263 replies to this topic

[NapisaurusRex]

can someone explain to me why some members have "private" as their last login status? eg. @Kordelia. is she private too?

So that 'no one' knows when they were online last. You can do the same to yours if you want. It's in settings. I can't find it anymore, hang on

Edited by Napiform, 14 April 2014 - 10:35 PM.

[Elindoril]

I was voted into Retired after the removal of the previous Private rank. Am I supposed to just decompose here with the rest of the old folks instead of having access to the resources that I was supossed to have? I realize I can just be moved into Private sooner or later, but the point being I shouldn't miss out on perks when I didn't have any real choice prior to this.

[Fikri]

So that 'no one' knows when they were online last. You can do the same to yours if you want. It's in settings.

 

really? lol ok.

[Elindoril]

really? lol ok.

It's actually when you sign in. Select "sign in anonymously".

It's just a privacy option. It has nothing to do with the rank.

[NapisaurusRex]

really? lol ok.

No, not really. I can't find it. lol... because it's when you sign in anonymously like Elin just said.

Edited by Napiform, 14 April 2014 - 10:39 PM.

[Strategist]

So that 'no one' knows when they were online last. You can do the same to yours if you want. It's in settings. I can't find it anymore, hang on

You need to set it when you log in on the login screen

It's actually when you sign in. Select "sign in anonymously".

It's just a privacy option. It has nothing to do with the rank.

Damn you and your quickness -_-

[Fikri]

oh, so technically i CAN be a private member. hoorah!

[Dan]

I was voted into Retired after the removal of the previous Private rank. Am I supposed to just decompose here with the rest of the old folks instead of having access to the resources that I was supossed to have? I realize I can just be moved into Private sooner or later, but the point being I shouldn't miss out on perks when I didn't have any real choice prior to this.

Exactly this, succinctly said.

[redlion]

oh, so technically i CAN be a private member. hoorah!

You show up as an anonymous user in threads. And staff can see you I think.

But yeah.

[ShadowLink64]

I was voted into Retired after the removal of the previous Private rank. Am I supposed to just decompose here with the rest of the old folks instead of having access to the resources that I was supossed to have? I realize I can just be moved into Private sooner or later, but the point being I shouldn't miss out on perks when I didn't have any real choice prior to this.

Decompose, such a harsh term. I prefer "aging". Like a fine wine.

[Elindoril]

Decompose, such a harsh term. I prefer "aging". Like a fine wine.

Have to use strong words to make a point.

[Frizzle]

I know exactly what the retired rank is. And yes I stand by the fact they shouldn't receive automatic entry into a new rank simply because they are in that user group. IMO retired shouldn't really be the highest rank but that's not the discussion here. If you retire from a large company even if you were CEO or on the board, you don't retain all your company privileges that you may have spent 20-30 years working for do you?

And if I recall correctly, with the dissolving of the previous private rank, these people were automatically moved to retired as well so. There no point going back and moving them all to private again because there's plenty of them that aren't still active.

I don't disagree with allowing them to apply to private whilst retaining their retired moniker but having an old title shouldn't generate a bit of self entitlement. I don't disagree with previous contributions to the forums being taken into account either which means that for those retired members who are current, they should still gain access to private but they should still follow the application process (it's just more likely your application will go through sooner)

You state you know what the rank of and then immediately demonstrate you don't actually know what the rank is. Retired doesn't mean the literal sense of being retired or away from the forum. It's just a name because super awesome wicked group was already taken by the Brits.

In all seriousness it's a rank for those that have established themselves on the board, a group of trusted individuals who back in the day got perks to represent that.

There is absolutely no valid reason to seperate the retired lot from viewing the private forums. They have done more for this board then you can ever imagine and deserve more respect than you and the current situation is showing.

[Bones]

Nice addition to the site and something to aim for thanks

[Tetiel]

Doomsday, I understand what you're saying. You want the benefits for those who are actively contributing and yes, that is an incentive for people to stay active or become active again. However, I could see how someone would interpret it as a "And what have you done for me lately?" statement. Retired is for the most part exactly what it sounds like. We are a rank made up of mostly retired staff members including some members who are retired contributors in other ways. For the most part, retired appears to be there for members like myself to pop back in and smile at the nostalgia once in a blue moon. But some appear to be relatively active from the lurking I've done over the years, they just simply don't get out of the area, which I understand. It's intimidating when there are so many new faces. There is no real clear definition of what it takes to be a retired member because for many of us, it is quite like the Roth's test obscenity clause in American law - "I'll know it when I see it."

