Never been a huge fan of dorms having their own forum because largely their pointless and just make the website longer and look disproportionate so I'd be down to getting rid of those, but keeping the groups because I like the idea of a ranking system.
At another acad, they have ranked matches much like DN's Rated pool. I really like this idea because it gives the opportunity for good posting and competitiveness between Academy members.
My main points:
I think having WA and Tester groups would be a good idea, so that way new people know where to head if they're interested in joining the war team or getting tested for a dorm. Testers are a thing on almost every academy and are just obviously a good idea, and I don't know why the group was removed.
Onto WAs. This group has seemed irrelevant to a lot of you. I can see how you may come to this conclusion, but let me tell you it is inaccurate. Having a group for WAs would be helpful in letting people know (new and current members) who is in charge of the war team. I also believe that WAs should have complete autonomy when it comes to the roster of the war team as well as who participates in wars we have with other academy's. This is largely because a WA will be chosen based on his skill and experience and will be unbiased as to who he puts in rosters because ultimately he wants to win for the glory of his team and not put in friends who suck. Also WAs can be consulted in rulings for tournaments that are confusing to Admins of the forum, and we all know DN admins will ignore getting a ruling for an acad tournament. The WA position can also double as a TO position (Tournament Organizer) which will increase overall academy activity. There are other reasons for creating this staff position, and if you have questions about it just ask me.
Finally I think the GFX Designers group should be removed. If people want to make a GFX shop that's fine, but It's not really an important group to distinguish. They have their own subforum which is not hard to locate, and largely the people who make GFXs for the academy are Admins who don't need the recognition.
Thanks for listening - topdeckedlaunchero_o