Site Poll

[Nicolas King]

We're very interested in what you, the members of HNZ, think of the board and see as important for the board. Now, with the summer upcoming (or upon us) and so many of our staff having more free time during it, we think this would be an optimal time to hear your thoughts, become more vigilante in carrying out your requests, and really just take a moment to hear what you think.

So, above this post I'm sure you noted the plethora of questions that we would like you to answer. There are a few notes I would like to make before you start, however:[ul][li]You may only vote once per roleplayer. Voting once per account skews everything and defeats the purpose of this poll.</LI>[li]Please be honest in your voting and honest in your posts, if you decide to post.[li]If you would like to elaborate in any way, or don't feel comfortable posting additional thoughts, you are always free to PM me with regard to this poll.<LI>[li]Do not fill out all the questions then click submit on the last one. That will only submit the last question. Fill out a question, then click submit for it, and so on until the poll is done.[/li][/ul]

Thank you for your time, thoughts, and general feedback!

~Nick
(On behalf of the HNZ Site Staff)

 

[Hamza Khalid]

I really think that the Ministry Of Magic should play a role at HogwartsNZ as well. I mean they are pretty much just sitting ducks there doing not much. There should be events, situations and what not that Ministry Of Magic should be considered for.

 

[Nicolas King]

I really think that the Ministry Of Magic should play a role at HogwartsNZ as well. I mean they are pretty much just sitting ducks there doing not much. There should be events, situations and what not that Ministry Of Magic should be considered for.

It's difficult, but that is something I've had on my mind for a while.
I'm hoping that the election can be the kick off to that, but I'm not going to lie: the brunt of the responsibility for making that work is the members... you guys. I can set things up all nice and pretty but if nobody participates... then nobody participates.

A lot of people say they want things, but then they don't readily act with them. (Case in point: The TriWizard Tournament).
So actions speak louder than words, I'm coming to realize. We'll see what the future holds for NZ's Ministry of Magic. I hope for the best.

 

[Xavier Littlefield]

I really think that the Ministry Of Magic should play a role at HogwartsNZ as well. I mean they are pretty much just sitting ducks there doing not much. There should be events, situations and what not that Ministry Of Magic should be considered for.

It's difficult, but that is something I've had on my mind for a while.
I'm hoping that the election can be the kick off to that, but I'm not going to lie: the brunt of the responsibility for making that work is the members... you guys. I can set things up all nice and pretty but if nobody participates... then nobody participates.

Quite a true statement, however, instead of having just one event, or rather having just 'events', you involve the Ministry Of Magic into special plots. What I mean is getting them involved such as any problems at Hogwarts, events at Hogwarts, major/drastic events, etc.

 

[Hamza Khalid]

I really think that the Ministry Of Magic should play a role at HogwartsNZ as well. I mean they are pretty much just sitting ducks there doing not much. There should be events, situations and what not that Ministry Of Magic should be considered for.

It's difficult, but that is something I've had on my mind for a while.
I'm hoping that the election can be the kick off to that, but I'm not going to lie: the brunt of the responsibility for making that work is the members... you guys. I can set things up all nice and pretty but if nobody participates... then nobody participates.

Quite a true statement, however, instead of having just one event, or rather having just 'events', you involve the Ministry Of Magic into special plots. What I mean is getting them involved such as any problems at Hogwarts, events at Hogwarts, major/drastic events, etc.

Sorry, was in my other account up there.

 

[Nicolas King]

What I mean is getting them involved such as any problems at Hogwarts, events at Hogwarts, major/drastic events, etc.

I added to my post, so you may want to read my edit.
The trouble is that the Minisitry and Hogwarts must be, for the most part, distinct entities. We can't have trouble at Hogwarts and Ministry intervention every in character year. That's not logical. The school would be shut down, no problem. It didn't happen like that in the books because:
1) Harry Potter.
2) Dumbledore.
3) The series had to continue.

But even in the books various people tried desperately to have it closed.
So when the Ministry is active, it must be so of its own accord - against Death Eaters in a lot of its functions. Once in a while we can cross the Ministry/Death Eaters over with Hogwarts and have a really bash - but it can't be frequent, that takes the dazzle from it.

