VH Town Hall Minutes April 19th 2014
The minutes for the Vulpine Hollow Townhall on April 19, 2014:
Vulpine Hollow Guide updates
20:08: Kaoru begins by explaining what townhalls are, then describes ongoing improvements to the somewhat-outdated Vulpine Hollow Guide. He summarizes the chat's behavioral guidelines with the overall guideline 'Don't be a dick', and elaborates on what it means in more detail ('live and let live', 'not harshing on others' good time', 'not make disparaging comments about what's going on, or other users, or their RPs', 'avoid being passive aggressive when something we dislike is going on', 'don't throw out parting shots while leaving just because something doesn't match our preferences', 'be considerate while engaging in heated discussions' 'we should not comment on someone else's use, or lack of use, of [features like spoiler-text]' -- a summary can't really convey this information; persons who are interested should probably access the 4/19/2014 log for The Fourth Wall to read the source text.)
20:19: Topic opened to user feedback. Some discussion occurs of how to inform existing users of these changes; pubs are ruled out as technically infeasible, a login-message is proposed and well-received.
Games and event planning
20:29: Kaoru mentions that he will be running a game on the 23rd, and asks what would be a good time for games discussion. Kaoru also reminds people about the Mentor Program).
20:33: Topic opened to user feedback. - Fiona mentions having had a friend who might have benefited from it, but having forgotten about the program - Jit asks about whether much need for the mentors has currently been observed - Jit mentions that past games-discussions have had low attendance, and that games seem to have higher participation when they come up in a topic as opposed to when they are scheduled in advance
Around 20:37, discussion bcomes more general: - General discussion of calendars and other announcement mechanisms occurs, with the idea of making people more informed of events - Kaoru announces that his Social Improv game will be on Wed April 23 at 6 PST, the Games Discussion will be on Fri April 25 at 3 PST, and a Meet'n'Eat on Thurs April 23 at 5 PST. - LuthPlayer suggests that the ability to hide the userlist would be a useful UI change. Fiona concurs. - Tzelle and Kino suggest that private-rooms would be a helpful feature. Kaoru responds (at 21:07) that private rooms were at one point not thought desirable by the staff, but that the decision may be revisited, and that an intention for easily enterable group-conversations does exist.
Assorted topics: moderators, Anthrocon parties, and private RP
21:03: Kaoru responds to a past question about how moderators are selected, and how users are protected from them. He provides and summarizes information from Moderator's Manual.
21:06: The topic of an AC party is raised; Retna mentions that Roco (not a chat user) was organizing a party and was wondering whether it'd be better to consolidate into a larger overall party for the community at large. Room size is raised as a large concern.
21:06: Simultaneously, discussion of 'motels' or semi-private RP rooms continues. - Pengo identifies semi-private rooms as helpful because otherwise he's self-conscious posting some content in front of a general audience. - Brief discussion of use of private rooms by people who are 'only here to RP' garners the overall response that this is not a community that centers around people who are only here to RP, but has a more social purpose. While impoving the RP experience in general has value, socializing is considered to be at the center of VH's purpose.
22:02: Kaoru calls the Townhall closed.
