Doxxing Files |OT| Do not use a pandemic to make a platform wars thread

[HaughtyFrank]

From the blog of the failed hack that Era quoted:

Multiple people have pointed out that it wasn’t only BIPOC folks who had their names mispronounced, plenty of white folks did, too. As someone whose name is often mispronounced, I can’t believe I didn’t mention that.

Meanwhile in the blog post:

What I haven’t forgotten is this: George R.R. Martin repeatedly mispronounced the names of nominees and, in one case, a publication which was nominated. All the nominees were asked to provide pronunciations for their names in advance. The fact that Martin chose not to use that information is disgusting and racist as fuck, as nearly without exception the names he mispronounced were Black and brown. He mispronounced FIYAH, a publication owned, edited, and written by Black people.

What an outrage driving asshole

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Why even is GRRM hosting this? What is his claim to fame? Some half finished books and an unfinished story for nearly 3 decades?

are they serious with this shit?

[OnlyRegret]

weird, whiteys can't pronounce names with different enunciation rules to what they are used to, how unbelievable

[EightBitNate]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/anti-china-sentiment-in-us-at-‘historic-high’-pew-research-survey-finds-amid-friction-over-trade-coronavirus-and-human-rights.259404/#post-41263851

User Banned (3 Months): Xenophobia; Prior Severe Ban

Well no shit. China is literally organ harvesting and enslaving Muslims. The country has a batshit nutter in charge who kills people for making Winnie the Pooh jokes, as well as using propaganda and secret police to destroy what freedom of expression remains in the nation. They also lied through their teeth on the COVID crisis and actively endangered lives through misinformation.
And that's before you get into the smorgasbord of human rights atrocities committed prior to the last decade. Put simply, if the west wasn't so dependent on the country's near slave labour, no country would be dealing with them.

That said, this is the fault of the government not it's people for the most part; Chinese immigrants do not deserve the awful attacks they seem to be getting right now.

Resetera mods be like:

[OnlyRegret]

I found it weird that lebron had a cameo in the little red book but it all makes sense now!

[thisismyusername]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/anti-china-sentiment-in-us-at-‘historic-high’-pew-research-survey-finds-amid-friction-over-trade-coronavirus-and-human-rights.259404/#post-41263851

User Banned (3 Months): Xenophobia; Prior Severe Ban

Well no shit. China is literally organ harvesting and enslaving Muslims. The country has a batshit nutter in charge who kills people for making Winnie the Pooh jokes, as well as using propaganda and secret police to destroy what freedom of expression remains in the nation. They also lied through their teeth on the COVID crisis and actively endangered lives through misinformation.
And that's before you get into the smorgasbord of human rights atrocities committed prior to the last decade. Put simply, if the west wasn't so dependent on the country's near slave labour, no country would be dealing with them.

That said, this is the fault of the government not it's people for the most part; Chinese immigrants do not deserve the awful attacks they seem to be getting right now.

Resetera mods be like:

(Image removed from quote.)

Chapo's replacement reddit clone has a few "people that think China sucks due to privacy concerns/etc. are CHUDS" ChiTankies in it which is pretty hilarious.

Like, China as an entire country doesn't suck: Sure.
China in respect to it's government handling and wrongthink handling and privacy?: Sucks.

[Joe Molotov]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/anti-china-sentiment-in-us-at-‘historic-high’-pew-research-survey-finds-amid-friction-over-trade-coronavirus-and-human-rights.259404/#post-41263851

User Banned (3 Months): Xenophobia; Prior Severe Ban

Well no shit. China is literally organ harvesting and enslaving Muslims. The country has a batshit nutter in charge who kills people for making Winnie the Pooh jokes, as well as using propaganda and secret police to destroy what freedom of expression remains in the nation. They also lied through their teeth on the COVID crisis and actively endangered lives through misinformation.
And that's before you get into the smorgasbord of human rights atrocities committed prior to the last decade. Put simply, if the west wasn't so dependent on the country's near slave labour, no country would be dealing with them.

