Eurobricks structure, moderating, member involvement and more

[SMC]

At the risk of getting into trouble I would like to start an adult conversation about the way in which eurobricks is structured, the way it is moderated and how we as member can be more involved in the decisions that are made.

Unlike a site like brickset I am unsure who runs this site, I would like to see a meet the staff page where there is a list of all people involved in the running of the site and where we can meet them and ask them questions. I would also like know who to contract if we are having any problems or have any suggestions for improvements.

We recently saw a new part of the site open to new members only and maybe it would be nice to have a topic for each level (i.e. Knight, Count) here on eurobricks that you can only see once you have reached that level. Maybe this is one topic for example that could be only open to more senior members.

I think that as members we could be more involved in the decision making, a simple example is that the Super Hereo topic was split into DC and Marvel topics. It would have been nice to have a topic with a poll asking what we thought so that we could all have a say before it happed and to give the people that run the site a clearer idea of what people really wanted. DC/Marvel was just an example it could be deciding which themes get their own page and so on.

I also think that eurobricks is moderated more than other sites I use and I do believe that a respectful conversation about this is needed and could be helpful to staff. I would ask if we need to close as many topics as we do at the moment, if they are unwanted they will soon disappear down the page but I think too often we are told what we can/can’t talk about. I also think that if a topic has not had any news to talk about then a bit more leeway should be given to people going off topic. People tend to get to know each other in a topic of interest and even if there is no news they still want to talk about their favourite Lego theme, this keeps the topic alive in the slow times and I don’t see a lot wrong with it but again we are told off. And although I tend to write in full sentences without the need to shorten ‘you’ to ‘u’ I don’t really have a big problem with people that do.

I also had a question about why we need to open a new topic each year be it Hobbit 2014 or DC 2015, would it not be better to just carry on a signal topic as this time of year can become very confusing with where to post.

Note to members: Can I ask that we remain respectful to all members of staff in our posts as they volunteer their time, please do not post about this moderator did this or that but only talk about it in a more general way. And in order that we can keep this topic open we all need to behave and be helpful in the thing we write.

Note to staff: I was wary about posting this as I think it could be closed and that I might get told off but I do think that this in itself shows that there might be a problem. I would really like staff feedback too as I have enjoyed talking with two of you already by PMs.

I would like this to be used to talk about more than my few points but also about eurobricks in general, not to put it down in anyway but looking at how we can make it better than it already is and how we as members can do more to help.

Thank You

Edited August 29, 2014 by SMC

[Bonaparte]

Interesting topic!

You raise a few points that are worth some more thought.

I'm looking forward reading all the feedback (and the poll results), so please be completely open and honest.

I would be happy to explain a bit more about EB (ownership, how decisions are reached in the staff, etc.), but I'll do that in a few days and first let the members speak.

[Pandora]

I, too, think this is an interesting topic, and like Bonaparte will refrain from saying much until we've had some more feedback, but I will just address one point:

I would like to see a meet the staff page where there is a list of all people involved in the running of the site and where we can meet them and ask them questions. I would also like know who to contract if we are having any problems or have any suggestions for improvements.

In this forum we have the pinned topic "Eurobricks Staff Structure, User Groups and Tags", and we have a further list of all the Admins, Mods, Regulators and others on the main community index ("The Moderating Team"). I would really hope that any member would feel free to PM a Mod or Admin about problems they are having, and I know that many members do, as you have said you've done yourself - more information about staff can often be found on their profile page, too.

We have also really tried to improve the 'help' process with the new member section and the new "Help!!!" topic here in the Forum Information forum (which has also been renamed for clarity). In the Town Forum we also tried a "talk to the Town staff" thread in Town - "The Town Square: Talk to the Town Staff" where we welcomed and encouraged feedback, ideas and suggestions, but unfortunately it has been little used.

Note to staff: I was weary about posting this as I think it could be closed and that I might get told off but I do think that this in itself shows that there might be a problem. I would really like staff feedback too as I have enjoyed talking with two of you already by PMs.

Ok, more than one point. Personally, I'm concerned you'd be wary about posting this topic, and that you thought it might be locked or that you would be "told off". Your post is polite, mature and thoughtful and I doubt any of the Mods here would have a problem with it. These are the kinds of discussions we welcome, but I'm very worried if you think that we would think otherwise.

