the top for the next challenge), but you're not required to if it makes you uncomfortable to do so. 

 

And to be completely transparent, when we split out the challenges into guilds, we had much higher participation across all guilds. In the earlier challenges this year, many guilds had between 5 and 10 participants - where others had over 50- which doesn't make sense to be split out into guilds. There are many reasons why this is discouraging for new members, but have also heard from older members that it makes them not want to come back.

 

For the threads that you're talking about - we  have done a full analysis all of those and their participation before these changes.  Two guilds have recipe threads (one of which has only been posted in 5x this year) - why not just have one across all guilds, or post in the nutrition section of the forums? The training tips threads - two guilds have those, and one hasn't been posted in since July. These can either be combined into one all-guild thread, or can go into their sections on the main forums.  This encourages people to go to those forums for threads about those topics, so not only members of a single guild / participants of a single challenge benefit from those discussions, and gives the consistent experience regardless of what guild you're in.  

 

The tag searches that are linked to at the top of the subforum give the same capability of the subforum, except for having pinned individual guild threads, and will give you all people who are doing a challenge as a part of that guild.  They also will now have the ability of tagging themselves level 1 AND a guild if they want to - which should make it easier to find new people, not harder. 

 

 

 

[Jean]

Starting at the start: thanks a lot for all the time you spend on the forum, making it a welcoming and enjoyable place that allows us to get together as a community and improve ourselves and our lives. What you're doing is amazing and if there is one thing I am grateful of when I log here, it is for this awesome community, which wouldn't exist without your efforts. You rock and I want you to really be aware of it because what I have written here under might appear like you're going to face complaints whatever awesome things you do. Your time and efforts are appreciated and I am deeply thankful for them.

 

That being said:

2 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

2 hours ago, spezzy said:

Will be in one main forum, now, instead of split out into guilds. You will tag your thread with the guild you belong to, which will add your thread to the search links at the top of the challenge forum. This system allows all of us to work together, regardless of class, and also allows you to multi-class, which is something that's been requested for years, but we were unable to do with separate forums.

I do not like this change.

 

I am adding my voice here. I would normally have registered as a ranger but choose not to, and instead focused first on scouts, then druids specifically because I like the lower amount of participants. I would not have started to do 5 week challenges if those more intimate safe havens had not existed. Some of us can find big crowded subforums where topics go on the second page in mere hours a bit intimidating, and while I understand that some might get discouraged to come back because of a lack of activity, others can never start posting because of too much of it. The search function doesn't replace dedicated subforums: in my opinion (which is just that, my single own opinion), grouping all the topics together defeats the idea of guilds by making more difficult to actively follow the status of guild related threads. It may just be me not being skilled with the tool but I find that I am unable and unwilling to put the energy to have an easy to access quick view of the threads of a definite guild that have received new messages since my last visit.

 

That being said, I do understand that you have to make choices and can't please everybody, and I respect the choices you have made. I juste wanted to underscore that some of us do like less crowded subforums and that they added meaningful value for people like me.

 

Overall, that is a great undertaking you have done and I am really fond of the links in the profile for the last challenge and battle log threads.

 

 

 

[Scaly Freak]

31 minutes ago, Jean said:

Starting at the start: thanks a lot for all the time you spend on the forum, making it a welcoming and enjoyable place that allows us to get together as a community and improve ourselves and our lives. What you're doing is amazing and if there is one thing I am grateful of when I log here, it is for this awesome community, which wouldn't exist without your efforts. 

 

Completely seconding this. This community is incredible and I am grateful for it, and for the efforts the admins put into running it. 

 

32 minutes ago, Jean said:

Some of us can find big crowded subforums where topics go on the second page in mere hours a bit intimidating, and while I understand that some might get discouraged to come back because of a lack of activity, others can never start posting because of too much of it.

 

But I also want to second this.

 

To be able to join a smaller guild and ease into the community can be very important. I also find it a lot more difficult to find threads started by my friends in the giant mass that is the holiday all-guild challenge, and I know it took over a week before I found everyone.  If eight different sub forums is too high a number, eliminating them entirely seems to me like it is going too far in the other direction.  I am also apprehensive about a system that relies on everyone remembering to tag their own threads correctly, but that's a separate matter.  

