Apologies and Overhauls
Hey everyone, first off I apologize for not making a post in this comm for almost four months. lil_hippie_chic and I are still here, though, and still willing to make this comm work.
Thank you to the people who gave us feedback on the previous post. lil_hippie_chic and I have decided that it might help for us mods to (1) post more frequently (I mean, even more frequently than the expected monthly post... although posting more frequently than every four months WOULD help too!), and (2) use activities and challenges to help people get inspired and get past their creative blocks.
So after some discussion, here's what we have so far:
1: Monthly Claims / Weekly Themes
This is how it would work:
At the beginning of a month, people would claim a subject of their choice (e.g. Cinderella (movie), Simba (character), general Disney, Disney villains, etc.).
Every week, say, on a Wednesday, a mod would post themes for that week.
People make 5-10 icons fitting the subject they chose that month and inspired by a theme that was posted. They could make multiple icons from the same theme. They have until the next Wednesday to submit those icons and have them count toward their claim.
After the month finishes, you have the option to keep the same subject next month (Cinderella), switch to a different subject, or drop the claim. So, this is for people who end up getting bored of their claim subject halfway through their 100 icons -- you'll have the opportunity each month to pick a new subject and the icons would still count toward your previous claim. It's optional, though, so people who want to stick with the same subject through all 100 icons are very welcome to!
In a month, multiple people can claim the same topic. We're thinking of making the max three. This is just so people don't get frustrated waiting for someone else to relinquish a claim.
You'll be awarded banners at certain milestones (25, 50, 75, and 100). You can skip one week per month, but if you skip more than that, then your 100 icon project expires and you have to start over the next time you sign up. Other than that, there is no deadline.
The icons you make for the weekly prompts would be posted in the comments to submit them. In addition, similar to how regular claims in the past worked, you can collect icons you've submitted and then post them to disney100 in batches.
Okay, that's the easy part. Now the hairy part: we're undecided on whether to discard the old claiming system in favor of this new format. Personally, I would like to keep the old style of claiming (i.e. comment on the claims post with your topic and the challenge (i.e. theme set) you want, get an end date three months in the future, and then make your 100 icons using the predetermined themes given by the table you chose. My reasons being:
1) It's tradition and I don't want to completely change up how disney100 works
2) Some people might just be the kind that do 20 icons in one sitting and then don't make icons for three weeks -- you wouldn't be able to do this in the new system (essentially the old system is more flexible in allowing people to make icons at their own pace and not have to wait for new themes)
3) People would be able to start their claim at any time and not just at the beginning of a month
My vision is that the weekly themes would be for people who are looking for a claim that has more regular checkpoints, unexpected themes with time limits, no deadline, etc. but that there would still be the regular style claims for people who don't want that. In addition to being a separate and unusual style of claiming, the weekly themes would assist people doing the regular claim types by providing new themes that could be used for Artist's Choice icons, or just getting someone unstuck.
BUT there are downsides with having two systems rather than just switching over to one completely. Mostly, the sheer complexity. We'll need to manage two lists of claims, each of which expire in different ways (one with an expiration date, the other with lack of participation). A newcomer to the comm might be incredibly bewildered and confused seeing the weekly themes and people doing separate claims and everyone making posts but some of them are using themes not present in the weekly posts and some using themes that ARE and they might not know what the heck is going on. We've already made the comm pretty complex with all the challenge types and such, so I can understand if people would like to streamline the way the comm operates.
2: Mini Challenges
The other part of what we're planning to do is mini challenges every two weeks. How these would work is this:
There will be various kinds of special challenges. lil_hippie_chic has come up with several ideas already such as Connect Four, a challenge to make a chain of four icons that each connect to the one before either by subject, text, techniques used to make them, etc. ( example)
People would have a week to submit entries. The entries would be screened.
The voting would be simplified and pared down compared to regular icon contests. For the first challenge, lil_hippie_chic and I simply pick the winner; for every challenge after that, the winner of the previous challenge gets to pick the winner. So, very simple, no voting, and mostly just for fun. The winner of the challenge also gets to pick what the next challenge will be, in addition to choosing the winning entry for it.
So, one week for submissions and one week for picking the winner and figuring out what they would like the next challenge to be.
In all, this means there would be two mod posts in a typical week.
So now, we'd like your thoughts and help -- are you interested in seeing these things? Do you have any questions about how it would work or see issues with what we've presented above? Here's a poll with some issues. Let us know in the comments if there are things not in this poll that you have opinions about.
