Site Poll Y13

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Dear HNZers,

Another year has passed on this wonderful site, and that means that it is time once again for another awesome site poll! Your voice is truly what makes HNZ what it is. Whether you only participate in roleplays, spend more time on the OOC activities, or do both, we'd really like you to take a moment and let us know what you think about the site. Give us the good, the bad and the ugly (though we hope it's mostly good ). Last year's site poll really gave the staff a lot to consider and work on, and we're hoping that this one will do the same.

Before you begin, please take the time to read through the following instructions:
[ul][li] You may only vote once per roleplayer. You're only one person so you should only have one vote . If you vote once per account, you'll skew the results.</LI>
[li] Please be honest in your voting.
[li]If you feel that you need to elaborate on why you voted a certain way, we encourage you to add information by posting in this topic. However, if you don't feel comfortable posting additional thoughts, you are always free to PM me with regard to this poll.
<LI>[li]And, finally, do not fill out all the questions then click submit on the last one. If you do, we'll only know what you think about the last question. Make sure that you are hitting submit after each question so your voice can be heard .[/li][/ul]
Happy voting!

~Cyndi
(on behalf of the HNZ site staff)

 

[Daisie Riverwood]

For the question Since the last site poll, my favorite updates/changes to the site have been... There should have been a choice for all of the above. Picking three was way to hard.

 

[Nicolas King]

Eden: But then we wouldn't get a fair picture of what sort of changes are really appreciated.

Also, I'm curious. For the mass of people answering "Neither agree nor disagree" for the question about suggestions/feedback being well received or not - could you clarify what you mean by that? Do you mean that your ideas are sometimes accepted, sometimes not - or that you don't always feel like we're open to ideas/suggestions? Or something else entirely? The option seems vague to me, and given that nearly a third of people replying to that question have answered that way, it does leave me wondering.
So, if anybody feels comfortable elaborating I'd appreciate it a lot.

 

[Hadan Winters]

Least Favorite Aspect: Had to put other, cause I don't have one.

 

[Rue Undersee]

Eden: But then we wouldn't get a fair picture of what sort of changes are really appreciated.

Also, I'm curious. For the mass of people answering "Neither agree nor disagree" for the question about suggestions/feedback being well received or not - could you clarify what you mean by that? Do you mean that your ideas are sometimes accepted, sometimes not - or that you don't always feel like we're open to ideas/suggestions? Or something else entirely? The option seems vague to me, and given that nearly a third of people replying to that question have answered that way, it does leave me wondering.
So, if anybody feels comfortable elaborating I'd appreciate it a lot.

I put that because I rarely ask questions. I used to, but they were turned down because back then I suggested stupid things. But because of that, I don't like to suggest anymore, unless I have a really good idea (never). It's not your fault that you had to turn any of my suggestions down, they were all rubbish :L but I mainly dont ask questions because I have no good ideas, and therefore I don't agree or disagree.. I think I complicated that but there's my answer.

I also put neither agree nor disagree for MESSI being stopped, because I didn't even know what it was.
And I love the OOC bit of the site as much as the RPing, I'd love to see more competitions!

 

[Riley Sparkles]

I put that because I rarely ask questions. I used to, but they were turned down because back then I suggested stupid things. But because of that, I don't like to suggest anymore, unless I have a really good idea (never). It's not your fault that you had to turn any of my suggestions down, they were all rubbish :L but I mainly dont ask questions because I have no good ideas, and therefore I don't agree or disagree.. I think I complicated that but there's my answer.

I don't think you should ever think your suggestions are stupid. Every suggestion can help us shape this board and community into what it is today, and to help make it better.
I've seen quite a few suggestions turned down because it's already been tried, and not worked. But it's always worth another try if someone was interested to do so. Don't think your ideas are stupid, but PM any site staff if you don't want to post the idea public.

