A Few Fun Changes

[theaeblackthorn.livejournal.com]

Now, in response to accountingwitch's points analysis here are the suggestions that we are implementing. These are already under way and have been discussed with the mods and leaders. They will or have already made posts about them that go into far more detail. In the order I hit them in my inbox:

Timezones

HiH now has a (mostly complete) timezone converter. I would ask all officials and just generally the whole community that whereever possibly you refer to times in UTC and your local zone. (Local zone is optional).

Sugarquill

They've got a whole new points system, mostly to bring SQ, WB, HI and Flourish in line with each other. See their userinfo for more details. They've also got points for betas and a new points cap of 125 pts a week, with exceptions (heavily-ruled exceptions) for big bang fics.

Writer's Block

They've got the same points system as Sugarquill, and the same points cap of 125 pts a week. They keep their bonus items. They've also got fic amnesty day. For 24 hours a month, date announced at the beginning of the month, people can post fic that don't correspond to one of the challenges to WB. There's also some other fun changes, head over there to find out more!

Hogwarts Icons

They're pretty small. They've still got their 125pts a week cap. Their points have been raised slightly: 8pts for banners, 12pts for wallpapers.

Flourish

Not much changed here! They're going to be awarding a nifty prize to the shop that is most awesome, I believe with criteria relating to inter-house orders, etc. See over there for more details.

They're also no longer dealing in fanart and their points are changing slightly. 8pts for banners and 30pts for journal layouts (With CSS Coding) and 18pts for a basic mood theme and 25pts for a full one.

Insomniacs

They're keeping their IotM, with the criteria slightly changed. And their scavenger hunts are either halfing in points or frequency. The choice is of the Insomniacs mod and I believe she's opted for a drop in frequency.

Appeals

You've already noticed the back-up judges, and now judges will also be paid 3knts an appeal.

Prefects

They're now able to give out 10pts a week to the member with the best/most elaborate/etc vote. Each house is allowed to decided this as they want as each house had such different and very house-y ideas. They should be rotated with not the same person constantly winning.

Great Hall/Platform

The Great Hall (hih_greathall) now belongs to the Platform mod. I hope she enjoys it! XD It's also open to all members.

Officials

Officials salaries have been altered, these can be found in the officials comm.

Points Cap

I'm relaxing it, but it's all still based on my opinion, and if you have a problem we can get Steph in fora second opinion :)

Comments? Questions? Anything?

Comments

[jessilestrange.livejournal.com]

And now to breathe life into hih_greathall again.

[erzsebet.livejournal.com]

\O/ Jessi!

[erzsebet.livejournal.com]

I only have one comment regarding Hogwarts Icons. I had mentioned it to them at the start of term when the cap had been placed, but never heard back from any of the mods regarding it. The points cap is a very strange number when compared to the points each thing is worth. There are very few ways to get exactly 125 points a week without being over and under. While I enjoy making graphics, I also enjoy getting full points for the work (and maxing out points where possible). I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, as I have had conversations about it with other members.

Otherwise I think these changes sound great, and especially look forward to the Sugarquill changes. :) Can I ask what you mean by 'heavily-ruled exceptions' regarding big bang fics, though? I think that's the only part I wasn't completely clear with.

[theaeblackthorn.livejournal.com]

Would you rather the points cap was dropped by 1 point?

[erzsebet.livejournal.com]

I'm not really sure? XD It just seems like an odd number when all the points earning things are even-numbered. I'm not even sure how it could be changed really, since it does add up to 500 in the end (which is a great cap).

[theaeblackthorn.livejournal.com]

lol, I figure, just don't sweat about it? It's only 1 points and well, we could drop it, but now that so many comms share it I think it might confuse everyone a bit?

[erzsebet.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it would definitely be confusing I think - and with all these changes, I think we'll all be confused at least for a little bit. I just thought I'd point it out, though, maybe as something to think about in the future (whenever another one of these things happen, I'm not really sure if this is an every-term thing or if we're just special like that lol). :)

[accountingwitch.livejournal.com]

My suggestion's to do this once a year. Waaaay too much work to do it term-by-term, but any longer than a year and things start to build up.

[mynamelessname]

The mods discussed this and (with the old points structure) the only way to get it to a more even number would be to drop the weekly points cap to 120 points per week. I'm sure there would have been even more protest to that. You are the only person who has said anything about this to us, so we didn't know other people felt the same way.

