Tie in TF2 Donor status with the website

Drum

Drum

Australian Skial God
Contributor
Mapper
We have a host of perks in tf2 for donating, why not make some for the website as well?
aka: An extension of the tf2 benefits package to have some benefits on the website, too.

Some ideas could include: (These are just sample ideas)
* The obvious, a banner under the username.
* Revamp the current Contributor forum and make it accessible only if you have donor status.
* Extended signature limits, one more image, etc.
* Auto-bumping of trade threads
* suggest more ideas

I know there is currently a contributor tag right now, I am saying to create a tag \ benefits that expire once the donor status expires. The contributor tag and its benefits are permanent.

Visual samples:
LbTiO4v.png

tcSm0HV.png

12oAS8u.png


Let me know if y'all like \ dislike and any inputs you might have.
 
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ozzeh said:
Hmm, giving special forum perks isn't such a bad idea. You could change the banner style a bit, change the text color etc.
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You mean like, custom colors for the banner?

ozzeh said:
Also, a custom title may be a possibility but would require additional forum staff to help moderate the titles (or change the titles if they go by request rather than through the profile settings page).

That's all I got for now.
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That would be really nice, people love custom titles. That won't happen though until our Forum Admins actually assume some responsibility. I wouldn't mind doing it, but I'm not at that level.
 
Drum said:
You mean like, custom colors for the banner?
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Sure, custom css for the banner itself, or maybe just the font/text color etc.


Drum said:
That would be really nice, people love custom titles. That won't happen though until our Forum Admins actually assume some responsibility. I wouldn't mind doing it, but I'm not at that level.
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I wouldn't mind doing it either if they'd consider it.




I believe this post talks about editing banners in xf though I don't have permission to view the whole thing now. http://xenforo.com/community/resources/creating-custom-user-group-banner-css.2000/
 
ozzeh said:
Sure, custom css for the banner itself, or maybe just the font/text color etc.



I wouldn't mind doing it either if they'd consider it.




I believe this post talks about editing banners in xf though I don't have permission to view the whole thing now. http://xenforo.com/community/resources/creating-custom-user-group-banner-css.2000/
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Yeah it's a simple css callback, that's how I made the banners in the sample pictures. I don't know about making it custom though as having different lots of different colors could create a janky \ unprofessional effect.
 
Drum said:
Yeah it's a simple css callback, that's how I made the banners in the sample pictures. I don't know about making it custom though as having different lots of different colors could create a janky \ unprofessional effect.
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Well what I had in mind was simple font/color changing, similar to how forum staff have that orange tag on them. Though I suppose you could change the gradient background too maybe. Coming up with gfx isn't my specialty so I can't help you there lol.
 
ozzeh said:
Well what I had in mind was simple font/color changing, similar to how forum staff have that orange tag on them. Though I suppose you could change the gradient background too maybe. Coming up with gfx isn't my specialty so I can't help you there lol.
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Wait, are you talking about per-person or per-class (Forum Staff, Moderator, Donor, etc)? Cause per class is totally doable.
 
ozzeh said:
Hmm, giving special forum perks isn't such a bad idea. You could change the banner style a bit, change the text color etc. Extended sig limits may be an issue though. Also, a custom title may be a possibility but would require additional forum staff to help moderate the titles (or change the titles if they go by request rather than through the profile settings page). There may be some useful xf plugins out there for titles though I haven't really looked.


I don't think that'd be a very good idea. I'd say enable some features as long as you're currently a donor but keep access to the forum permanently.




That's all I got for now.
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I actually like the idea Drum's presenting about extending perks of being a regular(recurring donator in this case) on the forum not only the server. I had a similar suggestion on giving perks to Regulars of the forum *HERE*. Though I see how this isn't such a huge priority in further extending perks of donators and regulars on the forums, I do feel it is something that we should invest in as there is a lot of additional value that can be associated with little to no work additionally added. The Skial Forums are a part of the Skial Community and even though a fraction of those who donate or play go on it, it is still a beacon of our public opinion and usually the most vocal opinions come through these forums. If we can entice or attract donators to a more appealing forum by giving perks, it can increase traffic to the forums, which in turn will naturally give more traffic to the servers and vice versa.

Just as we give players custom perks on the server such as !hat and end of round immunity, you can give donators or recurring donators an ability to change titles or even just a custom theme to view the site at. It are these little things that can have a huge influence towards donations.

