Where is everyone else on the Boards team?

ChickenWrap·Mar 26, 2015·10 votes·6,765 views

The only people I ever see responding to Boards Feedback is Frosthaven and Bear Hat Alice.

It's pretty much just Frosthaven talking to us about what's up with the boards and trying to get our problems fixed.

Issues with quoting? Frosthaven's on it. We wanted usergroups on the boards? Frosthaven got them for us. Problems with notifications? Guess who?

Brohaven already has a fix for us.

You know what he did before he got hired at Riot? He was the primary coder and head of the Forum Enhancement Kit 2.0 project. Something League players on the old boards had wanted for such a long time but RIot never gave them. FEK 1.0 had avatars and that was great, but FEK 2.0 brought so, so much more. Those features are things Frosthaven did for us even when he wasn't working at Riot, he still cared enough to do that much for this community (not to mention all the tournaments and events that they held).

He seems to be all over this board helping us and I know he's all over GD being just a completely great guy.

You know what I don't see though? The other guys on the boards team communicating with us or helping us out as much as Frost has, so thank you, Frosthaven. You're an amazing Rioter. Probably one of the ones I like the most and you've really shown to us that you deserve your position at Riot. Keep up the good work, man. They couldn't have hired anyone else better.

46 Comments

RiotZwillMar 30, 20159 votes

Howdy folks!

Interestingly enough, the responsibility for the management of the North American Boards is currently transitioning. The intrepid team that's been working on the Boards beta is working with each of the regions to start addressing our particular needs. When it comes to the North American Boards, we're going to be sharing responsibility for the management of this platform between the North American Player Support Team (folks like Riot D'Artagnan and WookieCookie) and the North American Player Relations Team (ADillonMostDirty and myself).

Just last week we had a day long workshop to discuss the current state of the NA Boards; where they are now, what's on tap, and how we can get them to where they can be. An important part of this will be sharing the discussion had in that meeting (it's a bit of messy list right now), getting your thoughts on our thoughts, listening to your opinions on our takes, and, importantly, getting your individual thoughts. Our ultimate goal is to involve all of you in the discussion and the process of leveling up the Boards community, and this first step will start with some well thought out and organized transparency.

TLDR: Watch for some active collaboration between the team responsible for the NA Boards and you in the not so distant future.

DaenMar 30, 20151 votes

The intrepid team that's been working on the Boards beta is working with each of the regions to start addressing our particular needs.

This might be a dumb question, but does this mean that OCE, for example, would be able to drive certain aspects of the Boards platform such as user groups once this transition is complete?

Our ultimate goal is to involve all of you in the discussion and the process of leveling up the Boards community

Looking forward to it.

RiotZwillMar 30, 20152 votes

This might be a dumb question, but does this mean that OCE, for example, would be able to drive certain aspects of the Boards platform such as user groups once this transition is complete?

No dumb questions :).

It means that we're focusing on the needs that each individual region might have when it comes to the boards community. It's not to say that NA, EUW or OCE would have a tacitly different experience, but there may be nuances that make more sense in different communities.

To me, as someone who's worked with global communities for much of my career, it's refreshing to have the luxury of focusing on one region's needs as relate to the big picture.

DaenMar 30, 20151 votes

Sorry just saw this, thanks for the answer!

SilentNightSonaMar 30, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Zwill,realm=NA,application-id=bzRrPGQO,discussion-id=lctzd0ri,comment-id=0004,timestamp=2015-03-30T18:59:08.619+0000)

Howdy folks!

Interestingly enough, the responsibility for the management of the North American Boards is currently transitioning. The intrepid team that's been working on the Boards beta is working with each of the regions to start addressing our particular needs. When it comes to the North American Boards, we're going to be sharing responsibility for the management of this platform between the North American Player Support Team (folks like Riot D'Artagnan and WookieCookie) and the North American Player Relations Team (ADillonMostDirty and myself).

