Xat.Chat results

Posted by Home Open Debates | Posted in | Posted on 12:26 PM


Last Nights Xat.Chat was Very productive! ^_^

I am proud at the turn out and the active participation from everyone who attended last nights chat. We got a LOT covered in those 2 hours. It was fun, entertaining, intriguing and productive. What More could we as HOD have hoped for?

The Xat chats lasted about an hour and a half last night. For the first half hour we talked about all the recent posting from the Home staff and an emergence of more communication and effort on their part in the past weeks and what we have to look forward to in the future with some caustion on our part. Some people were still upset about how far behind they still are in communicatingwith us, and one user was convinced someone else was writing Jack's posts, but the majority of the chatters were excited and please that the Home Staff is slowly doing EXACTLY what we have been askin and wanting them to do.


We also talked about the new $15 suit and how utterly rediculous that is, and what a slap in the face is and how we will shoot users on the spot who we see wearing it.


For the next hour we got alot done and in many ways, the chats were alot of fun, and actualy more productive and gave quicker results than the Home debates. We talked about Making Sigs for the forums linking to the Blog, and we encourage everyone to make one.


We then talked about some of the shortcomings of the debates so far, how we handle distractions, how to stay on topic, and how to get something out of each debate. We talked specificaly about an incident that happened at the second debate and how to handle those issues in the future as wall. We talked about the blog and the Calenders and even finalized a new debate structure and all in just one hour. Look below to see all the changes to the debates we finalized in just an hour at the very productive Chat ^_^

We decided on a New structure set-up for the debates on Home, (Next Thursday at 8PM EST on Home in the Home Open Debates Clubhouse we will start the First Debate on PRICES for the new month) we will be integrating the suggestions brought forth by tdarb in the next debate.


Here are the changes:

 > HOD will allow 2 speakers  to lead of the debate topic for the first HALF hour. During which both parties will beable to present their ideas on the topic and we as participants will observe and listen. THEN in the following hour everyone will voice their opinions accordingly *the 2 speakers of the night will maintain order and stability and make sure the discussion remains on target* and once we have had a chance for Group discussion and brainstorming we will then try and decide on a solution for that nights debates. The LAST half hour of the night will be spent on agreeing on what we as HOD will do in order to make the changes necessary in Home, the Community and the Forums to make a positive change.

>These 2 speakers will be given the task of preparing their debates and arguments before the debate. Also, these 2 users will have to set up a guide line for the debate, make sure the debate stays on topic as well as making sure a certain number of topics and issues are addressed, making sure the debates meet a certain criteria of progress that they feel is necesarry.

- This way we hope to get everyone to lead a topic and oversee the debates for themselves. And this way make everyone a more active part of these debates and give them a sense of a goal and duty so everyone can be an equal and shared work partner in the success of these Debates.

->The Two speakers must give a rather complete overview of the issue in their debate between each other and hit all necassary crucial points and set the tone for the rest of the debate. They must also raise questions in their debate that can be addressed further in the debate.

> The 2 users are not moderators, they will set the tone and make sure the debate runs smoothly. But they will not be people's mommies and dadies and deliver spankings and lolipops.

> If any person gets out of line, or if anything upsets anyone, please message either Kamala_Ona or CRUNKRIS so they can try and handle the person or situation in question in a private manner before taking further action. We want to keep distractions from the debate as low as possible.

> a further note on this is explained in the H.O.D. Policy (listed bellow)
We believe a STRICT "No Name-calling, Hate speech, or Personal attacks of individual Users" Policy will need to be in place and made aware to ALL involved in the Home Open Debates. We are ALL FOR freedom of expression and freedom of speech and having the open floor to state ones opinions about Home, but H.O.D. does not intend on allowing any "set backs" in the progress we are hoping to attain with in Home with people attacking Users rather than Issues. these debates will be strictly topics about the issues of Home and finding ways of working together and coming up with Creative suggestions to make Home a better place for all users to enjoy. Hoping 2 Achieve Unity in Home Together! ~*H.O.D.*~
>we want to please remind u to refrain from cussing and attacking other users.

