Let's finally fix articles woo

[Joe]

hffm has this and we should totally implement it

Totally agree with you and it will be, will post something soon with all the planned updates!

[velvet]

*Answer's Door*

*REMOVED* whilst I focus on the start of the term at University where I study for the degree that will mean I get a job in my later life. Things will be done on the agenda's of the people that can make this happen, not you.

Edited by Samanfa (Forum Super Moderator): Please do not be rude to other members, thank you!

if you don't have time to implement a little change, why don't you give up your position as articles manager? surely it'd be better to have someone who has time to help the articles department thrive...

[Joe]

if you don't have time to implement a little change, why don't you give up your position as articles manager? surely it'd be better to have someone who has time to help the articles department thrive...

I completely agree! I've loved receiving feedback for the department and its really helped to see what the community thinks. My outburst was only written in the way I wrote it because people do forget that managers have lives outside of Habbox and its a shame that members (most importantly ones that have never been a manager) attempt to push and push and push when they know that it's not needed as plans have been made and will be implemented when they can be. I really wouldn't mind if I was being pushed to make changes by the management team that oversee my department but then again, they understand the pressures of being a manager at a fansite like this. Saying that, I do apologise for the manner I replied in @FlyingJesus; but I'm quite happy to say I'd love to see you stepping into a managerial role, possibly of Articles, as you evidently have the ideas and personal drive to take it somewhere I no longer have the time for!

Typed this on my iPhone so there's probably mistakes!

[Samantha]

I completely agree! I've loved receiving feedback for the department and its really helped to see what the community thinks. My outburst was only written in the way I wrote it because people do forget that managers have lives outside of Habbox and its a shame that members (most importantly ones that have never been a manager) attempt to push and push and push when they know that it's not needed as plans have been made and will be implemented when they can be. I really wouldn't mind if I was being pushed to make changes by the management team that oversee my department but then again, they understand the pressures of being a manager at a fansite like this. Saying that, I do apologise for the manner I replied in @FlyingJesus; but I'm quite happy to say I'd love to see you stepping into a managerial role, possibly of Articles, as you evidently have the ideas and personal drive to take it somewhere I no longer have the time for!

Typed this on my iPhone so there's probably mistakes!

Guessing you mean @FlyingJesus; - he has been a manager, he didn't get the fancy merit badge for doing nothing!

Also, coming from someone who has been a manager like yourself, News Manager in fact (the revamped department you manage now) it's very much needed! For years we haven't actually had the say so on posting articles we publish primarily on the forum for the ease of commenting - it hasn't been allowed, but you have the power to change that and it's definitely a much needed change. It can be seen as 'pushy', but what isn't pushy is the fact this has been a work in progress since 2012 and it still hasn't been followed through much, it can now be possible I am guessing as General Management hasn't disagreed with it. It's not the biggest change in the world, but it could certainly change the way members view articles and your staff members will actually get their hard work noticed if that makes sense.

I won't comment on you as a manager as I do know how it can be, you have bad patches where things get on top of you, but whenever I was slacking, I got put in my place, I got pushed and I was so much more thankful for it. Perhaps you do just need that push, that drive to make something happen, it might seem weird if that push is coming from a forum members other than General Management - you might not think they have the right to, but it's someone who is actually wanting the department to improve! General Management I agree know how hard it can be managing a department, they also know how busy they've been planning the awards, planning other special things for the members of Habbox, so it might not seem you've been pushed recently, but like you said, you understand how hard it actually is.

[Alkaz]

Looks like you may as well send in your articles manager application now Tom.

[Martin]

I completely agree! I've loved receiving feedback for the department and its really helped to see what the community thinks. My outburst was only written in the way I wrote it because people do forget that managers have lives outside of Habbox and its a shame that members (most importantly ones that have never been a manager) attempt to push and push and push when they know that it's not needed as plans have been made and will be implemented when they can be. I really wouldn't mind if I was being pushed to make changes by the management team that oversee my department but then again, they understand the pressures of being a manager at a fansite like this. Saying that, I do apologise for the manner I replied in @FlyingJesus; but I'm quite happy to say I'd love to see you stepping into a managerial role, possibly of Articles, as you evidently have the ideas and personal drive to take it somewhere I no longer have the time for!

Typed this on my iPhone so there's probably mistakes!