 

[Riley Sparkles]

Ooh, I love polls
Yeah, sadly, the thing that I don't like the most is the 'cliques'. I've been here over a month and still find it hard to 'fit in'.
But I love it

 

[Nicolas King]

I've been here over a month and still find it hard to 'fit in'.

Psht.
Whenever I think of new members of the community (not just new members, but new members who socialize with us and stuff), you're one of the first people I think of.

Admittedly, there are groups of friends who are closer to each other than others. That's one of the things that is to be expected. But I try to chat with near everybody, and I very seldom see people excluded from conversations on the board. (When I do, I try to smite people. )

I hope you can feel more like one of the pieces to our crazy puzzle here soon enough.
If not, we'll make like Peter Pan (make you fit your tree and not your tree fit you... I'll employ Livvy to make the alterations to you. )...

 

[Riley Sparkles]

I've been here over a month and still find it hard to 'fit in'.

Psht.
Whenever I think of new members of the community (not just new members, but new members who socialize with us and stuff), you're one of the first people I think of.

Admittedly, there are groups of friends who are closer to each other than others. That's one of the things that is to be expected. But I try to chat with near everybody, and I very seldom see people excluded from conversations on the board. (When I do, I try to smite people. )

I hope you can feel more like one of the pieces to our crazy puzzle here soon enough.
If not, we'll make like Peter Pan (make you fit your tree and not your tree fit you... I'll employ Livvy to make the alterations to you. )...

Awh shux
I feel extremely special now!
And yes, I do understand that there are groups that are closer
Don't get me wrong about this! I love HNZ!

 

[Nicolas King]

Awh shux
I feel extremely special now!
And yes, I do understand that there are groups that are closer
Don't get me wrong about this! I love HNZ!

As you should feel.

If you didn't love HNZ, you wouldn't have taken the time to do the poll, and your comments wouldn't have had smilies in them.

 

[Oliver Ashby]

Even though I feel included and a part of the community, I can see where Donna's coming from. Recently I've noticed that some people have been discussing things (cryptically) that they've been talking about privately via PM/MSN/Skype, which tends to exclude others (and makes me wonder why they haven't continued it privately, instead of being ambiguous). But still, this doesn't phase me too much. It just makes me wonder what the newer members are thinking. The majority of people on HNZ are welcoming and inclusive. favourite thing being lessons, but that's just because
Anyway, I voted for my least I'm lazy.

---

* (because it won't let me edit my post, for some reason..)

Anyway, I voted for my least favourite thing being lessons, but that's just because I'm lazy.

 

[Nicolas King]

* (because it won't let me edit my post, for some reason..)

I'll just explain why that is really quickly:

It's because the suggestions forum is set up to mod-queue new topics.
The theory behind it is that if a moderator approves a topic to be viewed, then somebody edits their approved topic to be something completely different, that it defeats the purpose.

An unfortunate side effect of this set-up.

 

[Alyssa Chevalier]

I have to say this poll was fairly interesting to take and everything but there is one thing that has been bothering me.

I've noticed that a large majority of people are wanting "Site Wide Plots"

This bothers me just a little because the last few times we have had a Site Wide Plot people have been too inactive or too lazy to post and it sort of brings it down for people.

 

[Nicolas King]

I've noticed that a large majority of people are wanting "Site Wide Plots"

This bothers me just a little because the last few times we have had a Site Wide Plot people have been too inactive or too lazy to post and it sort of brings it down for people.

You have a point.
The Death Eater's march through Obsidian received minimal attention.
The Centaurs invading the Hogwarts castle received little to no attention.
The TriWizard Tournament seemed to just be a waste of my time and efforts at the end of it. (Sure, on this last point I'm positive I could have made things in some way so that more people could participate, but it's the unfortunate nature of the TWT that only three really get to be a part of it, the rest are sort of outsiders looking in, and even of the three not all were as active as they could have been.)

So with those three recent examples, it kind of disheartens the people who do try, or do participate.

