The mess this forum became

[Bricket]

Let's get straight to the point: the forum is a mess at the moment.
Many users think the same way and I don't correct them: the forum has lost a lot of his former day glamour.

Where to start?
Simple: the decline in new members
The amount of new members is getting lower and lower and the amount of active users is also decreasing at an alarming rate.
Do we, members, see any action undertaken to counter this? No, we don't.

Which brings me to me second point: The forum crashes more than the economy of Venezuela.
Most of the time this forum is more offline than online, so how can we keep members if they can't even enter the forum. Or how do we attract new members if they can't even open the webpage without having to wait 2 days to then see another crash happening.

Third point: obscure forumrules.
The Forum rules are complicated and are formulated in such a way that it is open for perception for everyone, for example: A mod can remove something because it was against the rules whilst another mod or user can see it perfectly fitting in the rules. I say: let's go for simple rules, KISS method.

4th point and probably the most radical and offensing one: there is no democracy here.
Honestly, there is none. You have the admins and big moderators but that's it, there is little feeling with the new users of the forum.
When there is a rule change or an urgent issue to resolve there is no listening ear to the "normal" users.

End this "forum-elite", hold elections for new Admins and major moderators, give the members of this forum a right to vote and represent themselves. If you dont do this, chances are the forum will be dead within now and less than a year.

5th point of criticism: where does the donated money go.
Seriously, with all these crashes I see people asking themselves: where does my money go to?
Staff/Crew, show us the money; show us the amount of collected money and show us where it goes to, we want clearity.



I recognise that what I've written here can be badly recieved by people but this is not a rant because I want to rant but a sign of concern about this forum and I deeply hope that the people who're responsible take this in consideration with future actions and like a politician once said: Make TFF Great Again.
I thank you

[Ventus Fall]

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, Bricket. I just want to post my thoughts and feelings here, heck, maybe you might think differently about moderators. Maybe not. Anyways, here I go.

I've been a member on this forum for over 4,5 years now. I've only recently became a moderator. And why?
Because I love these forums. I've found friends here and I always want to help out where I can in whatever way I can. I've always tried to be there for others and I never got any complaints.
So if you felt this way about moderators, I find it unfair you'd post it publicly before talking to us about it.

You say former days, and while you have been around since March of this year, it's still not a fair comparison.
What was better than a few months ago? What was worse?
I still see we gain mroe and more members each year, exponential growth. The forum also gets attacked more and more because more people find it (good and bad people). While I agree the forums (especially this last week) has been down more than up, Tweak has been trying to get it back up every time. In fact, we tried to make the Help area more convenient and noticeable for all the members by shifting the Helpdesk to an actual board instead where people can talk about it. There you can see as well the updates on the forum downtimes, errors, and when Tweak (or anyone else) fixed it or has a solution.

Remember, this forum is run by volunteers. And we've been trying to push changes through bit by bit to make sure the forums is and stays a fun place to be, as well as making activity between members easier as well.
We as a team have been having a few difficult moments, and we're slowly but surely getting through them. I can assure you of that.
Heck, I'm not maybe 'high up', but I am still a moderator. But first and foremost all moderators are members as well. The only difference is we want to keep the forums safe and its members. For that we need rules, and sometimes we need to be harsh. We also care about you all too.
I can say to a degree there is democracy. We have boards you can share your input. Like I said, we moved the Helpdesk to an actual board. You can post suggestions in there, mention bugs, ask your questions. We set that up for a reason to ease communication hopefully between the staff team and the rest of the forums, the members.
Besides, most -if not all- things we discuss in the team is done by discussing, takling about it. No decision is made 'just because'. No decision is made to 'be the boss'. We all talk about things going on in the forums and we make a decision after various staff members have given their thoughts about the subject matters.
If there is anything you think we're not taking into account, or have any suggestions for making the rules clearer, again, mention it in the appropriate board: https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?board=137.0

These forums have been online for [i[yeeaars[/i]. This forum has been up since 2006 (November). That's 10 years.