Just last week we had a day long workshop to discuss the current state of the NA Boards; where they are now, what's on tap, and how we can get them to where they can be. An important part of this will be sharing the discussion had in that meeting (it's a bit of messy list right now), getting your thoughts on our thoughts, listening to your opinions on our takes, and, importantly, getting your individual thoughts. Our ultimate goal is to involve all of you in the discussion and the process of leveling up the Boards community, and this first step will start with some well thought out and organized transparency.

TLDR: Watch for some active collaboration between the team responsible for the NA Boards and you in the not so distant future.

First of all, thank you for posting here and keeping us updated. It means a lot to the boards community as a whole to know the direction this will be taking :)

Secondly, will Tamat still be working with the boards team? Though there were a few misunderstandings in the past, I know he has his heart in the right place and wants these boards to succeed just as much as the rest of us, if not more. I'm still trying to get in contact with him about the GD changes as a whole, but so far things seem to be going in the right direction, and a lot of that is likely his doing.

Last of all, will some of boards management be left up to the team that built it? It seems like giving access of the management tools to the people that built them would be a good idea, but maybe I could be a bit biased :P

RiotZwillMar 30, 20152 votes

Tamat has been working with us on a smooth transition of the day to day management of the boards, so he's definitely been involved.

Holistically, the team that's been working on the boards is going to be shifting into focusing more on the software development aspect of the platform, taking feedback from the different regions and players and focusing on delivering features from a user experience angle. Based on the conversation and planning that's already taken place, IMHO, it's going to be a very collaborative relationship between the teams.

SilentNightSonaMar 30, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Zwill,realm=NA,application-id=bzRrPGQO,discussion-id=lctzd0ri,comment-id=000400010000,timestamp=2015-03-30T20:46:36.905+0000)

Tamat has been working with us on a smooth transition of the day to day management of the boards, so he's definitely been involved.

Holistically, the team that's been working on the boards is going to be shifting into focusing more on the software development aspect of the platform, taking feedback from the different regions and players and focusing on delivering features from a user experience angle. Based on the conversation and planning that's already taken place, IMHO, it's going to be a very collaborative relationship between the teams.

This sounds like it has the potential to be awesome for the boards as a whole, so I hope everything works out well :D

Does this mean we can soon know more about player developed sub-communities, or potentially community moderated content? Both of these tools would be huge assets for GD specifically at least, if placed in the right hands.

RiotZwillMar 30, 20152 votes

Both are things we're keen on.

The question we have to ask ourselves re: both of those features is: "Is the community healthy enough to enact it?"

Right now, I would argue no. There's an imperative, maybe just from a personal sense from the NA Player Relations team, to focus on improving the overall environment here on the boards. That means our own moderation practices, the overall tone and sentiment of the boards, and how safe of a place it is for both Players and Rioters to engage in.

We need to plant the seeds, providing fertile ground for the Boards to grow more healthy and to give features like you're talking about greater opportunity to succeed.

Jumping in a meeting now. Will check on this thread in a bit :).

SilentNightSonaMar 30, 20152 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Zwill,realm=NA,application-id=bzRrPGQO,discussion-id=lctzd0ri,comment-id=00040001000000000000,timestamp=2015-03-30T20:59:56.074+0000)

Both are things we're keen on.

The question we have to ask ourselves re: both of those features is: "Is the community healthy enough to enact it?"

Right now, I would argue no. There's an imperative, maybe just from a personal sense from the NA Player Relations team, to focus on improving the overall environment here on the boards. That means our own moderation practices, the overall tone and sentiment of the boards, and how safe of a place it is for both Players and Rioters to engage in.

We need to plant the seeds, providing fertile ground for the Boards to grow more healthy and to give features like you're talking about greater opportunity to succeed.

Jumping in a meeting now. Will check on this thread in a bit :).