[Zerobricks]

I for one think most mods do great work and its often quite subtle. Having said that I do find some subforums to have very low activity, example Brick Flicks and trying to help a great animator to expose his awesome work did ended in a warning from a moderator of a different subforum, which I find rather... discouraging.

I also would like to know what ever happened to Dluders? He just vanished and his profile states he was banned?

[Pandora]

I also would like to know what ever happened to Dluders? He just vanished and his profile states he was banned?

We do not discuss individual cases like this as it really isn't fair on the person concerned.

[grum64]

...I would be happy to explain a bit more about EB (ownership, how decisions are reached in the staff, etc.), but I'll do that in a few days and first let the members speak...

I'd be very interested in this. Thank you.

Edited August 28, 2014 by grum64

[Churchill]

I think that the degree of moderation is fine. I've been on for a few years, so I know who the moderators are and really have never had any problems with them.

If anything, I'd like to see more moderating. Specifically, I'd like to see the age restrictions better enforced, and I'd like to see the terse few word posts reigned in. I don't post that often, and try to post only when I really have something to add. I find it annoying that member's post counts soar based on short useless posts.

Maybe based on what I said above about people driving their post counts up, I'd like to see some merit given for longevity, as long as there is a minimum amount of participation. Ten short posts a day doesn't define participation. I'm on EB several times a day in the forums, looking at reviews, etc. I just don't feel the need to "hear myself talk" by posting constantly.

Thank you so much to all of the moderators, reviewers, spies and members for making Eurobricks work. It's a nice place to go sometimes when the real world can be so stressful.

Churchill

Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Age 45

[SMC]

Just to let people know I added a question I had forgotten about.

Interesting topic!

You raise a few points that are worth some more thought.

I'm looking forward reading all the feedback (and the poll results), so please be completely open and honest.

I would be happy to explain a bit more about EB (ownership, how decisions are reached in the staff, etc.), but I'll do that in a few days and first let the members speak.

That's great thank you, I was going to ask for a mods approval before posting but then I thought I would just go rogue.

I am looking forward to hearing more about eurobricks from you and I am sure we can come up with a few questions for you.

In this forum we have the pinned topic "Eurobricks Staff Structure, User Groups and Tags", and we have a further list of all the Admins, Mods, Regulators and others on the main community index ("The Moderating Team").

Thanks I have looked at the 'Eurobricks Staff Structure, User Groups and Tags' a few time to see how many post I needed to become what but think I missed on that page "If you have any questions, ask them here". I have not seen 'The moderating team' one before so thanks for that.

In the Town Forum we also tried a "talk to the Town staff" thread in Town - "The Town Square: Talk to the Town Staff" where we welcomed and encouraged feedback, ideas and suggestions, but unfortunately it has been little used.

I do not spend much time in the Town forum but I would like to see this in other forums too. I think the Licensed forum could really do with this as there is a lot going on in there.

Ok, more than one point. Personally, I'm concerned you'd be wary about posting this topic, and that you thought it might be locked or that you would be "told off". Your post is polite, mature and thoughtful and I doubt any of the Mods here would have a problem with it. These are the kinds of discussions we welcome, but I'm very worried if you think that we would think otherwise.

It funny because I was rereading my post and I saw that I didn't put wary but you quoted me before I got to it. I am not sure I have been called polite, mature and thoughtful all at the same time before but I will take it. I honestly thought that questioning the moderating on the site would not be well received. I did hold back so maybe I temped it a little. So far it does not look like people agree with me but I have been frustrated a few times by the moderating I have seen. However it is true that you cant please all of the people all of the time and I might just be hard to please.

Thanks everyone for your input so far

Edited August 28, 2014 by SMC

[jodawill]

I really like the way Eurobricks is, but I do have two constructive criticisms.

First, I would like to see more news on the front page. I miss a lot of stuff because I don't have time to read every thread 24/7.

Secondly, I think the mods sometimes lock threads unnecessarily. "I see nothing left to discuss here" is not a valid reason to close a thread in my opinion. It's frustrating when I have something helpful to add, but a mod had taken the liberty to end a (civil) discussion prematurely.

Other than that, I say thank you and keep up the good work!