 

[Calcifur Giordano]

Additional Responses to Questions​

Q: In the coming year, I would like HNZ to have...
A: A more active Ministry of Magic. (in conjunction with, but as an unselected option, More site-wide plots. )
What I'd absolutely love is if issues and trends were introduced for the Ministry to tackle, either by department or as a whole. The Ministry should work like the real wizarding world would (for example, there should be the occasional crises that is are not related to Death Eater activity. Some examples of this maybe be epidemics, attempted ministry takeovers, foreign wizarding wars, unpopular legislation, dictatorship regimes or even plagues. Obviously by dictatorship I mean that a current Minister might start making small changes that turn into big, nasty, unpopular changes. Wizards aren't so great at democracy). I haven't been a participant in any site-wide plots because very few have been relevant to me. The last two I recall was a Death Eater ... something. I have one Death Eater and she was not a participant, though I wanted to be one, and I can barely even remember what happened. Someone died, right? An Auror? And Death Eaters were blamed, and then ... I don't even know how it was resolved. Anyway ...I think the second was the appointment of the Minister for Magic. Since that plot went down, has there been any major plots related to it? This is a legitimate question 'cause I haven't been here in a while.
So what I've got in my mind is something that shakes New Zealand to the core. Everyone loves their personal plots and I do as well, but to have something happen that affects everyone en masse would be incredibly rad. Obviously what I'm suggesting is Herculean in terms of planning implications, but I'm not part of the grand team, so I can only offer base ideas ... I promise my feedback won't be as long as this in the next question XD

Q: Have you ever invited anyone to join HNZ?
A: No - HNZ is just for me.
In other words, everyone thinks I'm a complete nerd and should be drawn and quartered for participating in something so predictably lame. I can't even effectively justify my participation. I just love the Harry Potter world, and I freaking love making already interesting characters and plots fit into a magical setting. You can't explain it to some people, though.

Q: I think IC Superlatives should...
A: Continue to take place each year.
I accidentally thought of OOC superlatives here, so I voted incorrectly. What I meant to say was that I think they're redundant. I generally don't rp with more than three people per character, which means that only three people other than myself can effectively judge my charrie's IC persona (unless you read other people's rps and 9/10 times, I don't. I just don't have the time). Know what I mean?

Q: My favorite aspect of HNZ is...
A: I have to choose just one?
Once again, I mis-voted. What I love most about HNZ is character building, specifically including graphics. My all time favourite aspect of HNZ (on par only with actual roleplaying) is requesting banners, avatars and setting up biographies. I get a huge kick out of completing a profile.

Q: I feel that my feedback and suggestions are well received.
A: Disagree
I want to be really delicate about this so that I can be understood. I've given feedback a number of times with what I thought were legitimate suggestions. Often times I received criticisms about them with good intentions because I didn't understand the processes required to implement the changes. That's fine, but the replies were sometimes harshly worded (not intentionally I'm sure) and you take it a bit to heart when you feel strongly about something. Maybe that's something to think about when explaining things to newer members.

Q: I think the changes on the site are...
A: Sometimes good and sometimes bad
I will forever miss my Invision-Free Redux theme :[ I'll also miss not having a quick-click to alternatively align my text (center, justify etc.). However, the option of using justify on text in general was GREAT!

Please accept all of this as a matter of opinion and not actual suggestion unless you feel the need to put me out of my misery on an issue.​

<i></i>

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

What I'd absolutely love is if issues and trends were introduced for the Ministry to tackle, either by department or as a whole. The Ministry should work like the real wizarding world would (for example, there should be the occasional crises that is are not related to Death Eater activity. Some examples of this maybe be epidemics, attempted ministry takeovers, foreign wizarding wars, unpopular legislation, dictatorship regimes or even plagues. Obviously by dictatorship I mean that a current Minister might start making small changes that turn into big, nasty, unpopular changes. Wizards aren't so great at democracy).

I think that this is an interesting idea, but it might be difficult to implement because it would require organizing 10 departments and about a dozen or so sub-departments. It's not an easy feat, and much like other site-wide plots, I'd be afraid of it fizzling in the development stage.

