What does the Tetris scene need right now?

[Rosti_LFC]

You should try being a productive member instead.

I tried, it was a fu**ing waste of time.

Constructive criticisms can help the community.

And there's nothing constructive in what I said? I'm being pretty specific at various points about the exact areas I think are currently lacking and have serious room for improvement on the site as a whole, and why I think that's the case - there's plenty in both the posts I've made on this thread. It's not like my posts are entirely "hurr durr HD is sh** you guys have no hope to be less sh**".

Criticisms don't at all need to offer explicit solutions to be constructive, and it's totally stupid to suggest that they do.

[Paradox]

Constructive implies that you help build it up. Not break it down which tbh is all I see from you.

-----

To comment on myndzi's recent teams of 3 idea I think we need more things like that. People belonging to teams is another way to provide motivation. Your team cheers you on and supports you, and can even be a source of good advice. Maybe some will look at the past team league as a failure, but I think it motivated a lot of people and the team mechanic was great. It just needed some improvements which is understandable. I think it successfully made people stand behind their teams and actually take time to practice for their matches as a team.

[Rosti_LFC]

You do realise that explaining what is sh** about the current status quo is part of the argument for implementing a different system?

So what if I'm working more around a gap analysis than looking at how to enhance positives in the current system - it's still a perfectly valid way of doing things.

More tournaments would be better but running tournaments on HD is currently a huge pain in the a** => there has to be a better way of doing it, perhaps with automation, and maybe that would help with there being more tournaments.

No decent discussion on the forum => get more decent discussion on the forum in some way.

HD currently doesn't actually offer much to people who register => what could it possibly offer and how could it work to generate more content? (and I really can't stress enough that I feel that is the most important aspect that has to be thought about and worked on if HD is ever going to see long-term success)


And honestly, if I'm negative rather than positive it's because I feel there really isn't a huge amount to be positive about. News is done right. The shoutbox is done right if it's the sort of thing you enjoy and don't care about it hurting forum activity. Records is done wrong. Moderation and forum dynamic has been done wrong. A whole ton of "features" on this forum hardly get used or could be promoted in a much better and more integrated way (the world map and videos and clans and such). But being all happy clappy and positive and praising sh** that is done right isn't going to go far helping to improve the site - improving the aspects that are sh** is far more valuable than polishing the aspects that are already good.

There are a few members here who genuinely do work to improve the place. There are a lot that don't (which is standard for any forum). But really HD hasn't seen any serious improvements or developments in years (not necessarily a bad thing though, at least compared to adding features for the sake of it), and the staff haven't done much to attract new members or keep people. People have made a site and have put in things they think are cool but I doubt massively that anyone has actually put in any thought on what is likely to attract people in the first place, keep people here, and intelligently make this place a decent website and something actually worth visiting. It's been created and maintained far too much on a "build it and they will come" mentality and then left to its own devices with the hope that it'll be popular and self-sustaining. Go figure that doesn't actually work in practice, especially given that we're not in 2004 any more and these days websites do typically have to actually be good to merit visitors (and forums and messageboards don't seem to be as popular as they once were).

I honestly believe that the reason people don't sign-up and stick around en masse is because this website offers very little to new members other than the opportunity to try and force themselves into what is a fairly cliquey community (which is standard for every small forum I've ever been on, tbh). And that's just how I think things are. If anything, take it as a constructive opinion that looking outwards and blaming Tetris games for this place being inactive isn't going to help - unless some new revolutionary game comes along and HD is the de facto place to go for information and downloads for it, this website isn't going to be changed much by new Tetris games in the long-term.


And even if you take it as being negative, you whinging about me whinging doesn't actually change anything. If I say something is sh** and you can't refute my reasoning and explain why actually I'm wrong and it isn't sh**, then it would seem the point still stands that it's sh**. If you think what I say is wrong (and a lot of it is definitely subjective, to be fair), then by all means complain about it. But if you're just pissed off because I'm being negative and saying things that people apparently don't want to hear, then that doesn't make my points invalid. Negative criticism might not be as good as constructive criticism where I completely spell out in baby steps how to make this website as popular as Facebook, but if the points made are truthful and have reasoned arguments behind them, then it's still valuable criticism to the powers that be, so long as the people reading it have enough of a brain to find some constructive aspects from it.

