How can we make the 405th great?

Art Andrews · Jul 11, 2014

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.

WandererTJ · Jul 30, 2014

Art Andrews said:
Honestly, at this point, you are unlikely to see any true "ranking" system at all. It is simply too divisive. What you ARE now likely to see, in part, due to this ongoing discussion, are TYPES of membership, which is pretty much what we have now. The difference will be that full members will be split between costuming members and non-costuming members.

You will have some type of newb membership, some type of full membership (non-costuming) and some type of full membership (costuming). In this way, the non-costuming and the costuming are essentially on equal footing. Within the costuming type there will definitely be Tiers (probably 3) to recognize and promote the continuation of improving your costume, but even then the tiers aren't ranks.

Outside of this, we will eventually look at some type of awards system for various types of achievement, but these won't be ranks either.

The only true "ranks" will be purely administrative in dealing with the staff of the Battalions, Regiments and Division as a whole. Those ranks will represent the administrative organization of the club.

Love it!
Sounds awesome!

Pretty sure this hits on all the marks I was trying to highlight in my post in the other thread.

Feel free to take some of the ideas I had for the Accolades/Medals/Achievements/Commendations or whatever you want to call them.
The list I made was tossed together pretty quickly, and I tried to add some humor to it, but in reference to the list, I would leave out the "Teabagging" at conventions medal/commendation/whatever.

Saeka · Jul 30, 2014

Sounds good to me. Keeps everyone in the community engaged, whether or not they've got a full suit. As a newer member (well, returning) to the 405th, I really appreciate it.

Azsendi · Jul 30, 2014

I just finished reading the whole thing, and I like how you guys are tackling some problems.

I would say we should start adding new posts to the Articles section. It's been pretty blank and lonely as we don't want a link that seems outdated/dysfunctional. Also, are you going to add any ads? I see an "Ad Test" in the top of the page.

Art Andrews · Jul 31, 2014

Azsendi said:
I would say we should start adding new posts to the Articles section. It's been pretty blank and lonely as we don't want a link that seems outdated/dysfunctional. Also, are you going to add any ads? I see an "Ad Test" in the top of the page.

There may be ads at some point, but we would prefer not to do that. Where are you seeing "ad test"?

Also, for now, the articles section is going away entirely.

Master Builder · Jul 31, 2014

Art Andrews said:
There may be ads at some point, but we would prefer not to do that. Where are you seeing "ad test"?

Also, for now, the articles section is going away entirely.

I see it too. It's right in the top middle of the Master Chief background. It's in white text so it's a bit hard to see.

Art Andrews · Jul 31, 2014

I am not seeing this at all. Can you take a screencap?

Azsendi · Jul 31, 2014

Art Andrews said:
I am not seeing this at all. Can you take a screencap?

I'll send it as soon as I get home as I'm on my phone right now.

Edit: Just activated full site on my phone so here they are.

Hopefully, they are good enough.

Art Andrews · Jul 31, 2014

Got it! Removed!

Chernobyl · Aug 2, 2014

Do we have any plans to work on the profanity filter for the 405th? Swearing isn't exactly a major issue around here and, thankfully, most of our members keep a level head and are mature, but we do occasionally have problems with the newer recruits dropping cuss words and it'd be a lot better for us all if I didn't have to keep saying 'stop swearing'.

WandererTJ · Aug 3, 2014

While I don't want to take place as the "Leader" of the Southern U.S. Regiment, I just wanted to share that I will do what I can to get it started running on its feet.

KevZone · Aug 3, 2014

WandererTJ said:
While I don't want to take place as the "Leader" of the Southern U.S. Regiment, I just wanted to share that I will do what I can to get it started running on its feet.

We're trying to build momentum in the Memphis and Mid-South area so let me know what I can do to help. I've been on the garrison command staff for my local 501st garrison for several years so I'm used to getting the word out and the troops rallied!

deactivyoke · Aug 3, 2014

KevZone said:
We're trying to build momentum in the Memphis and Mid-South area so let me know what I can do to help. I've been on the garrison command staff for my local 501st garrison for several years so I'm used to getting the word out and the troops rallied!

I'm with kev in the Memphis midsouth area and I'm wondering what we are allowed to do at conventions and other events to get more people to join the 405th. Like a do we just tell them about the site or hand out business cards and such? Because I know there were lots of people interested in how I made my costume at the last two conventions I was at and I really didn't know what to do.

Art Andrews · Aug 4, 2014

Arcanine said:
Do we have any plans to work on the profanity filter for the 405th? Swearing isn't exactly a major issue around here and, thankfully, most of our members keep a level head and are mature, but we do occasionally have problems with the newer recruits dropping cuss words and it'd be a lot better for us all if I didn't have to keep saying 'stop swearing'.

Good call. Added in our standard censored word list. Should take care of most of the profanity.

Art Andrews · Aug 4, 2014

cayoke said:
I'm with kev in the Memphis midsouth area and I'm wondering what we are allowed to do at conventions and other events to get more people to join the 405th. Like a do we just tell them about the site or hand out business cards and such? Because I know there were lots of people interested in how I made my costume at the last two conventions I was at and I really didn't know what to do.

