Teras Kasi Archive

There seems to be some confusion with regards to what a Correspondent is, so I wanted to take some time to try to shed some light into that deep, dark, and curiously sanity-free cavern that is known as the Correspondent Program. Before I go any further, however, I must give a couple of the normal disclaimers to prevent anyone from taking my words as those of SOE:

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These views are expressed by me as a player and a former Correspondent. This is solely to help people understand what a Correspondent is, based on my opinion of what a Correspondent should be and what I strove to be as a Correspondent.

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The Correspondent of a profession is not an employee of SOE. The only "special" abilities that a Correspondent receives on the forums are:

1. The ability to access the Correspondent Forums
2. The ability to sticky threads

The Correspondent cannot lock or remove threads, they merely report threads to the Moderators as any other forum poster would, and should, do.

What, then, is a Correspondent for?

This is the question that plagues many of us. We are a voice for the Community. We take the concerns that are presented in our individual forums and present them to the Developers in logical, concise posts that ensure that the concerns of the Community are available. Is it a perfect system? No. There are times when we may not have a chance to provide input on changes, and there are times when our input has made significant changes to original designs that have made this game hundreds of times better than where it was.

The Correspondent should not only be a voice, however, but should be a leader. The forums are a place for new players and veterans alike to come forward and share ideas, propose changes, and just discuss the game in general. It should be a place that is fun to visit, a place where, in my opinion, friends gather in a manner akin to sitting around a campfire swapping stories and forming the strong bonds of friendship. It is to that end that I worked to keep these forums organized as best I could as Correspondent, an end that I hope I achieved.

The Correspondent should also be a "sounding board" for ideas presented by others, both in the Correspondent Forum and in the Profession Forum. Their experiences and wisdom from the game are invaluable for refining ideas and helping to make the game grow.

Does this really give an idea of what the Correspondent does? For most it may not unfortunately, because so much of it is left to personal thought of what the Correspondent should be. To summarize, however, the Correspondent should be one who pursues constructive discussion, maintains a positive and clean forum, dilligently tests and reports the status of issues in the game, and provides input on ideas that the Community and/or Developers present.


Now, I also want to apologize in advance if something doesn't make much sense or if I rambled in places, I've been ill lately and the medication does seem to have some "odd" effects on me, so I may need to clarify something later

Message Edited by RogueFettt on 03-15-2005 09:50 AM

Nice thread.
Ryutek YO™! Start feeling better dude!

Why is it assumed that a person must be voted into a position in order to be a Representative of a Community?

You liken the position to that of a sheep, and yet you have no knowledge of what the Correspondent is told or not told. I have no doubt you will not believe what I say, so I'll keep it short and simple:

If I disagree with something that SOE says or does I make certain it is known to them. I may keep my opinion in a private forum due to the nature of the disagreement (most of the time it is in regards to something that is under NDA, so I could not post it here anyway). At any rate, you are entitled to your opinion, regardless of its validity.

Message Edited by leebo-red on 03-17-2005 10:54 AM

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leebo-red wrote:

if there is no voting then i can just assume that i'm the voice of the public then? or everyone for that matter.
i assume you got voted in because otherwise it becomes a dictatorship.
i'm part of the community and i speak for myself and dont claim to speak for anyone else.
if i dont like a thread i tell them in that thread,i dont go off telling tales and getting it pulled.
if someone wants to put a thread about what templat is good with tk then i want to see it in the tk forum,not run around all over the boards to find it.

got bored again

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We are not voted, however we are picked by the Community Relations Devs (Tiggs, TH etc.).& not all correspondents are people who always agree with the devs either. Most of us will pick at most proposals to try & get a bit more out of them where possible. It in no way is a dictatorship, in fact in my opinions it's quite the opposite. I veiw it this way:

I'm considered a community leader (as is Ryu & all other Correspondents & Blue Glowies) & so should encourage people to take a good veiw on things. However the any issues with something that does come up comes before my own veiws (assuming it's not a one off that no one else agrees with). While my veiws are important if they are not shared by the community then they come second to me. The community veiws come first & foremost.

As for the thread issue though, the reason I push to keep all template threads in one place (& other corres do as well) are for a few key reasons, & infact it's quite the opposite of running all over the board. The current template thread is always stickied in these forums, & in the first post of that you will find a link to the previous threads. This does the following:

It helps people find the information they are looking for. Alot of people don't like starting new threads & prefer just to read, this make it easier for them as insted of using the, quite bad, search function of the forums they can find the threads in at the most three clicks.

For those of us that like to make sure we read everything on this forum each day it meens we can answer more then one post at once, often meening we can link a couple of answers easily.

& lastly it keeps the board tidy. It meens that you can come to this board & insted of having up to 10 threads on the first page regarding templates (& often with the same questions in) people can see the other convosations easily.

& in regards to telling tales, if you read the template thread there is some big red writing,have a read of it. I point any template post I request to be locked to that thread& those that do click that link will see that comment.

The key thing though is that we (the correspondents & glowies) represent your veiws as a comunity, we are also part of that comunity, we're not going to go pushing for random things that people won't like/want. We may often have our own ideas (such as the ones in the TK Content suggestions listed in one of the stickies) but we're not going to suggest them in the Corre forums without seeing what everyone else from this community thinks.

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leebo-red wrote:

if there is no voting then i can just assume that i'm the voice of the public then? or everyone for that matter.

i assume you got voted in because otherwise it becomes a dictatorship.

i'm part of the community and i speak for myself and dont claim to speak for anyone else.

if i dont like a thread i tell them in that thread,i dont go off telling tales and getting it pulled.

if someone wants to put a thread about what templat is good with tk then i want to see it in the tk forum,not run around all over the boards to find it.

got bored again

Message Edited by leebo-red on 03-17-2005 10:54 AM

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First, you will notice that there was never a vote process, applications are taken, and the Correspondent selected and officially recognized by SOE. Regardless of whether you think that is the way it should be it is the way things are. That position is exactly as I detailed it above whether you choose to accept it or not.

I do find your extreme misinformation on the subject rather disturbing, as the statement "if someone wants to put a thread about what templat is good with tk then i want to see it in the tk forum,not run around all over the boards to find it." shows that you are simply pulling responses out of thin air to be argumentative, just as your statement "if i dont like a thread i tell them in that thread,i dont go off telling tales and getting it pulled." has absolutely no bearing on anything mentioned thus far (not to even bring in the fact that it is utterly incorrect in every aspect).

Not to mention that someone who then ends a post with "bored again" obviously has no intention of carrying on any meaningful conversation, which simply means that there really is no reason for me to really respond to what you have to say. However, I felt the need to post this reply for one reason, and that is simply to show that you have no basis for the ideas you presented in your post.

Nice post, cleared a few things up.

Well said, Ryu.

antares