VIP Section

[Daenerys]

This is an awesome idea, and I'm almost up to 1000 myself, this would be cool!

[Moka]

The inviting members into the VIP forum is probably something we want to avoid, because the staff might forget some members or give some members access sooner than they should have. Besides, new members need a tangible goal that they can actually track their progress with for this idea to work.

Also, kicking members out of the VIP section for bad behavior or inactivity is something we probably want to avoid as well. Usually the consequences for breaking rules are universal, not specific to any part of the website. The consequences for inactivity are irrelevant, because the member probably wouldn't be around to receive the consequences.

We need suggestions for the content of the VIP section. In forums, usually the best content is in the most active areas. If a forum has a VIP section, it is usually not as active because the pool of members that have access to it is less than the pool of members that have access to the rest of the forum. That being said, there is less incentive to post in the VIP section, and the VIP section inherently becomes inactive and not worth obtaining access to. So, what would make the VIP section worth obtaining? Can anyone think of content that we could offer?

[KingKivuli]

hmm ideas on what to have in the VIP section... I have an idea what should stay out, the Lion King specific forums, the on topic role play section, maybe the on topic fanfics and possibly the member dens. everything else like the awards, the radio, arcade of topic stuff etc is in the VIP section.

It encourages members to talk about TLK rather than just come here to spam up the arcade, and lets not forget that if we have a post limit we have just added another defence against spammers and trolls

[AdAstrα]

I like that idea! ^ I was on a forum ages ago where, in order to gain access to the off-topic sections, you needed to make a certain amount of on-topic posts. I wasn't a very active member on there so I'm not sure if it helped prevent spam or trolling in any way, but I reckon it could.

[KiarasMate]

I remember when KK suggested something very similar to this quite a while back, and it was unanimously decided that something like this would just inevitably cause a rift amongst the community, so I'm not entirely sure what has changed since then. If anything, it seems like this community wouldn't benefit from anything that sets members apart from one another and makes others feel inferior/superior to other members because they are not considered to be Very Important People. You have the same issue with the ranks and post count too, so nothing is really being fixed in favor of this new addition.

It's like the reason why Moka allows guests to view the entire forum before they decide to join or not. I'd think, as a new member, I'd feel much more welcome in a community that treated everyone as equals and where everything was accessible from the very start. I see a few exceptions to that rule, like the chatbox feature and what not, but I can't really think of anything that could be added to a section of the forum that only some members could access, that wouldn't be more beneficial for the entire forum if it were just made a part of the forum as a whole.

If the idea does go through though, which it probably will, I do like KK's suggestion of putting the off-topic threads in the VIP Section. That would place the focus of the forum entirely upon TLK for new members, although that doesn't really seem like that great of a reward still. I'm sure more suggestions will pop up though. Perhaps if you had a game like Impressive Title or something to that nature, that members would gain access to once they reached this status, then it might be worth it for some people. I really think the forum is better off without something like this though.

[Ushujaa]

i don't know i kind of agree with KM on this one.


If there were a "VIP" section what would be in it? would it take away from non VIP members?

and if it is just a copy of the sections we already have just where spam is more open then maybe the solution lies in just being more strict with the people who do spam.

also this won't prevent spamming, in fact i see it increasing the spam ten fold because people will be spamming the topics to increase there post count to 1000 in order to gain access to the VIP section

i'm still a bit confused on all of this but personally from what I've read i don't really think it's necessary if i've said anything that doesn't sound accurate in my interpretation then please do let me know!

because i'm open to ideas i just think, from what i understand, this is not a good idea

[Azdgari]

If there is, it definitely should have nothing to do with post count. Your number of posts correlates in absolutely no way to the quality of your membership or your contributions to the forum. There are people on here who've said vastly more in a hundred posts than people with upwards of a thousand.

And I disagree with the whole idea in general. I always considered the dens to be the 'VIP' reward... creating a separate section that only certain people have access to... I don't know, it feels like it goes against the spirit of this place. It naturally creates dissent and jealousy among people who aren't in it and a false sense of power for those that are. Why force ourselves to deal with that? And why feel like you need to reward people who have many posts? I feel like a broken record but it's just a number under your name...

If anything, try just getting rid of the post count and watch how people begin to say things not to increase a number but because they're worth saying. My two cents. :3

[FlipMode]

If there were a "VIP" section what would be in it? would it take away from non VIP members?

also this won't prevent spamming, in fact i see it increasing the spam ten fold because people will be spamming the topics to increase there post count to 1000 in order to gain access to the VIP section

Just addressing these two points but people would not know about the VIP section, so would have no reason to spam like that. The idea is that, as far as new members know, they just post and their post count goes up, when they hit 1000 then it will just appear and they be like 0.0.

Which leads me on to...

If there is, it definitely should have nothing to do with post count. Your number of posts correlates in absolutely no way to the quality of your membership or your contributions to the forum. There are people on here who've said vastly more in a hundred posts than people with upwards of a thousand.

And I disagree with the whole idea in general. I always considered the dens to be the 'VIP' reward... creating a separate section that only certain people have access to... I don't know, it feels like it goes against the spirit of this place. It naturally creates dissent and jealousy among people who aren't in it and a false sense of power for those that are. Why force ourselves to deal with that? And why feel like you need to reward people who have many posts? I feel like a broken record but it's just a number under your name...

Again the new members would be none the wiser to the VIP forums existing (I forgot to mention that in the OP, my bad) so they should not have a reason to feel anything negative about it. The only people who will be effected is current members who are not at 1000 yet.

But I do agree with what you are saying, and if I am honest, I may or may not have thought this completely through...

[SophieCub]

I like KK's Idea. Members should have access to the LK related boards plus fanfics and role plays. This way they have plenty of places to post but there is still plenty of boards in the VIP area.

[Azdgari]

But I mean, everyone will probably know. I don't think you can't keep something like that secret.

I also don't like the idea of moving off topic and 'fun' forums to the VIP section. -If- it was secret and nobody knew about it, MLK loses its appeal to new members because they see a strictly Lion King board. And I mean... it's just unfair. Not to be selfish but people like me get pretty screwed. I have like 300 posts or whatever, but I've carefully thought out every one of them. People with 2000 posts in the line by line threads now get to post in the forums I want to and I don't just because they've hit the add reply button more than I have. People like me would leave the forum immediately. :3