This is an idea I've had for awhile, but I think it would be cool to have an ad forum for major events at sites. I'm sure it would have to have rules like the site would already have to be listed here, and you can only post an event for a site once every three months or something like that, but that would be reasonable to me, and makes people really measure what is important enough and not clog up the forum. Plus, with a time frame such as an event, it could easily be pruned.

Another way to do the same thing is have an "Event of the Month" contest, where sites submit events at their site, and one is randomly drawn.

I like this idea. It would be interesting to see what events were posted. ^^

I actually find this one very interesting, it could definitly work.

Now here's my question, would it be purly an announcement type thing or would people be able to respond? In theory this sounds great but I wonder if it'll work in practice, or will it turn too much into another place where members can advertise and say how great the site is.

If you could maybe elaborate a little on how this idea would function then I think that we'll definitly talk about it in the Staff Room.

That hadn't really occurred to me, to be honest. It's just been something kinda at the back of my mind that I finally decided to put words to. I think making it a non-reply forum would definitely be fair enough, or requesting only questions could be asked about the event.

Maybe there's some others who might think of a better way to handle it (by all means, I know I'm not the most brilliant person this time of night). (happy)

I think this is a great idea!

Probably the best way to set this up would be to create a new forum/subforum for it. In there, the randomly selected site would get a thread posted by a mod, putting up the ad about the event that was submitted by the RPG owner. Then the rest of the thread could be devoted to squealing/questions/comments, etc. It wouldn't clog up the forum in general, and everybody could get their opinions across. Simply make it that so only those with the correct forum permissions would be able to start threads in said forum. Problem solved. :)

I've had some time to mull over Melly's question and I'll suggest a different direction.

The simple solution for keep it neat is to make the forum post-able, but not reply-able. In essence, in the permissions allow new posts, but not replies. Then the basic rule on that would be if someone had a question, they could just pm the author, who, if they felt it necessary, could edit their post if they left something important out.

The rules:
1. Each site can only post every x months (The time limit for each site to be able to post an event could be anywhere from 2-6 months, although I think 3-4 months would be most reasonable. )
2. The poster must be an admin or global mod
3. The site must already be listed in the directory (which also limits those with newbie accounts).
4. You can only post for an event less than 2-4 weeks in advance.
5. Once the event has started, the post can remain up for 2 weeks, after that, it will be discarded.
6. Place the dates of the event in the secondary title box when you are creating your event post.

Here's a general idea for a form:

Oh I do like the idea of this. I know boards tend to have some pretty cool events like dances and whatnot and it could actually work out positevly. You might be looking for a board that has something going on at the moment, so instead of looking through the huge directory, you can check out the ads. Very nice idea!

Wow, I think this would be a pretty awesome addition. :o I think that it could get some attention on those genius ideas people come up with while inspiring other boards on how to do nice things like that for their members. I think it'd be easier to handle people's questions if they replied to the topics, because we have limited PM space, but either is good, I guess. :)

Well, if replies are allowed, the consolation is that the posted event has a timeline, and the post can just be deleted after the timeline is up, so then it couldn't be a long-term source of advertising, and one post wouldn't dominate the list for very long. A time limit on how long the post can remain up once the event has started should probably be in effect, too, say, 2 weeks? (We all know how some site events end up dragging on forever! (tongue) ) The easy way to handle the date would be to put it in the secondary title box.

I forgot to add that it would probably be a good idea to make one of the rules that you can't post an event more than 2-4 weeks in advance. I've edited the above post to include everything.

And I agree Loth, I am really interested to see what kinds of events other sites can dream up.