no offence but… ???
said the amateur who had moderated a tiny forum for a couple of years to the professional who was managing one 10 times the size before safenet was any more than a twinkle in David’s eye. I wish I could explain everything that I know in a forum post that would convince you of it, but like many other things, understanding community development is esoteric and I can’t sit here for days trying to explain the psychology of a community, how it evolves and what things have positive and negative impacts and why. I am very frustrated from the effort I have already put in. many others do seem to both understand and agree, so maybe I’m not just crazy? Maybe if we had this convo in the main forum we’d find a lot more agreed and could see the implications for what I was suggesting.
it is a terrible shame that this forum will be limited by the capacity of the moderators to see and understand the psychological implications for something that to them seems small and unimportant. you don’t think it will work and you don’t think it matters… oh well ok then, obviously it doesn’t work and I must have imagined all those years of seeing it work on an ever-changing and enormous forum in far more challenging circumstances. and obviously it doesn’t matter, apart from to every member who’s spoken up on the matter in the threads you shift out of sight and the conversations you try to usher into PM.
Sadly not really good to go. Obviously this kind of thing doesn’t work if the moderation team are not 100% behind it and supportive/enthusiastic about the idea of the community helping to make the rules. There is no way I’d put myself up for being the middle man to refine debate to specific suggestions when I get the feeling the moderators would have the same closed attitude to change as they have shown through this discussion. I’d be putting myself in a terrible position there. No way I’d sign up for it now that I’ve seen in more detail just how stubborn the mod team can be.
This community is not made of the 2500 people who view a topic, this community is made of the tondas and the whiteoutmashups, the happybeings and the janitors, polpolrenes, riddims and the safety1sts.
I’m afraid you guys have made it quite clear - after being ushered into PM - that this will go nowhere because you simply disagree that sharing power is a good thing… you think you should have it all and you know what’s best. shock horror, you’re like everyone else on the planet. those with power always think that they know best and what they’re doing is in everyone’s best interests, it never is. we all think we’re right and we’re all victims of our limited knowledge and experience. shame though, this place ought to be better than that imo, you could be, but you lack the will to share, you want things the way you think they should be. Many of us disagree with you, even more would if you didn’t control the conversation so aggressively, some of us also have much more experience than you and it’s not wise to dismiss things simply because you don’t see or understand the benefits immediately.
happybeing, you are a good guy, but a good heart and big brain isn’t enough to solve this, it requires the willingness to compromise. this idea won’t work simply because none of you want it to work, you guys want a quiet, controlled and easy to manage forum. Sadly, that’s what you’re going to end up with imo :(. it might suit you much better and be easier to run, but it won’t suit as many of us and it will be much smaller than it could have been.
There’s a good reason police don’t get to write the laws… who would want to live in a place where they did? This can be an efficient business or it can be a place where equals come together and feel like a family. If you lean more towards one, you harm the other. I think your balance needs shifting.
As whiteoutmashups wisely says very early in this debate… ‘see you on the other side in a decentralised forum’