I haven't been a participant in any site-wide plots because very few have been relevant to me. The last two I recall was a Death Eater ... something. I have one Death Eater and she was not a participant, though I wanted to be one, and I can barely even remember what happened. Someone died, right? An Auror? And Death Eaters were blamed, and then ... I don't even know how it was resolved. Anyway ...I think the second was the appointment of the Minister for Magic. Since that plot went down, has there been any major plots related to it? This is a legitimate question 'cause I haven't been here in a while.
So what I've got in my mind is something that shakes New Zealand to the core. Everyone loves their personal plots and I do as well, but to have something happen that affects everyone en masse would be incredibly rad. Obviously what I'm suggesting is Herculean in terms of planning implications, but I'm not part of the grand team, so I can only offer base ideas ... I promise my feedback won't be as long as this in the next question XD

I really like this idea, and it is something that Nick and I have spoken about.

To answer your question about the appointment of the new Ministress, there have been plots, most notably a staff meeting that is currently ongoing where Seraphine is speaking about the lack of activity in the Ministry, and guess what? There is a lack of activity in the plot Site-wide plots are difficult to maneuver because we can spend a lot of time organizing one on our side, and then see almost no activity in the plot ( or a lot of activity at first and then it dies ). It's a bit disheartening to see and be a part of from this side of things. Nevertheless, I'm an optimist and hope that we can somehow find a plot that works and is able to create and sustain a strong community involvement.

 

[Gabriel Lloyd]

I'd like to see a more active Ministry, though I'm not very optimistic about that happening. The Ministry is- let me find the word- frustrating. In my opinion, the problem with the Ministry is that many apply just so that their character can have a job. They don't really have time/intentions/expectations/whatever of doing anything.

I have (or rather, had) intentions of getting my department out into the wizarding world and actually doing RPs. I started something in my department (Invisibility Task Force) and nobody has responded to it. I sent out PMs and everything. What a huge waste of time and effort.

With the Ministry, everyone should be contributing, participate, from the newest hire all the way up to the Ministress. If members don't want (rather, don't do it,) I'd say close up the Ministry Forum and let people just sign up to say their character has that job title, which is essentially what's happening anyway.

I know some people struggle to keep the Ministry active, and I commend them for it.

Apologies for the rant. I just believe that it might not be productive to continue fighting the beast that is the Ministry.

---

Forgive me for the errors in that first post. I would go back and edit if I could. Just imagine that the word 'participate' isn't in the third paragraph xP

 

[Hadan Winters]

To be fair and all, as the Ministress, I have tried to get it running, from hiring new Heads and even explaining every department down so that people could do what they said.

However, reason why I haven't done much is because RL has recently got hectic. I tried a meeting, but the only way others will participate is if they wanted to.
I dunno how to keep it interesting enough to keep it active and ongoing with RL clogging up my mind with the whole move across country.

Need more ideas, will think of some later.

 

[Gabriel Lloyd]

Kaitlyn,

I don't think that the ministry lies on just one person's shoulders. The Ministry's activity is a site-wide problem and responsibility. If HNZ as a whole doesn't want to take it on, well... why RP the Ministry at all?

I've seen what you've done, and as I said before, I commend you for it. I know you have worked your backside off for the Ministry. Unfortunately, you could work yourself to death and the Ministry still wouldn't be active if others don't contribute as well. I don't think you should have to feel as if it's solely your responsibility for making the Ministry active, because it's not.

 

[Nicolas King]

What's this "Ministress" nonsense?
It's Minister.
Like a government Minister.
Or a church Minister.
It doesn't change for the feminine.
For instance, Canada's current Minister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister of State (Status of Women) are offices held by Rona Ambrose. We don't call her "Ministress of Public Works and Government Services".
Come on.
And if the Minister for the status of women doesn't care about "Minister" becoming "Ministress" to emphasize femininity, I don't think we should.

 

[Hadan Winters]

I confess, I do feel like its inactivity is my fault. Even though I shouldn't.
Sorry Nick, Ministress sounds cool, but in RPs, I RP her as the Minister.

 

[Elvira Cruz]

Kaitlyn, you certainly shouldn't feel as if the lack of activity in the ministry is your fault. It's kind of like Professors. People hardly ever roleplay them within the school unless it's in the Forbidden Forest busting some kid for sneaking out. (I'm guilty of this as well but will soon be changing this.)