(moderation changes)

> HOD will no longer let users that constantly distract from the debates. Each User will receive 3 warnings. The first will be discrete and through a psn message from either Kamala_Ona or CRUNKRIS. The following 2 will be made ALOUD during the debates. IF for whatever reason, after their multiple warnings a user STILL continues to disrupt and/or distract from the debates, they will result in themselves receiving a 24 hour Ban from HOD and will be asked to leave the debate in progress. (Users with 24 hour bans will be allowed back to the following Home Open Debate, and are still welcome at the Home Open Bar Xat chats, they were only removed from that ONE debate)

->If the same user/or/users return to the debates after their 24 hour ban is up and CONTINUE to disrupt the debates they will then result in gaining themselves a PERMANENT BAN from HOD and will NOT be asked to return at a later date.  If you yourself, or a friend is BANNED from HOD for whatever the reason may be you will be asked to continuing participating with HOD by watching the Home Debates online to keep up with what is happening within HOD, and also to participate in the Online Debates at http://xat.com/Home_Open_Bar , the Home Open Debates Blog, and the Thread. Everyone is allowed and encouraged to participate in HOD. We need more voices so remember to recruit! Any further suggestions and/or questions please feel free to speak your mind.




Home Open Debates have made great progress thus far, continue to keep up the good work everyone, and remember Communication starts with the Community!

ANDROIDS VS. ALIENS! See You tonight!

Posted by Home Open Debates | Posted in | Posted on 11:01 AM

Don't forget the Aliens Vs. Androids event tonight! 11pm EST in the plaza (don't even think about touching that PDA)

Hope to see you there. The problems of home can rest for one night. Try to relive that spark that Home has that makes it soo fun. Connect with people and Remember that love for Home we had before all the "drama", and lets TRY and change the forums and home attitude towards a teamwork method of fixing home together and start by setting an example. Lets remember to enjoy the good things, while shinning lights on the bad. You have to build up the good things home does as well as address and fix the bad, and this event seems to be a very good thing! So lets support it, and get something out of it!







Got your Aliens all in a row . . . ?

Posted by Home Open Debates | Posted in | Posted on 5:29 PM

Here are the videos for the First debate, curtiousy of Patchex who we are eternaly gratefull to. They are set up for a private download and viewable through windows media player. So check em out.


http://www.filehosting.org/file/details/113258/Debate__1.wmv


http://www.filehosting.org/file/details/113268/Debates_sound.wav


The video and audio is separate, maybe if you hit the play button at the same time . . . . and the debate video is spead up just a tad . . . But its realy awesome to see and the debate went well. So please enjoy! And we are trying to find a better and faster way to bring you these debate recordings. If you want to record the Home Debates, or have an suggestions on how we can improve on the recordings, or our method of recording, please leave a comment below or contact us.

Oh and we can upload these 2 youtube, but they would be like 15 videos for each debate so . . . ur choice.

Now, ONTO next weeks Chat. If you were at last nights debate, you know we have plenty of room for improvement, and that was only the third debate so we are still looking to yall for ways to improve in EVERY way. And it was also clear, lots of you have lots of ideas of how to improve. We only got to hear a few short comments, and we didnt realy talk about it, we know everyone can contribute and has ideas and suggestions that are benefitial to H.O.D.'s success.

So, since we are still new, and still trying to get the hang of it, we think everyone has gotten a pretty good feel of how the debates are going so far from the past 3. With the knowledge and experience we had with the first three debates, everyone should be able to identify ways that Home Open Debates could improve and how. This includes bringing your complaints, and suggestions and observations to the Xat chat this Thursday at 8pm EST. We will have the chat at xat.com/Home_Open_Bar and hope everyone will attend, and more on that the sooner we get to it. The Xat chat is all about evolving, and growing H.O.D. NOW before we go deeper into the debates. And we pray you will help with that!




And please remember the Android vs. Alien Event! ANDROIDS FTW!! Cant wait to see u there, even if you come as an alien tying to eat us LOL, we're tasty, garenteed.



H.O.D. Calender!

Posted by Home Open Debates | Posted in | Posted on 9:31 PM



Well guys we have decided the topic for the last two weeks in February that we will be debating is the "Beta" tag just for a filler debate before we have the whole month of march dedicated to "PRICES"

Any Questions, Suggestions or Concerns please feel free to share them! 




 Look, i made a calender for march ^_^ As you can see the 1st and 3rd thurday of the month are Clubhouse debates. And the 2nd and 4th are Online chatroom chats. Just to switch it up and make sure most people can come. But as you can see the first debate and chat are both empty. Now the Topic for the month of March that we are going to tackle is
PRICES! 


Pretty huh?

