As people probably know 2011 has been a great year for SH, we got mentioned by SCANDAL themselves and that sort of puts us up there and in the open. People are starting to know about the forum, so we get an influx of new members.

One of the initial suggestions for our new status was cleaning up the forums to make it better overall. We have reorganized quite a bit and the forum looks different from it did a month or two ago.

Next, we have a lot of new members, and by a lot I mean a lot. Old members stick around but they are starting to feel uncomfortable with all the new members, it is only natural, change is uncomfortable, however new members bring with them a new set of problems, they do not know of, or have not adapted to SH's unique forum culture yet.

We have been getting topics which are erroneously posted, wrong section or forum. But the most distinct and probably most visible example is people who post inflammatory topics, comments and replies. This is not the vision we want. SH wants to stand out to be worthy of the recent attention it has been receiving, we want to have a reputation as a reliable source of information on all things SCANDAL as well as being a nice friendly community for SCANDAL fans. Recent events seemed to have proved otherwise and a schism is starting to form.

Overall, what I feel is that all of us should lay down some common goals that we can improve SH as a community as a whole. Remember we are an international community so take into account the diversity we have and try to be as polite as possible so you might not offend people be it intentionally or not. We are on the radar, but not quite up there yet, so that should what be what we want to work towards next.

I'm not going to do a TL;DR, if you took the patience to read through the above, please feel free to comment. Suggestions are welcomed, and to everyone, I hope you enjoy your time here.

There are already rules set in place for situations that you've mentioned. As for the new members that are going to join with the 'added' problems. We'll have to experience it before we can even make a correct judgement. We cannot see into the future for problems that will arise.

When there are topics that are in the wrong section, OT posts, etc, just report the post and it will notify a moderator to move in and take care of it. We don't need users making posts about "Oh why did you make this post, wrong place!" and stuff like that, since those are not as helpful as the original post. Just report it and move on.

We've already done quite a bit to change how things move along here. The layout is no exception. Back when we introduced the rule of not having any official releases posted on these forums, we've maintained our position on that and that won't change.

Again, we've got many ground rules already set in place that you have mentioned in your post, the only thing new that I would say is your vision of 'how we continue from here' to make us more known to the world?

Totally agree with you Nat. We need a bit of a clean up around here. I hope the rules hasn't been neglected.

With regards to rule #3, I think it shouldn't only apply to members. It should also apply to the integrity of the forum and to the girls themselves as well. Some recent posts has even been rather disrespectful to the girls.

I do hope that the senior members don't be thrown off by the current way the forum is going. We do need to guide the newer members along. It was ok back when the rate of new members was slow, though recently there was a crazy baby bloom. Do have a bit more patience. Don't go hotheaded over something that the juniors have done wrong, it might just cause war in the threads.

The junior or newer members do take a while to think about what you wish to say. Some posts/topics/answers has already been made or discussed. Do take a while to search for them. I don't think SH needs a good amount of spam.

I do wish to hear more with this topic, especially with all the pointless trolling and flaming around. I think this has to be settled quick. This is to me, the first goal that SH has to prioritize now. We have to clear any misunderstandings ASAP.

I actually meant that the layout change is good thing, and was using it as an example of how things have changed for the better and the forum has a cleaner look to it.

People need to be more aware of the report button as well, it is there for a reason. I think the reason why things tend to get out of hand is when people feel that a topic or post has personally insulted them.

Regarding rule 3, I also agree it should extend to respecting the girls as well as SCANDAL staff members, some of our female members on the forum do not like the type of comments some people are using to describe the girls.

I don't want to preach but we need to be more tolerant of others, some people like to say there is freedom of speech, but in fact there is not. Forums have rules that prevent certain things from being said, so there is freedom to a degree, and using it is a poor argument anyway. This is an example of how different cultures between members might clash.

Anyway, yes there are things that can still be improved, and we need to strive for higher standards because of what has happened.

EDIT: New issue, as SH has become more visible, we are no longer restricted to the world wide web. People know SH members when they see them at lives, concerts and events. So as a whole I think people who are members of SH should carry themselves with humility when they are wearing things that show them to be a part of the community. It has now been made very clear (with video evidence) that SCANDAL knows about SH. Do not do anything that can sully the name of the community, thank you.