This forum has been running a whole lot better compared to the years prior, in my experience. And that was before I became a moderator too.
I stand by my point it is an unfair comparison to say the forums is doing worse than before, when not even a full year is being compared, let alone a couple of years.

If you have any problems you can tell us, please do so. I'll be honest, these points seem unfair and very vague.
Making the rules clearer? We've done that. That happened, because the rules were too general, too simple and too loop-holey. There is a reason why they have been formulated to what they are now.
But that doesn't mean you can't give suggestions in the Suggestions board about reshaping rules. Mention clearly what you want to suggest, and we will take a look at it.

As for forum donations: You don't ahve to give any if you don't want to.
It is stated what it's being used for, although I do admit I felt in the beginning too it was very vague what the money is exactly used for. I do feel it could be a bit clearly what it's being used for, but think of this:
Setting a website online.
Getting a domain name.
Having it protected.
Having it running every month, every year.
Having a huge database for all the members, pictures, posts being made, etc.

These are all things that lead up to a high cost for the forum being online.
Nothing is free on this Earth. If you don't want to donate, that's totally fine, but please keep in mind this is a very secured site, a very busy site too.
A few years ago it was even unsure if the forum could stay up, because Tweak is paying this all from his own pocket. If no donations are being made at all, we could head for that same situation again. Luckily we haven't, but it's a possibility.
As of which: "Show us how much is being collected"?
You can?
It's on the home page when people donate, there is this bar that fills up and you can see the total amount of money that has been donated.

In all honesty, you do have a saying in how the forum is being run:
1) Communicate with each other. Not only with members, but with moderators too.
2) When you see something that breaks the rules? Click the report button. It's there for a reason. We can't see everything that's going on. We always appreciate some help too.
3) Post suggestions or questions in the boards we have. Talk with us there as well.

I might have repeated a few things here and there, but I'm simply stressing it worries me when people don't reach out to me/us and then complain about us/me.
It's sad and gets us nowhere.

I hope this post will help you in some way.
Take care, Bricket.

[Bricket]

First and for all, thank you for the response.
But this brings me to the following points

You say former days, and while you have been around since March of this year, it's still not a fair comparison.

I've been for a while here as a lurker, someone watching what was going on here.
So I'm sure I know what I'm talking about.

So if you felt this way about moderators, I find it unfair you'd post it publicly before talking to us about it.

It's not about feelings here, feelings are a terrible guideline.
I don't "feel" this way about moderators, I just see management issues happening. I know it sounds a bit harsh but trust me, I don't have any dislike against any staffmember.

I still see we gain mroe and more members each year, exponential growth.

Allright, do this simple math trick: Active members - non-active members and post the result how many people are still active.
Active members are defined as: having done atleast 5 hours in total in the forum. This is a very low setting.
Then you do the following: (new members : amount of members become inactive)*100, if the percentage is higher than 100 then you have a net gain of new members. If you don't: you have an issue.

As for forum donations: You don't ahve to give any if you don't want to.
It is stated what it's being used for, although I do admit I felt in the beginning too it was very vague what the money is exactly used for. I do feel it could be a bit clearly what it's being used for, but think of this:
Setting a website online.
Getting a domain name.
Having it protected.
Having it running every month, every year.
Having a huge database for all the members, pictures, posts being made, etc.

This one is the most interesting part: show us an image where we see the amount of collected money but also the expendature: how much has been spend on what aspect, this will encourage people to donate more money and more transparancy will help alot.

I can say to a degree there is democracy.

If you have to say this, then there is no democracy;
I'm not pleading for a libertarian forum here, get me right  but I want more transparancy. Give admins limited time in terms and term limits. Have people the option to choose who can become next mod/major function. This way people will actually support the staff and this will help the synergy of the forum with an incredible huge amount.