 

[Shaylah Rouge]

I think site wide plots need to be made more obvious. I admit the TWT was very obvious but I only found out about the death eaters because I have a death eater character and I never knew there were centaurs in the school until a few weeks after it had finished. This may just be me being an idiot.

 

[Maxwell Robinson]

There were centaurs in the school? When was this?

 

[Aleyha Snow]

For my favorite changes, I wanted to put down all of them, but it wouldn't let me.
I seriously think that staff need to be focused on moderation. Site wide plots fail because to be honest, people are too lazy to post in them, because half the time, their character isn't really that involved. The spotlight is usually on the main figure. Reactions are fun to RP, surely, but people don't see it like that. [/rant] Anyways, as a site staff, I think we should moderate. If there were more site wide plots, I feel that it would only be the staff RPing in them. Maybe a few others, but not everyone.
MoM... Would love to participate, but it would be weird not having Gellert or whatever his name is being the MoM.
Favorite aspect of the site, I had to put something else, cause all of the choices are my favorites.
My least favorite, same choice. But different reason. I don't like people who complain about things. Pretty much, the negative things than people can bring in and ruin the positive affect.
Future of HNZ, choice was the same, something else, cause all of those things are equal in my opinion, excluding the custom theme.

 

[Riley Lillis]

I tried doing the whole poll, but I could only do a few as my interwebz is playing up

Regarding the custom theme thing, I think that'd be good. I've noticed that the default theme is actually slower to load than invision free (I only use IF coz of that-- and the default one hurts my eyes). Something.. a smaller size. I know heaps of people use their mobiles to have their daily HNZ fix; I did but recently my free internet expired. But anything smaller would load better for mobiles, and slow internet connections.

On the topic of site wide plots-- a) the topics end up really busy and confusing and b) even though they're busy, they end up loosing their spark and people find their smaller RPs more important, therefore giving up on them.

(hey look, the page just finished loading as I got to this point in what I'm trying to say )

I think that's all I had to say..


One last thing. Yay HNZ!

 

[Riley Mauven]

I noticed the same thing as Livi in regards to the IF theme loading faster, which is partly the reason I use it, but not the whole reason. In regards to site wide plots, I thought the TWT had the potential to be great. But not everyone was granted the chance to be involved. I would have loved to have been involved but not everyone could.

 

[Nicolas King]

I think site wide plots need to be made more obvious. I admit the TWT was very obvious but I only found out about the death eaters because I have a death eater character and I never knew there were centaurs in the school until a few weeks after it had finished. This may just be me being an idiot.

The Obsidian thing was given an announcement, I'm pretty sure, but may be wrong. Next, the centaur thing was posted about in a BWU, I think. Again, could be wrong - but I know each event was advertised in OOC areas.

---

I noticed the same thing as Livi in regards to the IF theme loading faster, which is partly the reason I use it, but not the whole reason. In regards to site wide plots, I thought the TWT had the potential to be great. But not everyone was granted the chance to be involved. I would have loved to have been involved but not everyone could.

To theme loading:
IF Redux loads quicker because it has gradient slice images and colours only.
Our default theme is mostly images, we cannot be expected to optimize for mobile browsers when most users use desktops/laptops and fast connections thereon. If we got a new theme it would not be basic solid colours. Because that's the only thing that could load faster than IF Redux. Next, that's why we have multiple themes on the theme changer - you can optimize for yourself.

Next: I'm sorry, but that seems like an excuse to me. Any user with a Beauxbatons character could be right in the middle of the action. All other characters could follow the tournament, post reactions, etc. through the Daily Prophet (even if it's not officially printed on the site, it could be assumed there were press releases). The TriWizard Tournament it is known there will only be 3 champions. From there, only so many can travel to the tournament from a foreign school. We can't have creature-characters for every task.
All site wide plots will always have a few characters being the focus. Most of the rest, as Kaitlyn pointed out, will be reactions and people simply aren't happy with that. Unfortunately, we can't have a special site-wide plot for every few characters.