[spezzy]

18 hours ago, Jean said:

Starting at the start: thanks a lot for all the time you spend on the forum, making it a welcoming and enjoyable place that allows us to get together as a community and improve ourselves and our lives. What you're doing is amazing and if there is one thing I am grateful of when I log here, it is for this awesome community, which wouldn't exist without your efforts. Your rock and I want you to really be aware of it because what I have written here under might appear like you're going to face complaints whatever awesome things you do. Your time and efforts are appreciated and I am deeply thankful for them.

 

That being said:

 

I am adding my voice here. I would normally have registered as a ranger but choose not to, and instead focused first on scouts, then druids specifically because I like the lower amount of participants. I would not have started to do 5 week challenges if those more intimate safe havens had not existed. Some of us can find big crowded subforums where topics go on the second page in mere hours a bit intimidating, and while I understand that some might get discouraged to come back because of a lack of activity, others can never start posting because of too much of it. The search function doesn't replace dedicated subforums: in my opinion (which is just that, my single own opinion), grouping all the topics together defeats the idea of guilds by making more difficult to actively follow the status of guild related threads. It may just be me not being skilled with the tool but I find that I am unable and unwilling to put the energy to have an easy to access quick view of the threads of a definite guild that have received new messages since my last visit.

 

That being said, I do understand that you have to make choices and can't please everybody, and I respect the choices you have made. I juste wanted to underscore that some of us do like less crowded subforums and that they added meaningful value for people like me.

 

Overall, that is a great undertaking you have done and I am really fond of the links in the profile for the last challenge and battle log threads.

 

 

 

 

I 100% understand that there will be feelings on both sides of things, and that not everyone wanted to go this route, and I appreciate the comments/feedback - I'm all for it.  Feedback is how we make things better. 

 

I also understand the new system has a bit of a learning curve with it if you've been doing challenges for a while, and it's not what we're used to.  Things that feel confusing, or are overwhelming, we can tweak to make easier, as well

 

For new members, I'm working on something that will hopefully make everything feel super easy, and know exactly what to do in under 3 minutes, and to reduce the overwhelm, based off of a lot of things we've learned over the years and from talking to different members of both the forums and other areas of NF, but that's not done yet. 

 

One thing that you mentioned not being able to see threads of a guild that have received new messages from your last visit - that's actually really easy.

 

What you do is click on the guild icon at the top, and then select 'unread' for "Read Status" :

 

And it will give you exactly that.

 

Ownership allows you to select if you want to only see threads you've posted in, and Following will allow you to only see either content from members you follow or in threads that you've followed, so there are a ton of options that will quickly filter the posts to see exactly what you want to see.  

 

It actually gives more options for finding threads that should save a bunch of time, all around.

 

So let's say last challenge you enjoyed following a member's thread, all you have to do is follow that member - and then next challenge, you can sort by "members you follow" and their challenge threads will all pop up, regardless of what guild they decide to post in that challenge.  

 

You can also save anything as a personal stream, or as your default stream, if that's what you want to see by default.

 

I know it's an extra step - and I'm pretty sure I can set up an optional personalized challenge home where you set it up once and never have to again, but I'm still working to see if that's an option. 

 

 

[Teros]

I was vocal years ago back when Adventurers were being reclassified as skydivers/hikers with the dividing of people.  I think that the melding of all the guilds into 1 forum makes more sense considering how there are much less people/activity going on.  The past 4 or 5 challenges, I would pop into each specific guild and some felt like a ghost town which made me not want to visit.  I can't be the only one that saw a last post from '5 days ago' and thought to myself, "Oh...I guess no one talks to each other here."

 

The thing that pushed me to be a better person and really invest in the forums was the mingling of people so if the numbers are down and having a big pool where we all play is the way to get more 'community engagement' then I'm all for it.

 

 

I got room on my tube float and apple juice.

 

As for having people tagging their threads, I don't really understand the need for it.  I do dumbbell lifting at home, use a sledgehammer, was doing elliptical at the gym, bodyweight exercises, and did kickboxing at one point.  I think that the idea of a guild=activity would mean that I should have theoretically bounced between literally every guild but I stuck with adventurers for the majority of my time but with this, I guess I should tag everything?

