Staff Meeting - WHAT WAS DISCUSSED (6/9)

[GRILL]

People of CODZ

 

The staff of CoDZ have meetings to discuss important things. Below you will find accounts of such important things - complete with a description ("Issue"), a briefing on where are at with the issue ("Status"), and solid info on whether the changes are complete or incomplete ("Outcome")

 

June 2014 Staff Meeting
Issue	Status	Outcome
Signature Size Reduction	With the new forum look that @Hells Warrrior implemented, we had yet to define a limit to the signature size. Naturally, this led to some large signatures. We are restricting the signature from 25 lines to 10 lines. Please click here for more information.	To be implemented June 10. Complete.
User Profile Information Reduction	In an effort to remove text clutter, we have removed custom fields from profile view at the side of posts - and moved that information to the profile page only. If you want to see more information about a user, simply click their name	Complete.
Medals Being Moved	Moving medals to the signature line allows for your profile view at the side of posts to take up less space, and it allows you to display more medals!	Complete, but not permanent. Let us know what you think.
NEW STAFF MEMBERS	Everyone give a big hand to @Boom and @Slade because they are now staff. It was a group consensus that these two will bring a high quality of excellence to the CODZ staff (not that it wasn't there already just MORE).	Complete.
Zombie Asylum, Zombie Training Facility, Zombie Research Facility Recovery	What once was lost has now been found. Thanks to @Hells Warrrior , we are now able to access the lost files from the greats. You can find these topics under "Zombie Stories & Theories">"Recovered from vBulletin...". There are still some kinks to work out, including the usernames in those sections.	Complete, but some bugs still being worked out.
Steam, Xbox, PSN Profile Information	Basically jazzed up versions of what we have now. More on this soon.	Incomplete.
Advertisements	Ads are doing great. We all think they are very low profile, and they are making CODZ some great earnings to help towards server bills, tournaments, giveaways, setting up a merch store, and more!	Complete
Server Size/Bill Reduction	We have successfully lowered our storage plan, and in doing so have substantially lowered our monthly bill.	Complete

 

 

 

 

 

 

If there are any topics you'd like to see added for our next staff meeting, please post them below or PM a staff member with them

April 2014 Staff Meeting
Issue	Status	Outcome
Forum Re-organisation	UPDATE June 2014: New forum organization has been implemented. (Click Here). We will provide images as we go along for your feedback.	We have a test site that we are testing different organizations. This is a lengthy process as we don't want to risk losing anything we re-organize. Please join in the conversation over in the suggestions section	Complete.
Zombification (Userbars)	UPDATE June 2014: Zombification userbars have been implemented, Click Here to view gallery. (Click Here). FYI the thread is currently locked until we finalize the ranks for you all to vote on.	We are about 90% done in regards to implementing the zombification userbars. Pop on over to the thread to check out the progress so far	Complete.
Donations	We bought a donation tracker, and have implemented a module on our homepage showing active donations, and how much $$$ is needed to pay the monthly bill.	Complete.
UoTM archive update	UoTM archive has been successfully implemented. Mouse up to the top menu and click on "Medals">"UOTM Archive" or, just click here.	Complete.
Removal of zombshe medal	We are all equals here, and there is no reason to reward someone with a medal simply because they are of a certain gender. Just trying to keep it classy.	Medal Removed. Complete.
New member group title images	UPDATE June 2014: Member group title images all been spruced up. We have also added a couple new member groups, for more info click here.	We're looking for graphic designers to come up with a new set for "moderator" "administrator" "donator" etc. Please PM staff if you'd like to contribute.	Complete.

[Tasha]

Sweet ! 

Non, I lost my favorite medal It was sooo shiny *sniff*

 

I respectfully disagree with the reason for removal. And not just because it was one of three medals I had.  .

I know, I have to play more !

 

But I suppose it's a bit weird to have a medal just for highlighting a certain sex.

 

De toute façon, very nice to see what you guys have been discussing lately. And those bars look seeexy.

I feel like giving digital hugs to the guys who made them. (No hugs for you Al, you stole my 3DS.  )

[Jarhead N]

I facepalmed when I first saw the Zombshe medal, it never bothered me but I asked myself what the point is in putting the medal in just because a user is a female.

