What do you want for 2011?

[Strolen]

The title is a little misleading but wasn't sure how to phrase it. Going to try and not go all mushy on you but we will see how it goes.

Long ago this site seized to be mine. I am here, I maintain it (often break it) and between moves to other countries I even started to comment more. But the site isn't mine. It is yours and I am but a humble servant. I remember when the idea of the Citadel came together. In sunny Spain with two awesome friends, workmates, and roleplayers. We knew our time at the same location would end and we were all too creative and attached together to just let friendship drift apart with distance. So we spent a lot of time and energy coming up with the seed of the Citadel.

That was over 10 years ago when it all started and I am amazed at the content and community we have become. It has expanded and grown way beyond anything our humble minds could have came up with. We are tight group with a nice diversity and confident opinions. We are tight but always welcoming to new members. It might take a submission or two for them to break through but as long as they are as serious about their ideas as we are and are able to accept the reviews given they will be welcome with open arms. And that is what we look for, people to help us grow as creative writers and gamers. Those that are looking for an ego stroke are in for a rude awakening but those that embrace the community and the opinions are better from it.

So I guess I just want to take a moment and say Thank You! Thank you for making the Citadel what it is today!!

I tried to concentrate on the user experience and ease of features over the last year. Not sure how well I have done but we made some strides with your patience and input. I always have stuff that *I* want to do on the site, and always will but I think I am going to stop worrying what I want and concentrate more on what you have requested. There are ideas out there that I will start working on but I think each of you probably has a specific feature and or change that has been bugging you.

So 2011 will be the year of the community. If you come up with something that you want done and other Strolenites agree with it then I will make it so. I won't measure it amongst any priorities except the community response. Nothing is too large or too small.

On that vein my personal goals for 2011 are pretty simple yet as difficult as any I have had before.
1. Post multiple submissions in every category
2. Comment as often as possible on current and elder submissions
3. Get the Citadel ebook started
4. Come up with some prizes for the Quests

I am very much looking forward to enjoying another year with you all!

[Pieh]

Those are honorable goals, indeed, Strolen. I hope you see all of them to realization. I, too, am often amazing at what this site has become after my 7 years here. I have never seen so much talent congregate in one place before, and especially not for so long. Over 10 years ago... Wow.

I would like to take a moment to put some thanks into this post and make it a little mushier. When I was 16, I discovered an amazing site full of creative geniuses, fabulous writers, and fellow role-players. I fell in love with Strolen.com at that time and I had  no idea what an impact it would have on my life. Eventually, role-playing became a passion of mine, as did writing, naturally. I was a poor writer, nah, I was a terrible writer when I joined this site. However, over my years here I have managed to string together some works I am quite proud of, if only because of the praise I received from all of you talented authors. Having an audience has been of great benefit to me, especially one as honest and inquisitive as all of you. Today, I am 23 and I like to think my skills have improved massively over the years, and I owe a lot of that to the continued input of The Citadel. Thank you, everyone.

But, what do I want in 2011 from/for The Citadel?

Not much. I want the site to remain stable, and in a moderately functional state. That is a key component. As long as we have this site, our gallery of creativity, we can continue to share our work with like-minded peoples.

Most importantly, I want you all to remain active and in good health. I hope you all have a great new year, full of life, cheer, merriment, and joy. I am also looking forward to another great year with my Strolenite family. You guys have been great.

[dark_dragon]

• Contribute more: In the past two years I haven't posted a single sub. My goal for 2011 is for a sub every month at least.
• Help Strolen create the Ebook: I volunteered in 2007, and three years later, it is time to actually act. I pledge my support for this project elsewhere.
• Welcome every single newcomer in person. It is very easy for me to pop in the forums and say "Hi" on the welcome board. It makes people feel welcome. All round goodness.

As an aside, I wish everyone the best for 2011!

[Dossta]

I agree with Pieh.  The most important thing to me is that the site remains stable for a time.  Polishing is fine (bug fixes, formatting fixes), but allowing the Citadel to rest for a short while would allow us all to catch our collective breaths after last month.  That said, here are a few (hopefully minor) things that I would like to see added in the future:

• Updated FAQ for the new members (I'd be happy to help with this)
• A more intuitive way to vote on quests.  At the very least, a link to the appropriate voting thread should be added to the quest page so that it's easily found.  An announcement on the home page would also help.  On the upper end of this would be a voting application that is more integrated into the site itself (perhaps with links or buttons on each qualifying quest sub)

Most of all, however, I hope that this site continues to grow and to nurture new members.  The feedback that I have received on my work here has helped me immensely -- I have become a better writer for it and hopefully a better world-builder and GM as well.  For that, I will always be in debt to this community.  Thank you all.   

In return, I will try to comment more often and use my HoHs to bring old gems to the surface once more.

[Ramhir]

I also agree with Pieh.
***Goal #1***: to keep the Citadel stable and a place for us to share our creativity and our writing with others.

Goal #2: to post at least 1 sub per month and comment at least 3 times per week.

Goal #3: greet every newcomer. This sounds like a good goal, but, dark_dragon, how do you know that a person is new, other than checking their profile, which I do if I don't recognize the name or have some reason to check it. Is there an easier way?

As for other goals, I am too new here to be able to have much input. I am retired, so I have time: if someone wants to give me a task, I will try. I like the idea of the awards you were talking about, Strolen.

And Strolen, thank you from the bottom of my heart for being willing to devote so much time and effort into making the Citadel a truly wonderful place to hang out. If I can ever help, please let me know.

[Silveressa]

4. Come up with some prizes for the Quests

A few easy and fun prize ideas are:

-A $5-$10 gift certificate at drivethrurpg,com (Perfect for any fan of the site and able to be spent on whatever works best for their games.) Perhaps a $10, $7 and $5 certificates for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners?

-A free extra HOH nomination

-Choose/suggest the next quest

-A small (5%10%) bonus to all gained xp for the next x # of days/weeks. (Not sure if this would be a pain in the ass to code or not however.)

-Choose a adventure seed/topic/item/person for a sub that one of the higher ranking Citadel members will write a custom submission for. (Nice for those wanting to see an idea/concept they thought of detailed but lack the ideas/time to do it themselves.)

[Strolen]

Dang, there are some good ideas. % increase to XP for X days/posts is a fun idea!! Others are great too!!!!

[Murometz]

Good ideas, Sil! I like the Quest winner picking the next Quest idea! Makes so much sense. % xp bumps too!!Good stuff.

[Strolen]

Hmmmm.

So do we make it official and put all the pressure on Echo to come up with the next Quest?

You ready for that kind of responsibility Echo?  hehehe