[Aquarii]

55 minutes ago, Teros said:

As for having people tagging their threads, I don't really understand the need for it.  I do dumbbell lifting at home, use a sledgehammer, was doing elliptical at the gym, bodyweight exercises, and did kickboxing at one point.  I think that the idea of a guild=activity would mean that I should have theoretically bounced between literally every guild but I stuck with adventurers for the majority of my time but with this, I guess I should tag everything?

 

Or you could just tag Ranger or Rebel, since both offer a place for people who like to focus on a lot of areas instead of focusing on a primary area of training. Personally, I like that we can still tags guilds. I liked that each guild kind of has its own vibe and by tagging guilds it is easier to find people of similar fitness focuses. Though there are people who really like to be a jack of all trades when it comes to fitness (which is probably one of the reasons that the Rangers forum was always huge), there definitely seem to be plenty of people who prefer to specialize in one or two areas and like being able to find other members who identify similarly to them.

 

I will definitely miss the small subforums for similar reasons that others have already mentioned. I get overwhelmed with having so many threads in one place, which is why I intentionally chose to do the majority of my challenges in smaller guilds. But with the sorting features available, I think I will be able to use the new tools to create a system that works for me. Thank you for all the hard work that has been put into these updates. I am happy to see NF continuing to innovate and create a great user experience

[Xena]

25 minutes ago, Aquarii said:

I get overwhelmed with having so many threads in one place,

 

I felt a little overwhelmed during the holiday challenge too. Kind of weird b/c I was a Ranger for most of my years on NF and only recently(ish) moved to Scouts.

But of course, we'll adapt and find things to like about the new system.

 

Thanks for all your thought on this Spezzy.

[Elastigirl]

I was a bit overwhelmed at first. I feel like I'm getting the hang of it now. Kind of nice to have options. If I want to see what other Rangers are doing, I just click on that thread. If I want to see what others are doing, I check on that. Gives me a chance to  see what other people who I  usually don't follow ( just because there's a lot of people ) are doing.

 

I will miss the Ranger Guild Hall though

[Sciread77]

On 12/19/2020 at 6:00 PM, Scaly Freak said:

Will be in one main forum, now, instead of split out into guilds. You will tag your thread with the guild you belong to, which will add your thread to the search links at the top of the challenge forum. This system allows all of us to work together, regardless of class, and also allows you to multi-class, which is something that's been requested for years, but we were unable to do with separate forums

 
Please please please do not do this. 
 

I understand the reasoning, but bigger forums like the Rangers make it impossible to really connect with the group. I always get lost during the all-guild challenges and feel completely overwhelmed during them. I’ve really tried to adapt but ultimately, even the all-guilds are too much and I mostly stop using the forums.

 

This feels like a crushing blow right at a hard time. 

[Snarkyfishguts]

5 minutes ago, Sciread77 said:

 
Please please please do not do this. 
 

I understand the reasoning, but bigger forums like the Rangers make it impossible to really connect with the group. I always get lost during the all-guild challenges and feel completely overwhelmed during them. I’ve really tried to adapt but ultimately, even the all-guilds are too much and I mostly stop using the forums.

 

This feels like a crushing blow right at a hard time. 

No matter what, friend. I'm here for you. Adventurers for life. 💚

[Rurik Harrgath]

1 hour ago, Sciread77 said:

 Please please please do not do this. 
 

I understand the reasoning, but bigger forums like the Rangers make it impossible to really connect with the group. I always get lost during the all-guild challenges and feel completely overwhelmed during them. I’ve really tried to adapt but ultimately, even the all-guilds are too much and I mostly stop using the forums.

 

This feels like a crushing blow right at a hard time. 

 

I'm just going to chime in here because this perspective has popped up a couple of times now...

 

The guilds haven't gone anywhere. You aren't obligated to follow all 5 pages of the new mega-forum. Our Admins have very kindly provided several different sorting options that allow for single or multi-guild following (click the Adventurers or the Druids or the Scouts, etc) and you'll have just the Guild you're looking for. All you're doing now is just clicking a new button to get there!

 

I appreciate that 2020 has been a hell of a year and that change is scary but the Admin team has been very transparent that the forums are declining in participation and this has quite clearly been a breath of life back into a floundering communication medium. 

