Welcome to Gaia! ::

Yay, first person to make suggestions!! I love making suggestions, I always seem chock full of 'em for some reason XD .

First, the banner sticky. I don't think it's really necessary; you can just have banners in the rules thread and tell people to either PM a mod or post in the thread with new banners they have. I say this because I believe that stickies should be kept to a bare minimum; there's probably gonna' come times when you need to add another important sticky or an announcement or something, and too many make it seem crowded. The less stickies there are, the more important each one seems and less intimidating they seem to read. Also, it's kinda' crowding to the first page of the main forum, even if it's just one thread.

OK, now some more important stuff. First, I don't find a Crew subforum entirely necessary. Because you know what it makes me, and most likely other regular members feel? Left out. In the dark. Etc.. I think it'd be better if it was more of a 'suggestions, ideas, plans, etc.' subforum that anybody can look into and contribute to; most likely, it'll be ignored for the most part by people other than Crew, and yet still be there in case anybody wants to add something. Or if that doesn't work out with you, it could be filled with only locked threads, so it'd be like a Crew subforum where only Crew can post, but everybody can see if they want.

If you want to have something kept secret, like a... surprise party or something like that, or list of warned people, you could use PMs, a mule account's journal set at 'friends only' that's friends with all the Crew, or something else like that. It's possible to work without a Crew subforum you know; there was once a time where guilds couldn't even get subforums.

OK, now to the other subforums.

First, I think Quest threads and Charities should be in the same subforum. They're directly related. People who want to donate to a charity may find interest in donating to a quest thread as well. People who go to their quest thread regularly to BUMP may find a charity that they might ask help from. Etc.. Even Gaia grouped Quests and Charities together in one subforum.

I think Contests should be paired with Lottos and Money Games. They're somewhat similar, aren't they?

I really, really, really, really, REALLY think that there should be a Requests & Commissions subforum. I find it critical to have that; why? Because, if someone can't find what they want, or want something specific, they'd go to a R&C subforum to ask for it. Have you seen how many request threads popped up in the Duck Market looking for something specific or wanting a lot of different people to see what they want, etc.?

Art/Graphic shops ARE Minishops; that's the most common form! When one sees 'minishops' they immediately think of graphic shops, avatar art shops, etc.. So just call them 'Minishops' ^^ . Oh, and later on, one day you should seperate art shops (avatar art, OC art, pixel dolls, cute graphic pics, etc.) from personalized graphics (like wishlists, banners, ID cards, etc.). I'm basing this off how Gaia seperates them ^^' .

There's such a thing called 'Services'. I actually don't know much about it, but taking a slight peak in Gaia's own Services forum, it seems really interesting; you should add that as a subforum sometime in the future, just keep it in mind ^^ .

Also, an item exchange/item shop/etc/marketplace discussion sort of subforum would be good; I remember duckii-san had an item shop in FGG once. And yah', all that stuff. I don't know much about this either, just some people that are real interested in that stuff.

That adds up to... six subforums. So far you have five. If you get rid of the Crew subforum, anyway. But if you don't, I guess I'd understand... I've just never been a big fan of Crew subforums XD .

Oh, and it'd be nice if there was some sort of short guide or something that explained about what sorts of basic information you should always have in certain threads (quest threads, minishops, etc.), as well as info you should have in your thread titles (I've seen many minishop titles where I don't even know what they sell!).

Links to important stickies and announcements in Gaia's own Minishop and Exchange forums might also be handy to stick somewhere in related stickies/subforums.

Here's the related links anyway:

Gaia-Related Links:
Minishops
~Requests & Commisions
~*R&C Auctions
~Breedables/Changing Pets
~*Breedables/Changing Pets Roleplay
~Art Freebies
~Pricing, Assistence, and Suggestions
~Art Contests
~Personalized Graphics
~Services

Gaia Exchange
~Lotto/Money Games
~Charity/Quests
~Wanted
~Gaia Marketplace Discussion
~Gaia Item Exchange

Oh, and where should freebie things go? Charity subforum, probably, right?

There's also problems with stealing art or fanart in order to make banners and such; could you guys put an OFP or RIGHTS banner somewhere just to let people know, along with the 'no stealing art' rule?






Hm... I think that's it for now. Just food for thought, anyway. I based most of my suggestions and thoughts on the stuff that I already know about Gaia's subforums as well as some things I've read from WindowOpener-kun's Guild Services articles and stuff ^^ . Oh, by the way, you should read it, Roller-kun!! And even you Vice and Crew!

<3 Ali

Don't worry Ali, we're talking about it in the Crew SF. We're listening to your advice.

And...I don't suppose we have a limit.

Er...we COULD lock it...if we wanted to.

Okay...it's okay, I was in a bad mood when I was writing my post too...I think I'm just better at hiding it xd (And I wasn't in a bad mood because of you; just some stuff going on between me and some other friends.)

Venting does let the steam go. And don't worry, you make excellent suggestions and we'll all keep them in mind. 3nodding

:takes a breath: Yeah, I did get pretty mad; I guess I figured out a new pet peeve of mine. And now I feel as if any word of criticism is now officially unwelcome here; there's nothing that can reverse that now. But I'm OK now. I got unreasonably pissed (though I still feel that I do have a right to be pissed), and I'm sorry for rousing up drama and all.

But anyway... I've been spending too much time nosing into you guys' business and not enough time with my own guild; AGAIN XP . And now with me kicking up all this annoyance and all, and just getting people in a bad mood, I guess I should have just kept my trap shut XP . I talk too much, neh? I'm quitting now, anyway. I've been spending way too much time popping in here when I should be popping in O*P XP .

AMK

No Ali!
Stayyy!!!
I like you in our guild.
And we are disscussing your suggestions.

Very true...I think the planets have been lined up weird this entire month xp

I think Ali did quit. Well, there's nothing changing that. All we can do is take her suggestions to heart. 3nodding

It's in the works.... wink