Ok, more than one point. Personally, I'm concerned you'd be wary about posting this topic, and that you thought it might be locked or that you would be "told off". Your post is polite, mature and thoughtful and I doubt any of the Mods here would have a problem with it. These are the kinds of discussions we welcome, but I'm very worried if you think that we would think otherwise.

I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in particular, but I understand SMC's concern. I've often sometimes seen threads locked at the whim of a particular moderator's sentiment. If I were to have any say in the matter, I would ask that moderators not lock any threads unless the purpose of the original post was violating the rules.

Edited August 29, 2014 by jodawill

[robuko]

I am generally extremely happy with the way EB is run and moderated. It is a very difficult job and I think most of the mods strike an excellent balance. I am most active in the GoH subforum and I have nothing but the highest praise for the staff activity there. They really do an excellent job.

I do visit many of the other sub forums and I can understand SMC's reluctance to offer feed back, as I have occasionally seen some examples where certain moderators have been quite harsh and even disrespectful to some members in my view, and quite hostile to feed back.

Equally, it is apparent that we do have many underage members and not everyone has the maturity to make meaningful posts, or to write in proper English - by this I mean usually the native English speakers who are forgetting that many of us do not have English as a first language.

In cases where members have very serious issues with mods and vice versa it might be helpful to have a type of independent resolution arbitration from another staff member.

Overall I think the site is extremely well run and as always I would like to say a big thank you to the staff for making it all possible.

[Tariq j]

Interesting Topic.

I'm perfectly Satisfied EB is run by the mods. They do a fine job of keeping everything in order so as said above Thank You for taking the time to make everything great.

I feel the way topics are locked are good. I understand that topics are locked for a good reason and respect the desicision made by the mod.

Overall all I'm very happy with the way things are run and thanks once again.

[Chocolatecake]

Just realised that I have been part of online communities for 10 years now, which also means I have som experience with several forums.

Eurobrick is one of the best, thinking of how big it is an how many different nationalites we are.

I don't mind Moderators closing and merging topics or removing photos. With so many users, some forums will have fresh topics that goes 2 maybe 3 pages back because of reviews, MOC's and MOD's.

The language part, not having english as a native tongue and I don't like the idea of going that road where your english should be almost perfect - I have been on a community like that and it wasn't fun!

I like Eurobricks - most people are polite and behaving mature.

[SMC]

Will the questions never end, ok I added another two and now the lastly question is kind of in the middle, I did wonder how long it would take for our first grumpy person. BTW if you have already voted you need to delete your vote and vote again if you want to answer any questions that are new.

Thanks to jodawill and robuko because I was starting to wonder if it was just me.

I am particularly interested in the question about locking threads as if I could change just one thing I think that would be it. Let me give you an example of where a mod did a great job with the way in which they closed a topic, WhiteFang closed the topic ‘LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 13 Rumours and Discussion’ and said this:

“After giving some careful thoughts, I will like to close this topic since there is no concrete information of allowing our community to discuss, apart from the remote possibility based on that link given is the potential set number. Any issues which you will like to clarify to enable this discussion thread to re-open again, kindly drop me a PM to discuss.”

Firstly I am only using this as an example because if we do close topics this is what I would like to see. Thought has been given, a good explanation so that members can understand and an offer to PM him if there are any issues.

I have seen a number of topics closed that miss a lot of these elements. That being said I would like to know why we do close topics like this, again this is not the best example to support my case but I thought if I did pick on a mod it needed to be one that did a good job.

It is true that all we know is that there will be a Minifigures Series 13 so we know it will be a normal cmf series because the licensed ones have not followed the numbers. Now over in licensed forum the topic ‘The Simpsons 2015 Rumors and Discussion’ has been pinned with exactly the same level of information, just a name and number.

There are things that we can talk about in the series 13 topic the fact that it is a normal series, what we might see and the direction cmf are taking with a second licensed one and if there is not a lot to talk about it will drop down the page not to be see again until more info comes to light and seeing as Just 2 Good started the topic we know he will update when he finds out more.

The point is cant we let memebers decide with their feet (posts) if a topic should be around or not. The funny thing is the new Simpsons post kind of annoyed me as unlike the series 13 post the Simpsons series two was already being talk about in the Simpson 2014 topic which then means we had two conversations going on around Simpsons series two and non about cmf series 13. This is why I would also like to know why we have a new topic for a sub theme each year, the 2014 Simpsons topic had already moved onto talking about 2015 so why not just have one Simpsons topic.

