Primary Groups Board

[Insoholic]

Primary Groups Board

As you know, we have two child boards in the "General Roleplay" board - "Groups Roleplay Board" and "Group Advertising Board". In the "Group Roleplay Board" child board you are suppossed to roleplay there with your group and in the "Group Advertising Board" child board you can advertise your FeralHeart roleplay related group. With the update of the forum, Redlinelies has added a few new profile fields that you can edit by clicking the "Profile" tab in the forum menu, and then select "Forum Profile". There's a field for a user's main group - with it you can show to anyone who visits your profile that you have a pride, pack or group that you see as your in-game or forum family. Keep in mind that this is just a field. Imagine if you could make your own thread dedicated to your group. Your group (and non-group members) could use it as a chat thread, you could include info about your group like how many members you have, what are the requirements to join it, what are the rules of the group, group banner, etc. Of course, this doesn't mean that everyone will be free to do whatever they want but rather smaller sanctions (such as double-posting) could be over-looked.

1. Where?

The new board could be made as a board of the "Community" section because I believe it will fit better there.

2. Why?

We have a child board for advertising our roleplay related groups, so why not have a board for advertising our not roleplay related groups?


Please ask below if you have any questions!

[Bawfle]

There's nothing on the Groups Roleplay Board that indicates that you can't already do this. So, I don't think another board is needed specifically for group socializing, especially when it should be directly encouraged in-game. The only purpose I see in having one is if group members want to communicate but they are unable to get in-game, or if people wanted to ask questions about the group. But then again, questions can be asked on the Group Advertisement board in threads that are created, where users are able to find questions that may have already been answered directly all in one thread.

Honestly, people have used the Groups Roleplay Board souly to advertise their in-game role play groups, as that was the obvious and general idea in the first place, but again there is nothing stopping you or users from creating a forum social thread specifically for their group. I think the only thing that would be expected is if in each thread there would be a link to the other. For example; you create a group advertisement in the Group Advertisements board, and you make a Social thread for your group as well, but in the Groups Roleplay Board, for your group members to socialize on if they are unable to get in-game and need to socialize or keep members up to date in their activity. Especially when this is a difficult thing to do in-game as there is no form of messaging inbox like the forum has.

As for keeping track of how many members a group has, you can easily do this yourself by keeping a member count on your group/group advertisement thread. But going back to the Group Advertisement board. You don't specifically have to use the board for roleplays, as it can also be used for in-game social groups like this one.

[Insoholic]

There's nothing on the Groups Roleplay Board that indicates that you can't already do this. So, I don't think another board is needed specifically for group socializing, especially when it should be directly encouraged in-game. The only purpose I see in having one is if group members want to communicate but they are unable to get in-game, or if people wanted to ask questions about the group. But then again, questions can be asked on the Group Advertisement board in threads that are created, where users are able to find questions that may have already been answered directly all in one thread.

From my point of view, there are a few things that actually indicated me that I can't post a thread for my in-game social group:

• The child board "Group Advertising Board" is in the "Roleplay" section.
• It says that if we have a FeralHeart related Roleplay we can advertise it there.
• It is stated in the rules of the board that the threads posted are meant to be for those seeking members, if they are looking to join a roleplay group/site.

Honestly, people have used the Groups Roleplay Board souly to advertise their in-game role play groups, as that was the obvious and general idea in the first place, but again there is nothing stopping you or users from creating a forum social thread specifically for their group. I think the only thing that would be expected is if in each thread there would be a link to the other. For example; you create a group advertisement in the Group Advertisements board, and you make a Social thread for your group as well, but in the Groups Roleplay Board, for your group members to socialize on if they are unable to get in-game and need to socialize or keep members up to date in their activity. Especially when this is a difficult thing to do in-game as there is no form of messaging inbox like the forum has.

And again, it is not stated anywhere on the rules that we're allowed to do it. As for making a social thread in the "Groups Roleplay Board", that is not something I'd want to have. My suggestion was to make a board for making threads about our in-game social groups and there you could socialize, advertise, chit-chat, etc. I wouldn't really want to make a social thread about my in-game social group in the "Groups Roleplay Board" because that it's not the purpose of the board.

