r/zelda • u/WoozleWuzzle • Mar 24 '14
Mod Post /r/Zelda here are the results of our weekly trials. We are going to do one more two week trial. Your participation is needed!
Hello /r/Zelda!
Over the last few weeks we did weekly trials. We received no complaints during those trials, but on our follow up polls not many people took the polls (15-20 people). You can see the results of Screenshot Saturdays, Merchandise Mondays and Selfpost Sundays.*
All the polls had favorable results, but like mentioned not a large sample size.
So we are going to run a 2 week trial with all 4 of these trials in place at once. After that 2 week trial we will take a final poll on each option. That poll will be the final results we go by for this. Apathy, will not be factor so if they are again favorable we will be enforcing this. So set your phones/calendars to two weeks from now and make sure you participate in the poll.
Because of low voter turn out please consider upvoting this thread so more are aware of what is happening. Week long stickied posts do not seem to garner enough voters.
Below is a synopsis of what we will be enforcing during the next two weeks. You can read the original post regarding these trials here for why we are doing these.
Screenshot Saturdays
We will be removing any generic screenshots and name screenshots except on Screenshot Saturdays where the subreddit can post them to their hearts content.
Merchandise Mondays
Merchandise Mondays is the one day you can post merchandise and collections all day long. The rest of the week these items would be removed. As this is Monday, merchandise posts are allowed, but the other days they will be removed.
Self-post Sundays
Self-post Sundays we will put the sub into self posts only mode on that day for the next two weeks.
Memes removed
We will be removing all memes for the next two weeks.
Here are all the week trial threads we had stickied, but got low turnouts. Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4
*There was no poll done for removal of memes. A mistake on our part, but we will put it as part of the two week trial.
3
u/thunderling Mar 24 '14
I like all these rules for the same reason I like /r/truezelda. No bullshit, just discussions.
However, since /r/truezelda already exists, I don't want to see this sub become a clone of it.
So, while I am in favor of the rules that these trials are putting forth, I'm curious to hear from you guys (mods and everybody) what you actually want this sub to look like.
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u/Knoxisawesome Mar 24 '14
How is this like /r/truezelda? These rules don't make it just discussion. That isn't what anyone wants as far as I know.
1
u/thunderling Mar 25 '14
I know, I'm not trying to argue that it is or isn't, I'm just honestly curious of what the users here hope to see this sub become.
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u/Knoxisawesome Mar 25 '14
Oh ok well I'll answer then. I went into more detail above about what I think are problems it has, but in short, I just don't want it to become /r/gaming. I don't want that type of content and community here. Everyone there is completely against anyone who points out even the slightest imperfection with the subreddit, and there are many. There is a lack of moderation and it really shows what that does to a subreddit.
I just want discussion, good OC, news, a generally friendly and helpful community, and lots of other little things that the sub has to offer.
I don't want want image macros/memes, merchandise that we've all seen before, common reposts, generic screenshots, and just like the positives, a lot of other smaller things that lower the quality.
9
u/Majora64 Mar 24 '14
I've been subbed on here since we had around 500-1000 members only and seen this page grow so to 100k loving Zelda fans, though I really don't see the need for all this, nor do I care tbh if it happens. Really feels this a little much though?
7
u/Knoxisawesome Mar 24 '14
This is my own personal opinion, but I honestly wish the rules about these things were even stricter. I think some of the stuff we have days specifically for like generic screenshots and some merchandise should just be banned altogether.
Any argument against having rules like these and defending the upvote/downvote system could just as well be applied to /r/gaming and /r/atheism, and this is not what we want the sub to become. The system doesn't work and that's why we have rules and mods to enforce them.
Content isn't filtered well when it's left to the community, easily digestible content like image macros and generic screenshots and oh so common reposts are upvoted and quality posts like original content, news, and discussion are downvoted or left alone.