With the 'least favourite part of HNZ' question I voted the way the site has changed since I first joined but I fear that if I share with anyone they will get offended so I will not. I just want to say that it's not because of coding changes or various things because I think those changes are wonderful so not to worry your pretty, little heads about that.​

 

[Alyssa Chevalier]

I confess, I do feel like its inactivity is my fault. Even though I shouldn't.
Sorry Nick, Ministress sounds cool, but in RPs, I RP her as the Minister.

I always feel bad about this because I know I should be helping you out a lot. I sort of feel like it's partially my fault too.

1) To put it honestly, I wasn't sure what vote for on I feel that my feedback and suggestions are well received. I don't think I've ever really asked a question or given feedback. But from what I've seen replied to others I'd say that I'd agree on them being well received and such. Hope it was alright to vote like that.

2) As for site-wide plots. This is something people have seemed to want over and over again. But every single time it seems like the people who put really hard work into it, put it in for nothing. Like the Tri-Wizard tournament and stuff. Those were huge and people had plenty of chances to participate but didn't. So although they are fun and I'd be excited to see another one, I am just worried that it would get neglected again.

3) I could only choose three updates. But I'd also like to point out that I really really enjoy the The Alternate Roleplay being added to the Fanfic section.
I think it's a really fun way to plot something that normally you'd never do outside of that area. The codeCP was also another fantastic update! I use it a lot. So even though I could only pick three, I just wanted to point out that I loved those too.

4) Regarding MESSI. My heart breaks to see it go.


Thats all I really felt I wanted to point out for my specific voting and such.

 

[Olive Mayfield]

For question whateveritwas. The multi-choice one.
I couldn't only pick three, so I chose:
- the new theme
- the shopping system
- the gradebook
- the alternate roleplay forum
- the codeCP
This is because the shopping system has made being a shopkeeper a lot easier (for me at least, because I barely ever roleplay) and I don't need to check on Honeydukes as often. And the gradebook also makes things easier, and the codeCP lets me use shouty on every page! ♥
Also I just love the pretty new theme, and I think the alternate RP forum is incredibly useful for writing RPs that are set in the past and such.

- Olivia

 

[James Killian]

I would like to see more activity in the ministry but I think it is because the ministry is the only thing that is not tailored to the site and the community. I was around when the ministry was created and know that it was a difficult thing to work out as the site was built around Hogwarts and the students however as we all know students eventually grow and move on and that left the problem what happens to my character now?

However the site created a ministry that mirrored the books but I think we should have took the idea and made it our own... for example get rid of any department that does not fit. Maybe have a poll and have the community decided which departments to keep and try and keep the ministry small and simple then if the need arises then new departments can open up that is if the activity remains up.

So an example is:

The department for magical transportation-

The only sub department that is active is the department in charge of teaching apparation so why not axe the other two sub departments here and keep just the one. Or make a magical DMV of sorts where people can learn how to fly a broom or apparation lessons and have maybe a people in the department lead those with those interested join in for fun.

Another example is:

The Department for magical sports and games

Since quidditch is big why not keep that department around as an affiliation to the ministry and axe gobstone club and ludicrous patents since neither of them sees much activity or interest.


Overall if we make the ministry smaller and focus on less then I think we will see more activity but with so many jobs to people who are active or want to be active may find themselves in a department by themselves or with others who are less active and therefore is kind of left to fend for their own where eventually they just simply become less active themselves.

 

[Warren Hewitt]

I'm very curious about what the role of the ministry of magic is on HNZ? I get the theoretical role, but how does that translate on HNZ. What am I supposed to expect that people who control characters int he ministry will do?

I contrast this to the fact that prefect characters and head boys and girls are expected to answer questions pm'd to them by students. Or that club leaders organize meetings and other events for its members, and Quidditch captains get members and play role in the game.

If we do have tasks for ministry of magic characters to complete is it possible us to make them more public? And if we don't, we should make something up for them to do. I think that's really the only way for the ministry of magic to be more active.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

If we do have tasks for ministry of magic characters to complete is it possible us to make them more public? And if we don't, we should make something up for them to do. I think that's really the only way for the ministry of magic to be more active.