As for keeping track of how many members a group has, you can easily do this yourself by keeping a member count on your group/group advertisement thread. But going back to the Group Advertisement board. You don't specifically have to use the board for roleplays, as it can also be used for in-game social groups like this one.

I'm glad to see that you have a thread about your in-game social group, but don't you think that it would be great to have some additions to the rules (in that case)?

[Bawfle]

Then perhaps it's the case in recommending that the Roleplay board you see directly on the forum page, to be changed to Feral Heart Roleplays and Groups so it doesn't give people the wrong idea that the board is just for advertising roleplays? So it is expanded clearly for groups such as Feral Heart related in-game Social groups and Anonymous/None-Roleplay groups instead of creating a whole new board? As well as re-wording the boards sub-text from 'FeralHeart forum roleplay section' to something such as 'Advertise your Feral Heart related groups or roleplays here'.

To my understanding and from what you have provided, I know that the Groups Roleplay Board could easily just be renamed to Roleplay Board as having Groups in the name is slightly off putting. Also, the board could also have have it's own Before You Post sticky thread which informs users what the general idea of the board is, and what can or cannot be posted in that specific board. For Example;

Roleplay Board
Be sure to read the following board rules and guidelines and make sure your thread/roleplay ticks all the boxes before you post.

- Please do not create threads that include content of you (a user) seeking recommendations of a roleplay to join without already looking around. If you are seeking a roleplay to join, please look at the roleplays that have already been created in this board or the Group Advertising Board. If you do not see a roleplay to your liking, and you have looked around, please make this clear in your thread of roleplay recommendation before posting. Otherwise, a Member of Staff will follow up on this and lock the thread if you have proven you haven't done your own research.

- Users are permitted to create threads on this board in relation to asking what other users think of their roleplay ideas if they so happen to need second opinions/views before creation. However, if you are wanting opinions/views on more than one roleplay idea, please keep to one thread to reduce board clutter.

- Users are also permitted to use this board to create a roleplay thread specific for their in-game roleplay if their users so happen to wish to roleplay outside of the game, or, if there is an issue with them being unable to access the game and need an alternative. Please do not create a thread like this if you are not the owner of the roleplay.

- Please refrain from bumping continuously. As stated on the Official Forum Rules and Guidelines; If no one replies after the first or second bump, then please let the thread die and refrain from bumping more, because chances are no one will reply.

- This board is specifically for Feral Heart related roleplays only. If your roleplay is not Feral Heart related, please consider hosting your roleplay in the Off-Topic Roleplay boards.


If you have a question that cannot be answered in the list provided above, then you are more than welcome to contact a Member of Staff for support.

As for the Group Advertising Board, perhaps the Before You Post sticky thread could be re-worded slightly, so appears more open to general groups rather than just roleplays. If it was just for roleplays, the board would have or should have been named to Roleplay Advertising Board instead of having Group Advertising Board then Roleplay Advertising Board as titled in the Before You Post sticky thread. So, perhaps these changes should be considered:

Roleplay and Group Advertising Board
This section on the forum is here for all the Roleplay and General Group Hosters in our community, if you are in a grave need of members or just want to expand your member count for your roleplay and/or group, then this is really the section to go to, likewise if you are currently looking for a new group to join up and roleplay in.

- The threads posted in this section is meant to be for those SEEKING members. If you are looking to join a roleplay group/site you are meant to browse the already existing threads in the board and not creating a thread of your own explaining that you are looking for one.

- Users are welcome to advertise their in-game mature roleplays here, so long as mature content isn't posted. Using Feral Heart's Official Forum Rules and Guidelines as a guideline to creating your thread is a strong recommendation. Please always keep in mind that this is a PG13 forum, and the content you use in your thread must be kept PG13 friendly for the purpose of young audiences.

- Mature Roleplays (such as realism in breeding, sexual content and fetishes) are not permitted to be hosted on this board this forum is specifically PG13. Unlike in-game, the forum does not have private chats to use such as Party, Whisper or Group, so it is not permitted for the purpose of keeping our fourms friendly to younger audiences. However, mature gore roleplays are acceptable here if a clear pre-warning and level of gore that can be found in the roleplay is provided.