 

If you're feeling overwhelmed with the current forum, you're welcome to just modify the Activity Stream (read: feed) like was outlined by Spezzy above to follow only your Guild or mates. It's quite simple to do and once again Spezzy has been kind enough to detail how to do that as well. 

 

One thing I want to ask that everyone feeling upset over these changes keeps in mind is that none of this is personal, but instead for the good of the whole community. We aren't gaining members and our newbies don't stick around; concensus and discussion both indicates those factors are due to a lack of activity overall. It's important to keep the Big Picture in mind and understand that this change comes from a desire to serve the greater good of the forums as a whole. 

 

So while a combined-Guilds forum might seem like an overwhelming change, it's only been three weeks so far and none of us can pretend we've even given it a chance yet, plus two comments have flat out said they aren't willing to try. With that in mind, if you're missing a recipes thread, start one up in the Nutrition subforum. If you're missing a certain cadre from your Guild, say it's the Scouts for example - start a general endurance discussion thread in the appropriate subforum and tag everyone you'd like to pop in or link the thread in your challenge for all your followers to see! Part of the problem we've noticed is that people hide in their Guilds and never venture out into the wider forum; relevant discussion subforums go unused and make the forums appear dead, some members go unfollowed, and many of us are prevented from making new friends outside our comfort zones!  I've already made four wonderful new friends from this combined-Guilds challenge (and I'm introverted AF 🤣)

 

I apologize if this is me coming across as cold-hearted, but it's honestly a bit exhausting to keep each of hundreds of members happy, productive, and motivated all at once. Admins and Guild Leaders alike volunteer hour after hour of their personal time to try and deliver everyone a cohesive experience in line with the Nerd Fitness vision. Sadly we realize everyone is different and not everyone can be happy with any change in general, and this is a big one. 

 

But it's new and the dust hasn't even started to settle yet. Growing pains will be felt.

 

TL, DR: if you miss the old Guild subforums, click the Guild badge at the top of the forum. All we're actually missing are individual pins and separated mini-challenges/discussions (where, we noticed, mileage varied massively between the Guilds). Very few of these were active outside certain Guilds to begin with so the decision was made, after much input and discussion on behalf of many interested parties, to make some quality of life changes. 

[Aquarii]

24 minutes ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

TL, DR: if you miss the old Guild subforums, click the Guild badge at the top of the forum. All we're actually missing are individual pins and separated mini-challenges/discussions (where, we noticed, mileage varied massively between the Guilds). Very few of these were active outside certain Guilds to begin with so the decision was made, after much input and discussion on behalf of many interested parties, to make some quality of life changes. 

 

I think the biggest issue that some of us are having is simply that some of us actually preferred low-activity guilds with only a few members. When I finished with Level 1 ( Still the Rebels at the time) when I started years ago, I specifically sought out a low-traffic guilt because it was low traffic. I liked a more tight-nit team feel over the bustling activity of a heavy-traffic guild.

 

I do appreciate that we have tools that allow for us to sort and filter, and providing instructions on how to use them is very helpful. I completely understand why you all decided to make the switch, and if it helps to keep the NF forums alive and healthy, it is certainly worth a poorer user experience (extra work to tag and sort and filter) for the few of us who loved the sub-forum structure. 

[Scaly Freak]

2 hours ago, Sciread77 said:

Please please please do not do this. 

 

I don't know why you quoted me when posting this, but that wasn't me saying that quoted part. Just to be clear.  

 

1 hour ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

One thing I want to ask that everyone feeling upset over these changes keeps in mind is that none of this is personal, but instead for the good of the whole community. We aren't gaining members and our newbies don't stick around; concensus and discussion both indicates those factors are due to a lack of activity overall. It's important to keep the Big Picture in mind and understand that this change comes from a desire to serve the greater good of the forums as a whole. 

 

For my part, that was never in doubt. And preserving the community should be prioritized above all else.... it would absolutely suck to wake up a year from now and not have a Rebellion anymore.

 

1 hour ago, Aquarii said:

 

I think the biggest issue that some of us are having is simply that some of us actually preferred low-activity guilds with only a few members. When I finished with Level 1 ( Still the Rebels at the time) when I started years ago, I specifically sought out a low-traffic guilt because it was low traffic. I liked a more tight-nit team feel over the bustling activity of a heavy-traffic guild.