That said, this is the fault of the government not it's people for the most part; Chinese immigrants do not deserve the awful attacks they seem to be getting right now.

Resetera mods be like:

(Image removed from quote.)

Chapo's replacement reddit clone has a few "people that think China sucks due to privacy concerns/etc. are CHUDS" ChiTankies in it which is pretty hilarious.

Like, China as an entire country doesn't suck: Sure.
China in respect to it's government handling and wrongthink handling and privacy?: Sucks.

Chicoms 

Chicaps

[HaughtyFrank]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/anti-china-sentiment-in-us-at-‘historic-high’-pew-research-survey-finds-amid-friction-over-trade-coronavirus-and-human-rights.259404/#post-41263851

User Banned (3 Months): Xenophobia; Prior Severe Ban

Well no shit. China is literally organ harvesting and enslaving Muslims. The country has a batshit nutter in charge who kills people for making Winnie the Pooh jokes, as well as using propaganda and secret police to destroy what freedom of expression remains in the nation. They also lied through their teeth on the COVID crisis and actively endangered lives through misinformation.
And that's before you get into the smorgasbord of human rights atrocities committed prior to the last decade. Put simply, if the west wasn't so dependent on the country's near slave labour, no country would be dealing with them.

That said, this is the fault of the government not it's people for the most part; Chinese immigrants do not deserve the awful attacks they seem to be getting right now.

Resetera mods be like:

(Image removed from quote.)

They write posts like this about the US like every day

[Don Rumata]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/anti-china-sentiment-in-us-at-‘historic-high’-pew-research-survey-finds-amid-friction-over-trade-coronavirus-and-human-rights.259404/#post-41263851

User Banned (3 Months): Xenophobia; Prior Severe Ban

Well no shit. China is literally organ harvesting and enslaving Muslims. The country has a batshit nutter in charge who kills people for making Winnie the Pooh jokes, as well as using propaganda and secret police to destroy what freedom of expression remains in the nation. They also lied through their teeth on the COVID crisis and actively endangered lives through misinformation.
And that's before you get into the smorgasbord of human rights atrocities committed prior to the last decade. Put simply, if the west wasn't so dependent on the country's near slave labour, no country would be dealing with them.

That said, this is the fault of the government not it's people for the most part; Chinese immigrants do not deserve the awful attacks they seem to be getting right now.

Resetera mods be like:

(Image removed from quote.)

They write posts like this about the US like every day

Can't be xenophobic against America, when everywhere is America.

[VomKriege]

OK, enough clogging up this thread. This thread is here to report bugs, not whine about this. You're clogging it up and making it harder for the tech team to use it as it was intended. It's not here for you all to air every grievance you've ever had.

As I said, we've collecting feedback and working on stuff. So knock it off, this is a minor change that we are working on adjusting.

B-Dubs having a normal one.

[Nintex]

Xi ordered them to tag the threads so it is easier to mine their data

[samir]

[VomKriege]

Not even bothering to just have a (locked) thread to announce tags is really confounding.
I wonder how much the familiarity with Discord (or chat in GAF case) serving as a para-channel has to do with the mods being so oblivious to the most basic steps of official communication. At the same time any community will naturally develop this private country club / inner circle effect and yet don't fail at it so spectacularly.

[ShutUp]

B-Dubs telling them to "stop being whiny" when they have no other threads to talk about the bugs and features people do and do not like that are just thrust upon the community with little to no warning is some good stuff.

"You will like what we give you, deal with it."

And looking back to posts from Friday and yesterday, no one is being hostile or whiny. Numerous people rightfully criticizing their complete lack of communication on the addition of these tags without informing the commumity, a few taking some jabs at the "this thread has run its course" thread closure messages since mods were closing any threads in OT asking about the tags, no one being outright hostile though.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/any-of-you-have-problems-with-hamilton.259689/

"I just watched some rando video on youtube, and should we #cancel HAMILTON?"
 