[caffeine]

And even if you take it as being negative, you whinging about me whinging doesn't actually change anything. If I say something is sh** and you can't refute my reasoning and explain why actually I'm wrong and it isn't sh**, then it would seem the point still stands that it's sh**.

Yes, I complained about the fact that you were complaining. Except, when I did it, I offered advice on what you could do differently. I asked what your ideas were for fixing the problems you were talking about. I suggested that you might be more specific. I didn't just point out your problems. I offered ideas for how you could fix those problems.

Your posts are huge, Rosti. They must've took some time to type up. I'm trying to say that a single paragraph explaining one practical solution is ten times more valuable than ten paragraphs of arguing and complaining.

Don't get me wrong, save for my earlier post, I'm not really trying to argue that your points are faulty. Hey, if you really feel compelled to complain all day, then I say go for it. Sh** sucks. That's your point. We get it. However, when you make all these complaints and don't put work into offering solutions, it makes it sound like:

• You don't actually know of a better way of doing things (in which case, your complaints could be considered unreasonable).
• You don't actually want to help improve things (in which case, what are you doing here? Don't you have better things to do then type a book's worth of complaints?).
• You're mean and just like to complain/argue about sh**.

[bigwig]

Rather than add to the discussion or meta-discussion about rhetoric and discourse I'm just going to say I always agree with Rosti 100%

[Rosti_LFC]

Your posts are huge, Rosti. They must've took some time to type up.

Not really, the longest one is probably not much more than 1k words, so 15 minutes or so of typing, which was between GSL matches this morning when I wasn't doing much else anyway. And aside from that I've graduated and don't start work until the 6th August - I can spare the time.

Can also go with the argument that if HD had less wrong with it, I'd be writing shorter posts. Or that if I gave genuinely helpful suggestions as well, they'd be even longer...

I'm trying to say that a single paragraph explaining one practical solution is ten times more valuable than ten paragraphs of arguing and complaining.

I'll concede this is an extremely valid point, and on pretty much anything other than forum/blog posts I vastly prefer being concise over verbose and waffly, though it's less fun to write that way so I don't bother if I don't have to.

Though I'd also say if you picked out the points I actually raised and your replies discussed them, then this whole thread would be more valuable than when you just nitpick the manner in which I raised them.

You don't actually know of a better way of doing things (in which case, your complaints could be considered unreasonable).

True for a fair number of things, though I'd say with something like running a website it's highly subjective and open to guesswork what would really be "better". There are a huge plethora of options to what can be done to improve the site, change what it offers, change the dynamic, change the functionality - these are all entirely up to the community at large and the staff, and I'm not really in a position to make claims on what HD should be. I also don't have access to stuff like Analytics data or decent forum stats (because IPB is sh**e forum software or they're disabled to regular members, I'm guessing the former)

You don't actually want to help improve things (in which case, what are you doing here? Don't you have better things to do then type a book's worth of complaints?).

If by "help" you mean "put in actual effort" then you're probably right. But I don't really consider such posts as effort really. And as I mentioned above, at the moment, no, I don't really have much better to do. And you should probably try reading some longer books at your age.

You're mean and just like to complain/argue about sh**.

Lol you say this as if it isn't established already  


Tomorrow I'll be watching the Olympic road race cycling for 2-3 hours. During that I'll make a magnum opus on how to improve HD and I'll try and be a bit more constructive and suggestful, mkay?

[exchliore]

Not really, the longest one is probably not much more than 1k words, so 15 minutes or so of typing, which was between GSL matches this morning when I wasn't doing much else anyway. And aside from that I've graduated and don't start work until the 6th August - I can spare the time.

Can also go with the argument that if HD had less wrong with it, I'd be writing shorter posts. Or that if I gave genuinely helpful suggestions as well, they'd be even longer...
I'll concede this is an extremely valid point, and on pretty much anything other than forum/blog posts I vastly prefer being concise over verbose and waffly, though it's less fun to write that way so I don't bother if I don't have to.

