Clan Leader/Officer Message Board

[Milkboy31]

So lately we had an incident where we removed a member from our clan due to behavioral issues. The member then re-applied thinking he had been removed accidentally or perhaps just to re-apply! And one of our officers (who wasn't quite up to speed on the situation) re-instated them thinking that perhaps they managed to get themselves withdrawn from the clan on accident.

That being said, we got to discussing what a nice idea it would be if there were a "notepad" or "messageboard" that only the officers and leaders could see. That way they could update it with any important info regarding the clan's management and happenings... without publicly trying to convey that info for all to see or without having to YOM 6 or 7 other people.

I know this may only benefit those clans that have 50+ members and 5 or so leaders/officers... but as the game grows, this will become more commonplace.

Thoughts? :)

[muad]

there is always YOM and no coding required!

[Milkboy31]

without publicly trying to convey that info for all to see or without having to YOM 6 or 7 other people.

Perhaps you overlooked that... :roll:

[JCP]

This isn't the answer you want to hear, but try to work around it for now.

We know that the clan system needs work, but we just don't have the time - especially to try to code things so people play nice.

Another comment area is just not going to happen. Far too much work to keep track of it.

(I already have a screen that lists every comment area in the game so I can review it if necessary. Between all the public areas and each clan area it goes for several screens.)

Maybe one of the coders can respond by adding an "officers only" message-of-the-day type thing, but it's not my call.

I do sympathize - but real life is a real monster at the moment.

[Milkboy31]

That's a perfectly acceptable answer JCP. Real life always takes priority and you guys do a ton of work on this already...

I merely wanted to throw the idea out there to see if anyone agreed that they wanted to see something like this in the future. If I knew how to code PHP I'd be all over it for you guys... unfortunately I'm a network admin who can kick booty with hardware, but hits the wall at coding.

Code never interested me much... I can do some Visual Basic, but find it extremely boring... unlike my wife who is a C++ and VB freak.... oh well, to each thier own...

[Afgncaap5]

I know JCP says there isn't time (and quite reasonably so), but I just had a few weird thoughts when I read this.

See, my clan is comprised entirely of leaders and officers. :wink:

[Elessa]

whilst i realize it makes sense to hath a place located within the game to conduct clan business, there is no reason why ye cannot set up something thyself outside of the game.

the leaders and officers of my clan use AIM to communicate and form chat rooms when necessary to hath a discussion.

ye can also create a forum/group specific to ye at a site like yahoo! where ye can communicate solely amongst the leadership.

ye can create an IRC channel on any of the IRC servers.

there are many options available to ye to utilize in the meantime whilst waiting for changes to be made to the clan system. from playing this game for a very long time and reading the forums regarding changes to the clan system... it shall be a very long wait indeed.

[Pwyll]

The Clan feature I've always wanted was the ability for Leaders to YOM all Clan members at once - a "Clan Newsletter" if you will. Only Leaders would be able to do this, so spamming would (hopefully!) not be an issue.

[bratt]

I suppose another option would be to set up a usergroup for leaders and officers in the clan so that everyone is aware of problem players, with the mods/admins all having full access.
This usergroup could be server-wide to include all clans, or it could be selective, available only to those who are interested, or for single-clan use.
I'm not sure how easy/complex it would be to set something like this up, but when officers are elected, the leaders would add them to the user group.
I know it would add an additional step to the game, that the officers would have to check the usergroup postings before admitting any new applicant, but if it saves fellow officers embarrassment, it might just be worth it!

Yet another option - and I don't know if this can be done easily - is to be able to do a multiple recipient YOM, as in real-life email. Yes, I know I am just being lazy, since copy/paste would work in multiple single-recipient YOMs too.

Not being a programmer or coder, I have no concept of the time factors involved, but as a user, I have nothing but admiration for you folks who do all this for us and I respect the fact that Real Life has priority.

Please don't think of these suggestions as demands - I am just floating ideas out for input.

Thanks!

[Acemaster]

The problem with having multiple recipients for YOMs it it makes spamming much easier. Other than that, it would be very convenient.

[Sichae-Saracen]

I have created something along the lines of a Clan Newsletter, which allows for the mass YOMing to a clan.

Although, I am considering re-writing it, because it currently uses another table to store values, and I am going to change this.

[Pwyll]

Yay! :D (me/hopes to see it on Central...)

[Sichae-Saracen]

Okay, rewritten to not consume a database table, but now uses objprefs so it is less database intensive.

I will talk to Kendaer about inclusion in core.

[Moonchilde]

I'm sorry, but I will not now nor every include anything which has the capability of mass-mailing players (even a limited subset) in the core.

[Pwyll]

I'm sorry, but I will not now nor every include anything which has the capability of mass-mailing players (even a limited subset) in the core.

Kendaer, I honestly don't understand your adamance about this. The point of the feature is for Clan Leaders (only) to be able to send a message to all their Clan members (only) - that's not a mass-mailing or a spam, it's a mechanism to improve the function of clans. After all, if one has joined a Clan, presumably one does not mind receiving messages from one's Clan Leader.

Yes, there is the Clan MoTD area, but you can't be sure that everyone will see that in a timely fashion. It would be really helpful to be able to tell everyone, "Clan meeting at 6PM Tuesday!" or even "Go to the Hall and read the MoTD!" without having to send 26 YOMs one at a time.

So I'm respectfully asking, and hoping it won't annoy you: Why not? :)

[Moonchilde]

So I'm respectfully asking, and hoping it won't annoy you: Why not? :)

Because it is the first step down a slippery slope, and I won't take it.

[Pwyll]

Ah, so you foresee it possibly leading to mass YOMs for all and a resulting flood of spam. I suppose I can appreciate that concern - even things that are done with the best of intentions can have unforseen and potentially bad consequences...

[Sichae-Saracen]

Okay, that is fine with me.