Forum Use

[Choleric]

It's very obvious, but just a little idea to try to encourage people to check the forum.  We could use the Guild Information panel in-game to list upcoming raids/events/important threads on the forum.  We'd have to keep on top of it but it should only require a quick tweak each day.

Of course this also relies on people checking Guild Information.    (MotD?)

Ultimately anyone not using the forum misses out and that's all there is to it but as it came up again the other day that the same 10 people tend to use the forum I thought I'd make this suggestion.

[Sylantar]

tbh, i use the forum more than i log into wow these days.

But, i think it would be a good idea to get ppl to use the forum more, as i remember we do always try to encourage forum use but never really caught on with some members

[Splishy]

The problem is that most people (myself included) see a deluge of addon spam when they login, so they generally never read the MotD. The only way around this that I can see is to regularly change the MotD (all officers *should* be able to do this, unless Amber's changed anything), as this broadcasts to the guild whenever it's changed.

I may have a look for an addon that will spam the MotD at random points, but that then runs the risk of pissing people off...

Perhaps we should look into some fun contests and the like? Obviously on the forum only...

[Choleric]

I like the idea about contests, I'm not very inventive when it comes to such things but in-game item prizes could be an incentive.  These days there is far less planning revolved around the forum than in the past; this isn't a problem for us but there are obviously people who want to at least do 5-mans or even actually raid.  Although it can be said it's their own fault if they miss out on a raid I do feel as though encouragement to find out what is going on should be looked at.  Quite often people ask if anyone is interested in an instance to be met with stony silence that harks back to the pre-TBC days: "put it on the planner!!".  With Northrend instances being shorter, I know imprompu runs are much easier than they used to be but if you are like me you want to know when you are going to have to be focused on the computer.

In the end I honestly don't know how many people this affects (it's hard to tell with the bazillion Alts in the guild, mine included), it is true that most of the active characters are just Alts of regulars.  If you generally feel that it's not a problem then we can just let it be.

On a related note, could I also make a suggestion (guess this is the place for it).  I was wondering if there is a way to have the Instance Planner slap you in the face in some way on the Home page.  I don't want to seem picky or ungrateful because I know a lot of hard work went into the forum, but the little raid planner button doesn't even display in classic view (which I use - how it came to my attention).

Oh and I wouldn't think the occasional MotD would annoy anyone

[Amberley]

All officers have access to MOTD so feel free to spam away.

As for the instancing, because they are so easy now it is much harder to build a group on the planner for 5 mans.  All raids are put there except for VoA for obvious reasons but the times we have added normal or even heroic runs they don't fill up.  People starting threads in the instance area for 5 mans seems to work much better.  Again it relys on people using the forum so it will always be the same bunch of people.

The fact everyone has to apply online should make people realise that they should use the forum but never seems to work.