[BisMarckie]

I don’t even know what Hamilton is. But from what I‘ve heard of it and judging by the thumbnail on my Fire TV: It sounds pretty gay.

[Pissy F Benny]

my masculinity is far too toxic to watch a candy ass musical

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

[cosmicblizzard]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/resetera-tech-thread-5-24-19-site-update-report-bugs-here.118789/page-22#post-41414862

That is absolutely what they are doing. They have a siege mentality and genuinely view themselves as the most oppressed and put-upon group on the forum.

We have tried various forms of communication and solution-finding with the staff over the years and it is clear nothing is working. The only fix to ResetERA's issues is a complete top-down cleansing of the entire admin and mod staff, followed by the transparent election of new staff members from within the userbase as chosen by the userbase. The rot is systemic; everyone needs to go.

Mod elections!  Can't be anonymous polls for one though as I imagine posters like BDS wouldn't like the results.

[VomKriege]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/resetera-tech-thread-5-24-19-site-update-report-bugs-here.118789/page-22#post-41414862

That is absolutely what they are doing. They have a siege mentality and genuinely view themselves as the most oppressed and put-upon group on the forum.

We have tried various forms of communication and solution-finding with the staff over the years and it is clear nothing is working. The only fix to ResetERA's issues is a complete top-down cleansing of the entire admin and mod staff, followed by the transparent election of new staff members from within the userbase as chosen by the userbase. The rot is systemic; everyone needs to go.

Mod elections!  Can't be anonymous polls for one though as I imagine posters like BDS wouldn't like the results.

Reads like a total troll.

[OnlyRegret]

spread democracy to reee 

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Thats a real kick in the dick to the mod thats been ban protecting BDS obnoxious ass the last few years

[ShutUp]

That tech thread will totally be closed if they keep criticizing the mods like that. Can't have the citizens getting all "independent thought" after all.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

What BDS thinks an era voted moderation staff will look like:

 - BDS
 - RedMercCarthy
 - KetKaren
 - AltaccountMcTrollface

What it would actually look like
 - Some huge nintendo fanboy... Plum?
 - some huge sony fanboy... Nib95?
 - some xbot, lol no1curr
 - Fat4all

[HaughtyFrank]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/resetera-tech-thread-5-24-19-site-update-report-bugs-here.118789/page-22#post-41414862

That is absolutely what they are doing. They have a siege mentality and genuinely view themselves as the most oppressed and put-upon group on the forum.

We have tried various forms of communication and solution-finding with the staff over the years and it is clear nothing is working. The only fix to ResetERA's issues is a complete top-down cleansing of the entire admin and mod staff, followed by the transparent election of new staff members from within the userbase as chosen by the userbase. The rot is systemic; everyone needs to go.

Mod elections!  Can't be anonymous polls for one though as I imagine posters like BDS wouldn't like the results.

MOD ELECTIONS!!!

Hold up, why are all the mods now white and male? This is an outrage!

[cosmicblizzard]

What BDS thinks an era voted moderation staff will look like:

 - BDS
 - RedMercCarthy
 - KetKaren
 - AltaccountMcTrollface

What it would actually look like
 - Some huge nintendo fanboy... Plum?
 - some huge sony fanboy... Nib95?
 - some xbot, lol no1curr
 - Fat4all

I imagine there'd be at least one pick that totally goes against the culture of the site just as a means to spite what the site has become.  Someone like Chairman Yang.

[HaughtyFrank]

One of us, one of us

https://twitter.com/imranzomg/status/1289998284199616512

[Crumb]

Tweet deleted.

Also these mods 

[Averon]

What is it about being a forum jannie that makes you feel like you're some aggrieved victim trying to do the best you can? I know this attitude has been around since forums have, but it is amazing how universal that attitude is. Plenty of times I've seen regular forum users who were once cool turn into a whiny bitch with a victim complex after they become a mod.

[Tuckers Law]

Thats a real kick in the dick to the mod thats been ban protecting BDS obnoxious ass the last few years

Looks like it's just been revoked.

