Applications: What the heck is up and how are they processed?

Introduction
Applications are a very important part of HNZ. They moderate who can say their character is/does what, and helps keep the board from becoming rampant with Mary Sue type characters which would surely annoy most people on HNZ. They have become ingrained in the culture of the site, I believe, and when they cannot be processed as quickly as I would like, or you would like, it becomes a frustrating matter.

Yes, me.
What's this? Processed as quickly as I would like? Yes, me. I like applications to move quickly as well. I don't like holding on to them for ages - they clutter things. Having them around for too long makes me go a little bit crazy.

So what's the hold up?
Right now, as many have noted, applications seem at a bit of a stand still. This is as frustrating to me as it is to you all, but likely even moreso to me. Why, you ask? Well, you're waiting on one or two applications. I see all twenty or so currently in queue. The hold up? As you should know, Livvy has been dealing with some large real-life problems and (as says what has effectively become the ancient statement of HNZ) 'Real life comes first'.

Real Life Comes First
I think it's humorous that when members are going away and leaving behind work for the Global Moderators or Administrators to catch up, for the sake of the site, we still say 'Real life comes first'. However, when it is an Admin who needs the time off, nobody seems to be able to have patience. At all. The song of 'real life comes first' fades away to a mob of angry villagers, pitchforks in hand, ready to go find the monster.

Trying to Catch Up
Nearly every application, however, does have a response from me. Some are even mid-discussion between Livvy and I. Unfortunately, it seems Livvy's life has taken her for another whirl and HNZ time has had to be cut. Livvy doesn't like to hold things up, but she loves administrating HNZ and definitely wants to be a part of the approval process. So, I trust she will catch up in a timely manner. If she knows she won't be able to catch back up in a timely manner, then she will ask me to process applications until she can catch back up. As much as 'real life comes first', there are still ways we can adhere to that without ensuring applications drown.

Mid-Discussion? Wait, so how do applications work - exactly?
I have a feeling, based on some of the results from the recent site poll that not everybody is aware of how applications are processed on HNZ. What we look at for them, and why it is that applications get denied - even when hard work has obviously been put in to them.

Every form that is sent in is given a topic in a hidden forum. There are plenty of these forums for every type of application, with approved and denied archives as well for future referencing. It's all very helpful, actually. When a new application comes in, Livvy and I read the topic then post our initial reactions. We discuss the application with each other if applicable, and either: Approve it, suggests tweaks to it and approve it when the tweaks are ironed out, or deny it.

So what is it, exactly, that we look for in applications? Here are some of the basic things:

1. Is it canon?
   If an application, in any way, breaks with our knowledge of the canon Harry Potter universe - it is denied.
2. Does it make sense?
   We look over applications to ensure that what they say makes sense. If a person applies to be a Death Eater, for instance, but comes from a loving household, doesn't believe in any sort of blood supremacy, and has no reason to be a Death Eater - then such applications are denied. It may be funny, but if something doesn't make sense then it could really screw other things up. Making sense is very crucial.
3. What would the repercussions of this be?
   For many applications, especially plot requests, things effect characters outside of the plot, too. Usually this is in minor ways, but sometimes it can be major. Take, for instance, a plot request where an unspeakable has found a cure for werewolves. It doesn't go against canon - nothing says there can't be a cure. It might make perfect sense, too. But the plot would effect everybody on the site and the future of the site as a whole. It would likely negatively influence many other character's developments as well. If that is the case, that the repercussions of a request would be largely negative and widespread - it is denied.
4. How common should it be?
   For special ability applications especially this is considered. We only truly meet one metamorphmagi in the Harry Potter novels, through all seven books. This indicates how truly rare the ability is. We receive plenty of requests for this gift, however. So we must consider how common it should be and, if enough have already been approved for the time being, no more are accepted (even if they're all pretty good) unless the application just blows our minds.
   