Though I'd also say if you picked out the points I actually raised and your replies discussed them, then this whole thread would be more valuable than when you just nitpick the manner in which I raised them.
True for a fair number of things, though I'd say with something like running a website it's highly subjective and open to guesswork what would really be "better". There are a huge plethora of options to what can be done to improve the site, change what it offers, change the dynamic, change the functionality - these are all entirely up to the community at large and the staff, and I'm not really in a position to make claims on what HD should be. I also don't have access to stuff like Analytics data or decent forum stats (because IPB is sh**e forum software or they're disabled to regular members, I'm guessing the former)
If by "help" you mean "put in actual effort" then you're probably right. But I don't really consider such posts as effort really. And as I mentioned above, at the moment, no, I don't really have much better to do. And you should probably try reading some longer books at your age.
Lol you say this as if it isn't established already  
Tomorrow I'll be watching the Olympic road race cycling for 2-3 hours. During that I'll make a magnum opus on how to improve HD and I'll try and be a bit more constructive and suggestful, mkay?

TIL what magnum opus means:

mag·num o·pus/ˈmagnəm ˈōpəs/
Noun:   
An important work of art, music, or literature, esp. the most important achievement of an artist or writer.

I'm looking forward to your "magnum opus". I hope it is beautiful.

In terms of this thread. Blink needs to figure out what he wants to do. He can't have everything. The direction he needs to take isn't one small change. Nor is it adding special features to this website. He needs to take a step back and look at the game as a whole. Unfortunately, the game is not a very interesting game to watch. And to throw more dead bodies on the pile, the game play is pretty one dimensional as well. Nevermind that the game is almost impossible to commentate because of how fast the game moves. I'm not saying that the game is dead because there are surely many directions to push the game. Blink or someone else needs to figure out where the game needs to be and then push the community in that direction.

For example:
Would it help if the game speed was capped at 120blocks per minute? Or would it help to go to 12 columns instead of 10 (slower games, better watching)? Perhaps the bag needs to be more random (move to a 7/8/9-bag system).

Perhaps the game rules could be changed. Maybe matches should be scored differently. Instead of an indefinite time span or a definite win/loss, the game could work in terms of bouts. Players face off in 1-2 minute bouts and are given a score based on how well they do (bpm, blocks, attacks, average stack height), etc. Obviously a top out is an instant loss. You can even carry over the a penalty/bonus to further bouts depending on how well/poorly each person was doing (start with trash lines, more differentiated piece generation, less t's/I's, etc.).

And people love teams. If there were only a better way to implement team matches. Maybe a mechanic where players can rotate in and out of live matches, like tag teaming.

Who knows what people want. What people should be asking Blink to do is envision how Tetris should be played and watched, and then push the community in that direction, whether they like it or not. And to be honest, most of the "hardcore" people here will probably hate the "right" direction to take the game.

---

Also, is there a way to disable these mass emails that Blink sends out?

[Paul676]

ok, I'll say the only thing which is credibly going to make anything happen in the Tetris world:

1. TTC making a tournament ready multiplayer Tetris game, or making their current multiplayer Tetris games tournament ready (and I mean ready for tournaments where the feeling after the final is positive for Tetris, rather than negative about how lag interfered with the balance of play).

2. TTC actually centrally organising tournaments. Seriously, it's not hard at all for them to do, because they've got people whose job it is to promote Tetris. and a site which is very regularly visited. It's just that they haven't tried to do it yet.

Anything else isn't going to have anything like the same effect, at least not long-term.

[Rosti_LFC]

As an opening note, I acknowledge that most of this post is opinion. I'm just not going to write it as such because opening every clause with "I think..." is a pain in the a**. Also I'm writing this out on Notepad first, which doesn't have a spell check, so there's probably going to be grammar errors and typos and accidentally a word everywhere.

In terms of the greater scene and Tetris games, I agree massively with everything exchliore said. I'm not even going to bother touching that, because he's already put the general feeling I have in his post, and I've elaborated on it already elsewhere.

Also this still starts fairly b****y. It gets better in the second half, I promise.

