Edit for the suggestions website

SSM_GOD

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#1
If you didn't know, there is a specific website meant for the community suggestions. https://suggestions.manacube.com/
Personally, I rarely ever go there. When I first found out about it, I thought it would be active but quickly realized it's not. Many of the suggestions that are posted there are very old, already added, or are good ideas that the community should see. But there is such little traffic to there that it's kind of ignored.
However, I do like the system it has. Here is how I would fix it.

What should be changed:
User experience
The homepage should be on the "new" tab instead of "top"
The homepage is clogged with "done", "not planned", and "planned". Remove from the main list and make these into their own viewable folders.
Make the theme the same as the main forums. (night instead of day)

Why?
Having multiple types of interfaces makes it more confusing and therefore, more difficult, for people to learn and use. On all the rest of the forums, posts are viewed as recent and new, but it's the opposite on the suggestions page. On forums, the default theme is night, so when switching to the suggestions page, my eyes are blasted with bRiGhT LiGhT

Brough to main forums
Make a part of the forums in community posts. Or change/add to 'ideas and feedback'

Why?
Having multiple links and different ways to connect the website makes it more chaotic. Imagine if all the realm posts were made on a different website. Wouldn't be fun, right?
Having it on the main forums will allow for MANY more people to see it. I know I am not the only one who doesn't check the suggestions page daily but does the forums. Many people don't even know about the suggestions page, so making it easily visible and interactable with the community with boost activity.

Dates for "planned" suggestions
When suggestions are set to "planned" add a date for them.

Why?
Having written and published plans for community suggestions will make the community feel more engaged in the development and upgrade of the server. If the dates aren't able to be met, a postpone notice or a change to 'unplanned' would show that people are still actively working on the development but might be busy with other stuff.

Login instead of 'anonymous' posts
Use the same login on the suggestions page as on the forums.

Why?
This would make it more streamline for posts. Perhaps make there be an option to withhold the name of the poster from other community members if they wish to be anonymous, but keep it still visable to staff.

Allow for community moderation
Change from just staff to the community to moderate the posts.

Why?
Currently, only staff are able to make suggestions posts public. If players are able to vote and decide if something is worthy of discussion, the process would be faster. Inappropriate posts would still need staff moderation.

Add opposition votes
Add a way to show opposition in numbers on posts.

Why?
The only way to show that you don't like or against the post is to make comments. These are kind of even more hidden and easily looked over from many. I would add a downvote option.

Bring back Feature Friday
https://manacube.com/threads/feature-friday-1.40307/

Why?
It's been over a year since there has been a feature friday. This is where community ideas that were added are for everyone to see.
Even if this doesn't become it own repetitive thread, perhaps it can become a part of the monthly posts. Like the "Mana Master Pieces" that were recently added from the Creations posts, a "Feature Friday" section of the monthly posts sharing the community added ideas would be awesome. In this section, the ideas that were changed recently changed to "done" or "planned" should be shared and explained.

What changing will bring:
The community will be brought even more together. A stronger player base could never be bad.
More discussion on forums. Compared to the rest of the Manacube network, the forums are inactive. Making a place where people would want to go daily would make it more active.
Community involvement in server development. Although this does exist now, people do not feel as included as what might be the goal. Having more player ideas being added will make the players feel more involved and satifactory with their participation on Manacube.



What do you all think of an update to suggestions? If you have any ideas, what are they?

This is similar to the wiki. I am a fan of having the wiki and community suggestions, but I do not see the logic in making it a separate part of the website.

This is ironic because it's a suggestion for suggestions and it will just get forgotten or lost like most others.
 

Dutchy1372

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#2
Hey SSM!

Thats a great suggestion! For a better chance of approval, make a suggestions post!



-regards
 

GGAddictionz

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#3
Excellent idea. I think with the whole login and making it a part of the forums or at least having a shortcut there from the main site so people don't have to really dig around to find this unused site would be great. Making it connect with our forum logins and information would also benefit both forum users making suggestions and the people reading them having a little context.
 

kxe

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#4
Hey!
Unfortunately, this isn't possible as the website used for the suggestion page isn't made by us.
Maybe in the future :eyes:
Best wishes,
-kxe
 

Bxrryy

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#5
Suggestions would be alot more active if it was integrated into this forums itself, personally big servers have a very active suggestions sub forum as it's easy to find and simple to use. Honestly, I didn't even know that existed, it's definitely not placed in a way that it could be found easily. So I definitely agree with your suggestion! Incorporating it into the main forums would give members more scope to participate and allow many to find it easily.