This is a really good point, because the community should be ready for change before that change is enacted, as we saw all to well with the initial switch over to boards from vBulletin in the first place lol. However, I also believe that certain tools can still be used as a catalyst for that change to occur at a faster rate, and more smoothly overall. It's mainly a matter of exactly how each is implemented, and at what time :P

I also have to go to work at the moment, but I will be sure to catch up more on this thread tonight :)

DaenMar 30, 20153 votes

That means our own moderation practices

I very much hope we will be involved in this discussion, as it has been very difficult in the past for the community to have a definitive impact on moderation policy outside of GD. I'll touch on this below, but moderation is one of the cornerstones of what makes a discussion medium inviting. I'm sure the teams are aware of this, but it's incredibly important to make sure participation is encouraged; current moderation practices really don't facilitate this, and in some cases actively discourage people from participating in the platform.

the overall tone and sentiment of the boards

How would you define the tone and sentiment of the Boards currently, and what directions are you interested in exploring?

how safe of a place it is for both Players and Rioters to engage in.

To me, it's really important that future work on the platform is viewed from the perspective of being welcoming rather than safe. Amazing communities aren't built from the mindset of safety, they are created through passion and engagement. Communities are brought together by being encouraged to participate, having tools to engage with each other, and having clear ways to reach out in regards to the bigger picture.

Adding police officers to a bad environment might make it safer, but encouraging a positive community through social tools like schools and infrastructure within that environment is far more likely to effect sustainable change. You may need to increase safety (buff the police force) to encourage that growth, but the focus is on social interaction rather than specifically focusing on increased safety.

RiotZwillMar 30, 20152 votes

I very much hope we will be involved in this discussion, as it has been very difficult in the past for the community to have a definitive impact on moderation policy outside of GD.

I know that D'Artaganon and WookieCookie are both keen on having this conversation with y'all, so I won't tread on their toes with that subject. We all have some thoughts on moderation philosophies and that's an active discussion internally.

How would you define the tone and sentiment of the Boards currently, and what directions are you interested in exploring?

To be blunt, right now the Boards are flooded with "Riot Plz" and that's drowning out most other conversation. It's understandable, but we need to focus on the why and the how of this: why is it happening...well, we have a pretty clear idea on that, and how can we address it in a sustainable way? We could answer every "Riot Plz" and they wouldn't slow down, so how can we provide an experience that doesn't feel dominated by these posts.

To wax a bit more philosophical, the current tone on the boards leans towards combative with a side of whimsy. I believe it's on us to find ways to surface productive conversations, like this one, without curtailing the ability of Players and Rioters to jump in on the whimsy.

Final thought; I think we need to promote an environment where speaking to each other like fellow human beings is encouraged and celebrated. There are lots of levers to pull and dials to turn on this, and we all need to be open to what those might be.

To me, it's really important that future work on the platform is viewed from the perspective of being welcoming rather than safe. Amazing communities aren't built from the mindset of safety, they are created through passion and engagement.

I don't believe that the two are mutually exclusive of each other. In order to draw people who create amazing communities, your leaders, creators, and advocates, you need to ensure that there is a safe environment in which they can grow and flourish. In my experience, a safe environment = a welcoming environment and will, by nature, encourage passionate engagement.

Adding police officers to a bad environment might make it safer, but encouraging a positive community through social tools like schools and infrastructure within that environment is far more likely to effect sustainable change.

We're on the same page here Daen. I'm more interested in affecting positive social change on a large scale than I am in a police state.

We should also be open to the concept of evaluating things like the Universal Rules from time to time. As our community grows and matures, it's needs will change.

DaenMar 30, 20152 votes

we need to focus on the why and the how of this: why is it happening...well, we have a pretty clear idea on that

Out of curiosity, what is the why and the how of this from Riot's perspective?

To wax a bit more philosophical, the current tone on the boards leans towards combative with a side of whimsy. I believe it's on us to find ways to surface productive conversations, like this one, without curtailing the ability of Players and Rioters to jump in on the whimsy.

I have my own tribal biases and whatnot, but it seems to me there is a lot of focus on how Rioters can interact best with players and vice versa rather than facilitating player-player interaction. I mention this a lot, but this community is one of the most developer-focused I have ever seen. This is good in that there is lots of back and forth communication, but it's bad in the sense that the players may never really form a community of their own that can support itself. Is this something you have noticed?

