Game Moderator Tools sneak peek & Support Hub release

Hey all,

Happy April! We’ve got a few updates we wanted to share, as well as a sneak peek at the future of game moderation on Speedrun.com.

First off, we will be deprecating The Site section of the forum for a new and improved Support Hub for all your site needs. Whether it’s requesting games, reporting users, or asking to become a moderator for a game, all requests will be fulfilled from a single location to be tracked and handled by site staff. You can check out the new Support Hub in the Knowledge Base here!

Second, over the course of the next few days we will be rolling out ads for logged-in users. If you run into any bugs with your logged-in experience, please report them in the bug section of the new Support Hub.

Last, and certainly the thing we are most excited about, we have a look at the future of the game moderator tools! As we finish developing these, we are looking for volunteer communities willing to beta-test the tools. If you are a super moderator willing to try the new tools and give feedback, please sign up for our beta-testing program here. Please note that the updates listed below are simply a few of the things we are aiming for in the next few months, and there may be changes in timing or ability to execute on them as we develop.

Leaderboard Announcements & News

• A highly requested feature, we will be adding the ability for game moderators to post announcements on the game page for easy communication with the community. Game moderators can also use this feature to share content created by the community, feature specific community members, or share any other news they may have for the community.

Improved Category Management

One of the main complaints we’ve heard about Category Management is both the organization of the tools as well as the lack of customization on a category by category basis. With that in mind, some updates we are looking forward to are:

• We will be reorganizing the Edit Game section into a Moderator Hub that is both more intuitive and more accessible to new and veteran game moderators.

• We are aiming for the vast majority of settings (such as primary timing method) to change from a game-basis to a category by category basis.

• Variables will live within a Variable Library, and game moderators will be able to select on a category by category basis which variables they want to apply, fixing the issue of the one/all variable setting.

• All runs submitted to a category will be visible.

• Which game types are shown as Unofficial will be evaluated and updated.

Run Management

• Game moderators and verifiers will be able to access more than 50 runs

• We are adding a private Mod Note functionality for game moderators to leave notes for other game moderators on a run.

• Game moderators and verifiers will be able to assign a run to themselves so that they don’t work on the same run simultaneously

Guides & Resources

• The Guides page and Resources page will be combined into a more customizable Guides & Resources page.

• On this page game moderators will be able to create their own sections as well as add files/guides/links to each section depending on which they need.

• Community members will be able to submit guides and resources, but game moderators will review and approve them before they appear on the Guides & Resources page in order to ensure quality and prevent trolling.

Video Showcase

• Game moderators will be able to select their favorite videos to showcase on the game page.

Bonus: User Profile Update

• As we mentioned in February’s update, the User Profile Page widgets will be updated to better reflect the user. This will likely be updated after the moderator tools have been developed, but be on the lookout for that change.

We know this does not include the full scope of requests in the Feedback Form and Feedback Forum, but rest assured that we read each recommendation and prioritize it as we are able to on the road map. As we develop these features the order and timing may change, but we look forward to addressing as many concerns as possible as we continue to grow the site.

Cheers,

Speedrun.com