Can anyone explain the Moot?

[Finarvyn]

Okay, that's wrong: my question should be "will anyone explain the Moot?"

As best I can determine the Moot is a collection of folks who pay a yearly fee in order to get access to certain sections of the board, plus they get to have a Moot Blog.

What kinds of things are hidden? What kinds of perks does one get with their subscription?

 

[Vile]

Yes - it would be good if the Moot boards showed up on the main page, kind of advertising the benefits. then, when you click on one, it takes you straight to the Moot subscription page for the impulse sell!

 

[shield]

Besides getting an imperial nobility title to go against your user name, it used to get you a small discount on purchases from QLI, and access to the playtest files for new products.

Obviously QLI hasn't produced new product for a while so no new playtest files and the discount was only about 5 to 10%, which is small compared to Moot membership (unless you are going to buy most of QLI's stuff). Note the discount only used to work if you bought direct from QLI.

Cheers
Richard

 

[Border Reiver]

It's in a transition period but in addition to the previous mentioned benefits there is also having your own blog (Travellog) and custom avatars.

I'm sure there are other ideas going on behind the scenes.

 

[far-trader]

Fairly well covered already but I'll add to the confusion

Primarily a Moot Subscription was introduced as a way for voluntary support to defray the cost of running the board. To help attract people to the idea, and reward those who subscribed there were subscriber benefits. They included (most already mentioned):

A title of Nobility attached to your name on your account here

A 5% (iirc) discount on QLI webstore purchases

A CotI Blog aka Travellog

A bigger PM account, 50 stored messages instead of 10

Access and input to playtest files

A private forum (The Moot Spire)

Personalized custom Avatar privileges

...which I think covers it all.

The New and Improved Moot membership will include some of that, some new ideas that are being discussed, and possibly a new name. I'd suggest not rushing to buy one (if the purchase is even functional at the moment) until we have it hammered out and the board reorganized.

 

[rancke]

Primarily a Moot Subscription was introduced as a way for voluntary support to defray the cost of running the board. To help attract people to the idea, and reward those who subscribed there were subscriber benefits. They included (most already mentioned):

A title of Nobility attached to your name on your account here

A 5% (iirc) discount on QLI webstore purchases

A CotI Blog aka Travellog

A bigger PM account, 50 stored messages instead of 10

Access and input to playtest files

A private forum (The Moot Spire)

Personalized custom Avatar privileges

...which I think covers it all.

Before the Moot was introduced, there was a library data function available for free; that was moved to Moot access only. (I did some volunteer work on that, but had ceased long before the change; I thought about making a fuss over it, but decided to just let it go).

I can't recall if there were other previously free services that were changed at the same time.


Hans

 

[Gray Lensman]

The New and Improved Moot membership will include some of that, some new ideas that are being discussed, and possibly a new name.

What's wrong with the Name? Moot is tied to the game after all.

 

[far-trader]

What's wrong with the Name? Moot is tied to the game after all.

Which is the problem for some. It's an Imperium concept and Traveller is now (again, always has been imo) a generic (more or less) Sci-Fi construct of which The Imperium and Charted Space is but one official setting.

And you're correct Hans. Now that you mention it there were a couple of other handy little features/utilities. Library Data (largely replaced by the Wiki stuff), a TAS News Archive, a calendar function, and some other small perks. Some eventually made board wide without subscription (like the Image Gallery*), some lost/damaged in the various board upgrades.

* might still have some Moot added functions, like Album creation, I'm not sure

 

[aramis]

Okay, that's wrong: my question should be "will anyone explain the Moot?"

As best I can determine the Moot is a collection of folks who pay a yearly fee in order to get access to certain sections of the board, plus they get to have a Moot Blog.

What kinds of things are hidden? What kinds of perks does one get with their subscription?

Not much.

Moot benefits:
Custom Icon
More PM space (not much more, tho')
Blog
Access to the Moot forum
access to certain articles
fancy title

Benefits which no longer exist:
Access to QLI playtests and playtest materials
Access to T5 playtest materials

The articles are not that many, but are very good.
The moot forums are essentially dead on the vine.

 

[far-trader]

...The moot forums are essentially dead on the vine.

But they needn't be.

