2015 has been a great year for the Smash community and Smashboards with progress being made on multiple fronts. If you haven't read it yet, please check out the SmashBoards Year End Update for the full scoop. As the site moves forward in 2016 a hard look has been taken into reshaping the structure of staffing on the website. With new features comes new responsibilities which requires time and effort from the community. The site will now offer applications for volunteers to help the site and the community.
SmashBoards Team Positions
One of the biggest changes in site structure is the expansion of various project teams on the site. In the past responsibilities were mostly left to moderation and forum staff. With the Smashboards Rankings, Smashboards Writers, and more features being added to the site the opportunities to help out have become diverse and abundant. Please note unless noted, all positions are on a volunteer basis.
You will notice the following options available:
Writing Team - Headed by the new Editor in Chief @SmashCapps, the writing team is a great place for those who want to expand on their journalism portfolio. With so many changes and developments in the Smash community plenty of untapped content exists to write about.
Podcast Team - SmashBoards ventured into the podcast realm in 2015 offering a new way to share content. With the announcement of Smash Weekly alongside Source Gaming the opportunity to join a great team is there. This team will also closely coordinate with the writing and editing teams. This team would report to @SmashCapps.
Rankings Team - With tournaments becoming both more frequent and much larger the effort necessary to document these events and use the information to create a data-driven ranking of players from across the globe for all smash games. With the overwhelming majority of events being grassroots this effort is an ambitious task to complete and a team effort is necessary. With opportunities to be a regional or global rankings team member, users are able to either focus on their own scene or larger tournament event documentation. This team reports to @Locuan.
Social Media Team - With large growth both for the Smashboards Facebook and Twitter accounts and the increase in social media activity for the Smash scene as a whole the importance of a presence on social media is important more now than ever before. If you want to expand your own background and experience utilizing social media platforms and have a talent for these mediums and more, then this new team being developed would be perfect for you. This team would report to @Locuan and work with other teams to coordinate releases and information about the site and smash scene at large.
Media Library Team - The goal of the Media Library falls hand in hand with the goal of the Smashboards Rankings: proper documentation and easy access to information about the smash scene. However instead of tournament results, this would focus on getting playlists and highlights into the Media Library where they can be easily accessed, sorted and viewed.
Events Team - With a new Events system in addition to the existing Tournament Listings Smashboards remains one of the best methods of reaching new players for local tournament scenes. In order to help keep events organized and easy to navigate this team would focus on helping approving events in the queue as well as make they are properly tagged and organized.
SmashBoards Individual Positions
These positions are more independent and would focus on other aspects of the site. Included within here are moderator applications. While moderators generally work on their board independently, the staff as a whole does communicate and work with one other closely. Please note unless noted, all positions are on a volunteer basis.
Forum Moderator - Moderators work closely with one another and are expected to collaborate with other staff members to ensure proper enforcement of the site Terms of Service. Applications are marked as an individual position as moderators focus on specific sub-forums. This position requires the user to be both active and responsible on the board requested as well as the site as a whole.
Graphic Design - This position would be for helping create graphics and designs for various teams and parts of the site as necessary.
Quality Assurance - This position would be responsible for researching any back-end problems and implementing solutions.
Research/Analytics - This position would be responsible for helping to gather information and data not only about the website but about the smash community as a whole in order to help with future projects.
Xenforo Administrator - For those with experience in programming, coding languages, and forum software who wish to help the site expand on the back-end.
General Applications - If nothing else fits your personal talents or style but you feel there is a way you can contribute to the site as a whole then you may fill out a general application.
Tips & Feedback
Also included within the applications are options to submit News Tips and Site Feedback. If you have a breaking news story in the smash scene you'd like to privately relay to the writing team, you can do so here. Or if there is something you feel needs to be covered by the news team that isn't then this is a way to express that. You may also directly give us feedback on how you would like to see the site improve in the future. Please remember that Forum Support exists for any problems you are experiencing on the site or disputes you might have with another member.
Moving Forward
All of these opportunities would not be available without the strong passion those in the Smash scene have for the game. The scene is starting the year off in a big way with Genesis showing the strength of the community and with Nintendo helping to partner with the event. Smash continues to be a lifelong passion for many in the community and Genesis helps to show that with over 200 entrants for Smash 64 (released in 1999) and nearly 2,000 for Melee (released in 2001) it's clear there is a passion for the game. In addition the strength of the this scene shows attraction for new players who in addition for being responsible for helping Melee reach new heights also helped to catapult Smash for Wii U to over 1,000. Smash for Wii U isn't all new faces though, with many recognizable faces being from the Brawl scene (released in 2008). What this all shows is that in addition to attracting tons of new players each year, the games have helped to form lifelong bonds within communities and between players. Smashboards hopes to continue to help build the community and remain a valuable resource for players, tournament organizers and more.
In October of last year I moved from being the Director of Staffing on the site to the SmashBoards General Manager. This year will mark my decade anniversary of being part of the community. The smash scene has remained a healthy outlet for friendly competitive competition and even with the trend towards eSports the grassroots connections are still alive and well. Records have been broken consistently the past few years and the future of the scene in 2016 looks bright. I look forward to helping the smash community and SmashBoards grow in 2016 and beyond and hope to see you all at Genesis and more events in the future!
