Classic-Castle.com

So... how are we doing? You're always welcome to give feedback to an Admin or Moderator at any time, but here's an invitation to do so right now.

Please give us feedback on how Classic-Castle.com, and the C-C Team, is doing, good or bad. Tell us what we're doing right or wrong.

Here are some sample questions to answer, but feel free to write in any other suggestions you'd like.

1) What, if anything, can we do to improve the C-C Website (outside the forum)?

2) What, if anything, can we do to improve the C-C Forum?

3) Of what, if anything, would you like to see more?

4) Of what, if anything, would you like to see less?

5) How well is the C-C Team performing their duties?

Please list any and all examples, if possible, for your suggestons. Remember, we can't improve if we don't know what needs fixing.

--Anthony

1) More articles, and faster updates in the set section.

2) If a thread is getting off-topic (non-Lego or medieval related), remove the posts instead of closing it and open a new.

3) More articles

4) Unnecessary announcements- if it isnt related to the poster etc (like a major event in the world that does not affect the poster in any way) it should not be posted since it too often gets personal.

5) Im not sure a human is able to be better than this and keep on breathing... Aka, excellent...
Though, some admins could be a little politer at times, but we all got bad days...

I love it except for one thing: no freedom of speech. I am confused why there is none.

P.S. I'm not trying to start an argument, just wondering.

For the survey, here are my answers.

1. Q.{Better Site}
   A. Well, there are quite a lot of out-of-date sections, for instance Sets, Links, some of the Stories, some of the Creations, etc. The site itself doesn't need very many improvements to make it easier to use, but some updates would be nice.
2. Q.{Better Forums}
   A. Hmm, I can't really think of anything at the moment....
3. Q.{More Of}
   A. Hmm, I can't really think of anything at the moment....
4. Q.{Less Of}
   A. Duplicate accounts. I was browsing throught the memberlist a few days ago, and I found several of what I presume are duplicate accounts. For instance:
   Sir Jocelyn & Erumaren;
   Lego Knight Matt & Matt Davis;
   Lord Thrawn & Lord Resta;
   king hio from netherland & knight hio from Nederland
   I apologize to these members if they are indeed different people, possibly siblings, but I'm pretty sure they aren't.
5. Q.{Team's Performance}
   A. I think that the team is performing their duties very well.

I have something else I would like to say. I have noticed, when browsing the forum index, that in the "Who is Online" area, only Sava' and Troy's names appear as Admins (orange), the other Admins appearing as Mods (green), and that JoshWedin's name, and possibly ottoatm's and rogue27's (can't remember about them, haven't seen them online recently) appear as normal member(s). I don't think that this affects the site in any way, just thought you'd like to know.

~smcginnis

P.S. It probably took me half an hour to write that post, what with revising, looking up members, code, and such.

I, or other Admins or Mods, will answer other questions later, but a quick response to the "How-To"/Articles section:

The content of the "How-To" section is not the responsiblity of the C-C Team alone. The content (ie. the Articles therein) is the responsibility of the entire C-C Community at large. If you think there needs to be an article, by all means write one!

For this reason there are templates for you to download and admins for you to contact when you have written, or simply come up with an idea for, a C-C How-To Article.

--Anthony

1) More frequent updates. I understand that this can be hard, though, since I don't even update my own site very regularly! Still, seeing an update a little more often would be kinda fun. Perhaps highlighting a few more members' creations once in a while?

2) It's great as it is.

3) See answer one.

4) Anything I would suggest here is in the hands of the members, and not the Admins. I'm sure we all have similar ideas in this regard.

5) You guys rule the friendliest place on the web. You enforce the rules and keep order in the community. As far as I'm concerned, you're all doing an excellent job!

1) What, if anything, can we do to improve the C-C Website (outside the forum)?

Not really anything. If you had a much large staff, I would suggest having more info, pictures, instruction scans, maybe a place for users to store pics, whatever, but half a dozen guys can only do so much.

2) What, if anything, can we do to improve the C-C Forum?
Not really anything different, just keep up the good work.

3) Of what, if anything, would you like to see more?
Nothing comes to mind, save more of everything.

4) Of what, if anything, would you like to see less?
Less personal post by our Admins and by all the users. It's great to post when you join, or when you are leaving, but only if your leave is longer than say, a month. People posting to say they will be gone for a weekend get on my nerves because it's not really likely that they will be missed for that short of time. While it's really cool to hear about the admins current lives, I think it would be better if they only posted stuff concerning Lego or the site. They have the right to do whatever, but I think that it would better if they kept to the laws of "Lego talk only". Just my thoughts though.

5) How well is the C-C Team performing their duties?
10,000%. They are very quick to spot trouble makers and give them the right response. They are very polite to newbies and handle problems that arise from the users very well.

I really admire their policy not to have a off-topic forum. It prevents a lot of garbage from entering the forum, making this site the friendliest and most welcoming one I know of.

Dan

1) What, if anything, can we do to improve the C-C Website (outside the forum)?