Give us just a bit more time and I hope we can better support your recruitment efforts!

Zaff · Aug 4, 2014

cayoke said:
I'm with kev in the Memphis midsouth area and I'm wondering what we are allowed to do at conventions and other events to get more people to join the 405th. Like a do we just tell them about the site or hand out business cards and such? Because I know there were lots of people interested in how I made my costume at the last two conventions I was at and I really didn't know what to do.

Art Andrews said:
Give us just a bit more time and I hope we can better support your recruitment efforts!

Perhaps the current logo/emblem pdf could have a section added to it with official business cards with the URL and/or pamphlets with a bit of info/background and maybe a couple pictures of finished suits (there's sure to be plenty of volunteers who would jump at the opportunity to help promote the community while getting a bit of "Free advertisement" of their own in the process) to show off what the community can do, something that we could print off and hand out not only at conventions, but costume shops, craft stores, launch parties, and anywhere else we happen to run into people who show an interest in what we do. I know personally I have struggled to sufficiently explain what it is we do when telling others about it. I remember one conversation in which I basically broke it down to "I make helmets out of paper" and they were thinking those little origami pointy sailor cap looking things and kind of brushed it off, and when I finally had a picture uploaded to show them, they were like "Wait, THAT'S what you were talking about? Make me one!"

For convention booths, I'd say the business card would probably be the best choice, as its size makes it easier to bring bulk quantities and having the booth (and presumably at least one finished suit present, or at least banners/posters showing off finished suits) there's no real need for graphics. The pamphlets on the other hand would be better for handing out in other places because you wouldn't necessarily have the same "visuals" available, unless you're going out for a stroll in full gear (which I have seen some do, and it just makes me that much more jealous that I haven't finished a suit of my own yet).

WandererTJ · Aug 5, 2014

Well, it took me a while to realize, but the "Articles" section of the forums has vanished. Not sure if everything in them was relocated or if the articles just got deleted.

I would love it if we had a "Gallery" or something where we can see all the completed suits.
I'd love to see something like what you see in Google Image Search, but without the feature where the images expand in the way they do. I'd rather have a window open up over the page when you click an image, at least for us.
But I'm getting away from myself...

In terms of the Google Image look, what I really like is the collage look. I like how there is a variable width and a set height per row of pictures.

It would be nice if you hovered over the image, and when you did, the picture would be overlayed with a box that covers roughly the bottom 30% of the image, and in the box, it provides details on who it is in the picture, what their build was made from, what game their build was based on, and possibly what year they completed it.
In addition to this, clicking on the image would take you to their Build Thread.

I think that for this, it would be important to make sure that the Gallery Image for a particular build be an image with a high resolution and be a full-body image like this one:

Now, as a 2nd idea in terms of a "Gallery", I would really love to find a collection of all the professionally looking HD photos of 405th builds that are floating around.
After seeing the post below, I decided I just couldn't get enough of the high detailed and high resolution photos and I really want to see more of them:
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/41747-405th-Logo-Update?p=706185&viewfull=1#post706185

Trooper0621

Ruze789 · Aug 5, 2014

WandererTJ said:
Well, it took me a while to realize, but the "Articles" section of the forums has vanished. Not sure if everything in them was relocated or if the articles just got deleted.

Art mentioned a couple weeks ago that it was going away:
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/41876-Articles-Section-Closing

WandererTJ · Aug 8, 2014

Art Andrews, would it be possible to see on our Subscribed Threads page, something like:
# of new posts in thread since last visit/read/opened
or
# of replies and/or # of views?

Actually, if there is a way to implement both of the above it would amazing. If there are no new posts, then simply the Total # of Replies (and maybe views too) would show up, but if there are unread responses, then # of new posts would show up in place of Total # of Replies & Views.

When I look at the page it appears as though there is enough room to add in an extra column, and being able to have some added info would be nice.

Art Andrews · Aug 8, 2014

WandererTJ said:
@Art Andrews, would it be possible to see on our Subscribed Threads page, something like:
# of new posts in thread since last visit/read/opened
or
# of replies and/or # of views?

Actually, if there is a way to implement both of the above it would amazing. If there are no new posts, then simply the Total # of Replies (and maybe views too) would show up, but if there are unread responses, then # of new posts would show up in place of Total # of Replies & Views.

When I look at the page it appears as though there is enough room to add in an extra column, and being able to have some added info would be nice.

The strain on the server for that would be pretty severe as it would have to constantly keep count of every thread for every member. It already does this in a broad way by notifying you if there are new posts or not. I have never seen a mod that kept a count like this and I suspect that is due to the amount of strain it would add to the server.

PHIL 907 · Aug 8, 2014

What happened to ranks and such? Are they totally gone or what?

How can we make the 405th great?

Community Owner

Well-Known Member

New Member

New Member

Community Owner

Member

Community Owner

New Member

Attachments

Community Owner

Sr Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Community Owner

Community Owner

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Sr Member

Well-Known Member

Community Owner

Member

Similar threads

Similar threads