 

[Jessame Rose Trewelly]

My two cents:

I love this site. I go in cycles of spending a lot of time and a little time, because I get addicted to things really easily and then bored of them. It's a testament to the greatness of HNZ that my first characters have made it to third year. I've been around nearly a whole year (RL), and for me to stick to something that long, it's gotta be good, especially as my life and whims take me all over the place (I've been in 9 different countries since joining, and I'm moving to England (number 10) at the end of the month) and I have a habit of starting afresh whenever I move - leaving everything behind. HNZ is something I don't want to leave behind.
The worst thing about it is that it takes up a lot of my time. Of course, that's entirely my own fault. I started out with the intention of having only 1 character - Jessame Rose Trewelly. I now have 8. I have a bazillion ideas for more, but I don't want to get carried away. I feel like I sometimes put more into these characters than I do my own life. Since I joined, my RL social life has dropped, but I really really enjoy HNZ, so it's dilemma for me - which to choose? I'm working on a happy medium where I don't get too caught up in this fantasy world, but can continue to be a part of it.
To be honest, my favourite thing about the site, apart from the community, is lessons. I think they're so much fun, but then, I've always been a nerd at heart.
As far as the other stuff goes, here are my notes:[ul][li]I love the wiki and think it's a great idea, but isn't very exciting at the moment. There should be a link to it on the main page somewhere. And if there already is one, I never notice it so it should be more prominent. Everyone should contribute. It's not hard. I knew nothing about coding when I joined, but now I feel semi confident playing around (a little) with the templates and things, just from giving it a go. Something I think might encourage people to use it more might be a RPers section. So we don't just create pages about our characters, but about ourselves, too. It wouldn't have to be the main focus, just a section where everyone can create a page about themselves, list their characters if they want to, and explain why they RP. It might get people more involved. Honestly, I encourage everyone to head over to the wiki now and create a page for at least one of their characters. If you already have, go do another, or a plot page. </LI> [li]OOC superlatives are something I'm torn on. I like them because they're fun, but they're one of the things newbies see as separating them from the 'cliques' ( I'm cringing), or the people who've been around for longer. Perhaps we could add some categories like "Most social n00b" or "Newbie most likely to stick around forever" to get people thinking about people other than those they're already friends with. As far as when it's done, I don't mind, and think it should be whenever it suits the admins'/GMs'/whoever's-organising-it's timetables.
[li]Minister for Magic elections. I already commented on the blog, but I think this is BRILLIANT! So many opportunities! I will definitely participate. I can totally see Jessame Rose Trewelly getting into political activism.
[li]The birthday celebrations were a blast. Thanks for all your hard work.
[li]Character spotlights are great, and I'm not just saying that because J.R. got spotlighted. It gave me motivation to make all of my characters better, and it's really a good idea. I think it could even be monthly - twelve spotlights a year - and there should perhaps be an OOC reward for it to make the person feel even more special.
[li]The Bi-weekly updates are really good, and one of the things that keep the site so smoothly running. I'm sure a lot of hard work goes into them. I always read them. In conjunction with the blog, they let us plebs (joke) know that the admins and gms are real people and do a lot of work for us. They also keep us in the loop, and people who don't read them have no right to complain about missing out on things, IC or OOC. I think they should be kept bi-weekly.
[li]I think the focus for site staff should be on moderation. It's a good clean board and we want to keep it that way. Just had an idea! Haven't thought it through yet, but it might be useful if there were a group of "Ministry members" who could regulate underage magic outside of school and stuff. It would be a lot of reading for them, but might make the RPs more realistic. As I said, I haven't thought it through yet and it might be more trouble than it's worth.
<LI>[li]Site-wide plots: I had my characters talk about the TWT while it was running, and Beau now dreams of someday becoming a champion (like Mike, only better! ), but I wanted to be able to do more. It would have been nice to have a section in the school where the students could post 'good luck' messages to the Hogwarts champ and talk about it. If there was one, I missed it
I totally missed the death-eaters march on Obsidian. I did see the Centaur thing, but only posted once because there wasn't much other activity and I thought everyone else had given up on it.
I for one really like RPing responses to big events like that. It brings my characters into the world we've created as a whole, instead of staying curled up in their own little stories.
[/li][/ul]
Ok, sorry for the novel. It was more like ten bucks than two cents. Feel free to refund me $9.98 at any stage.