As others have said, just some general updates, really. Much of the site still seems to be in early 2004.

2) What, if anything, can we do to improve the C-C Forum?

To be honest, I can't really think of all that much - the forum has pretty much reached a state where no more updates are really needed. We have Admins and Mods to keep an eye on things, an plenty of good members. I think that any further development might be too much ofr the forum's own good.

3) Of what, if anything, would you like to see more?

Activity. I know it's a rather hard thing to ask, but the amount of topics across the forum seems to have been dropping lately -we're seeing lesss discussions, and even less MoCs. Looking back at the early days of the site, there were tons of topics being posted in 'LEGO Castle Sets', but nowadays we only have a few running at a time. I think we need to jolt the site a bit.

4) Of what, if anything, would you like to see less?

Can't really think of anything here. In my opinion, the site needs more, not less.

5) How well is the C-C Team performing their duties?

Well, as best as can be expected from a group of guys with their own lives and jobs and homes to attend to at the same time. I am very impressed by the amount of work that gets put into this site, and it's mostly down to our excellent team of Admins and Mods. They keep the spammers and the advertisers out; they keep the posts clean and straight; they run the contests we all love. I think they are doing a great job.

However, I do think they are faults now and again (minor, but this topic asks for my opinion, so...). I was angered by the initial lack of response and action from the Admins during that religious issue, even though they did sort it out well in the end.
Also, some topics seem to be locked for no apparent reason, such as the Braveheart topic. Yes, I know that there was some arguing going on, but it was being done in a civil manner and I don't see why it had to be closed. Also, the closure of this topic on 'Kingdom of Heaven' made even less sense to me - people were discussing Saladin (who is a big character in the movie) and yet it was closed for being off-topic. Now whilst there may have been valid reasons for the actions taken, I'd like to have more reasons as to why, not just 'thread off-topic. Thread closed.'

Keep in mind these are all opinions. This site is one of the greatest on the web, and I've met some awesome people here. Keep up the good work, everyone.

- Matt

2) What, if anything, can we do to improve the C-C Forum?
The article section...it is me or my lack of skill in navigation? I seems to always get confused while going through the links cant seems to find an index/content or an article easily... And yeah, there are a lot of dead links in the story section, some clean up is needed.

3) Of what, if anything, would you like to see more?
May be a new section of "Moderators'/forum members' choice" galleries and MOC in which inside we will have seperated sections of links (castles, characters, mill, farm, animals, shops, tudo house, windows, doors etc etc) to all the great MOC in the net. (Bruce's bookmark might finish 90% of the job ) so in a glance all these great MOC will be easily accessible to all and the result i believe will greatly improve the community building skills overtime. Since at the moment we are running a traditional way of layering threads eventually some really really great MOC will be under dust.

I really like CC the way it is, but it would be much easier to navigate the member list if all the accounts with 0 posts for more than a year were deleted.

Also I'd like to see a links page for new members with links to Bricklink, Brickshelf, Brickset, MOCpages, Peeron, etc.

There's always room for improvement .

Honestly, you guys are doing a bang up job, and very few things really need revision. Look at the traffic coming through this site, compared to say LUGNET. Obviously your doing something right!

Still, it never hurts to give a few suggestions.

SavaTheAggie wrote:1) What, if anything, can we do to improve the C-C Website (outside the forum)?

Honestly, the front page is pretty good. Its frequently updated, and its not that hard to navigate. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to add a few things.

Something I've noticed is that a lot of newer users tend to be unaware of some of the better MOCers/MOCs out there. Simply put, many new fans don't know what's possible with the brick.

It would be great to have a section that links to some of the greatest MOCs out there, giving new fans an opportunity to experience LEGO at its best. One of the things I really miss from LUGNET was the "Site of the Week". For me, it really brought me out of my dark ages, exposing me to incredible MOCs like Ed Boxer's Castle.

Perhaps something similar could be implemented here. However, instead of choosing a site, forum members could select from a number of MOCs, nominated by our esteemed administrative team. A list (and links) to these MOCs might be featured as a way to keep new fans interested. It would be good to start with some older MOCs that newer users are likely unaware of, but this could also be a way to encourage continued building

This of course brings me to my second point...

2) What, if anything, can we do to improve the C-C Forum?

The forum is extremely well-organized, and well policed. Unfortunately, it can also get a bit, um... boring. Often, this forum (like many others) suffers from lulls where users stop posting. Traffic slows, and the forums drag to a halt. The funny thing is, certain things seem to drive user participation, and keep things exciting. These are polls and contests.

Its an odd thing, but people love to have their voices heard. They want to be noticed, and when they are, they want it to mean something. Polls and official opinion threads seem to affirm that a user's opinion is important. It would be great to see more official polls from you admins as it seems to fire up discussion and promote interaction among users. As stated above, a poll for MOC of the week/month etc would be great!

What I'm really trying to say, is that we need more topics that foster user involvement. Heck, threads like this are wonderful as they allow users to give feedback and suggestions. They empower the otherwise unnoticed user, giving him the opportunity to have his voice heard. Look at how many people voted in the "admin's pick" category in last year's CCC contest. People love to be heard when it means something.