Thanks again to you all for your input and to WhiteFang for the nice way he closed that topic.

Edited August 29, 2014 by SMC

[robuko]

On the specific issue of merging and closing threads, I think on balance the mods do a really good job. There are some threads that might get closed a bit prematurely, but the skill that goes in to merging threads and directing conversations is very impressive.

[Spider-Man]

Considering I spend most of my time in the Licensed Theme forum I would just like to throw out a thank you to the moderators/regulators over there! Clonie and Cornelius really do a fantastic job of keeping everything organized, keep the topics on track, and do a great job of stepping in and moderating when it's needed. This site in general is one of the best run sites I visit so kudos to all you mods/regulators!

[tedbeard]

At the risk of getting into trouble I would like to start an adult conversation about the way in which eurobricks is structured, the way it is moderated and how we as member can be more involved in the decisions that are made.

This is a good conversation to have every year or two I think.

I also think that eurobricks is moderated more than other sites I use ...

Not true in my case. I find the Brickarms Forums to be moderated about as much as EB. It also depends a bit on the moderators. I have seen widely varying levels of moderation between the different fora when different moderators are involved.

I also had a question about why we need to open a new topic each year be it Hobbit 2014 or DC 2015, would it not be better to just carry on a signal topic as this time of year can become very confusing with where to post.

OMG no! Having been here for several years now I can tell you that scrolling through 30+ pages of talk about a theme from years ago is rather useless. Sure you can use the "View New Content" button to stay current but what happens when you are new? How do you find information from 2012 or 2008?

Note to members: Can I ask that we remain respectful to all members of staff in our posts...

Amen to that. As someone who has made extra work for these people in the past I appreciate all the time and effort they put in even if I do not always agree with them.

[Slobey]

I've been a member of EB for some 8 or 9 years with varying levels of activity. I'm not a huge poster but enjoy the way EB is set up and moderated. I find that there is very little- if any- trolling or petty arguments and that if there is the mods let it try and sort it self out before they step in.

I'm sure there are some decisions that Mods would make differently if they had their time again but that's human. I think it's running great and overall a pleasant place to visit.

Also +1 for longtime member recognition

[Dr Leg O Brick]

I pretty much agree with everything that SMC has said, and others. I feel this is a fantastic site, and very well maintained, particularly with the amount of posts this place gets and the scope of different people who frequent here. There has been times when I've felt the MOD's could have dealt with things better, or have disagreed with a decision they've made, or haven't made. But to be honest, I don't believe I can add anything constructive to what others have said, plus, I'm no moderator, and have never been in my life, so I have no frame of reference, just an informed opinion based on current facts and events.

I'm very glad someone has started a topic like this.

[MstrOfPppts]

Very interesting topic and I think I'll add my point of view here! This might become a long read, so please be patient! First of all I'd like to mention that I really love this site and must say that it's one of the best out there! BUT, the quality has been slipping a bit, just like the one of the LEGO bricks. As it's already been mentioned I too think that the age control is lacking and that there's been too many under aged participants lately. You can clearly see that in posts/topics contents quality and that is the most disturbing thing to me. I've noticed users that have joined in the past half year or so, and already have more posts than I have. It's not the problem in the post count, it's a problem in those posts content / quality! On the other hand, it's a bit of a double-edged sword. Since users under the age of 18 were already left in it's most fair to give everyone a chance. But the control of that take a ton of effort so I guess it'd be best to strive to the 18+ forum EB used to.

I really wouldn't like to name and shame, but I'll point out two examples anyway, although it'll be clear who the culprits are: Once a member came and introduced himself something like "Hi, I'm XY and I'm 16 years old". Then a mod comes to the topic and says "Hi and welcome". A few others welcome him and then another mod comes in and ... BAN! Sorry but you're too young. Although I have no problem with the mod's action, I found it funny how two mods acted differently. I know the user did wrong telling the age, but then on the other hand there are plenty even younger not saying so and almost spamming the boards. One of them (not spamming) is even one of the better builders around as far as I know ...