I don't believe that the two are mutually exclusive of each other. In order to draw people who create amazing communities, your leaders, creators, and advocates, you need to ensure that there is a safe environment in which they can grow and flourish.

Oh absolutely, and I didn't mean to insinuate they aren't. I just wonder whether it's the right approach to go for safety rather than invitation.

In my experience, a safe environment = a welcoming environment and will, by nature, encourage passionate engagement.

Analogy!

Environment #1

The DMV, with folding metal chairs and a white tile floor, a police officer keeping watch in case you need him/her.

Environment #2

A colorful carpeted room filled with beanbag chairs, can call the police if you need it.

Granted, this is a really biased portrayal, but in which environment would you rather have a party? Environment #2 is technically less safe, but it's far more inviting and encourages positive behavior just by its innate nature.

What I'm getting at is that safety isn't enough to draw people in on its own, especially people who focus on creating amazing communities. A safe but sterile community can directly discourage participation, whereas a volatile but inviting community becomes compelling for those interested in participation. It's important to ensure there is a safe environment, but in my personal opinion it's more important to ensure there is a compelling environment.

I'm more interested in affecting positive social change on a large scale than I am in a police state.

100% agreed. Just keep in mind, the vast majority of us want this too. The Boards platform can be a scary place, but it's an interesting exercise to consider the mechanics of this community in comparison to desire thereof. All things considered there is very little player-player interaction happening right now that reinforces the community and makes us stronger as a whole, and it's fascinating to consider whether this might be due to people feeling unsafe or feeling unwelcome.

We should also be open to the concept of evaluating things like the Universal Rules from time to time.

Definitely. For the most part the rules should be pretty obvious to the majority (don't be asshats, victory!), but some of the nuance may indeed change over time.

RiotZwillMar 30, 20152 votes

Analogy!

Ahhh, yes I see the differentiation you're making now.

To me, safety denotes a place where Players of all backgrounds don't feel as though extraneous circumstances have any sort of sway over their ability to express themselves.

Obvious ways that this can surface are sexual orientation, age, gender, religion and race. Not so obvious ways this can surface are in game skill levels, learning disabilities, and overall familiarity with the community (i.e.; new players vs. vets).

Perhaps it's because of my immediate experience, but I don't associate safety with sterility, I actually see safe environments being more vibrant and welcoming :).

YMMV of course.

DaenMar 30, 20152 votes

To me, safety denotes a place where Players of all backgrounds don't feel as though extraneous circumstances have any sort of sway over their ability to express themselves.

Fair point. Do you feel this is the main thing that's needed for people (both players and Rioters) to feel more comfortable about participating in the platform?

Not so obvious ways this can surface overall familiarity with the community (i.e.; new players vs. vets).

Riot Plz New Player Forum

Mostly kidding, though the Boards platform is not very welcoming to new players currently with the ~level 7 posting cap and no dedicated section for them.

Perhaps it's because of my immediate experience, but I don't associate safety with sterility, I actually see safe environments being more vibrant and welcoming :).

I think we're seeing eye to eye now, thanks for outlining your thoughts. I guess I'm a little concerned with it because of the original Boards mentality of content over creator. To me the removal of custom Riot avatars, smaller avatars and badges in general, the requirement to hover in order to see titles and badges, etc. contributed a bit to homogeneity on this platform, and I just don't want to see the focus on safety impact any other social features.

RiotZwillMar 30, 20154 votes

Do you feel this is the main thing that's needed for people (both players and Rioters) to feel more comfortable about participating in the platform?

I feel like it's one step. Hostility and hyperbole discourages both Player and Rioter engagement. Personally, I feel like an overall lift in tone will improve both Player to Player engagement and Player to Rioter engagement.

Mostly kidding, though the Boards platform is not very welcoming to new players currently with the ~level 7 posting cap and no dedicated section for them.

