Allows members to tag others via @<username>, shows up under Profile and members can set to be notified via e-mail. Adds a new permission enabling membergroups to be granted permission to mention others. Supports active suggestions while mentioning in posts as well as quick reply.
I really think the mentioning thing is something that is really needed. Makes it so much easier to get in touch with certain members.
That first idea is also rather good, although as it works now, just messaging a mod with questions and concerns works well too. Would be a good addition but don't think it's actually needed.
I also think the @mention feature would be a wonderful and very useful addition to the forum! ;D
I'm unsure about the contact form though. It could be useful but would also be somewhat redundant since this can easily be done by simply PMing the staff from the staff page. :o
I'm completely on-board with the mentioning system. It'd make a lot of things much easier, and I think it would especially come in handy if you're crediting someone or even just trying to notify your friend of something. It could even be useful for notifying contest winners and such, there's a lot of ways it could be useful! So I completely support this.
I think the first idea could be helpful, but there's also a lot of potential for trolling and spam. It might be more helpful for asking for direct help about questions that would need to be answered by staff or people wondering about bans, and maybe it could make people a little less nervous about speaking directly to a specific staff member, but I feel many users would use it as a way to just angrily insult the staff/game or use it as a replacement for the Game Opinions and Ideas/Help boards. I might just be misunderstanding, though. :o
You mentioned that having a contact form would also help people and prevent so many threads from being made in the Help Boards. However, that would deprive helpful floofs from trying to help too. And as a result of that, the Member of the Season concept would be pointless, because many users are nominated/"elected" due to the thoughts that their benevolence and helpfulness needs to be appreciated by the rest of the community, and if it's just the Staff that are being contacted with rarely any Help threads being made, that defeats the purpose of MotS altogether and people will just be nominated for being 'popular' amongst the community. Eventually, people would probably not even want to nominate anymore and it would eventually die down.
PMing Staff members on the forum is easy enough. Making a Help thread gives the users plenty of opportunity for people to get quick replies from other people that are NOT staff, and are online around the time when the thread is made, and that's especially helpful if Staff are not online during that time.
Your idea is great yes, and I especially agree with the mentions idea, but I personally don't see the need of a contact form.
You mentioned that having a contact form would also help people and prevent so many threads from being made in the Help Boards. However, that would deprive helpful floofs from trying to help too. And as a result of that, the Member of the Season concept would be pointless, because many users are nominated/"elected" due to the thoughts that their benevolence and helpfulness needs to be appreciated by the rest of the community, and if it's just the Staff that are being contacted with rarely any Help threads being made, that defeats the purpose of MotS altogether and people will just be nominated for being 'popular' amongst the community. Eventually, people would probably not even want to nominate anymore and it would eventually die down.
PMing Staff members on the forum is easy enough. Making a Help thread gives the users plenty of opportunity for people to get quick replies from other people that are NOT staff, and are online around the time when the thread is made, and that's especially helpful if Staff are not online during that time.
Your idea is great yes, and I especially agree with the mentions idea, but I personally don't see the need of a contact form.
Actually, I didn't say that. I said the contact form could lessen the threads about people's restricted access to the game and that it would be for giving feedback and suggesting ideas. I can see where everyone's coming from but I don't think it would hurt to have such thing on the forums. As for tagging members, this has been suggested before but it wasn't really that much discussed.
Yet even so. Giving feedback and suggestions to help improve the forum and the game is much appreciated when placed in threads publicly, because it offers opportunities for members to add onto the suggestion already made and even suggest other things as well that could additionally improve the idea. Having a feedback form given out is pretty unnecessary, as it will only add onto the spam messages Staff can sometimes get when they're already open to ideas/feedback & tips to improve, as well as discussing bans privately and having help questions answered.
I can see that having a form will typically give a more structured way for Staff to read through. Although at the moment I'm actually very happy we have threads being made offering feedback for everyone to see. That way, it can spark motivation to come up with our own ideas as well. The members who don't know how to voice their opinions on how FeralHeart can ascend in improvements, can easily just be directed by other users to the forums to do so, and those quiet about it probably would stay quiet even if a contact form was put into place.
The FeralHeart Staff Team has and always will be very open to private messaging whenever and however, they're not people to be afraid of sending a Private Message to as, from previous talks with Staff members regarding issues and learning about their views, they're very considerate people and are always happy to listen to what you'd like to see going on. People, for so long, have made the Staff out to be very intimidating people when infact they're actually the very opposite. It's very easy to approach and talk to them as they'll always listen to feedback. If they weren't, things wouldn't be as they are.
As for discussing bans, it very clearly states in the Official Forum Rules and Guidelines that you should let a Staff member know privately if you're concerned about your own or another user's ban. FeralHeart players who do not use the forum rules often should probably still have seen these rules for future reference if they ever need help with anything and resort to the Help Boards. At least, that is what I would have thought yet I do not share the minds of other people - so whether or not they choose to read these rules is their responsibility as a player.
Conclusively I'm still very much in the "eh" about having a contact form to give feedback. The positivity in the feedback section on the forums is actually very nice to see, and the additional content users post to help people further explain their ideas and/or add on their own little twists is lovely. Seeing the pros and cons of having these ideas happening shows a balance in what people believe should and shouldn't happen to help improve FeralHeart and that, I believe, is what the Staff pay attention to. They don't want to choose for themselves, they want to choose to make things happen because the community agrees with these ideas and would like to see it happen. I prefer to see a thread sharing various opinions rather than future updates saying "this happened because ____ suggested it and we liked this" and then having the rest of the community accuse the Staff of choosing opinions only from friends/favouritism and not accepting other people's suggestions that have been posted openly.
I'm still thinking about the Contact Form idea, but I think the mentioning thing would be good as long as there's a restriction that you shouldn't tag like 20 people at once unless it's necessary and you shouldn't do it in every post.
If there's going to be a notification when people get tagged, I would rather not see "(Name) tagged you in (Thread name)" 100 times.
After putting some more thought into the Contact Form, I think this would be an excellent idea if used for more private matters (Such as things that can not be posted on the forums, so that no one has to wonder which staff member to send a PM to.) as well as for the people who are afraid of what others might think about their idea or simply do not wish to use the forums. (More than likely due to anxiety in some form or another.)
Additions to the forum
Add a contact form
The contact form could be an alternative to officially reach the Staff/Admins of FeralHeart. Perhaps moderators will not read or deal with contact forms, and only admins will.
It would be required to type in your Username, Email address and a Subject of the form. Players could use it if they have a suggestion or if they want to say what would they like to be changed on FeralHeart. It's just that not everyones uses the forum to share their suggestions with the community and some people may not/don't know how to contact a Staff member about private matters. The contact form could be even used for appealing bans and just feedback.
Additions to the forum
Add a contact form
It's just that not everyones uses the forum to share their suggestions with the community and some people may not/don't know how to contact a Staff member about private matters.
The FeralHeart Staff
Here you will be able to find a list of the current site/forum staff along with easy to reach pm links and other information, hopefully making it more of a breeze getting in contact with us. We are trying our hardest to take care of the FeralHeart community and whatever it might bring us, maybe even take care of your second home. Just scroll down the page to see or read more about the staff.
Just keep in mind that we would appreciate if you avoid spamming and other pointless messages that we'd end up needing to ignore. If you need help with understanding the game rules, how to use the forum, or just wish to report something to us, this is really a good way to get in contact. But do not forget we have a help section in our forum which most likely gives you a faster reply and that our responses might take a while.