alright...this is the announcement i told everyone about last week and then took off without actually posting...sorry about that. i usu. make notes about these things otherwise i'm prone to forgetting some of the details, but apparently i neglected to do that as well, so i may have to add some stuff in subsequent posts. this is going to be pretty long, and i'm kind of wondering how many people are really going to read this. anyway, here goes...

as i see it there are a number of issues currently plaguing the forum. the issues themselves are not unique in regards to what a general forum would face at some point in its lifetime; i feel we need to address them though to ensure we keep as many people as possible happy thus ensuring the forum remains an enjoyable experience. i'm going to tackle the issues first, and then present some other unrelated announcements.

issue 1: new users are feeling unwelcome; there is some talk that we aren't as friendly as we could be

first off, no matter what pains we go to, we just aren't going to be able to make everyone happy...ain't gonna happen. i feel, however, that we can certainly try harder to ensure that as many people as possible will feel comfortable in associating dream views with 'home.'

here's the plan:

the crux of this plan is embodied by a new position here that was tentatively referred to as the 'task force,' but has since been dubbed the 'Dream Guide.' we are going to have 8 or 9 of them, and essentially their role is to fill the discernible gap between 'newbie welcomer' and 'adopter.' if you pause and consider just what that may entail, you may get rather close to just what they're going to be doing. first off, the 'newbie welcomer' position is going to be completely rescinded because it will no longer be needed; i'm not sure what role Aphius will be playing in this new program, but i'm hoping he's going to become the 'Dream Guide Coordinator.' although the Dream Guides will have moderator powers in the Newbie Zone, Adoptions, General Discussion, and perhaps also the Lounge, they will not be referred to as moderators; instead, their primary responsibility will be to making new users feel welcome, comfortable, and appreciated.

i'm going to have to make some code adjustments to the forum (time-willing...ugh...) to accomplish this new program. new users, upon registering, will be presented with a message which will introduce them to the Dream Guide program, provide the names of the Dream Guides, and then encourage them to seek them out for any help they require. it's a little more sophisticated than that though, because a new private forum will be forged which only the Dream Guides will have access to. every time a new user joins, the forum will be automatically populated with a new message announcing the arrival of the new user. the Dream Guides are then responsible for contacting that new user to welcome him or her, make some sort of an attempt to help make him or her a little more comfortable, introduce him or her to the adoptions program, and then provide any assistance as required. before contacting a new user a Dream Guide will reply to the automatic arrival message, in effect 'claiming' a new user, so that we don't have problems with some new users getting too many messages and others not being welcomed at all.

there's a distinction here i want to point out in regards to a 'Dream Guide' and an adopter: Dream Guides are again primarily here to help new users feel welcome; although they can certainly provide some advice and help with lucid dreaming, that's beyond their intended scope. the adoptions program was introduced to accomplish that particular objective. as for the adoptions themselves, those were always meant to be transient relationships...i.e. new users were supposed to be taken under existing members' wings for a little while until they gained a little more confidence in their abilities, and then 'set free.' Dream Guides will be taking over the adoptions program to ensure that: 1. all new users who seek to be adopted are adopted in a timely fashion; if this involves the Dream Guides actively seeking out regular members to become adopters, then so be it; 2. any needlessly-persisting adoptions are ended so that members are free to adopt again; 3. someone is around to answer questions in regards to the adoption process.

Dream Guides are essentially going to be acting as a liaison between the community and new users. to further illustrate that idea, i suppose you could imagine them as cross guards looking out for the well-being of new users. they will also be perusing the boards looking for posts made by new users and ensuring that all new users receive the help they request. most importantly, they will be ensuring that no post goes unanswered.

i have contacted several members already about the new program, and have a list of further people i will be inviting to join. if i cannot come up with 8 or 9 members, i will be seeking volunteers. there is a fair amount of work involved in this position, so it's quite possible we'll have dream guides coming and going all the time.

in addition to the Dream Guides, i'm also going to be adding 3 or so more moderators. all moderators are going to of course be asked to be courteous to new users; after saying that i almost feel like i'm questioning their integrity somewhat. quite to the contrary though, i think they've been absolutely great and i really appreciate their help. i will be reminding everyone though that new users are a very important part of our community. i don't, however, want the moderators to be under the impression that they have to completely pander to the new users, in a rather belittling way. i realize new users often post the same questions...i think perhaps we can try to respond in a more friendly way (because hey, this is always going to happen no matter what, so we may as well try to be nice about it). instead of just pointing them in the direction of an FAQ or a tutorial, we could perhaps make a small attempt to answer their question, and then suggest they supplement that with a tutorial or whatnot. clearly we'll still have problem users, and we'll cross those bridges as we come to them.

