Category: Zone BBS Suggestions and Feedback
Ok, I realize the zone is a business, not a democracy; and I realize that what is going to be suggested in this post will probably never happen, but I'm bored and it doesn't take a lot of energy to post this. This is my suggestion, I think it could solve some of the problems we have on here, at least as I see them.
I suggest that, because there have been so many complaints about community leaders not doing their jobs and such, that when the applications come in for the three newly opened CL positions, that we, the users of the zone, vote for them. Up until now, it has been a decision of the CL's themselves, and we are left to deal with it, but then they get angry when we complain about it. If we voted on them, and the three most popular people won the positions, then we would have no one to blame for a CL that doesn't do their job but ourselves. After all, we chose them. Plus, anyone who didn't vote for a CL would have no place to complain about them, because they didn't voice an opinion when the chance came.
granted, some of the responsibilities of the community leaders, such as aproving profiles and such would not really matter in this situation, but it would help in the situations where the CL's face the public of the zone.
So what does everyone else think, is this a good idea, has it been suggested before, am I being a naive fool? Lets see what the zone thinks of this.
I think it would all just turn into a popularity contest, and the real reasons as to why they should have been voted would just go right out the window. It was like that for every other contest, or oppertunity we've had to vote for someone on the zone.
it is not a bad idea. but it will be time consuming, as zone may needs to declare itself as emergency and needs to have at least 3 or 4 new cls within the shortest time they can to handle about 5000/6000 active users, and other request before the whole community disappeared.
to be honest, 7 cls with 1 that is inactive at all, doesn't work for this site. i guess, we need at least 20 the least.
I agree. I see the popularity contest being a real problem. The people who are the most popular might not have the zone and it's people's best interests in mind. Just like in the real world o government. That having been said if there was a screening process which potential candidates had to go through that might make it a bit better, though there again, if a potential candidate does not pass the screening process then they might turn resentful.
i have an idea, but again i don't think it will ever happen.
there should be a board in the let's talk board after all thd give a statement, if i was a comunity leader, this is what i'd offer to the website. then people would vote judged on what the statements said.
I agree with the election idea. Like with any election, there would be people who lose. I would vote based on what I read about the applicant's intentions. There should be specific positions for us to vote on, instead of just general community leaders.
For example, there could be an officer for games, an officer to manage the boards, an officer to look out for people who don't have English as a first language, an officer for teens, etc.
thats a good idea.
as for it turning into a popularity contest, that is exactly what elections are. Its only stupid people who vote for someone because they're pretty; save for miss america and the like. I would hope we have enough mature people on this site to get at least some worth while votes if we did go through with this.
I think we could implement both suggestions, we could both have a board where everyone would write out what they thaught would be best, and we could vote based on that. I also think that we should be able to vote them out. that might give them insentive to do what they said they were going to do.
hi,
i do like the idea about diffrent categories. it might make more people apply as they may think okay, maybe i'm not good at say coding games, but i could help out on the boards side of things.
love it
i don't agree. this is screeming popularity contest. a lot of people on this site are to immature to allow voting. lol. it would be i'll vote for this person because it would be funny to see them in, or i'll vote for this person because he or she is my friend. lor i'll vote for this person because so and so told me too. not i'll vote for this person because they answer all the questions in a suited manor and are best suited for the job. my opinion anyway.
I completely agree with Yvonne and Shea. I shudder to think what might happen if certain members of the popular crowd on here were given positions of power.
Becky
If the people who were given power did a poor job in the opinion of most users, they could vote them out after a certain period of time. There could be an anual election.
Popularity may be a factor in how people vote, but like in any other election, the reasons as to why people vote the way they do vary from person to person.
Not liking the potential result of an election is no excuse for rejecting democracy. There are certain people I may not want to be community leaders and I may have good reasons. However, if more people want them to be community leaders than oppose them being community leaders they should be allowed to be community leaders. This site is driven by its users.
Wow, you people are taking this low class site too seriously...
If you think they're taking it too seriously here, go on the topic about the community leaders resigning, where somewhere in the middle you'll find people saying that they agree with everything that has been said, even though people who posted before them didn't all agree.
Here's one example of why voting would not work. Alicia (SisterDawn) turned out to be an excellent CL. However, because she never used to have public QN's on and did not participate in the silly banter that goes on with qn's. she would never have been voted for by zone members. So, being popular does not make for a good CL, and being unpopular or unknown does not make for a bad CL.
How do you know she wouldn't have been voted for? Some people who stand in elections aren't welknown until they put themselves forward and publicise their campaigns.
one would think that, had the system of voting existed in the last election, she would have put herself out in order to get votes, rather than sitting in the background. she obviously wanted to be a CL, she did apply after all. So saying it wouldn't work because of a situation where it wasn't even used, is rather ludicrous in my opinion.
I was basing my opinion on the "popularity contest" idea put out by others. One cannot make themselves instantly popular simply by campaigning to be a CL. People would be more likely to vote for someone they chat with frequently, not just someone who popped up all of a sudden and said they want to be a CL.
All this talk aside, the staff in the past has not let us vote on ideas, so I have a feeling voting on new CL's will never happen anyway.