It's valid feedback. Our challenge is obviously protecting the boards from malicious attacks (spambots creating a schload of level 1 accounts and flooding the Boards more than they do), but if you have suggestions for lowering that barrier to entry, please share!

General board structure is also something that's on the table right now, so dedicated sections are something we can, and should, discuss.

To me the removal of custom Riot avatars, smaller avatars and badges in general, the requirement to hover in order to see titles and badges, etc. contributed a bit to homogeneity on this platform, and I just don't want to see the focus on safety impact any other social features.

Customizable player experience is something I am personally keen on. An example: personally, I'm not a fan of the darker color scheme here and would like something to go with a lighter look and feel. Things that allow individual players to tweak their boards experience would be, IMHO, a win.

While I'm not an engineer, I will certainly be an advocate for said options.

Sufficed to say, there's no shortage of ideas around here, both from you guys and Rioters. Ultimately it comes down to hours in the day and coders/designers/producers to make it happen.

DaenMar 30, 20152 votes

Our challenge is obviously protecting the boards from malicious attacks (spambots creating a schload of level 1 accounts and flooding the Boards more than they do), but if you have suggestions for lowering that barrier to entry, please share!

How was this addressed on the old vBulletin forum?

I'm not necessarily saying the level cap is the bad part, there's just nowhere for new players to talk to each other or with more experienced players in a constructive setting.

Customizable player experience is something I am personally keen on.

+1 good sir. To be honest I was talking more about diversity and players being able to be visually distinct from each other rather than customization, but that's something I would love to see as well!

personally, I'm not a fan of the darker color scheme here and would like something to go with a lighter look and feel.

Shh shh, hold up. Do you hear that sound? That's the sound of thousands of people agreeing with you. :D

I kid, I kid, but this is definitely something people have been super into as a potential addition. This is totally anecdotal, but I feel like the dark color scheme is potentially less inviting than one that's a bit lighter and/or slightly more colorful.

Sufficed to say, there's no shortage of ideas around here, both from you guys and Rioters. Ultimately it comes down to hours in the day and coders/designers/producers to make it happen.

Can't say I'm surprised. It's a shame the technical stuff gets in the way, eh?

TortferngatrMar 30, 20151 votes

Hmm. It might be useful to have certain "tags" that can be appended to a thread that can be searched for/selected for display.

For example, a thread about Mages on Dominion's bot lane might have [Dominion], [Dominion Bot Lane], and [Mage] tags. If you wanted to only see threads about Mages, you would select the [Mage] tag.

It could help with certain forums that share similar purposes (such as discussing in-game mechanics/balance)--if you were interested in discussing the balance of mages and assassins in mid lane, you would tag [Mid Lane] [Assassin] [Mage].

One challenge might be to have "supertags" that automatically include certain tags as part of them--so one could put in "Dominion" as a tag in Maps and Modes and have threads with "Dominion bot lane" tagged and "Dominion top lane/jungle" tagged both show up (without the thread authors having to manually put Dominion tags in front of them.) Or put in "Summoner's Rift" as a tag and have Mid Lane, Jungle, Bot Lane, and Top Lane threads show up (without TT/Dominion/ARAM threads showing up.) Or put in "Temporary game modes" and have Ascension, Hexakill, Hexakill TT, Doom Bots, URF, NURF, One for All, One for All Mirror Mode, Showdown, Nemesis Draft, and Legend of the Poro King threads show up.

Sir ArmaMalumMar 31, 20151 votes

Things that allow individual players to tweak their boards experience would be, IMHO, a win.

-- Zwill

In case you missed it, there was actually a trend way back when to use a Browser add-on Stylish and its CSS application to create site 'skins'.

Here are a few examples:

General Themes by a few different people
Wide Format by Ezreal Edgeworth
Universal Colors by MXXIV

Using a third party add-on naturally has its limits but these are as good as any explanation of other options people may want. Not to mention you can try them out yourself. Some in the General Themes link have some swanky additions like a profile widget that scrolls with you and a more noticeable OP comment marking.

