Teams

I suppose I'm full of ideas today.

So, obviously we wouldn't start them now, we would need a much larger member base before starting teams.

But, teams were one of the more unique features of ACF. I've heard various arguments in favor and against the implementation of them. But, I do believe they foster closer relationships between members, and the competitions were always fun.

And no, they weren't the cause of drama, although it may have seemed that way. Personally, I would love to see FC and SO back on their feet.

So, I would just like to hear your thoughts on this.

There was only drama because some people were twats, . I was never involved in any team-related bollocks, so I don't really know much about that.

From my point of view, teams could work, just as long as people realize that, while their individual team is hidden from view from the other team and the non-team members, their privacy cannot be guaranteed, i.e. they can post whatever they want, just as long as they don't complain when their n00dz get posted everywhere.

Also, I'm willing to say that the rules in the teams can be a bit more lenient, just as long as everyone in a particular team agrees on them, and that they realize that the rules still apply outside the team forums.

Finally, I'm in favor of having global moderators full moderation privileges in both teams, so that the teams remain fully transparent to the mods. This can be discussed though, I'm no expert on this matter. And I won't forbid staff to join a team either, just as long as they distribute themselves evenly - there was a bit of a drama about staff always seeming to come from one team or something.

Yeah, I think that's why RoA were disliked for the most part. But there were a lot of issues concerning staff on ACF, which was the cause of all the hate. I doubt that will happen here.

Before ACF shut down, the members elected a team moderator which was granted access to all four teams, this was Ghost X btw. Everyone trusted him to do his job fairly without bias, and he did a great job in doing so. Not sure if you want to copy that strategy.

Also it was expected that staff members who had access to other teams, would respect the privacy of teams they were not members of.

Off course, . Most of the old teams have their own forums / site now (each riddled with dhramaz btw, lol), so they can gtfo etc.

I like what's been said so far. A Global Moderator voted on would be good, though I'm not opposed to the idea of all global moderators having visual access of the forums. I don't think anyone on staff is the kind of person to abuse that power. They wouldn't be posting, just able to view in case there's problems.
I was able to join a team shortly before ACF died, and from what I did do, it was a lot of fun. I'm for them being implemented here.

I want my own team. -____-

I always thought the teams thing was dumb, personally. They were the subject of a lot of drama before and they didn't add any real activity, purpose, or functionality to the site.

There was no drama caused by the teams. Most of the staff members that abused their power were members of RoA, so naturally the veterans attacked the team by association. I doubt that's going to happen here.

It's worth noting that the staff members who abused their power were actually in charge of RoA, so it's natural that that team would be attacked.

That said, I can see both pluses and negatives to adding teams here, but I don't really care enough to outline them yet. Maybe when there's enough activity to justify adding them.

[quote author=Cookie Monster link=topic=194.msg4098#msg4098 date=1230164628]
There was no drama caused by the teams. Most of the staff members that abused their power were members of RoA, so naturally the veterans attacked the team by association. I doubt that's going to happen here.
[/quote]

No drama caused by the teams directly, but there was enough drama associated with them, with little contribution to the site and community by the teams to make it not worth it to me.

Just don't let Ice Prince join the forum and you're good to go.

I had just started hearing about teams when I joined ACF. I never got into them before it went kaput, though. I think they sound very interesting... seems like a good plan to me.

....I'm really feeling an emphatic "no" on the whole team concept due to most of the shit on ACF being created from the very concept of "teams." I really don't think we need that here. I don't want this place to be an "ACF-2". It's a can of worms I don't want to open. The pluses don't really warrant the possible negative consequences for me, and that's just how I honestly feel. There were cool teams and lots of cool people but sadly a lot of stupid wank just kinda clouds it all.

It's stuff like that, I'd like to keep as an ACF exclusive.

Team membership created too many cliques, competition, drama, egos, uber-sensitive people and wank. I was part of staff for some of the mess created by the whole team leaking shit near the end, and I just...would really like it if the box was never opened. It's drama, and I want this place to be drama free.

I think group clubs that are open and transparent would be a much better idea. Something not so cliquish, secretive, and removed from the general community. I just can't dig repeating one of the things that made ACF explode.

I really strongly agree with Makoeyes on this. I believe I'm the only person around who was actually on Staff at ACF & involved in creating the Teams there. They were mainly created after a large user-base had been established, and the Staff lost a way to easily keep a handle on doing competitons, and stimulating user interaction between news announcements, so we got the idea of creating teams.

As many people know, I created Team 3, which eventually became RoA. It was fun for a while, but after a fairly common period of my non-activity, that team switched control to someone else, and I soon lost interest in what was happening there. I attempted to still have some input, but generally got pushed out from anything going on. I had my access removed from the team, and basically gave the whole Teams thing a big "fuck you" (I tried to come up with ways to remove / regulate the teams on several occassions, but it never worked out while I was around ACF). At some point -before or after that, I don't remember- Team access by other Staff Members not associated with that Team was removed, and a LOT of drama generated because of that. Mostly because Staff have exclusive site access, and the Teams generated an area of suspicion for those team members. Thus RoA - generally being more populated with staff often got looked at suspiciously because they seemingly had more pull, and no one had a way to verify what was going on, or balance everything.

More-so than anything, although this is another FFVII Compilation-related community, I'd like for TLS to remain VERY strongly its own site, and even though we share a lot of members with common interests, and have been building up a user base from ACF contacts, I don't want to be ACF-2. So that being my opinion on the matter, I'd say I'm against having teams here. Like was pointed out before - the ACF Teams've got their own forums.


