Fixing VMK: CL Program, Report button, Dictionary etc

[mtlhddoc2]

I have been thinking about this for a while now and thought I would put it up here. I know there is no point in writing to the black hole. I would probably get a message back saying "Our last email fixed your issue"

Anyway, lets start with the CL program:
Let face it, it does not work and never did. People do not use the CL tag for what is was intended, it has become a status symbol and nothing more. AND a good way to cheat newbies.
There are several ways this could be addressed, but I think these are the best one:
Make all "new" CLs have a probationary period of say, 3 months. Add a "CL Feedback" option to the report button and Contact Us pages. And then stick with it. If a CL does not get good feedback from various players on a fairly consistent basis, they probably are not doing their job.

OR

Automatic CLs: Everyone who has been a member for 6 months or more can pass that silly test and automatically become a CL.

OR

Term limits: yes, you heard me correctly, lol, a player can not be a CL for longer than 6 months and then can not reapply for 6 months.

Lets face it, the whole CL thing is a joke. 80% of the CLs are not helpful at all, and then a good percentage of those are either rude or abusive of their title, or both! The CL program is a COMPLETE DISASTER - seriously, CLs are supposed to be the more "knowledgable and helpful" members of the VMK society and I have found that this is only very rarely the case. Most of the "CL"s are kids who, well, act like kids! You do not need a title to be knowledgable and helpful in VMK, and as I see it, most of the more knowledgable and helpful VMK players are NOT Community Leaders.

Now, Report button.
The fact that you have to distionary dance within the report button is ridiculous. The distionary with report either needs to be abolished or relaxed a great deal. You know how long it takes to ACTUALLY send the stupid report because you have to fix all the dictionary words?
Also, more options need to be added to the report button, such as the CL Feedback and another of my favorite ideas, the "Good Deeds" tab/dropdown. This is for reporting a player going above and beyond to help another player, or can even be expanded to cover great rooms, games and quests. Yes, there is the potential for abuse, but I do not think it would be that bad.

Last, Dictionary:
Please, VMK, you are ruining the childrens grammar by forcing them to say things like "he say bad title to me" (he called me a bad name) - i am not asking for the entire Oxford Dictionary, but a few hundred words which are in everyday English would be nice. You can not say the words "call" and "name"- yes, potential for abuse, yadda yadda, horse hockey, they are normal everyday words and you are forcing our kids into "chatspeak" and broken English. Time for a change here.

 

[AwesomeAg]

I believe these are excellent ideas.... Good thinking!

 

[BriarRosie]

I don't tend to see the same abuses with the CL program you are seeing.
How exactly are they scamming newbies? If I witnessed that, I'd report
the person in a heartbeat AND follow up with the Leave Feedback for
a CL feature in Contact Us.

Maybe I'm not around the "bad" CLs enough to spot them. The CLs I know
have always been helpful, almost to the point of painful. They will answer
a question, only to have the same player ask it AGAIN. A lot of the time
I feel the players aren't paying close attention when people answer them.
I run into that frequently when I've answered questions like, "How do you
become a VIP?" "How do you get this room?" and so on.

Sure, I'm positive there are CLs who aren't cut out for the program, but I
think sooner or later VMK will catch up to them and remove them from the
program.

 

[Pirate-Emery]

Maybe I'm not around the "bad" CLs enough to spot them. The CLs I know
have always been helpful, almost to the point of painful.

Same here, but I do know that there must be CL's out there that do not, in fact, help.

It's all well and good (I dont say we should get rid of it), but you would have to admit that the Community Leader really truly isn't more than a handy dandy title that shows people that you can help if you feel like.

 

[Belle1997]

here are my suggestions

Well the biggest thing about reporting somone is trying to get around the dictionary to tell them what is going on. I am teriible at dictionary dancing and it took me five minutes of told frustration to report them. I was so ticked and not being able to say the word threatening or threats they should have a box that you can click

1) bad language
2) threatening other players
3) giving out personal information
4) racial slurs
5) blocking exit or entrance
6) Large group casuing trouble
7) other

And then we could write more if we need. That would save a lot of time. And then they could code it to importance. But they are all bad. But some need imediate intervention others not as urgent.

 

[mtlhddoc2]

Thank you all for replying, I am going to withhold a response for now to give others a chance to post as well.
I do want to point out that I have come accross helpful CLs before, I do not believe "all" CLs are bad.

 

[FrontierNatasha]

I'm sorry but, term limits?! You've got to be kidding me! CLs aren't presidents you know. Or of course they would abuse their power even more and make everyone into slaves. . I'm not even going to try to be a CL if there are term limits. I'd like to be a CL for as long as I like thank you very much. And that would probably be forever.

 

[Peacefully]

I agree about the word limits on reports. I don't mean that we should be able to cuss staff out, but at least let us say words more than two times.

I don't really understand why we're still not allowed to say numbers. People have found a way to say them anyway and if they really wanted to, they could still give out their phone number if they did it right. It's gotten to where I've started saying numbers wrong on other sites, and I'm an adult!

 

[mtlhddoc2]

I'm sorry but, term limits?! You've got to be kidding me! CLs aren't presidents you know. Or of course they would abuse their power even more and make everyone into slaves. . I'm not even going to try to be a CL if there are term limits. I'd like to be a CL for as long as I like thank you very much. And that would probably be forever.