 

As made obvious by my previous posts in this thread, I'm among this group.

 

So.

 

How do we work with the new format to recreate the low-activity small-community feeling? There's clearly a demand for it, and as nerds we are by definition smart and capable problems-solvers. How do we make this work for us?

 

Brainstorming session , begin!

[Elastigirl]

41 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

I don't know why you quoted me when posting this, but that wasn't me saying that quoted part. Just to be clear.  

 

 

For my part, that was never in doubt. And preserving the community should be prioritized above all else.... it would absolutely suck to wake up a year from now and not have a Rebellion anymore.

 

 

As made obvious by my previous posts in this thread, I'm among this group.

 

So.

 

How do we work with the new format to recreate the low-activity small-community feeling? There's clearly a demand for it, and as nerds we are by definition smart and capable problems-solvers. How do we make this work for us?

 

Brainstorming session , begin!

I'm from the Rangers, so not a small guild😄,  but it seems like some things that would help are  1) Click on the main challenge page , then immediately click on your group challenge title (on my computer this is super easy, not sure how easy it is on an app) . You can completely ignore the main page with it's huge number of threads

 

 2) to keep that community feel start subforums that we want (meeting hall, recipes, whatever) and then tag it with you guild so it shows up in the thread

 

I think that still leaves you with the problem  of new people not knowing where to go.They will probably just be in the main thread, and  might be lost as to what the other guilds are doing

[spezzy]

36 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

How do we work with the new format to recreate the low-activity small-community feeling? There's clearly a demand for it, and as nerds we are by definition smart and capable problems-solvers. How do we make this work for us?

 

Brainstorming session , begin!

 

First, I want to say I appreciate where your head is at here. 

 

We started off with the challenges as a 28 day challenge all as one big group - and have made a TON of changes over the last 11 (!!!!!) years.  We've tried longer challenges, shorter challenges, challenges as one big group, challenges as guilds, challenges where you have assigned parties, challenges with full RPG stats - you name it, we've tried it!

 

We are constantly evolving and changing, and that's a good thing - and some of our best solutions are actually things that have come from bigger changes like this that we have tweaked and changed over time. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Aquarii said:

I think the biggest issue that some of us are having is simply that some of us actually preferred low-activity guilds with only a few members. When I finished with Level 1 ( Still the Rebels at the time) when I started years ago, I specifically sought out a low-traffic guilt because it was low traffic. I liked a more tight-nit team feel over the bustling activity of a heavy-traffic guild.

 

 

 

It sounds like some people have done this - and others have done the opposite (switched guilds to find a more active guild).

 

But with that - say someone actually wants to be a ranger, and their goals align with ranger goals, but wants the low-activity - do they pick druid or monk just because of that?

 

That defeats the purpose of us having the guilds based off of our fitness goals.

 

And then what happens if the guild grows? Do you change guilds to stay in a smaller space? 

 

If we're brainstorming ideas, wouldn't it make sense to maybe play up on forums like the Accountibilibuddies / PVP Challenges Forum (or something similar) and allow members to make their own mini groups - kind of like an adventuring party? Then you could create a thread for your group in that forum, and then:

• Follow all of the members in your group and use the "Members I follow" pre-made activity stream that's found in the navigation bar (note: anyone can do this now if they only want to see certain people's threads, or want to make sure they don't miss their friend's challenges, which feels faster than searching all of the guilds to find where someone posted)
• Create your own custom tag and all agree to tag your threads with that, and then either create an activity stream that everyone in your group can use ( This takes under a minute to do, and I can do a step by step how-to) for that tag, click on the tag and bookmark that link, or make a list of all of your member's challenges at the start of every challenge - really anything you want. 
• It could be set up that anyone could join your group (We don't want a situation where anything is ever closed to membership)
• You could also be a member of a small group AND a larger official guild this way. 

Before we split into larger guilds - we used a similar system and it worked quite well for a long time, and I know this is how I met some of my best friends that I still talk to, 10 years later. 

 

And from reading some posts on the forums, it sounds like some people are looking for a space where they can challenge with a small group of people they have interacted with and have larger, more meaningful interactions with (which IS an important part of these challenges),  especially when they don't have many spoons left.  Something like this could potentially work really well to make that space available. 