There are ways to make the 125 point cap work, and it seems like most people have been content with posting 126 to 128 points worth of graphics but only receive 125 points for it, so we didn't think it was a problem.

[erzsebet.livejournal.com]

Eee, yeah 120 would get protest definitely. XD

Would it be possible if maybe in the F.A.Q or something you included a list of the different ways to get exact? For the lazy anti-math people such as myself lol.

I'm surprised I'm the only one that said anything, though. Oh well. :D

[mynamelessname]

Yeeeah, I really don't have time to go through and figure out every single possible way to get to 125. Maybe one of the other mods would be kind enough to do that for you?

[accountingwitch.livejournal.com]

125 points:
29 icons x 4 points = 116 points
3 text icons x 3 points = 9 points

[erzsebet.livejournal.com]

ILU.

[accountingwitch.livejournal.com]

But I'm not done!

58 bases x 2 points = 116 points
3 text icons x 3 points = 9 points

10 wallpapers x 12 points = 120 points
1 text icon x 3 points = 3 points
1 base x 2 points = 2 points

15 banners x 8 points = 120 points
1 text icon x 3 points = 3 points
1 base x 2 points = 2 points

25 text icons x 3 points = 75 points
25 bases x 2 points = 50 points

5 wallpapers x 12 points = 60 points
5 banners x 8 points = 40 points
5 text icons x 3 points = 15 points
5 bases x 2 points = 10 points

...I could go on.

[jessilestrange.livejournal.com]

You Mathamagician you.

[sparklycockles.livejournal.com]

LMAO XD

<3

[weddingbeaches.livejournal.com]

Hi, I know this probably isn't the right place to ask, but was I supposed to get an invite to hih_officials? I never did, and now I'm wondering if maybe that's why I have no idea how to be a mod. I thought everyone was left this directionless....

[theaeblackthorn.livejournal.com]

We're all pretty directionless, I've been flying by the seat of my pants since a fool put me in charge :)

The basic rule is: look what the person before you did, what you think you could do better and any questions, ask Steph or I :D

[weddingbeaches.livejournal.com]

YOU ALWAYS MAKE ME FEEL SO MUCH BETTER. I LOVE YOU.

Okay. I'm back to not panicking. Sorry to freak out at you two days in a row. I'll go join that comm now.

[theaeblackthorn.livejournal.com]

lol, no problem! I invited you to the comm, I should have earlier, I just assumed most people would apply, my bad! :)

[weddingbeaches.livejournal.com]

Thank you! But no, not your bad. I didn't know it existed or I would have applied. That's definitely on me.

[beckella.livejournal.com]

THIS.

[possibilities.livejournal.com]

The basic rule is: look what the person before you did, what you think you could do better and any questions, ask Steph or I :D

And hope the person before you knew what they heck t hey were doing! XD lol.

[caketime.livejournal.com]

I thought everyone was left this directionless....

Most of us are unless we had experienced co-mods to guide us in a term. ♥ Don't sweat it. :D

[lotrangel17.livejournal.com]

That was totally my fault :( Sorry I missed you when I did the changeover of officials at the beginning of the month.

You're doing a real good job with Order though! And if you scroll back to the beginning of the month you'll see a post for contact information and a general information post and if there is anything I can answer just holler :)

[mizaya.livejournal.com]

Okay, this made me feel so much better. I was fearing my shop would be taken away.

[huushiita.livejournal.com]

You weren't the only one.


Also... is there a way we can turn 'low quality images' into a new term. I just really don't like the feeling it gives me, like the high quality images are ..more elite.. more better.
I realize that some people cut, crop and slap on text and that is it. But for new people who are learning ps (like myself) or a newbie who doesn't have any idea about past experiences... it just gives off a bad vibe.

I know that hours and time and energy go into a lot of images, and I respect that, but for someone who's new and learning it feels like a bite in the ass, like I'm not good enough.

[an-ardent-rain.livejournal.com]

Me, too! I feel the same as both of you. Glad to know I wasn't the only one.

I'm new at graphics, too, and I only recently got Paint Shop (so not even photoshop, ha ha), so I really appreciate having the shop to have time to get experience!

[smilingplatypus.livejournal.com]

I know you guys have been thinking about this a lot, and it looks great! I don't know the background to some of the changes in question, but they all seem sensible. Thanks for all the effort you put into this comm! These can't have been easy decisions.

So yes... my completely unauthoritative two cents. :D