To conclude: this not a personal attack to anyone or an attempt to.
It's me, Bricket, Adressing major management issues that I'm seeing happening and we need to do something about it.
Break-up the "haze" around the staff, which does a good job in moderating (when something is good it has to be said), and go for more transparancy.
Go for the glass box method of "discussing in the staff-area", do more "elections", allow more imput.

Tiny remark:

If you have any problems you can tell us, please do so. I'll be honest, these points seem unfair and very vague.

Dismissing my points as unfair or vague doesn't really help alot 


But like I said: thank you for the response. I'm glad to see that the remarks are being heard and seen.
And I wish to the whole staff of this beautiful Forum: a happy and Great (with a Capital G) 2017! 



Post Merge: December 31, 2016, 02:36:03 PMOh yes, this is what I've forgotten to say:

I want to do a thank you to the staff/crew for giving up their hours they could have spended to something completely else to give us, the members/users/lurkers, a fun forum.
So, thank you 

[Vosur Aekira]

I will go through a few points that you may have not caught in how things have been working, Bricket.

To explain on points 1 and 2: I'm member number 997, having started in April of 2007... so almost ten years ago, there were less than 1000. Since then we have steadily climbed to 23,000 and I see new members still coming in daily, despite any downtime that we do have. If the forums were fully stagnating as you believe it to be, then there would be less DoS attempts happening (as people would be losing interest in attacking here), but we experience such attempts on a multiple-times-per-day basis. Now eventually, someone gets through and successfully causes problems. And to be honest, I do not think you have had enough experience to understand how this place has been running unless you've been here for multiple years... there are shifts in activity based on certain times of the year, especially since a greater number of the people that come here are of school/college/working age. Also, we are not just a "USA-only" forum, but we have members from other countries, we have members of other sleep/work shifts, so of course not everyone who uses the forums will be online at the same time.


In point #3: The "obscure forum rules" are actually there to keep the forum legal (as some actions that you might feel are okay might result in the forums being shut down) along with being safe, mainly due to the fact that we have minors (individuals under the age of 18) present in the forums. If you'd like to clarify which rules specifically are obscure to you, please do bring it up or talk with a staff member through PM's if you feel that you need further clarification on why certain rules are the way they are.

For point #4: Because Tweak is the owner, his role in the forums will not change if there's to be any semblance of forum-network stability. He is the one who gets the forums back up and running if there are issues (which he has been pulling overtime for us as of late). He doesn't just pay the bill for running this place, he actually monitors the inner-workings and will work on the issues at-hand personally. Because of this, he chooses people based off of their experience, we're not chosen randomly or for no reason. He sees what we do and he acts accordingly if it is necessary for him to intervene and he appoints positions to us based off of what we do in the forums. Also to add, people have declined from being staff members before and staff members have requested to step down, then there are also staff members who have been removed, so not everyone stays in their position forever. Now, with that portion out of the way, he has (quite often I might add) taken input from us and has been doing work based on such input that has come from us.  If you want, put up a thread in the Suggestions Board ( https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?board=137.0 )

For point #5: https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php Left side, under "Donations". That goal amount (100 USD) is how much it takes to upkeep the server for here per month If we don't get that amount, it comes out of Tweak's pocket because he is the owner of the forums. We have (sometimes) hit over that amount, which he has put aside for trying to upgrade the forums' capability, but often months that go under have been balancing out/exceeding those that we go over... so in a sense, Tweak has been paying for the forums out of his own pocket ever since he became the owner. "Where does the money go?" Guess the simple answer would be "Rent of the server."

[Bricket]

I will go through a few points that you may have not caught in how things have been working, Bricket.

And to be honest, I do not think you have had enough experience to understand how this place has been running unless you've been here for multiple years...

Because I'm not long enough my points don't matter?
How interesting.
This doesn't help at all, putting people aside for "not being long enough around" is to be frankly a very poor attempt, my apologies for putting it like this but your argumentation doesn't seem to be good there.

