[New Era] How we are changing - Stage One: the eUK forums

Day 2,141, 14:30 • Published in United Kingdom United Kingdom • by Sven Goran Duran-Duran

Just another day in "Public Discussion"


The Forums


It would be fair to say the eUK forums (link) have for a long time been a no-go area for many New Era players.

Indeed, New Era as a party has to a certain degree, actively discouraged use of the forums for a long time - there were of course reasons for this, including, for instance, a ridiculously bias modding team.

Some newer members may find it surprising / amusing that known trolls, such as Invalidation, were elevated to the rank of Mods and tasked with objectively governing comment therein.

Needless to say, "objectively governing comment therein" is not what occured and many who disagreed with one thing or the other ended up being unfairly treated.

As such, New Era wisely steered (esp its younger) members away from what could sometimes be a brutal playground for players who really don't like New Era.

Those times have changed, however.

As a party I think it's time to recognise that over the past months, the new Mods and admin team have done an excellent job in trying to bring the forums back round to what they were - an excellent place to debate, to socialise and to learn more about this silly game.

Whilst applauding those guys for their hard work (done not without opposition) I and others think that New Era as party should now actively promote forum use and encourage all its members (and other players who may have stayed away for the same reasons) to give it a go.



Why should we use the forums?

Here's three reasons:

1) Forums are a great tool if you are in Congress or involved in Government. They create a moderated space for debate that's less messy than in-game pm's. You can keep an easy track as to what people have discussed and debated before. You can put private, sensitive stuff on there etc. Forums do have their drawbacks though - for instance, not everyone uses forums. So having debate and voting on there means many do not get to take part; some by choice, others because they don't want to register, too lazy, banned (in the past, usually a New Era member - lol) etc. etc.

In-game articles are another way to do congressional discussion too - everyone would see them, although that too has its drawbacks in that it can become messy, vandalised, not private when you need it to be etc.

A fair way would seem to be a combination of all of the above.

Nevertheless, the estabished and reformed eUK forums are undeniably a great asset at a Congressman's disposal and New Era therefore recommends and asks all its congressmen (and future congressmen!) to join and see what goes on in there.

In the future, New Era PPs may consider whether a congressman has registered on the forums when choosing his/her place on the congress list.

2) As you can see I like talking about congress and forum use xD but the forums can also be a great place to socialise, play other games with players from the eUK, and meet people. In the off-topic sections, you will find a wealth of stuff for folks who might wanna talk about Breaking Bad, or play a game of Total War, or talk about football etc.

3) The forums can be useful for running political parties and running MUs. This side of the forums has arguably become less useful now that we have feeds but the forums can and are still used for holding party debate for instance, arranging party / MU competitions, organising your regiments, even putting up your party constitution!



You can find out more about the official eUK forums (and IRC) here:

MoHA article

For now, and to make start on this new policy, any New Era member that posts in the New Era section of the forums (I am about to put up a thread - subject: Free Tanks) will receive some free Q7s for their trouble.

To get access to the New Era subgroup, you will need to be registered on the forums (if you are not already) then request access to the New Era group - just send a mod a message or put your request on the "Party Forums - Access Requests" thread.


New Era members get free tanks for joining the forums - nice


Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you want to know more about New Era or want to get involved, just send me a pm.


Regards


Sven Goran Duran-Duran, DSO
Commander of the British Army MU and Party President of New Era