An Elfly Reminder

[susiequsie23]

[Shorty Elf earlier]:
> | If just two elves handled all listreading/elfy correspondence, it
> | might be easier to recall, "Oh, I just wrote to that member; I'll
> | hold off and see if s/he gets the hang of it in a day or two."  As it
> | is, though, Elf A might send a quick note one day, and then Elf B
> | might step in the next day and not realize or recall that Elf A just
> | wrote to a person, thus perhaps sending another message on the same
> | topic.  I can definitely see where that could be annoying and/or
> | discouraging to a list member.
> |
> | This is something perhaps the Admin Team should have a discussion
> | about handling better.  I'll just be honest -- it's rough to do this
> | perfectly with a handful of people handling chores on an "as I've got
> | a free moment" basis.

 [Lee replied]:
> Even list mods don't get paid. <Sigh>  But, having moved the Battlestar 
> list
> to a two-mod system and, even before that, I had certain "deputies" 
> working
> with me, our system was that if we addressed a problem with someone which
> was always done off list (except if one of us made a "Reply-To-All" 
> booboo),
> the note would be BCCed to the other mod/deputies.  So, if my deputy mod 
> had
> a problem with a lister and decided to address it with the lister, a BCC
> would be sent to me and my co-mod so we would be aware that the problem 
> had
> been addressed and leave it like that.  List approvals are also sent with
> BCC so all of us know who has been approved in order not to have to try
> approving twice.
<snip>
> I don't know if such a thing is practical with a community as large as 
> this
> and all of the sister lists, but it's something that might be considered.
> The BCC can be a huge help!

Shorty Elf once more:
Thanks, Lee, for writing in with this suggestion.  We actually do the very 
same thing at HPfGU.  The BCC is, indeed, a huge help and a very big friend! 
The problem is, first, as you suspected, the size of the HPfGU community & 
its resultant activity level, and also (imo, anyway) what I would call "the 
time factor."

It is not unusual to log in to HPfGU and find, say 6, 8  or 10 pending 
messages in the queue [where newbies' messages go for a time, while they get 
the hang of things 'round here].  We have members from around the world 
(yay!) but, alas, we have very few elves who reside outside North America, 
and so there are periods of time when those messages can really backlog.  I 
think what typically happens then is that one of us elves pops in and 
handles what we can in a brief period of time (as in, on a break from work 
or between work & making supper).  While there is time to do a little 
pendings work or handle a little moderator duty or two, I think most of us 
find it difficult to find the time to do much *research* (i.e., searching 
through those messages BCCed to an archive) at the same time, to see whether 
others have been in touch with a particular poster recently.

In an ideal world, we would have a hired staff of people who could "do it 
all right."  In an ALMOST-ideal world, we would have list volunteers who 
care about the place but who have significant chunks of time which could be 
scheduled for coverage each day.  Unfortunately, it just isn't even that 
almost-ideal world.

What we have are those list volunteers who care about the place but who have 
much-less-than-significant chunks of time most days and so who handle things 
in fits & starts.  I tend to rely upon my own memory (which is actually 
fairly good most of the time for a mid-40s mom of two, heh) to recall that 
there's been recent communication with a member, and *when I've had time,* I 
have done those searches of archived BCCs, which is *very* helpful.  But in 
a pinch, when there is work to do and precious little time to get it done, 
occasionally the memory fails and/or the urge to get it done right this 
minute prevails over slow-steady-and-thorough.  Again, not ideal, but just 
sayin'.  It's the way it tends to be, for this elf at least.

So, as I mentioned originally, perhaps there are still things we could do, 
and the Admin Team absolutely can have a discussion about what those things 
might be.  Realistically, though, it's always going to be an imperfect 
system.

Again, thanks for weighing in.

SSSusan/Shorty Elf