In terms of just HardDrop, and the website, I'll do things systematically. Starting with the front page:


The Front Page

News & Tweets
The news stuff is good. Same for the tweets for the majority of the time. Keep that stuff there - it should be on the front page. My only real critique would be that articles can be a bit thin on the ground sometimes, but frankly that's an issue with the greater scene and I'd rather see decent articles only every two weeks than an article some day about some non-issue that nobody really cares about.

Stream & Videos
Again, good stuff. My main complaint with the stream would be that the stream chat isn't visible from the front page, meaning you get a split between people talking in the stream chat and people talking in the shoutbox. You can't expect everyone to watch the HD stream from the HD front page, especially if the stream ever gets more popular, and I think it's bad that the chat gets split and is basically hidden to anyone who watches on HD. Honestly though, I don't know how to resolve this without some smart web coding because having the stream chat on the front page when the stream isn't live would be equally stupid.

Shoutbox
This shouldn't be on the front page. It's currently one of the main things this site actually offers to members and it's probably the most aspect part of HD, and it should be on its own page. This has two benefits. Firstly, it stops people who are on the front page from having to see the shoutbox there, which should hugely reduce the load on the server because only people who want to see the shoutbox have to. Secondly, putting it as it's own "chat" page legitimises it a bit more, and gives it the sort of role within the site that it basically already has unofficially. It'd probably see more and better activity if it had its own page and tab on the top of the site, and wasn't just a widget embedded into the front page.

Other Comments
Unuder the news, the social links are fine (FB, Twitter, Twitch etc), but I think the TF stats lookup and fumen are mis-placed. They're useful tools, and they're in a place where they can be completely overlooked and it's not obvious at all what they are to new members. Plus they don't really fit with the links that they're currently surrounded by. They're decent features of the site (and not external links), and they should be displayed a bit more prominently.

It'd also be cool if the Player of the Month widget title actually linked to the thread, because it's currently not obvious how PotM works unless you hunt around the forum for it.


The World Page

For one, I think "World" is a retarded title for the tab that leads to this page. "Community" or something would be far better.

The whole teams system either could do with an overhaul. It could have a far greater place on the site, teams could get their own sub-forums or at least a way to organise themselves and post more personal details to other team members in private. There could be a whole team ladder system and various other things that would actually make teams a bit more viable and less dysfunctional. Currently any team that wants to take itself seriously essentially has to make its own website. Without an overhaul like this, it might as well be removed for the time being. Currently it serves no useful purpose whatsoever.

I feel the photo gallery is a bit of a waste of space too.

The blogs thing is fine - I don't know if people really read them but people do write posts and the layout of it on that page is sensible.

The world map is implemented poorly IMO. There are a lot of points on the map and in principle it could serve as a decent "find Tetris players near you" kind of thing, but it's impossible to filter active members from inactive members on it, and aside from the search feature it really doesn't do much IMO.


The Forum

The main forum page is fine. Pretty much the only suggestion I'd have for the board structure right now is combining the Introductions board into one single introductions thread, just because every new member making a new thread to tell people about them just seems a bit unnecessary and silly. Not really fussed though and I don't think it would make too much difference.

For two long-term b****** about the forum software itself:

Censoring
It's a dumb feature - words are offensive due to context and intent, not due to the precise letters. If I call a black person a "stupid fu**ing n*****" then I really don't think the fact I've used asterisks is going to make him feel any less offended by it. Censoring does nothing except for maybe the two or three kids that exist in the world who might manage to find HD but somehow wouldn't have already heard/seen the words F***, a**, sh**, etc.

At the very least let people turn it off (as is practice on any forum I've ever been on that has post censoring) and fix the censor patterns so that it actually matches case and you don't get random as F*** capital letters in the middle of posts.

The Forum Software
IPBoard is really fu**ing bad. It just sucks. Compared to Simple Machines or even phpBB it creates a forum that's extremely clunky and awkward to use. It's really bare for features and stats - SMF has way way more stuff in that regards. If the admin control panel is remoately as awkward to use as the profiles feature compared to the likes of SMF then I really don't envy the forum moderators. Even a basic feature like clicking on someone's profile and then seeing all posts by them (all posts, not all topics) isn't something you can do (or at least I've not figured out how). To get someone's gender/age/nationality you have to mouse-over their avatar on their profile, which is totally unintuitive.