The other example are some stupid conversations like "the oldest version of a particular model is the best". I mean who the megabluck cares!? But on the contrary, that topic reached 5 pages, for the fact that the creator did 1/5 of posts adding fuel to it. Despite his nickname clearly implying he's a stubborn kid, whom you could never convince that another brand is in fact a far better choice!

In general, I think that lately people strive too much to conversations and most preferably arguing than to MOCing and especially the constructive criticism / praise of the MOCs!

That was just a quick thing that bothered me the most and now to answer the interesting questions, which of some I think are completely unnecessary for being so clear. Although again, the poll results surprise me quite a bit ...

Would you like to be more involved in how decisions are made on eurobricks?

I think it works well as it is! The staff are doing their best and I think the team is a nice mixture of wise men and women. Sometimes there's a shortage in their ranks and I think that new users are often coming in. But first it's important that you prove yourself worthy. As for the DC/Marvel thing the OP has pointed out, I think that the mod decided for that for the fact, it was clearly asked for in the last year's combined thread. It was also said it's an experiment and if it proves wrong it'll get merged again next year. Otherwise you could make a poll and open another endless debate about it. Also the results might be very tight in the end, so sometimes it's also important to check who voted for each option. But is there really a good criteria who the wise guys are. The democracy has proven wrong so many times lately, since too many people are manipulated and most of the "wise" ones don't participate in voting, knowing that nothing can be changed. Ok, too much philosophy here already, but it all leads to a conclusion, that some things are best to just be chosen by a mod. In the end, he was put to that position with a reason!

How do you find the moderating on eurobricks

I think that sometimes the staff are being too polite. They give way too much effort into telling people to stay on topic (check next two questions) especially in the rumors and discussion thread. Sorry guys, but for me, those posts count as spam / off topic too. I don't encourage the off topic discussion here, even more, I encourage the staff to use the TAKING THE BREAK function more often, since it's all the same people arguing about the same things in those topics.

Should we start a new topic for a subtheme each year (i.e LOTR 2014)?

I don't really care about this one, but I think that it's really a nice idea to have a separate thread. Which topic to use is really clear!!! If the set was or will be released in the year that is in the topic title, than that's the right thread. If it's not about any set, simply don't post! Or go to the community forum! See next question ...

Is it important that people stay on topic

Yes it is extremely important to stay on topic. At least when it comes to rumors and set discussions. As I've said there's to many people trying to argue about things that don't even concern the LEGO sets. It's OK to do so, but use the right (community) sub forum for it! I'm really fed up with reading how PJ is destroying the plot of the books and about what people would like to see come out in the rumors and discussion topics. If there's nothing to write about, then you just don't or as said, go to the community forum and chit chat there. It's the reason I completely stopped reading those topics and follow the set news on other pages, which I think is not the goal of EB ...

Do you care about spelling, punctuation and text speak?

Yes! This is one of the most important things that distinguishes a quality forum from an average forum. If that is not your opinion, you are clearly either under aged, lazy or just don't give a shit. And in either way as such, you don't belong to a forum that strives towards quality and mature audience. (You is not pointed towards the OP, but the reader)

Would you like a topic for each level (i.e. Knight, Count) that you can only see once you have reached that level

This might at first sound as a great idea, but on a second thought I doubt it'd work out. What would be the point of it anyway. As for the under aged users problem, some 10+ years old AFOLs that don't post much would be stuck with the 3 months old Knights / Counts, that have nothing smart to say. And what would you discuss in those forums anyway? Nothing you can't discuss elsewhere or would you just double the interesting topics for a more mature conversation. Which as already said might not be the case anyway. So I think it's just best as it is. Keep it to the staff and fellows / ladies hidden part and that's it.

Are topics locked too often

Yes they are, but not in a way the question was meant. In the last past months there's been plenty of topics locked and none that I remember deserve existence. They're just taking the first page space and although they go down, they go too slowly. I'd prefer that most such topics were just deleted, but I guess that EB policy is different. Usually they just delete the bot spam and lock all the rest of the nonsense ...

Lastly I would like to thank all the staff for their hard work

Of course! Thanks for a great experience guys. I really wonder who the grumpy one is. This should have been a public poll, I guess that'd change the answers to that question ...

P.S. And another thing I remembered. It's more of a visual thing, but why the more posts you have, the more gayish your star color gets? But on a more serious note, I think that since having a ladies group to distinguish a female user, I think that something similar should be done for the staff members and female fellows. It's not really a big thing but now you can't tell the difference and referring to a female staff / fellow as he might be embarrassing ...

