Post by Connguy » Mon Jul 16, 2012 2:05 pm
I find the most common mistake in organizing forums is making too many forums. People don't have time to sit and scroll through every forum to check for new posts! Also if a forum is off the screen, many people don't even realize it's there or forget to check it. So my max is SIX, unless you have an unimportant forum at the bottom that people shouldn't check regularly. Now the question is: what six? I've organized a lot of forums, and i find these are the best options:
1. General
- you need a forum for anyone to post anything, be it off-topic, questions, or suggestions. I also recommend adding a sticky locked thread labelled announcements, where you can post longer announcements than the little blurbs on the main guild page.
2. ICE (In Case of Emergency)
- this is the most important forum, where people in need of support ask for help. It must be streamlined, make sure everyone posts their name as the title and uses bbcode to give the city attacked and the city/player attacking. other info can be added at will (eg why they attacked, what support you need, etc)
3. War Room
- the previous forum is for purely defense; this is where you take the offensive. How the war room is structured changes from guild to guild and with the world type. For example, in a 60 person guild it's a good idea to separate into squads by locality with generals in charge. But in 25-man guilds you have to usually go with a whole-guild or at least half-guild approach
4. Resources
- I personally don't really care for this forum, but I find people complain when you don't have it. Just have three threads (one for each resource) and lock the whole forum so people can't make new threads
5. Check-in
- crucial piece of any guild. Having the No. 1 global player is useless if he never checks the forum or helps the others. This is how you can find out who is:
A. Active enough to post in the time frame given
B. A guild player, not a lone wolf only in your guild for protection
Regular check-ins get annoying, so i do one every couple weeks only. Give members 2 or 3 days before locking it, and use it as a reference before kicking ppl to make new openings
6. City Claims
- if you have this forum, it is of the utmost importance that every player respects the rules for the guild's integrity. When a person claims a city, have them post the coords as the title, then tag the city and their own name in the post (their own name so if an admin makes an edit, you know who had the original claim). To avoid people making claims before they're ready, put a 3-5 day time limit on claims. After that point, any guildmate has a chance to pick up the claim before the original can renew it. And make sure you enforce, whoever made the first claim gets the city.
I find the most common mistake in organizing forums is making too many forums. People don't have time to sit and scroll through every forum to check for new posts! Also if a forum is off the screen, many people don't even realize it's there or forget to check it. So my max is SIX, unless you have an unimportant forum at the bottom that people shouldn't check regularly. Now the question is: what six? I've organized a lot of forums, and i find these are the best options:
1. General
- you need a forum for anyone to post anything, be it off-topic, questions, or suggestions. I also recommend adding a sticky locked thread labelled announcements, where you can post longer announcements than the little blurbs on the main guild page.
2. ICE (In Case of Emergency)
- this is the most important forum, where people in need of support ask for help. It must be streamlined, make sure everyone posts their name as the title and uses bbcode to give the city attacked and the city/player attacking. other info can be added at will (eg why they attacked, what support you need, etc)
3. War Room
- the previous forum is for purely defense; this is where you take the offensive. How the war room is structured changes from guild to guild and with the world type. For example, in a 60 person guild it's a good idea to separate into squads by locality with generals in charge. But in 25-man guilds you have to usually go with a whole-guild or at least half-guild approach
4. Resources
- I personally don't really care for this forum, but I find people complain when you don't have it. Just have three threads (one for each resource) and lock the whole forum so people can't make new threads
5. Check-in
- crucial piece of any guild. Having the No. 1 global player is useless if he never checks the forum or helps the others. This is how you can find out who is:
A. Active enough to post in the time frame given
B. A guild player, not a lone wolf only in your guild for protection
Regular check-ins get annoying, so i do one every couple weeks only. Give members 2 or 3 days before locking it, and use it as a reference before kicking ppl to make new openings
6. City Claims
- if you have this forum, it is of the utmost importance that every player respects the rules for the guild's integrity. When a person claims a city, have them post the coords as the title, then tag the city and their own name in the post (their own name so if an admin makes an edit, you know who had the original claim). To avoid people making claims before they're ready, put a 3-5 day time limit on claims. After that point, any guildmate has a chance to pick up the claim before the original can renew it. And make sure you enforce, whoever made the first claim gets the city.