If you look in each department, a post has been made indicating the responsibilities for that department and listing several tasks. Whether or not people have been reading those posts is one thing, but they are available and have been for a while now.

 

[Hadan Winters]

Took me weeks to find all the information.

 

[Vesma Cresswell]

I would like to see more activity in the ministry but I think it is because the ministry is the only thing that is not tailored to the site and the community. I was around when the ministry was created and know that it was a difficult thing to work out as the site was built around Hogwarts and the students however as we all know students eventually grow and move on and that left the problem what happens to my character now?

However the site created a ministry that mirrored the books but I think we should have took the idea and made it our own... for example get rid of any department that does not fit. Maybe have a poll and have the community decided which departments to keep and try and keep the ministry small and simple then if the need arises then new departments can open up that is if the activity remains up.

So an example is:

The department for magical transportation-

The only sub department that is active is the department in charge of teaching apparation so why not axe the other two sub departments here and keep just the one. Or make a magical DMV of sorts where people can learn how to fly a broom or apparation lessons and have maybe a people in the department lead those with those interested join in for fun.

Another example is:

The Department for magical sports and games

Since quidditch is big why not keep that department around as an affiliation to the ministry and axe gobstone club and ludicrous patents since neither of them sees much activity or interest.


Overall if we make the ministry smaller and focus on less then I think we will see more activity but with so many jobs to people who are active or want to be active may find themselves in a department by themselves or with others who are less active and therefore is kind of left to fend for their own where eventually they just simply become less active themselves.

I like this idea since the School is the major part of the site, at least for me it is. I hardly focus anything outside of the school to be honest, for a while I tried to help out St.Mungos to be a little active. From what I'm seeing people are using the school more, the village and All Around the Wizarding World.

When I first join which was in 07', everything was active, because everyone was mostly just starting out. Site-Wide plots are hard to go about, recently though we manage to do a good one. And I was really excited about that even if I hadn't been apart of it, I would still have reacted to it in some way. I guess you have to find a way to gather some interest, not everyone going to like the plot idea. Really we have to come together again as site and see who's willing to put in effort making the ministry work again or a wide-plot site to be successful.

After posting this I think I will be placing some of my characters inactive.

madz -

 

[Brian Getathorn XIX]

I like the changes that have come, though I think it might be cool for the site to go back to the original way it was for a day sort've a nostalgia day as it were (though I also know that it would be incredibly difficult to do ) I'm not on as much as I want to be which is probably my least favorite aspect of the site, I see the things that are done and can honestly say that this site is truly a wonderful thing and I'm sure J.K. would be proud of all the hard work the admins and the mods both past and present have done to make this site such a great community.

I think what would be best for the site is what has always been done right in the past, site wide plots, quidditch and other things of that nature should be done with moderation. At times perhaps the site has too much going on, when you consider that it is only being ran by about five people who have OOC lives of their own. I'm not suggesting we get more Mods or Admins because I think the people in charge do a great job and the numbers should be kept low. I do think however that people should really think about what they are asking when they say they want bigger jobs for the Ministry Employees or More Quidditch. The main idea of the site is around Hogwarts New Zealand.

I could go on a rant but I think the last sentence speaks for itself. The main idea of the site is around Hogwarts New Zealand and while the site may have gotten alot larger than when I first joined (heck I remember when it used to be Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade!) it is still managed by quite a few talented and hardworking individuals that I'm sure give up alot of their free time to keep it going. So the only thing I can say is I love what you've done with the place. I hope things keeps going the way it goes and thanks to everyone responsible for making HNZ one of the best sites on the web! (P.S. I really don't see anything wrong with the site...perhaps it's because I'm not around enough )

 

[Nicolas King]

Q: I think the changes on the site are...
A: Sometimes good and sometimes bad
I will forever miss my Invision-Free Redux theme :[ I'll also miss not having a quick-click to alternatively align my text (center, justify etc.). However, the option of using justify on text in general was GREAT!

Centre and right align text have buttons again.
InvisionFree Redux will never be returning.
Justifying text never had a BBCode button, never will. (I don't want to encourage its use. It's poorly set up and justifying text on the internet generally doesn't work out how it's imagined.)