[Averon]

If there's one things mods hate more than anything is to be "disrespected" or contradicted so openly. Not even your protected status can save you from that if a mods catches your back talk and they are in a bad mood. In that sense, ERA mods are more like cops than they'd think.

I remember some users making the connect to the mods' attitudes and cops. Suffice to say those users were quickly banned 

[Shuri]

No wonder the staff turnover is super high. Only a few people are actually getting money, and they barely interact with the forum. Why would you stick around? Do you really want to be the public face while the decision makers are making money but can't be bothered to participate?

I feel mad for all those staff members doing all this bullshit for free. Why are you putting up with all this drama?

[ShutUp]

Spreading conspiracy theories about moderation  not exactly theories when they are proven right by bans for calling out bad moderation

[VomKriege]

All that because of thread tags.

What is it about being a forum jannie that makes you feel like you're some aggrieved victim trying to do the best you can? I know this attitude has been around since forums have, but it is amazing how universal that attitude is. Plenty of times I've seen regular forum users who were once cool turn into a whiny bitch with a victim complex after they become a mod.

I think the nature of Internet means it often gets a lot more bitter, sour and antagonistic faster. Not just because of the faceless, anonymous, disembodied facets of it, but also because the frequency and duration of interaction is a lot higher.

Imagine you hung out at the gym, anime club, whatever-con, home owner association or anything equivalent 24/7.

[Averon]

No wonder the staff turnover is super high. Only a few people are actually getting money, and they barely interact with the forum. Why would you stick around? Do you really want to be the public face while the decision makers are making money but can't be bothered to participate?

I feel mad for all those staff members doing all this bullshit for free. Why are you putting up with all this drama?

Cerium got people like B-Dubs, Nep, and Slayvern out there working for free while he sits back collecting all the ad revenue. I mean, has Cerium ever popped back up since he handed the day-to-day duties to B-Dubs? The only difference between how Cerium and Evilore (before GAF imploded) run things is that Cerium hasn't shown having thin-skin.

[OnlyRegret]

spending dozens of hours a week babysitting a website that apparently is ruining your mental wellbeing FOR FREE
 

[samir]

Pretty sure Neppers love being an admin on a forum where she can be openly racist without consequences

[Clockwork5]

No wonder the staff turnover is super high. Only a few people are actually getting money, and they barely interact with the forum. Why would you stick around? Do you really want to be the public face while the decision makers are making money but can't be bothered to participate?

I feel mad for all those staff members doing all this bullshit for free. Why are you putting up with all this drama?

I hear the moderation induced hallucinations are pretty dope.

[Clockwork5]

Very nice bans there. Maybe if the "General Manager" didn't act so petulantly for things the community has been asking for for ages and still hasn't been able to get concrete updates on - things as simple as an actual public place for meta-feedback -, people wouldn't be so frustrated. But I guess you can also just ban a few people who were a bit too mean instead, that works too. Until it doesn't.

Also, if you're so worried about people spreading "conspiracy theories" about the team's motivations and stuff, well maybe there's something to be said for clear, regular communication and action, instead of letting suggestions and concerns linger indefinitely in limbo.

So, because this post might get me banned - can't be too overtly frustrated after all, because that's a sin per the TOS -, I'll reiterate: read Disclaimer's original plea, and also, communicate fast and well, and with no bullshit jargon. No "we'll discuss this and get back to you whenever." No "woe is us". That won't fix anything. And if you, B-Dubs, or anyone else in the team thinks they're not up for it, or it's just become too much - I can certainly understand that, which is why I never applied to be a mod in the first place -, they always have the option to step down, and you can find people to replace them. It's not like anyone on the team has a contract or makes money from this apart from a scant few - I assume, since you won't really communicate on that either.

Take some responsibility for people's continued frustrations instead of handing out bans.

Indeed, why are bans happening before a single staff post? Why are staff members clearly not being allowed to communicate here? Do you think that's healthy policy, for anyone? Talk to us. The community is Era's foundation. We migrated here together.