If someone sees issues that need to be solved, then you better listen to the person and try to look into the issues he's adressing instead of putting it aside.

""Where does the money go?" Guess the simple answer would be "Rent of the server.""
-Vosur Aekira-
Put it in charts.
Seriously, put in charts how much comes into via donations, how much is being spend on every bits and piece of the forum.
For example: source A brings in X amount of money, Source B bring Y amount of money. Then chart 2: Expendature A: X amount of money, B: Y amount of money, C: Z amount of money.

"Because of this, he chooses people based off of their experience, we're not chosen randomly or for no reason. He sees what we do and he acts accordingly if it is necessary for him to intervene and he appoints positions to us based off of what we do in the forums."
-Vosur Aekira-
This is basically asking for nepotism which I hope doesn't happen.


To conclude what I said: Be more transparent. This will only benefit everyone;
There is nothing to hide so why not be transparent, show us all what you guys do.
Don't keep it hidden, go public with it. That's the only way of the future.

Also those 23.000 members? How many fit in the criteria I proposed?


Post-edit Note: Because of a weird bug I can't properly quote.
Text in Green is Quoted from Vosu Aekire previous post

[Malina]

I agree with bricket that the regular members should have a bigger say in the way the forums are run, and that the current setup tends to deter new/existing members rather than attract and welcome them. I mean that's just my opinion but it seems to be a common one. For the most part I see the work the mods do as excellent and they do do a good job at it, but Bricket makes some very valid points I agree with, and I see them being brushed away. This forum is much better than others I've come across (cough cough furryteens.org cough) but it's also not perfect. Bricket's ideas represent more people than I first thought and I feel if they're acted upon it would give the forums a better, more welcoming atmosphere.


Again, these are just my opinions and for the most part I love being a member on this site. So a sincere thank you to the mods here for providing such a good place, and I hope we can make it even better 

[Vosur Aekira]

To Bricket:

Then I'll ask you a few questions: Have you seen a full-year of activity where you can tell where the high-rises and the low-points of activity are? Which seasons/months would hold the most active members and having seen not just one instance of full activity but numerous instances? Forum activity drops when the school year tends to start (most of the users go to school during this time), then it drops even further when the holidays happen (most of the users get pulled away from their own homes to go visit extended families). It rises again usually when spring rolls around and is usually at peak when summer is in effect. I've personally seen this, often with "highest record number of active users" along with periods of it just being myself present when I do my normal rounds. Activity usually roller-coasters throughout the year.

Okay, I'll put it like this for the donations: If he gets less than 100 USD, ALL of the donations, minus the paypal fees that are automatically withdrawn (outside Tweak's control), is put into the server payment plus whatever the difference would be. A prime example would be the month of December as it shows: We've only received ONE 50 USD donation. Paypal is going to take out 2.50 from that, leaving 47.50. Tweak is going to be paying up the remaining 52.50 out of his own pocket for upkeeping this place. It costs 100 USD per month to keep these forums running. If we get any extra (beyond the required 100 to pay to the server), he sets it aside for months such as these, or if we actually maintain in getting enough over/get so much over in one month's span, then he starts looking into hardware investments to possibly improve the forums' server. If you want up-to-date numbers, the home-page's donation section actually shows it. https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php (left side, under Donations) if you want to see the raw numbers, the cost to run the forums per month is 100 USD. No other income comes into the forums than those you see in the list on the left of that page. Whatever is "below goal" is what Tweak has to pay from his own pocket, that where all the money is going.