- If you post links to other roleplay sites, keep in mind that this roleplay must be FeralHeart related in some way and just not a roleplay you made in which you want members for. (FeralHeart related as in having roleplays in the game, on this forum or having story lines taking part on/off the game at the same time).

- Be nice to each other and keep in mind that if you are looking to join a roleplay or group you are joining someone ELSES roleplay/group and not yours. They are the ones in charge unless you are given the written authority otherwise in their group. Also, if you are the one posting the advertising thread, make sure you try to be as nice as possible to those seeking.

- You are allowed to post links to other sites and threads within the Feral Heart boards, but if any material linked to or displayed in these threads is seen as unnecessary or unwanted by the members of Staff, they might edit/remove your posts.

- Make sure you keep your advertising threads well explained and has good content to them explaining what kind of roleplay it is, what you are seeking and maybe any extra information about it, all to make it easy for members to know what they are looking at.

- Please refrain from bumping continuously. As stated on the Official Forum Rules and Guidelines; If no one replies after the first or second bump, then please let the thread die and refrain from bumping more, because chances are no one will reply.


If you have a question that cannot be answered in the list provided above, then you are more than welcome to contact a Member of Staff for support.

What is your take on this?

[Insoholic]

Wow! That's even a better suggestion and I completely agree with you. +floof
The ideas are on board, the rules are well written - lets see what the Staff think of the idea.
It shouldn't be hard at all to implement what you suggested and it wouldn't hurt either to have these additions to the boards.

[Bawfle]

Glad you agree!

And aye, shouldn't be too much of an effort as the majority of the work has already been done
Just so long as agreements are made for this to be taken forward and hopefully they will acknowledge that these developments are easier to understand and will expand things a little more. The boards that are in place are currently loaded with a lot of threads made by users asking if there are roleplays they can join, without really looking (especially the current Groups Roleplay Board). Or even roleyplays/threads that are being made, that are totally dead or have 0 replies but are only bumped by the owner several times when they need to understand that they are required to let the thread die as stated in the Forum Rules and Guidelines.

This will be a more open and clean (or cleaner) slate for that board in general.

[Morgra]

Wow, thank you two for the thoughtful and thorough discussion on our Roleplay boards. It's much appreciated! We are aware that there are flaws in our General Roleplay Board and this is something we will take into consideration when the time comes to decide if we would like to make revisions to the board. A few of us have already pointed out to each other that we should look into rearranging and reorganizing it a bit.

However, I think i'm going to weigh in on a few of the matters you have talked over. I read through the discussion so far and I like what I see. I especially like your recommendation of changing the name of our Group Advertising Board to Roleplay and Group Advertising Board as that feels more inclusive and you can begin to wonder why we don't have a board for groups to advertise themselves in the first place. At first, my first concern was that our Roleplay category on the forums would no longer make sense if we added in social, non-roleplay oriented groups under that category as well. Currently we have two boards in the Roleplay Category: Characters and General Roleplay. Keeping those two boards in mind and also making sure that there's a category to fit characters, roleplay groups and non-roleplay groups, what about renaming the category to Roleplays, Groups and Characters?
This was much like what Bawfle said here:

Then perhaps it's the case in recommending that the Roleplay board you see directly on the forum page, to be changed to Feral Heart Roleplays and Groups so it doesn't give people the wrong idea that the board is just for advertising roleplays?

Except for the inclusion of Characters as characters are also a board under that category. We must keep that in mind, so that there is still a childboard on the forums for people to post about their roleplay characters without it feeling like it's in the wrong category. Hence, why I think that Roleplays, Groups and Characters should be the name of that category of boards.


Now, as for the boards themselves, here are my thoughts on layout and organization:

First off, we should get rid of the General Roleplay board as to me it isn't a necessary division of boards. Also, I think it's needed that we separate roleplay groups from regular groups rather than clumping them together for easier browsing and searching for what users may want to look for.

