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Meeting Agenda, Action Points, and Transcript - November 16th, 2019

The Agenda

November 16th, 2019

Regional News and Discussion
1) Review of Open Action Items from Previous Meetings
2) Improving Discussion Forum Activity
3) The Future of the Minecraft Server

Question and Answer Portion
Note: Topics will be discussed in this order for as long as time permits. Topics that we don't get to will be left in the pool for next week.
1) Question About Election Timing (Kane)
2) Making a User-Friendly Forum for Newbies (Swordia)

Outstanding Action Items

From November 9th
1.1) The Cabinet will discuss creating a guide to the most commonly used aspects of the region
1.2) Wintermoot will contact BraveSirRobin about creating information for people interested in signing up to Deep Space Wintreath

2.1) We will determine what games the community is most interested in playing (Paradox games, WoW, GW2, and LoL were all mentioned)
2.2) We will determine how to go about getting pen and paper games going on the Discord

3.1) Ruguo will start a poll this week to determine support for continuing the LGBT forum area

4.1) Wintermoot will work with pilot clubs to determine their forum and Discord needs once legislation passes

5.1) The ops team will create an create an internal guide on how to utilize the ops functions they made need
5.2) The ops team will investigate any future incident where @operators is used to determine whether the response was timely
5.3) Wintermoot will determine whether there's a way for members to privately flag the ops team

From November 16th
1.1) Chanku is looking into an organization for the DMs so that the government has a list of people to talk to
1.2) The Cabinet will look into including a law guide as part of the series of guides that we discussed last week

2.1) We will investigate whether people would be interested in a journal feature.
2.2) Wintermoot will send out a regional telegram asking what kinds of events/topics residents would like to be involved in
2.3) Ruguo is planning to host an event in late winter that could be used to get people excited to be on the forums

3.1) Wintermoot will discuss additional help with Chanku
3.2) We will discuss the possibility of having a world reset, including a poll option, with the goal of having this completed by the November 30th meeting
3.3) We will consider Minecraft-specific events
3.4) We will consider, pending decisions on the status of the server, adopting a goal of making the MC server less generic so that we can leverage as a recruitment avenue

4.1) Katie will create a flyer that we can use to announce that nominations are coming up
4.2) Wintermoot will make an effort to announce a week in advance that nominations are coming up

5.1) Set up materials for mentoring program by Dec 7th for the next Integration thane

Review of Open Action Items from Previous Meeting

[10:07 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Well, let's go ahead and get started then. :stuck_out_tongue:
[10:08 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: politely applauds
[10:08 PM] Katie: :clap:
[10:08 PM] Honorary Box: Claps
[10:08 PM] Lord Alex Meowzexela💖: Also you can mark messages unread now for whatever reason.
[10:08 PM] Wintermoot 👑: As before, I will start with an introduction of each issue, and then open the floor for discussion. So that everyone can understand what's being discussed, I will ask that nobody but the speaker post until the floor has been opened. Of course, #tavern is open for when the floor is closed.
[10:08 PM] Nox (she/her): Okies
[10:09 PM] Wintermoot 👑: So the first item is an overview of the action items from the last meeting and our progress on them. Let me post the list of items, and then post another list of what's been done so far on them. One sec...
[10:09 PM] Wintermoot 👑:
1.1) The Cabinet will discuss creating a guide to the most commonly used aspects of the region
1.2) Wintermoot will contact BraveSirRobin about creating information for people interested in signing up to Deep Space Wintreath
2.1) We will determine what games the community is most interested in playing (Paradox games, WoW, GW2, and LoL were all mentioned)
2.2) We will determine how to go about getting pen and paper games going on the Discord
3.1) Rugio will start a poll this week to determine support for continuing the LGBT forum area
4.1) Wintermoot will work with pilot clubs to determine their forum and Discord needs once legislation passes
5.1) The ops team will create an internal guide on how to utilize the ops functions they may need
5.2) The ops team will investigate any future incident where @operators is used to determine whether the response was timely
5.3) Wintermoot will determine whether there’s a way for members to privately flag the ops team
[10:09 PM] Wintermoot 👑:
1.1) Unfortunately, we have not started on this yet
1.2) It’s been mentioned, but we haven’t had a discussion on it yet.
2.1) This has not been done.
2.2) I know that Chanku has been in the process of trying to contact people about getting some formal pen and paper stuff going, but I don’t think everyone’s been on the same page about a time to talk about it.
3.1) Ruguo put out the poll and we will discuss the results in the Discussing Forum Activity Segment
4.1) The social clubs legislation passed this week! In the next week I hope to have time to create a space on the forums for clubs as well as a draft of the application that clubs can use to petition the Storting on their creation. My hope is that we will have at least one club in the process of being approved within the next two weeks.
5.1) Hannah is in the process of working on this
5.2) There have been no incidents where the ops team was called this week
5.3) Wuufu was wonderful enough to take some time to create a new .op command to allow people to privately ping the operators. To use it, all you do is DM Zaphyr, and use the command to relay information about what the operators need to know. For example: “.op This is a test call to the ops from Wintermoot!”. Thanks to Wuufu for implementing this so quickly!
[10:10 PM] Wintermoot 👑: This item is pretty straightforward. :stuck_out_tongue: The floor is now open if there are any questions or thoughts on any of these items.
[10:10 PM] Katie: I missed the last meeting, but what is pen and paper?
[10:10 PM] Nox (she/her): Pnp roleplay I think
[10:11 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Like DnD and that kind of stuff
[10:11 PM] Katie: ohhh
[10:11 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Chanku put together a pretty big gathering on voicechat doing it last week
[10:11 PM] OliverCrowe: Think Wil Wheaton's obsession.
[10:11 PM] Katie: Also Syraj and I wanted to make a guide like that ages ago for Wintrean law specifically, but we never got around to it. It's good to see it happen for wintreath in general
[10:11 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: stands and applauds
[10:12 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Just a word of note: I have been trying to get both Doc and AJ together to have a meeting on this.
[10:12 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: However scheduling has been a bit tough lately, but I do hope that we can get something nailed down soon.
[10:13 PM] Wintermoot 👑: This has been a trying week, for sure :stuck_out_tongue:
[10:13 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: I also am looking at an organization of sorts for the DMs and for this so that the Government has a list of people to talk to
[10:13 PM] Honorary Box: Can you keep me appraised of what come out of said meeting?
[10:13 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Chanku, could you just include Ruguo in that meeting?
[10:14 PM] Wintermoot 👑: As Jarl of Culture they certainly have the right to be there :stuck_out_tongue:
[10:14 PM] Lord Alex Meowzexela💖: Well no objections, or concerns(or nonsense) from me.
[10:15 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: stands and applauds
[10:16 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Any other comments?
[10:16 PM] Lord Alex Meowzexela💖: Nope none from me.
[10:16 PM] SWORDIA: Not from me :yum:
[10:16 PM] Kessekk: I think I may wish to have a section later on, if that’s okay.
[10:17 PM] Wintermoot 👑: I'm not sure what you mean
[10:18 PM] Kessekk: Like just something I wanna say after the questions are done with
[10:19 PM] Wintermoot 👑: The period for adding items to this meeting closed Friday...I specifically asked the Cabinet if they had items to include beforehand
[10:19 PM] Kessekk: Alright, sorry, had a busy week
[10:20 PM] Wintermoot 👑: It's alright, feel free to post on the forum or put it on for next week though

