How can we make the 405th great?

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Art Andrews

Community Owner
Community Staff
As mentioned elsewhere, we are very excited to be managing this community! We think it has a tremendous amount of potential and want to see it grow and flourish, but we need YOUR help to do that! This thread is for posting your thoughts and ideas about 1) existing changes as they are made and 2) changes you would like to see made.

Please bear in mind that there is only a handful of us and 10s of thousands of you, so we may not respond to every post or comment on every idea but we WILL read and consider every idea, comment and even criticism. Some things we should be able to implement quickly and easily while others may take time or not be feasible at all. Be patient with us as we already have a tremendous backlog of things that need to be done, but one-by-one, we will get to them.
 
My goal has always been to essentially eliminate the top half of the page being taken up by stickies... some consolidation or reducing was the initial idea, but I feel like one Sticky containing links to all the other stickies will the be best way to go.
 
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Ruze i think thats a good goal :) i like the look of it.

Ok so art i have a question to ask and ill ask. Is there any way to block people from replying to threads in the marketplace? i have noticed that people have been replying to those threads lately. I also know that before in the "Read Before Posting - Classifieds Rules - 03/06/201" thread it mentions un "replying to a thread" "The ability to post a reply to a listing when you are not the listing creator is disabled in the Classifieds. All communication should be by private message or email when you are replying to another user's listing."
is there any way we can get this turned back on so people dont reply to threads in the marketplace.
Thanks and ill post this in the site problems thread too. sorry if this was the wrong thread to post it in.
 
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Ruze,

You are 100% correct and since you are a staff member, don't feel the need to wait on us...

There should be ONE "Important Threads" or "Start Here" thread that is stuck in each forum. That thread should contain a list of threads that we feel are the most important for people to have easy access to. There is no need to make an article of it.
 
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Hold up.

Lets ditch the "Stickies" and go with "Stuck" threads.

I say this, because we are a Halo-related forum.
And in Halo, people get "Stuck"

StuckEmblem.jpg


EDIT: Maybe "Stuck" threads could have a different emblem, maybe one with the plasma grenade....
 

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Thanks for bringing up the issue with the stickies, Ruze. That's something Adam and I talked about a long time ago but I could never get him to add an archive subforum to stash all of the linked-to stickies. lol Very glad to see it being taken care of. I'll be online poking around all weekend around as well so if you need any help at all just let me know!
 
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I don't see why we can't simply consolidate some of these stickies - most of them deal with processes that could be congregated into one, more comprehensive tutorial - rather than simply having a huge list of individual Sticky Threads for each possible scenario.

Dave (Cereal Kill3r) was making some very good progress on his tutorial videos - I see no reason why information couldn't be likewise compacted into bite-sized tutorials for easier digestion, if the information is made available within the relevant sections of the forum.

My suggestions are as follows:

Recruits

- Forum Rules/Guidelines/Policies (dealing exclusively with member conduct within the 405th Forum)

Prop/Costume Creation

- Pepakura From Print To Finish (dealing exclusively with the Pepakura assembly process - include a link to the File Archive)
- Hardening Your Pepakura Build (dealing exclusively with the resin/fibreglassing/Rondo process)
- Finishing Your Pepakura Build (dealing exclusively with smoothing/finishing a hardened build. Perhaps this could also include visor mounting)
- Painting Your Build (dealing exclusively with painting techniques)
- Moulding/Casting Megasticky (dealing exclusively with moulding finished pieces, I'd delegate this to perhaps vshore100 or another experienced member)
- Foam Armour Megasticky (dealing exclusively with creating foam builds, I'd delegate this to EVAkura/Phil)
- Undersuit Tutorial (dealing exclusively with soft armour/undersuit techniques)

3D Modelling

- 3D Modelling Megasticky (dealing with scratch-modelling/model editing, I'd be happy to take this one on myself)

405th Regiments

- 405th Regimental/Global Charter (dealing with the Charter and member conduct while on deployment)

At least, that's my $0.02. I really don't like the idea of having vital information scattered around and difficult to dissemble - I do agree with having members actively help themselves in looking for help in their work, but the information they need has to be accessible and easily-digestible.
 
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I don't see why we can't simply consolidate some of these stickies - most of them deal with processes that could be congregated into one, more comprehensive tutorial - rather than simply having a huge list of individual Sticky Threads for each possible scenario.

Dave (Cereal Kill3r) was making some very good progress on his tutorial videos - I see no reason why information couldn't be likewise compacted into bite-sized tutorials for easier digestion, if the information is made available within the relevant sections of the forum.

This is what causes the never ending delays to any kind of Sticky revision... I know because I've tried it numerous times over the last 4 years. Instead of just making 1 Stuck Thread which links to all those others, we wait on people to create new Articles or new Tutorial threads... which get delayed, and delayed again, and then everything gets pushed back some more.

That's not to say we can't work towards that, I'd love to get a more concise system into place. But I can clean up the Stuck threads sections in an afternoon or a night by simply linking what we already have, and not wait on outside input or new content creation.
 
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Arcanine has a great suggestion, but you are absolutely right. You could debate how to do something forever, or you can get on with the doing, especially on a task like this, and leave the longer term approach for later.

Let's move forward with the "Starter" thread and then if you guys want to work on some type of master tutorial that condenses information, there is nothing to stop you, but the immediate issue of half of the first page of each forum being an endless list of stickies will be resolved.