The stylish add-on can be found here and works for Chrome and Firefox.

TortferngatrMar 30, 20151 votes

I would also personally add "people who primarily play maps and modes other than 5v5 Summoner's Rift" to the not-so-obvious ways that can surface. Physical and Sensory disabilities could also be potential places to look.

I can agree with safety leading to greater potential for vibrancy--parts of the community with unique experiences can come out of the woodwork to share ideas that other people more in the "mainstream" might not have been able to realize themselves without feeling trampled on.

Again, YMMV.

TortferngatrMar 30, 20151 votes

Hmm. How would you rate each individual subforum culture right now?

KoboldMar 30, 20153 votes

So I'm going to be the bad guy here and ask when you are going to do something about segregating/dividing the community? I as a player should not have to rely more on sites like S@20 to see what The developers are saying more than I do the red tracker. If there is no plans to make your own website the primary source of information for your players then why were the forums changed into Boards specifically to feel like Reddit so that the reddit community comes over here. It didnt work they stayed at reddit and you lost many people who posted frequently when you made the transition after telling us you wouldnt force it. Why has there been zero work done to try to make the red tracker into a source for all Developer information? I shouldn't have to go to reddit to give feedback on a idea that affects the game.

The least you could do is have a connection so when a Rioter posts on Reddit it shows up on the red tracker so that those on the forums can contribute at the very least. I know some people like their circle jerks over on reddit and thats fine but unless you don't care about a section of your community you need to do something and fast. More and more im seeing things over on reddit from developers and by the time i and many others even learn about it its too late as the dev couldnt care less about any feedback after the initial few hours.

DaenMar 30, 20152 votes

<snip>

For the most part I agree. It's very strange to me that Surrender@20 is better at providing centralized Riot communications than Riot itself, and I don't really understand why important communication like Tryndamere's AMA on communication happens elsewhere (e.g. reddit) and is never even mentioned in passing on the official communication platform (the Boards).

That being said, it's a tough issue. Individual Rioters have preferences on the mediums and locations they communicate, just like you and me. How does Riot go about ensuring communication is amalgamated properly on the Boards without being either overly obtrusive or requiring tons of man-power to accumulate?

KoboldMar 30, 20153 votes

Quite easily really. They already have a required lesson that Rioters have to go through before they can post anything about the game. Now all the would have to do is have the people who go through this be required to link the account they are going to use up to the system to automatically show any posts they do on the Social media sites or third party sites (Twitter most likely excluded) on the red tracker. This would of course require some modifications to the way the red tracker functions and a sorting method be made but it would allow all players who visit the site to have all the information regarding what is going on in the games development.

RiotZwillMar 30, 20152 votes

Hi Corvic,

I agree that we need to work on improving how we surface Rioter engagement. We have our own ideas, and many of them are similar to what you discussed above, but any additional suggestions are welcome.

I wasn't around for the initial design of the Red Tracker. I'll bring this subject up with the Boards team so I can understand their reasoning around the current design. Off the top of my head, I can see some inherent risk in features linking out to third party sites (not to say Reddit is dangerous), but a thorough understanding would help.

DaenMar 30, 20154 votes

Solid response.

There are certain posts that are blatantly important (e.g. Tryndamere's reddit AMA on communication) where I feel like it's crucial they are displayed on the Boards somehow, even if it's just a quick post on the platform saying "Hey guys, I'm doing an AMA on reddit at this link, come check it out!". It doesn't necessarily have to be hardcoded into the Red Tracker, but things of that level of importance really should be passed through the Boards. Is that sort of along the lines of what you're thinking?

KoboldMar 31, 20151 votes

The reason it needs to be hard coded in is due to what we saw after the Communication AMA on reddit. Tryndamere himself came onto the boards to talk about why he did it on reddit and didn't tell anyone on the boards about it. His response was that he didn't think about posting it to the boards which means the boards were an afterthought or were of no concern. Thus hard coding it would allow Rioters who forget or don't use the boards to have the content linked for them in case of them forgetting to post it here. It could also lead to redoing the red tracker all together and allowing it to cover more than just the languages spoken for that server.