X

I'd vote for "no" as well, for the above reasons.
Apart from that, it'd be too early to think about teams anyway.

You guys have proposed some valid points. Tbh, I think all the problems ACF had, stemmed from its Staff, which eventually spilled into teams by association. Here, there is no SW, SY, or Sinfinity running the place. So I honestly doubt we'll run into the same problems ACF had. At least, I think it would be worth trying, before ultimately dismissing it.

I'm only one person, but I still disagree. I dislike the concept in general.

I don't see anything wrong with having teams as long as we keep this forum drama free.

I too think it could work, just as long as people behave according to some strict rules, i.e. not take the teams and the faux privacy they offer too seriously. If they fail to do so, they'll get spammed with this image.

Another reason I don't like teams is that they don't do or contribute anything material to a site. I'm from a crowd that makes amateur games, and from another crowd that's a Chrono series (chronocompendium) site, and at least 'teams' on those actually are teams for a tangible goal, like making a game, translating material, creating something, or other projects.

Here, it just seems like teams were just a group of people with a title that didn't do anything or contribute anything.

You can't have the forums drama free if the concept of teams is enacted because inevitably, drama whoring elements will come. It's going to happen. This place is not above it. It's like leaving honey out in the open outside. Bugs will come.

The entire element of having the team forum removed from the rest of the forum breeds paranoia, suspicion, and starts gossip. It will happen and to think that it can be stopped is naive. Not everyone is a perfect, well adjusted, laid back, honest and mature individual on the internet. Inevitably one of the types that will fuck it up will come and start the ball rolling for drama.

Competition tied with the secretive nature of the teams is going to foster hostility and paranoia of said secret section. Then you get spying. And the privacy and trust of the secret section will again, cause more wank. Leaking will then follow.

Then egos will develop because one team will inevitably believe itself superior to the other. Drama, insults, disputes, arguments, and conflict will eventually occur because one person will feel that their ego is bigger or that the person who has said ego, doesn't deserve.

It's just going to happen, and trying to say that the concept can exist without any of these faults, challenges, cons, or set backs occurring is naive and false.

There's seriously no need for teams. If you want competition, we can have competitions between individual forum members. If you want group camaraderie, we can start group circles or a large version of clubs. If you want privacy to talk to your mates, use the PM function.

But teams is seriously something we do not need to open back up. Why do we need to bring back a failed ACF concept here? Why does this have to emulate ACF's stuff? Let's not copy that and just do our own thing. It's not necessary, and as X-SOLDIER, Tetsujin and the rest have wonderfully said, we really don't need it and shouldn't try to copy it.

And M.O.G. is right, the team concept wouldn't really contribute anything. The activity of the main forum wouldn't really increase because said activity would be in the secret, invisible team section. We need MORE activity in the main section of the forum where EVERYONE participates in discussions, not in a secret section that's privy only to members who ally with one team.

Yes, some of the moderators of ACF exacerbated the drama caused by teams due to their actions, but it was the entire concept of teams that allowed them to become the drama whores they eventually became in the first place.

Eyes said:

It's just going to happen, and trying to say that the concept can exist without any of these faults, challenges, cons, or set backs occurring is naive and false.

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I ban you for doubting Cthulhu, .

EykoMayes said:

Why do we need to bring back a failed ACF concept here?

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Just fyi and imho, the concept itself wasn't fail, the people that were in it and that enforced it were fail. Also note I'm not disagreeing with your statement(s), just adding to 'em, .

Cthulhu's Slave said:

And M.O.G. is right, the team concept wouldn't really contribute anything. The activity of the main forum wouldn't really increase because said activity would be in the secret, invisible team section. We need MORE activity in the main section of the forum where EVERYONE participates in discussions, not in a secret section that's privy only to members who ally with one team.

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That.

BOG said:

Another reason I don't like teams is that they don't do or contribute anything material to a site. I'm from a crowd that makes amateur games, and from another crowd that's a Chrono series (chronocompendium) site, and at least 'teams' on those actually are teams for a tangible goal, like making a game, translating material, creating something, or other projects.

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This. I like this idea, set up a team for (larger) projects, off course keep it public, and thus encourage working on a certain item, such as translating, graphic work, organizing events and/or competitions, writers and other site staff, Cthulhu cultists, andsoforth. Due to the differentiation of the team (and its members) from the rest of the forum, the members will be more motivated to do whatever the team's about, and thus add Great Justice to the site. That, and people will look up to them and will want to be a part of such a team.

If there's people that are willing to set up and manage a big-arse project or team like that, poast or gtfo.

As long as you have a strict set of rules that are properly enforced a forum can stay relatively drama free.

9 times out of 10 drama has ensued on a forum mainly through staff playing favorites or being lax on rule enforcement.

Drama is not generated from teams, but from the people, plain and simple. Also, teams wouldn't have to be completely private, there could be hidden sections for people to discuss personal problems and such with each other, but the rest could be available for viewing to the public.

The drama Mako is referring to happened only because of the people involved in those teams. Most of them enjoyed shitting on each other for fun, and already had problems with each other. A lot of them pretty much hated each other.

It would not be the same here since nothing of the sort is the norm.

Even considering that (and I'm still with Mako on this one), why bother having something that's insular, not constructive for the site and community, and ultimately pointless?