Changes

[jake]

Hi guys!

NU has stagnated quite a bit since its peak last generation. I've heard a lot of comments especially recently about the status of NU and basically a bunch of complaints about what's going on in as a whole. In order to combat this, I've set up the following form for everyone to anonymously donate their thoughts on anything to do with NU. The anonymity factor is included to allow people to have the freedom to comfortably say how they feel without getting blasted by established users, and to allow people to actively speak their mind without bandwagoning onto other people's posts.

I would appreciate anything you have to say in this form (though the "fuck you zebraiken"s of the world can go suck it). These comments can include:

a) metagame-related topics: what do you think should be changed or fixed with our metagame? our suspect process? how do you think can we liven things up a bit? etc

b) forum-related topics: do you think there are any problems with the forums? is there anything about the forums that discourages you from posting? how can we be more inviting and productive with our forums? etc

c) PS! room-related topics: do you like our PS! room? do you have issues with it, or any of the people or moderators within? how can we do a better job with the PS! room? etc

d) anything related in any way, shape, or form to NU​

I will leave this thread locked in order to quote important comments and respond to them swiftly and concisely, without junking up the thread. This is a bit of a social experiment so I'm not quite sure how it will pan out, but please take it seriously so we can see how the results are and establish a better community and metagame!

Here is the link to the form. =)

 

[jake]

Since posting this, we've gotten nearly fifty responses (30+ in the first day), and I'm super appreciative of everybody sending in their thoughts on what we can do to improve NU. ...At the same time, not everything is feasible or really even reasonable at all. Sorry, guy who wants us to add strippers to the NU room, and sorry, guy who wants us to drop Lopunny, Scyther (we already have it man), and Ampharos. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The overwhelming responses were about the suspect testing process and who we plan to suspect in the future, so let's address that first. Just about everyone and their mother feels that we need a Mega Steelix suspect (shoutouts to blarajan the leader of the free world). I also had several posts on opening votes to public, which were honestly in the plans from the get-go, but were otherwise delayed thanks to DumbFreak and the release of Contrary Serperior. Here is our current plan for the NU suspecting process in the very near future:

- Following the February tier shifts, we will open a suspect for Mega Steelix. Eligibility for voting on this test will be obtained by meeting ladder reqs; no paragraphs, forum presence, or NU room presence is needed (though you do need to have forum presence to earn the Tiering Contributor badge, remember!).
- The test will begin immediately so long as Raseri and I do not believe there are major enough shifts to delay the test by a week.
- We are planning to be much more flexible with our suspect selections. I understand a lot of people have frustrations with what our metagame is developing into, and we are OK with picking some more controversial suspects in the future. The timing between suspects is not currently set, but we would like to give a fair amount of time between suspects to let the metagame settle rather than banbanban and making it very volatile.
- The NU Council will largely act as an advisory board, helping Raseri and myself select the correct suspects for the round. There will be a much more fluid system in place, where we are more liable to remove inactive members (without warning; it can always be immediately earned back) and add new members based on the consistency and quality of their presence in NU, NU C&C, and the NU PS! room.​

The next most popular subject was the NU PS! room. Raseri is taking the lead on that, but we are aiming to lead with the room staff and hold everybody accountable for being good staff members & promoting activity with our new users. Without going into much detail, it is important to note that if you are any rank, you are absolutely held to a standard of activity, responsibility, and behavior beyond normal users. Even voiced (+) members are recognized beyond normal users, so we expect good behavior and will remove your status with or without warning if deemed necessary. We want to do the very best we can with the room, and encouraging a non-toxic, quality environment is our current goal.

Raseri and I are going to be more liberal with scouting for badges related to the primary NU forum (Community Contributor & Pre-Contributor). We simply haven't been active enough, but we are going to run through a weekly update PM and assess how everything is going, including mentioning those who we think are deserving of being badged for their contributions every week. :)

I think that's it for now! If you have further comments or something else you'd like us to address, the form will be open indefinitely so the community has a means of giving anonymous input about how things are going. It's been a great success so far, so thanks everybody for sharing your thoughts! =)