I'll explain this, With the multiple development groups within Riot Games being based in different countries there is a language barrier that exists and information that players who do not know the language or actively search for this information would not find (Tencent Chinese run LoL Forums as an example). By recreating the way the red tracker functions Riot could allow it to show all the different regions developer posts. It would be redesigned with dropboxes and checkboxes for certain information/communication types, possibly even going so far as to create a Translation set for the posts. This could then allow a player to have a customized view of the Red tracker only showing information they would find relevant or would be able to read but can change it at anytime to see others.

Now this would be a massive undertaking that would take most likely at least 9 months to complete but would allow Riot to have a much better Communication to their playerbase through it.

DaenMar 31, 20153 votes

His response was that he didn't think about posting it to the boards which means the boards were an afterthought or were of no concern. Thus hard coding it would allow Rioters who forget or don't use the boards to have the content linked for them in case of them forgetting to post it here.

To me, this is more of a policy problem than anything. I understand that there are lots of different methods through which Rioters feel comfortable communicating, but the official centrally designed Boards platform should really be a conduit for all of those different methods. If even Tryndamere considers the Boards to be an afterthought, it's unlikely that any real policy is established in that regard.

Red Tracker improvements

Indeed. This is definitely a highly requested feature, but it's a tough thing to implement both from a technical standpoint and a design/ux standpoint.

RetillinMar 30, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Riot Zwill,realm=NA,application-id=bzRrPGQO,discussion-id=lctzd0ri,comment-id=00040001000000000000,timestamp=2015-03-30T20:59:56.074+0000)

Both are things we're keen on.

The question we have to ask ourselves re: both of those features is: "Is the community healthy enough to enact it?"

Right now, I would argue no. There's an imperative, maybe just from a personal sense from the NA Player Relations team, to focus on improving the overall environment here on the boards. That means our own moderation practices, the overall tone and sentiment of the boards, and **how safe of a place it is for both Players and Rioters to engage in. **

We need to plant the seeds, providing fertile ground for the Boards to grow more healthy and to give features like you're talking about greater opportunity to succeed.

Jumping in a meeting now. Will check on this thread in a bit :).

Are you saying, and I could just be reading into it, that Rioters are scared/afraid of negative feedback/reactions from the boards? I admit in the last year (15-16 months) it has seemed that Riot has done a worse and worse job communicating (as Riot has admitted). This has lead to a more toxic community over all. (Less feedback from Riot leads to anger from the forums/reddit/ect... and this drives more more Rioters away from the forums and this increases more anger from the community ect...)

I guess, if I understand you correctly, shouldn't Riot be working on communication more than anything else?

DaenMar 30, 20151 votes

Are you saying, and I could just be reading into it, that Rioters are scared/afraid of negative feedback/reactions from the boards?

Yes. Numerous Rioters have outright said that they are scared to post on the Boards, especially in GD.

(Less feedback from Riot leads to anger from the forums/reddit/ect... and this drives more more Rioters away from the forums and this increases more anger from the community ect...)

This is an interesting point, and it's pretty complicated to resolve. It's a vicious cycle until reaching a certain equilibrium of interaction, and there are tons of other factors like socialization tools and community management that play into it.

To me it's a pretty significant problem that so many people's perception of this community is that it's meant to facilitate player <-> Riot interaction. That is not a healthy community, and the fact everything is so segmented really isn't helping anything. General Discussion is the only board that really even feels like a community rather than just a series of messages, and it's pretty much all based on a foundation of minor trolling.

RetillinMar 30, 20151 votes

Well here's the thing. If Riot wants a less toxic community, then they have to put forth the first step. I know it sounds like I am blaming Riot, but the thing is they are ONE entity. While the boards are made up of such a large number of individuals. That makes it next to impossible for the forum goes to change their culture unless there is a HUGE cultural shift on Riot's end.