Lastly, nepotism (interesting choice of word to use for this, we're not closely blood-related to my better knowledge and I've generally held this position in staff longer than he's been an Admin here). I specified 'experience', not favoritism or nepotism. We see users who actively contribute to the forums, then we see also what they've done (warnings, bans attached to them, prior history). Those who have not only had been doing well in normal dealings but have been actively attempting to contribute good to the forums may get asked if they wish to become a staff member. A fair number of times, they accept... sometimes they decline. Now, you're probably wondering "do they get chosen for a high-up position?" The answer to that is "no". No one joining the staff gets such a position starting off; it's recipe for disaster to give someone with no experience so much power all at once. They're given an area to take care of and a grace period to learn and to adjust to the role. After that grace-period, the staff-member in training may be given a higher position. If they continue to do well, they keep going up. Now there are no 'metrics' for how well a staff-member performs. Activity and contribution is what matters.

[Trixsie Vixen]

I don't want to give the impression that anything is being dismissed out of hand, so I might just expand two points. Since we've talked about my views privately Bricket I won't cover everything.  So just on length of membership (since that is a significant part of the responses) and democracy (including the threat of nepotism):


Just because you haven't been a member long enough doesn't mean your views aren't valid or that the points you raise don't count. But you suggest that the Forum is now worse than used to be.  I would suggest that unless you have been lurking for several years (setting aside that lurking doesn't necessary give an accurate view) then the time-frame you are looking at to make your judgment does not reflect actual change over time but just the seasonal variations in activity.  In statistical terms that is a selection error based on insufficient sample size. 
So length of membership isn't the be all and end all but it DOES effect how robust your judgments are.  Do the points you raise not matter?  Of course not, but there is a difference between giving objective examples of how the forum used to be better and how it has gotten worse across time and just asserting it as fact.  So when Ventus suggests some vagueness I'm suspect the lack of concrete examples of deterioration are part of that.  I'm not saying that means you aren't right (or that you are) but you haven't actually proved a case to be rebutted, which makes it seem more like an attack that a genuine concern, even though I'm sure your concern is genuine and comes from a good place.


As for the democracy side of things (and I don't want to speak on Tweak's behalf) but as much as democratic principles might be incorporated and valued, it really isn't a democracy.  It's not a government and there isn't especially any reason why it should be democratic.  The bottom line is that when the bills need paying or if something happens which is illegal, the membership is not liable or accountable. Tweak bears the burden of that and as such his stake in TFF is not equal to the rest of us (mods included).  Does that mean members don't have a say? That views are not valued or heard, that suggestions for improvements or concerns fall on the deaf ears of a tyrant?  No of course not.  Your concerns stem from a love of the site and the community.  But as much as you do care it would be hard to even measure that against Tweak's passion and investment of time, effort and money.  Quite simply, it would be foolish for him not to exercise some control.  Also, many of the members are young.  When you are 13, two years is forever.  Especially during a period of massive personality development and evolution of beliefs.  Or to put it bluntly, when peoples mind changes every few months and they have yet to encounter many of the issues that are a day to day concern then those people should not be in charge.  And that is what a true democracy would be.  Or do you set an age limit and create an elite class of members?  As for nepotism, yes, the system is totally vulnerable to nepotism.  However, in the absence of power or money there is no reward to be gained and since staff are selected from members only and not from outside friends and family, even the dubious "reward" of being a mod is still available to anyone based on merit with no competition from those lacking merit.  Don't forget the mods ARE members.  We are you.  So when you see a mod do anything, it is seeing the membership at work in running the Forum.


So, I'll just add one point of my own which isn't addressing your concerns but one of my own.  The reason this sort of thing is often best discussed privately is not to remove transparency of process or silence detractors or anything of that nature.  It's because (and I mean this with kindness) your method of raising the points gives the impression that it is an unassailable fact that the Forum is a mess and has gotten worse when that is actually only an opinion offered without any supporting evidence.


While it is good to discuss that issue as a possibility, asserting it as a bald statement just makes other people think it is true and serve only to make people want to leave.  In essence a self-fulfilling prophecy.


I think we can all agree, that's not what any of us want.

