@Mae and aeternus: i agree with both of u. Though if it would just be among guilded members then(as Aeternus said) it won't be democratic.

@Ktc: There is no other Democratic way. Of course admins can remove it without adding polls lol. I was just telling the democratic way. And as for "Activeness" in forum, i don't think that polls can ba added in cottages so no, we can't ask that in cottage so that spammers can give their opinion. Though in forums, still there are some ppl who can tell their opinion. Ppl come on this site and it doesn't matter how many ppl come. Who come, are Amaranthians and cottage issue considers Amaranthians. Though i agree that the poll should be set up in holidays so that more ppl can vote. As for ppl who don't log in for months, also don't goto cottage for months, thus for meanwhile we can still set it up.

Maybe the best idea is that Admins should remove gold system without polls. Whatever happens in poll, even after that, only Admins will decide what to do. So maybe we should leave it to Admins then.

@Aisling: I am also wondering the same thing. I don't remember if someone ever mentioned TEA forum lol.

@kbl: whoever said this forum is a democracy? It's not. To think otherwise is erroneous. We can chat and debate all we like, but the admins have the last word on everything.

We have been given a few good suggestions, and some of those have been suggested a number of times. It is simply a matter of seeing how difficult it would be to implement each one, then choose the best option. All the suggestions require having a PHP programmer available, which has been the main problem in the past.

I like the idea of no gold for posting in cottages.
I do not like the idea of having to have 800 gold to have a cottage.
I have been coming to this site for a long time and still have low gold points. It is not because I don't go to the forums (I read them every time I am on). But I do not comment unless I feel I have something important to say.
I am in chat a lot. If we collected gold points for every chat post I would be a gazillionaire!
So to say you need 800 gold to get a cottage would leave me out for a LONG time.

@Ktc: Exactly!! thats what i am also saying. But theres never any harm to ask ppl's opinions.

Quote-

"We can chat and debate all we like, but the admins have the last word on everything."

Quote ends.

Isn't that same as Presidency Democracy? A group of ppl decide which laws should be added or removed in democracy also.

@Shaz: Aah.Yeah! I remember now. You told about this problem when a user here asked for a separate forum like Spam Haven for Aveyond talks.

@Whoop: Exactly!! Those who don't spam on cottages much usually have less gold. Maybe 1000 gold is a lil high for guild. It should be 750 or 500 gold. if someone doesn't spam, he/she would have to wait for too loooong for membership.

Quote:
But then, if it's not tough you would probably appreciate being guilded a lot less. Except for tea-lovers, of course

Eh, the 1000-gold requirement is simply not just to avoid spamming, but for you to make it something like an adventure for you in the forums. In this adventure, you do a lot. I mean a lot. Yet, being a guild member won't make much difference from a regular TEA, aside from the fact that you can beta-test games by Amaranth and you have a secret guild forum, we're all still in the same boat.

My past suggestion would be if and only if the gold isn't taken away from the blogs,etc Moony said. It was intended to limit the cottage spam. Then again, I knew PHP is what makes up most of the site (if I am correct, though).

@Aisling: Of course! though if it would be 500 gold then there will be more TEAS XD lol.

500 gold should only be if cottage gold system is removed(though Shaz already told about the problem so i think gold system won't be removed) hmm. *goes and checks in cottage forum*

umm?? Admins can always warn spammers and they will surely stop after receiving a Admin's message.

@Connie: I agree that Welcoming is important and is good. But where did the gold system came in between?? If ppl welcome only for gold then it means they are spamming.

Kbl, the cost for guildship was 1000 before there were cottages, Collegium, blogs, etc. THose of us who became guilded the 'hard' way (only non-spam posts in the forums) already think guildship means very little anymore. A huge number of people who have become guilded since the cottages, etc, were added got there by spamming. To me, it shows they are cheaters. Note that I ONLY mean those who have spammed those areas, not those who only posted meaningful, appropriate things.

Also, back then, there were only the game forums and 4 or so other forums. Now, gaining 1000 non-spam posts is easy, yet we still have people cheating their way to guild membership.

Why did I say all that? If the cost to be guilded is lowered to 500 as you suggest, then it will cheapen even more what we oldies accomplished. It has already been cheapened way too much.

@Kbljkl:
Quote:

Nope, in presidential democracy people vote on who gets to do the deciding (most often a parliament of sorts). Sometimes it's the president who has the power, but still, it's a president the people have voted to that position of power (in theory at least). This site was founded by Amanda, and the admins are chosen by her. She is a queen, not a president. So I don't really get why you wanted to compare this site to a presidential democracy...

As for the price of guild-membership being anything lower than 1000, I disagree. I quite enjoyed the journey to my guild (and took my sweet time getting there, 9 months at least), and wouldn't want to take that away from anyone. The time gathering that 'gold' allows the person to really get to know this community and the different guilds and the people in them.

@kbl: see mae's response as she explains democracy and how the site is not democratic very well.