If there were actual dialogue happening here -- dialogue, not one staff member posting a shut down or mega-response -- then frustrations would quickly abate, and you'd rekindle people's willingness to engage with you in good faith, by actually demonstrating good faith yourselves. Frump's post, while not something I would have posted, is not far from the truth, either. How is "hiding" not what this silence is? I ask you that. That protracted silence is only worsening the situation, as it has in every other fiasco, and giving rise to the frustated behavior for which people are being banned.

What is the course of action here after the continued radio silence? Is there going to be a long PR response about how the community is the only problem, followed by a thread lock? I hope not, because I sincerely would like to communicate and brainstorm ideas for site improvement for all. Era's longstanding problems are truly not all that hard to fix, and taking simple steps toward that will make everyone -- staff and members -- so much happier. This perceived embattlement, this us vs. them mentality, it needs to stop. But all of the power dynamics of the situation put the onus on you.

Gods, y'all. It is not this hard to communicate. This -- exactly this -- is the policy that's engendering this cycle of bitterness. Talk. Admins, talk. Moderators, talk -- regardless of whether you're allowed. Here. Not behind closed doors. Are you members of this community only when posting trivialities, or what? This diverse and wonderful community is comprised of so many individuals who want to improve things, and yet the only ball in our court as members is whether to stay or leave. Let's change that instead of perpetuating this relentlessly toxic environment where members are afraid to even broach the subject without inappropriate punitive action.

Bans are easy, and that power is all too tempting. Talk is hard. But the latter is the only way toward progress and de-escalating the discourse. Era was ostensibly founded on transparency and community engagement. How about we work towards realizing that vision, for all our health and happiness?

These little fucking crybabies need to get a life. I’d ban them too.
 

[VomKriege]

No wonder the staff turnover is super high. Only a few people are actually getting money, and they barely interact with the forum. Why would you stick around? Do you really want to be the public face while the decision makers are making money but can't be bothered to participate?

I feel mad for all those staff members doing all this bullshit for free. Why are you putting up with all this drama?

Cerium got people like B-Dubs, Nep, and Slayvern out there working for free while he sits back collecting all the ad revenue. I mean, has Cerium ever popped back up since he handed the day-to-day duties to B-Dubs? The only difference between how Cerium and Evilore (before GAF imploded) run things is that Cerium hasn't shown having thin-skin.

At the same time, it's pretty much the norm across most of the internet even when the owner of the board / chat / etc is generating revenue from it or the site.

Before even going into that, I think ERA could probably implement policies and board mechanics to dramatically improve moderation.
As it stands, it feels like they regressed on the basic stuff. Can't even make an announcement for new forum functionalities as innocuous as tags or bear having the slightest amount of feedback about it.

The word salad they use for bans feels like they confusingly understood they needed more impartial and impersonal moderation than GAF but they only adopted the most shallow, performative way to do it without understanding it. I was gonna say "without putting the work in" but simpler, lighter, clearer and fairer moderation would actually be a lot less work than what they are doing now.

Having so many moderators always struck me as weird compared to all I saw and experienced elsewhere. Ex-mod speaking of straight up hallucinations is a couple of notch higher than the usual drama and whining of forum rent-a-cops. Getting such a drastic turnover is definitely not normal.

[Pissy F Benny]

I feel like a lot of reset eras problems would clear up if everyone just lightened the fuck up and stopped taking it all so seriously

[VomKriege]

I feel like a lot of reset eras problems would clear up if everyone just lightened the fuck up and stopped taking it all so seriously

SUMMIT OF FUN NOW

[Pissy F Benny]

I think the reset era summit of forced fun is perfectly enraptured in this emote:

[VomKriege]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/resetera-how-would-you-deal-with-this-kid.260538/

That's a painful video to watch.

[Pissy F Benny]

I’d sell him to Tom Hanks on wayfair

 

[Don Rumata]

Thats a real kick in the dick to the mod thats been ban protecting BDS obnoxious ass the last few years

(Image removed from quote.)