[Bricket]

To Vosur:
1.Do a simple math trick: total members - inactive members, and show me the amount of members are left.
   the criteria I proposed are very low barrier so it would keep the numbers high enough.
2.Instead of nepotism I could also have used cronyism.
3. The money: put the chart with all the expenses and how goes to where (upkeep, hardware and others) but also if the income is high enough: the amount of savings

To Trixsie:
Tweak can keep having a prominent role. His position keeps being critical, no matter what.
But all other other functions should be up for election. You might say: it will result in a popularity contest, well this would only lead to improvements.
First and for all: people who are well supported by the forum will be able to do the needed changes; If you can't get re-elected this means that as a mod or as any other function you didn't do your job right OR didn't have the explenation to explain your actions and thus resulting in a loss in the elections.

It's all about check and balances: elections keeps everyone accountable for their actions, but it also gives the oppertunity to the staff to have the majority of the forum behind them.



Post Merge: December 31, 2016, 08:35:30 PMPart 2:

I understand the noble task Tweak does day in day out.
Without him there woudln't be any forum at all, and let's be honest here: it's a great forum and one of the best in its' kind.
But I'm really concerned about how the forum is as it is today and what the future role can be.
We need to change, by being more transparent we will dominate in the furry forum market (I couldn't find a better word how to put it)
And I want to keep Tweak his role central in the Forum and especially in the working of the Forum.


SideNote: I'm actually impressed in the work and effort of Tweak

[Vosur Aekira]

Okay, I go back to my questions: "Have you seen a full-year of activity where you can tell where the high-rises and the low-points of activity are? Which seasons/months would hold the most active members and having seen not just one instance of full activity but numerous instances?" What I've been trying to get you to see is that there is a pattern to the forums that happens on a yearly basis. We're currently on the underside of the slope for this portion of the year.

My point still stands: Staff members are not appointed lightly, there's a reason behind where each staff member is in their roles. There has even been changes to such roles if things happen (staff member chooses to leave, staff member starts having issues, ect.). If you feel a member of the staff is not doing something right, contact an admin. And as for a counter to the election, Tweak is the one who ultimately appoints the staff member, if something is going on and he sees something wrong with a staff member, he's usually the one to pull them from position.

Here's the breakdown (again), no chart needed: All donations goes to the payment of the server that we are using. It costs 100 USD to upkeep (hence the goal being 100 USD), so there is only one true expense. Paypal will ALWAYS take their cut of the donations before Tweak can even touch it, but I do not count that as an expense as it varies due to the donation amount and the number of donations. Furthermore, when there's not enough donations to cover for the server (which is over 90 percent of the time), Tweak's left to foot the bill by himself. He's essentially paying for the upkeep for you to say this out of his own money, any donations he gets is someone choosing to help lessen the amount he has to pay out of his own pocket.

And for your summary: Everyone on the team IS held for their actions. Even I've had to be pulled-aside and talked to about things I've done in the past. The check and balance for here is that if you see something wrong with one of the staff members, take it to another staff member or if needed take it to an admin.

[guest22811]

May be a bit out of the blue/random.

About the forum's activity;
This site seems to have gotten quite inactive recently (agreeing with Bricket) , however I may not be correct since I've only been here for a few months.


I believe that the reason why new users and visitors are often deterred from this forum is because of the 'inactive' feel that the forum gives off. I'm talking about the appearance. When I found the site, I was actually one of those people who were repelled. The black background, default red color, minimal artwork, they give off unpleasant feelings. Sometimes, then the forum is offline, I get the same reaction because the color is switched to default.


However, this is only what I felt and may not be true.


Sorry if this is a strange thing to talk about, just felt like I had to bring it up.

[Ræfóa Aldrnari]

I have to agree to some degree, that I feel like the forum has kind of an inactive feeling to it (then again, I've only been here a little over a year).
Maybe I'm just nostalgic about the old days, but still, I do see a lot of new people coming in. They aren't always the most active, but still.