5. How many other special things does this roleplayer have?
   This is something that must be considered in conjunction with How common should it be?. We don't want two roleplayers having a character with every possible special ability and nobody else on the site being able to have anything. We want to spread the wealth a little, so this must be considered. Has the person had many applications recently? How many special things does this person already have? Could we approve this for somebody else who does not have as many special approvals?
6. Is this user in good standing?
   This is also something we must consider. Members who constantly break board rules, are rude to anybody and everybody, etc. shouldn't be given special allowances. It is a reward, almost, to have special plots approved, have characters with special abilities, etc. So why should a user who doesn't care about site rules be given plenty of extra awesome things while rule-abiding members might not? It's just one of the many prices of rule breaking.
7. Plenty More
   There are several more considerations that are given to applications in that time that Livvy and I review them. It's not just a quick read and a rash response, thought is given to applications, and the most appropriate response given - even if it's not something the applicant wants to hear.

Conclusion
In summary: Stop complaining. Don't be hypocritical. We take necessary time and thought for applications.

That is all.

~Nicolas

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HNZ: My hopes, plans & ideas

So, normally I use HNZ to blog rant about whatever has been annoying me, on or off of the site. I've even considered writing a "how to blawg rant" sort of blog rant where I would analyze my own blog rantings to see what made them so humorous to some and offensive to others. This post, however, will be more blog and less rant. Surprising, I know.
So, without further ado, the blog itself:

Contrary to what it seems like, I do have a lot of ideas, hopes, and plans for HNZ. Some of them are a lot larger than others, and some of them are quite unrealistic, but nevertheless I have them and strive toward implementing them.

Some of the ideas you've already seen thrown in to action with little to no consultation with the site, some of the ideas I've heard as suggestions and am just waiting for the right form to execute them in, others are ongoing as I type and many, many, others are just little inklings of thought in the back of my mind.

So, where does Nick see HNZ going? What big plans and hopes do I have for the site? I'll share a few with you now. ^_^

Right, so first I'll start with some of my more minor ideas - easy to implement, but I mostly want feedback on or need the help of members to do.

• Twitter Profile Field
  The Twitter profile field was added to HNZ, but I've been thinking about updating its coding just a little such that if the user has inserted a link to their twitter account it becomes clickable. It's a small thing, and easy to do, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra three lines of code on the site.
• Constant Feedback (Through the proper channels)
  Recently the giant suggestions topic disappeared and in its place came the Suggestions & Feedback forum. This was in an effort to invite users to openly post their own suggestions or feedback about the site, then facilitate discussion on the topic instead of just having one response and things moving on. You'll notice, however, that the forum is no longer just 'Suggestions'. It is 'Feedback' as well. This means we want to hear what you think, not just grumblings over MSN and whatever spam topic is open. An excellent example of this is Interactive Lessons. Recently a discussion has been opened about them where users were invited to share their ideas and opinions. Now, interactive lessons began several months ago and I've heard grumblings about it on and off since then. What stopped those users from posting feedback, constructive criticism, and their own ideas? Nothing on my end, I should hope - but I don't know.
• A better understanding that Livvy & I work as a team
  This has become difficult as of late, because often it is only one of us that warns any given user, or one of us that replies stating an application has been denied. Often, when it is the same admin and the same user over time, the user develops animosity toward the one admin and favours the other, somehow thinking that our opinions differ, when this is very seldom true. Hopefully I've taken a step toward mending that, where one of us takes all the heat, in the most recent update to the applications system - but we'll have to wait to see.
• All (or most all) Applications on Webpages
  Right now we seem to be caught between two systems. The older, 'copy/paste this form to apply' system (still used for Hogwarts Staff, Professors, Shopkeepers, and Ministry Officials) and the newer webpage/mostly automated application system (as seen with Purebloods, Plot Requests, Special Abilities etc.).
  The trouble with updating is many-fold. First, making the webpages is time consuming. This is not a large concern of mine, but it is one to consider in conjunction with the others.
  Next, for Professors - applications are only open when we are specifically hiring for a post. Otherwise, the form is moot. How, then, are we to indicate when/if we're hiring - and would we have to update the form every time we need a new professor?
  The final trouble is the shopkeeper application. Shopkeepers can open their own shop (note: that is currently on hold) or fill a vacant shop. If they are trying to fill a vacant shop, the same trouble as professors pops up.