Improving Forum Discussion Activity

[10:20 PM] Wintermoot 👑: In any case, on to the next item, which kinda continues the discussion we had last week on discussion forums:
[10:21 PM] Wintermoot 👑: So, last week we talked about the future of the LGBT forum, as well as the other discussion forums, and we decided to put out a poll to gauge what was wanted. They created the poll (https://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=6239.0;viewresults) and I have to admit that I was a little surprised. I felt like from the meeting the feeling was leaning toward just eliminating the LGBT forum, but the poll shows that the community is almost evenly split on whether to eliminate one or more forums or to leave them as they are.
[10:21 PM] Wintermoot 👑: So before we ultimately decide to eliminate any forums, I want to make an effort to make them more active. My goal for a main forum is for it to have at least 100 posts a month, unless it’s a government or forum game forum, so that would be my goal if we were to keep them. With that in mind, I’d like to brainstorm some on how we can make these areas more active if we’re going to keep them.
[10:21 PM] Wintermoot 👑: The floor is open on this topic now
[10:22 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: stands and applauds while nodding
[10:22 PM] Wintermoot 👑: :stuck_out_tongue:
[10:23 PM] OliverCrowe: Journals?
[10:23 PM] Wintermoot 👑: What do you mean?
[10:24 PM] OliverCrowe: It's something I've been thinking about for a while, like an area where people can keep journals.
[10:24 PM] OliverCrowe: Whether it be for venting or other, sort of a more in depth say whats on your mind.
[10:25 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Like a journal forum, or a new section of the website?
[10:25 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: Personalized extra section of one's profile maybe?
[10:26 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: Profile --> Journal
[10:26 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: stands and applauds his own answer
[10:26 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Well, I'm intrigued :stuck_out_tongue:
[10:29 PM] Honorary Box: From where I stand, I still believe that there are more opinions to be gathered, as only 10 people have voted and the last avatar theme of the month brought in 16 votes. I have to wonder if people are staying silent or don't really care about that section of the forums.
I do enjoy the idea of journals, but we would need something for people to talk about. I for one am not the most comfortable just throwing myself out there in free journaling, but I can see it working for some people. However, I do not have any better ideas at this time, and will think on this and work to come up with ways to improve forum activity.
[10:29 PM] OliverCrowe: Like a forum section devoted to it.
[10:29 PM] OliverCrowe: Well subforum
[10:30 PM] Wintermoot 👑: A long long time ago (read: 2006), we had a small scale MMORPG forum that had a section for journals...I used it and enjoyed it, but I do wonder how many people are interested in this day and age.
[10:30 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: LiveJournal ftw
[10:30 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: Back in '03 lol
[10:31 PM] Wintermoot 👑: I was more of a Xanga kid. :stuck_out_tongue:
[10:31 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: places Moot on his list of mortal enemies
[10:31 PM] Honorary Box: The main issue I'm running into is that the section of the forums in question is primarily used for discussion, and most of that has been moved over to the Discord.
[10:32 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Is there anything we can do to encourage discussion there
[10:32 PM] Wintermoot 👑: ?
[10:32 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: That's why I think the profile aspect would work best. If you wanna do it, go head. If you don't, that's cooliio, too. If you wanna shamelessly promote yours via signature? Prolly encouraged.
[10:32 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: stands and applauds himself again
[10:33 PM] Wintermoot 👑: But on the other hand it's faster and easier to throw up a new forum than to code a new section of the website...if I'm going to code something I want to be reasonably sure that someone wants it. :stuck_out_tongue:
[10:33 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: That's not an option for Simple Machines?
[10:33 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: Like expanded profiles?
[10:34 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: Ohhhhh I see
[10:34 PM] OliverCrowe: I think we just need more events
[10:34 PM] OliverCrowe: Summersend always generates activity
[10:34 PM] OliverCrowe: But it's currently our only event outside of games.
[10:35 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Well, we have four discussion forums we're tlaking about here: Gaming, which I would guess is relatively healthy; Serious discussions, which seems to ebb and flow; and then the arts/writing and LGBT forum, which tends to just be generally inactive
[10:36 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Maybe if there were some kind of writing event...Lands End used to do one which was fairly successful
[10:37 PM] Wintermoot 👑: And which Elbbsas won once :smile:
[10:37 PM] SWORDIA: Maybe sending a telegram to every citizen asking them what events would they want could help .
[10:38 PM] Honorary Box: On that note, Pengu, I had proposed hosting another event sometime towards the end of winter, as is now defined by the seasons act.
[10:38 PM] Honorary Box: Perhaps we could use an event to promote activity
[10:38 PM] Wintermoot 👑: That's not a bad idea...we rarely telegram people
[10:38 PM] Honorary Box: Get people excited to be on the forums and see other people
[10:40 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Hmm...well, those are some things to lead with
[10:40 PM] Wintermoot 👑: This is what I get from the chat so far:
[10:40 PM] Wintermoot 👑:
2.1) We will investigate whether people would be interested in a journal feature.
2.2) Wintermoot will send out a regional telegram asking what kinds of events/topics residents would like to be involved in
2.3) Ruguo is planning to host an event in late winter that could be used to get people excited to be on the forums
[10:41 PM] SWORDIA: Excellent
[10:41 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: 2.4) AJ needs to request permission to speak next week
[10:41 PM] Wintermoot 👑: I mean, I do ping the Cabinet in the cabinet forum to ask if they have agenda items for the meetings :stuck_out_tongue:
[10:42 PM] OliverCrowe: Awesome
[10:42 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: stands and applauds

