Ratifying the current Compendium charter and organization

[ZeaLitY]

Please read the new site charter at

http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Chrono_Compendium:About.html

and vote yes or no for ratification. We're going for consensus, so if you vote no, I expect you to post commentary. Once a sizable portion of our active forumers are in agreement, the charter will be finished.

You can delay your vote if you wish to make suggestions concerning the method of the Compendium's organization.

[Kyronea]

I find this charter to be most satisfactory. Nothing here irks me in any way. I was a little worried about the whole Guru system at first, but seeing as how Gurus are given their status purely out of merits and achievments, it's fine with me. So...I like it.

[nightmare975]

I'd like a position that we, the members, vote on.

[Glennleo]

I'd like a position that we, the members, vote on.

That is a very interesting idea. I for one agree on this statement. Maybe make it like Chrono Fan of the Month or something like that, so a lot of members have a shot of getting that title.

[Lord J Esq]

That sounds like a good idea. It would, however, live or die depending on good forum participation, fan work contributions, or other service to the Chrono Compendium and its community. Do we have enough active, industrious people for that? Also, for security, we wouldn't be able to invest any special forum powers in the titleholder(s).

[Glennleo]

That sounds like a good idea. It would, however, live or die depending on good forum participation, fan work contributions, or other service to the Chrono Compendium and its community. Do we have enough active, industrious people for that? Also, for security, we wouldn't be able to invest any special forum powers in the titleholder(s).

Yea, I know what you mean. It would probably be just an honorary title for a month. Just a little recognition from other forum users, that's all.

As far as active members, that's a little tough to gauge I guess. Maybe do a test run with nominations or something, to get a feel for who usually is an active poster/contributer? 

[nightmare975]

Damn it! I want MOD POWERS!

jk, give it a name like Lord of Zeal and you would have people begging to be it.

[Kyronea]

jk, give it a name like Lord of Zeal and you would have people begging to be it.

And that's why I lean against this, as it seems to me it would end up being a popularity contest at best. I've seen such stuff on other forums: it turns into an ego-fest within no time at all.

[Glennleo]

Yea that wouldn't be good, now would it? 

How could we do it then? Maybe take the voting out all together, and a select group of admins/members or whoever pick a person who has done a good deed for the site, and just give the honorary title to them?

[nightmare975]

jk, give it a name like Lord of Zeal and you would have people begging to be it.

And that's why I lean against this, as it seems to me it would end up being a popularity contest at best. I've seen such stuff on other forums: it turns into an ego-fest within no time at all.

Then make it mayor of porre or something. Hell, you could call it Mojo!

Put of prerequesits(misspelled) on it, like:

1. Be a member for at least one month.
2. Have at least 100 posts.
3. Have no problems(like a temp ban) for at least a month.
4. Not an admin.
5. No other special titles.

[Kyronea]

Yea that wouldn't be good, now would it? 

How could we do it then? Maybe take the voting out all together, and a select group of admins/members or whoever pick a person who has done a good deed for the site, and just give the honorary title to them?

And then you run into accusations of favoritism and general whining from some of the forum population.

No, I think we should forget about the idea. It's never been implimented with positive results anywhere else I've seen.

[ZeaLitY]

jk, give it a name like Lord of Zeal and you would have people begging to be it.

And that's why I lean against this, as it seems to me it would end up being a popularity contest at best. I've seen such stuff on other forums: it turns into an ego-fest within no time at all.

Agreed. The issue is that one month, a regular would do a bunch of general discussion off-topic posting and spam to amuse everyone and generate support for the title. Next time, it'd be a different regular. What happens here is the codification of a clique of regulars. If you've been to other RPG forums like IcyBrian or even Chronoshock, you have a group of core regular posters who a.) hardly ever talk about what the site was designed for, choosing to shoot the crap and make inside jokes and b.) develop their own hierarchy, standards of behavior, and standards of treating outsiders. Right now, people have weight in this forum based purely on merit. The ones who logically debate Chrono stuff or work on fan projects in turn generate their own attention and discussion.

Now, I'm not saying that general discussion isn't allowed. But when the focus of the forums switches to it, the meritocracy and the culture of achievement and activity is sidetracked to endless, circular posting. Threads like "word association" and other games develop, and the general discussion forums become their own islands apart from the site (with inside jokes and other spam occasionally spilling into other forums). Enabling this popularity rank would serve to do that by uniting the regulars to vote on each other without any Chrono series merit or Compendium criteria considered.

Granted, this is all on a grand scale. The Compendium is different from most forums due to the maturity of its retainers, and it isn't quite large enough to sustain a big Unmod clique. But creating a popularity contest would be a step in that direction. I don't want any newcomer to ever feel alienated. And, to ever be recognized here, someone's going to have to do something. This prevents people such as Mr. "I'm going to sue Square Enix for C&Ding CT: Resurrection" or Mrs. "I don't know much about the Chrono series but I sure can post funny images and make people like me" from getting recognized by the Chrono Compendium as an institution. It takes action and merit, baby. I intend that there will never be a corrupt bunch of oldies screwing everything up and creating pervasive rot, a situation I've seen in many other forums and organizations. The Compendium is powered by achievement.

~

Well, I could have made a shorter post, but I wanted to release these sentiments in case they are needed for future reference.

[Glennleo]

It was just an idea. */shrug*

But reading all the posts I definitely see all your points and they do make sense. It would be really cool to have that sort of award, but it wouldn't be worth it if all those other things happened as well.

Better safe, than sorry, I guess.

[nightmare975]

DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL TO HELL! I'VE BEEN AT THIS SITE FOR TWO YEARS NOW AND HAVE NOTHING TO MY NAME!

All I've ever wanted was some sort of consideration for my time here.

So I vote no. It offers nothing to long-time members.

[ZeaLitY]

That's like post count, though. Should someone who posts "lol thats a good idea" on every analysis thread (it's happened) and gets a massive post count be honored for it? Even if he's been around three years?

I mean, damn. There are like three Gurus and four administrators, and the creative regents don't even exist yet. EVERYONE else is a regular member. If you have something to your name, you generate your own attention and respect. JLukas currently doesn't have some special title, but everyone is aware that he helped penetrate the Prerelease and has offered continuing assistance in ROM hacking and creating the Japanese script. A newbie might not figure it out, but he or she will after reading some threads or witnessing him in action. It's the same for others with achievements. Unless you want a fancy title so that new member steveMAGUS_6509815 knows you're special as soon as he joins the Compendium, everyone here will probably already have a good measure of your ability. The Guruship is just reserved for something AMAZING (Temporal Flux, the Retranslation, helping build the analysis encyclopedia or founding the Compendium, creating  the concept of Time Error), and the creative stuff will give people an incentive to create works. But hell, if you want a fancy title, you can add something below your avatar under Profile options. Mine is "Compendium Corp", because I enjoy thinking of us as Shinra sometimes.