A list of some things:
* Consolidation of ruleset discussion topics and aggressive moderation thereof - Sometimes, there are just too many damn topics. You touched upon this in the OP, but seriously, having multiple threads for the same topic just because you didn't read past the top of page one isn't cool, and it really makes perusing the board a chore for the rest of us.
Hopefully the sticky coverage I have right now will better cover things. Possibly should sticky custom movesets too, but "equipment" topics are their own monsters really, so having them separate seems fair; either way those threads are keeping popular/towards the top by default and we're generally killing the superfluous ones.
* Cracking down on superfluous AT threads - Ok, real talk: no one cares that you want to be the big man who named the next "wavedash". You know who remembers the person who named the "wavedash"? No one, that's who. People are SO concerned with being the big shot who discovered something new AND be the person who made the name that 100,000 other people will use for 8 years that they're willing to spam the boards with threads touting their own brilliance, and it helps no one because in most cases, they're things we already knew or things that don't need special names. Make one thread with an updated OP discussing physics exploits and glitches (and if they are useful) and aggressively close superfluous AT threads and infract people who spam the board with new threads multiple times (everyone gets their one).
I warn/infract people for making "AT" threads, I should make it more obvious but the stickied "Mechanics & Techniques General + Q&A" is meant to be the first port of call for this stuff.
* Hand out more infractions for bad / abusive behavior - By the way, by this rule, I'd have been infracted multiple times by now, and I'm honestly surprised I haven't been so far. Out of all of the Sm4sh boards so far, this one should be the absolute bastion of civility, humility, and good discussion. This will not happen without strong moderation. It needs to be absolutely clear to all that if you act badly on this subforum, you will not be able to post, period. Even the slightest hint at uncivil discussion should be dealt with strongly and vocally.
That is the intent, I hope with having a few extra mods around here with specific focus (SamuraiPanda being back and helping just here is amazing :D) the workload of that standard will be less. Either way, if you think a thread is going down that way then report it (posts too), there already are a few goodies around who are quick to posit that something isn't "worthy" and they're usually right; I wish I could promote "self-moderation" with this a bit more in some way (reporting basically is that, but is less apparent / public in terms of recognition); if possible, some alternative tools to allow that could be brought in here too. But beyond that we're one of the few areas with the 3 point infraction rule, and when I infract, I'm usually giving out two points for things which are clearly disruptive, it's very little sweat off of my back to eradicate someone from this room for multiple weeks at a time.
I also have a policy for hitting jokers / sarcasm, but I should make that more apparent.
I call it the Price for being a Comedian warning.
To an extent I would've hoped that I could use warnings/infractions as liberally as I would like to "control" things (I still could), but I concede this isn't the healthiest policy to be stringent on - especially as I'm primarily dealing with newer users or players.
* A zero tolerance policy on social threads - It is not ok to go to the competitive boards and complain about how you don't think For Glory is fun. It is not ok to go to the competitive boards to post meme threads. It is not ok to go to the competitive forums and post sarcastic threads.
There should be a zero tolerance policy. Feel free to let me know through a report what I miss
* Bring back the Smash Researcher - Those blue names used to mean something: when you saw a blue name post, that data was good, collected without bias, and those researchers were skilled in their craft. We may squabble about the interpretation, but you damn well knew that the data itself was accurate. Having absolutely respected members of the community who aren't bogged down by the ruleset squabbling the rest of us do gives us all an anchor for civility. Not to mention, they do damn good work. Find the good researchers, give them the title, and let them do the good science we all need.
Groups and colors are likely a thing for the not-so-distant future. Right now we have this Academy subforum and I'd hopefully like that to supplement that potentially in the future (with updates/perks). IF people make threads with objective information, I'm keen to have them in there. Currently in discussions with @
Aerodrome about how to promote lab work/researching within the Academy. But at the least that subforum is the start of the latest Smash Lab.
* Have multiple mods and assign them moderation topics and threads - We need a video collection thread. We need frame data threads. We need threads cataloging event data. We need sticky threads of all kinds. Instead of letting the mob create these threads and update them, have all stickied threads assigned to mods who are tasked with making sure the OPs are updated and accurate. Nothing is more frustrating than having an important thread stickied and then having the TC leave for 2 months.
Just some things I thought of now.
We probably don't want too many stickies. BUT yes, we need those threads. Someone's come to me asking about making a video thread within the first few weeks of the game (they managed the Brawl one, but they haven't gotten back to me yet), we don't have much frame data yet, I know two people who are doing event/tournament data collecting but not so-ready yet (@
Overswarm).
As time goes on we'll need a directory thread.