Of course, I also have some much larger plans than those - many of which are just pipe dreams, but thoughts I've had nonetheless.

• Member Run: Aurors & Death Eaters
  This is something I, personally, would like to see in the future some time. A few trusted members taking on Aurors and Death Eaters, keeping Admin in the loop, and ensuring things stay active and exciting. Livvy and I have tonnes on our plates, we're trying to organize and encourage DE/Auror activity while still monitoring it/tempering it so it doesn't get out of hand. In the past, Death Eaters have been self-run, and I think both groups could do so with OOC leaders from the member base. Maybe just not yet.
• Ministry of Magic: Election(s)?
  This is something that is likely happening, and soon. Possibly starting in Y10, if I can get some things together for it.
  Gellert Coote has been Minister for Magic for at least eight years. That's a fair length of office term, and it's time he retired. So who is next to lead the Magical Community of New Zealand and its Ministry in to the future? Well, I'd like that to be up to the residents of New Zealand themselves. I think it'd be a grand way for members to get involved in the site. Create characters to run in the campaign (or, better yet, use existing ones) have speeches, slogans, buttons and banners, make election promises nobody can keep, expose skeletons in each other's closets... and then... voting day! New Zealand elects its newest leader.
  Of course, some OOC strings would need to be attached too - as having such an important character for the whole site makes things a bit complicated. The roleplayer of that account would need to talk to Admin frequently and keep us in the loop on things - but I think that's something fun to look forward to that could add so juice to the Ministry-aspect of HNZ. ^_^
• A New Custom Theme?
  HNZ has been using the same amazing theme made by Athene Perthro for nearly two years now. It's excellent, I love it, it means "HNZ" to me - but sometimes change is nice. Something fresher and newer could likely entice visitors to join the board and I'm always one to see what new things might work.
  This is something I've pursued to some degree previously, but unfortunately it hasn't come through, so it's something I keep in my mind. If we were to have a new theme designed for HNZ - or even coded for it (though I could do that myself, really) - it would be a nice way to liven up some aspects of the board (though I always intend to keep Athene's skin in the theme chooser).
• Web Hosting for HNZ
  This is one of the larger dreams really that I have for the site. I say dream because of how unlikely it is to happen, but it could be quite awesome if it ever did.
  What would web hosting mean? Well, it would mean that we would be able to integrate some PHP to the forum and host many things ourselves - such as the galleons script which, currently, is being graciously provided and hosted by my friend Scott (Slayer766) on his web host. This would also mean that HNZ could be given a front page of sorts before accessing the forums, which would contain quick links, information, announcements, a login system of sorts etc. which could all be tied directly back to the board with ZetaBoard's upcoming API.
  Now, why is this unlikely to happen? The simple fact of web hosting costing money. The most basic plan with the company I buy HNZ's domain from is $72.24(CAD) for a year of hosting. I already pay ~$25(CAD) a year for the domain and my privacy protection on the domain - so that would be nearly $100 a year spent on the site. Not too terribly much, when given that it's a whole year - but it's a fair amount when I don't have a credit card to pay through (so I buy stupid prepaid ones) and my job isn't that great. Plus, I'm going in to University and will therefore be in debt the rest of my life, the way it's looking. I also never want to put up a paypal link asking members to donate to HNZ, nor do I want to start a project that costs money without personally having the means to back that project for an extended period of time. It would suck if I paid for a year, then couldn't pay for the next year and somehow no members came through with donations, and we lost whatever we'd become so used to/dependant on.

That's about all the plans/hopes/ideas/dreams I think I want to share right now.
I would like to comment that in the past week, maybe two weeks, I have thoroughly enjoyed the air about the community on HNZ. A lot of negativity and animosity seems to have been taken away somehow, and I'm very optimistic for the future. ^_^

Thank you all for making HNZ so awesome, and I welcome you to share any feedback on these hopes/plans/ideas of mine. ^_^

~Nick

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Sending a PM: The importance of your title.