Edited August 30, 2014 by MstrOfPppts

[CP5670]

Interesting thread. I'm not as active as I used to be here, so anything I say may be outdated, but here are a few thoughts. EB is a great site and is always my first place to go to for discussing anything related to Lego. There was a time when it was quite hard to find active Lego forums out there, and EB has filled that gap perfectly. I don't have any real concerns about how things are run here, but EB is definitely more heavily moderated than several other forums I go or used to go to. From what I've seen, there is a fairly high number of not only locked threads but also vacationed or banned members. When you come across their posts frequently in random threads, it does create a certain impression to an outsider. At the other forums I've seen, including one where I am a moderator, you really have to do something very bad to get a permanent ban, and only a few cases have occurred over the years. I think EB may have also changed in this respect as it has grown over time. In fact, I originally came here instead of some other Lego-related forums because it seemed to have lighter moderation, while still being quite active. As I said, I have no specific incident in mind here, and these are just general things I've observed over time.

[jluck]

The point is cant we let memebers decide with their feet (posts) if a topic should be around or not. The funny thing is the new Simpsons post kind of annoyed me as unlike the series 13 post the Simpsons series two was already being talk about in the Simpson 2014 topic which then means we had two conversations going on around Simpsons series two and non about cmf series 13. This is why I would also like to know why we have a new topic for a sub theme each year, the 2014 Simpsons topic had already moved onto talking about 2015 so why not just have one Simpsons topic.

Thanks again to you all for your input and to WhiteFang for the nice way he closed that topic.

The only problem I see here is we may have a flood of new topics. Some members like to see their name as the starter of a popular topic. The CMF topics always garner tons of comments in the end so someone might just start 3 new topics, one for each CMF series we know is coming that year. It could be quite cluttered if they let every thread stand.

[SMC]

I didn’t say it in my post but I do love eurobricks I used to read it all the time before becoming a member and now I am on it most days. The reason I like it is because it’s not too hard to navigate and there are a lot of good conversations going on. I have also PM a few mods and they have all been very nice. But every now and then I see something that I don’t like and I wonder how many other felt the same way.

One of the reasons I thought it might be a good idea to just have one topic and not to renew it each year was so that people would not try to open the next year’s topic prematurely.

I have seen Lady as a rank and wondered why it just stayed as Lady even when they had lots of posts, so should we rank our Ladies (have Lady ranks).

I am surprised by some of the poll results, maybe I should keep adding questions until I find one people agree with

One of the questions I wanted to ask was how do people become staff?

Edited August 30, 2014 by SMC

[VBBN]

One of the questions I wanted to ask was how do people become staff?

The best answer to that is really the direct quote from the usergroups/staff structure topic

You'll be automatically promoted if you reach a certain post count. Every level has unique settings, this way you will get some benefits if you reach a higher level. This means e.g. more PM storage and the like. You cannot become Staff or a Fellow automatically! Admins, Moderators, and Regulators will be promoted by the Eurobricks Staff. This means if you want to become Staff here you have to show your love and addiction to this board over time. Normally we won't promote any short-term member to staff, so don't ask us, we will ask you when the time has come. If the time comes. However, please don't get fixated on the ranks. Just try to be a good member and have fun. Excessive posting to achieve faster promotion is obvious and will result in a post reduction... or worse.

[Yzalirk]

I love it here on Eurobricks and I think the Mods do a phenomenal job keeping everything under control here and are very helpful when you ask them questions. I don't think there is much that can be improved on since I think everything is good as it but I'm not sure about most regulators as sometimes I feel "targeted" by a certain someone in GoH...

It could be me thinking that but... I don't know...

[Bob De Quatre]

I love it here on Eurobricks and I think the Mods do a phenomenal job keeping everything under control here and are very helpful when you ask them questions. I don't think there is much that can be improved on since I think everything is good as it but I'm not sure about most regulators as sometimes I feel "targeted" by a certain someone in GoH...

It could be me thinking that but... I don't know...

If you feel targeted by a member of the staff, then there may be a good reason. Maybe some of your more than 16 posts per day, every day, since you joined might have annoyed other people... You should think a bit about that before complaining here...