Looks like it's just been revoked.

(Image removed from quote.)

Staff voted in by the same userbase that votes in the polls about cyberpunk and Persona and all that good stuff that has to be closed down to avoid a riot? 
I think they'd like that outcome even less.

[VomKriege]

Caravan of migrants panic !

https://www.resetera.com/threads/americans-go-home-canadians-tracking-u-s-boaters-trying-to-sneak-across-the-border-by-turning-off-transponders.260502/

Feat. Banshee McAlt

https://www.resetera.com/threads/americans-go-home-canadians-tracking-u-s-boaters-trying-to-sneak-across-the-border-by-turning-off-transponders.260502/post-41430036

[Nintex]

A lot people think being a forum moderator is some kind of career path. While others think they somehow contribute to society or make a difference.
There is also a small group that simply likes it or wants to keep a forum readable for the benefit of the community they enjoy partaking in.

Remember that ResetEra members think they are the last line of defense against a wholesale Nazi Russia take-over by President Dr*mpf Sh*tbag and deplatforming Dunkey is a devastating blow against their arch nemesis GamerGate.

[BIONIC]

Caravan of migrants panic !

https://www.resetera.com/threads/americans-go-home-canadians-tracking-u-s-boaters-trying-to-sneak-across-the-border-by-turning-off-transponders.260502/

Feat. Banshee McAlt

https://www.resetera.com/threads/americans-go-home-canadians-tracking-u-s-boaters-trying-to-sneak-across-the-border-by-turning-off-transponders.260502/post-41430036

I'm also a minority and so you know how fucked up it is living here? I want out so bad. And there are so many people like that. I'm terrified of leaving my house because of ignorant people who want to hurt folks like me because gay panic. I just want to hide and not have to worry about this stuff. And I'm immunocompromised so even if I go out I run the risk of dying anyways.

Profile is listed as female. Crying about not meeting their Canadian boyfriend. Afraid to leave the house because of gay panic. 

Totally clears the President. Thank you!

[Nintex]

I like to know where this cool universe that Ree lives in exists with gay panics and ducks drinking milkshake everywhere.

[VomKriege]

Tastes like Lime.

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

Just catching up with the thread, there might be things that I've missed still, but I'll try my best to provide answers, and engage in the conversation. Please, be assured that I'm genuine and sincere here, and I hope my words will convey just as much. If not, I apologize, and will try to clarify myself if need be.

From my personal point of view, as someone who has moderated forums almost as big, if not as big as Era, this reaction to the addition of tags is genuinely surprising. I personally like them enough, I think they're an extremely useful feature, and I remember the times when I first posted on Era a year or two ago, feeling absolutely lost in what felt like a humongous maze-like amount of threads, not neatly organized enough for me to get to where I wanted when I wanted it. I have seen many forums with such feature before, whether implemented from the start, or later afterwards, and I always found this incredibly useful and practical. I have never seen users on those forums being so vividly against this feature, ever. This is a first to me, truthfully.

Now, I'm left wondering why is that the case here. I'm reminded of how changes is often met with negative reactions every time it happened on any social media networks I've been on in the past 15 years. At times, I was part of those negative voices, at others, I didn't care or was happy about the changes. But with each changes, the same negative reactions were still there. Do we fundamentally dislike change as human beings? Probably so, I suppose. But then, is this change a benign one that people will grow to get used to eventually, like we all grew to use and (maybe) like the many iterations of Twitter/Facebook/etc, or is it one akin to the major redesign that Snapchat did a few years ago that lowkey killed their platform because people hated it way too much? The thing is, this tag feature, in essence, is really nowhere near a major redesign, not even remotely so, it feels like a very minor change to me, so I'm still left feeling astounded at the intense reactions we initially received about this feature. I'm genuinely trying to understand it, and I hope you can believe it, but I'm still struggling here.