A minor annoyance of mine is this:
People who send me personal messages on the board but title them whatever they'd like, or like they'd title a roleplay - perhaps with nothing to do with the contents of the PM or with very little to do with it, at any rate.

Often, I'd even prefer no subject at all ( a simple   in the PM title field will make the title a single space ) to the subjects some people give me. When I sign on my PM inbox might look like this (as it did today, nearly):

Open Full Image in New Window
Only one of those message titles is even helpful to me. One or more of them makes me think the user is annoyed with me (which they were not) and the others... lolwut?

I do two things when I have PMs:

1. Try to reply in order of importance
2. Give consideration to the length of time a PM has gone without reply

I am perfectly able to do that second thing just by a glance - but the former? How am I to determine the importance of each PM with random titles? Or how am I to determine if I am in the right mood/mindset to read the PMs (I don't want to read a PM telling me off (like 'GRRRR' could have been, but wasn't) if I'm already upset)?

I think that PMs are quite different than topics on the board. PM titles should give a glimpse of what is inside of the PM before the user opens it.
That's my opinion, anyway.

What's yours?

~Nick

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Posi-Blawg: A little bit of a positive rant

I try to blog monthly now, though for a while I was attempting once a day (long, long ago), and I recently noticed that, by the time I'm ready to blog again - something has come up that really irks me, warrants a rant, and may come off negative-sounding. I tend to try to put a positive spin on things (like in the Cliques Blog, where I asserted that HNZ obviously has groups of close friends, but the site as a whole is one community). So, never having been one to always like to focus on the negative, I have taken it upon myself to rant, or at least list things off, about how awesome HNZ is, and perhaps even my life in general. ^_^

It is with this sentiment and explanation that I hereby begin... THE Posi-Blawg:

• People are appreciative & understanding:
  It kind of sucks how one person, or a few people, ruin so much greatness - but that's what the people on HNZ are: great. For as many people that really grind my gears there are ten who see my point of view and try to help me in whatever situation I'm in. Sometimes after blog rants (as it is often after people read them that they become most understanding and appreciative - just human nature, I suppose) I get messages from people stating how much they appreciate me, the work I do on HNZ, the staff, the site itself, etc. These messages often come from people who I never would have thought to care that much at all, and they tend to make me smile. Without those kinds of messages, I think I would have left HNZ a long time ago - so you all are truly that awesomely amazing. There are very few people I can honestly say I've met on HNZ and disliked, and those people are gone for the most part. (I suppose if you can't stand an admin, you don't tend to linger on the board long.)
  People are also always willing to help out. Sometimes it takes being approached, sure, but I think I'd rather be approached about helping than volunteer sometimes, too. It lets people know that you value their assistance and likely makes them feel special. Whenever help is truly needed around the board, however, I know I can always ask somebody and if they're able to, they will help - because they know if somebody wasn't necessary I wouldn't ask, and they care about HNZ that much. There are two pages of slaves to the Nicktator members who I figure would all be willing to help out with HNZ things if I asked them. I think that's amazing.
• Everybody on HNZ is there for the same sort of reasons
  We all like Harry Potter, and eventually we all become acquainted with/like roleplaying. There have been very few members who don't, and they don't last long. So how is this positive? Easy. There aren't huge feuds and wars and flaming and such. Things are, for the most part, pretty civil and enjoyable. I think being on a board where at least two common interests are shared between members aids in this process a lot.
• I'm always learning, improving, and there's always something to do.
  If nothing else, HNZ keeps me busy, and has caused me to learn about a lot of things that I could have otherwise cared less about. Through HNZ I have learned HTML, CSS, and some JavaScript/a lot of jQuery. It is through this knowledge that HNZ's InvisionFree skin was converted to a ZetaBoards theme, that many of HNZ's minor codes have appeared, and that the custom webpages (from webpages defining seasonal temperatures to ones for submitting applications) have all appeared. This knowledge has benefited me off of HNZ, too, and now I am much less of an interwebz n00b because of it.
  Aside from that there are all sorts of things which I regularly get ideas for on HNZ, most of which I forget, and so many ways I plan to/hope to improve the board. I think it's great that I get to experience putting little tweaks in to a board here and there, knowing members will take them/accept them as I fiddle with things (unfortunately, live testing has become a habit of mine), and give me feedback as I require it. This is especially true as I see so many boards where admin have good ideas and no chances to implement them as their board dies - or the board thrives, there is a lack of ideas, and then the board dies - or the worse of all possible situations, the ideas presented cause the board to wither away. In that regard, I'm eternally grateful for HNZ and its community.
• People are super-talented on HNZ
  I notice this more and more as time goes on, likely because people are just getting better and better, but whether it be graphics, writing, both, or something else entirely - HNZ has some awesomely talented people who, very thankfully, share their talents with us all and I've oft' smiled because of it. talented people.
• People are nice... and welcoming.
  It's quite amazing how nice, helpful, and welcoming HNZ is considering its size (and how cliquey some people like to pretend it is... sorry... I had to slip a negative comment in here somewhere. ;) Too much positivity is just uncharacteristic). I've visited at least one forum, roughly ten times the size of HNZ in members and over 10 times its size for activity - and I posted a welcome topic. That topic got a grand total of 0 replied until I complained about it being ignored in their feedback forum several days later. On HNZ, I've heard countless times from newer members that they felt overwhelmingly welcomed and knew we were willing to help them with anything. Normally new members get their first welcome to the board on the day they introduce themselves, and soon enough they'll have five or more 'welcomes' to add. We can always improve, of course, but I think we're doing great.