This is what causes the never ending delays to any kind of Sticky revision... I know because I've tried it numerous times over the last 4 years. Instead of just making 1 Stuck Thread which links to all those others, we wait on people to create new Articles or new Tutorial threads... which get delayed, and delayed again, and then everything gets pushed back some more.

That's not to say we can't work towards that, I'd love to get a more concise system into place. But I can clean up the Stuck threads sections in an afternoon or a night by simply linking what we already have, and not wait on outside input or new content creation.
 
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LOL Love it!

Hold up.

Lets ditch the "Stickies" and go with "Stuck" threads.

I say this, because we are a Halo-related forum.
And in Halo, people get "Stuck"

StuckEmblem.jpg


EDIT: Maybe "Stuck" threads could have a different emblem, maybe one with the plasma grenade....
 

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But I can clean up the Stuck threads sections in an afternoon or a night by simply linking what we already have, and not wait on outside input or new content creation.

Oh, by all means. I'm not suggesting we wait for anything at all - cleanup has to start somewhere - but what I do suggest is that, later on down the line, we have members put on board for consolidating all that information into more digestible formats. I'd even be willing to chair efforts to organise consolidation of the basic information (Pepakura, Fibreglass, Bondo and 3D Modelling) for later submission and replacement of current tutorials.

Some processes have a generally-accepted method to them - with Pepakura, for example, you have to print, then cut and score, then fold, glue and assemble - and there is very little deviation or alteration to the process that another member could disagree with (without adding addenda such as types of cardstock and glue to use).

This means that, were one member to fail in his/her mission to create a full tutorial for that process, it could easily be handed down to another member to continue.

More specialised tutorials, such as moulding, painting, foam and 3D modelling, may take a little longer and perhaps prove more problematic to consolidate if a member goes AWOL, admittedly, but I do feel that at least the most basic, beginner-standard information will be easy to set into a more digestible format.

If I get the go-ahead I can start as early as next week with some of this work.

EDIT: Art beat me to it, but the gist of our posts is the same: get started now, redecorate later. As I said, give me the go-ahead and I'll get moving on it.
 
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So... like this?

sticky-new.jpg

Hold up.

Lets ditch the "Stickies" and go with "Stuck" threads.

I say this, because we are a Halo-related forum.
And in Halo, people get "Stuck"

StuckEmblem.jpg


EDIT: Maybe "Stuck" threads could have a different emblem, maybe one with the plasma grenade....
 

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Why not:

Halo_Reach_Grenade_Stick_Render.png


STUCK

or

Halo_Reach_Stick_Spree_Render.png

STICKY SPREE

or

Halo_Reach_Sticky_Fingers_Render.png


STICKY FINGERS

or even

Halo_Reach_Corrected_Render.png


CORRECTED?
 

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Why can't we edit the titles of our threads anymore? Used to be able to modify the text by editing the first post of a thread. That doesn't seem to be working anymore, so there's another suggestion for "how can we make the 405th great".
 
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OMG, so awesome Art. I love it! :)

Now how about changing the text from "Sticky:" to "Stuck:"?

@Arcanine, I was thinking about suggesting doing the medals for the sticky symbol, but I think the style of the in-game player emblem just works better. :)




This is what causes the never ending delays to any kind of Sticky revision... I know because I've tried it numerous times over the last 4 years. Instead of just making 1 Stuck Thread which links to all those others, we wait on people to create new Articles or new Tutorial threads... which get delayed, and delayed again, and then everything gets pushed back some more.

That's not to say we can't work towards that, I'd love to get a more concise system into place. But I can clean up the Stuck threads sections in an afternoon or a night by simply linking what we already have, and not wait on outside input or new content creation.

You have my full support on this.

We don't need to merge threads or anything, though I would consider archiving the old ones with 200+ pages and starting new ones. Ones that start by going through all the posts in the 200 pages and turning it into a Q & A FAQs list.

I've actually been considering on starting a few threads actually. I was thinking about doing one with every form of fastener, but it would need input such as different options for particular fasteners such as side-press plastic buckles and where the best places to buy them are.
I definitely think it would be fun to cover permanent fasteners (rivets), temporary fasteners (screws), and fasteners that can release (buckles, velcro, and magnets).
Then again... I'm not sure if I have the time.
I do like to write guides up though.
 
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I had an idea regarding easily identifying threads with just a quick look. Prefixes would be great but after just looking down over the list in the "New Posts" option there's still a lot of reading involved to determine what each thread is about. I thought about color coding, but what about a graphic kind of like the plasma grenade one for 'stickies'. I hammer for build threads. Question mark for help/discussion threads. Events, groups, etc. A graphic would be quickly and almost instantly recognizable.

These are just some examples I found on the web that we could base the graphics on and miniaturize to include next to the titles of threads. Perhaps even use other existing Halo Emblems to generate these.
Examples:
31781.pngbvnjv-md.png
Calendar-icon.pngvideo-gaming-social-network-groups.png

What'd ya think?
 
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I can get a hold of the Halo 3/Halo Reach gametype graphics - for Build threads, I'd personally like to see the Forge hammer-and-anvil icon.
 
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I can get a hold of the Halo 3/Halo Reach gametype graphics - for Build threads, I'd personally like to see the Forge hammer-and-anvil icon.
Agreed. And perhaps community/event/announcement threads could be designated with Guilty Spark (or any other Monitor).
 
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