 

[Bella Matthias]

Something I think might encourage people to use it more might be a RPers section. So we don't just create pages about our characters, but about ourselves, too. It wouldn't have to be the main focus, just a section where everyone can create a page about themselves, list their characters if they want to, and explain why they RP. It might get people more involved.

I love this idea It will be awesome to learn about the role-players as well as the characters.

OOC superlatives are something I'm torn on. I like them because they're fun, but they're one of the things newbies see as separating them from the 'cliques' ( I'm cringing), or the people who've been around for longer. Perhaps we could add some categories like "Most social n00b" or "Newbie most likely to stick around forever" to get people thinking about people other than those they're already friends with. As far as when it's done, I don't mind, and think it should be whenever it suits the admins'/GMs'/whoever's-organising-it's timetables.

I love looking at these, and I don't feel like it separates me. However, I do love your idea of the newbie ones .

 

[Aleyha Snow]

Those 'cliques' that people complain about, you know what's funny?
People that complain about cliques are usually in some themselves. True, some are closer to others than some (i.e. Jessye and I) but really, not everyone in a community will get along fabulously. And the newer people would feel a bit nervous, which is why I am for the newer stuff so they don't get left out of things.

The centaur was an in announcement, and the obsidian harbor thing was in an update. And not closed down yet either.

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

I was sitting at work w/ nothing to do, so of course I decided to come lurk HNZ and look what's here: A poll!! So, I had to come out of my self-imposed exile to comment on a few things

First, I absolutely ♥ the BWU and the site blog! They help me a whole lot. When I was in school, I wasn't able to be on as often as I liked, but I was able to stay informed on what was going on in the HNZ world through the BWU. So, I never feel out of the loop. And I really like the blog that the admins/GMs keep...even when the blog is a rant. All of you guys work really hard to help make/keep this site great, and I think the blog helps us to realize that the people behind the characters have feelings and lives too.


Second, the idea of a MoM election is super cool! When I first read it in Nick's blog ( ) I was really excited. It has so many possibilities, and I hope that if it is put into effect that it turns out to be as successful as it can be. This could really springboard the MoM becoming more active, which it seems a lot of people want.

That brings me to the third thing...site-wide plots.
I still haven't decided how I feel about these...On the one hand, I them because they are very exciting/epic and a great way to springboard rping and character development. But...and this brings me to what I don't like about them...I think people forget about them just as quickly as they realize they are there. To me, it feels like only those who are directly involved (actually part of the plot) are effected by the plot. But, there are different levels of involvement just like there would be if it happened in real life. Even those who aren't directly involved can be part of the plot (ex. spectating during the Tri-wizard, reading an article in a paper) and can have their character affected and, therefore, be involved indirectly. We usually do this most/best during Halloween/ Yule ball where people have tons of threads outside the confines of the Great Hall, but for other site-wide plots...not so much

Fourth: HNZ wiki! Of all the things I saw in the poll, I think this is what made me want to break my exile the most I was actually just looking at the wiki the other day and like Emma said, I don't know how to get to it through the site. Instead, I googled HNZ wiki. I always loved the idea of this and think that it could/should be more active. And I love the idea of including a part about the person behind the character.

Ok, I know this is going a little long, but I've got to talk about one more thing...cliques. When I read this, it really made me
I guess it's because I don't see HNZ this way at all. Sure, there are some people who are closer to each other than they are to other people both b/c they are friends in RL and because they rp w/ each other a lot, but when I think of a clique, I think of a group of people who excludes others for some unknown reason. And, I don't think that's the case at all here. In my experience (and I've been here a while [ 3 years next month ] ), everyone on the site has been pleasant at the very least. If it is newer people who are feeling this way the most, maybe we can start some kind of big brother/sister thing where a vet member can help a newer member out during their first month on the site. Sort of a personal 'guide' to HNZ while they get the hang of the place. Not only will they get to know someone who's been on the site a while but it might make it easier for the newbies to fit in. I know that something like this would be difficult to organize though...