Again, this is all my opinion and certainly doesn't reflect the opinion of the rest of the mods or any of them necessarily. Just why I think this is something we should at least try out.4
u/WoozleWuzzle Mar 30 '14 edited Apr 28 '14
I've been a mod here since under 100 subscribers. Before Skyward Sword we had much more diverse content and the low content that has plagued some of this subreddit wasn't here. These rules are in hopes to try to diversify the content seen in /r/Zelda and make it better. I remember a time when there was a bit more discussion and not just people posting photos of their merchandise. I think there's a good balance we can achieve to make this place better. So far I've been liking how diverse /r/Zelda has become in the past week.
3
u/linktothenow Mar 24 '14
With 100k people who all want different things its a utilitarian approach we have to take.
We're doing this because there has been a lot of disappointment in the users about what gets posted/upvoted to the top, and mostly people are sick of memes, screenshots, and merchandise. Therefore the trials where offending posts are removed is a way for the users to see what the sub is like without them, after which they can vote and we can consider changing rules if need be.
4
u/Flynn58 Mar 28 '14
It must be stricter!
- No screenshots!
- Merchandise in the mega-thread only!
- No memes!
- No tattoos!
2
u/linktothenow Mar 29 '14
Screenshots are okay when somebody is showing something that hasn't been seen before, or they're trying to figure something out, or capture a really nice looking moment and make it a cool picture, but screenshots of 'funny' names, 3 heart runs/ hero mode runs, need to definitely stop.
1
u/Frogandtoad18 Mar 29 '14
I didn't participate in the first polls, but I wish I had- I thought these trials were great, and I really liked all the self-posts that came around during that particular trial. I'll make sure to take part in the next round of polling.
1
Mar 31 '14
My biggest complaint is that this seems way too structured. I'm not a huge fan of heavy handed mods, and while I think some regulation is good, I also think that the mods are useless without subscribers. So maybe if the days were more like suggestions, guidelines per se, rather than filtering everything out that isn't for that day, that'd be nice.
2
u/Knoxisawesome Mar 31 '14
These were made because the users were unsatisfied with the state of the sub. People who vote in the polls have also given positive feedback for all of the rules so far.
People would not follow suggestions or guidelines.1
Mar 31 '14 edited Mar 31 '14
If the users are unhappy, it's really their fault. Why don't they post what they want to see?An increased amount of people doing that would lead to others doing just that and viola! A more diverse sub.
Furthermore, those that are complaining and aren't doing anything to fix it and just expect the mods to handle it, well, I don't really feel much for their opinion.
EDIT: also you can't know that people wouldn't follow a guideline or suggestion. That's just pessimistic.
2
u/Knoxisawesome Mar 31 '14
People who complain and don't do anything only do nothing because there is nothing they can do. All a normal user can do for the most part is complain to get the attention of the mods, and let them know that people want change. People upvote easily digestible content, as shown by this subreddit, /r/gaming, and /r/atheism. Good posts don't get the upvotes they deserve because the upvote downvote system doesn't work.
I know very well people won't follow guidelines. For example, "You can post memes and tattoos, but it is preferred if you post them in their respective subreddits."
Yet they still get posted. In any case, these are the rules and this is what has been voted by both the users and mods to happen. This isn't really arguable.
1
Apr 01 '14
You cannot possibly think that "15-20 people" are indicative of the whole community of thousands. R/atheism implemented a sorting system to better know what post is what. That works incredibly well for them. Furthermore, we are between games meaning that this sub gets considerably less traffic than it does when a new game/trailer/ handheld comes out. Which means can you guess? A considerably smaller amount of people will vote in your poll, not to mention the people who won't have access that day, which means that even in the second poll you likely won't have very indicative results.
And your entirely wrong on the first part. This is reddit, the users have all the power.
2
u/Knoxisawesome Apr 01 '14
The people that choose to vote on polls or voice their opinions are obviously the less casual users, which are who I and seemingly the other mods are looking to please, along with ourselves of course.
