Title Fairy

A position held by whomever moderates the granting of titles on MafiaScum.

The position is currently held by Oman. Previously it has been held by Sugar, PolarBoy, mathcam, and Thok.

Oman's Title Fairy Policy

1. The Title Fairy (in his position as mith's appointed official) is both a moderator of the Title Fairy Thread, and a moderator of titles in general. Title Fairy word is law within these confines.
2. A title is designed to be an informal representation of a user's personality and individuality. It is also a badge of honour that the title-holder has become an individual within the community, valued by his or her peers. A title should be something that user is recognised by, including a lasting appeal, not a quickly waning fad. In layman's terms, one should say "Yup, that is User X alright!". It should be easily accessible to all people, with wittiness/humour being a benefit.
3. Titles based on usernames (especially username puns) or avatars are not recommended. It is important to remember that titles are placed underneath the username and avatar, and the repetition is not required, and looks cluttered. Also forcing any suggestion, even the particularly clever ones, into a pun rarely become more personal, or more humorous. Avatars are also often transient and the title becomes outdated very quickly. However, exceptional titles may still be awarded even with these.
4. The minimum threshold for a title is six months on site. This limit is designed to ensure that once a person receives a title, they are entrenched as an individual, and that the title they are nominated for is suited to their personality. This limit is for the person, so a change of username or making an alternate account the primary will not disqualify the user. By no means does reaching the required time instantly mean the user is deserving of a title.
5. Any user can recommend a title for a qualified user. It is a simple request that extraneous titles are not suggested on a whim, as these clutter the thread. To recommend oneself for a title is bad form, it is a gift from the peers, not something to bestow on oneself. However, users are encouraged to become involved in discussion of their own title within the thread. Abuse of the ability to suggest titles, by suggesting insulting, or otherwise frivolous titles will result in that user's privilege being removed. Note that Site Ideas (including Title Fairy) is covered under the site rules, and abuse may warrant reporting to Site Admins.
6. Titles are subject to the recipient's approval as well as the Title Fairy's, and may be rejected regardless of other support. Titles can be removed at the request of the user. This is an exception for "outdated" or irrelevant titles, and not a standard action.
7. The Title Fairy Thread is for title discussion. Its fixture in Site Ideas, as opposed to General Discussion should indicate the administrators' view on how it should be used. While some light-hearted discussion is okay, a good rule of thumb is that title discussion should be the primary focus. Title Fairy reserves the right to delete posts, or split them to General Discussion as required.
8. For any issues regarding the Title Fairy, Title Fairy Thread, or Titles, see first the Title Fairy then, for any issues not resolved

at that level, see mith.

In early September Oman made a short post clarifying his philosophy on titles in general. This post should be helpful in understanding how he makes his decision on each title:

The whole problem I had with username/avatar puns was that it was repeating information unnecessarily and making for clutter. We get used to titles we see every day, but start adding caps, colours, and italics, and suddnely these are very eye catching. From a visual perspective, clutter is not a good thing, and the more "Mafia Scum"s, the more flow. My goal in what will be a short reign as Title Fairy, before I am usurped and my head thrust upon a pike (or I do the above to mith and own the site), is to balance the uniqueness of scummers, the fun we have, and the nostalgia titles can give, against the breaking of flow, clutter, and general awkwardness of unique titles. Take a look at most sites that let users set their own titles and someone will have "MAYOR OF AWESOMENESS ZONE" or something chronically mispelled. Hell, look at location, people can't even take that seriously (Ani has "standing right behind you" for example).

So while it seems like I'm being ultimate killjoy sometimes, I think that refusing some titles that just aren't mature or just suck is one of the things that makes mafiascum great. As a community we are more mature, and more professional than most (Guys pt 2 excluded, in fact, let's just disregard Reck on that), and I think this is part of that. So I'm going to stand up for my standards as written, with mith as the authorisation that my rules are in accordance with his idea of the site's direction and culture. The moment that I fall outside of culture, I expect him to pick me up, as I do when the titles fall outside culture.

To be honest, I have a really easy job, because you guys are high-quality and self-policing. I really thank you for that, and I have nothing wrong with suggestions coming forward and being worked on. The major thing that I want you to take away is that I encourage nominations and to work on a title in-thread, and I don't want anyone to take rejection personally.

Thok's Title Fairy Policy

1. You must make at least 100 posts in mafia threads before you will even be considered for a title; however, making 100 posts does not guarantee that you will get a title.
2. The easiest way to get a title is to establish a good reputation on Mafiascum, perhaps by having interesting, impressive (or even infamous) performances in Mafia games. The easiest way not to get a title is to post in the Title Fairy thread saying, "Give me a title!" Given enough time, somebody will come up with a good title for you on their own.
3. However, everybody is allowed (and in fact encouraged) to make title suggestions for other members of Mafiascum who satisfy the conditions of rule 1.
4. A title should be accessible to your fellow members of Mafiascum. In particular, inside jokes involving real life friends, references to other forums, or references limited only to Scumchat are not good candidates for a title. Similarly, avatar related titles are generally frowned upon unless the avatar in question has not changed in a significant period of time (at least a year).
5. Titles should be a short phrase, generally of 5 words or less. If you want to reference a long quote, either summarize it or put it in your signature.
6. Titles are meant to be good fun; don't use the Title Fairy thread as a place to insult people. Similarly, if you are truly unhappy with a suggested title, it will not be assigned. Moreover, we will strongly consider either changing or removing a title if you feel it is no longer appropriate. (However, in general we will not change a title if you are merely bored by it.)

For historical reference, I am also keeping mathcam's Complete Title Policy as a reference:

What's in a name? The intent of this page is to outline the guidelines I'll use in deciding who gets what title, and I can think of no better way of doing this than outlining my own opinions on titling.

To start, what IS titling? Titling is the process of putting a short word, name, or phrase under a player's usernames in each post. First and foremost, titling should be fun, and all the rules and regulations below will be thrown out in the case that it would be more fun to do so. Generally speaking, a title should subtly or not-so-subtly reference an amusing incident, pattern, play-style, relationship, or other quirk involving that player on the board. To suggest a title, post in the "Dance of the Title Fairy Thread" in site ideas.

Now, what ISN'T titling? It's NOT a measure of how many posts you have, or how long you've been on the boards. It's NOT a measure of how much whining you did in the titling thread. It's NOT a medium for inside jokes that only you will get, for self-promotion, or for anything other than mafiascum. Finally, NOT having a title does not imply anything about a player's stading on the board, only that more time is required before an appropriate title surfaces.

Finally, let me paraphrase a paragraph from former Title Fairy PolarBoy's policy:

"Titles should be something for, and from, the community. Much of the time when someone suggests their own title it's based on a personal quirk or reference (i.e. *not* community-based). If someone else suggests it then obviously it works from an outside perspective and is a legitimate reference within the community."

So, while not strictly upheld, the long and short of it is "Don't nominate yourself for a title, and don't go pandering in the thread to get someone else to nominate one for you either."