The Future of the Minecraft Server

[10:42 PM] Wintermoot 👑: In any case, if there's nothing else, let's move on to the next topic.
[10:42 PM] Wintermoot 👑: which is about our MC server
[10:42 PM] Wintermoot 👑: We’ve had our Minecraft server for over five years now, and the fact of the matter is that it hasn’t aged well. It’s hardly ever active, it’s difficult to upgrade with the mods we use, and because the world closest to origin was generated under a much older version, you have to go far out to find new tiles and materials. Last year I came up with a goal of revitilizing the server, but it hasn’t gone very far, and this is something we pay a monthly fee to keep.
[10:42 PM] Wintermoot 👑: So I wanted to open the floor to discussion on any thoughts about what we should do here. Is a working MC server something you guys really want at all? Are there changes we could make that would spruce up more interest?
[10:44 PM] SWORDIA: Do we know the reasons why people don't join the server ?
[10:45 PM] Nox (she/her): I'd be more interested if I owned minecraft
[10:45 PM] SWORDIA: Speculations I mean
[10:45 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Not entirely, no...but there has been a trend of other's putting out unofficial servers that people liked for a few months before getting bored with them
[10:46 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Chanku put out the most recent unofficial server
[10:46 PM] SWORDIA: And what the difference between the official one and the unofficial one ?
[10:46 PM] Wintermoot 👑: They were much more heavily modded
[10:46 PM] SWORDIA: Uh ,I see .
[10:47 PM] SWORDIA: Is it hard to mod the official one ?
[10:47 PM] Wintermoot 👑: It's not hard per say, but it makes it more difficult to update the server when a new version come out
[10:48 PM] Wintermoot 👑: I think we're a version or two behind right now cause of that
[10:48 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Give me a moment to get my laptop up
[10:48 PM] SWORDIA: Oh I see .
[10:49 PM] SWORDIA: If there is a lot of people are going to join and we will see lots of activity , then I think it worth the effort .
[10:49 PM] SWORDIA: Maybe , dividing the actual work of updating the files and the server between multiple people .
[10:49 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Alright I"m acctually here
[10:50 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: In any case, from my experience and from discussing with people on the Tekkit server there are a few different reasons why people don't use the MC server
[10:50 PM] Wintermoot 👑: trader is technically an admin on the server too, but he's almost always very busy
[10:50 PM] OliverCrowe: I'd join if I had the pc version
[10:50 PM] OliverCrowe: But I only have the ps4 one
[10:51 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: 1) There is very little to do, everything has been done, and there is very little 'new' things beyond the base game.
2) No one really plays on the server
[10:51 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: Oye
[10:51 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: 3) They can't run the latest version (This includes myself)
[10:51 PM] Wintermoot 👑: But don't you think there's little new things because nobody really plays? :stuck_out_tongue:
[10:52 PM] SWORDIA: What about planning for some events and gathering in the server .
[10:52 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: LIttle new things, as there isn't anything new for them to really do. Anything to explore
[10:52 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: I did, during my time as Thane of Gaming, propose a Minecraft Olympics and Minecraft Week
[10:52 PM] SWORDIA: Like  competitions and stuff like that
[10:53 PM] SWORDIA: Also some surprising updates to the server .
[10:54 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: You see, because we have a smaller community, we don't have the activity to keep things 'fresh' on the server, so people don't play as much. My proposal would  be to setup events and the like to get people to play.
[10:55 PM] Wintermoot 👑: We need solutions that don't require much admin overhead...we just don't have the admin manpower
[10:55 PM] SWORDIA: Let say for example : updates with certain occasions (Christmas , Halloween ..etc ) or having a competitions like ( the fastest to kill bunch of zombies for an example  ) and some of them can be a surprise .
[10:55 PM] SWORDIA: Oh ... I see
[10:56 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: I mean I would be willing to put forward help for the official minecraft server
[10:57 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Do you have the time?
[10:57 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Generally
[10:57 PM] SWORDIA: I think if we have an unusual MC server , it will not only make them active but it may also help recruiting .
[10:57 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: An option that doesn't have as much man-power required would be for something like maybe a world restart?
[10:58 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Release the current world file for anyone who wants it and restart the world
[10:58 PM] Wintermoot 👑: That's something we can look into...I would personally be fine with that, but people like BSR and trader have put in a lot of time and effort into the current world, and I'd want to get their input first
[10:59 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Further, I have always thought that Minecraft could be a good recruiting avenue for us, if we make our server a bit more than just a "kinda generic minecraft server with a great community" then we could, perhaps use it to recruit, I would be willing to losen the Citizenship requirements for such a thing as well
[10:59 PM] SWORDIA: Exactly
[10:59 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: @Wintermoot 👑 definitely, however at the same time a fresh start can attract people and give people a chance to leave their mark, Further releasing the world means that anyone can just play on it and it can be thrown back up again
[11:00 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: However, there is the possibility that Minecraft just isn't that attractive to our playerbase anymore and it's shfited around.
[11:00 PM] SWORDIA: And you can't find out about that without asking them
[11:01 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Perhaps a poll could be useful on this matter, have the options like:
Get rid of the MC Server Completely
Keep the MC Server as it is
Do a restart of the MC Server's World
Use the MC Server as a recruitment avenue
or something like that
[11:01 PM] OliverCrowe: Perhaps an option of replacing it with a new game and give people a chance to suggesr something.
[11:01 PM] OliverCrowe: Or just see if people want to expand outside of MC as an addition.
[11:02 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Well, it sounds like the next step is to take this to a forum discussion/poll
[11:03 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Maybe have a generic discussion first for those who missed the meeting, and then a poll
[11:04 PM] Wintermoot 👑: I don't know if it would be cutting discussion short to do both by the next meeting...but maybe have that completed within the next two weeks?
[11:04 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Maybe
[11:04 PM] Wintermoot 👑: So we'll do that, and assuming we maintain the server in some fashion we'll consider MC events and making the server less generic
[11:05 PM] Wintermoot 👑: I'll also get with you, Chanku, about help on the server
[11:05 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Did I miss anything?
[11:05 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: I don't think so.
[11:05 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: I will note I've always been an advocate for a 'Civilization' server of sorts
[11:06 PM] SWORDIA: Oh , I love this game
[11:06 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Not as in the Civlization game
[11:06 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: but more-so as in a 'Civilization building Minecraft Server'
[11:06 PM] OliverCrowe: Lol
[11:07 PM] OliverCrowe: I was about to be like "so...Civilization?"
[11:07 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Where you use a variety of tools to encourage people to group and work together
[11:07 PM] SWORDIA: I mean , if it's the same type then i would love as well :sweat_smile:
[11:07 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: (On a semi-related note, I am willing to try and set things like OpenSpades/AoS servers as well)
[11:08 PM] Wintermoot 👑: We tried OpenSpades once didn't we? :stuck_out_tongue:
[11:09 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Vaguely
11:09 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Hmm...but that's a topic for another meeting, perhaps. :stuck_out_tongue:
[11:09 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: And that was during IRC
[11:09 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Is there anything else on the MC topic?
[11:10 PM] SWORDIA: I don't think so
[11:10 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Ok, let's move on then :smile:
[11:11 PM] OliverCrowe: moves along the train
[11:11 PM] OliverCrowe: Toot toot!

