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Dance of the Title Fairy: Accepting Applications

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 3:41 pm
by Psyche
NOTICEI've decided that I should start winding down as Title Fairy. So now we're in a moment of transition. I'll handle this the same way Chevre did.
If you're interested in being the Title Fairy, send me a pm explaining why you think you'd fit the position and giving me an idea of how you'd handle it
. What am I looking for? Ideally, it's someone who's active, well-known, maybe even broadly liked across the community's various spheres. Someone skittles like Zor would trust. Someone who can manage 'hot' discussions and is not liable to start them. Someone who has a good grasp of and respect for this institution and its traditions but isn't quite a slave to them. Someone reasonably thoughtful and well-spoken. If you feel like you're qualified but that I might not treat your application fairly, I suggest giving it a try anyway; I try really hard all the time to be really open and objective.

I'll keep running this thread like normal until I pick someone and have it okayed by relevant higher-ups, and I'll be taking my time doing that. Please don't discuss your or anyone else's applications around this subforum (it'll be deleted and you'll get warned), and please limit that talk elsewhere, too (it certainly wouldn't help your chances). Let's keep each application mostly between you and me. Please PM me if you have any further questions about this process.


Below ever user's username in a post, there's a small string of text we call a "title". Most users have a default title determined by the number of posts they've made in Mafia Games:

0 posts – Watcher
1 post – Ninja
2 posts – Townie
100 posts – Goon
1000 posts – Mafia Scum
5000 posts – Jack of All Trades
10000 posts - Survivor

Lots of sites keep titles constrained like this, or let users choose their own titles based on their own whims. But here, a subset of titles are special. One's personally chosen avatar and username and signature all have meanings, but titles on MS are gifts given from the community to users that follow them wherever they go on the forum. They work as constant reminders of things about users that the community particularly appreciates. Since the community treasures this tradition so much, it's assigned a Title Fairy to preserve and administer the whole thing
smoothly
and
productively
. Right now, the Title Fairy is me.

What's this thread for?

Nominating, discussing, workshopping titles. All the rest is frills. See below for more info! If you instead have or want to discuss ideas, comments or suggestions about the titling process in general, head here.

How does a title happen?

Step 1: A user nominates another user for a title. Yes,
another
user.
Step 2: Still
other
users discuss the title, consider alternatives, and potentially 2nd, 3rd, ..., nth some version of it.
Step 3: Once a nomination gets support from at least
five
users, I comment on it and either approve or reject it or put it in some kind of limbo.
Step 4: The user accepts the approved title, and I make it appear below their name on this site everywhere.

The more Nths a title gets, the more compelled I might be to approve it against my best judgment - to a certain extent. Conversely, if a nominated title gets well-reasoned AND CIVILLY WORDED "anti-noms", special consideration might be given to those as well. But the general process is pretty clear-cut.

How does a
good
title happen?

If a potential title isn't good, it shouldn't make it to Step 1, let alone past Step 4. So what makes a proposed title good? To some this is inherently ambiguous, but imo it's actually rather straightforward: Practically every well-liked title 1) references an interesting incident, playstyle or characteristic of the user, and 2) makes the reference in an interesting way that's 3) accessible/appreciable to the broader community.

More (but perhaps not
much
more) often than not, users come to the thread with something to reference about a nominee already in mind, and have more trouble achieving the second and third criteria. Maybe it doesn't roll off the tongue very well, maybe it's not exceptionally clever, maybe it's too subtle for the rest of the community to get! Who knows? Often good titles make their reference using figurative language, wordplay, or other literary techniques that can be appreciated with just a few words of explanation, if that. I'll try later to collaboratively develop more detailed aids for users having trouble pulling off this kind of feat, but if you still have trouble coming up with something, consider asking for help in this thread.

Why would you reject a title that has support from five users?

Basically, even as many as five people can get a thing wrong. A title needs to have broad appeal and accessible meaning to people beyond the faction of those who expressly support it, or it won't achieve the special resonance within the community that this whole tradition is devoted to producing. Support from five people is a good sign that a title is worthwhile, but it's not a perfect sign. I'll try to be humble about it and very clear in my reasoning, but sometimes I'm going to go against the grain, and you're going to go somewhere you can deal with it.

What will change now that Psyche is the Title Fairy?

My overall strategy for preserving and building this 'institution' will be to emphasize title standards on the one hand, and to help users more frequently meet them on the other. Or, in shorter terms: better titles, and more titles. More specifically, compared to previous fairies, I'm going for: clearer, consistently articulated, community-sourced, and positively specified standards for titles; facilitated community involvement/discourse and a more broadly active subforum; and programmatically designed tools and other resources for brainstorming titles. If you want to discuss ideas, comments, and/or suggestions about the titling process and potential changes to it, head to this thread.

What are some rules?

1.Titles are gifts given from the community to users. So self-noms, insult-noms and their cousins are all mistakes.
2. Shitposts suck. This isn't GD. Your posts in this thread should usually be on-topic - contributing to the process of finding and securing good titles for users on this site. Occasional, especially tasteful off-topic posts are fine. But if a pattern of shitposting becomes evident and annoying, you'll be warned, and after repeated offenses or some egregious offense, you'll be banned from the subforum, etc.
3. Be civil. Even if you feel you have to say something contentious, you'll just have to be even *more* courteous about it.
4. Explain your nominations. Please? If you assume the reasoning is self-evident, you're gonna get disappointed.
5. Follow site rules. We're on the site, right?

Which titles have you approved so far?