We somewhat did Communication already, and we will revisit that again soon, also we wanted to hold off on Forum moderation until a forum mod can join us, so the thrid most voted for topic was Prices. But for the first debate and chat, we need a few questions, Submitted by YOU! that we should address at the debate and chat about Prices on home. Then, after that Debate and Chat, we will come back and talk only about a solution to the problem, and what WE can do to fix it. 

So the first 2 weeks of the month we brainstorm and talk about the issue in depth breaking it down with specific questions as we try and answer ourselves. Then, the second half of the month we will try and make the change we want to see happen. Through our actions and through spreading the word by comunicating and exploring all posibilities in order to make the change we want a reality. So the second half, we put ourselves to work. But we still need the specific questions and break down of the issue for the first 2 debates. So please fill the comment section with questions and issues you think we need to answer and adress at the debate and chat about PRICES before we move forward with a solution.

Happy Saint Valentine's Day

Posted by Home Open Debates | Posted in | Posted on 8:16 PM

Remember 2 Share the Love on Home and the Forums ^_^ Try and by a Saint Valentine to those you meet on Home.



We just added a Flicker Slideshow to the Blog! Check the Side of the blog to look at photos we have of the Home Debates! And while your there, dnt forget to Vote on the Game nights! Please Submit any photos you have of the Home Open Debates so we can add them to the Flicker account, and please feel free to take more photos in the future and send them to us!

Also, look forward to the Debate calender being created, it will be posted shortly. Until then, take note of the count down at the top of the Blog until the debate this thursday at 8pm EST. To attend, send a club request to Home Open Debates, or ask us to send you an invite if your interested. We would love to have you.

And remember to continue to share the Love about the Home Open Debates to anyone and everyone!


WE LOVE YOU GUYS SOO MUCH!! BE OUR VALENTINES! PLEASE!

Cupid's Arrow is armed and ready!! FIRE!!!!

Posted by Home Open Debates | Posted in | Posted on 1:23 PM

 HOME OPEN DEBATE TONIGHT @ 9PM EST (don't forget the Forum Party will be going on before the debates)

To attend, just send a Club invite to Home Open Debates . Tell all your friends and any one you think would be a good part of the debates. And remind them tonight at 9!

Tonights Topic is COMMUNICATION (Deja vu?) Last debate we didnt have enuf time to dedicate a whole debate to Comunication and ways to improve it and such, so instead we talked about ideas for Games that could be done on the Home Forums, through Rev_M, the MVP of the Home forums. We should start to see some of the game ideas we came up with at the debate hit the forums soon and we hope everyone will join in on those and have fun. Hopefully that will help make the Home forums FUN again, and getting us all working together and such cuppid love stuff. So please work wit us and Rev to make those a success.

So please come prepared tonight wit your idea and suggestions about the Communication problem Home faces. Please remember we dnt want just sit arround and complain about whats wrong wit Communication. I thin kwe have all done our fair share of that, and nothing new could be said in that regard. But please come willing to talk about things that WE can do to help improve communication, as well as other SOLUTIONS or suggestions to how and fix the problem. Communication also includes customer service and support, and i know some of you have some awesome ideas about how to improve that if you've ever been on the phone wit em. We cant wait to start debating! ^_^

Also, something we think you guys might wanta do to start off the debate each week is to talk about That Thursday's Home update and what you thought about it, before we move onto the official topic.

Now onto official HOD business, You might have noticed the votes for Time and Day have been taken down (ya you fascist **** faces, are u ignoring the voice of the people and having the debates when "YOU" feel fit?) Well .. . The official Vote outcome was for the Debates to be held at Thursdays at 8pm EST. Starting Next Week, that will be the official Time of the Home Open Debates from this day forward. Tonights debate should be the last debate on friday night & we hope you will come out to see us at our official time, THURSDAYS at 8pm EST! Thats what you decided, and remember, you are an equal part of these debates. Everyone is needed and crucial to their success, and everyone is excited about making these debates as EPIC as possible, TOGETHER!

Also, like everyone agreed, we will be alternating weeks soon (Official H.O.D. Calender to follow soon). For the past weeks, we have had a H.O.D. every week, to get the program started and running. Starting next Thurday (the day after Ash Wednsday) we will have 2 Home Open Debates on Home a month. So every Every other thursday we will have a debate on home. The Thursdays between those, we will be having an Online internet chatroom discussion on http://xat.com/Home_Open_Bar at the same time, 8pm Est. So Clear your thursdays at 8pm EST cause we got you covered everyweek for discussions and debates with your fellow community members. Also, we will start having debates in Public spaces soon and will discuss that further at tonights debate, don't forget to VOTE for what Public space would be best for the H.O.D. on the side of the blog. Hot Shot Golf is the lead wit Gamer's Lounge close behind.