Question About Election Timing

[11:11 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Now we've entered the Q&A section, and our first question is from Kane about election timing
[11:11 PM] Wintermoot 👑: https://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=6241.0
Question about Election Timing
Question about Election Timing
[11:11 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Or rather, about notification of upcoming elections
[11:12 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Kane’s question is about whether there can be an extra reminder before election nominations open, but I think the issue may be broader than that. In the last week I’ve addressed three inquiries about elections and how to get involved in government, which makes me believe that we’re doing a really bad job of informing people how to get involved in government in general.
[11:12 PM] Wintermoot 👑: The short answer is yes, I’ll make an effort to notify Citizens on the RMB, forums, and Discord a week ahead of nominations opening, but I think the issue is broader than that, and maybe even broader than just having a guide like we discussed last week.
[11:12 PM] Wintermoot 👑: And the floor is open :stuck_out_tongue:
[11:12 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: stands and applauds
[11:13 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Personally, I'm unsure whether or not we need a week announcement in advance, election times are extremely stable, and he did list one of the issues as locating information for these things, therefore I think a specific Election Guide might be useful
[11:13 PM] OliverCrowe: We could do a flyer to make it more inviting for people to take part too.
[11:13 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: Not like a week advance announcement is going to hurt anything
[11:13 PM] Wintermoot 👑: The date of the next election is always on the WFE, but I'm not sure many people read that
[11:13 PM] OliverCrowe: If we have someone good at graphics that was willing to do so
[11:14 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Our legal system is rather complex and contains a lot things, and it can be hard to know where to look for certain things.
[11:14 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Katie makes excellent flyers...she's made a few awesome ones for the region
[11:14 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: @OliverCrowe that would probably be @Katie given she has done excellent work for FA and has done posters and the like for FA :stuck_out_tongue:
[11:14 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: And damn Wintermoot, sniped me
[11:15 PM] Katie: aww :blush:
[11:15 PM] Katie: thx guys
[11:15 PM] OliverCrowe: And a small diddy on what the Underhusen is/does might also help, since new members might not know what it is...sort of like how Thane elections have descriptions for each role.
[11:16 PM] OliverCrowe: And I will agree that Katie does excellent graphics work.
[11:16 PM] Wintermoot 👑: If Katie doesn't mind, of course...I know she's busy offline
[11:16 PM] SWORDIA: I have no clue what Underhusen means :sweat_smile:
[11:17 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: I mean lower house
[11:17 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Or rather, @Katie, if you don't mind of course...I know you're busy offline.
[11:17 PM] Wintermoot 👑: realized talking in the third person could be rude
[11:17 PM] Katie: shrug wasn't rude to me :3
[11:17 PM] OliverCrowe: And it wouldnt have to be constant new ones each election
[11:18 PM] OliverCrowe: It could be just something nice and inviting that could be used as many elections as needed.
[11:18 PM] Wintermoot 👑: nods
[11:18 PM] Katie: I could whip up something quick on Canva easily
[11:18 PM] OliverCrowe: I love Canva
[11:18 PM] Katie: I know I know
[11:18 PM] Katie: Canva is lazy
[11:18 PM] Katie: but as Wintermoot said I've got alot going on :stuck_out_tongue:
[11:18 PM] SWORDIA: Some sort of a template
[11:18 PM] OliverCrowe: I mean, I use it for my magazine stuff.
[11:20 PM] Wintermoot 👑: So it looks like that's where we're at in addition to the guide we discussed last week
[11:21 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Any other thoughts?
[11:22 PM] Wintermoot 👑: I'll take that as a no then...on to the next and final topic on the agenda tonight
[11:22 PM] OliverCrowe: Swordia's question?
[11:22 PM] OliverCrowe:

Making a User-Friendly Forum for Newbies

[11:22 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Which is from new Citizen @Swordia! On getting people involved on the forums
[11:23 PM] Wintermoot 👑: https://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=6242.0
Question and suggestion ?!
Question and suggestion ?!
[11:23 PM] Wintermoot 👑: The next question comes from new member Swordia, who asked about making the forum more user friendly, especially for newbies, and also asks about integration (people who help newbies get involved in the region). In fairness, I think we’ve always done a poor job of integration...if you look at the most successful Wintreans, you find that a majority of them actually came to us from other regions...essentially they were trained by other regions and came to us later.
[11:23 PM] Wintermoot 👑: In terms of making the forum user-friendly, I think there’s two parts to that...first there’s the technical side of streamlining the forums and making them more modern. We’ve done this on the topic page a few months back, but it’s time-consuming and tedious work and I haven’t been able to expand further yet. The second part is the integration part, which...is kind of lacking right now. We have a Thane of Integration position, but it’s been vacant this term...hopefully we’ll get a good candidate for it in the upcoming elections that start Dec 1. It would be a great help to have someone dedicated to that, but considering it’s one of the more tedious jobs in the Cabinet, it’s hard to find someone that’s interested.
[11:23 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: I'm actually quite the wizard in MS Paint if any random, inane and out-of-the-left-field parking lot style designs are needed
[11:23 PM] OliverCrowe: And I'm going to repeat what I told Swordia
[11:24 PM] OliverCrowe: If you have ideas on how we can be better with integration...please consider running for Integration Thane in elections.
[11:24 PM] OliverCrowe: We need someone with fresh ideas in a role that is currently vacant.
[11:24 PM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: stands up and applauds himself again
[11:25 PM] Wintermoot 👑: We need someone who likes doing tedious work. :stuck_out_tongue:
[11:25 PM] Honorary Box: Perhaps I can put together some form of welcome activity, like a forums scavenger hunt, or maybe a mentor system.
[11:25 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: I would consider restarting the Mentorship program
[11:25 PM] OliverCrowe: That too.
[11:25 PM] OliverCrowe: But I think we took a bad hit when integration slowed until it fisseled completely.
[11:26 PM] OliverCrowe: Mentoring was a tremendous help for new members, and we need someone with the energy and attitude for that job.
[11:26 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Earlier enough I sent out a regional telegram that Marz was kind enough to write for us, just reminding people to endorse the delegate, become a Citizen, etc. That's...honestly more than we've done in awhile.
[11:26 PM] SWORDIA: Also , I think we need to have some sort of a technique to help newbies even if don't have a Thane of Integration like now
[11:27 PM] OliverCrowe: I think we are getting better, but we can still do a lot more to help ease members into the community
[11:27 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Also, we need to consider the fact that our forum organization was largely set out about 5 years ago.
[11:27 PM] Wintermoot 👑: One idea I have is to craft a message to nations that leave the region, asking what led to them leaving
[11:27 PM] OliverCrowe: Well on that, we do have guides for starters
[11:27 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: Agreed @Wintermoot 👑
[11:27 PM] OliverCrowe: But we just need more of a hands on approach since people dont like reading long winded guides.
[11:27 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: @Wintermoot 👑 I did that in the Warzones, it got low feedback, and when I did get feedback it wasn't the most helpful
[11:27 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Those guides really need to be reviewed for relevance...I have it on the list of Cabinet jobs seasonally though
[11:28 PM] OliverCrowe: I think rather than that, have a sort of quarterly questionaire...sort of like we're doing with meetings.
[11:28 PM] Wintermoot 👑: The way I see it, by the time they've joined the region, made an account, and applied for Citizenship they've invested a fair amount of time in Wintreath...why do some of them then leave?
[11:28 PM] OliverCrowe: Have someone in charge of seeing how members, especially newer members, are doing each quarter.
[11:28 PM] SWORDIA: If people don't want to run for a Thane of Integration ( or most of them ) then what can be done ?
[11:29 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Do they get a recruitment telegram from a region that sounds better? Do they find that something in the region doesn't live up to what we advertise?
[11:29 PM] OliverCrowe: Gauge what they like and dont, and learn and improv
[11:29 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: My mentorship idea I proposed a while back was basically we divide Mentors up into a list of topics, General, RP, Elections and Law, Gaming, ect. Each Mentor group would ideally have a sub-organizsation where Mentors would be ranked in accordance with ability and assigned to people as such. A General Mentor would be appointed to anyone who wants one, with more specific Mentors being appointed to someone on a case-by-case basis
