Introducing the Planetary Vanguards

Who are the Planetary Vanguards?
Hi guys. You might have noticed that some people suddenly have blue badges around the forums. We thought it best to let everyone what’s going on, and what this means for the Community.

Who are we?
The Planetary Vanguards are a group of Community members who are committed to a high quality of communication and to assist the information flow between the Community and Uber. We are a self-organized group who are here to help make Planetary Annihilation the best game that it can possibly be, by making information more easily available for both the Community and the Developers.

What are we here for?
The Developers are very busy trying to make Planetary Annihilation the best game it can be. However, this means that they often don’t have that much time to peruse the forums, and see what is important to Community members. It also means that they are not always able to give us all the up-to-the-minute news that we are all itching to hear about. Hence the Planetary Vanguards. The plan is that we can help the Developers get a better idea as to what matters to the Community, while also helping to answer the queries you may have when new information is presented. You can be assured that, when speaking in an official capacity (ie, when we state something without framing it as our opinion) that the information we give you is correct and accurate information that we have received from the Devs.

How was the Vanguard created and chosen?
The current vanguards have been given this position because they approached Uber about trying to improve communication between Developers and Community members. As a result, Uber thought we should be the ones to try and do it.
You may want to read this post, too: https://forums.uberent.com/threads/introducing-the-planetary-vanguards.54695/page-4#post-837519

Can I be a Vanguard?
Yes. Perhaps. The Vanguard Community is self organized. If we see someone who we think is being a helpful, insightful, and well spoken member of the Community, then we will ask them if they want to be part of this group. If you want to be involved, just keep making well thought out and well written posts, and we’ll get in touch.

Can I tell you my ideas so you can tell the Developers?
Well, we keep a close eye on the entirety of the forums and we will read your ideas. The best way to get your thoughts looked at is to contribute to a well discussed thread on that subject. If there is a common or big topic in the community, then we will see it and make sure that the Developers are aware that it is important to the Community. If you want your suggestions to be heard, all you need to do is make sure that they are well thought out and well posted, and we will do the rest.

Are there rules for how Vanguards need to behave?
see the attached code of conduct. If you seen Vanguards breaking it please report them to us.

If you have any questions regarding the Vanguards please feel free to post them in this thread or get in touch with us directly.

Who is in right now?
@cola_colin
@Culverin
@cwarner7264
@greppy
@KNight
@ledarsi
@liquius
@nanolathe
@SXX
@thetrophysystem
@wpmarshall
@YourLocalMadSci
@zaphodx

Bootleg power rangers

Neat.
Is there a separate category for "deranged autist"?

Shouldn't it just be "Planetary Vanguard"?

It could be either. The group is that. The people individually are that. Plural of one of those people, is that.

So, grammatically speaking, we are talking about the people in it ("Who are the Planetary Vanguards?"), while it would be wrong if it were "What are the Planetary Vanguards?" (referring to the one group, not the multiple individuals in the group).

But if your question was not about the grammar, but if there was just a single group with this name, then yes, it is just one group.

So I suppose you need to be a member of the realm also?

No, you don't need to be a member of the realm.
i.e. I am not a member of the realm, but I am also part of the group.

But you are already a mod so that isn't the issue. Don't mean to be trolling but just appears the monopoly continues.

To my best knowledge being a realm member or not wasn't of any relevance for Uber's decisions. The realm is just pretty big and generally active, ofc some of them are in this

Welcome to all of the Vanguards!

Also, this has nothing directly to do with the Realm as cc said.

Neat idea; here's to an even better community!

The vanguard choices seem... interesting.

People were added to the vanguards who are not very active on the forums.

Most of them make sense, but a few of them seemed odd to me too. Personally, I think you should be on the list.

You don't have to post a lot to be active on the forums.

Some Vanguards have less than 100 posts.

ditto.

browsing counts as activity, too. lurking isn't a bad thing!

I think Brian needs his own title.....

Something more suited to his role of weeding out the stupid, erasing the incompetent and smiting the generally to lazy to bother searching the forum...

How about... 'planetary inquizitor'?

No. But some of the choices are very strange. Some inactive people are Vanguards, and some more active people aren't vanguards. clopse should definitely be a Vanguard over some of the other vanguard choices. He's more active and more skilled and knowledgeable than some of the other choices.

While I, personally, don't have an impressive post count I am here because of my contribution to the early formation of the vanguard.

The forum is also not the only place to gather information and interact with the community, /r/PlanetaryAnnihilation for example.