Thats my whole point to term limits. Thank you.

 

[FrontierNatasha]

Thats my whole point to term limits. Thank you.

Come again?

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Front, I believe he was saying that he was making his point because you said that if CL's served in terms, then you wouldn't even bother to be a CL.
I believe his point would be to discourage people to be CL's if they thought it was just something temporary.

Some very good points have been brought up. I'll come back later when I'm able to form a really decent reply.

 

[laxplaya1346]

6 months... ohhhhh

 

[Laurabearz]

I like the idea of a report form where would could talk freely... but at the same time I dont want kids to have to write what the dictionary dance really is.... so I guess I am torn... Hmmm How about the same dictionary, but we are allowed to use words more than twice..

I also think not saying numbers at this point is pointless...

Words I would like to see OUT of the dictionary...

ppl plz ty Etc... short cuts for words... as it is IMing and text messaging has really hurt kids... Teachers are reporting so many kids using all the text emssagin short cuts in school papers!! I would like to see VMK take those out.

And we already do have a CL feedback ability... it's called Contact Us... I sure hope that any who runs across a bad CL not only uses the Report now button but also follows up on the Contact us button on the main page.

As far as the 'good deeds' button... I see that royally being abused.. YOU may not think it would be.... but it would be abused BIG TIME!!! (and the really great and helpful players would play by the rules and not get enough good feedback)

I really like Bells suggestions about having choices in the report button, and then the chance to write more details. Good Idea!!

 

[mtlhddoc2]

Bearz - I appreciate the "Contact Us" thing, but, really, who is going to do that?
not me thats for sure - First you have towrite down or remember the CL name - already lost me, that is not happening lol

Maybe you are right about Good Deeds being abused, but...
noone ever sees some of the best rooms or the best people on VMK becuase they do not stick 10 of their mules into a room to bump it up the list. The rolled out this Gold Star program, but the way I see it, it is only available to suckups right now. Why shouldnt some of the "Unsung Heros" of VMK get a little credit?

 

[Laurabearz]

Yes but to have a thing on the report feature would be so abused it isnt funny. It would. Making someone take that extra step to report good deeds may be a pain to you, but if you make it to easy it would be abused. That is a fact and not fiction.

 

[Sparkle_Cherry]

I like your suggestions mtlhddoc2. When I clicked on the thread I was already forming a post in my mind talking about how CL Badges are status symbols; you took the words right out of my mouth! Players need to learn that Community Leaders are not God, and having a badge with a hat on it doesn't make a CL a better person.

I think a special badge should not be a reason to be helpful and polite, everyone should do their part either way. How on earth are they supposed to choose Community Leaders anyways? If its a seniority thing then that is absolutely ridiculous.

Players who have been there since Beta might know more about last year, but I think if someone has been on for awhile and cares enough to research VMK, they might be more helpful than Day 1's. You can't be sure who is going to be an efficient CL just based on how long they have been playing.

I have seen many CL's acting appropriately for their position; but I have also seen my fair share of abuse to the CL title. Many Community Leaders do their job correctly, but I know some are very selfish and don't answer when somebody addresses the room with a question, and I have witnessed the same.

As for the Report Button; how much more unhelpful can it get? I like Belle1997's idea, some tick-boxes would save alot of time, and letting you use the entire dicitionary in reports would be so much more effiecient.

The dictionary needs work, true. However, in my opinion I think they're doing a good job with it. If only we could get them to add ''gnome'' for grumpy_guy, and ''vegetarian'' for me. I can't even count how many times I have suggested those blinking words!

~C.B.

 

[Sparkle_Cherry]

Yes but to have a thing on the report feature would be so abused it isnt funny. It would. Making someone take that extra step to report good deeds may be a pain to you, but if you make it to easy it would be abused. That is a fact and not fiction.

I agree, this would be heavily abused and its not exactly my favourite of your suggestions mtlhddoc2. Oh, and Gold Star is a complete disaster the way I see it.

~C.B.

 

[mtlhddoc2]

I agree, this would be heavily abused and its not exactly my favourite of your suggestions mtlhddoc2. ~C.B.

Nobody is perfect

 

[qruthie]

Just a quick reply with a few of my thoughts:

I have always thought the restricted dictionary for the report function is not needed. It would be fine to not allow us to cuss but we need to be able to write better descriptions of what we are reporting.

I like Belle's check box idea!

The Gold Star program doesn't exist as far as I've seen. I mean, I know it exists but I just haven't seen a gold star. Then again, I've never seen Push so I still believe that doesn't exist!

I'd support a change to the CL program where they had to renew their title every so often. I think a smaller version of the application process would be a good start.

I have always wanted a "good" option for the report feature. I wouldn't want it to be a "call for help" with 911 status though. I think it can work but if it is necessary to require more effort on the user's part, I would suggest adding a "Leave feedback about another player" option to the contact us page. Right now the only automatic suggestiont is something about "Another player is bothering me".

 

[mtlhddoc2]

"The Gold Star program doesn't exist as far as I've seen. I mean, I know it exists but I just haven't seen a gold star. Then again, I've never seen Push so I still believe that doesn't exist!"

I saw one on a suckup during Hula's last teleporter game room. He said he got it for "Helping Hula out" which is in direct contradiction to what the intentions of the program were stated. And if he reads this, he knows EXACTLY who I am talking about.