[Rocco Rex]

On the decline in new members, I can't really say for a longer period of time. Part because I've only been here since February, part because it seems as if they come at a fair pace with random times of influx. But what can be done about getting new members? Advertising takes money, and I'd say we have enough new users coming in.

On the crashing, I love the comparison you used. But yeah, I hate how often it's down, and it's hurting us, the mods, and the site. I'm not a computer guy, so I don't know what could be done except buy more protection, again costing money. And I'm sure everyone wants this site to stay free and without ads. Maybe other forms of revenue should be explored, such as holding art raffles, but then it brings risk of the raffle costing the site money instead of making money.
Also, it seems like there was a lot of anti furry hacking in 2016, main point the big furaffinity hack. Will probably start to die down, they only have so much time/ resources/ will to fight.

I'd say the rules are acceptable. The only way for mods to all act the same way would be have an exhaustive list of "Thou shall not"s, and then people would be upset at the site being authoritarian. But as the mods say, definitely give suggestions.

I'm not sure I know of a single site that has democracy. TFF is run like the military, experience and acting well get you promoted. Works pretty good however I do think there should be at least some way for regular user representation. My idea would benefit people like you and the mods. Let the mods remain hand picked. But add 2 or 3 observer positions that are elected by the users. That allows users to have multiple eyes into what's going on but also gives the mods a period to better observe the elected users to see if they'd be good as future mods.

On the money, I've wondered that too, but more out of fascination. I am an accounting student after all, I am fascinated my money. Who knows, maybe they'd send me monetary stats and I format them into charts and stats and post them for month, quarter, and year.

[anoni]

Hi Brickett, thanks for the post. It's important that people raise concerns with us because we want to improve the forum in the best way possible. This is why we made the Suggestions board so that members could have more of a say in the changes that happen in this forum. I really recommend you use it, currently not many members are using the suggestion board but it's a great tool for us to gauge the opinion of members and how they want the forum to move. Every post made in the suggestion board is read by me and many of the other admins and moderators including tweak, in fact your second point of the forum crashing is already being addressed in this thread.. The important thing about the suggestions board is not only does it give you a say but it gives us a way to be transparent, I want to be as transparent as possible on issues posted in the suggestions board, about whether we're considering a suggestion, the concerns we (the moderators) might have and so forth, to give the members an active forum to talk with the moderators in a public setting about many issues with the forum.


  I really, really recommend that you and all members who have an issue with the forum or an idea on how to make the forum improve use this tool, as if used by a large member base could be the best tool the forum has, a tool that bridges the gap between the staff members and the normal members. You're right in that the moderator staff needs to do stuff to fix up the forum when it has issues, but the members need to do stuff as well and the key thing that you should be focusing on is trying to get people aware of this tools existence, spreading it around to people who have concerns and convincing people to use it. You would see from the technical issues thread posted before we're transparent on the issues and keep an up to date status on how we're working on the issue.


  Also, just on the first issue, the problem isn't as significant as you probably think, we've had more forum posts and page views this year than any other year of TFFs history and while it is true we did have a decline of new members, we generally have sporadic years in terms of member counts, a lot of "new members" that join may not necessarily be active members, so what we're really interested is how many active members join the forum. Considering the forums actual activity has been at an all time high I feel the situation isn't quite as dire as you make it out to be, but it can always be improved!


Anyway, tl;dr: Please use the Suggestions board and tell everyone you know to use the suggestions board as well. We DO want to hear from you, we really do, but we want it done in a constructive way, not a post on R&A

[anoni]

So I think the point has been made. We're going to lock this thread but if you have concerns about how the forum is running we do urge you make your voice known in the suggestions board here: https://www.thefurryforum.com/forums/index.php?board=137.0


The suggestions board is the correct place to post your concerns so we can come up with a solution in an efficient and constructive way. We really do want to hear your concerns, but we just want something good to come out of the result, and the best way to ensure that is to post in the suggestions board and follow the posting guidelines for that board.