 

 

===========

Two question for all, also:

 

Honest question, here, and this is something I'm truly just trying to understand, and not trying to be argumentative about:

 

1) 

If I go to the Challenge Forums, and then click on "Druids", I get taken here, which gives me a list of all druid challenges.

 

In the old format, if I wanted to see all of the Druids challenges, I'd go to the main challenge forums, click on "Druids", and get a list of all druid challenges. 

 

From a user standpoint (recipe / chit chat threads aside) - doesn't that achieve the same result? 

 

2) 

You can also then select "unread" and it will show you only threads that are unread, and "following" and will only show you threads you are following that are unread - reducing the number of threads on the page and giving you an exact list of who you are following that you haven't caught up with yet.   

 

Wouldn't this make it easier to keep up with your friends, and reduce the overall overwhelm because there's less to sort through that way? 

 

I understand that we added these sorts after the all guild challenge was created, so people weren't instructed to tag their threads until after, and many still haven't (and we didn't use them for last year's all guild, so they're also brand new).

 

 

[spezzy]

38 minutes ago, Elastigirl said:

I think that still leaves you with the problem  of new people not knowing where to go.They will probably just be in the main thread, and  might be lost as to what the other guilds are doing

 

When the new challenge goes live, there will be a way for new members to tag their posts that they are new, as well as a sort for them if they want to add it (some new members don't want to be labelled as such). 

 

There will also be very clear instructions on how everything works with the goal of having them understand exactly what to do in under one minute. 

 

 

[spezzy]

49 minutes ago, Elastigirl said:

I'm from the Rangers, so not a small guild😄,  but it seems like some things that would help are  1) Click on the main challenge page , then immediately click on your group challenge title (on my computer this is super easy, not sure how easy it is on an app) . You can completely ignore the main page with it's huge number of threads

 

 2) to keep that community feel start subforums that we want (meeting hall, recipes, whatever) and then tag it with you guild so it shows up in the thread

 

 

We can create a way so that you can select a specific activity stream to be your default when you load up the forums, and that's on my list of things to look into further - but that's likely a next weekend project as I have some things on my evenings this week due to the holidays. 

 

For the recipes thread - couldn't we just have one across all guilds? Only 2 guilds had them in the first place, and we all have to eat.

[Ann of Owlshire]

I’m mixed on the whole thing, but one of the things I wanted to mention about the objections because I don’t think it’s being understood is that some people are concerned about losing the intimacy and preceived privacy of the small groups. When one is in a forum with only 5 active users, they may feel more intimate and that they can share more of their challenges—even if that forum is still public.. Sure, someone else can just wander into the forums as well, but that feeling of having your own room to talk in (even if the door is unlocked) isn’t the same as having a table in a huge crowded cafeteria.

 

So yes, one can filter things down so they only see their Guild members, but they are still in a very, very crowded great hall and feel less protected from the mass that is the Internet. 

 

I’m not saying right or wrong and I’m not even sure I have an answer on how to fix this while also continuing with the All Guild, I’m just commenting on this because I didn’t feel like this perspective was being fully communicated/understood but I know it’s the heart of concern of some of the objections.

 

Thanks as always to the mods for all they do for this great community. ❤️ 

[Jean]

I'll make a more thorough reply later (because damn is the Feeds tool powerful!) but in the mean time, may I request @spezzy (with no urgency whatsoever) that the default list of Activity Streams (shown below) be either customable (maybe it is, I haven't found it yet) or cleared? It's huge and my tiny screen can't access my custom streams with it.

 

I'm asking because Custom Streams are HUGE! You can basically shape what sections you want to show in the forum and further customize with tags, so you can have several of them saved to fit your various browsing habits and switch from one to the other when you're done with one (for example : one to browse Druids challenges, one to check for newcomers, one for specific themes with or without new messages, shown by topics or messages, ...). And the best thing? You can activate them, bookmark the page and access the forum with that particular stream on through your bookmarks tab/menu/whatever (of which you can, of course, have several).

 

Basically, you can choose what you want the forum to display, and set up several of them. It's not very good looking but it is so. effective! I don't know yet if I am grateful for it but I'm sure going to fiddle some more.

 

By the way, thanks for your open mindedness. This is why I love this community so much.