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As you can tell from the above, most of the reasons I can be positive, and most of the reasons HNZ is awesome, for me, are because of you guys. You're all overly amazing and awesome and st00f. Without you HNZ wouldn't be around, and I certainly wouldn't enjoy it at all without all of the above positive aspects of the board, and our community.

I know this blawg wasn't as amusing, perhaps, as others - but I think it was necessary.

So, thank you all, and see you on the board!

~Nick

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Cliques, Clicks... Wait! Who started this?

Over the past several months I've heard too much about this topic, mostly people complaining to each other, some random discussions over IM, and a few PMs sent to me. It seems to me that there seems to be a deluded sense that HNZ is either "one big clique" or just divided in to a whole bunch of cliques, with no real community.

Define: Clique

• an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• A clique (, in American English also ) is an exclusive group of people who share interests, views, purposes, patterns of behavior, or ethnicity. ...
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clique

Those are the definitions I will work with for the sake of this blog rant, since I feel a well defined definition is better to work with than some vague one different people conjure up in their minds.

Is HNZ a clique?
No is the simple answer. We are a group of people who share interests (Harry Potter, Roleplaying), patterns of behaviour (signing on to the board), but we are not exclusive. Registration is open to everybody and we're quite welcoming to anybody who looks for help or introduces themselves (I, for instance, encourage new members to PM me and subscribe to the Welcome Forum so that I can say hello to everybody who takes the time to say hi to us). I know that plenty of people who have joined HNZ have felt overwhelmingly welcomed, and this helped dispel some of the overwhelmingness HNZ can hold for people knew to RPing.
So while the site as a whole has some characteristics of a 'clique', because it is not exclusive to only a set group of people, it is not one.

Are there cliques on HNZ?
This one is slightly more difficult to answer. I suppose to some it may appear that there are. There are certainly groups on the board who interact with each other more than others, who have developed a strong relationship off of the board as well and that's great! It's also human nature. Unfortunately, or perhaps even fortunately, we don't like everybody equally. We can't relate to every single person on this planet in the same way, and that's definitely a blessing. So the simple fact that I am close friends with person X, Y, and Z^ed doesn't mean I refuse to speak to, or help, anybody else - and I trust that is true of most people on HNZ.

HNZ's Community Signature - it certainly doesn't look full of cliques to me. Perhaps I should draw some lines on it to separate me from other people and give the complainers the satisfaction of knowing that they're right. Hmm. A thought to be considered?

