Read This Second: When Making A Suggestion...

[Orion]

• Welcome to the Privy Council, where new suggestions are made each and every day. When making a new suggestion, and to maintain the quality of this board, it is recommended that you abide by the following guidelines:
  
  Part 1.
  
  Making a new topic.
  
  
  • First and foremost, use the Search function!
    It's located in the upper-right corner of the forums. Type a keyword or two in to the Search box, click the button, and scan through the first few pages. If you don't find anything relevant to your idea, then it's OK to make a new topic. However, if you find a post that supports your idea, then make a new post in that topic. It's better to revive a thread that's been dead for a while than it is to create a new one.
  • Second, flesh out your suggestion!
    When it comes to making a new topic, you're probably anxious to get it posted and see what kind of feedback you get from the community. However, if you don't put some thought in to what you're saying, and if you don't provide any details for your idea, then your idea won't be received well. It's better to spend 10 to 15 minutes going in-depth with your idea than it is to write out your idea in a single line, followed with "how AWESOME would that be?"
    
    Here is a bad first post. Here is a good first post.
  • Third, if you have more than one idea, don't stick it all in one thread!
    Sometimes, you'll come to the forums with more than one idea in your head. You want to get all of your ideas out on to the boards, and that's good, but putting a bunch of ideas all jumbled together in to one thread makes the Search function less effective, and it makes others think you haven't put much effort in to your post. Instead, make new topics (make sure they all follow the guidelines) for each idea, and expand on each of them separately. However, please keep in mind that if you make too many new topics (4 is the dividing line, usually) all at once, people still get the impression that you haven't put much thought in to each individual suggestion.
  • Fourth, title your thread appropriately!
    If your idea is about battering rams in sieges, don't title your thread "Cool new idea!!!" Make sure your title reflects what's in your head, and what's in your post. This makes it easier for other users to find your thread with the Search function, and lets people know what your topic is about at a glance.
  • Fifth, accept what feedback you get!
    If the community doesn't like your ideas, don't flame them. Everyone has their own opinions, and while it's up to the developers to determine what goes in to the game, the community definitely influences their decision. If you're getting negative feedback, look at the reasons why they're saying your ideas won't work, and either explain your idea further, propose a work-around, or accept it. This is a friendly community, and respect is more important than post count.
  Keep these 5 simple guidelines in mind when making a new topic, and you'll be good to go.
  
  Part 2.
  
  Responding to a topic.
  
  
  • First, be on topic!
    When making a new post in an already existing topic, make sure your post is relevant to the topic. If you enter a topic about battering rams and talk about the prices of horses, you're off topic. Off topic posts count as spam, and spam belongs in the Fun Stuff board.
  • Second, be helpful!
    If you like some one's idea, but don't like how they want it implemented, offer your idea on how else it could be accomplished. By expanding the topic, you're keeping it on topic and you're promoting discussion of the original idea and your idea. If you don't like an idea, don't just say you don't like it! Instead, post your own suggestion that would accomplish the same goal as the original.
    
    For instance, if a user made a topic about removing bows from tournaments, but you liked to use the bow in tournaments, it would be better if you suggested adding the option to select which weapon to use, instead of just denying their suggestion outright.
  • Third, use details!
    I can't stress this enough. If your post is just one or two lines, you should really think of more stuff to put in it. The more details you provide about what's on your mind, the better the community can understand - and therefore support - your idea.
  • Fourth, be respectful!
    If you don't like an idea, or if you don't like the person who posted it, don't start a fight in the topic. The best way to get back at some one you don't like is to present a new alternative to their idea, not flaming. If you flame, you risk being banned, and we don't want to ban some one who has really good ideas!

[Freebird]

Someone sticky this!

[Orion]

+10 Kudos to Archonsod for the timely sticky.

[RaVeN]

I think it is a good effort that you put this up, but I doubt most newcomers and recruit-rank forumers are going to read it.

[Orion]

At the very least it can be relayed to new members when they post a suggestion, so that they only make the mistake once. It's better that they mess up once and never again, as opposed to spamming up the board. Besides, I have an idea.

Perhaps when a user signs up, the PM that's sent out to their new account can have a list of links to posts they should read. The forum rules, of course, and some of the other things like the community-compiled list of mods, the modding resources, and some other useful things. Seeing as how the PM notification is at the very top of the board, new users are likely to see it.

Then the only problem would be if they deleted it without reading it. If they did that, they still have a chance of seeing the topic. If they don't see the topic, or choose to ignore it, then a user can reply with a link to the topic. If they ignore the link, then they're probably not very bright and they won't listen to us anyways.

Whatever happens, they'll see it.

[Archonsod]

• Third, if you have more than one idea, put it all in one thread!
  

Technically, we'd prefer the opposite. Search only works if people give useful titles to their threads. There could be 1000 ideas on shield bash out there, but if every single one has a title like "A few ideas to make this game better" then search is never going to find them. Which is another thing you might want to add - use sensible titles. If your idea is about shield bash, then title your thread "My shield bash idea" or some such. It makes them more likely to turn up when people search for "shield bash" to see if there's already a thread on it, and of course the thread is more likely to attract people who are interested in ideas for shield bash.
 That said, you shouldn't post 100 new threads to the forum all in one go simply because you've got 100 great ideas. Quality is always better than quantity, and the board will still be here tomorrow. Post your best three or four ideas and see how the discussion develops first, posting a lot of ideas in one go merely makes people think you haven't bothered actually thinking the suggestion through, and are thus disinclined to respond.

[Orion]

I'll take your points in to consideration and revise the original post.

[Edit]

Alright, fixed up some formatting issues, made appropriate changes, and it's overall better.

[Hershey]

MeestYk as a what-not-to-do role model