Staff Agenda

This is a quick-and-easy reference page for the staff meeting on International Bong Day. I mean, uh, April 20th. It may be used for other things, but should eventually become a page only accessible by moderators, if so, unless we want to maintain a transparent history of what was discussed at these meetings.

What is this meeting about?

This meeting was called by Timber, the most adorable-est puppy, to try and get every moderator and the administration on the same page with several long-standing suggestions for improving and differentiating the site, to resolve and discuss certain disciplinary issues that have arisen and prepare the team for what may yet come, and as a concerted effort to get the site's leadership into one room for the first time since the site's inception, and pick out days, times and hours for a new standardized, monthly or bi-monthly meeting, so that we may proactively engage with issues the site has or may yet have, before they become critical. The agenda is as follows -

1. Presentation of proposed site changes/improvements.
2. Discussion on the reorganization of the rooms, where necessary.
3. Discussion of how to handle updates, news and site maintenance.
4. Discussion of expansion of mod powers.
5. Discussion of proposed appointment of 2 new mods.
6. Discussion over appointments to moderator on the Wiki.
7. Timber Talk Time/Preventative and Disciplinary Discussion
8. Any other moderator or staffer with pertinent issues is invited to raise them during this time.
9. Have fun! Disperse for P&P and playing once next meeting & possibly future meetings are planned.

Proposed Site Changes/Improvements

After lengthy discussion, collaboration, feedback from both users and other moderators, and more, a list has been assembled of the most-desired features for the site at this time. While it is understood that their differing eases of implementation do no make them all immediately viable, several members of the leadership believe that these should be our focuses for the immediate future.

• The implementation of a news ticker is currently the most-desired feature or function out of all the requests made of the site leadership thus far. Proposed implementation is as follows:
  • A News link in the topscroll that displays visual updates (similar to the PUB button presently, or possibly via bolding/underlining) when new news is posted and links to a page on the Wiki - possibly the new frontpage. OR
  • A dedicated Frontpage for the website itself (vh.mucktopia.com) that could be updated and handled with webmaster/development tools. Someone would have to be appointed to maintain and edit this page, and given the ability to do so. There have been a few volunteers. OR
  • A reorganization of the Login Page for the Chat, and the ability for someone to edit and add to this webpage using any available tools, to present news updates, aesthetic remodeling, and more.
    Some combination of all of the above is possible, as well, and it is hoped that collaboration with Lesh will reveal what will be the most viable solution.
• The ability for moderators to in some way toggle on or off whisper-logging in the Game Rooms would be appreciated - many users are slightly put-off by the fact that any time a game is hosted and whisper logging is not enabled, all of those whispers are lost forever unless a trusted archivist expressly requests that everyone involved send them the private messages they want saved, to be put up and maintained in a separate archive. This seems wasteful of both time and effort, however, when we already have very good whisper-logging, when it's enabled.
• Disabling of the tags Open and LFRP in the Vore Room/Lounge is currently considered by several moderators and many users to be a very good idea - these tags encourage users to sit and wait to be approached, which is a failing strategy in the current incarnation of the Hollow's community. It would be better to restrict LFRP and Open - which are currently used interchangeably - to the dedicated IC Room/Hollow Valley, and possibly the Library, the Clearings (Open Group RP Rooms) and the Game Room, pending discussion on tag reorganization.
• Several members of the community and the bulk of the Moderatorial staff have agreed that the addition of Taur and Naga sliders to the current listing would be an extremely beneficial action, given the high proportion of both as a function of population, that the Hollow possesses, and the strong feelings both positively and negatively that some members of the userbase have towards them.
  • It is believed that the proposed Tauric Partner slider should go between the current 'Fur Partner' slider and the current 'Scaly Partner' slider, and the proposed Naga Partner slider would go between the current 'Demi Partner' slider, and the 'Fur Partner' slider.
• Many users have pointed out that the current tag system is inadequate to the site's needs. It would be ideal if one of two solutions could be implemented, once new a set of new tags has been discussed and agreed upon.
  • Each 'purpose' room has its own set of tags, meaning simply that tags not meant to be used in that room would disappear from the roll-over selection box.
  • The tag list is expanded overall, but tags not meant for that room will not function even if selected from the rollover list.
    Technical feasibility will likely determine which of these two solutions is ideal. Either way, it is expected that new icons and status names will need to be given to Leshana so that the status tag system can be expanded.
• If possible, it would be ideal if either mods in general or a designated mod could edit and change the flavor-text for each of the rooms more freely, however, simply editing the existing messages would also be acceptable.
• The currently-inoperative weather system - if brought under mod or GM control - would be extremely useful, when modified, for keeping track of the timer in P&P games, or indicating turns and targets in Spin The Bottle/Truth-or-Dare, or keeping track of hands and pots in Texas Gulp 'Em, or for a variety of other topics.