As I understand it, the problem isn't creating these perks or anything, but might only be maintaining or moderating. If that's the case, I could see why current staff members, especially those who juggle both Skial Forums Admin/Mod as well as TF2 admin can say this is too much work. However there are people who would be willing to help moderate just the forums, for example PsychoRealm is a staff member of just the Technology Subforum if I am correct. If there are community admins who just moderate the servers, there should be community admins who just moderate the forums/subforums/user information.

As an expanding community, innovations have to be made, and suggestions to better areas outside of our tf2 servers have to be suggested,even if it is just aesthetics or practicality, and shouldn't be undermined or not prioritized just because it isn't code or something broken.
Though all of the points Drum suggested will not go through, this general premise is something Skial will need if it wants to further succeed in my opinion.
 
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We already have a banner, I do not see what is wrong with this.
jB6iRyq.png

I am pretty sure Bottiger is too busy to make things shinier for you guys. Something like this isn't a big deal and a shinier banner isn't going to get people to donate more. Yeah the tag is permanent, but that isn't really a big deal either as there are no perks added to the title. It just lets everyone know that at one time, you were a donator and support Skial.

Signature increase will never happen. I can guarantee you guys that. Bottiger wanted to remove them completely due to people having annoying sigs. However, I think we talked him out of removing it.

As for the auto bumper, I believe Bottiger said he needed help with that.
http://www.skial.com/threads/an-auto-bumper-bot-for-donor-trade-threads.19615
It is not like he couldn't do it himself. It boils down to him being the only programmer and only administrator that he just doesn't have time for it. It probably got forgotten or he just doesn't have time to make it a priority.

There isn't really any perks we can give forum side to donators. When it comes down to it, people donate for the server benefits, not for the forum. I doubt even 75% of the donators even come to the forum, so spending time on it would be useless.
 
KillerZebra said:
We already have a banner, I do not see what is wrong with this.
jB6iRyq.png

I am pretty sure Bottiger is too busy to make things shinier for you guys. Something like this isn't a big deal and a shinier banner isn't going to get people to donate more. Yeah the tag is permanent, but that isn't really a big deal either as there are no perks added to the title. It just lets everyone know that at one time, you were a donator and support Skial.

Signature increase will never happen. I can guarantee you guys that. Bottiger wanted to remove them completely due to people having annoying sigs. However, I think we talked him out of removing it.

As for the auto bumper, I believe Bottiger said he needed help with that.
http://www.skial.com/threads/an-auto-bumper-bot-for-donor-trade-threads.19615
It is not like he couldn't do it himself. It boils down to him being the only programmer and only administrator that he just doesn't have time for it. It probably got forgotten or he just doesn't have time to make it a priority.

There isn't really any perks we can give forum side to donators. When it comes down to it, people donate for the server benefits, not for the forum. I doubt even 75% of the donators even come to the forum, so spending time on it would be useless.
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I believe that if we can offer some benefits, and make the tag expire, people would buy it.
I agree though that finding actual benefits to give is tough.
Also that suggestion thread you linked, Bottiger never replied.
 
+1 if there were some more good ideas
Access to the contrib fourm shouldn't be taken away, as it wouldn't be much of a drawback to the user and would hinder it's activity, and applying signature limits feels kinda cheap, like a we couldn't think of anything else so you don't get this anymore cheap
An "active donor" banner replacing the contributor banner for said period of time, while also allowing it to have a custom color set is good, but what else?

So yes, i like the idea as it would attract a little more attention to donations, but as of now there's not enough good suggested features to support it
 
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No he didn't reply. But that thread wouldn't have the "Need Help" prefix if Bottiger didn't want help for that thread. Could be wrong though.

And I have to disagree with the forum benefits. I really don't think people come to a forum looking for benefits to the site. I do not think it will bring in any new income. I have never seen any regular person come to Skial asking for forum benefits.
 
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Drum said:
That would be really nice, people love custom titles. That won't happen though until our Forum Admins actually assume some responsibility. I wouldn't mind doing it, but I'm not at that level.
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As I stated in another thread, your custom title is your name. Forum admins actively change peoples names on request, ensure signatures stay within guidelines, and update user information as needed. now tell me how forum admins are not assuming responsibility.
 
Maddo said:
As I stated in another thread, your custom title is your name. Forum admins actively change peoples names on request, ensure signatures stay within guidelines, and update user information as needed. now tell me how forum admins are not assuming responsibility.
Click to expand...

I believe that they could also update custom usertitles for people as well, as it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Just my $.02
 
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