 

If I may, I'd like to at least provide a few guidelines, so to speak. If this is deemed "leaking" by any means, I sincerely apologize and it is with good intent to diffuse a poor situation. Besides, considering I can't even go back past 2009, how could something that occurred prior to that even be a leak? There's no proof! A 70% vote was required and I do believe that at least 10 votes were also needed in order for a member to be promoted. This means that probably in recent years with the activity of retired members, on occasion 10 votes may not have been able to be met. I recall this happening during the time I was active on staff. Occasionally you'd have a member that so many of us couldn't formulate a proper opinion on that they could not get passed through. However, in that case, it usually should have been a no anyways as we obviously didn't care enough to vote yes. Retired was a rank above private where on occasion very good discussions would happen between current staff members, ex-staff members, very active members, and fellow contributors about forum policy - usually on an informal basis because we were for the most part all friends there. Oft, retired members would post up suggestions there when we knew if it were suggested in public it may go in a bad direction. It's not easy being a staff member and never being able to let down your hair and speak honestly about a situation. Sure, you can do that in staff, but sometimes it's nice having that other contribution of veterans as staff was honestly quite dead sometimes - more so than retired. Shocking! Having an area where you don't need to worry about all the repercussions was nice. Most of us knew what it was like to be a staff member and all the crap that is taken as a result. So in reality, I suppose retired was a rank for the people who were known and trusted by both the staff and the majority of the user base. A clear list of requirements is difficult because how does one exactly define who should and should not be trusted? It was based off of a consensus of already trusted members. So yes, it's an extremely difficult "club," so-to-speak, to get into, especially now that many of the previous members like myself just simply aren't there anymore for one reason or another. When I was a private member, I wished to be in retired simply because I wanted to be a part of that group of people because I genuinely liked them and enjoyed conversing with them. That's all it was really about. Others may have had a completely different experience.

 

Forgive me, it's not an attempt to sound elitist and I could very easily see how it may be interpreted that way. It's not that people who weren't retired weren't trusted or weren't liked, either (see Laser Wave - he'd be the perfect world leader - he's never wanted power). It's difficult for me to explain without going too much into depth about how things used to be run. In order to get into private, members had to be around for at least two months and for the most part just not cause much trouble, be active, and be friendly. Problem is, we saw issues where entire threads of someone's application were leaked to the applicant. While I do not recall the actual circumstances, I believe there were instances of people allowing others access to their program privileges as well. Retired was an area which to the best of my knowledge usually was kept under wraps. It was an area for the contributors or ex-contributors of the forum to go a bit crazy. Still is, from what I've seen. It's not a rank to be threatened by or hopefully not to be angry about, it's just some little reward given to the old farts from back in the day - and occasionally the new farts. But the case was, retired members usually had to know you very well over a period of at least a year before nominating you. I was let in after nine months, but it was usually at least a year. That means for the majority of people, at least a year of strong commitment and contribution to the forum. A CEO may step down, but he hopefully keeps his contribution of stock he accrued over the years. And perhaps more people should be given that rank that have contributed the same levels. I don't know and it certainly is not my place to say. It is my hope that my popping in to say this after years of inactivity does not exacerbate the situation for that is certainly not my intent. I am simply, like Nymh, sharing my own experiences so that I may aid in some understanding. 

[Doomsday]

@Tetiel I would +rep that post if I could, hopefully someone else will do it for me.

[Strategist]

@Tetiel I would +rep that post if I could, hopefully someone else will do it for me.

Done @Tetiel, I thank you for making such a grand post to further inform us 'newbies' of how things used to be and to try and help bring light to what kind of requirements we used to use. I had no idea on the Private side of things as it was before my time. I was fortunate enough to have been voted into Retired before becoming a Moderator so I got to experience it first hand.

[Frizzle]

@Tetiel I would +rep that post if I could, hopefully someone else will do it for me.

I'm sure one of the retired members can, our sole perk is additional rep.

[Tetiel]

Aww, c'mon guys, where's my tl;dr comments? I was surely expecting a few! But you're welcome. Writing long winded essay posts is what I'm best at and if it helped out, I'm pleased.

[Tubbz]

Aww, c'mon guys, where's my tl;dr comments? I was surely expecting a few! But you're welcome. Writing long winded essay posts is what I'm best at and if it helped out, I'm pleased.

 

It definitely helped  

 

As a fairly new user, it's nice to know what the requirements are/were/should be.

 

I'd always seen retired as people who've been here since the Codex big bang (or God made it, whatever you believe) and now just sit around in smoking jackets, drinking brandy and laughing about things no one else understands. 

[Keil]

Aww, c'mon guys, where's my tl;dr comments? I was surely expecting a few! But you're welcome. Writing long winded essay posts is what I'm best at and if it helped out, I'm pleased.

 

For you to get the tl;dr comments, you needed to proceed without an ounce of tact and piss off a percent of the community. Commendably, you have done neither.

 

Also, it's hard to comment because your recount was so informative about the past the majority of us never experienced. 

[Frizzle]

She can only come back if she gets kim as well.

[Ali]

Aww, c'mon guys, where's my tl;dr comments? I was surely expecting a few! But you're welcome. Writing long winded essay posts is what I'm best at and if it helped out, I'm pleased.

I can't be bothered if it helps? But you'll likely find that charmingly characteristic of me. I'm presuming I know everything you said seeing as I've been here since near the dawn of the time, or so it feels.

[Dazz]

I thought the retired members were going to be voting the private members in? Seeing as there are no private members to vote, or is it just down to staff on who gets in?