A scenario which most of us could relate to is, "You don't personally use forums, you get an idea that you want to suggest, you open the main forums and go through the sub forums and don't find suggestions any where, you could ask about it but then you see how inactive the suggestions region is and decide to back out from suggesting your idea as you believe they don't actually get looked into or something along those lines."

Allow for community moderation

Change from just staff to the community to moderate the posts.



Why?

Currently, only staff are able to make suggestions posts public. If players are able to vote and decide if something is worthy of discussion, the process would be faster. Inappropriate posts would still need staff moderation.
This also a very valid point, inappropriate posts can be made anywhere in the forums, plus from the hidden placement of the current suggestions forums, I doubt anyone would look for it in specific to post something inapropriate. Allowing players to vote on the suggestions, will give a clear view on how important and acceptable the suggestion is, I'm sure there are many people willing to give their feedback on suggestions which would as you said help the process!

Thank you for suggesting this, it's a wonderful suggestion! From what kxies says, even if it's currently not possible, sooner or later, it would be helpful and efficient to all of us. <3
 

4thForce

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#6
That's a great idea! You should add it to the suggestions page at https://suggestions.manacube.com/.

Jk, but this is the reply that I've gotten from a lot of people when I have an idea or suggestion for the server. But, as I'm sure you've seen, the suggestion page is basically dead, with most of the suggestions made a long time ago. I think if the suggestions page was incorporated more into the forums, where it would get a lot more traffic, it would be used a lot more. It could be a sub-forum with polls or systems similar to the current suggestions page.

4thForce:mc_79-0:
 

Tas

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#7
The suggestions page is a joke. There used to be a Discord channel to post suggestions and get actual responses from other players and staff. You knew your suggestions were actually being seen and people upvoted/downvoted using reactions. I wonder what happened to that.
 

SSM_GOD

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#8
the website used for the suggestion page isn't made by us.
I did know this but did kinda forget it lol!
I know that it's the same for here, on forums, and the wiki. How it got to this, I have no clue. All of the clubs and associations I'm in IRL would never even suggest using a template site. So when I saw an online community, that so heavily uses different internet means using a premade site, I cringed so H A R D.
I think the best solution would be for Manacube to have its own website. But since that is so very incredibly unlikely, I think linking the websites would be great. This could work in a similar way that ManaUpdates works, where it shares it to the game, discord, and the forums.
If that's not possible, I think editing the filters and layout should be. That would still provide a HUGE benefit to the website. And I know that the suggestions page could be advertised more and be more interactive on forums too.

Allowing players to vote on the suggestions, will give a clear view on how important and acceptable the suggestion is, I'm sure there are many people willing to give their feedback on suggestions which would as you said help the process!
People can upvote and comment on the suggestions, but comments are always ignored unless they are memes, and the upvotes make no difference since the entire page is as dead as anyone who walks in the bathroom after my dad.

The suggestions page is a joke. There used to be a Discord channel to post suggestions and get actual responses from other players and staff. You knew your suggestions were actually being seen and people upvoted/downvoted using reactions. I wonder what happened to that.
I've only ever heard rumors of this discord channel lol. One time I was in an argument with ChocBar, and she said to post something in #suggestions, this was like a month ago, and then I had to tell her that channel has been gone forever. So I'm not sure even the admins know what happened there. Or she's an inactive admin like dynsalir
I think they might have removed that because there would be no real good way to keep track of the suggestions?

I do like to see everyone is in support of this! I've never seen someone have an enjoyable experience on the suggestions website since it was released. This isn't true, but the absence of care for community suggestions makes it seem like they, staff/laedership team, don't care for the ideas. And it's kind of like they're saying "shush, stop talking" when they suggest putting it on a dead, useless site.
 