Accountant - "Self-Evident"
mhsmith0 - "Balancing Act"
Zoraster - "Consigliere"
Panzerjager - "Hell in a Cell"
Aristophanes - "Mr. Blue Sky"
Not_Mafia - "Smash Hit"
Alisae - "Bright Knight"

Wisdom - "Of the One"
Annadog40 - "All Work and Roleplay"
Errantparabola - "Composed"
fferyllt - "Titan of Trajectory"
singersigner - "I Got This"
RadiantCowbells - "Smooth Criminal"
vonflare - "doot"
xyzzy - "comical third option"
Anix - "UCalled"
Creature - "Transparent"
BBMolla - "Open Book"
Alisae - "lolbalance"
Mulch - "Gotta Go Fast"
Spiffeh - "Paragone"
Ellibereth - "Deus ex Machina"
Hascel Cendricson - "Mr Know It All"

Never forget these people
:
Sugar, PolarBoy, mathcam, Thok, Oman, TheButtonmen, SleepyKrew, and Chevre. They were the Title Fairies before me. All that work they did as Fairies, they did for this tradition and this community. Admirable stuff.

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 3:41 pm
by Psyche
Let's just get the thread rolling. All nominations from the old thread will have to be restated here by interested parties. I apologize for the trouble, but the thread is nearly 150 pages long and rather difficult to shift through. Active nominations may be monitored more carefully here.

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 3:42 pm
by McMenno
because psyche is an authoritarian figure I will not participate in discussions here unless relevant. have mercy

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 3:44 pm
by Creature
Nominate Accountant for Self-Explanatory

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 3:44 pm
by Psyche
i am a cool fun friendly title fairy look at my dancing avatar

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 3:49 pm
by Firebringer
In post 3, Creature wrote:
Nominate Accountant for Self-Explanatory
Nominate Accountant for
Self-Evident


Since i think that is better title for him.

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 5:18 pm
by Zulfy
I have a nice wholesome title for someone Psyche. I'll tell you all about it later.

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 5:38 pm
by Aristophanes
In post 5, Firebringer wrote:
In post 3, Creature wrote:
Nominate Accountant for Self-Explanatory
Nominate Accountant for
Self-Evident


Since i think that is better title for him.
Nth Self-Evident


I like it better than Self-Explanatory.
Do you want reasoning restated for this nom, Psyche, considering the new thread?

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 5:40 pm
by Papa Zito
nominate
zoraster
for
Consigliere

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 5:42 pm
by Frozen Angel
self- explanatory is more suitable for Accountant

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 5:43 pm
by Frozen Angel
but I can behind that one too

Nominate account for self-explanatory

Nth self-evident

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 5:49 pm
by Ser Arthur Dayne
4th Self-Evident


I don't really like Self-Explanatory.

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 5:54 pm
by Alisae
5th self-evident

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 6:11 pm
by Firebringer
Also I am reposting this one from old thread:
Nominate mhsmith0 for "Professional Critic"


This is in reference to the guys outstanding reviewing record for mafia games. The guy hasn't been on site for extremely long time, but he has probably reviewed more games than most users here. One of the most active normal reviewers currently, and always helping out when a person needs help with a setup. Theres other people who are pretty active in modding realm but i can't name one whose name is on as a reviewer for so many games that are run on site (Normal and Not normal). Probably only other is Frozen or CFJ.
I know some people had issues with this since it wasn't very unique to Msmith0, but I think he has been very engaged in the reviewing community for more than a year, and is constantly been helpful in both reviewing Normals and Non-normals games. (just repeating the above, but seriously he is a very active reviewer)

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 6:13 pm
by Firebringer
Also can we nom this thread name changed to the old thread suggested title of
Outback Steakhouse
?

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 6:33 pm
by Aristophanes
I really liked
Professional Critic
and think it is something great he's done for the community! If I didn't consistently see his name on setups I wouldn't even consider it, but
Nth


In post 14, Firebringer wrote:Also can we nom this thread name changed to the old thread suggested title of
Outback Steakhouse
?
2nd Outback Steakhouse

Give the thread a Title it deserves! XD

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 6:51 pm
by Alisae
I understand the mshmith title.
But "Professional Critic" just sorta has a bad ring to it.

I mean it fits, but maybe
Secondary Eyes
?
idk I'm bad at names ;~;

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 6:52 pm
by Frozen Angel
that's a little bit creepy imo

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 6:57 pm
by Firebringer
In post 16, Alisae wrote:I understand the mshmith title.
But "Professional Critic" just sorta has a bad ring to it.

I mean it fits, but maybe
Secondary Eyes
?
idk I'm bad at names ;~;
yea, I know what you mean about it not being the most pleasant sounding.
I was thinking of either "Reviewed" or "Reviewed for Balance" but reviewed I think people wouldn't get it and Reviewed for Balance again had same issue.

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 6:58 pm
by Alisae
I mean like, with the critic title it just sorta seems intimidating in and out of context.

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 6:58 pm
by Firebringer
what about
"Normally in Review"
?

I mean it makes sense given the fact he is almost always in a Normal review thats going on.
He reviews games for Normalcy.
And it references his frequency spending time reviewing games like the title was meant to.

or even
"Approved for Balance"

This one can be referencing that he often reviews games, but it also expresses his attitude outside of games in just games he plays in general. Whenever I seen the dude in games he always seems to keep his cool no matter how emotional the game tends to get.

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 7:00 pm
by Killthestory
ego

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 7:04 pm
by Alisae
I'd
Nth
Normally in Review.

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 7:07 pm
by Frozen Angel
I don't like a title based on his reveiew is good >.>

he is just a great person and this title is so limited in perspective

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 7:12 pm
by Aristophanes
In post 22, Alisae wrote:I'd
Nth
Normally in Review.
Me too, I like it!
Nth


What about
Balancing Act
though?
This would reference his reviewing and his demeanor in games.

Or
Centre of Balance
?

I actually really like that last one :)