I agree with Becky. Obviously in a hypothetical situation such as this, those campaigning to be CL would have to put themselves out there somehow, but I personally would be more likely to vote for someone I knew well enough and had confidence in as opposed to someone who might appear all well and good and yet may not be. As in all alections, a candidate can promice the world and end up delivering a beachball.
The admins on this site need to love it as much, if not more, than it's users.
Hey J squared, private mail me a price you would take for ownership of zonebbs.com
Thom
Although there are several mature members on this site, there are twice as many (if not more) members who, at least in my opinion, aren't mature enough to base their decisions on who would do the best job. I think it would turn into a popularity contest.
That fact aside, the admins don't seem to have much time to devote to the site right now, and from the many suggestions in this topic, I think this idea would create even more work for them.
If people want to vote based on the proposals of the applicant, they should be able to. People should also be able to vote based on who they like and who they dislike. How people choose who to vote for is a matter of personal choice.
It appears that some users think that nobody who is popular but not with them should be allowed to be a CL, and they wish to impose that view on everybody else, in the hope we'll get community leaders who they think are more suitable.
Somebody who I don't want to become a CL coul be elected. As a believer in democracy, I would respect the outcome even if I disagreed with the choice of the majority.
An election, by nature, is a popularity contest. You try to become more popular, so more people will vote for you, that is kind of the point of an election. If people want to vote for someone because they're friends or what have you, rather than for merit, then they should live with the consequences. If enough people vote with that frame of mind, and the person gets elected, then you live with it or you vote them out. Look at nixon, he wasn't a good president by any means, but he still got elected, and people had to live with it until he resigned. Its a downside to democracy, your responsible for your decisions.
Now, Brooke is right, this would take more work by the admin's, and that fact alone will probably mean it won't happen, but still, it never hurts to try. Its very difficult to succeed in anything if you never try to do it.
Tom and others, you guys are assuming J will actually read this board. Given that even when we passed good suggestions up to the admins, and they didn't get listened to, what makes you guys think this one will?
absolutely nothing makes me think that, hense the name of the topic, its naive for a reason.
Of course an election is a popularity contest but does that make it the right way to decide who should be given responsibility around here? I guess that's a matter of opinion...
one would have ask, at the end of the day, what will be the nature of community leader anyway, to take respondsibility of what it should be the respondsibility of admins itself?
it is amazing to see cls are still alife after what they go thru in day to day bases on zone, and they are still standing in one piece.
forget about whatever election, whatever voting, lets admit that zone will slowly gone if JJ aint prepare to spend at least 10% of his life in this website.
the greater suggestion will be perhaps, premium members should start to think not paying the membership, as the way to get him.
what is the use of us paying the membership but then, we gain nothing at the end of the day?
Um... if a premium member doesn't pay the fee, they're a non-premium member, which are allowed on here. The only thing that would cause would be the loss of income, and thus, most likely, a loss of the zone entirely, after all, its probably cheaper just to end the zone than it is to support it. logic would say that anyway.
Somebody on here must have J Squared's contact details and be able to contact him about the site, so I am surprised nobody has said in quicknotes or on the boards that they have spoken to him and what was said in the conversation.
I agree with just about everything said on this board, so, I propose the following, and again, it probably won't happen, but why not throw it out there:
When applying for the position of CL, there should be a field that should say something like: Write a small blurb that includes anything you want to say to the users on this site. Then, when the time came to vote, the users would see only the applicant's blurb rather than their name. That way, users are voting for ideas rather than specific users. That way, it would still be a democracy, but the favoritism of certain users would be removed. And, each blurb could be given a specific ID number or something so the users would vote for that ID number, and this ID number should not be the same as the user ID of that person.
Again, just a thought, as was the original post. I'm not saying it will/should be implimented. I also, however, agree with the screening process. Like, let's say, for example, that someone wrote a great blurb, but had a poor application form other than that, then they should not be included in the election.
That Ocean Dream, is a great idea.
That certainly is. Thumbs up from me, but like the original suggestion, it probably won't happen.
I agree, very good idea. Of course, it will probably not happen, but it should.
I wouldn't mind this idea at all, I think this is well thought out. Just hope it can actually happen
Ok, more of Jenni's two cents. All right, while i like the officer ideas would someone be able to get that setup how much coding and work is that. On the election I think if it were to be done on an anonomyous basis who is to say that person x doesnt call all of there friends and say hey get on the zone my voting id number is whatever Then ya got a problem. Sadly i know of some who used to come around a lot who would do that. Making a good election process null and void. But, i do like the officers thing. Ps. nixon resigned because he was about to be impeached. possibly fined and put in the clink. pure political modivation.
i see a lot of valid points but don't think it will ever happen..
I agree with this idea as well. The only thing is that we need to find ways to vote secretly so no one knows who voted for whom.
i'm thinking of maybe voting like sports challenge. maybe we'll set the boxes up with the names, you vote and then submit that way. i don't think in sports challenge you get to see who voted for what anyway, but i could be wrong. also someone could be in charge of the voting, either private message the choice to the persos (if you want to vote), some people may not want to. my other idea is to send them a voicemail on zbp, then no one apart from that person could possibly know.
before or that there would obviously be a topic in the boards that says what is happening.