1 thing i don't understand about Cm's...

#1 - March 2, 2011, 6:21 p.m.

What do Cm's do all day if they aren't replying to that many forum posts? It seems to me that they only post 1 response like once ~ three times per day (if that). I thought they are supposed to respond to people + not just "view our topics from a distance" (in a sense that they mostly just read + not respond)

I mean i do know that they are supposed to relay information to the dev team + relay information to the playerbase, but it seems like there is a huge lack of communication because they rarely post. (I have no idea, but it doesn't seem practical that it would take most of the day to just tell the dev team (or whoever they communicate with) something that was suggested/etc.

Tldr version:

What do Cm's do all day since they don't post often in any given day. (It doesn't seem like it takes all day to give the dev team or whoever they talk to - information + go back to their desk)

I am not saying they don't do a good job, I am merely curious as to what their typical day is like. (Because I thought most of their job was to post information to us and such)

Edit: please don't make this a topic to bash the Dev team. keep it clean :)

Daxxarri

Community Manager

#22 - March 2, 2011, 7:54 p.m.

They high-five each other. Like, all the time.

This.

My... my hand hurts all the time now. I've begun to dread coming into work. My shoulder aches and the slapping... Always the sharp *crack* of high fives, like explosions going off in my brain. The sound, it's an assault on my ears. My blisters are constant agony, and I can no longer do normal, every day tasks that others take for granted, like parasailing or competitive eating.

S-save me.

They need to stick to anwsering question about the game not general stuff they need to realize they don't count as people.

You have cut me to the quick. TO THE QUICK!

On a serious note, we do quite a lot that isn't immediately visible from the forum interface. Nethaera wrote a great, and really comprehensive post on the subject, so I'll point it out to you rather than simply rehashing it here:

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2016274470#17

Nethaera

Community Manager

#34 - March 2, 2011, 8:24 p.m.

03/02/2011 12:17 PMPosted by Modivi
On a serious note, we do quite a lot that isn't immediately visible from the forum interface. Nethaera wrote a great, and really comprehensive post on the subject

Dax,
Tahnks for that, i think most people must've missed that one... i know i did :)

02/04/2011 4:42 PMPosted by Nethaera
The problem is less about my answers and more about the fact that despite Community Management being a growing field, many people still misunderstand what we do or can't fully understand unless they're in our shoes. It would take me far longer than a simple forum post to go into the intricacies of what we do and even then, unless you're on our side of the fence it's very difficult to truly gauge it in proper context.

Now as for this statement... any of you CM's may answer this question :P

How does one get on your side of the fence?

Lots of hard work. Unfortunately though, there is no one singular path I could tell you to take. I'll speak in generalities. Some have cut their teeth within the companies they work for and work their way into the department. Some get their feet wet in sub-communities and work backed by other beneficial skills. All of us though, have a solid game community background though and passion for it and getting your name known doesn't hurt either. As in, being an active and productive member of a community, running a community you've built, writing your own blog for a community, or even running a successful guild can all be helpful skills that could get you there. Just know, it's highly competitive to get in the door no matter which door you go through.

Nethaera

Community Manager

#37 - March 2, 2011, 8:27 p.m.

*begins chanting*

Two CM's enter, one CM leaves.

Now now... This isn't Thunderdome. And if it was, I'd do the smart thing and just be master/mistress of ceremonies vs. being the one IN the ring. ;P

Daxxarri

Community Manager

#38 - March 2, 2011, 8:30 p.m.

What the heck?

There are a million threads with useful feedback out there, and this thread gets not one, but TWO CMs posting in it?

See this is why-

Oh, wait. Hah.

Nevermind.

Daxxarri

Community Manager

#85 - March 3, 2011, 1:12 a.m.

I too like this idea - not any sort of 'condone' emblem, but a simple, "okay, we read it/glanced at it, message received, you can stop bumping your own thread or making another three dozen about the same topic now".

It's an interesting idea, and it's something that we've considered. After weighing the pros and cons, we determined that such a system would be likely to cause many more issues than it would solve.

Blue forum posting policy is: trust us, just trust us.

Well, yes, to a degree. This interaction assumes that we're communicating with you honestly and to the best of our ability and that you can trust what we have to communicate; otherwise what's the value of our posts? I mean, we might make occasional mistakes, and you certainly don't have to trust us if you really don't want to, but neither of those assumptions makes for good communication. The bottom line is that when we say that we're reading the threads, we mean it.

We're--I'm--really passionate about this community and World of Warcraft. Personally, I like taking your perspectives and ideas to the development staff, and I enjoy bringing their feedback back to you, when I can.

Nethaera

Community Manager

#119 - March 3, 2011, 7:25 p.m.

CM's are basically paid forum moderators who aren't skilled enough to take part in the actual design of the game.

They really are nothing more than a PR tool. If they were of any significance, they would be with the development team, DEVELOPING things and not moderating a forum board.

This is a very narrow and inaccurate view on our role. But if you read the thread that Dax referenced, I also state that this is an inherent issue with our job. Not many people understand the scope of what we do and assume what they wish about us, our abilities, and our significance. We choose to be doing what we do much like any other role in any other company. Please refrain from posting further such dismissive and defamatory statements in the future.