Main List Problems and Solutions

[Melody]

Eowynn wrote:
>So feel free to correct me anytime, I promise i won't yell ( To
>loud,...jk)

See and that is the problem Eowynn.  Do you really want twenty posters
emailing you because you did not clip properly?  Because they read the
questions two weeks ago, and find that you are asking now too
repetitive?  How forceful is too forceful?  Is a sentence enough, or
if some odd poster gave you a small dissertation as to the virtues of
clipping and reading *every* single post that was before you joined
before posting?  What does not offend one person, greatly offends
another.  I should know.  Because sometimes when I think I am being
gentle, people have told me I come off as sounding blunt and
defensive.   Funny thing is, by my estimation, I could have been worse.

And that is the problem I see with regular posters policing the site.
 They do not know if someone else is also emailing.  At least MEG can
somewhat track their actions.  Non-MEG's are not empowered to do
enforce their "reminder" emails.  They are just being annoying flies
to posters that obviously do not care to read the rules, follow them,
or think they are that important.  If they did, they would be striving
for excellence.

Then what if that poster you sent an email to saw one of your posts
was not up to what he saw was the standard?  Oh, then a fight will
break out.  So we need *official* moderators to be the police.  There
is no citizen's arrest here.  

But there are too few moderators now.  From Cindy's numbers, the crop
has been cut almost in half.  Saitaina says that those that are left
are working diligently, but it is not enough it seems.  For no one
expected...*this*.

But *this* is what we have now.  And we have, from the looks of the
thread and the seriousness of it, honest posters that want to help and
find a solution.  From my tally we have:


1) go and post.

Fair enough.  But frankly I think we all have posted since June 21st
and we watched our posts get sucked into the vortex which is the list.
 Even now, I just checked, and we average, still, 30 posts every two
hours.  When I joined a year ago, it was 30 posts every 12 hours.  If
I took the time to write a tbay, which takes on average 4-5 hours, it
would not even be up on the front page of the web browser long enough
for anyone to see it.  All that time, and it would be lost in the
shuffle.  *That* is a big reason why I am not posting.  The site is
not manageable.


2) another list that is a graduation list.

While in theory it will solve *our* problem, it does not encourage
newbie excellence.  I read the newbie that posted here, and I
understand her concerns.   I had them too a year ago.  I got so tired
of being called a newbie as if my thoughts were not good enough for
them.  All I knew was that if anything I said was good, they would
eventually see it and get past my newbie badge.  I am not even sure
when I graduated from oldie to newbie (probably in my tenth tbay), but
I seem to have now.  

Newbies, please do not be discouraged that oldies grumble.  We are
just that.  Old.  We get cranky and set in our old ways, but do know
that we do appreciate the newbie that takes the time to learn the
rules and stick around.  We do like people that love HP.  That is why
we are all here.  It took me a couple of weeks to realize that, but
oldies *do* like newbies.  Keep the conversations fresh and the ideas
flowing strong.  :)

Ok?  ::kiss kiss::  

Ok went off on tangent.(something I am well known to do ::big grin::)

Splitting the list will make the oldies *feel* better.  Which I for
one think we have a big enough chip on our shoulder as it is for
surviving this long.  We do not need a list to make it bigger.  And I
still question the policy to pass listees from one list to the other.
 How exactly is that selected?  Isn't the policy of moderated status,
in essence, the same thing.  They cannot post unless they abide by the
rules.   


3) More moderators.

I think this would help.  Training factor and trust factor needs to be
explored, but I for one can think of at least ten people, probably
more, that I would nominate.  People want to help.  That is a good way
to do so.  Seems, from the MEG that have posted here, that this is
honestly being explored.


4) The site is filling fast.

I say this because it is a good point.  The site is at 52% right now.
 Back in June it was 42%.  Now I know the site will slow some, after
looking at the month numbers on the main lists the numbers during the
months *are* larger, the site is growing at alarming speeds.  At this
pace, or even a little bit lesser one, the site will fill up fast. 
Not that this is a pressing issue, it is one I think that should be
considered when thinking of solutions.  We do not have a cap on the
membership.  We *do* have a cap on the amount of space our posts are
allowed to take in the group. 


Ok, I will stop for now.  This is getting long.  I am enjoying this
discussion, but also getting depressed.  I desperately want to find a
solution that makes everyone happy, but I feel like some tough
decisions will need to be made.  Must they only be made by MEG?  Can
we set up a poll to ask what the listee populace wants?  

Maybe I am just a lover of power of the people though.  And not to let
someone else do the work either.  I see a lot of people in this thread
putting a lot of time to make this site a lot better.


Melody