Reorganization of the Rooms

After several discussions in and amongst site moderators, numerous requests by users for clarification, and deep thought, the proposal is presented that the chat be organized and the rooms named as such.

• The Roleplay Room would become the Hollow Valley, a designated fully-IC space where the Open and LFRP tags would function normally. This is the valley discussed on the main page of the Wiki, and has been the de-facto "setting" of VH since the site's inception on vulpinehollow.com. It is believed that by assigning a theme and a location to this room, it will help 'prime' people to make use of it for its purpose - while not everyone may agree on the setting, just a bare-named 'Roleplay Room' does not an immersive image paint. OOC tags should not function in here.
• The Vore Room would become The Lounge, a designated IC/OOC space meant for light to moderate RP, free and rapid conversation, intermingling and easy approach. It is believed that by redefining and renaming the purpose of the room, several issues that have arisen based on people's misinterpretation of what should or should not happen in a "Vore Room" will be rectified, and those who enter the room will know what they are in for. Racist, inflammatory, sexist or otherwise incendiary language should not be allowed in this room, in general, it is meant as a 'hanging-out-point', a central location for anyone not currently making use of the other rooms for other purposes. LFRP and Open tags (and optionally, Prey and Pred tags, depending on the popular view of whether they mean 'looking for RP as' or 'currently RPing as') should not function in here.
• A dedicated OOC Room, tentatively named The Fourth Wall, should be implemented. Many users have requested a space to discuss purely OOC issues, and there are many issues, such as religion, politics, drama or current events that make members of the chat feel uneasy when broached in the casual, playful space of the Vore Room/The Lounge. By presenting a place for these and any other large-scale OOC discussions to take place - with the understanding they must be, if they happen, calm, mature and intelligent discussions, not a collection of flames and arguments, ad hominem or otherwise, we give members of the chat an outlet - and it is believed that this should also be a dedicated 'cool-down room' for anyone who is just getting too dizzied by the melee of the chat. Obviously, IC, Pred, Prey, LFRP, and Open tags should not function in here.
• A dedicated Game Chat room - called simply Game Chat - should be implemented. The current Game Room might be renamed to this. The conversation in the room often turns to either video games or chat games, to the extent that chat games are becoming a fixed and expected part of the Hollow experience. However, those who don't participate in these games often become incensed when conversation in the Vore Room/The Lounge turns to the chat games for any length of time - a place to plan, discuss, and gather both to discuss external games and media at length (which seem in several people's opinions, at least, to be divisive and serious enough topics to merit their own space for hashing-out) and games in the chatroom, without intruding on any games currently in progress, can only help us to organize and expand these events.
• 2-3 dedicated game rooms for games in progress only should be added, as the issue has arisen that there are simply not enough Game Rooms when we have multiple people wanting to run games at once.
• 2-3 dedicated Group RP Rooms, or Clearings, should be added. These would be intended for open group RPs and should have such in their description-text - this means that, pursuant to permission being given by those involved, people within should expect that others might jump into things if there aren't too many people there already.
• 2-3 dedicated Private RP Rooms, or Groves, should also be added, similar to the Motels from Eka's. These would be for private, no-entry-allowed 1-on-1 or group RP.