Thanks for Smashing,
-ZV
One of the biggest changes in site structure is the expansion of various project teams on the site. In the past responsibilities were mostly left to moderation and forum staff. With the Smashboards Rankings, Smashboards Writers, and more features being added to the site the opportunities to help out have become diverse and abundant. Please note unless noted, all positions are on a volunteer basis.
You will notice the following options available:
Writing Team - Headed by the new Editor in Chief @SmashCapps, the writing team is a great place for those who want to expand on their journalism portfolio. With so many changes and developments in the Smash community plenty of untapped content exists to write about.
- This team position will offer incentives. $2,000 in funds have been allocated towards this group for 2016.
Podcast Team - SmashBoards ventured into the podcast realm in 2015 offering a new way to share content. With the announcement of Smash Weekly alongside Source Gaming the opportunity to join a great team is there. This team will also closely coordinate with the writing and editing teams. This team would report to @SmashCapps.
Rankings Team - With tournaments becoming both more frequent and much larger the effort necessary to document these events and use the information to create a data-driven ranking of players from across the globe for all smash games. With the overwhelming majority of events being grassroots this effort is an ambitious task to complete and a team effort is necessary. With opportunities to be a regional or global rankings team member, users are able to either focus on their own scene or larger tournament event documentation. This team reports to @Locuan.
Social Media Team - With large growth both for the Smashboards Facebook and Twitter accounts and the increase in social media activity for the Smash scene as a whole the importance of a presence on social media is important more now than ever before. If you want to expand your own background and experience utilizing social media platforms and have a talent for these mediums and more, then this new team being developed would be perfect for you. This team would report to @Locuan and work with other teams to coordinate releases and information about the site and smash scene at large.
Media Library Team - The goal of the Media Library falls hand in hand with the goal of the Smashboards Rankings: proper documentation and easy access to information about the smash scene. However instead of tournament results, this would focus on getting playlists and highlights into the Media Library where they can be easily accessed, sorted and viewed.
Events Team - With a new Events system in addition to the existing Tournament Listings Smashboards remains one of the best methods of reaching new players for local tournament scenes. In order to help keep events organized and easy to navigate this team would focus on helping approving events in the queue as well as make they are properly tagged and organized.
SmashBoards Individual Positions
These positions are more independent and would focus on other aspects of the site. Included within here are moderator applications. While moderators generally work on their board independently, the staff as a whole does communicate and work with one other closely. Please note unless noted, all positions are on a volunteer basis.
Forum Moderator - Moderators work closely with one another and are expected to collaborate with other staff members to ensure proper enforcement of the site Terms of Service. Applications are marked as an individual position as moderators focus on specific sub-forums. This position requires the user to be both active and responsible on the board requested as well as the site as a whole.
- This position will offer incentives. $1,000 in funds have been allocated towards this group for 2016 in the form of a raffle pool for active and contributing staff members.
Graphic Design - This position would be for helping create graphics and designs for various teams and parts of the site as necessary.
Quality Assurance - This position would be responsible for researching any back-end problems and implementing solutions.
Research/Analytics - This position would be responsible for helping to gather information and data not only about the website but about the smash community as a whole in order to help with future projects.
Xenforo Administrator - For those with experience in programming, coding languages, and forum software who wish to help the site expand on the back-end.
General Applications - If nothing else fits your personal talents or style but you feel there is a way you can contribute to the site as a whole then you may fill out a general application.
Tips & Feedback
Also included within the applications are options to submit News Tips and Site Feedback. If you have a breaking news story in the smash scene you'd like to privately relay to the writing team, you can do so here. Or if there is something you feel needs to be covered by the news team that isn't then this is a way to express that. You may also directly give us feedback on how you would like to see the site improve in the future. Please remember that Forum Support exists for any problems you are experiencing on the site or disputes you might have with another member.
Moving Forward
All of these opportunities would not be available without the strong passion those in the Smash scene have for the game. The scene is starting the year off in a big way with Genesis showing the strength of the community and with Nintendo helping to partner with the event. Smash continues to be a lifelong passion for many in the community and Genesis helps to show that with over 200 entrants for Smash 64 (released in 1999) and nearly 2,000 for Melee (released in 2001) it's clear there is a passion for the game. In addition the strength of the this scene shows attraction for new players who in addition for being responsible for helping Melee reach new heights also helped to catapult Smash for Wii U to over 1,000. Smash for Wii U isn't all new faces though, with many recognizable faces being from the Brawl scene (released in 2008). What this all shows is that in addition to attracting tons of new players each year, the games have helped to form lifelong bonds within communities and between players. Smashboards hopes to continue to help build the community and remain a valuable resource for players, tournament organizers and more.
In October of last year I moved from being the Director of Staffing on the site to the SmashBoards General Manager. This year will mark my decade anniversary of being part of the community. The smash scene has remained a healthy outlet for friendly competitive competition and even with the trend towards eSports the grassroots connections are still alive and well. Records have been broken consistently the past few years and the future of the scene in 2016 looks bright. I look forward to helping the smash community and SmashBoards grow in 2016 and beyond and hope to see you all at Genesis and more events in the future!
Thanks for Smashing,
-ZV