[11:29 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: It does take a bit of work, however things would be subdivided for the Mentorship program
[11:29 PM] Wintermoot 👑: I don't know...we struggle to even find people to serve as ambassadors, and mentoring would involve much more work.
[11:30 PM] OliverCrowe: Agreed
[11:30 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: What does the recruitment letter say @Wintermoot 👑
[11:30 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: True, however we are more isolationist Wintermoot
[11:30 PM] OliverCrowe: I think that was part of the problem last time even...not enough volunteers.
[11:30 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: perhaps a local thing would work more? Also for non-General mentors they would be expected to be experts in one field.
[11:30 PM] Wintermoot 👑: It seems to me it'd have to be a place where newbies have access to a group of mentors, not just a one on one thing
[11:30 PM] SWORDIA: I will apply for ambassadorship when I meet the requirements
[11:31 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: I didn't want to be a Mentor because I didn't want to help people in general, however I would have loved to mentor people on our legal system, the Underhusen, and the like
[11:31 PM] OliverCrowe: I mean, should mentors have to be specialized in certain areas?
[11:31 PM] SWORDIA: But why people don't want to run for these positions ?
[11:31 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Maybe instead of mentors we need teachers
[11:31 PM] OliverCrowe: I always saw it as a buddy system, where the knowledge is general, but they're more about checking up and answering questions.
[11:31 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Maybe have it more like a school or an academy
[11:31 PM] OliverCrowe: Revival of the Academy?!
11:31 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Didn't we try that?
[11:32 PM] OliverCrowe:
[11:32 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: I mean, I think a Mentor would work better because it's more of a one-one thing
[11:32 PM] Wintermoot 👑: That was a looser concept where people could teach anything...this would be a lot narrower
[11:32 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: It allows someone to ask and stuff in private
[11:32 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: (Also I read that as a loser concept at first XD)
[11:32 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Even when PB was running the mentor program, he wasn't sure that the mentors were actually reaching out
[11:32 PM] OliverCrowe: I like the idea of narrowing it, but I worry that the result of being the same.
[11:32 PM] OliverCrowe: And that's easy.  We can make it as accountable as ambassadors.
[11:33 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Have a review o rw/e given to everyone with a mentor,
[11:33 PM] OliverCrowe: Except they'd have to report in that they checked in with their mentee.
[11:34 PM] SWORDIA: But how can you encourage people to be mentors ?
[11:34 PM] OliverCrowe: But any mentor that fails their quarterly check would get a strike.
[11:34 PM] Wintermoot 👑: You know, maybe we just need someone to check on new citizens and be like 'hey, how're you doing?'
[11:35 PM] OliverCrowe: You mean like an Integration Thane? :p
[11:35 PM] SWORDIA: Lol
[11:35 PM] Wintermoot 👑: When Google managers were sent a simple checklist of things to do the night before a new hire started, employees became effective...integrated...25% faster
[11:36 PM] Wintermoot 👑: And it was simple stuff too like discuss the expectations of their role, and help your 'Noogler' set up a social network at work
[11:38 PM] SWORDIA: And maybe through that we can find out about the skills that these newbies have and guide them to the best place if they want to be part of the government .
[11:38 PM] Wintermoot 👑: My point is, it may be that all that's really needed is a bit of a nudge
[11:38 PM] OliverCrowe: Makes sense
[11:38 PM] Wintermoot 👑: In addition to the guides and all that
[11:38 PM] OliverCrowe: I think it's something we just have to play around with and figure out.
[11:39 PM] Wintermoot 👑: I think that's definitely something we should get together for the next Integration Thane...if there is one...
[11:39 PM] OliverCrowe: But in the meantime, like I said...anyone with ideas please dont hesitate to throw them out there, and please jump into Thane Elections if you think you have some ideas for Integration.
[11:39 PM] OliverCrowe: We can always use a fresh perspective to the role
[11:40 PM] Wintermoot 👑: It looks like we're pretty much decided on having a mentor program
[11:40 PM] Wintermoot 👑: So I'll make an action point to have some of these things ready by Dec 7th when hopefully we'll have an Integration thane
[11:41 PM] OliverCrowe: Yikes, elections arent until then?
[11:41 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Elections start on the 1st, they end on the 7th
[11:41 PM] OliverCrowe: Ah
[11:41 PM] OliverCrowe: And then the ones after that are in March, right?
[11:42 PM] Wintermoot 👑: The next thane elections after that, yes. The next UH election would be in February
[11:42 PM] OliverCrowe: Duly noted.  I might have to reconsider running in the next elections then.