Take what happened this past holiday. There were a LOT of posts about Riot and a lack of communication. (Right or not, these posts were everywhere so there had to be some bit of truth to them) Then Rioters such as Ghostcrawler can on and basically said "sorry it was the holiday but we will do better, that is one of our major goals". However outside of GD this has not happened, and one could argue the lack of communication has gotten worse.

tl;dr If Riot wishes to change the culture they have to put forward the first major effort.

ActuallyArrowMar 26, 20152 votes

I see Medler every now and then.

DaenMar 26, 20151 votes

Meddler is not part of the Boards team, which is what this thread is specifically referring to. You aren't wrong, but I just wanted to point that out.

ActuallyArrowMar 26, 20151 votes

Oh, he isn't? I am thinking of Reds, aren't I?

DaenMar 26, 20151 votes

Within Riot, to my knowledge, people are organized in two ways: their hired role and the projects they are on. For this particular thread, I think we're talking about the Rioters assigned to the Boards project:

Tamat
Pendragon
Frosthaven
Sweet
Bear Hat Alice
Kryhlos
molotovcocktail

I apologize if I missed anyone. Meddler is a champion designer, and I don't believe he's part of the team working on the Boards platform.

ActuallyArrowMar 26, 20151 votes

Well, then I guess you proved your point. Because the only ones on that list I knew was Alice and cocktail.

ShenronMar 26, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Well, then I guess you proved your point. Because the only ones on that list I knew was Alice and cocktail.

Haven't seen either of them in a LOOOONG ass time

ChickenWrapMar 27, 20152 votes

{quoted}

Haven't seen either of them in a LOOOONG ass time

It's almost like they've abandoned us within the past few months =(

DaenMar 27, 20152 votes

To be fair Tamat has been on vacation for all of March, but it doesn't really explain the fact the last Boards feature update was ~six months ago. At least one of three things seems to be happening, in descending order of concern:

The platform is very low priority (very concerning)
The platform is extremely difficult to work on (concerning)
Policy is getting in the way of feature releases (somewhat concerning)

ShenronMar 26, 20151 votes

I haven't even seen Alice in ages, the only person who does anything boards related anymore is Frosthaven

ChickenWrapMar 26, 20151 votes

{quoted}

I haven't even seen Alice in ages

Admittedly she's kind of disappeared.

RiotMaliceCityMar 30, 20152 votes

Not intentionally! I have been pretty swamped with work on the Boards and related platforms recently and unfortunately one of the first things to go has been spending time on Boards Feedback responding to stuff.

Kuronii LumiiraMar 26, 20151 votes

Damn straight. He's definitely there for us, listening to our concerns, engaging with the community, etc. Honestly, he's my favourite Rioter because of this.

ShenronMar 26, 20154 votes

[{quoted}](name=Kuronii Lumiira,realm=NA,application-id=bzRrPGQO,discussion-id=lctzd0ri,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-03-26T21:32:34.275+0000)

Damn straight. He's definitely there for us, listening to our concerns, engaging with the community, etc. Honestly, he's my favourite Rioter because of this.

At the moment I'm under the impression that He and KateyChaos are the only Rioters not on the Balance or Esports teams that are still employed

DaenMar 26, 20151 votes

We wanted usergroups on the boards? Frosthaven got them for us.

And subsequently the feature has sat in a dusty cupboard, waiting for someone to do something with it.

ShenronMar 26, 20152 votes

{quoted}

And subsequently the feature has sat in a dusty cupboard, waiting for someone to do something with it.

Classic Rito

SilentNightSonaMar 30, 20151 votes

Final note, I forget which Rioter said this in the past regarding to the switch over to boards, but even if the community is not ready for a change, it may be best to go through with it anyways for better future opportunities. If the GD community had their way, we would still be on vBulletin today, regardless of the numerous problems, including security leaks, that have been brought up since the switch over (and some even before then). We know what changes had to made eventually, but sometimes timing doesn't always seem to work out on both ends of the spectrum.