Also, keep your eyes pealed on the blog for more posts written by your fellow community Home members. And check out our new Polls about Gaming and H.O.D.
Firstly, we ask, Would you like H.O.D. to have game nights our try and sync up wit the Home game launching nite, or not. You decide, and for fun, not to push the issue, but just to kind of see whats out there, we ask what games you all have. What game would make for the best Online multiplayer game for you and everyone to play.
Additionaly, we hope to have the Video and post about the last debate up and running shotly, thank for your patience. We will try and have all the debates posted for viewing as soon as possible in the future as we continue to work that out. Remember, Home Open Debates only works cause of the time and talent its users give to it, to make it a success. Thank You for that and please Volunteer your time and services if you want to help make these debates even more EPIC. If there is something you wanta do, or something you are good at that you can help out on, please feel free to contact us, and offer your services and/or ideas. Every bit helps. thanx!

Last but not least, Happy Valentines Day and Mardi Gras to all of you!

Please Hold . . . . Thank You

Posted by Home Open Debates | Posted in | Posted on 1:32 PM

Sorry, we are waiting on the video from the debate before we make a post about it last Friday's ultimately successful display of intelect and wisdom. It shouldn’t be much longer before we get the video up and running, but we would like to go ahead and thank everyone who attended as well as the enthusiasm yall expressed and shared wit us. Everyone fed off each other's energy in a productive way and we can’t wait to grow upon  the success of the last debate. More to come on that in a sec.

             In the meantime, we have some things for you to keep ur hands busy wit. Firstly, please try and talk about the Home Open Debates to anyone you think would either benefit from the debates or who would be beneficial to the debates. One way to do that is through a sig for the forums which Jim777 has already kindly created for everyone, check it out:


Awesome, huh? You’re welcome to use that sig or make ur own as we still have many people creating more sigs for the Home Open Debates already.

Please also remember to save the date for this Friday at 9pm EST. The Forum Party Proceeds it we believe, so please come out to the forum party and then we will feed from there right into the debates.

If you want to attend, remember to send a club invite to Home Open Debates and we will accept as soon as possible. Sadly we are already almost filled. But don’t fright, soon the debates will be held in a public space, so we will have no people limit (well just a greater limit if u think about it).

Ohh . . . And about that, please remember to Vote on which Public space would be best to have the first Home Open Debates in a public space. You can find the poll on the right side of the blog! And please excuse the spelling error(s), I had to repeat kindergarten once already cause of that.

And last but not least, a short story for you to ponder and enjoy!:

A four-year-old boy and his father went to the beach. There was a dead seagull lying on the sand. The boy asked his father, ''Dad, what happened to the birdie?'' His dad told him, ''Son, the bird died and went to heaven.'' Then the boy asked, ''Did God throw him back down?''

Home Open Debate Tonight @ 9PM EST!!! Come Out And Join Us!

Posted by Home Open Debates | Posted in | Posted on 3:46 PM

The First Home Open Debate is tonight, And we hope everyone will come out to join us. We ask for your patience Tonight in case not everything goes as smoothly as planned. We are after all JUST STARTING out, we ask for everyone to come with an open mind and a level headed attitude. Tonight is like a Pilot Episode of the debates. We will take any suggestions at the end of the debates as to how we can try and work out any of the kinks in these debates. It will get smoother as we go along we promise, and we look forward to you helping us making these debates a success.

Now sadly we do have some rules to go over with you all. Just to make yourself familiar with them so these debates will be a success. We will try this out and try and make it work as time goes on. trust me, im not too familiar with this structure either, so we will try and make it work together but we think they are best for a successful debate.


The Topics for tonights debate is Communication. People will present themselves one at a time in pairs. to speak we are gonna ask for you to take the stage. We will set up a speaking order at the begining of the debate. then we will have counter arguments and short discussion before the next speaker takes the stage. You can use your time to either make your own statement, or respond to a previous statement. And we will alot each person a limited amount of time to do so, so we can hear everyone hopefully more than once at least.
We are going to ask that you please do not speak out of turn, (it gets tricky wit voice chat lag) and we are asking that we all stay on topic and make the debate about the issue not the user. Not 2 hard realy, it should be fun, but it will be alittle rough too. But all in all i think everyone is excited

*~* if you know someone who can record the debate, let us know! Also tell all your friends about the debate, all are welcome, just tell them to send an invite to Home Open Debates clubhouse and we will accept as soon as possible *~*

We hope u like the Clubhouse! We gave it a very lustful yet dangerious feel. Serene, yet deadly ^_^ D_Sanders was nice as to tweet us this pic of the clubhouse (Below): Come check it out in person tonight at 9Pm eastern, and let us know if u need an invite, and if u dnt have one it might be cause u have 5 clubs already, so keep that in mind if ur wishing to attend and ask us to invite u again.