 

 

Picture:

 

 

 

[Sciread77]

7 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

I don't know why you quoted me when posting this, but that wasn't me saying that quoted part. Just to be clear.  

 

User error, likely!

 

5 hours ago, spezzy said:

We can create a way so that you can select a specific activity stream to be your default when you load up the forums, and that's on my list of things to look into further - but that's likely a next weekend project as I have some things on my evenings this week due to the holidays. 

That would be tremendously helpful. I know it doesn’t seem like a lot. 
 

3 hours ago, Ann of Owlshire said:

So yes, one can filter things down so they only see their Guild members, but they are still in a very, very crowded great hall and feel less protected from the mass that is the Internet. 

 

5 hours ago, spezzy said:

1) 

If I go to the Challenge Forums, and then click on "Druids", I get taken here, which gives me a list of all druid challenges.

 

In the old format, if I wanted to see all of the Druids challenges, I'd go to the main challenge forums, click on "Druids", and get a list of all druid challenges. 

 

From a user standpoint (recipe / chit chat threads aside) - doesn't that achieve the same result? 

This is the other thing that is a major issue for me. I know I can largely recreate a lot of the functional aspects of our subforums, but I’ve spent the last few years in a subforum that is public (and very welcoming!) but also small enough and with few enough new faces that I have finally really opened up and established deep relationships.  It took a while to feel comfortable doing so. I’ve never really felt comfortable in or enjoyed all-guild challenges since they lack that feeling of privacy. As Ann said, it’s the difference between having a conversation in an unlocked room and a crowded cafeteria at your own table. 
 

5 hours ago, spezzy said:

2) 

You can also then select "unread" and it will show you only threads that are unread, and "following" and will only show you threads you are following that are unread - reducing the number of threads on the page and giving you an exact list of who you are following that you haven't caught up with yet.   

 

Wouldn't this make it easier to keep up with your friends, and reduce the overall overwhelm because there's less to sort through that way? 

 

I’m sure this is helpful in a larger subforum. The forums already short by newest posts and highlight the unread, though. The Adventurers usually don’t have more than 20 threads at a time, which is a major part of the advantage there.  

 

Quote

I understand that we added these sorts after the all guild challenge was created, so people weren't instructed to tag their threads until after, and many still haven't (and we didn't use them for last year's all guild, so they're also brand new).

Having that information before the announcement would have made the all-guild a lot better, and made the idea of a permanent all-guild with some additional features a lot less panic-inducing. As I panic-posted in my challenge, all-guilds are where I get lost in the ether and have always had trouble finding people unless I search them out. And a couple of friends often change names/handles and while that isn’t any kind of issue in a smaller thread it always is for me in the bigger ones. 

 

5 hours ago, spezzy said:

But with that - say someone actually wants to be a ranger, and their goals align with ranger goals, but wants the low-activity - do they pick druid or monk just because of that?

 

That defeats the purpose of us having the guilds based off of our fitness goals.

I would very likely have chosen Rangers if it wasn’t utterly overwhelming. I chose Adventurers because it’s smaller and active and focused on similar goals as the Rangers but with a theme. Which is also why I’ve done some challenges with the Scouts.  But the new tools aren’t going to filter out all that activity, so I can’t imagine tagging the Rangers. What’s more, while we make posts in Zero Weeks if I start my thread and someone already has 7 pages on their challenge, it feels hopelessly inaccessible. 

It perhaps also doesn’t help that I’m largely relegated to mobile access. As mentioned above Tapatalk doesn’t work, and tbh it hasn’t worked for me for years due to its inability to access my account here. So if the features don’t show up as well or at all on the mobile Chrome or Safari it’s also harder. A lot of the screenshots of the site have never fully reflected my user experience in so any changes always seem to take extra time. 
 

Thank you for listening. This place has been home. The Adventurers are family, and a lot of us are parents to children and/or otherwise seeking the more intimate experience with a lesser time commitment. I’m happy to say this is at least my 15th straight challenge. I didn’t track it for a while but was inspired by @Teros

[RES]

I'm confused, maybe because I've been using a custom activity stream for years (since the update that removed our status bars in the signatures, remember that? 😮 ) so this doesn't seem like such a huge change for me.  The only thing I had to change was time period because it was showing me stuff from years ago.

