Staffing The Mousie AMA

[Sadrienne 242]

ASK MOUSIE ANYTHING

I pretty much haunt boards like this in search of places to give advice, and new documentations I can write. I'd like to get an idea of what questions people have about anything/everything related to forum RP that I might be able to help with. Thus, I invite you to ask me anything! No question too silly, too dumb, or too out there. Feel free to use the anonymous function if you're not comfortable with having it attached to your username.

 

I've been a board admin since 2003, with a break there between 2013 and 2017. During that gap, I continued to roleplay and manage communities---just outside of the forum RP space. My longest-running RP forum was seven years from opening to hiatus, and has been brought back online because it kind of felt like I was missing an arm or leg without it.

 

In that time, I've encountered all sorts of things: 

• Firing my whole staff
• Finding my "board philosophy"
• Ejecting toxic members
• On-board OOC drama
• Broken RP partnerships
• Learning to skin..  multiple times
• Changing board software
• Adding/removing features
• Running contests
• Running board-wide plots
• Establishing a strong community
• Advertising like a boss
• Surviving quiet periods
• Recurring ghost members
• Closing the board
• Reviving the board
• Investigating board issues
• Admin burn-out
• And so much more...

 

Absolutely any questions are okay! About my board, my style, the RP forum sphere in general, particular trends, or even advice on a scenario you're facing. I'm here to help!

[Clockwork Galaxy 0]

I'm not certain where this falls on your list, but... I've been considering moving my Lore from tabbed info boxes on the board to a more Wikia-like format.  I would, of course, have a proper new member guidebook so that information is easy to find for different character-types, but I thought this would give me a chance to give more detailed information on certain aspects of the lore and plot without forcing people to scroll through the boxes (which are neater than just posting directly on the forum, I've found, but make the scrolling/ info difficult to read if it's longer... maybe?).  

 

Anyhow, I would love your advice on this, or, even, just your opinion, assuming this falls in your sphere of offerings.  ^-^

[Sadrienne 242]

4 minutes ago, Wanderlust said:

I'm not certain where this falls on your list, but... I've been considering moving my Lore from tabbed info boxes on the board to a more Wikia-like format.  I would, of course, have a proper new member guidebook so that information is easy to find for different character-types, but I thought this would give me a chance to give more detailed information on certain aspects of the lore and plot without forcing people to scroll through the boxes (which are neater than just posting directly on the forum, I've found, but make the scrolling/ info difficult to read if it's longer... maybe?).  

 

Anyhow, I would love your advice on this, or, even, just your opinion, assuming this falls in your sphere of offerings.  ^-^

 

Personally, I don't like scrolly-boxes, although the tabs do look super neat!

 

The general rule of thumb when considering any change is "Does this make sense to me? Does it make more sense than the current system?" and if the answer is yes to both, go ahead and implement it.

 

You've got a lot of fantastic lore there, which I'd hate to see hidden away in scroll boxes. Moving to a wikia-style content management system is a fantastic option if you do have a lot of content, and want to interlink various articles. It makes it very easy for members to follow up on what they want to know. 

 

The one thing you'll need to be careful of, is that while you'll have so much more room to expand---it will become more necessary to have a "quick path" through your lore for players who want to know the basics and learn details on the fly. You could very easily achieve this by having an "index topic" that gives a brief overview and essential information, but also links through to more detailed posts on certain aspects for those who want to know more.