There are some good aspects to profiles - contact info, username/wifi codes and then aspects that integrate with the rest of the site like videos and teams, etc, but a lot of it feels like it's just trying to be a crappy myspace/facebook page knock-off. I don't want fu**ing music playing automatically when I view someone's profile. I shouldn't have to rely on them formatting their game usernames and IM information in a way that doesn't look sh** - the forum interface should do that for them. That and a huge number of members don't actually bother to fill out their profile anyway.

The comments system seems totally obsolete when you already have a PM system too.

It'd probably be a bit of a pain to import everything across, but I think there's a lot to potentially gain from switching to better free software like SMF over what is currently in place. Both members and site staff would gain useful features, even if we might lose a few that we currently have on IPB but which are barely used anyway.


I feel the forum boards itself would benefit from more proper discussion on non-Tetris things, but there's a huge chicken and the egg factor there with those sorts of threads. Fact is, right now, if I want to chat about the Olympics and the new series of Castle and such then I'll just go elsewhere and do so. There's not much to be done to break out of that cycle really. If people can't be bothered making the threads, and people are too herp derp and spammy in the way they reply when those threads do exist, then it's unlikely to change easily. It's a problem loads of forums I've been on have, and it's not something I've ever seen fixed except with a complete moderation overhaul and quite a few warnings/bans on more unruly members.


Wiki and Videos[/b]
Not much to comment on here. They're about as good as they're most likely to get. Other than making them a slightly greater focus for the site itself there's not much they'll really do to change HD or the community.

Records[/b]
This could be a really decent focus for the site and a way of encouraging solid competition in between tournaments, but it's really neglected and poorly implemented at the moment I feel.

The problem is that it's far too isolated. It's not very well integrated with the rest of the community stuff (player records don't automatically feature on forum profiles, for example). There's no sense of achievement when posting a new record. There are also way too many modes on there that people clearly don't play or care about, yet they take up the same space on the list of games and clog it up. Pick a random game from the list and see how often you get more than ten scores on the leaderboard for that game - it's pretty rare.

The fact that it's automated is good, but I think it would benefit more from the sort of system that TC has, where the records are contained within threads. Without some clever coding it means people have to update leaderboards manually, but it also means that you get far more satisfaction posting scores, and people can actually see you've posted a new score without having to keep careful tabs on the records page or be explicitly told by people they've improved. Forum threads also means that the less popular modes sink out of view slightly and the more popular ones are easier to find.

Might be worth noting that for a forum with less activity in general, the four main TC Records threads each have twice as many thread views from the last three years as the most viewed single thread on HardDrop.


The Site in General

Really, one of the biggest changes that has to happen if HD is really going to take off and expand past the sort of user base it has had and vaguely maintained for the last three years, is that the people running the site actually have to think about what they're doing and put effort in.

This place needs a team of people who are working to create new content, to improve the site, and to actually make this place worth visiting and not just a forum with a few tacked-on features where users occasionally bother to host tournaments.

For example, I think the easiest way for HD to attract and keep members are regular tournaments. It's something you can necessarily get from other gaming forums, we can dictate the terms that the tournaments work on, and they've been a very successful and straightforward way of gaining activity in the past.

The problem at the moment is that official HD tournaments are really rare, and this place is relying on members to organise them of their own volition. It shouldn't work like that. It should be part of the responsibilities and duties of the HD staff to organise and run touraments, either together or through taking turns.

Gonna bold this bit, because I feel it's really important as a general point:

Whatever methods are decided for getting and keeping activity here, it should be the staff that take the lead. Being part of the staff here shouldn't mean just occasionally chiding people on the forum (unless the staff member's role is explicitly forum moderation only). They shouldn't be people who are just there to step in when things go wrong. They should be people who are constantly driving to lead HD and make HD a better website.

The staff here currently don't seem to do a huge amount to actually make HD a better place, and to produce content and to actually lead the website forward. I'm talking collectively and over a long-ish timeframe here - I know some people do work on things, and I know from experience that being a community administrator can take a lot of time and effort that rarely gets recognised, but I still feel that the staff here are far too anonymous and don't justify their own positions.