Poll Community Changes
Thank you to the people who gave us feedback on the previous post. lil_hippie_chic and I have decided that it might help for us mods to (1) post more frequently (I mean, even more frequently than the expected monthly post... although posting more frequently than every four months WOULD help too!), and (2) use activities and challenges to help people get inspired and get past their creative blocks.
So after some discussion, here's what we have so far:
1: Monthly Claims / Weekly Themes
This is how it would work:
At the beginning of a month, people would claim a subject of their choice (e.g. Cinderella (movie), Simba (character), general Disney, Disney villains, etc.).
Every week, say, on a Wednesday, a mod would post themes for that week.
People make 5-10 icons fitting the subject they chose that month and inspired by a theme that was posted. They could make multiple icons from the same theme. They have until the next Wednesday to submit those icons and have them count toward their claim.
After the month finishes, you have the option to keep the same subject next month (Cinderella), switch to a different subject, or drop the claim. So, this is for people who end up getting bored of their claim subject halfway through their 100 icons -- you'll have the opportunity each month to pick a new subject and the icons would still count toward your previous claim. It's optional, though, so people who want to stick with the same subject through all 100 icons are very welcome to!
In a month, multiple people can claim the same topic. We're thinking of making the max three. This is just so people don't get frustrated waiting for someone else to relinquish a claim.
You'll be awarded banners at certain milestones (25, 50, 75, and 100). You can skip one week per month, but if you skip more than that, then your 100 icon project expires and you have to start over the next time you sign up. Other than that, there is no deadline.
The icons you make for the weekly prompts would be posted in the comments to submit them. In addition, similar to how regular claims in the past worked, you can collect icons you've submitted and then post them to disney100 in batches.
Okay, that's the easy part. Now the hairy part: we're undecided on whether to discard the old claiming system in favor of this new format. Personally, I would like to keep the old style of claiming (i.e. comment on the claims post with your topic and the challenge (i.e. theme set) you want, get an end date three months in the future, and then make your 100 icons using the predetermined themes given by the table you chose. My reasons being:
1) It's tradition and I don't want to completely change up how disney100 works
2) Some people might just be the kind that do 20 icons in one sitting and then don't make icons for three weeks -- you wouldn't be able to do this in the new system (essentially the old system is more flexible in allowing people to make icons at their own pace and not have to wait for new themes)
3) People would be able to start their claim at any time and not just at the beginning of a month
My vision is that the weekly themes would be for people who are looking for a claim that has more regular checkpoints, unexpected themes with time limits, no deadline, etc. but that there would still be the regular style claims for people who don't want that. In addition to being a separate and unusual style of claiming, the weekly themes would assist people doing the regular claim types by providing new themes that could be used for Artist's Choice icons, or just getting someone unstuck.
BUT there are downsides with having two systems rather than just switching over to one completely. Mostly, the sheer complexity. We'll need to manage two lists of claims, each of which expire in different ways (one with an expiration date, the other with lack of participation). A newcomer to the comm might be incredibly bewildered and confused seeing the weekly themes and people doing separate claims and everyone making posts but some of them are using themes not present in the weekly posts and some using themes that ARE and they might not know what the heck is going on. We've already made the comm pretty complex with all the challenge types and such, so I can understand if people would like to streamline the way the comm operates.
2: Mini Challenges
The other part of what we're planning to do is mini challenges every two weeks. How these would work is this:
There will be various kinds of special challenges. lil_hippie_chic has come up with several ideas already such as Connect Four, a challenge to make a chain of four icons that each connect to the one before either by subject, text, techniques used to make them, etc. ( example)
People would have a week to submit entries. The entries would be screened.
The voting would be simplified and pared down compared to regular icon contests. For the first challenge, lil_hippie_chic and I simply pick the winner; for every challenge after that, the winner of the previous challenge gets to pick the winner. So, very simple, no voting, and mostly just for fun. The winner of the challenge also gets to pick what the next challenge will be, in addition to choosing the winning entry for it.
So, one week for submissions and one week for picking the winner and figuring out what they would like the next challenge to be.
In all, this means there would be two mod posts in a typical week.
So now, we'd like your thoughts and help -- are you interested in seeing these things? Do you have any questions about how it would work or see issues with what we've presented above? Here's a poll with some issues. Let us know in the comments if there are things not in this poll that you have opinions about.
Poll Community Changes