But maybe my perception is wrong? Surely my personal experiences are mine, and many users have different and valid experiences and opinions as well, and I don't want to negate that either. And I'm not saying that this feature, as is, is perfect. It can be improved, and I've seen people sharing photoshopped screenshots of what they think might make this feature better. I love those, I think they're nice and open up a lot of possibilities, granted that they are even possible to execute on the technical side. There's always ways to improve and perfect, and we're definitely open to that for sure, as proven by the many number of iterations a feature like Giftbot has been through since release. But this feature is here to stay still, we genuinely think it will help a lot of people and will make Era a much easier forum to navigate into. Hopefully we will reach that point in the future. We're already working on bettering it based on feedback we received. We're really trying, and I'm sorry if it seems it isn't enough.

I've seen suggestions about the fact we should have created a thread to announce the feature preemptively, in order to let people know about it and be prepared for it. I think that's a fair one, although maybe a bit difficult to execute technically. See, we don't have a fixed schedule, most of the staff being volunteers means that most of us work on Era when we can, oftentimes juggling between personal/family life, and professional life, and that doesn't even account for timezone differences. The absence of an announcement here was definitely not out malice nor because we wanted to "be sneaky about it", it's mostly because we didn't take the proper time to plan for it, partly because we didn't think we needed one for such a minor change we thought wouldn't be met with such negativity, and partly because we worked on this feature for quite some time and wanted it to go live as soon as possible, excitedly so. Some on staff (I wasn't part of Era back then) also have some reservations about the legitimacy of an announcement thread, vividly reminded of how that didn't help things in the slightest when Era got the 2.0 upgrade back in 2018. Such a thread didn't help to mitigate feelings at all, and apparently 2.0 rollout was still met with intense negativity back then as well anyway. With that being said, I'm in favor of making announcement threads still (accompanied with a site-wide notification), and we'll try to let our users know of upcoming features rollout a few days before they happen, as much as it is possible. It might help, it might not either, but it costs nothing to try for sure.

The other thing that was talked about most is about the creation of an official General Feedback Thread, which we have thought of, and even tried in the past. Again, I wasn't active (and much less part of staff) when it happened, but apparently one already existed before, and turned into such a shitshow that the Staff Team back then decided to scrap it entirely as a result, and to prioritize the Contact Us form over it. I do see why, and I understand it, it's a thorny situation. People have abused the existence of such thread in the past, in ways that became untenable for us to handle properly. That kind of thread is usually a very easy way for many bad faith actors to come and create trouble in a way that we felt wasn't healthy overall. Suggesting one seems like a proper idea as a user, and I had that exact same idea when I got contacted to become a mod back in August. But now, after a bit more experience under the belt, I'm left wondering how would such thread work in a way where users feel heard and listened to, where bad-faith actors are weeded out and don't spoil the conversation, and where staff feels safe enough to freely engage without being overtly antagonized. It's a tricky question, and I'm interested in whichever ideas you all might over this.

Because right now, and I'm aware this isn't something a lot of people want to hear, but our staff team is wearing thin. Most of us are exhausted, mentally, emotionally, simply because this job, in essence just is. We are often confronted to the worse this forum has to offer, on a daily basis, and it takes a toll on us all sooner or later. I remember someone in a post mentioning the fact that we have to take the higher ground and be willing to take any kind of criticism at all times, and that's generally the mindset I'm coming from indeed. However, that also generally leaves me drained, with poor mental-health, and needing regular breaks from moderating (or from even interacting with the forum as a whole) just to recenter myself and feel good enough again. This is, in big part, the reason of our staff turn-over. People get burned out doing this, and end up leaving because they couldn't handle it anymore. This is how we lost many of our minority mods as well (because the mental and emotional toll on us is very often THAT much bigger than for the rest of the team), who often are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to replace. I myself have already thought about quitting the staff team half a dozen times in less than a year already. The apparently common sentiment that mods are easily recruited, and that they easily agree to become staff, and dedicate their time and energy to this forum, is sadly far from our actual reality, and the reason why it makes any single departure that much harder to handle.
This isn't a "woe is me" bit, because I also definitely agreed to do this voluntarily, and because I also know that as an admin, I do have power over other users in this forum, and I do not wish to wield it unfairly and unnecessarily, I feel a huge responsibility over this, knowing the power balance can be shifted when people interact with me, solely because of the existence of the staff title. Quite frankly I often think I'm not worthy of it in the slightest, but I still feel like I ought to try, just because Era is an important place to me, one of the rare ones in which I feel safe enough to be myself. Rest assured, many people on the Staff Team feel similarly as well.

