What do you think the next priority should/could be?

[MillietheWarrior]

Hai~

Hokay. So, I was thinking. Maybe we could get a few helpers for the paragon and Lucain lists. The bred male one alone is up to 7 un-updated pages. I know it can get complicated and all, but maybe do what was done with the other lists and get extra helpers? Maybe a helper who flits around and does all the lists when they’ve been waiting to be updated for too long? Just a thought.

Regarding helpers: maybe helpers for updating shops and such? I love how Moofie helps in the Seasonal shop. Someone like that who can say ‘Potions recorded up to this point’ if Draiz is too busy? Then they can send the PM to her, or what have you, saying it was updated. Cuz…sometimes it takes weeks. Or longer. And sometimes people want to use those, but can’t because it hasn’t been recorded. Or, perhaps, allowing people to link back to their posts if they’ve paid in GT already to allow them to use it?

License changing has also been mentioned? I think this would be good. Cuz there’s some up there in numbers (Yes, me included) and if the numbers change, then we won’t have to work so hard to reach the goal. We may have already reached it.

Ah. Regarding shops, I think.

Well, it’s…a long wait in the bazaar. I understand the wait for a few weeks, or so, or being skipped over and such. I’m not complaining about that. But…maybe…waiting for two months for an add-on is a bit much? Especially when a person is holding back KS or GT in some cases. It seems like a bit of a long wait. I suppose this applies to the marketplace as well; holding back tons of keystones or what have you for the brewery and such. And, perhaps, if there is a technical problem or some kind of life issue that prevents something, perhapps it should be announced? (Not like, in depth RL issue, just a 'something is going on, I can't do this right now') would be great. That way, if someone is upset about the length of the wait, they know there's a legit reason for it and such~

Also, I was hoping to suggest that when keys are going to be released, it’d be amazing if it was announced. Not that ’they will be given out at x and y time,’ but what kind of restock it will be. Like spontaneous, or ’the x and y time’ thing.

Also. Er. I know a site wide plot was mentioned in another suggestion, but going back to the ’your priorities’ suggestion thread, a few people mentioned a site wide plot to stir things up and it was…kinda ignored. It jumped straight to breedings. If it was addressed, I probably missed it, but I didn’t see anything that really said anything about it. I know it was ’being worked on’ but maybe it could…be more of a priority? I dunno. Just a suggestion. I think there needs to be something to involve members, more than tournaments and raffles and such. I love those things, don’t get me wrong, but a site wide plot would be quite fun. And perhaps you could enlist the help of people who would like to help and add suggestions to it?

For the above mentioned things, I’ll link this thread, concerning priorities. Especially when it comes to shops and KS things.

I’d like to add a poll, if that’s all right. It’s regarding priorities. I like to think the suggestions forum was made so people could suggest things (without being called names, talked about, or complained about on the forums or IRC, thank you) so I’m suggesting things. Please don’t get angry or upset. I haven’t exactly seen much Rping around (although there’s exceptions) and just a lot of advertise and gossip and chatter posting, so having something engaging and more helpers and getting people more involved, as some of my suggestions would do, would be great.

So. I guess. Have at it now?

[Shieba]

I think all the things mentioned above are so very, very true. And I think a lot of the problems we have right now are because of poor time management, really.

We all know that school and work is busy for the mods. However, sometimes I think that despite this being the case every semester, no one learns.

The breeding rooms were reformed with the intention to get more released - this was why litter size was reduced. Yet we have had no more keys since two months, which is the same amount of time or even a bit longer than we had for raffles. When I asked about it, I got told that it's because so many people have keys still and they should get used up first. Maybe I'm dumb, but I thought that making hoarding possible was one of the reasons for the change.

And this goes for a lot of things here. When the Shrine for Traits was opened, instead of just granting the Traits, it was decided that there should be RPs. But when the first person applied, they had to wait more than three months for a first reply and now is there the whole RP to go through, which also takes a lot of time. In those three months, there were tournaments! Had the pet met the stats range, maybe the user would have liked to use her new Trait? It already takes long enough to raise stats that high and we know the mods are so busy, so why is there a system that is not necessary, means even more work and prolongs everything even more?

There are a lot of areas on this site where mod work could be reduced. Millie named quite a few - potion recording, for example. If there were helpers and people wouldn't have to wait that long, people would complain less. Some journal posts of the mods show their frustration about ungrateful users who complain that there is never enough getting done and while that is true (hey, what am I doing here, after all?), I think that is partly because the mods burden themselves with so much work that they have to do unnecessary things in their limited time.

It all works during the holidays - which is where always more features are introduced - and things are fast for a while, but as soon as work and school get more demanding, all the new features get slow, all old features get even slower because there are new ones...and yeah. No one ever learns.

RE2 too also says a lot that they both have a really busy RL and wild pets often don't get handed out because of that, so maybe hiring someone with more time would be good? That is what actually shocked me when helpers for the ownership lists were selected. That it weren't the ones with the most time but the ones with the least KS. Maybe it should be an indication that those with more KS have more free time to earn more KS and therefore more time to update lists as well...I think that should not be repeated in this way if we get more helpers. The lists are an average three pages long again... (By the way, before everyone misunderstands me: I'm not saying the lists should be updated by those who have the most KS. I'm saying they should be updated by people who have a lot of free time on their hands. And I also think that there should be a payment rule for all helpers - RE2, the extra battle mods, the list helpers, everyone, not just people who clean the ownership records. Unfair much?)

I'm glad the poll is there, by the way. Because a lot of users have actually said they wanted, for example, a plot, but the mods don't seem to think of it as a priority. I can hardly wait to see how the poll will turn out!

[Shieba]

...I will double-post here because lots of people read my first post already and edits often get overlooked. =/

I'm afraid my first post might have sounded wrong. Like I thought that the Shrine system sucked or something. That's totally not the case! I think to RP with the Evelon demi-gods is awesome and I'm looking forward to it. But not to be able to need half a year to get the Trait (and Kodai even said you could fail and would have to try again. Homg). What I wanted to say is: There is so much stuff that a lot doesn't get done fully or too slow, really.

Which is why...I'm gonna say something now. And I might get beaten up because of it, but that's only because ever since I joined Evelon - quite some time ago - things were a bit like they are now in terms of mods. Except not, because we had also Ticky and Baal (well, we still have Baal in a way~). Ever since those two retired, our mods worked so hard and added more stuff, but I get more and more the feeling that keeping up with all old stuff and all new stuff, including breedings and add-ons, is kinda too much for them. So - don't kill me - why isn't Evelon like other communities where, when the mods can't handle the workload anymore, more mods get hired? Those who have more time, expertise in some fields needed, whatever? I don't even understand why Kodai is only a "mod" and Draiz and Shrewdie are "modmins". I think Kodai does just as much - in terms of add-ons even far more - than Draiz and Shrewdie.

Users get hired for this and that, but it's all neither here nor there. We had users help with the battles before, yet Kodai handles the whole tournament alone right now. Toxic does the LLL/PLL since years, yet new users hired for the other - far less work-intensive lists - get paid (and those lists grow long again, so it doesn't even seem to help much). I understand that Baal doesn't want to trust anyone with breedings she might not have known for years, but stuff like the Marketplace - sending out things, restocking, maybe even including the SS shop - could be done by someone without all that much experience and if there's an actual moderator, people would look closer and it wouldn't be like the first try with hiring users for the ownership lists where no one did their work anymore after a while. Things like the Traits Shrine could get taken over by someone who knows Baal since years and the Evelon gods, too. Kodai would also have less work if someone would update her Trait lists and pet base stats for her after she has decided on them or could even help with those. I know there are people here on Evelon who have been here since forever and who are dedicated and in no danger of poofing any time soon, so maybe hiring one as an actual mod for whatever part of the side would be worth a consideration?

(And no, I'm not trying to attack anyone here. If Draiz faints at the thought of having the marketplace taken over by someone else, by all means, I'm sorry! I'm just trying to say we need more manpower to handle the workload.)

[Kitsumi]

I agree with Shieba in terms of lightening the workload. I mean, there are several people who have been on here for years and years, right? Isn't there at least one or two talented people who have been active on this site for a long time that Baal could trust to promote to even, like, a "lesser mod" position or something? Just someone to go through and pick up the lesser, more important things, like updated the records and all those little details. If they start doing some of the smaller things, then the mods we already have would actually have more time free to do some of the other things, and then hopefully, more time spent not worrying about all that has to get done on here.

I understand if Baal doesn't want to promote anyone to a mod or whatever, but at least someone(s) to do some of the easier/minor tasks?

[Elektra]

Truthfully, and please, don't take this the wrong way, but I think that a site-wide plot would help in more than one way.  Not only would it indefinitely stimulate the community in terms of RP'ers becoming active again, but might also help to see who is devoted enough to possibly handle small tasks.  I understand this is probably a lot of work to plan, but I honestly believe that if our mod trio were to post, quite simply, asking us whether we would want them to put off a lot of other things that aren't crucial to the site's functioning, and make a site plot versus making a couple of new things, we would all jump for the first option.  I'm in a hurry here, but I've read over the posts above me, and I agree with getting some helpers.  Not making them full-fledged mods, but honestly, it would be a serious help.

[Shieba]

I totally agree that a plot will help and it should be done rather than new things, but I think letting the old things pile up would be dangerous. I am sure Kodai is already ripping her hair out because of the add-on orders coming in because of the Scav Hunt money in addition to running the tournament in addition to the add-on orders already there in addition to maybe having to do a custom for the tournament winner in addition to maybe having to do up to four customs from this month's raffle in addition to still having to finish two customs Draiz gave to her from the December raffle way back. If we tell her to drop it all in terms of plot, more piles up - more add-on orders from RPing from the plot, more customs because we need the raffles to pay the server, more Trait fixing in case we have a plot with battles...and that's just Kodai. The others would suffer just as much, I would think. I think a side-wide plot should be organized in huge parts by the users as well because of that.

EDIT: An alternative idea would be dropping things for a while. Like the toy shop. Let the users send the KS to some accounts on an honesty-based system and grab their toys themselves. They don't do anything for anyone. And...get the slot system back for the add-on shops. Some people complain about their orders being there for months, but they're Nr. 346374637 in line and they forget that and the fact that they should be grateful that they're allowed to place their order at all without having to snipe slots.

A great idea I also had was to post IN THE BREEDING RP if you want to BUY a LLP. Boom, KS gets substracted when the room gets locked. Stock is unlimted anyway. Far less recordings for the marketplace, the ownership records... It could be a service the breeding center offers, in terms of plot-explanation?

[Elektra]

Yeah, you're right about things piling up.  And I do like your idea of just sending the KS yourself.  I mean, you should, of course, be required to put a note in the KS transfer, saying exactly what you are buying, but I think that this might work.  Not a lot of people buy toys anyway, so it wouldn't pile up to to quickly.

As for the plot itself, I think that would be really interesting to see what we users can come up with.  I'd say we start with a bunch of smaller ideas and then see if we can combine and modify them, and then choose which one we can follow through with a plot with.  After all, we would need one that can be played out to the end.  The mods would, if we were to incorperate pets like in the Purine/Imperial war, make the pets after everything was decided, but we might get a couple of active, solid users to host various things within the plot. I obviously wasn't around at the time, but I'd say take some of the different concepts from that plot and use those techniques in this one to hopefully lower the complications in this plot.  So that we would really just have to think up the plot and story itself.  And I know that might not make total sense, sorry.  Kinda typing and thinking and working here all at the same time.  xD;

[Kyrit]

Helpers:
The vast majority of the time, if we try to get helpers the helpers.... don't help. Unless we find some way to pay people, it just doesn't get done. There have been many examples of this in the past where we've asked for users who wanted to help, they helped for maybe a day or two, and then just stopped doing it. In my experience, this just doesn't usually work out.

Add-on shop:
I DID announce that something was wrong. I've mentioned in my journal and in the irc many times that when I went home for spring break I accidentally left my tablet behind. My family eventually sent it, but they sent it without the pen. Then I had to wait for them to send the pen. Can't help if I can't draw without a tablet. Mouse art just doesn't cut it for Evelon quality art. Not to mention, if it's something I personally don't know how to draw well enough to be considered Evelon-quality, it'll take me longer. I'm not an art student, and I'm certainly not as great at drawing as many people on the forums.  There are a few things I can draw well and many things I can't. It takes me practice with a type of item before I can draw it well. I'm also far better at just shading art given to me than drawing it myself. Blood (which you ordered) happens to be something I don't know how to draw very well yet. If you're not happy with the amount of time it's taking, just withdraw your order. Isn't like you haven't done that in the past.
The add-on shops are also a hobby. They aren't something we mods have to do as part of our work. Originally I asked Baal if I could open an add-on shop where I didn't get paid but would subtract the money from users whenever I felt like opening a few slots. This was just a little side thing for me to do whenever I felt like it. Kodai later on wanted to do one as well and asked me if I would mind. She could easily close up shop if she felt bogged down with orders. It's not like these are marketplace shops. They're in the bazaar for a reason.

Keys:
My original plan was to get the potions posted earlier in the day yesterday and then follow that release with some keys a few hours later. I was pulled away from the computer for a while though, so my work got delayed. Also, I've told the other mods before they can release keys. Can't help if it seems I'm the only one that does it though. I am going to make sure more go out relatively soon though. It's not like there's a shortage of rooms when they are released though. Since the reform we've already handed out a large chunk of keys. Yes, they haven't been out recently because I do have a life and school but they come in large batches at least.

Site wide plot:
This takes time. So far time that I personally haven't had. It is still something we want to do, especially me since I had a well developed character for part of the plot that was forming rather nicely. We're only three people though, and people already complain about the lack of other things, which leads to this getting pushed back so we can focus on complaints.

Shrine:
That was honestly my fault. I forgot for a long time that anyone had even finally applied for a trait. Once I did remember, I posted for Thunder and was doing good to reply to her daily before I had a week of tests hit me. This is something I plan on getting back to working at now that don't have tests this week. Also, I'm sure Zears, the pet in question, was far too high of a level to combat in those tournaments anyways. If the user replies quickly and the mod replies quickly, these roleplays or battles won't take long. No one said they had to last 5 pages in order to get a trait.

RE2:
RE2 is technically actually just one user now as far as workload goes. Shrewd and I were talking about possibly getting her more help, since the original RE2 member is more or less not working anymore. She's said she's helping the newer RE2 member out some, but it's not enough to really count. The one main RE2 member is focusing on Easter right now, which means that normal hunts get neglected. If we actually had two full time RE2 members, this wouldn't be the case. The second member was hired to fix the fact that RE2 had a lot of work to do, but now it's basically back to as if there were just one member. That's not something we can instantly fix though . Also, RE2 does often get a few perks on the side when we can manage it. We typically just don't announce them out loud because it's not public who the member(s) working as RE2 is(are).

Ownership lists:
As far as your comment about the lists, all the people I hired gave me updated lists in a very timely manner. There's one that I haven't finished updating with the list they gave me, and that isn't their fault. There have just been a lot of trades since then. Once I get to a point where I've finished updating that list, I'll probably end up asking for user help again.

Kodai not being a mod-min:
Kodai doesn't typically work with a whole lot aside from traits and doing art related things. She's more of a "tell me what to do and I'll do it" person, whereas Shrewd and I don't wait for someone to tell us to. I'm not saying that she shouldn't be a mod-min, I'm just saying why Baal probably didn't give her the title. If Baal did change her title, I wouldn't care. Personally, I don't see why it matters.

Hiring mods/helpers:
It's not our place to hire mods. If Baal feels like she can trust someone enough and thinks they'll do the work, she can hire them. That's not our place though. The most we can do is ask users for help. For example, Silverin does get paid to help me with art related things. For every set of items she draws/shades for me, she gets to choose one to keep. For example, she drew the newest potion lineart and was told she could choose one of the four new potions for free. This was something that was approved by Baal though, because Baal trusts Silv's art to be good enough quality.
For the marketplace, it is a personal thing that I don't want to hire anyone. I started my job on Evelon as a mini-mod running the new shop in the brand new marketplace. It's home to me as a mod, so I prefer to continue to take care of it. I'm not going to "faint at the thought of having the marketplace taken over by someone else," but it's not something I would just hand over. For the shrine, the mod taking care of a certain demi-god(dess) made the character. Some originally belonged to other mods to use during the war, but those mods never gave them much info at all or nothing at all since all those mods basically started disappearing before the war even started. When we made the shrine we put a lot of thought in to them, making them a real character. Handing the shrine off to other members would be like going, "Here's my character. RP them for me."
I'd love to have helpers for some things, and as I've said, we have tried that in the past. (Arri was a mini-mod for Medicai when it had an actual school) If Baal did choose to hire people for us to use as mini-mods, I'd be fine with that and I'd find something for them to do. It just boils down to, for me, not seeing this working much in the past.


I've read all the posts so far. These are the main things I wanted to address. I am reading everything though, even if it isn't mentioned. Honestly though most of these seem like complaints about us not working fast enough rather than posting what you'd like to be worked on soonest. There are three of us mainly working on the site. Had we not decided to take over things, Evelon would no longer be here. We're doing out best. I do apologize if any of my post seemed rude or anything of the like. It is rather frustrating to have to listen to people complain that you're not working quick enough when you're doing your best to get things done on top of having work, school, and a social life offline. I'm not meaning to shoot down your suggestions like I'm not even considering them either. As I've said, I'm reading every word of every post.

[Thunder]

And this goes for a lot of things here. When the Shrine for Traits was opened, instead of just granting the Traits, it was decided that there should be RPs. But when the first person applied, they had to wait more than three months for a first reply and now is there the whole RP to go through, which also takes a lot of time. In those three months, there were tournaments! Had the pet met the stats range, maybe the user would have liked to use her new Trait? It already takes long enough to raise stats that high and we know the mods are so busy, so why is there a system that is not necessary, means even more work and prolongs everything even more?

Like Draiz said, Zears was way too strong for those tournaments, so he couldn't even enter. And I don't mind waiting long times for people to post since sometimes I take ludicrously long times to post too. I did realize that the mods are busy people and probably wouldn't reply to me right away. Same goes for the RP I have to do to get the trait. I don't mind if the RP is drawn out. If there are other tournaments, I have other fighters. And in my opinion, it would just be plain boring if Zears got the trait right away. I think the RP/battle-for-the-trait idea is cool, and I'm sure I'll enjoy my RP once it gets running.

[MillietheWarrior]

Add-Ons:
I don’t…always read journals. I am not always in the IRC. I honestly did NOT know you’d forgotten your tablet. This is the first I’ve even heard of that. I heard it was broken a long time ago, but I had also heard it was rectified? I’m hearing things through the grapevine. It’s not actually…a very reliable way to hear things. I’m not withdrawing my order because last time I did, you said ‘I had just started on it and was almost done’ so I didn’t want to do that again to you. I’m suggesting something like a formal announcement so people aren’t just supposed to assume something’s wrong or people get upset at them because they didn’t know. It would be amazingly helpful, and would get the ’assume’ out of all this.  Because you know what they say about assuming.

Keys:
I was not complaining about key released. I was saying a post like the ones first done saying when the keys would be released or if it will be a random release. That’s all. I would really like for that to come back. I’m not suggesting more releases; I honestly don’t mind that there hasn’t been many. I’m suggesting that whole ‘heads up, this’ll happen’ type of deal. I really liked that.

[Shieba]

Hiring mods/helpers:
Okay, seems like I assumed something wrong there - that the people to work on the seasonal list were permanent helpers who should always keep the lists up to date. If this was only a one-time thing, it's no wonder lists get long again.
But yeah, I did suggest mods instead of "helpers" because obviously, mods are more present. I seriously have no idea which user cares for which ownership list, zoo pen directory, whatever. It's different for every list, no way I can. If there would be an actual mod, everyone would know and notice and that person couldn't slack off.
And I'm aware that only Baal can hire and not you. But maybe telling him "We're short on manpower and need help"? might get her an idea? She's not that active anymore here, after all. I understand if you want to keep the things you were always responsible for, but maybe someone for new things would be good?

Add-on Shop:
I hadn't ordered anything from you, but I basically agree with Millie there - a red, bolded note in the add-on shop that all orders are on hold because of a missing tablet would stop much frustration. I do read journals and knew since my customs were affected by it as well, but I knew it from the IRC. We have lots of users who are not in the IRC and reading journals isn't everyone's cup of tea, either, so more public announcements might be good.

Side wide plot:
Maybe hiring people for that would be good? I dunno. You tell them what needs to be done, they do it. If people are more busy, they complain less? The plot seems to be winning in the poll even before key releases, so I think that means something.

Shrine:
As I said, I do love the idea of the RP with the gods. But yeah, I hope very much that my RPs, when I apply in a few days, won't drag on endlessly since my pets will be only level...25 or so and with that will be able to participate in tournaments. Maybe it would be good to add which god gets RPed by which mod so that people know who to talk to if their posts sit there for a long time?

RE2:
What exactly stands in the way of hiring another new member if the first one isn't even really active anymore? One could deal with hunts while the other deals with the event?

Kodai not being a mod-min:
I seriously just added that in a side sentence because I actually had asked that Kodai a bit back (at April Fool's day when you guys switched names) and she said she didn't even know herself. I didn't mean that to be a real point here, sorry. It just seemed to fit to mention it.

[MillietheWarrior]

Site Wide Plot: This takes time. So far time that I personally haven't had. It is still something we want to do, especially me since I had a well developed character for part of the plot that was forming rather nicely. We're only three people though, and people already complain about the lack of other things, which leads to this getting pushed back so we can focus on complaints.

Why not get other people to help on this, perhaps? The votes up there are...well, WAY more for site wide plot than anything else, which tells me people are getting bored and would love something to engage them here. Or maybe spend a week or so (I know summer vacation is coming up, and while I know people have plans, there’s still a lot of free time) Just working on the plot? Maybe post what it’s going to be, and allow people to make suggestions and other such things to it? Why not start smaller site-wide plots that kind of tie into it? I’d really like to see something done here. I know it sounds like I’m harping on it (maybe I am) but from the votes, it’s clear that people would love for it to be more a priority~ I’m sure we’d all love something engaging, even if it does take a couple of months to get going~ Like I said, with summer coming up, there might be more free time for people, and maybe getting people to help with this, or make mini-plots or something would be nice.