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.