Here is how I think we should reorganize them:

Category (on front page): Roleplays, Groups and Characters
Board #1: Groups and Roleplay Groups
               Childboards: Group Advertising Board for social/non-roleplay groups
                                  Roleplay Group Advertising Board for groups that roleplay
                                  Groups Roleplay Board this one needs renaming or removing entirely as I feel it's confusing even in the current layout
Board #2: Characters                   
               Childboards:Species
                                 Character Search
                                   - Mate Search
                                   - Cub Adoption Center


As for the sticky thread suggestions provided by Bawfle, these could be adjusted accordingly depending on the final organization of the boards.

[Bawfle]

Colliding both Character and General Roleplay Boards is actually a really good idea. Renaming the main board to Roleplays, Groups and Characters or Characters, Roleplays and Groups (so groups can have a spotlight in some way) actualy sounds more appealing and inviting? It sounds like there's a lot more to the board that what people could expect. It also sort of removes an entire board in general, making the forum appear less 'full' at first glance, so I do quite enjoy the thought of this.

I think the layout and structure Morgra provided is also well thought through, and I do have a few minor changes and re-names that people might find more suiting. I have highlighted my changes/suggestions in lime green.

Category (on front page): Roleplays, Groups and Characters Characters, Roleplays and Groups
Board #1: Varied (or) Miscellaneous (or) General Groups and Roleplay Groups
               Childboards: Group Advertising Board for social/non-roleplay groups
                                  Roleplay Group Advertising Board for groups that roleplay
                                  Groups Roleplay Board this one needs renaming or removing entirely as I feel it's confusing even in the current layout
                                  Roleplay Discussion Board For general roleplay discussion, offline roleplay (for in-game roleplays), offline chatrooms (for in-game roleplays) and more...()
Board #2: Characters                   
               Childboards:Species
                                 Character Search
                                   - Mate Search
                                   - Cub Adoption Center

[Insoholic]

Really thoughtful suggestions, I support them. Here is how Buffy's modified layout will look:



And that made me thinking that maybe instead of naming it "Miscellaneous Groups and Roleplay Groups" it can be just "General Groups"/"Groups". Also, here's another layout (I think it's a good one, but maybe yours are better):



Tell me what you think.

[Bawfle]

I think the first one is more tidy and less cluttered. When people see the first board, before they click on it they're already going to know what they're going to expect to see in there, as everything to do with groups and roleplays are hosted as child boards within that board so it already falls under one category. Having everything related to groups under one board is more sufficient? It also gets the point across. Perhaps this. It's the same as the modified structure of Morgra's, only some things aren't too much of a mouth full to read/say. Such as Miscellaneous Groups and Roleplay Groups. With some added sub-text for the board categories, and is sort of like a final draft:

(Category) Characters, Roleplays and Groups

                                       (Board #1) Misc Groups and Roleplays (Renamed from Miscellaneous Groups and Roleplays to Misc Groups and Roleplays so it's not a mouth full to read).
                                       Advertise or discuss your Feral Heart related groups and/or roleplays here!
                                                     (Childboards) Group Advertising Board For social/non-roleplay groups
                                                                          Roleplay Advertising Board For groups that roleplay
                                                                          Roleplay Discussion For general roleplay discussion

                                       (Board #2) Characters
                                       A place where you can show off your unique characters, species, or even find your character a family!
                                                     (Childboards) Species
                                                                          Character Search
                                                                          - Mate Search
                                                                          - Adoption Center (Cub Adoption Center renamed to Adoption Center to keep the variety open).

I think if any of the boards needed sticky threads (rules and guidelines of the boards), it should be all the child boards under Misc Group and Roleplays board. Reason being that they all need some sort of guidelines to what people can and cannot post. HOWEVER, I'm sure the Group Advertising Board, Roleplay Advertising Board and the Roleplay Discussion Board could come under all one sticky post in the main Characters, Roleplays and Groups board, along side the Roleplay Guide. I say this because generally all three boards I imagine would have very very similar rules/guidelines to abide by considering the only difference is that one is for socializing/misc groups, and the other is for roleplay groups. The third board will still  have guidelines that would need to be followed that would have already been introduced in the first two guideline threads if they were separate.