It always seemed quieter there, which I put down to a lack of direction as much as anything. It was kind of "Well, now we're here, what do we talk about?"

Depending on how it's "rebuilt" maybe that question will have an answer that kicks some life into the old place.

In the end it comes down to participation though. If people are finding all they need forum wise on the greater board then it's gonna stay quiet in the Moot Spire. If there are exclusives, previews and such that can only be talked about (at least initially) through a Moot subscription then I expect there will be posts and traffic.

 

[MJD]

One of the benefits for a long time was access to playtest materials. Mostly OK, but a number of items in there were never paid for by QLI.

Ie QLI was charging for access to work which it held no rights to and for which the author had not been paid. There are words for that sort of thing.

I understand that anything by me has been removed from the Moot - for reasons connected with the above, obviously.

 

[Finarvyn]

Since it was suggested that I not rush out and buy membership until things get reorganized, I'll follow that advice.

getting an imperial nobility title to go against your user name

custom avatars

These are both awesome reasons to join, however.

Hopefully when things get reorganized there will be some annoucements on this.

 

[aramis]

One other reason to join: it pays to keep the board operating.

 

[Hemdian]

Which is the problem for some. It's an Imperium concept and Traveller is now (again, always has been imo) a generic (more or less) Sci-Fi construct of which The Imperium and Charted Space is but one official setting.

And de-Imperialising Traveller is a problem for others. Personally I invest in CotI (the only forum I do invest in) for the Imperial title. Take that away and ...

 

[dean]

Which is the problem for some. It's an Imperium concept and Traveller is now (again, always has been imo) a generic (more or less) Sci-Fi construct of which The Imperium and Charted Space is but one official setting.

Let's review:

The Citizens of the Imperium (CotI) message board uses titles tied to the Imperium as part of the (small) reward for being in the Imperial Moot, a paid-for service on the board.

I think that all works together nicely, myself.

I don't even use the Official Traveller Universe(s) in my game, but I think without the OTUs Traveller the game would have been far less played and less recognizable than it is today. Say "Spinward Marches" in front of a group of Gamers and they automatically know you are talking Traveller. It's like saying Glorantha or Greyhawk.

 

[Darley51]

Ranks, and such...

How about an option to be a Moot member... but *HIDE* your rank...

I like supporting the board with my membership... but I would prefer NOT to have one of those rank thingies after my name....

As a scout, I have no idea what to do with it... and it kind of gets in the way when I want to lurk around, loiter, or otherwise try to blend in.....

 

[far-trader]

Don't get me wrong here, I like the Noble titles as well. Not so sure about calling it The Moot though.

Depending on the copyrights issues if any, I'm leaning towards supporting the idea of calling the subscription option a Traveller's Aid Society Membership. Rather than the first level being Peer (iirc) it'd just be noted as a TAS Membership, just like in the Imperium. Higher levels (if retained, and I also support the tiered structure) would come standard with the established Noble titles (perhaps in addition to TAS Membership notation), or another idea that had been punted around once or twice iirc, personalized titles. So, Darley51, instead of simply "Citizen: Soc-11", with a subscription you might be able to pick a more personalized notation. Perhaps IN Captain, ret. Or DD Scout. Anything in reason, not copyright protected (unless covered by Traveller license I'd guess), and reasonably tied to sci-fi/Traveller. Or maybe for publishers wanting it, something personalized to their work. As it is, I believe you can hide your title as it stands now, iirc it's under user group settings, you select Moot member or not.

But this is all at the bouncing ideas stage. Nothing is likely to be settled for a bit yet.

 

[MJD]

I'd prefer not to have a rank, or title, and certainly not a tag identifying me as associated with this or that publisher. I'd really rather that people just looked at my username instead of counting up SOC points or what level of imaginary noble title I'd paid for.

 

[aramis]

How about an option to be a Moot member... but *HIDE* your rank...

Already present. You pick which of your membership groups shows up under your name.

Member is one.
Moot rank is a second.
(mod status is a third, for those who have it)


Some also come with additional insignia... Moot and Moderator do... which can't be hidden, but the title can be.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

I think it's all been covered. Yes, we're still in transition, so things are a bit up in the air. Once we sort out the revised goodies we'll let you know.