A Comparison Between Methods of Communication as it Relates to Successful Growth of Playstation Home

Posted by Home Open Debates | Posted in | Posted on 2:00 PM


 The Following Post was submitted by tearsofash

My name is Andrew, and I've been an avid Home user since September 2, 2008. No, I'm not one of those guys that got in because of Qore. I didn't pay to get in, it was a drawing I entered because I downloaded a theme on PSN.

I'm pretty cynical. I've seen the Home culture drastically change time and again. A lot of people give up, and a few stay as Home changed. Initially, there was a decent amount of transparency when Ted the Dog was in charge. We were treated like real people back then. As time went on, that transparency began to fade away. 

Most of the Extended Closed Beta members couldn't withstand the barrage of new members. A lot of these new members didn't really know what to expect, but us veterans saw a flip switched. Things were different.

A lot of us saw potential, so we waited with baited breath for the application to evolve as a platform. It began to grow, but it grew lopsided. No one bothered to straighten it out, and things are getting out of hand. Every week, things are released broken. Events are almost always guaranteed to be rescheduled, and the bonus content doesn't show up until much later.

They've appointed Home Community Volunteers to help with events, and to help new members. However, that entire project is shrouded with drama.  Many say it is a failed experiment, given the actions of those involved. 

The Sony forums are filled with exorbitant amounts of vitriol, and have run off what little interaction we had with the public figures of USA Home. 

So what do we do? Any attempt at suggesting Home isn't perfect gets shot down in the forums. With the staff out of town on the forums, the customer-client wall is breaking down. This has to stop.

First, we have to find some way to get the Community Managers something to manage. As it stands, it feels like they are sitting in an ivory tower while we peasants chant for blood. We have to make communication safe again. While it is somewhat gut-wrenching that the "Community Manager" has left the community, it's not really our fault. That's their JOB.

This isn't a blame game. The minute we start to point fingers is when everything stops working again. 

I am somewhat conflicted with what sort of attitude to hold in this whole matter. I've seen Home go through a lot of changes. Home Open Debate tries to take a friendlier, more diplomatic approach. Home-Watch sometimes takes a more direct approach, pointing out different issues in home. Sometimes the place has personal attacks. The internet geek in me knows its method can be effective sometimes.

Perhaps I am too cynical to really even be writing here. Over the past few years I've seen tons of groups promising "unity" and trying to make a better Home experience. How many have truly been successful?
I really wish we could all join together, hold hands, and give each other group hugs, but that's never going to happen. I feel that both methods can prove effective. This is an excellent blog, and I look forward to posting more here. However, the other site is also necessary because it opens people's eyes. It says things people would otherwise be too afraid to say. I applaud them for that.


We don't do that here, though. I hope that HOD can prove to people that it is entirely possible to have a respectful conversation between people who don't always get along. There's a lot of stuff I don't like about Home, but without discourse we'll never be able to properly communicate our concerns.  

Let it out so it can breathe!

Posted by Home Open Debates | Posted in | Posted on 1:09 PM



Brings back good memories huh?

What ever happened to the Music Video Lounge? Is it 3 months now that those same 2 God awefuly depressing songs have been playing there? Its a waste of space. Who votes we should take charge of the lounge? Debate ---->  what should be done with the lounge?

p.s. there is a she wolf (or he-wolf) inside everyone one of us. (sappy moment warning) Dont hide, embrace it. Let your opinions and voice out so it can breathe! These Debates are about empowering every home user and giving them a voice back, Howl at the moon and learn to go after what u believe in and dnt be afraid of what u imagine, make it a reality!  *tears* (waits for people to misinterpret that as a sign to devour each other like rabbis infested hungry (she) wolves) *pops popcorn*

this is an invitation to let your voice out and we hope you will use Home Open Debates as a way to do so. Please come out to the debates and let your voice and ideas, opinions, and imagination breathe. Lets Breathe new life into Home!