 

This shows me the activity in items I'm following. I have it set as my default and can catch up on the activity I missed.

 

The only thing that has really changed is how you get to your 'guild forum', instead of having a separate board for each one you click a link at the top of the challenge page, once you do that it kind of is like a separate board. Like @spezzy said, I think this actually makes it easier to find anyone in your guild...is it the discussion threads for each guild causing a disconnect? Like I said, I'm confused and trying to make sense of what is causing the adversity to the changes.

[Sciread77]

7 hours ago, spezzy said:

 

When the new challenge goes live, there will be a way for new members to tag their posts that they are new, as well as a sort for them if they want to add it (some new members don't want to be labelled as such). 

 

There will also be very clear instructions on how everything works with the goal of having them understand exactly what to do in under one minute. 

 

 

Also I don’t know if I clearly noted it but I am 100% excited about these changes. I never did a Rebels challenge for this reason. 
 

16 minutes ago, RES said:

I'm confused, maybe because I've been using a custom activity stream for years (since the update that removed our status bars in the signatures, remember that? 😮 ) so this doesn't seem like such a huge change for me.  The only thing I had to change was time period because it was showing me stuff from years ago.

 

This shows me the activity in items I'm following. I have it set as my default and can catch up on the activity I missed.

 

The only thing that has really changed is how you get to your 'guild forum', instead of having a separate board for each one you click a link at the top of the challenge page, once you do that it kind of is like a separate board. Like @spezzy said, I think this actually makes it easier to find anyone in your guild...is it the discussion threads for each guild causing a disconnect? Like I said, I'm confused and trying to make sense of what is causing the adversity to the changes.

 

If I were in the Rangers forum, this would be a complete and total upgrade. That, I think, is where the disconnect happens.  The Adventurers guild and Scout guild subforums are totally different and definitely have their own subculture on account of how small we are. Adventurers are perfect as is IMO; small enough to be intimate and large enough to have conversations. Understand that I specifically avoided attractive but overwhelming larger forums with a steeper learning curve like the Rangers and Warriors. I’ll venture into the non-challenge knowledge base threads of those guilds but the challenges have been too big. 
 

It sounds easier when your used to having a hundred people to sort through. I see 1-5 new threads a day during zero week and the first week of a challenge with a few new faces and visitors but mostly the people I already know I want to see. 
 

As it is, I know a lot of you and love having you for challenges or conversations. I’ve also slowly met you over the course of years.

 

I think the Guilds sorted themselves a lot more based on general interests, community norms, and posting habits than actual fitness.  My posting about hiking based events makes the Scouts a homey place. My seasonal gardening and homesteading obsessions probably mean I could make a lot of friends with Druids.  I always tell new people it’s your spirit that makes an Adventurer. There are a lot of opportunities with the new system for sure. I just don’t have a lot of spoons available and usually this little corner of the ‘net is where I talk to close friends and get a few back instead of spending them. 
 

With a lot of the information  @spezzy provided I do feel quite a lot better, especially knowing the functionality that I think will make the all-guild better. I am extremely nervous as well, and again it is in part the air of privacy our previous subforums had that I don’t necessarily see this as having. 

[Teros]

2 hours ago, Sciread77 said:

What’s more, while we make posts in Zero Weeks if I start my thread and someone already has 7 pages on their challenge, it feels hopelessly inaccessible. 

100% on this man.  It felt for about a year now that when I posted, I was at the loser's table of the cafeteria while there all the popular kids already had this built-in friends list.  I truly don't understand the zero week. Like, ok, 'people can start the next day if they want' but the zero-week people IS that sort of smaller intimacy thing that I think is happening.  I think forums should be locked and un-postable during zero week or just have no zero week exist but I think that's a totally separate topic.

 

Imagine the challenges are, you know, group challenges like a race.  If the race starts at 10am, what sense does it make to let people start racing at 8am *as well*?   You just get the very motivated early-birds who will run together and then everyone else: creating a differential of motivation.  You have the motivated as their own little group (7-pagers) and then the 'regular' who, as stated above, feel left out.  I mean, I even tested this by making a thread in the "upcoming challenges" and there was more interaction in that non-existant week than the following actual challenge weeks, so I definitely think there is something going on here psychologically.

 

and @Sciread77