The staff here shouldn't be appointed based on friendships, on how long they've been in the community, on how good they are at the game, on even how qualified they are to do the job. Sure, they can all be factors, but really people should be added and removed from the staff on the basis of how much time they actually spend to improve the site. If someone is constantly doing good things for the stream, or running good tournaments, or producing insightful content for the wiki, then consider giving them a recognised position for it and adding them to the staff. If nothing else it's an extremely good way to encourage and partition people who do actually try and run things and improve the place from those who are just happy being regular members.

The staff should go beyond merely forum moderation, and not everyone on the staff necessarily needs to be there to moderate the forum. HD should be about more than that.


Frankly, I don't think a huge amount of HD is particularly awful as a website, but it's too reliant on its current members and always has been. Other, successful websites, are reliant on an organised team of people to create solid content or a really good site feature (which HD doesn't have). Currently the only thing HD has over something that someone else could easily knock up in a week or so from assorted website software packages is people. And it's not making decent use of those people when it really could.

In terms of the sort of content that can be provided, I feel it's basically more of the same. More tournaments. More streaming. More news and attempts to publicise to Facebook and other social media. They'll all raise the site profile and raise activity.

The issue is just one of organisation. Organise a team (the staff) to do these things, and they'll get done. We have a very small number of people who will take the initiative and just decide they're going to do something good. We almost certainly have far more who would do something good if they were just asked to do it, rather than the community waiting for them to get around to doing it by themselves. Set up people who will run weekly/biweekly/monthy/etc tournaments, organise a rota, people to do streams. If people stop wanting to do it and can't be bothered, then drop them from the staff and see if someone else is willing to fill the role. If people work and work together in an organised fashion to produce content and improve the site functionality and member experience then it's not difficult to make HD a proper purring website rather than just a hodge-podge of website software and features loosely holding a Tetris community.


There's plenty that needs to happen outside of HD to make the Tetris community really strong and to enable competitive Tetris to be successful, but almost all of that is completely beyond the control of the people here, and frankly I don't think there's much point debating it unless you're either going to decide to give up entirely, or assemble a crack squad of programmers to make the best competitive Tetris game imaginable. On the other hand, there's plenty that can be done on HD and which is in our control. Worst case scenario HD becomes a better site. Best case scenario this place gains a bit of respect and legitimacy and actually does become a community with a proper voice and connection to TTC, and one that can affect the wider Tetris world in a way that will improve it.

[yotipo91]

How to improve Tetris:

Ongoing activity (Nullpo League), hopefully Belz can improve Nullpo activity!

Rivalries, be it teams, or 1 on 1 requests. A lot of members that go unseen are players who either stomp younger players or get stomped by veteran players and get discouraged because there isn't much competition at their level.

I'm not a big community person, but I love this game, and this website introduced me to some fantastic Tetris players. So all I ask is for the Nullpo campaign to be released... and perhaps a new official Tetris game for PC that isn't Flash.

[solo2001]

There's only so much that can be discussed about tetris.

[ohitsstef]

It'd also be cool if the Player of the Month widget title actually linked to the thread, because it's currently not obvious how PotM works unless you hunt around the forum for it.

Good point, I like this. Blink get on this. We should make a "How does POTM work" or you should add it to your original post on the POTM accomplishments thread.

Censoring
It's a dumb feature - words are offensive due to context and intent, not due to the precise letters. If I call a black person a "stupid fu**ing n*****" then I really don't think the fact I've used asterisks is going to make him feel any less offended by it. Censoring does nothing except for maybe the two or three kids that exist in the world who might manage to find HD but somehow wouldn't have already heard/seen the words F***, a**, sh**, etc.

At the very least let people turn it off (as is practice on any forum I've ever been on that has post censoring) and fix the censor patterns so that it actually matches case and you don't get random as F*** capital letters in the middle of posts.

Agreed.

Gonna bold this bit, because I feel it's really important as a general point:

Whatever methods are decided for getting and keeping activity here, it should be the staff that take the lead. Being part of the staff here shouldn't mean just occasionally chiding people on the forum (unless the staff member's role is explicitly forum moderation only). They shouldn't be people who are just there to step in when things go wrong. They should be people who are constantly driving to lead HD and make HD a better website.

