Overhaul of the #Live:Events Category

[MishaCamp]

Hi all,

As part of our ongoing strive to make the forum an accessible and welcoming place we are always looking to make improvements where we can. Over the course of the last few months, we have had discussions with many users about the quality of event titles and events themselves. The main points brought up include:

1. The titles are too long and confusing
2. Titles are being used solely to promote rather than explain the event
3. These titles are spam and clog the forum due to their size

After careful consideration, we have come to agree that these points are, at least somewhat, valid and need addressing. Furthermore, we have seen an increase in the number of events by individual users that are of lesser quality. This is due to the sheer volume of events that individuals try to hold. This issue leads to the following:

1. Degradation of overall event quality
2. High turnover of events with fewer participants
3. A substantial increase in the cancellation of events
4. Events frequently being pushed back multiple times due to a lack of attendees

So, what is being done to change this?

A new set of parameters for titles are now in place. You can find these in the topic linked below. These include a character limit, removal of advertising permissions, and removal of attendee count. Furthermore, we are decreasing the time that events are permitted to be posted ahead of schedule, and have reduced the autoclose time down to two weeks since the last reply. Lastly, we are decreasing the number of events an individual user can post in one month. You can find all the new requirements below:

UPDATED - About the Events Category

Use this category to announce, promote and discuss all your Infinite Flight events. You must be TL2 or above to post in this category. VATC based events are not permitted. General Category Rules Events may not be posted more than 30 days before the event date If a date is changed, and the new date is outside of this 30-day rule, you must make a new topic when the proposed date is within 30 days You may only postpone the event once Voice-based ATC events are not permitted Users ma…

Thanks,
Your moderation team

[AlphaSeven]

Exactly what we needed! Thanks Misha, it started to get a bit annoying with titles that I don’t even bother read due to their size.

[Kiz]

The decision in removing the attendee numbers is the best outcome. People should attend event based on their interest(new airport, new aircraft, VA etc) and not because of clout where they would like to follow the masses 👍🏾

[Trio]

Aftermath of the overhaul, the #live:events category is already way more organized and easy to read. :)

[harmondrew465]

Hmh, I like to go to massive events. Not my favorite at all

[Trio]

What if they were all massive is the point. :)

[Kiz]

Think about it. Pilot X operates out of KJFK every time he/she logs into live. Pilot Y is looking for a nice event, unique from his/her normal routine. An event is posted in live e.g Hong Kong fly-out(75 pilots attending)VHHH301600ZJAN20 or Athens fly-out(3 pilots attending)LGAV301600ZJAN20, which one will the users choose if they’re shopping for a quality event?

Think of this, every time there has been a poll from the devs, they usually hide the results until the polls are closed. There is a reason why they do this.

This will help in reducing the instances of ‘follow the crowd’ giving other features a chance due to their merits and not due to the number of participants.

[PlaneCrazy]

As a frequent event creator, I appreciate these changes. They should help events improve in quality and boost attendance rates. Thanks Misha!

[BennyBoy]

Huh! Interesting! It’ll be valuable to the mods to see how effective this change is.

[Chris_S]

You can still identify huge events… Just not from the title.

People can put the number of attendees and assignments in the body of the event like before. You should be reading the details before deciding anyways.

[Lufthansa2]

I see too many of these on the daily.
Thank you so much MishaCamp for pointing it out :)

[Butter_Boi]

We really needed this, thanks Misha, and the rest of the moderators!

[TheFlyingGuy1]

I really agree with this so thank you Misha and all of the other moderators.

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The only thing to me is that I feel 6 events a month max is a lot because that is more than one every weekend. I personally think it should go down to 2-3.

Please read

What is said above is not to be rude or demanding to any of the team. I just wrote that as a recommendation, not a comment targeting someone.