And people have been able to get the 1000 posts long before collegium/cottages was up. I can name quite a few of the old members who did. Don't see how its too much.

If anything, with all the potential places to spam, it should be increased.

Well, having never thought about guilds or such, I am now looking to join the 'Bard's Guild' lol, if we ever get one. The Bard's guild would tell epic tales of your adventures!

Seriously, I am glad this cottage cleanup came up, because I never thought about any of the topics that have been discussed and if I have learned something then so have a lot of others who are a wee bit unobservant like me.

@Tinponi: I don't know about the old forum. you talking about the old site or this new site? Also ppl used to live without even fans in ancient times. but today we(not all but some. i use cooler Truly saying, that cooler if of no use. Heat never drops by cooler lol. I am happy that i am living in 45 degree Celsius.) use ACs.

Quote-

"If the cost to be guilded is lowered to 500 as you suggest, then it will cheapen even more what we oldies accomplished. It has already been cheapened way too much. "

If you think if it has already been cheapened a lot then okay. i agree with that. Some users achieve guild member ship only after 3 months lol. They are proofs that it has been cheapened so i agree that it has been cheapened. Though i would still have to say that it needs a lot activeness on site to achieve a guild member ship in three months(i am perfect example). Maybe its because i don't go in hbt which is a real gold mine lol.

@Mae: I was telling about how rules are made. Not how admins are made. Rules as in democracy are decided by a group of ppl(admins, mods) but theres no harm in asking ppl's opinions also. Of course no one is loosing by a small poll.

@kbl: the rules were never made by the majority here. They were put down by amaranth alone. Sure, considerations were brought up to her, but none of the rules were voted in. So no, this is not a democracy and never was.

also, whoever said you needed to get guildhood in three months? There was never a set time to get guildhood so I don't see the reason to get guildhood in three months besides for ego's sake.

Quote:

Here I thought both you & Bryce were experienced in PHP. This does explain why some of those suggestions never got implemented. . .




Regarding the democracy drift: That word gets thrown around a lot, all over the place, but it's a myth. No such thing has ever existed, nor is it likely to exist in the future.

it's like... grown up unicorns...


---
& I remember some of the early dragonlords getting their 1k in just a couple months on the purple site (back when there were no cottages & I don't think there was a coligeum either. 'least not much of one)

I joined a guild on the purple site in 3 months. There were no cottages, collegium or blogs. I posted meaningful questions pretty much exclusively in the AV1 forum, and then as I got better at the game I answered questions there as well. Most who joined guilds at that time took longer than 3 months. GH was also released while I was doing this, and a new game release is always a good time to get a post count boost without spamming, by asking questions or helping others with the game.

You can absolutely get 1000 gold by participating meaningfully in the forum, without resorting to spamming.

The cottages have allowed some forum members to reach the 1000 required gold in a month. ONE person did it in a WEEK! Needless to say, that person's posts were checked thoroughly, and a lot of them were deleted. We've had some people send through guild application forms and NO guild members even knew who they were, because they never posted in the forum or got to know anyone. What's the point in joining a guild - a special like-minded subset of the community - if you can't be bothered to get to know any of them on your journey? What's the point in joining a guild to be eligible for beta testing, if you're not enjoying or playing the games enough to come to the forum and talk about them?

Guilds are a community thing. People who don't want to be a part of the community (ie - getting to know others and joining in discussions) have no reason to want to join them.

800 gold is definitely high for a cottage, but I wouldn't oppose something more along the lines of one or two hundred. (150?)

/lame not-at-all-in-depth post
(XD)

I am disgusted at the number of comments I have deleted this morning, by people posting the same/similar comments over and over in a short timespan in the downloadable games section and the collegium. Please note this new addition to the description of 'Spamming' under the Forum Rules:

Spamming
Posting the same, or similar comments in one cottage after another, or doing the same in the collegium, blogs, or downloadable games section, is also spamming, and will result in posts being deleted (gold lost) and a suspension.

Spamming carries a 1-month suspension penalty. I AM going to start strictly implementing this if people continue to abuse the system in this way.

@shaz: oh gods.... Thank goodness!!! I'm still VERY bitter about that one time where an Amaranthian posted similar-sounding praises to at least 100, if not ALL of my Collegium submissions on the same day. I only tracked down about 50 of it because I only started putting up the comment notice somewhat recently, but I'm sure he/she posted more than that. That happened quite a while back... Should I still report said member?

lol I once went through the first 300 or so cottages and man, after a while you get bored at the constant c/ped stream of "Welcome to the neighbourhood" or "Hi, visit my cottage please" comments. Now those were scary. I stopped due to lack of time and complete disillusionment with the spammers. And no, they sometimes don't stop even after getting guilded (though it's bad enough that most vanished from AM directly after getting guilded, only returning when there's a roll call for beta testing; the main reason why I think the roll-calling shouldn't be announced in the announcement forum.