The staff here currently don't seem to do a huge amount to actually make HD a better place, and to produce content and to actually lead the website forward. I'm talking collectively and over a long-ish timeframe here - I know some people do work on things, and I know from experience that being a community administrator can take a lot of time and effort that rarely gets recognised, but I still feel that the staff here are far too anonymous and don't justify their own positions.

The staff here shouldn't be appointed based on friendships, on how long they've been in the community, on how good they are at the game, on even how qualified they are to do the job. Sure, they can all be factors, but really people should be added and removed from the staff on the basis of how much time they actually spend to improve the site. If someone is constantly doing good things for the stream, or running good tournaments, or producing insightful content for the wiki, then consider giving them a recognised position for it and adding them to the staff. If nothing else it's an extremely good way to encourage and partition people who do actually try and run things and improve the place from those who are just happy being regular members.

The staff should go beyond merely forum moderation, and not everyone on the staff necessarily needs to be there to moderate the forum. HD should be about more than that.

I agree with this 100%.
I've talked to Blink about this several times as well as voiced my stance publicly on the "staff" and received "If you have anymore problems, PM me or the mod team." What is the point of PMing the mod team when they aren't active users? Or when I find them to be the problem? What is the point of having mods when they don't do their jobs regularly? And then when the mods actually "do their jobs" their reasonings are all ridiculously petty.

2 examples I can think of at the top of my head

* I got a 1 minute ban from the shoutbox by Virulent because I was saying she didn't do her job monitoring the shoutbox when moronicfreak attacked my team, then Aaron comes on and mocks me. But I get banned for 1 minute because I "attacked" him.

* Shizi gets a warning because he jokingly says "noobs aren't allowed" in a thread. Obvious joke, but he gets a warning. Then when I ask Blink if he's going to warn everyone else who leaves that sort of reply he says, "I'm not always on the site, I cannot always do this blabhlabhalbhalhba I'm not targeting Shizi."

How can you be on the staff if you do an inconsistent job on modding the users? And then when you actually "do your job" you're overly oppressive? Ban some users because they aren't friendly with you but let the users who scare off new members go unpunished because they're your friends.. right. Great modding.


Now Blink makes this comical thread stating the obvious "activity is low." How do you expect to have activity when you're not even working on the site yourself? You aren't even excited for Tetris anymore.

Most importantly, I think the biggest reason why people aren't interested into Tetris as much anymore (at least in this community) is because the game itself is dead. Even if it does change there are only so many aspects of the game you can tweak before we all realize where we actually stand in skill level. TT0II's sign up has just started, which is great... but if Hebo and Blink sign up, let's just jump to the finals and not waste anyone's time. There's no more excitement because we already know who's going to win.

I suggest a tournament for the "not as noteable players" to join and so they can have a chance to win. But then of course figuring out who isn't as noteable as others is difficult. :/

[StS]

I suggest a tournament for the "not as noteable players" to join and so they can have a chance to win. But then of course figuring out who isn't as noteable as others is difficult. :/

I feel like the Nullpomino League did a good job in providing this. Those who joined were sorted into Tiers, based upon Sprint times and their performance in previous leagues. From my perspective, I was never placed in a match which I thought I had absolutely no chance of winning.

[zephy]

I think the scene mainly needs better advertising, most people when they first hear tetris don't think of a a largely multiplayer competitive game but something more along the lines of single player. I'm in college and I know most of my friends have never heard of multiplayer tetris, except for a few that have played tetris battle and think 2p is competitive.. I think there should be some better advertising on gaming blogs like maybe kotaku or other such places because even I have rarely seen any type of tetris related news anywhere besides here.

[Paradox]

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE[/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]I feel like the Nullpomino League did a good job in providing this. Those who joined were sorted into Tiers, based upon Sprint times and their performance in previous leagues. From my perspective, I was never placed in a match which I thought I had absolutely no chance of winning.
[/quote]

Pretty soon I'll start hosting tournaments similar to that. Probably after TTO2. There is something else really cool being released soon and I'll be working off that when it comes to who you play against. It will be much more accurate than going by Sprint times.