Junior/Senior Corps Announcements discussion.

[Blue Devil Legend]

Your clarification is duly noted, Rich, but I had the same perception. Sorry, but you sounded like the cable company's 'I could care less' customer service.

And FWIW it doesn't really matter to me which way you choose to manage the board - I'll still be here enjoying it regardless.

Thanks.

I'm all about "the customer comes first" mindset. That said, "change" is something that doesn't come easily sometimes. It's not always accepted by everyone, and that's to be expected.

A decision such as this is made to hopefully apease the masses, that was the intent anyway.

[Blue Devil Legend]

People keep posting in an open house announcement to be able to keep the information in front of peoples eyes. How about if when an announcement for something as important as a corps open house is posted you give it the courtesy of a sticky post.

IMO, the clubhouses provide for "corps specific" information without having to search for a specific corps' announcements and such.

I also have my favorites linked directly to the "Senior (DCA) & Alumni Discussions" page so I had to search around to find the "clubhouses". Now that I have found them, could you please correct the title of SoCal Dream's club house to reflect our complete name (should be "SoCal Dream" not just "Dream") Thanks.

Done.

One last thought, you made the post I quote below however it seems that with how fast this thread grew and many peoples dissatisfaction with your decision, it appears that this decision was made to benefit "the needs of the few" (DCP staff) not the needs of the many.

Once again, your house, your rules. I am just trying to make a suggestion to help satisfy everyone.

On the other side of that fence, the decision was made DUE to member complaints. I'm sorry if you think that decisions such as this are "knee jerk". Fact of the matter is, they aren't.

[radiosteele]

Where are the member complaints about the way it has been? I have yet to see a "i think this will be better" post, except from those few that have faciliatated this change.

Where is the proof in all of that?

This really builds unnecessary walls and fragmentation in this online drum corps community. For something that is supposed to increase communication, knowledge and interaction of those who are fans or participants, this is a sizable step backwards in functioning as such.

(My $.02)

[Blue Devil Legend]

Where are the member complaints about the way it has been? I have yet to see a "i think this will be better" post, except from those few that have faciliatated this change.

Where is the proof in all of that?

This really builds unnecessary walls and fragmentation in this online drum corps community. For something that is supposed to increase communication, knowledge and interaction of those who are fans or participants, this is a sizable step backwards in functioning as such.

(My $.02)

Not all member concerns are handled publicly.

[lisard5]

Where are the member complaints about the way it has been? I have yet to see a "i think this will be better" post, except from those few that have faciliatated this change.

Where is the proof in all of that?

This really builds unnecessary walls and fragmentation in this online drum corps community. For something that is supposed to increase communication, knowledge and interaction of those who are fans or participants, this is a sizable step backwards in functioning as such.

(My $.02)

Thats sort of my point . . .

[Jeffreelancer]

Maybe reformat the board so more threads could be visable per page?

You can adjust the amount of topics or posts visible on a page to a maximum of 40 (I think the default is 10) by changing the board settings in your control panel.

I click the View New Posts at the top of page each time I am on the board so it does not really matter to me where the topic is since it displays from all forums. If you visit the boards often then you will only have a couple of pages of posts, but it would probably be unmanageable if you are on the boards less then once a day. Also, you may find an interesting post that you would miss otherwise.

[gdisney]

Well, I don't think that having a separate "announcements only" section is necessarily a bad idea. It would be helpful sometimes to be able to go to one specific area and find one specific corps' announcements, all in a row. Of course, this is kind of why they have websites.

Question though - with all of the new and/or returning corps which keep popping up, how are their notices going to be handled? Will new clubhouse forums be created for every single one? Then, won't it be something of a mess to navigate through all of these clubhouses to find the one you want?

The previous format had the advantage of allowing us to easily see which corps nationwide had the newest announcements. The problem with making threads 'read only' on the "general" forum is that these announcements may become buried quite fast. And then we'll have to scroll through all of the clubhouse forums to see what's new, since they are organized alphabetically instead of by which have the most recent postings.

Not trying to start any arguments or anything, just thinking out loud. I'll certainly go with the flow on this one, since I like others am but a humble guest here.

[Skylinersop16]

Reading through this whole thread I've noticed that everyone except the admins so far have the same opinion. I would really like to see one of the people that put in a complaint post a reason why to try to give some validity to what the admins are saying. Personally, I don't really have an opinion but I just want to see the other side of the argument from some members instead of the moderating team.

[Blue Devil Legend]

Question though - with all of the new and/or returning corps which keep popping up, how are their notices going to be handled? Will new clubhouse forums be created for every single one? Then, won't it be something of a mess to navigate through all of these clubhouses to find the one you want?

Yes, corps will be added as they crop up, but I think the answer to the question below will rectify the navigation aspect. :)

The previous format had the advantage of allowing us to easily see which corps nationwide had the newest announcements. The problem with making threads 'read only' on the "general" forum is that these announcements may become buried quite fast. And then we'll have to scroll through all of the clubhouse forums to see what's new, since they are organized alphabetically instead of by which have the most recent postings.

I inherited the current forum setup as is. That said, I agree that prioritizing each forum to the "most recent post" would be alot less cumbersome on the members.

[Bond624]

Effective immediately:

ALL CORPS ANNOUNCEMENTS MUST BE MADE IN THE CORPS CLUBHOUSES.

These threads will be allowed to operate as they have currently. All banter, chit-chat, gossip, etc will be permitted in the thread that's created in the clubhouse forums.

If desired, a corps may also post the announcement in the general forum. However, a link to the clubhouse forum thread must be provided within the text of the annoncement. (For example: This announcement may be discussed here: link) This thread will then be closed by the moderators. If there are any posts made in the general forum thread, they will be moved to the clubhouse thread.

This includes staff announcements, show announcements, rehearsal announcements, basically any announcement made by a specific corps, regarding that specific corps.

The moderators are more than willing and are able to help you if you have difficulty.

DCA Announcements will be permitted in the General Forum.

General discussion threads not corps specific will be permitted in the General Forum.

The reasoning behind this decision is simple. People come to the General DCA Forum to find out information about whats going on. Lately, the chit-chat has made it much harder for the casual fan to find any information regarding a, b, or c corps. The staff (DCA Forum Moderators, and DCP Administrator Rich Kleinman) feel that this is the best way to handle the difficulty in finding information.

The clubhouse forums are just that: Clubhouses. Places for each corps to discuss what's specific to each corps in a place where it's easiest to find that information. However, we do appreciate the desire to get information disseminated in the quickest and easiest way possible, which is why we're allowing the announcement only to also be copied to the General Forum.

Exceptions to this rule will be made on a case-by-case basis.

We thank you for your understanding regarding this. Feel free to contact any of the DCA Forum Staff if you have any questions.

Regards,

Rich Kleinman (Rich)

Mike Meyer (mikemey)

Geoff Jones (Poodle)

Dave Seip (bluestarcontra)

Kay Eltman (irishcab95)

Ok Ummm am I reading this wrong. But it does say the reason people come to the general thread is to find out what is going on correct. That stuff means.. Staff, Open house pratices Themes. Is that the stuff?

Or is the Stuff .. the who will win DCA's or the polls on Rochester or W/S the stuff. Just wondering so I know where to post my stuff..

So the important stuff will be hidden for the new person to dcp or Senior section, looking for General information about any corps. But they will be able to take a poll on who will win DCA's Even though they can't get info on anyone in DCA's because they don't know where the club house is.

(I just found the club house today because well I generally go to (Take a guess) General information but now that I know that the Genreal information is in the club house under the Specific Corps I will Go there specifically to get the General information when I sign on soo simple :) )