Regardless, I enjoy the forums with the layout they have now, but I'm intrigued to see what it will look like in the future.

[Tac]

I like everything I'm seeing, keep it up! Anything come up about the Legend/Retired/Affiliates/etc. groups we had talked about, Grill?

[GRILL]

Sorry Samara! We know that you zombshe's may have enjoyed that medal - we just don't want to be praising girls just because they are girls. Everyone's a slayer here, and we value all our members equally.

@jarhead: good to know, man! Yes, reorganization will make everything much cleaner and simplified... at least that's the goal.

@tac: thanks, glad you like what you see (thumbs up). To answer your question, yes we discussed it (I vaguely included it as the last item in the OP, "new member group title images") - but we are going to hold off on a formal announcement until we get all the gears in place. Rest assured, retired staff will be getting titles.

[Delta]

Just wanna pop in a quick question about the userbars.

Is Zombie God getting a userbar, or are you guys still deciding on it? Or maybe Slade/Infest are working on one? Just been bothering me how MMX is still on stars and we're on these cool bars.

EDIT: my bad, Re-read and saw that these aren't final.

[Boom115]

Goodbye Shangra-ladies! Thanks for the communication, can't wait to see the improvements.

[Lenne]

Nice to see staff meeting threads return.

 

(I am just going to assume there will be more of those in the future.)

[Hells Warrrior]

Of course, we will always keep you up to date.

[Undead]

@tac: thanks, glad you like what you see (thumbs up). To answer your question, yes we discussed it (I vaguely included it as the last item in the OP, "new member group title images") - but we are going to hold off on a formal announcement until we get all the gears in place. Rest assured, retired staff will be getting titles.

 

I know we briefly discussed this via Skype, but again, "Retired" just sounds so... blah. I'd at least go with something straight forward like "Ex-Moderator" or something.

 

And speaking of which, I'd be happy to help redesign the title bars if anyone wants to get a hold of me with on specifics and what not. 

[ThrowAmonkeyBomb]

Nice.Though I disagree with the removement of the ZombShe medal.

It was a nice tool for stalking.

[MegaAfroMan]

I'd like to inquire how many staff members were present for this meeting, just to satisfy my own curiousity.

[GRILL]

 

@tac: thanks, glad you like what you see (thumbs up). To answer your question, yes we discussed it (I vaguely included it as the last item in the OP, "new member group title images") - but we are going to hold off on a formal announcement until we get all the gears in place. Rest assured, retired staff will be getting titles.

 

I know we briefly discussed this via Skype, but again, "Retired" just sounds so... blah. I'd at least go with something straight forward like "Ex-Moderator" or something.

 

And speaking of which, I'd be happy to help redesign the title bars if anyone wants to get a hold of me with on specifics and what not. 

 

 

Sounds good, yeah we'll make sure to try and think of a few alternate titles - and have you guys who will be in the category let us know which you think suits you the best.  "Retired" "Ex-Moderators" Un-undead" "Buried" (those last 2 I just thought of  )

 

Also, I'll get in contact with you via Skype in regards to remaking the usertitles (and adding).  Perhaps it could be a joint project between you and Festo, regardless - we'd love to have your graphical expertise.

 

Nice.Though I disagree with the removement of the ZombShe medal.

It was a nice tool for stalking.

 

StalkAMonkeyBomb

 

I'd like to inquire how many staff members were present for this meeting, just to satisfy my own curiousity.

 

I'm all for transparency (and satisfying your curiosity  )

 

Staff Members Present:

StrWrsBob

HellsWarrrior

l GRILL l

Flammenwerfer

Way2Go0

 

Chopper & Jolteon couldn't make it because it was too late for them, Infest works until way late in the night so we couldn't accommodate him, and Eye is on a family vacation.

 

Also in the interest of transparency, there were several more topics discussed that were not included on the public list.  These are all very exciting and upcoming announcements, which will are stoked to be sharing with you ASAP.  We just don't want to jump the gun on anything - but rest assured that are many more gears turning then conveyed in the OP.

[Rissole25]

Do my eyes deceive me or is Mr. Alpha Snake back on the staff? He looks good in red.

A suggestion for the next meeting to discuss incase it wasn't discussed now.