How much pressure is it though really? These days it must be a walk in the park with less members, less staff (I don't think you have any staff at the moment?) to manage and less output and stuff! Other managers have staff updates to contend with almost daily and actively seek to fill in the gaps when staff members are low too (by going on air, hosting events, writing competitions etc). The competitions manager writes competitions regularly so I find it weird that the articles manager doesn't follow suit and write articles regularly. Yes managers have lives, but at the same time there are people at Habbox that genuinely care about wanting it to succeed and it's never going to be able to function successfully if certain elements are miles behind and there isn't 100% co-operation between all departments and managers.

Is this month just a difficult one or something because of Uni? I'm in my first year of Uni (which doesn't even count towards my degree apparently!) but I'm finding I still have heaps of time to have a life and go out and stuff regularly!

What exactly does your role entail on a daily basis these days? You don't really have many staff to manage so the admin side of things can't be too heavy at the moment? I'm guessing you've been actively requesting graphics and stuff in anticipation of the site>forum articles plans and been actively involved in meetings with general management etc? Most managers have stuff they have to do daily/weekly etc.

I never used to have proof readers and stuff so had to check the articles myself most of the time and that was during a period where there were often 2+ articles per day. We're three weeks into January and no articles have been posted, so you've had the benefit of not having articles to check. One of the worst things back in the day was images as people could never get those right and I would spend hours resizing/editing them etc haha!

We used to provide feedback on articles too, to encourage creativity and improvement but mainly to offer praise to make the reporters feel like they were valued etc.

I used to write departmental reports weekly every Sunday at 10pm I think it was, and that was during a time where the average number of staff in the department was 6-12 so they used to take a fair amount of time too. Even with the basic stuff though, I think you need to be able to manage time effectively in order to implement things within a reasonable time. 3 weeks has passed already so really things should be almost at the stage to go live.

I used to output content myself when I could as I hated to leave the main site stagnant too long. I just feel that when visitors view the site and see nothing has been updated in a few weeks it just makes the place seem really lax in being up to date and current. If they see regular updates then it's obviously going to make it look more up to date and worth visiting more frequently.

I sometimes get the feeling that one of the reasons Habbox doesn't really have half as much output (this goes for every department) is purely because there are less 'addicts' these days, and I guess that's something that can't be helped really.


If you feel that you're not able to give some time to Habbox then maybe you need to consider asking for help? Maybe the AGM of content could help speed the plans along or you could get an assistant manager or something? It just seems a shame that something which realistically could take a few hours to make happen and could actually really significantly improve not just the department but the forum in my opinion is suffering! They really are exciting plans and it provides a platform for community engagement within articles which is something that has been lacking for years now, so I'm surprised you haven't been itching to get it all released!

I would argue that sometimes it's a good thing that members of the community are pushing for something to happen, it shows they care, shows they support the project (which is always a good thing believe me!) and it saves you a lot of thinking as it's practically planned out all for you! I think the fact that you've actively replied to this thread proves that you're dedicated to articles and do have the time to devote to make these changes happen though, but thinking long term, you're going to have more to do once you get staff/once you have to start making threads official and stuff, so you really do need to decide whether you feel you can do the project justice based on the time you have. I wish you luck and look forwards to seeing it all put into action!

[Joe]

Guessing you mean @FlyingJesus; - he has been a manager, he didn't get the fancy merit badge for doing nothing!

Also, coming from someone who has been a manager like yourself, News Manager in fact (the revamped department you manage now) it's very much needed! For years we haven't actually had the say so on posting articles we publish primarily on the forum for the ease of commenting - it hasn't been allowed, but you have the power to change that and it's definitely a much needed change. It can be seen as 'pushy', but what isn't pushy is the fact this has been a work in progress since 2012 and it still hasn't been followed through much, it can now be possible I am guessing as General Management hasn't disagreed with it. It's not the biggest change in the world, but it could certainly change the way members view articles and your staff members will actually get their hard work noticed if that makes sense.

I won't comment on you as a manager as I do know how it can be, you have bad patches where things get on top of you, but whenever I was slacking, I got put in my place, I got pushed and I was so much more thankful for it. Perhaps you do just need that push, that drive to make something happen, it might seem weird if that push is coming from a forum members other than General Management - you might not think they have the right to, but it's someone who is actually wanting the department to improve! General Management I agree know how hard it can be managing a department, they also know how busy they've been planning the awards, planning other special things for the members of Habbox, so it might not seem you've been pushed recently, but like you said, you understand how hard it actually is.

Fair enough, obviously haven't been around long enough to realise that. My mistake and thanks for the reply!