Sticky Thread Topic/Subject: Read Before Posting, Location: The main 'Misc Groups and Roleplays' board

Misc Groups and Roleplays - Combined Childboard Guidelines
Be sure to read the following board rules and guidelines to assure your thread ticks all the boxes before posting in any childboards.

Please keep your threads informative
Make sure you keep your advertising threads well explained and has good content to them explaining what kind of group or roleplay you are hosting, what you are seeking and maybe any extra information about it, all to make it easy for members to know what they are looking at.

The Group and Roleplay Advertising Boards
The threads posted in the Group Advertising Board and Roleplay Advertising Board are meant to be for those SEEKING members. If you are looking to join a group, roleplay or site, you are meant to browse the already existing threads in the board. Please refrain from posting a thread of your own explaining that you are looking for one. If you do not see a group or roleplay advertised here to your liking, only THEN are you permitted to create a thread seeking group and/or roleplay recommendations. However, please be clear that you have understood this rule before posting your thread or your thread may be locked and marked as spam. (*1) (*2)

Feral Heart Related Roleplays Only
The Roleplay Advertising Board is specifically for Feral Heart related roleplays only. If your roleplay is not Feral Heart related, please consider hosting your roleplay advertisement in the Off-Topic Roleplay boards.

Mature Group and Roleplay Advertisements
Mature Group and Roleplay Advertisements (such as general content that is rated higher than PG13) are permitted to be advertised on this board, so long as mature images or outgoing links are not provided. However, please do not take advantage of this acception. Mature group and/or roleplay advertisements are acceptable here if a clear pre-warning and group/roleplay rating in the thread's subject/topic field is provided, as well as how heavy the maturity is, clearly stated in the thread you wish to create. Using Feral Heart's Official Forum Rules and Guidelines as a guideline to creating your thread is a strong recommendation. Please always keep in mind that this is a PG13 forum, and the content you use in your thread must be kept PG13 friendly for the purpose of young audiences who view this forum.

Avoid from multi-bumping and creating twin threads
Please refrain from continuously bumping threads. As stated on the Official Forum Rules and Guidelines; If no one replies after the first or second bump, then please let the thread die and refrain from bumping more, because chances are no one will reply. Please also refrain from creating duplicate/twin threads. If a thread such as "What is your favourite species to roleplay as?" has been posted in the Roleplay Discussion board, please refrain from posting another to avoid thread clutter.

Let's keep things friendly
Whether you're posting in the Group Advertising Board, the Roleplay Advertising Board, or the Roleplay Discussion Board, please be sure to be nice to each other. Also keep in mind that if you are looking to join a roleplay or group you are joining someone ELSES roleplay/group and not yours. They are the ones in charge unless you are given the written authority otherwise in their group. Also, if you are the one posting the advertising thread, make sure you try to be as nice as possible to those seeking.

Please also keep to heart that if you are seeking views/opinions on specific aspects related to your group/roleplay or roleplaying in general, you must be able to receive views/opinions and be able to swallow your pride. There is not much point in posting a thread requesting views and opinions if you're just going to turn people away who politely try to provide their own opinions and views to help you.

Sharing external links
You are allowed to post links to other sites and threads within the Feral Heart Misc Groups and Roleplays boards, but if any material linked to or displayed in these threads is seen as unnecessary or unwanted by the members of Staff, they might edit/remove your posts.

If you have a question that cannot be answered in the list provided above, then you are more than welcome to contact a Member of Staff for support.

Moderation notes:

- (*1) When locking a thread like this, explain how the user has failed to show any effort of their own to look for groups and/or roleplays to join by failure to understand this rule, (quoted from the rule; please be clear that you have understood this rule before posting your thread or your thread may be locked and marked as spam), but also offer to unlock the thread if they have proven via PM that they haven't found anything on the boards to their interest. This is to prevent other users view on mods who may see locking a thread like this unnecessary.

- (*2) Any threads like this found, should be considered for deletion if deemed necessary and/or appropriate to.

- Perhaps Roleplay Discussion that can be found on the Forum Discussion board should be re-located to the Roleplay Discussion board.