Having users submit articles for the front page. I'm not sure of the whole logistics (that's for you guys to work out if this idea is discussed), but basically a new DLC or just whatever comes out. Something important or just something that is article worthy. People write and submit articles to the mods, which are than gone over and proof read. The staff choose the best article written (and give advice to those not chosen) and put it on the front page. Can even be a medal for getting an article to the front page, a reference to the old W.W.K. User group.

While we're talking about the front page, it needs updating as you already know. The picture of the month needs changing, and I have some gems to show. I'm not sure whether I should PM or if a PotM thread will be made.

[Hells Warrrior]

Drop a message to festo, we can then get the amendments done and we can get them uploaded once Festo has made the changes

[GRILL]

Hey guys, we will have another staff meeting this Thursday. Let us know any specific topics that you feel should be talked about (that haven't already been listed in the OP, please). You can also expect another detailed write-up of what we discuss ;)

[Undead]

I'm still just waiting on some details regarding upgrades to the title bars. Be sure to hit me up when you guys have a moment via Skype.

[Delta]

Dwellers. I don't think we have any left. Just wondering if we'll get more, or if it's a dead and gone user group.

[MegaAfroMan]

Dwellers as staff were disbanded and upgraded to Mod.

The user group has been put in limbo until further notice.

There was breif discussion in my time about bringing it back as a purly honorary title, but I don't think it really gained traction.

[Rissole25]

How and why did Dwellers start anyway? I can't recall. It got to the point though where they just seemed like staff members instead of praised/excellent members.
 

I'll quote my post above. I think you guys were already going to discuss it, but just making sure.

A suggestion for the next meeting to discuss incase it wasn't discussed now.

Having users submit articles for the front page. I'm not sure of the whole logistics (that's for you guys to work out if this idea is discussed), but basically a new DLC or just whatever comes out. Something important or just something that is article worthy. People write and submit articles to the mods, which are than gone over and proof read. The staff choose the best article written (and give advice to those not chosen) and put it on the front page. Can even be a medal for getting an article to the front page, a reference to the old W.W.K. User group.

Expanding on this, I'd like to see the Frontpage be more updated/used I guess.

[Stop Mocking Me0]

IM ONLY 900-ish MORE POSTS AWAY FROM BEINGA COSMONAUT AGAIN! YES!

[Boom115]

Revising/updating the CoC some rules are present but never enforced. Others should be present but are not, so they can't be enforced.

[GRILL]

Revising/updating the CoC some rules are present but never enforced. Others should be present but are not, so they can't be enforced.

can you give some examples - for both sides?  Just so we have specific food for thought.

[Boom115]

I would start with post pumping; it is both too vague where needed and too detailed where problems don't really occur. When coached on post pumping the general take away always seems to only be don't post "I agree". As you can see in the following link http://www.callofdutyzombies.com/forum/index.php/topic/158976-non-response-responses/ . However the real problem is with posts like this:

 

HAHA

 

oo kill em

 

HAhahahhahahhahhaha

Ok.

What?

These are the posts that add no substance whatsoever to the forum. However they never seem to be addressed. I think the reasoning is that post pumping seems to be in a grey area.

 

Duplicate posts seem to be on the rise. Folks starting up new threads daily for information that we have already worked on months ago. As stated in the CoC it is on the members to know the previously posted content. Is this no longer the standard?

 

Signatures- If you look at my signature below it is well above the maximum size. However compared to most it is quite modest. I understand at one time there was an issue with people adding 14 huge pictures to their signatures and it taking quite some time to scroll through the page. So the current state is that no one seems to follow this rule so I would recommend amending it, removing it, or enforcing it. For a CoC we shouldn't pick and choose which rules to follow, ya feel me?

 

As far as what needs added, you tell me. What are your day-to-day issue that you can do nothing about because to rules have been set to prevent it?

[DeathBringerZen]

I agree that short replies like the ones above look somewhat vulgar and unnecessary, but you cannot seriously attempt to enforce people to type epic replies each and every time. Sometimes replies can be short & sweet.

 

I have seen people say that if you agree with a comment just add brains instead of saying "agreed", then I also read somewhere that we are NOT to be giving brains for simply agreeing with a post. The post must be worthy of brains.

 

It is a tough area to enforce such rules, and I personally don't think it can ever be properly policed, so it is best to just leave this one be in my opinion.