I wish I could stop this blog post there, but I can't. I wish things were that simple, but they're not. Not only are some willing to go so far as to say their are cliques and exclusive groups on HNZ - but that unless you are in a certain clique, a certain 'in-crowd' you won't get anything on the board. Your applications will be denied, your characters will never be given major roles, you'll never be asked to help out, you'll be entirely ignored by others, etc.

When I first heard that... it hurt... a lot. I spend a decent amount of time on HNZ. I try pretty hard to interact with as many people as I can, get to know people, and with all that I obviously try to be as fair as possible with things like applications. I'm sure when people say things like that, they don't think of who might read them, and who it reflects upon or hurts directly, but I rather think they should start. I was in shock completely and wondered how many people thought that of me, of Livvy and I, and if I should even bother continuing to try with things on HNZ.

It's kind of ironic, too - because the people who I've seen say things like that are the same ones that rave about HNZ being their home, and how much they enjoy the site, and how they like everybody in it - but then they got a few applications denied and obviously it was because Livvy and myself don't like them (not because they didn't put much thought in to the application or its effects on other areas of the board). Or their character didn't become prefect/headboy/headgirl and it's obviously because the head-of-house/admin are just choosing their friends (it's quite clearly not even conceivable that things like that are largely in-character, where lesson attendance and character behaviour actually matters).

Livvy and I take great care to deal with applications on their own, but we don't just consider the application, we also consider:

• Past Requests
• Warning history of the user (if you've caused trouble on HNZ recently, it makes sense for you not to get superb privileges
• Quantity of requests coming in (if 50 pureblood requests come in one week, it's likely that most of them will be denied, even if they're all excellent).

We do not consider 'Hey, Livvy is my friend, I'll approve this plot!' or 'Oh, Julie is nothing but mean to me, I'll never accept this!' - because that's not what HNZ is. I know, for myself, I have accepted applications for people that I know hate me with all of their being, people who I've never gotten along with, people I don't even know, and yes - even my friends. In fact, when Livvy makes a request for a plot I treat it, or try to treat it, just like I would anybody else's request (the difference being that she can see my post, my exact response, and reply to it). I also know that were I to make any sort of request, Livvy would handle mine the same way.

It frustrates me to know end, knowing personally the efforts I go to in order to ensure I'm not seen as ignoring any one person or their 'group', I talk to as many people as possible, will just quote any random person's post in a 'spam' topic and work with it, try to be almost super-human in how I look at and handle applications - then I feel like people just look at it all and slap me in the face by saying that the site staff/admin are just as biased/clique-based as could be.

I'd like to give a concluding example of how wrong this assumption on the part of some users is. Six months ago, I barely talked to Kaitlyn. I mean, I talked to her in GD, I had already given her her nickname of Sir Kaitlyn, but I thought she rather disliked me/was pretty mean to me at times, and barely considered her to be a GM. Other members of the site staff who did know her vouched for her, and brought to light some excellent points (how well she knew the board rules, how often she reported topics, etc. All things which would be useful in a GM). So I trusted the opinions of the others and Kaitlyn was made a GM in January. Before her promotion many of her applications had been approved (though I was rather neutral on her as a person, again, thinking she didn't like me much) and after her promotion some of her applications have been amended/tweaked/denied - just like anybody else. Since her promotion I have gotten to know her quite well, and see her very differently then I did before - I'd even go so far as to say she and I are pretty good friends now. I think that's a fairly good example of how un-cliquey I myself am, and how un-cliquey I see most of HNZ to be.

As I admitted before, it is human nature to group off, find people you're close to, and talk to them the most - but to think that HNZ has an 'in-crowd' where if you're not a part of it you don't get anything from anybody is simply absurd, and, quite frankly, insulting.

I present to you, once more, our community signature:

No sign of cliques there for me. Just a bunch of people who are enjoying HNZ and how great it is, hoping that it will last out another five years. Am I missing something that you see there, somehow?

~Nick

P.S: Additional plug... HNZ's birthday is awesome and ongoing! Be sure to check it outtttt!

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