A proposal regarding the way we do news and updates...

[Ramsus]

I have some proposed changes regarding news and updates for the site. If my proposals get some discussion and a good amount of consensus, I'll implement them shortly afterward.

Anyway, for starters, I believe we should create separate forums for news and update posts. Updates should pertain to changes to the site and its content (such as the addition of submitted content and corrections), and news should mostly relate to things like new games and products of interest being released or prominent community happenings outside of the site.

Furthermore, we should convert the submissions forum so that its only purpose is for members to write their own submissions for news and update posts following certain strict writing criteria. Upon being reviewed by an editor, these posts will then be moved to the news or update forums, where they will receive frontpage status. This will encourage community involvement in updating the site without requiring any commitment by any individual. Furthermore, frontpage status also means the submitter gets a little bit more prominence in the community.

The major consequence of this change will be the institution of new news and update writing guidelines that all members, including admins, will have to follow. The major benefit will be seeing more updates.

One of the reasons for making these proposals is that I noticed when we had a fan project news forum years ago, we saw more updates by members wanting to promote their projects. However, the major problem limiting that system was the lack of editorial review before posts hit the front page and the requirement of having a fan project before you could get permission to have access to the fan project news forum. This new system solves that by forcing all news and updates to pass through the submission forum, thus allowing us to permit any member to submit news without having to trust them in any way, while giving everyone a chance to promote or point out pretty much anything related to the Chrono series.

EDIT: I'm moving this to the public Compendium discussion forum, since this is a matter concerning all members.

[chi_z]

I'm a tad bit confuddled, would the current submissions forum become part of the kajar laboratories?

[Lance VII]

I could write for the fan projects. I fairly knowledgeable about the current fan games in development.

I used to write Wii Game reviews for a now dead website. I also wrote my fair share of fan games.

[Ramsus]

I'm a tad bit confuddled, would the current submissions forum become part of the kajar laboratories?

Basically, the Submissions forum would be moved into the News section and anyone who had some good news material to submit would be able to post it there as a new thread, then an editor reviews it for errors and moves it into the front page as either news or an update. In other words, it will only be used to post news and update submissions.

This means the current submissions forum would simply disappear, and its contents would be moved. Posts about fan projects would go to Kajar labs, and an art and fan fiction would go into their respective forums as well.

I could write for the fan projects. I fairly knowledgeable about the current fan games in development.

I used to write Wii Game reviews for a now dead website. I also wrote my fair share of fan games.

So if there's a news submissions forum, I take it you'd post quite a bit there? I'm glad to hear it.

Also, if you don't mind, I'd like to add you to my list of volunteer wiki writers for this project as well.  Is that okay?

[maggiekarp]

It could be pretty confusing after a while, especially if there's a separate update for every part of the website from people writing about what interests them only.

I think we should do the submission thing, and then after a while pick a set of regular contributors to do weekly updates for the entire site.

[Lance VII]

Sure. I'm always happy to help where fan games are involved.

And I'd be happy to volunteer for the wiki.

[Ramsus]

Sure. I'm always happy to help where fan games are involved.

And I'd be happy to volunteer for the wiki.

On every wiki-backed page, there's a bar on the right with a login link at the bottom. Your forum account is now linked. Once you've logged into the wiki, you can edit pages using the Edit link that's also on the right side. If you visit a page that doesn't exist yet, you can also create it.

[FaustWolf]

Sounds like an excellent concept to me, and much needed considering how much the admins are under pressure from other real life stuff nowadays. So the "Submission" forum would be sort of a holding forum, and someone on the editorial-board-of-sorts manually moves the approved posts to the News forum?

[Ramsus]

Sounds like an excellent concept to me, and much needed considering how much the admins are under pressure from other real life stuff nowadays. So the "Submission" forum would be sort of a holding forum, and someone on the editorial-board-of-sorts manually moves the approved posts to the News forum?

Exactly. All the functionality is already in place too. We just need some writing guidelines and submission policies.

[Clovis15]

Sounds like a perfect plan to me.

[Kodokami]

Sounds great, Ramsus. I'm not sure what I can do, to be honest, but I'd love to help in any way I can.

[Ramsus]

Sure. I'm always happy to help where fan games are involved.

And I'd be happy to volunteer for the wiki.

You should try messing around with this page a bit:

http://www.chronocompendium.com/wiki/index.php?title=Fan_Projects&action=edit

Consider it yours, and don't be afraid to try stuff, since any changes you make can easily be undone thanks to MediaWiki's version control features.

[Clovis15]

I know a few things I could write, but it would depend on how close Zeality's much promised Mega Update is to releasing,

[Ramsus]

I think it's pretty clear that this is a good idea then. The new system will be in effect about a week following Zeality's mega update. Thanks for the comments everyone.

[Ramsus]

I made a few modifications to the forum so that moving a topic into the News forums will change it's post time, giving all news submissions a new publication date and pushing them to the top of the front page.

This means the system is good to go. We'll start accepting submissions after the next major update. Thanks everyone!