3) Of what, if anything, would you like to see more?

User participation obviously. I love hearing the opinions of others. I find it wonderful when people come together to share their thoughts on the greatest hobby out there.

...and I would also like to see more of Jojo. His posts are always thought out and informative.

4) Of what, if anything, would you like to see less?

No answer here.

5) How well is the C-C Team performing their duties?

Well, not naming any names, but compare CC to another LEGO forum which starts with the letter L, and ends with the word NET (my opinion of course). Honestly, as I stated at the beginning, you guys are doing a stellar job!


Later.

Anubisconq wrote:I love it except for one thing: no freedom of speech. I am confused why there is none.

P.S. I'm not trying to start an argument, just wondering.

Because this is a medieval totalitarian dictatorship! You didn't notice the King? The Brute Skwad enforcers?

On the slightly more serious side, start your own website and you can say whatever you like. That's freedom of speech. You are mistaking freedom of speech with the non-existent right to force publication of whatever someone else wants to babble about. The owners of this site have chosen a specific topic to focus on, and certain behaviour standards. Thus, I don't get to babble about the Long Beach Grand Prix, which I am going to this weekend (though I did kind of sneak it in there, I suppose). Nor do I get to publish photos of Sava that involved novel poses with a shetland pony and three tons of cool whip. Maybe if I made it out of Lego and put some armor on him....

Ahem. Anyway, to answer Sava, not a whole lot to improve it. I think there is perhaps a little over-zealousness at times in locking threads that have had a little wandering from the main topic while the main topic actually continues. The admins and moderators do an overall excellent job of providing material and input, updating the site and creating content and contests. The rest is up to us as a community.

I'm with TTK on this, (um .. except for that thing about the pony ) I think this site is run really well. The mods/admins seem to do a good job of keeping people on focus. The few flare ups that have happened here have been handled discretely and quickly.
perhaps the only thing I'd like to see more is some exclusive stuff from TLC. I mean, heck we got two ambassadors, CC.C is Obviously the place to go for "All your Lego Castle Needs", and I think its about time that TLC acknowledges that. of course that has to come from TLC's end, not the dudes here, so thats not a complaint against this site at all.

Freak

LEGOFREAK wrote:I'm with TTK on this, (um .. except for that thing about the pony ) I think this site is run really well. The mods/admins seem to do a good job of keeping people on focus. The few flare ups that have happened here have been handled discretely and quickly.
perhaps the only thing I'd like to see more is some exclusive stuff from TLC. I mean, heck we got two ambassadors, CC.C is Obviously the place to go for "All your Lego Castle Needs", and I think its about time that TLC acknowledges that. of course that has to come from TLC's end, not the dudes here, so thats not a complaint against this site at all.

Freak

We are working on getting more things like preview pictures. Much of this is up to certain groups within TLC. We are also giving fan feedback to LEGO. So even if we do not post about it, many things said here are heard by LEGO.

Ben

Well, there have already been some great answers. Also, as everyone has been saying, this is already a great website, but...everything can be improved.

• 1. Improve Website
  Well, the frontpage is updated once a week, sometimes more often, which is good, but I do enjoy other sites which update more often. Eurobricks and FBTB, for example. What could be added, I'm not sure, maybe more MOCs, as has been suggested. Maybe more announcements of contests/polls, or big things happening to Lego....
  
  Plus there are all of the old links...
  
  3. See More
  MORE ORGANIZATION!!! This is the most trouble I have. The search for members and previous posts just doesn't seem to work well (maybe we can break a deal with Google ). Also, the memberlist is too hard to go through. I understand why only the first three and last three pages are available, but how long does it take to find the person right in the middle?
  
  What I think might be very helpful, for everything, is a rehaul of the site. I don't know if it's been this way since the beginning, but an update every so often is good. I certainly understand that the team doesn't have time for this (leading to the question five). If it has been this way since the beginning, then we do need to consider that the participation has grown, and maybe the old necessities have changed.
  
  The forum and main page look nice, especially compared to some. I really like simplicity too. A refresher is good, especially if the forum is getting stale--we need to make people want to stop in--and stay awhile.
  
  4. Less
  I don't think too many websites need less, people just don't have time to work on these things, we all have lives outside of this, and many more imporant things to do. You're all doing a good job with what we have.
  
  5. Team
  The team seems to be working well. As I've been writing this for who knows how long, I've been thinking of an update. Since there's never enough time for everything we want to do, maybe another staff member could be something worthwhile. This could spread around some more of the responsibilities, plus, it could allow more time for site updates. Also, if the site could have a makeover, then, well, we know how much work that takes. (One reason my site is how it is.....)

Basically, I think a refresh of the site would be good. A webmaster could be useful, but not someone paid--one of us who knows computers and has free time.

There's my ten cents worth. These things might be something to think about, and maybe not. Even if CC doesn't change at all, I won't care too much; it's great now!

And thanks again guys, the team helps make this site great.