This is how an example an important notification could look like. This is only a concept, it could probably have stuff like a red background to make it extra important.

Basically, these would get used for important and rare things like site maintenance, the site's owner actually posting or account security issues. They would be distinguished from normal, run-of-the-mill posts like additions to shops or pet spotlights by not having a comment section and being posted by AutoNotifBot.

why should they do something new when they already do the announcement thing at the top usually or make a news post for them, doesnt really make sense to add more coding work

I dont see the need for this either? Staff is already pretty clear with announcements and having the new news post banner, and stuff like maintenance and security issues happen so infrequently i dont really think having something made just for that would be worth it

Why do you think this feature is needed? I guess I can somewhat understand that people might see a news notif and not check it right away knowing that it could be a spotilght or something, but that's not really an issue since the news notifs use the title and its pretty clear whats most important for members to read.

I can see the use for a special notification that won't go away on its own even when you go to the news page. That you would have to click directly on the banner to remove it.

Every single time there is something major - like removing the old shops, changing the pet name system, etc, there is always at least one group of people who complain about not knowing it was happening. Even when staff have warned us weeks ahead of time (and even years ahead of time in the case of old shops), even when there has been a tonne of discussion on the subject, even when there have been multiple news reports on the topic. There is always that person who "didn't know."

Not everyone visits the site daily, not everyone looks at the forums. So if someone has been on hiatus, or even if they only visit once or twice a week, they can miss early warnings of big changes. The main issue for me would be when would staff use this banner? Use it too much, people would learn to ignore it. Don't use it enough and people would complain.

LOL I do know there is a second banner, but it happens so rarely that I can't remember how it works. Its usually used for "news" stuff that has comments turned off and directs us to the forums. Can't remember if clicking on the banner takes us to news or forum, or if you have to click the forum link in the news item itself. Can't remember how it gets removed either - does going to the news page without clicking on anything remove it?

Also there is a toggle option, something called "Aggregated News Feed" that I think turns off those announcements. Or turns them on? Not sure anymore what that one does.

yeah i couldn't remember 100% cause its only used every once in a while but like Darkrai says there is a secondary banner thing i do remember seeing before. maybe something like leaving those "sticky" until the are cleared, even if a new one is used might be good. people who come back after a while might have a few stuck at the top when they get back

I feel like its true that theres always some people out there who don't know X is going on, but I really don't think subeta makes it hard to "catch up" on whats been going on by just going back in the news feed and also checking out the recent staff posts, so i don't know how much more special notifications will even help . The info is right there already for anyone who wants to take 5 mins to look at past news posts

We might be talking about two different banners? Now that you mention it, I do remember the announcement banner but it wasn't what I meant. The one I'm thinking of has been used probably even less frequently and I don't think it links to a news post usually? I feel like it's been used to say things like "Hey, we're aware of XYZ and we're working on it" and then you have to click to close it but idk maybe that one's been reserved for when certain parts of the site are unreachable to make sure everyone sees it or something

oh right! I completely forgot about that one! Maybe the problem is too many banners LOL?

Yeah, how much effort should the site put in to notify people who just don't read stuff? Where does the site's responsibility to communicate end and individual users' responsibility to keep themselves informed start? There has been a lot of issues with the site failing to communicate (or communicating in obscure places), but there has also been times where its the user just not reading the information that has been put front and center.

yeah the balance is hard. i do know that communication has been an issue in the past, though i do think its getting better. I think for the types of notifications that this thread seems to be about, subeta has been pretty good with communication (though I have only been playing more actively in the last few years, not sure if there were any wild incidents before that), the main communication issue the site is facing right now is teasing or announcing new stuff and then not hitting thier own deadlines, and for that extra notifications won't help. I definitely agree that communication should be in a place that all players can access, I do remember that there were issues with staff mentioning stuff on the discord, but I feel like that's been improved as well.

I think that ultimately, using the current blue banner system that exists right now in a smart way is the best way to go forward, and I think staff already does that without over-using it. Maybe more can be added to the "Check out" section on the homepage, such as repeating when staff has said the next holiday will start.

subeta has been pretty good with communication

Honest question: in what way? The site's owner has posted ONCE since I joined the site a year ago. While messages from UAs are official, they don't have enough weight because the only one that can actually change anything fundamentally or add new, major features is the owner. UAs are useful in the situations where you, for example, have a non-critical problem, a problem with an account restriction or when your CW got denied. But regarding site updates, communication from the site owner is critical and they haven't been providing enough messages.

idk what the fixation about keith and him posting is, but subeta is run by a team, not just one person. Any posts by subeta staff is staff communication.

also, quote from Keith's profile:

Keith may own the site and do coding, but Amber is the lead admin and has just as big of a hand in how subeta runs, if not more, and she does post quite frequently, things get updated and we get new content, and that doesn't hinge on Keith being the one posting just to please one user who is fixated on the site owner.

Give Amber and the rest of the staff more credit.

Subeta's staff communication has improved vastly in the time I've been active, especially with the addition of Galaxia to the team. We get regular news posts with new content, no holiday content is delayed or cancelled, staff post in bug reports to help fix things all the time, staff members (especially amber) respond to people's questions in news posts, and ticket response is very quick. Just because you are fixated on one specific staff member not posting does not mean staff is bad at communication. Sure its not perfect but nothing will be perfect.

Maybe the fixation is because I came from Marapets... ugh.

There admins can't do much other than log on anyone's account, view the logs, or ban someone's account. They have to wait for the owner to hop on and fix if ever something breaks. Its slots game was broken for a year straight because the owner took a huge break from the website.

Even if thats how it works on Marapets, its not how it works here. As I said in my last post, subeta staff work as a team and are able to do a lot. Subeta staff can do the vast majority of things to keep the site running. Amber can fix some major issues like cron issues, staff can add items/pets to the database and wearables to the wardrobe, add new battle challengers, turn on/off site holidays, bring us new plot content like the themed battlers and Liara, moderate the forums, approve pet spotlight and CW submissions, add new achievements, and much more.

If something breaks they can't fix, Keith probably does need to pop in, but even those things are usually dealt with quickly, even if Keith isn't the one posting the updates on how thats going. There are some broken games, but there is also a vast amount of content on the site, there's a ton to do even without new major features being constantly added. Besides the holidays, theres games to play, baking with fantine, alchemy, lots of types of quests (including battle and major drills), restocking, chatting on the forums, filling up collections, training up a battle pet and battling with them etc. There's always something to work towards, and enough of a variety that you can pick what you like best to work on.

I suggest trying to enjoy subeta for what it is rather than what it isn't or what can potentially be added. Things will come out a thier own pace, and honestly I don't think the site desperately needs additional things to do when there's a lot to do already. More is fun, but it will happen at its own pace.

This has strayed a bit from the initial suggestion of an "important" notifications system (which i already added my opinion on it being unnecessary) so I'm not going to respond to anything else along this line of staff communication/keith posting/adding new content. I seriously hope you consider the points I and others have made on this thread. You have a lot of suggestions, and I understand the place where its coming from wanting the site to be "better", but overall I still disagree that we need another notification (that won't be used often) when what is in place can be used, or slightly improved by the making it stick until users click x idea

I dunno, I think we have it pretty good here with our staff and admins.