Last edited:

GuardME

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#9
Suggestions would be alot more active if it was integrated into this forums itself, personally big servers have a very active suggestions sub forum as it's easy to find and simple to use. Honestly, I didn't even know that existed, it's definitely not placed in a way that it could be found easily. So I definitely agree with your suggestion! Incorporating it into the main forums would give members more scope to participate and allow many to find it easily.

A scenario which most of us could relate to is, "You don't personally use forums, you get an idea that you want to suggest, you open the main forums and go through the sub forums and don't find suggestions any where, you could ask about it but then you see how inactive the suggestions region is and decide to back out from suggesting your idea as you believe they don't actually get looked into or something along those lines."


This also a very valid point, inappropriate posts can be made anywhere in the forums, plus from the hidden placement of the current suggestions forums, I doubt anyone would look for it in specific to post something inapropriate. Allowing players to vote on the suggestions, will give a clear view on how important and acceptable the suggestion is, I'm sure there are many people willing to give their feedback on suggestions which would as you said help the process!

Thank you for suggesting this, it's a wonderful suggestion! From what kxies says, even if it's currently not possible, sooner or later, it would be helpful and efficient to all of us. <3
Yes, this is so true, I don't want to dig just to find the suggestions page I believe it's extremely important and should be noticeable!

Amazing idea,
~GuardME
 

RudraVII

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#10
I agree with the idea of suggestions being integrated into the forums. This makes it so you can find everything in one place and it’s easily manageable, too.
 

AriesNinja

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#11
Hmmm. I Agree, but I think the page looks fine as is. (I might just be being stupid because knowing me, its probably already changed.)
 

Octaviene

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#12
+1

Manacube definitely needs a proper channel for suggestions.

As someone who has written 2 suggestion threads, one of which has gained a lot of traction, I’d really like for there to be a way for the community to get their opinions to the higher ups, and to see the effects of their work instead of just. . . Waiting around having no clue if anything is being done xD
 

AriesNinja

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#13
+1

Manacube definitely needs a proper channel for suggestions.

As someone who has written 2 suggestion threads, one of which has gained a lot of traction, I’d really like for there to be a way for the community to get their opinions to the higher ups, and to see the effects of their work instead of just. . . Waiting around having no clue if anything is being done xD
suggestions.manacube.com
 

AriesNinja

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#15
???????
what did you link that for? This whole thread is about how that site is terrible
Oh shoot sorry I thought I was on a different forum... lol
 

AlfieJay

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#16
I actually really like this post, especially the feature Friday thing. I forgot that even existed xD Anyway the only thing I don't really agree with is community moderation. See when staff moderate the suggestions website, we're not deciding what should or shouldn't be discussed but instead we're deciding "is this content appropriate". Only on very rare occasions have I actually deleted a suggestion or a comment from going public and it's only due to inappropriate behaviour or the fact that it's already been suggested (I'd email them)

Anywho yeah, good suggestion
 

SSM_GOD

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#17
I actually really like this post, especially the feature Friday thing. I forgot that even existed xD Anyway the only thing I don't really agree with is community moderation. See when staff moderate the suggestions website, we're not deciding what should or shouldn't be discussed but instead we're deciding "is this content appropriate". Only on very rare occasions have I actually deleted a suggestion or a comment from going public and it's only due to inappropriate behaviour or the fact that it's already been suggested (I'd email them)

Anywho yeah, good suggestion
I know it's not a big change, but I meant for that role or 'duty' to be made for members instead of staff. This is because it can sometimes take days or up to a week for a suggestion to be made public. When players posts are in this sort of limbo, there is a lot of frustration, especially for newer people. It's really just to make it quicker.
But I love to see support growing up the staff ladder! Helper, mod, now sr mod... Dacon I'm coming for that booty!
 

AlfieJay

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#18
I know it's not a big change, but I meant for that role or 'duty' to be made for members instead of staff. This is because it can sometimes take days or up to a week for a suggestion to be made public. When players posts are in this sort of limbo, there is a lot of frustration, especially for newer people. It's really just to make it quicker.
But I love to see support growing up the staff ladder! Helper, mod, now sr mod... Dacon I'm coming for that booty!
When I'm not super busy with school work, I check suggestions every night before going to bed to approve stuff. Also I'm saying that it was a decision made by admins that certain staff members would have to approve everything, I think that was just the default and there was no objection