Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Mooo

So back being a cow again, I don't know, when I'm stuck for what avatar to wear I end up picking any of the "I am" poses, specifically either the cow or the mochi from Hermes Moon. Most of the time when I'm an animal it's usually because of my participation in The Animal Pledge.



The Animal Pledge is a group I started back yonder where basically you stick to the concept of wearing one of Gaia's "I am" poses and only that pose, then not spending your gold on anything to save it. The idea is that if you commit to not changing your avatar, you'll lose the desire to blow your gold. That's the idea anyway, and it has actually worked for a few people.

Anyway, I love the "I am" poses, they're just so much fun to work with.

Let's see what else has been going on. Site Feedback has had drama a-plenty, but that's normal, feedback always creates drama. It's like the Letter's to the Editor page inside a newspaper. Coincidentally you get in LttE and in the SF forum letters coming from representatives of "the people" (although on Gaia it's "the users). Funily enough in life and Gaia I've never actually met the collective "people" or "users", rather individuals who'd probably give you a clip around the ear for some of what you're claiming to represent them for.

I don't know, I tend not to let people represent me if I've not elected them. But that's just me, I'm odd like that.

There are interesting threads in Site Feedback which I enjoy posting in. I know that does annoy people, but being a moderator doesn't stop me from being a user as well. Gaia does a lot to annoy me, sadly though it is part of being a moderator to censor yourselves in the forums.

Of course, part of life is being disliked, but I don't let it bother me. It's not possible to be 100% liked (although it is possible to get all the votes, eh). But meh, there are people I don't like so obviously there are people who don't like me.

Talking about my inbox for a second, I went and switched my offline-light back on. It had been off for a couple of weeks as I did need a break from the constant PMs. I know it's part of the job description (although operating a Q&A out of my inbox certainly is not, no matter what others may think. Funnily enough running a Q&A in my inbox means I have less time to moderate. Whodathunkit?) but it's good to switch off a bit to slow the tide coming in. Trying to get through the PMs though, there are a lot of unanswered ones as I got to do reports or play a game, and they pile up. I love you Gaia, I do, but I'm not here 24/7, nor am I an answering service. Do not bypass the Q&A because you see me online please, it's just annoying and probably means I did less reports that night because I'm answering PMs.

Speaking of moderating, a couple of weeks ago I did get bumped up to Global Moderator. That does mean my primary focus is now the Abuse and Harassment queue, however I've not left forum moderating. Still regularly work in the SF and my other forums (although seriously, someone please pick up the MTV forums crying . I grabbed them because they were lonely and unloved...). Globaling is certainly different. Just a small fact, someone PMing you or commenting on your account isn't harassment, even if it's a silly message. This is where your ignore list comes in, ignore the user. Then if they use a mule account to get to you, that's harassment.

Someone in the SF forum did mention my SF/Q&A/BR&TS signature, so I've brought it back. Thinking of getting a random signature and rotating a bunch of moderating/report/Gaia stuff, since well any chance to teach should be taken.

Speaking of the SF/Q&A/BR&TS, the community spotlight from a few weeks ago was frankly awesome. I don't know if you remember the issues when the Site Feedback's forum description was changed to include "... report bugs" or later on (after this had been changed back) one of the announcements told people to report bugs in the SF forum. They were disliked by many users (mainly those who actually know the Site Feedback forum) as they were inaccurate, as my signature image points out we have a forum called Bug Reports for - you guessed it, bug reports.

They did create a bit of an uproar in the community (I certainly noticed it at least) and rightly so. The moderators of those forums were pushing for it to be fixed, since we then got lots of lovely threads coming into our forums that violated the R&G yet were directed by the announcement. Unfortunate situation.

That's why the spotlight was so welcomed, since it did acknowledge the difference between all three forums.

More recently Site Feedback was flooded again with panicked threads over an unfortunate announcement, but I'm glad we can say it was cleaned up fast. Contrary to what some users were saying we didn't clean the SF and other forums quickly because it was something looking bad for Gaia, rather it was tidied quicky because at least four forums had exploded with panicky threads. That's not good for anyone. It's just like when a forum gets raided we attempt to get rid of the threads as soon as possible, however unlike a forum raid the people posting here didn't need warning as they weren't trying to break rules, they were just worried. So we could work a little faster. But you're going to take that as you will, but just remember that I know my own motives for doing something a little better than anyone else.

Recently the Site Feedback rules got updated, and they look pretty. I'm a person who loves nice clean stickies (post-styles and colours go in and out of fashion, and they look weird stickied). Hopefully they're easier to understand and they're an attempt to focus a little more on how to use Site Feedback rather than just a list of "Do not do this" as some of the other forum's R&G come off. If anything is confusing in them, please do make a thread and ask for a clarification to be made.

Of course the SF forum just wants the DI sticky updated/replaced, and rightly so. Poor thing is horribly out of date, although the actual links inside should be working again since when Gaia changed the thread URL structure they broke (being that old).


Random, if you're interested in Site Feedback at all, whether you're just reading or actually posting then you should check out The Site Feedback Survival Guide. This informal guide was written by someone who knows the SF forum well and it's a good read. Talks a little about etiquette as well as the best ways to get your idea across.

Wow, I've seriously rambled on here for a bit. Good luck if you actually read any of that. Just a final note - a warning isn't a punishment on Gaia. It's just that, a warning. When you're pulled over by a cop and they let you off with a warning, it's not a punishment is it? Same on Gaia, a warning is just a warning. A punishment would be being banned, so take heed of the warning.


As always I say that you've any questions about anything moderator related, feel free to PM me. I don't promise I'll answer every question, but that's just because I'm a clutz and usually do end up accidentally skipping PMs or mass-deleting a page (as I have done before).

^_^

~ Leo


P.S. I'm looking for a new name for my gaiacards site, so if you've got suggestions please PM me smile