Though I've been inactive lately, it's impossible for me to not be aware of the recent numbers of members joining in the forum. Yes this is a good one as we can see there are lots of people who want to join in and share their love for SCANDAL. But yeah problems comes along with them as well, specially those who are new to how a forum works. The only thing we can do about this is like what Freakypandaz said, patience. We need patience to guide them not only us the staffs but also the members. That's how important the report button when it comes to the cooperation of the staffs and members in maintaining order here in the forum.

About those disrespectful post, like I said I've been inactive lately so I can't really check into every thread here in the forum. But by "disrespectful" I know already what you guys mean. I too is disappointed with this. I made rule number 1 for this one, so those post are already a violation of the rules. I made the rule number 3 for members only. But seeing how things are, I think there's now a need for a revision of rule number 1. So members, if you continue seeing post like this, please use the report button and tell it to us. Violation of this rule will not be tolerated.

And yes we've been mentioned and recognized. So yes humility is important. Just because we've been recognized doesn't mean we're the greatest fan community, there's still more lots we can do to improve more.

Misunderstandings, I don't really know much about this as well, it really pays to be inactive. I'll do some research about this first, I don't want to say things when I don't really know much about the issue. As for how do we go from now on, there are lots there we can think of and set to, though I can't just think of them myself, the words of the members is also important. Improvement is endless, that applies for SH as well.

Age, don't forget age...

Taking into consideration that we are a region free fan site, full of male and female, there's no exception to age that plays a factor into the type of posts/replies any topic receives...

I can see the concern with the mass addition of new members, but not everyone reveals their age, let alone introduces themselves descriptively or openly, so the personality and quality of posts are always a mystery until the moment as you've all mentioned above...

Not an easy task to look over, but this is what I always take into consideration when replying to other members personally and why I always use "HA HA!" every so often... "Actually, the avatar photo of myself is a dead giveaway to new members as to who/what they're talking to... HA HA!"... On the internet, a lot of things get lost in translation, so with a forum as big and vast as this, there's bound to be miscommunication and offensive times, even when there's no intention to... "Unless if it's made clearly to be offensive, then all power to the admins and mods to reprimand that individual... heh..."

Admins and mods, you guys are doing a super job so just keep at it the best you can! This is just one of the variables that will constantly come and go in an active forum...

Yes the SH members cover a very wide age range and come from very different cultures held together by love of a not very famous Japanese girl band which shows just how special they are, the band and the members ,

I think two of the most important things at SH which make it so different from other forums is tolerance and respect.
I often visit Youtube because I love music, that is also an International website with members of all ages but what a difference !
I am dubious of posting there as you often get insulted or abused, that does not happen at SH.
Yes some of our members are very young ( and some not so young ! ) but I think I can say they are quite safe here.

I think as long as we keep those two things and have staff who care like our staff do
we cannot go far wrong.

i think new members are okay (of course.. we arent a closed community, are we? ^^) as long as everything remains in order, and there will be no cases of member-to-member personal conflicts that will originate from the this forum (especially the sb), and the "wholesome" and hospitable atmosphere will be preserved, i guess there will be no problem with that ^^ im very much concerned with those kind of issues because i dont want anyone online to feel "bullied" or whatever ^^

i dont see any problem here. actually this forum is doing a good job IMO. or maybe i was not active lately.
we're almost 6.5k here and already recognized by the band. so as MC said we should be humble and should prevent conflicts with the other communities.

about the "old members are feeling uncomfortable thingy" that nate mentioned, i dont think they are feeling uncomfortable, its just that they dont want to interfere with what the new members are talking about in the SB. I myself who is already a member here for more than 1 year, when someone is chatting in SB, i dun want to ruin the mood so i just have to say hi and then wait. i also want to give the new members the opportunity to join the SH's family circle. so yeah.

Tony also mentioned the culture differences, dont ye guys think we should have a country section? but that might cause spam posts, but still i think that's necessary, lets say we have the FB groups like SHPH and IDSH, what about the new members who are still new to the SH's System?

just sayin.. .whistle.