posted
The 'Dingle' naming thread, I think. Olivia, you can host that at one of the spin-offs if you like. I think sakeriver is the home of most of the debauchery.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
I didn't think it was debauched, considering the the Dingle thread. Still not sure where I went wrong. I recently went through a phase where I thought, "You know, I really don't belong on Hatrack." But I came back anyway. Silly me.
Posts: 1664 | Registered: Apr 2004
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Hmm, maybe that it was in the thread title? and therefore sounded more obscene? I saw it vanish as I went to click on it. Though I admit my recent thread title is sacreligious.
posted
So would we all. I was just saying to myself, Self! It's great that Olivet is posting again. Thankfully, I didn't answer myself so I'm sane for another day.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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I don't want to be blamed for poaching all the good posters away from Hatrack, but every time I notice that someone new has registered on sakeriver I get a happy little feeling in my heart. And when I realize that someone has actually become a regular there it kind of makes my day.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Yeah, it's officially my favorite web comic.
Dana is the one who introduced me to it, by linking to a comic that was relevant to the "Why Don't Women Want to Date Nice Guys" whine thread that was current at the time.
You know, I've had posts mysteriously disappear from time to time, too. Please don't conclude that you don't belong here simply because of this. You belong where your friends are.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
Since this has kinda turned into a "discussion of other fora" thread, I've got a question. saxon, since you're a regular user and contributor as well as moderator, do you take a more hands on approach to moderating? I mean, I've gathered from this conversation alone that you don't have the "family forum" concerns going on... but what would you do if someone like Bean Counter showed up on your site?
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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quote:Since this has kinda turned into a "discussion of other fora" thread, I've got a question. saxon, since you're a regular user and contributor as well as moderator, do you take a more hands on approach to moderating? I mean, I've gathered from this conversation alone that you don't have the "family forum" concerns going on... but what would you do if someone like Bean Counter showed up on your site?
I don't have any set policies when it comes to moderating. My personal feeling is that using my mod powers (except every once in a while when it would be funny) is the last resort. To date, I believe I have actually edited only one post, which contained a photo that I thought was pushing it too far. I have, a few times, asked people to edit their own posts, or to refrain from making future inappropriate posts.
It's very important to me that the people at sakeriver feel invested in the community, that they feel like it is their community as much as my own. I definitely want to avoid anyone feeling that I abuse my admin powers, or that I control things too tightly. I like the organic feeling that the forum has. I have very few set policies, and I try to be very open about them and about the few decisions I make as an admin.
Thus far I have never banned anyone, nor have I personally asked anyone to leave. I don't want sakeriver to be an exclusive club, and I feel that if I make it known that I don't want somebody around, I am imposing my own feelings of what I want the forum to be too strongly. I want it to be what it is, not what I think it should be. I suppose that if someone were extremely disruptive I would eventually ask them to leave or even ban them, but only after repeated warnings, and probably only if the consensus on the board was that the offending party needed to leave.
Which brings me to another point. So far, I have not received a single request to edit someone else's post, nor to try to discipline anyone in any way. I think the forum is operating as a sort of self-correcting system. If something is wrong, the members have always sorted it out amongst themselves. I really like that. I like feeling like I am a member, rather than an authority figure. And I think that my participation in the forum makes me more visible, so that people behave out of respect for a friend.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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Do you think that part of the reason that works (self-policing, no one asking for post edits, etc.) is that the primary way people would find your forum is through "referral," so to speak? Meaning, this forum is part of the web site of a popular author. Anyone looking for information on OSC or his books could quite easily end up here. As far as I can tell, people end up on your forum because they are a friend, or a friend of a friend. Does that affect the community attitude?
I don't really expect you to be able to answer that factually. Just looking for your thoughts.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I think that because saxy posts a lot, there is more self-censorship and self-discipline. I think I've actually written the phrase "saxy wouldn't put up with it" before as a reason for not saying something.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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I think so. Every registered member was either a Hatracker first or otherwise knows me offline. There are about thirty or forty regulars, and while I wouldn't say that all of them are friends with all the rest, most of them had and continue to have interactions with each other outside of sakeriver. That level of familiarity definitely helps. I think that the relatively small size makes it easier for everyone to know everyone else, which makes self-policing more feasible and effective.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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You know, you talk a good piece, but I don't believe for a second that you're actually going to do it.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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