[11:42 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Thane elections are every three months, UH elections are every two months
[11:43 PM] SWORDIA: Looking forward
[11:43 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: Can I run for office:astonished:
[11:43 PM] OliverCrowe: If you feel like you want to, then I encourage it.
[11:43 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Yes, you can. :stuck_out_tongue:
[11:43 PM] OliverCrowe: We can always use more people running in either elections.
[11:45 PM] Wintermoot 👑: I may bring up this topic in Cabinet between now and then to iron out the details
[11:45 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: What's a thane
[11:45 PM] Wintermoot 👑: But does that answer your question @Swordia?
[11:45 PM] Wintermoot 👑: A Vice-Minister or Deputy Minister
[11:45 PM] OliverCrowe: ^
[11:45 PM] SWORDIA: Yes indeed , thank you .
[11:45 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: What do they do
[11:46 PM] OliverCrowe: You still technically run your area, but you report to the Jarl in charge as well.
[11:46 PM] Wintermoot 👑: They have a specific portfolio and work under a Jarl to work within it
[11:46 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: Jarl?
[11:46 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Minister
[11:46 PM] OliverCrowe: Ie thane of Werewolf runs the Werewolf area...but you still consult with Ruguo
[11:46 PM] OliverCrowe: Since he runs Culture.
[11:46 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Monarch > Jarls > Thanes
[11:46 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: Ah
[11:47 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: (FA is a bit unique :stuck_out_tongue: where it is largely Monarch > Jarl > Thanes > Secretaries (if there are any))
[11:47 PM] OliverCrowe: Basically think a department manager at Walmart.
[11:47 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: Monarch>cutie pie>jarl>thane:innocent:
[11:47 PM] Wintermoot 👑: The current Jarls are Chanku (Foreign Affairs), Doc (Regional Affairs), and Rugio (Culture)
[11:47 PM] OliverCrowe: You run your department, but you still report to the Assistant Manager.
[11:47 PM] OliverCrowe: And they report to the Store Manager.
[11:47 PM] Wintermoot 👑: At various times we've had between 3 and 5 Jarls at any one time
[11:47 PM] Honorary Box: I am Rugio now.
[11:47 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Yikes...sorry v_v
[11:47 PM] OliverCrowe: Haha
[11:48 PM] Honorary Box: It's an easy keystroke to miss
[11:48 PM] OliverCrowe: I thought I made the typo, so I scrambled to find and correct it.
[11:48 PM] OliverCrowe: But I mean, I've been called Penhu before.
[11:48 PM] Wintermoot 👑: ;-;
[11:49 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Alright huPen
[11:49 PM] OliverCrowe: Hahaha
[11:50 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Anyways, I think that's it for this meeting...we got 13 action items, in addition to the ones from last week, so we have our work cut out for us
[11:50 PM] OliverCrowe: How did you know my real name?
[11:50 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: Maxwell
[11:50 PM] OliverCrowe: And yeah, it was an informative meeting
[11:50 PM] OliverCrowe: gasp you remembered!
[11:51 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: What's my name:thinking:
[11:51 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: Yes Pengu is Mr. Maxwell House
[11:51 PM] Chanku [She/Her/Hers]: :stuck_out_tongue:
[11:51 PM] OliverCrowe: Yeah, not even going to try to fuck that up since I'm terrible with new names.
[11:51 PM] OliverCrowe: I tend to remember faces much better.
[11:51 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: I'm ugly
[11:52 PM] OliverCrowe: Psh
[11:52 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: Anyway
[11:52 PM] SWORDIA: A photographic memory ?
[11:52 PM] OliverCrowe: Anyways, we should probably shift this elsewhere.
[11:52 PM] Grand Imperial Cutie Pie ™🤴: I do want to run for office
[11:52 PM] Honorary Box: Yeah. Much to do.
[11:52 PM] Wintermoot 👑: Does that mean you're good to the last drop? :stuck_out_tongue:
[11:52 PM] OliverCrowe: Hahaha
[11:52 PM] OliverCrowe: Who, me?
[11:52 PM] OliverCrowe: :p
[11:52 PM] Wintermoot 👑: But yeah, thanks to everyone who stopped by and definitely everyone who was here the full two hours...wow, lol
[11:53 PM] Wintermoot 👑: I will try to have the transcript and action items out tonight or tomorrow
[11:53 PM] Honorary Box: Man. Two hours this time
[11:53 PM] SWORDIA: Thank you all .
[11:53 PM] Honorary Box: We will break the record next week
[11:53 PM] Katie: I think this is a really good idea to have these
[11:53 PM] Honorary Box: And thank you for coming Swordia!
[11:54 PM] SWORDIA: NP at all . Glad that i was part of the meeting
[11:54 PM] OliverCrowe: Agreed, I think the weekly meetings are actually good, and even for integration purposes
[11:55 PM] Wintermoot 👑: I'm glad we're doing it too...it gives the Cabinet some guidance
[11:55 PM] Wintermoot 👑: And the ops team at times :stuck_out_tongue:
[11:56 PM] OliverCrowe: Haha
[11:56 PM] OliverCrowe: Helps keep us in line
[12:03 AM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: stands and applauds and tries to hawk bootleg Girl Scout Cookies after the meeting
[12:04 AM] Gally, Super Good Lad & Sidekick: All outta Caramel Delights, sorry.[/quote]

