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Ok first of all, the purpose of this announcement is to educate you guys on what we have planned for the future of Neocodex.
We're hoping to implement a few radical changes to the forum in a way similar to that of the 'old days' of Codex. (The old farts will know what I'm talking about).
For those of you who are wondering what this might entail, here goes (this will be a huge tl;dr but its necessary).
1. A brand new rank is going to be implemented. This will be an 'intermediate' rank in between Advanced+ and Retired. We are still yet to figure out some of the logistics of it in regards to how we go about promoting people into this new usergroup (as well as the name, whether we use Private or another name for it), but it will happen. Basically we feel that Retired has been neglected as of late (well, for the past few years to be honest) and that users feel they have nothing to aim for in terms of advancing up the ladder. People were barely getting voted into Retired as is and with a usergroup that is made up of a majority of people who no longer attend (or very rarely attend) the forum, this was the main reason for the 'younger folk' not being nominated. So this intermediate rank shall serve as the next 'step up' in the Codex hierarchy. There will be benefits similar to that of the Advanced+ rank in regards to programs access (I shall elaborate more on this down further) along with a bunch of new 'perks' that we are going to look at implementing. For example, exclusive access to certain competitions/giveaways as well as a shiny new user bar.
Retired will be remaining the same in a sense that all of the current members in Retired get to stay in that crusty old nursing home. However, in an attempt to bring more activity to the section, we will be changing the way people gain access to it. This will be done by an application process once every quarter to the staff/Admin for consideration. There will be a new set of guidelines on what we will be looking for, what will be required of the users and what they get once given access to this 'exclusive' rank/sub-forum. Things like long periods of inactivity (which will be defined in the guidelines once they're made) will not be tolerated, with demotions back to the intermediate rank handed out. In an effort to keep activity up, we felt this was necessary. If after some time, you return to Neocodex and are likely to hang around for a while, we can review you on a case by case basis for re-promotion back into the rank. If anyone has any other suggestions regarding this or any current Retired members have anything they want to add/change, please PM me. I'm more than willing to work with you on this.
2. The Programming section shall be revamped and the open programs section will be reinstated. What this means is that we are going to look at reintroducing the program submission area so that people who aren't necessarily part of the programming team, but want to contribute their own programs, can do so. This will be handled by our existing programming guys. If you wish to submit your program to be used on Codex, there will be a central area for them all and the source will need to be submitted to our Programming team for approval. As long as there is nothing malicious in the coding/ill intentions, then it should be approved pretty quickly and allowed to be downloaded/used by the end user. For significant contributions, we will be watching you closely and you have the potential to be brought on board as a Jr. Programmer. We like to encourage new and innovative ways to automate Neopets (along with other games too if we feel like it in the future) and with the amount of ideas out there, it would be cool for you guys to be able to collaborate together and come up with something truly awesome. Even those who want to try their hand at programming can fall back on the more experienced guys for support and know-how. Who knows, there may end up being some sort of further compensation/reward for your efforts. Once again, suggestions/improvements are most welcome.
3. Revamping the old Contests section and promoting a new Contest Leader role. You may have noticed a plethora of new contests popping up over the past few weeks on the forum. These have all been volunteered for by any and all members who wish to have done so. This has been a welcome boost in activity and we want to push this area of the site further. I mean, who doesn't like the potential to be able to earn prizes (both real life stuff AND virtual)?? The purpose of the new Contest section and Leader will be to organise (and also delegate) competitions over the course of the year. People may still volunteer to run them, however, they will be required to submit their idea(s) for potential comps to the Contest Leader and work along side this person. We shall see if Neocodex can look at donating some real incentive prizes (things like Amazon Gift cards, Neocash Cards, Advanced Memberships or even $cash (this will still need to be discussed further amongst the Admin team but for now it is a potentially good idea). The person has already been chosen for this role and will be promoted once we sort out the details of it all. Until then, no announcement will be made on who it may be. Stay tuned for more on this in the near future.
4. There will be a new sub-forum made for guides pertaining to Real Life situations, 'Life Hacks' if you will. These can be anything from how to tie a tie, or how to make blueberry muffins to how to pull chicks in a club etc. The possibilities here will be rather broad. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who have some useful knowledge to share in this regard. This subforum will be moderated by the contest leader role too. (This may change depending on how popular it is received and if it gains momentum).
5. One new Moderator. James (who?) has decided it best to step down as a Moderator due to time constraints and commitments in real life. He was part of the staff team for roughly a couple of months, yet didn't have to time to dedicate to the forum. Details on who we have chosen for the new Moderator role will be disclosed within the next few days. We believe this choice to be a better one than previous decisions and hope that you will welcome them without passing too much judgement. Remember, we all started out a 'shitty mod' once.
Codex has indeed changed its dynamic over the past two to three years and myself, along with the rest of the staff team, wish to move it into the future and create an environment where we can come, chill out from the world (not just talk about Neopets) and HAVE FUN. There seems to be a distinct lack of this lately and we hope that by making these changes, it will point the site in the right direction. The main purpose of bringing me on board as an Admin was to get shit done on a personal level. Ask people what they want, how they want it done and GET SHIT DONE. I will be taking a no bullshit approach to all of this but will most definitely keep an open mind to any suggestions (useful ones) people may have. I'm all for giving back to the members, so lets do this.
Thanks for taking the time out to read through my ramblings and we all hope that you can appreciate the work that is yet to come and the changes we intend to make.
Regards, on behalf of myself and the rest of the Neocodex Staff,
Strategist
Neocodex Administrator
great news. you guys did listen to us peasants.