Ok, those are my thoughts. *scampers off again*

 

[Nicolas King]

I love the wiki and think it's a great idea, but isn't very exciting at the moment. There should be a link to it on the main page somewhere. And if there already is one, I never notice it so it should be more prominent. Everyone should contribute. It's not hard. I knew nothing about coding when I joined, but now I feel semi confident playing around (a little) with the templates and things, just from giving it a go. Something I think might encourage people to use it more might be a RPers section. So we don't just create pages about our characters, but about ourselves, too. It wouldn't have to be the main focus, just a section where everyone can create a page about themselves, list their characters if they want to, and explain why they RP. It might get people more involved. Honestly, I encourage everyone to head over to the wiki now and create a page for at least one of their characters. If you already have, go do another, or a plot page.

We sort of gave up on the wiki when things got bogged down a few months after its release and very few members seemed genuinely interested in putting up plot pages/descriptive pages for places (which is the only true purpose for such a thing as the wiki, really, as bios etc. have a place on HNZ). There is no longer a link to the wiki on HNZ, really, they were mostly hidden/removed when the project was aborted. I could put one back up with the affiliates etc. if you guys would want that and make it worth its while.
If enough people are interested in a "Roleplayer's Bio" or "Behind the Characters" sort of section I can set that up, too. It's definitely not a bad idea.

OOC superlatives are something I'm torn on. I like them because they're fun, but they're one of the things newbies see as separating them from the 'cliques' ( I'm cringing), or the people who've been around for longer. Perhaps we could add some categories like "Most social n00b" or "Newbie most likely to stick around forever" to get people thinking about people other than those they're already friends with. As far as when it's done, I don't mind, and think it should be whenever it suits the admins'/GMs'/whoever's-organising-it's timetables.

I did notice something akin to what you're mentioning last time they were done. That a lot of the newer members got passed by for awards and that some of the more chatty on HNZ were loaded with them. It's a tricky balance, and unfortunately any new member that doesn't get an award will likely feel like it was because they're new. Which is partly true, but partly false. If they're new people don't know them yet and that's understandable. But some new members do get awards. It's unlikely, however, that the new member not getting an award is going to recognize the new members who did. Also, there will always be more veteran-ed users on HNZ than new ones. So that ratio will always be in favour of the old. In the past, however, we have had better rates for newbs getting awards to new members. I think the last time awards were run it was just strange timing and not many new people had been brought in yet, and those who had weren't part of the community much.
As to new-member-specific awards: Also tricky. Do we want to label new members as newbz/n00bs/newbies? I don't know, but one category for something like that might make it more interesting. I wouldn't want members to think that that is the only category to nominate/vote newbs for, though, either.
The tight-rope I walk in my mind.

The idea of a MoM election is super cool! ... This could really springboard the MoM becoming more active, which it seems a lot of people want.

True say.

If it is newer people who are feeling this way the most, maybe we can start some kind of big brother/sister thing where a vet member can help a newer member out during their first month on the site. Sort of a personal 'guide' to HNZ while they get the hang of the place. Not only will they get to know someone who's been on the site a while but it might make it easier for the newbies to fit in. I know that something like this would be difficult to organize though...

I'm staff on another forum that did... or still does... I don't know... (I'm not very good staff for them, I fear) this. It seemed to work alright for them, but the trouble is:
1) Finding legitimate new members. A lot of them don't start welcome threads.
2) Finding, among the above, people who would want a mentor.
3) Finding members to mentor 1, if not 2, new members for a period. (Likely a month?) [Perhaps for this I can make use of my slaves ]
4) Ensuring the mentors are up to snuff.

Not a bad idea, either, though. It would take some organization. Perhaps I can pawn that off to Pat as her roll of authority as GM (Like Linda with MESSI) or find a member volunteer, if that's something the staff is interested in (I'd need to talk to Livvy, obviously) and that you guys, the members, are willing to support.

---

Also, thanks to everybody who has filled out the poll so far. Special thanks to everybody who has replied to the poll with constructive comments and ideas for the future. A lot of these are good and should give us plenty to work with in the summer months.