issue 2: off-topic posts

another issue that has been coming up a lot lately is off-topic posts. clearly one doesn't have to mull this one over for very long to determine the cause: people forge friendships here and like to engage each other in conversation. as many of you know i've been a strong opponent of a chat room for a long time now because of some of the dire effects it can have on a forum (i won't go into these now because HOLY CRAP this post is getting too long as it is). i've been weighing the possible negative effects against the possible positive ones, and have decided we will be (finally) introducing a chat room. the main reason i've had a change of heart is that i'm hoping users will see this as an opportunity to engage in idle chat with their fellow forum members, thus lessening the irrelevant and off-topic posts on the board. of course the chat room will also be open to serious conversations and whatnot, and we may look into having a couple different rooms.

chat solution:

i will not be introducing an IRC solution; we will be introducing something completely customized to our board. in fact, potential chatters will have to become users on the message board first because their sessions will be used in the chat room (i.e. they will have to login here first). i will be using a PHP-based chat, which i will be customizing (again, when i find the time). i may throw up something temporarily until such time as i can make the changes i'd like to make.

also, moderators will be asked to politely encourage users to stay on topic as much as possible. we will certainly not be introducing a hard-and-fast rule here because that's really not what this place is about. thus, we're going to continue to have complaints on both sides of the spectrum because again we cannot appease everybody, but we're going to do the best we can. off-topic posts, when possible, will be moved to appropriate forums. threads should rarely be locked and almost never deleted. i feel it prudent to once again state that light-chat is inevitable in the forums, and we are not going to go so far as to attempt to completely obliterate it.

additional thoughts:

i am also seriously considering completely doing away with post count and ranks. quite honestly they don't mean a bloody thing since someone with 500 posts (a 'lucid guru') can be completely surpassed in ability by someone with 3 posts. this perhaps may also help cut down on inane posts since there's simply nothing to be gained by them. in lieu of post counts, i may introduce a karma system which will allow users to award and reprimand other users.

i want everyone to keep in mind, however, that we are not trying to discourage users from posting! by no means do i want that message to come across to anyone. thus, again we have to be careful when deploying measures to decrease the number of irrelevant posts out there. first and foremost i want new users to be welcome and comfortable here, so we'll have to strive to reach some sort of moderate position between completely eviscerating off-topic posts and allowing the board to regress into a breeding ground for incoherent drivel.

also, i will be introducing a set of rules/guidelines which will also hopefully help the situation a little. again, i will ensure they are not excessively binding.

issue 3: existing members feel overwhelmed by onslaught of new users

i'm at somewhat of a loss in regards to how to handle this. i created the Community forum to provide a bit of a reprieve and to also appease those who preferred a smaller community...what else can i do? inevitably the board is going to continue to grow...in fact, we will hit 2000 users in less than 3 months. i can certainly create a community chat room in addition to the main chat room, but what else can i do?

other stuff

- we will be going ahead with creating a 'Dream Interpretation' forum. Truthbearer is currently putting together an FAQ for that new forum, and when he's done i'll edit it a wee bit and then create a new section on the main site which will present it as well as link to the interpretation forum. we will be ensuring of course that we inform users that interpretation is very subjective and that they often have to determine meaning for themselves (and of course that often dreams don't have any meanings).

- while i'm working on the main site there are a couple other little changes here and there that i'd like to make, although nothing serious. adding sections is extremely easy because i coded it in PHP, so if anyone ever has any thoughts about changes that can be made to the main site, please let me know. i’d like people to continue to return to the site, so it’d be great if we could provide new content from time-to-time.

- (again, when i find time) i'm going to be making some changes to the 'Dream Journal' forum... users will have the option of making their threads or individual posts private, so that they can use the forum as storage for their dreams without having to share everything with all members. also, they will have the option of determining whether other users will be able to reply to their journal entries or not. users will also be able to set a thread as their official dream journal, and a link will automatically appear in their profiles (PAPERDOLL's idea). i want to somehow dress this forum up a little bit as well, so that it feels a little different than the rest of the board.*

- * carrying on with this idea, i'm hoping to enlist the help of someone to draw up some cartoon characters for the forum. i'd like to present them on the registration screen, the Dream Guide's introduction screen, the dream journal forum, and perhaps scattered throughout other forums/screens as well. Lomebririon did our logo for us and if he's up to the challenge of creating additional characters, that'd be awesome. if he's too busy then any volunteers willing to do that would be certainly appreciated!

alright, well, i think i've forgotten^ something but that's all i've got for now. as always i welcome all thoughts, suggestions, comments, etc.

'k bye

^ i'd like to take this opportunity to blame Kaniaz for me forgetting anything that i may have forgotten (he is, afterall, my official scapegoat). thanks buddy.