Knights Of Sparta

Hi guys and girls.

I've had a couple of members asking about whether they should sign up for a calendar event or not as they're not sure if they would be able to make it, so I thought I'd post a couple of pointers on the subject.

The simple rule of thumb for signing up is: 'If you sign up, you turn up'. Be prepared, at the instance on time and repaired, have all your potions, buffs, arrows, reagents and pet food.

Be prepared to finish the run. if you don't think you'll be able to, don't sign up, instead add a comment saying you can come between whatever times.

If you are unsure if you can make it, don't sign up, just post a comment in the event to say you're interested but will see what the group looks like when the time comes.

If there are already 5 signed up for an event you are interested in then don't let that stop you signing up, you become a 'sub' and if someone fails to show or is late then you'll be in.

If you post an event and it comes close to time and too few people have signed up DON'T cancel the event from the calendar before time. Chances are there are people interested who didn't sign up because they couldn't commit 100% to being there.

As Unikorn explained in his 'Raiding' thread, if you sign up for an event and turn up late don't be surprised if you've been replaced and don't moan about it, just be on time next time.

Everyone should feel free to post Events if they want to go to a specific dungeon. Try to give people notice. I know it can be tricky when you're low level and you're levelling fast, you could plan an event for The Deadmines a week hence when you're Level 18 and you're overlevelled by the time it comes round. But try to plan at least a couple of days ahead, you know how fast you're levelling.

Remember, it's always better to get guildies in on a run than PUG a group, if you find yourself joining LFG or shouting out for a group, try guild chat first, just because there may be none the right level online at the time, online people might have alts that would be interested.

The Event Calendar is a very powerful tool for the guild and is proving it's worth repeatedly, but it has to be used to be useful, so lets get the best out of it.

Thank you

Thanks for that Tree - spot on with everything you say. Would just like to add a couple of things as well.

Participants

If you participate in an event 'last minute' without having added yourself as a participant in the calendar, please take the time to add yourself 'after' the event is completed - or within 24 hours of its completion at least.

When an event organiser posts his/her dungeon report - they should ensure all participants are added. I think Prefects should be able to add someone else - but if not - please make sure the dungeon report makes it clear who the 5 participants were - so that I can add any missing names later.

If one of the guild members who participates in an event is not currently on the website then the organiser should add a comment to the event identifying the member concerned. Needless to say - they should also encourage them to subscribe to the site.

Groups

It is also possible (and this should be done by the event organiser) to create a group next to an event. This is useful as it confirms who ran an event. Take for example the recent run in Shadow Labyrinth - there were 6 players subscribed to the event. By creating a group - it is obvious at a glance which 5 of those 6 players actually ran the dungeon. Also, whilst perhaps unlikely at present, it is possible to have more than one group, so if for example 8 people subscribed to an event - we may run 2 groups of 4 rather than let players 6 to 8 miss out. Or even better 10 subscribers would mean two full groups could be formed to run the dungeon simultaneously.

For an example of multiple groups - see tonights Fight Night participant's list, which also includes a non guildy, who I have treated in the same way a Guild Footman i.e. by including in the comments under the event.

The person who posts the event should take ownership of that event. It really should be them that invites people to form a group, yes the tank can be made group leader for the actual instance run, but setting up the group and getting it ready should be the responsibility of the event organiser.

If a PUG member or members are needed then the organiser can enter LFG and try to find members, obviously the other members can help and if they find a possible candidate they can inform the event organiser.

I also think it's common curtesy for the person who posted the event to at least keep other people who have signed up, updated on progress. It's nice to know what the situation is, if certain people are missing it's nice to know how long the organiser is prepared to wait.

If people take the time and trouble to come online for an event which they have signed up for, then even if the event is called off, I think you should at least /w them and explain and say "hey, thanks for coming but looks like it's not on today because of X, Y and Z"

I've noticed that there seems to be something of a trend to embellishing event titles in the calendar; it started with the reroll event being flanked with '~', and it's now progressed to '►' and '♦ ', and who knows where from there? I can see this escalating into some kind of eBay style 'L@@@@@@K' attention-grabbing war, so I think it might be an idea to talk about where we want this to go.

Three major options I see:

a) No decorations. Let your event title stand for itself; if people want to come to it, they'll come to it without having it shouted at them.

b) Decorations (the same ones each time) for regular or semi-regular group events, to let them stand out from the one-offs and for easy recognition which event it is.

c) Use whatever dingbats and advertising devices you like; we shouldn't be restricting what people call their event.

Any others? Which attitude do people prefer?

{deleted post} Tamsk wrote:

I can see this escalating into some kind of eBay style 'L@@@@@@K' attention-grabbing war, so I think it might be an idea to talk about where we want this to go.

As far as I'm aware there is ONLY me that has ever done this.

Anyone posting things like L@@@@@@@@@K EMBLEM RUNS!!!!!!!!!!!, will find their event title 'suitably adjusted' - if not by our website centurion Tree, then I certainly will.

But I don't for one minute think we're gonna get that kind of thing - guildies are sensible and I dont want to be laying laws down for something as innocent as event titles in the website calendar.

I have simply used 'one' non standard character at the beginning and end of each line in the calendar to make 'regular' events stand out. It's not about competing for attention with other events, it was done to make regular events like the Guild Re-Roll, ReReRoll and now Zeilyn's suggested Emblem Farming type event more instantly recogniseable.

You will note that I have resticted myself to 'one' type of non standard character at the beginning and end of each line, and that I have used a different character for each type of regular event.

►ReReRoll◄

~Guild~
~ReRoll~

♦Emblem Farming♦

So if people want guidlines, then I would suggest doing just as I have done.

I don't think this is any different to the color coding we use for raids
e.g.

Raid key
[u1] = Ulduar - first 7 bosses (all bosses ex keepers)
[u2] = Ulduar - Keepers and beyond.
[toc] = Trial of the Crusader. Spare time will be used in Ulduar.
[o] = Onyxia. Spare time will be used in ToC or Ulduar.

We could just as easily have called them teir 1, 2 and 3. But the color makes them more instantly recogniseable - its just a pity colors cant be used in event titles imo.

I like the idea of simple markers for regular events. However, my concern is that when people see a 'regular event', they may feel excluded which would be a shame and certainly not the intent.

Excluded? how so?

Only that if there is a regular event that is regularly signed up by the same people, others may think that they would not be welcome/able to sign up. And flagging up an event as 'regular' could possibly exacerbate this. Maybe. i don't actually know if this happens!!

OK well on future events we can perhaps put a note to say it is open to everyone regardless of previous participation.

Whilst both reroll events started with a group of players rolling new characters together, anyone of the appropriate level should join in as the group evolves. I'm rather hoping that will happen with the re-re-roll as there is really only two of us that are regular atm i.e. me and Garwick

I have noticed recently that people are no where near the raid instance and *wait for a summon; I know Ony is a way off but aim to get their 15 minutes before the raid starts, it starts at the time stated, not 10 minutes later

Remember to repair before the raid.. lol

{deleted post} Carme wrote:

I have noticed recently that people are no where near the raid instance and *wait for a summon; I know Ony is a way off but aim to get their 15 minutes before the raid starts, it starts at the time stated, not 10 minutes later

Remember to repair before the raid.. lol

Just curious, but what does this have to do with Calendar Etiquette ?

I'm adding additional comments to Trees original post, 3rd paragraph.


The simple rule of thumb for signing up is: 'If you sign up, you turn up'. Be prepared, have all your potions, buffs, arrows, reagents and pet food.

So I'm adding be at the instance and repair

He's right.

I've made the change, I'm going to tidy the thread up tomorrow.