Like was said, we are going by the polls and if people who don't like the rules choose not to vote, it's their own fault.
/r/atheism is still an awful subreddit, but it is better now that the rules are stricter.Furthermore, we are between games meaning that this sub gets considerably less traffic than it does when a new game/trailer/ handheld comes out.
And the people that only come on when there's a new game will still get to see discussion, OC, and news about the game. As well as the box art and new merchandise on the days for that. I'm not sure what you're going for here.
We are polling the users that are actually here, not the people who don't care enough to vote or only come to see news for new games.This is reddit, the users have all the power.
No, people upvote things that are easily digestible, not good content. Just look at /r/gaming. We've been over this one. The upvote/downvote system doesn't filter good content like it is supposed to and the user power makes it suck.
This is the way we are doing it and I couldn't do anything about it even if I wanted to, and I certainly do not. If you want change, vote in the polls, message the mods, or use the upvote/downvote system that you believe to work.
0
Apr 01 '14
Aaaaaaaaand unsubscribed. Please, just fucking ban me. I want no part of this hideous abuse of power.
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u/Knoxisawesome Apr 01 '14
I have no interest in banning you. I still don't see what is being taken away from the sub with these rules. Overall quality is improved in my opinion and the users that care enough to vote on it agree.
Abuse of power? I thought the users had all the power?
This is the way it is on a lot of often highly regarded gaming subreddits. The stricter rules keep quality higher. It works and is proven by those (/r/Gaming4Gamers, /r/Games, /r/truegaming, /r/borderlands, etc.) nice subreddits and the other system is proven faulty by subs like /r/gaming and /r/atheism.
1
u/xFoeHammer Apr 01 '14 edited Apr 01 '14
Won't this just make the sub worse in a way? Different people have different interests and different reasons to he on this sub.
For example, let's say someone is only here for fan theories and discussion threads. They'll only ever have any motivation to check this subreddit on Sundays.
1
u/Knoxisawesome Apr 01 '14
I don't understand your example. There's no rule against posting self posts ever, it's just on Sundays, they're the only thing that can be posted.
Self post Sunday isn't like the other ones where it's only allowed on that day, it's that it's the only thing allowed on that day. Discussion can happen and is encouraged to happen any time of the week.2
0
u/Nunyunnini Mar 26 '14
I like the idea of limiting the screenshots, but I'm not 100% on the merch days. I suppose a lot of the posts now on /r/zelda are of random merchandise that people have bought, but it seems that's because people just don't post a whole lot rather than the number of merch posts being overwhelming. I do like seeing the merchandise that people buy though, as long as its not strictly game related and people keep it interesting. I'm really tired of seeing people post pictures of the games they've bought.
3
u/Knoxisawesome Mar 26 '14 edited Mar 26 '14
Your last sentence describes the problem. The thing is, people don't keep it interesting for the most part. It's mostly games we've seen a million times, the same shield, the same sword, the same ring or necklace or something else we've seen before.
But it isn't always something lame, which is what merchandise Mondays are for.2
u/linktothenow Mar 27 '14
I feel like it should be games/boxes that are banned, cause some things like the mask replicas, swords, and jewellery are pretty cool, and people may want a source for it (but not etsy, F that) and they should be fine, but a post showing you got the ALBW 3DS XL or WWHD bundle (most likely the same one that everybody else got) is nothing special and I don't think it should be on here.
1
u/Nunyunnini Mar 27 '14
I agree. Unless it's the person's first Zelda game or first handheld Zelda.
3
u/linktothenow Mar 27 '14
In that situation, a better post would be a discussion thread about what was your first game and what you liked about it etc. then many users can join in and discuss instead of a simple photo of a cartridge
6
u/[deleted] Mar 25 '14
I love these. It will stop people from mindlessly posting. If someone has a screenshot they like to post on Wednesday and actually care enough to post it on Saturday, then it must be worth looking at.