How much pressure is it though really? These days it must be a walk in the park with less members, less staff (I don't think you have any staff at the moment?) to manage and less output and stuff! Other managers have staff updates to contend with almost daily and actively seek to fill in the gaps when staff members are low too (by going on air, hosting events, writing competitions etc). The competitions manager writes competitions regularly so I find it weird that the articles manager doesn't follow suit and write articles regularly. Yes managers have lives, but at the same time there are people at Habbox that genuinely care about wanting it to succeed and it's never going to be able to function successfully if certain elements are miles behind and there isn't 100% co-operation between all departments and managers.

Is this month just a difficult one or something because of Uni? I'm in my first year of Uni (which doesn't even count towards my degree apparently!) but I'm finding I still have heaps of time to have a life and go out and stuff regularly!

What exactly does your role entail on a daily basis these days? You don't really have many staff to manage so the admin side of things can't be too heavy at the moment? I'm guessing you've been actively requesting graphics and stuff in anticipation of the site>forum articles plans and been actively involved in meetings with general management etc? Most managers have stuff they have to do daily/weekly etc.

I never used to have proof readers and stuff so had to check the articles myself most of the time and that was during a period where there were often 2+ articles per day. We're three weeks into January and no articles have been posted, so you've had the benefit of not having articles to check. One of the worst things back in the day was images as people could never get those right and I would spend hours resizing/editing them etc haha!

We used to provide feedback on articles too, to encourage creativity and improvement but mainly to offer praise to make the reporters feel like they were valued etc.

I used to write departmental reports weekly every Sunday at 10pm I think it was, and that was during a time where the average number of staff in the department was 6-12 so they used to take a fair amount of time too. Even with the basic stuff though, I think you need to be able to manage time effectively in order to implement things within a reasonable time. 3 weeks has passed already so really things should be almost at the stage to go live.

I used to output content myself when I could as I hated to leave the main site stagnant too long. I just feel that when visitors view the site and see nothing has been updated in a few weeks it just makes the place seem really lax in being up to date and current. If they see regular updates then it's obviously going to make it look more up to date and worth visiting more frequently.

I sometimes get the feeling that one of the reasons Habbox doesn't really have half as much output (this goes for every department) is purely because there are less 'addicts' these days, and I guess that's something that can't be helped really.


If you feel that you're not able to give some time to Habbox then maybe you need to consider asking for help? Maybe the AGM of content could help speed the plans along or you could get an assistant manager or something? It just seems a shame that something which realistically could take a few hours to make happen and could actually really significantly improve not just the department but the forum in my opinion is suffering! They really are exciting plans and it provides a platform for community engagement within articles which is something that has been lacking for years now, so I'm surprised you haven't been itching to get it all released!

I would argue that sometimes it's a good thing that members of the community are pushing for something to happen, it shows they care, shows they support the project (which is always a good thing believe me!) and it saves you a lot of thinking as it's practically planned out all for you! I think the fact that you've actively replied to this thread proves that you're dedicated to articles and do have the time to devote to make these changes happen though, but thinking long term, you're going to have more to do once you get staff/once you have to start making threads official and stuff, so you really do need to decide whether you feel you can do the project justice based on the time you have. I wish you luck and look forwards to seeing it all put into action!

Evidently not as dedicated and hard working as you, Martin! Thanks for your long thoughtful reply - if only Articles was the same as when you were manager as the activity I'd be loving and really enjoying. And when it comes to the degree, evidently you're a student who finds their degree relatively easy whereas I am finding it hard and the last thing I want to be focusing on is something that won't serve me well in later life.

As for giving the project justice, I completely agree with you.

[Martin]

Fair enough, obviously haven't been around long enough to realise that. My mistake and thanks for the reply!



Evidently not as dedicated and hard working as you, Martin! Thanks for your long thoughtful reply - if only Articles was the same as when you were manager as the activity I'd be loving and really enjoying. And when it comes to the degree, evidently you're a student who finds their degree relatively easy whereas I am finding it hard and the last thing I want to be focusing on is something that won't serve me well in later life.

As for giving the project justice, I completely agree with you.

I completely agree with that last part haha! Real life does have to take priority sometimes unfortunately and things have to be sacrificed. Sorry to hear you are struggling with your course, hopefully it will get easier soon! I know some degrees can be a lot more demanding than others. When I first started my degree I thought I would struggle as I'm old and I worried that 6 years of retail had made me brain dead but it's been amazing to realise there is actually some kind of brain up there haha! In terms of Habbox though unfortunately it can't always be put on hold for long periods, like the occasional week is fine but I don't think its feasible for more than that really, especially in a department with one manager/no other support up top!

Best of luck with everything Joe!

[welshcake]

Now Joe has sadly resigned I'm going to close this and just create a new one so it's a bit easier to read and a bit less feisty