Would it be possible to keep the headers for each agenda item above the various action points?

The last meeting agenda was quite helpful as a summary of what happened for those of us who couldn't make it there; this one was significantly more difficult to follow as I had to keep bouncing back between the two lists to figure out what was being discussed and why.

Would it be possible to keep the headers for each agenda item above the various action points?

The last meeting agenda was quite helpful as a summary of what happened for those of us who couldn't make it there; this one was significantly more difficult to follow as I had to keep bouncing back between the two lists to figure out what was being discussed and why.

I'm not sure, because we're going to start running into a situation where we have action points spanning multiple meetings and agendas, which is going to get pretty tedious to include. The reason I put it like this was to make it clear what was outstanding from the previous meeting and what was new to this meeting.

Would it be possible to keep the headers for each agenda item above the various action points?

The last meeting agenda was quite helpful as a summary of what happened for those of us who couldn't make it there; this one was significantly more difficult to follow as I had to keep bouncing back between the two lists to figure out what was being discussed and why.

I'm not sure, because we're going to start running into a situation where we have action points spanning multiple meetings and agendas, which is going to get pretty tedious to include. The reason I put it like this was to make it clear what was outstanding from the previous meeting and what was new to this meeting.

I don't understand your meaning. If it's going to keep getting longer as more and more meetings/action points are added, wouldn't be more confusing if each of the sections are untitled and you're left to figure out what each section is dealing with?

It's already an issue now; for instance, section 3 begins "3.1) Wintermoot will discuss additional help with Chanku" without any explanation and you're forced to figure out by context that this is about the Minecraft server. And section 4 has "4.1) Katie will create a flyer that we can use to announce that nominations are coming up"; this time the context isn't even provided and you have to look completely elsewhere to realize that we're talking about elections at all.

If you even just copy/pasted "3) The Future of the Minecraft Server" and "4) Question About Election Timing (Kane)" on top of those two, respectively, it would already be so much easier to understand what is being discussed on a read.

What I mean is that at some point having all the agendas and action items for all past meetings is going to get tedious, both for me to put together and for people to read. I probably need to put another document together for the Cabinet/ops detailing the projects we have on our plate (these action items plus our internal discussions plus regular tasks we need to do). Then each meeting note could just be about the single meeting.

What I mean is that at some point having all the agendas and action items for all past meetings is going to get tedious, both for me to put together and for people to read. I probably need to put another document together for the Cabinet/ops detailing the projects we have on our plate (these action items plus our internal discussions plus regular tasks we need to do). Then each meeting note could just be about the single meeting.

A separate document would be nice, but that doesn't deal at all with the fact that the way the action points are laid out is significantly less clear than it was previously, or could be.

You already separate the action points into numbered sections based on topic. Doesn't it make sense to have at least some sort of section header explaining what each section topic is?

And again, I really don't understand how explaining what each section is about would make reading it more tedious. It can only make it less tedious because the reader isn't forced to do the unnecessary extra work of also having to figure out and/or remember what is being discussed when reading it each time. And as time goes on and the list gets longer and we all start to forget where the older action points are from, that will only get worse.