Sorry for this tangential bit here, I hope people won't think I'm trying to deflect, I'm genuinely trying to share my perspective, but feel free to ignore it if isn't helping to see the bigger picture. I kinda lost the thread of this answer, and I probably missed a lot of things I wanted to talk about in the first place but I feel I wrote so much already. But I do hope that this opens up a dialogue, hopefully a productive one. I have taken notes about what needs to be done in order to avoid this situation from happening in the future. I can't promise that you all will like all of what we have in store, but I'll try to make sure we communicate better about those future features, hopefully it will better prepare our community for them, and make our users feel heard and accounted for.

So far, I think those steps can be implemented easily in the future:
- An announcement thread about a new feature being added, a few days before it's been added, with a site-wide notification. Maybe screenshots to showcase the feature if we have proper ones at the ready.
- An official feedback thread about the new feature as soon as it's added, with a site-wide notification, in order to let people have a space to voice their opinions on it as well as ways to maybe help make it better. We won't necessarily always change or tweak a feature, but if the feedback is solid enough, we definitely might.

We are a community of tens of thousands of users. As such, it's always going to be difficult to satisfy each and every one of us, truthfully, and I hope that it is something people are also aware of and keep in mind. With such a huge number of members, there's no other way to go than trying to compromise and make concessions. However, we should still try to open a line of discussion, and hopefully reach a point where most of us are in a good-enough place with it all.
I definitely want to try that.

[VomKriege]

I've seen suggestions about the fact we should have created a thread to announce the feature preemptively, in order to let people know about it and be prepared for it. I think that's a fair one, although maybe a bit difficult to execute technically.

Because right now, and I'm aware this isn't something a lot of people want to hear, but our staff team is wearing thin. Most of us are exhausted, mentally, emotionally, simply because this job, in essence just is. We are often confronted to the worse this forum has to offer, on a daily basis, and it takes a toll on us all sooner or later.

 

[BisMarckie]

By the worst the forum has to offer they are referring to the gaming side with all these capital G Gamers

[VomKriege]

And I'm sorry for the staff, I really am. I've made it known in past posts that I genuinely believe moderating the internet is a hellscape of which man can barely comprehend, let alone this forum where we try to uphold a standard that might be considered as impossible by some.

Heart of Darkness was based on Internet forum moderation.

[VomKriege]

The term "Bad faith" is honestly so wildly misused in online discourse these days, that I can't even tell what exactly it is that you're scared of happening in a feedback thread.

 

Since when has the existence of a possibility of bad people showing up been an justifiable excuse for shutting down all discussion?

[Tuckers Law]

The term "Bad faith" is honestly so wildly misused in online discourse these days, that I can't even tell what exactly it is that you're scared of happening in a feedback thread.

 

Since when has the existence of a possibility of bad people showing up been an justifiable excuse for shutting down all discussion?

KetKat has to be a troll, I cannot believe that’s a serious post.

[Snoopycat_]

Uh oh Ketkat has appeared. Hobbes, get your arse in gear boyo.







Top page cat

[Nintex]

Because right now, and I'm aware this isn't something a lot of people want to hear, but our staff team is wearing thin. Most of us are exhausted, mentally, emotionally, simply because this job, in essence just is. We are often confronted to the worse this forum has to offer, on a daily basis, and it takes a toll on us all sooner or later.

I you're reading this era, I'll admin your board for free so you can all take a vacation
 

[GreatSageEqualOfHeaven]

mods reading that post by ketkat: