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Post by Avalikia on Aug 14, 2016 13:25:56 GMT -5
Hey everyone!
So, I've been thinking about GCRPG a lot lately. It's obviously something that I love - you don't put as much time and effort into something if you don't. It's been my baby for well over five years now.
However, lately as I look at it, I've become troubled. With the recent, unexpected slowdown it's reached a point where it could use a lot of TLC to get going again. But you would think that because I care about it so much that I would be happy to put in all the required work.
But I have to be honest to myself right now: I'm not.
Let me ramble about momentum for a second: Back when I first started running this forum I had no job - I was on disability. I had all the time in the world. If things got slow, I could literally spend hours doing work both as an admin and as a player. I could spend an entire day advertising, spend the next day coming up with plots and figuring out open threads, and still keep up with all the maintenance. That meant that I alone could be a huge driving force to keep the momentum of the forum going. Now I have 50 less hours per week due to work alone if you count commuting time, etc. and that's a big number! The fact that I can actually manage to handle that much work given my mental health situation has been an incredible achievement for me. But that means that I have a lot less free time to give the forum. Which isn't to say that I don't have enough time to be an admin and player, but it does mean that I don't have enough time to go so above and beyond. And to be frank, I don't think that I should have to - I'm not the only one who cares about the forum.
And I don't think that it's unfair of me to say that I have no motivation to admin when the forum has no momentum. I am a busy person with limited free time - I have to decide what is worth my time and it is not worth my time to preserve a forum that's becoming more and more like a place where people come to remember the good time they used to have instead of where people seek out fun that they could be having now. And I want to warn you right now that if you do care about this forum you cannot afford to sit back and assume that someone else will take care of its unmet need - I'm flat out telling you right now that I can't take care of it myself, and I know that some of you are honestly too busy to help, so if you even have a little bit of time to help out with even one of those things, your help is very needed! That's actually my biggest worry - that everyone will assume that someone else will take care of it and that nobody actually will.
But I'm not asking you to put in more time than you have. In fact, it's actually possible that literally all of us are just too busy to get the forum going properly again. And that's okay - at least in the sense that I won't blame you guys if the forum closes. There does come that point where the forum is no longer viable because the people available aren't enough to sustain it. I don't believe that we're there yet, but it's possible. So look at your list of priorities, see where GCRPG fits into it, act accordingly, and don't feel the need to apologize if you honestly don't feel like you can do more.
So here's what the forum needs:
If we can get those things, the forum will have lease on new life. And I think that if everyone who keeps telling me how much they care about the forum actually means it, we'll be able to get those things.
As for me - I can promise you that if I see you guys making an effort, I will see the point of being an admin again and step up to that plate. I will clean up the things I need to clean up, fix what needs to be fixed, etc. It'll be a lot of work, but as long as GCRPG is a viable forum it will be my baby and I will take care of it. Right now instead it's looking so bad that I'm concerned that my efforts would be wasted, so I've been wondering if it's better for everyone if I just pull the plug. That's not something I want to do at all or take lightly at all, but that's how it is. But I hope that between everyone still here there's still enough desire to make GCRPG thrive again.
Now, I have a vacation coming up from the 20th to the 27th. I'm going to Alaska! But that doesn't mean that I won't be available to be around - while I definitely want to enjoy Alaska while I'm there, I'm also desperately in need of some downtime - my job has been rough and I've been too much of a busy bee in general. Writing posts and doing other things on the forum is a relaxing downtime thing for me, so I'll very much be available. So if during the next couple of weeks some of you can step up to the plate and get things going again properly here, I'll be there to do it with you. If, on the other hand, I don't see anyone else actively making an effort? I'll probably end up playing lots of match-3 games instead. And if I get to the end of that vacation and nothing much has changed? Well, that's probably when I'll make some difficult choices.
One more thing: I'm begging you guys to please not respond to this post by telling me how much you care about the forum and giving me all your promises about what you're going to do. I've heard all that before - too many people, too many times. Frankly, I'm fed up with that, so don't tell me what you're going to do. Show me your commitment. Show me your motivation. Put your time where your mouth is. You don't need to tell me that you care - if you didn't, you wouldn't be here. But the forum needs more than people who would be sad to see it go, it needs people willing to actually put in the effort required to keep it going.
So, I've been thinking about GCRPG a lot lately. It's obviously something that I love - you don't put as much time and effort into something if you don't. It's been my baby for well over five years now.
However, lately as I look at it, I've become troubled. With the recent, unexpected slowdown it's reached a point where it could use a lot of TLC to get going again. But you would think that because I care about it so much that I would be happy to put in all the required work.
But I have to be honest to myself right now: I'm not.
Let me ramble about momentum for a second: Back when I first started running this forum I had no job - I was on disability. I had all the time in the world. If things got slow, I could literally spend hours doing work both as an admin and as a player. I could spend an entire day advertising, spend the next day coming up with plots and figuring out open threads, and still keep up with all the maintenance. That meant that I alone could be a huge driving force to keep the momentum of the forum going. Now I have 50 less hours per week due to work alone if you count commuting time, etc. and that's a big number! The fact that I can actually manage to handle that much work given my mental health situation has been an incredible achievement for me. But that means that I have a lot less free time to give the forum. Which isn't to say that I don't have enough time to be an admin and player, but it does mean that I don't have enough time to go so above and beyond. And to be frank, I don't think that I should have to - I'm not the only one who cares about the forum.
And I don't think that it's unfair of me to say that I have no motivation to admin when the forum has no momentum. I am a busy person with limited free time - I have to decide what is worth my time and it is not worth my time to preserve a forum that's becoming more and more like a place where people come to remember the good time they used to have instead of where people seek out fun that they could be having now. And I want to warn you right now that if you do care about this forum you cannot afford to sit back and assume that someone else will take care of its unmet need - I'm flat out telling you right now that I can't take care of it myself, and I know that some of you are honestly too busy to help, so if you even have a little bit of time to help out with even one of those things, your help is very needed! That's actually my biggest worry - that everyone will assume that someone else will take care of it and that nobody actually will.
But I'm not asking you to put in more time than you have. In fact, it's actually possible that literally all of us are just too busy to get the forum going properly again. And that's okay - at least in the sense that I won't blame you guys if the forum closes. There does come that point where the forum is no longer viable because the people available aren't enough to sustain it. I don't believe that we're there yet, but it's possible. So look at your list of priorities, see where GCRPG fits into it, act accordingly, and don't feel the need to apologize if you honestly don't feel like you can do more.
So here's what the forum needs:
- Regular posters. Let me define that - I definitely do not mean someone who pops in once a month and replies to all their threads. Which isn't a bad thing - in fact, I can totally understand being one of those - but it seems like the entire forum has become nothing but a group of people who does that and that's a problem. In fact, some of you are even worse and pop in once a month to respond to only some of your threads. When everyone is doing that, the forum loses momentum. One thing we desperately need is a few people who post every few days or even once a week. I can be one of them, but I've not had anyone reply to me for over half a month - so either we need more or we need to figure out who each other is so that we can get some threads going.
- New members. Let's face it, we desperately need some fresh blood. New members bring in fresh motivation that rubs off on us old members, and sometimes they're even extremely active. How can you help with this? Word of mouth is the best advertising, so go talk to anyone you know who might be interested. Even former members of the site - I know that some of you still keep in touch with people who used to be on GCRPG, and most of them only left because they got busy and some of them may not be so busy now... Failing that, advertising also works - not very well, but it does do something. If you're interested in helping with that, tell Jon and she'll teach you how.
- Forward-moving plots. One of the problems with people constantly pulling threads out of the archives is not only because the sheer fact that it got archived in the first place means that it's not being replied to quickly enough, it's also a sign that the thread itself and the idea behind it are getting old. Which doesn't mean that it's a bad idea, but holding too tightly to it stalls any progression of plot, and progression of plot is what brings us to fresh concepts and exciting new horizons. Do you know how many threads we have that have been going for more than a year? Too many! Is it any wonder if you've been feeling like the forum is becoming stagnant? It's time to do something new.
If we can get those things, the forum will have lease on new life. And I think that if everyone who keeps telling me how much they care about the forum actually means it, we'll be able to get those things.
As for me - I can promise you that if I see you guys making an effort, I will see the point of being an admin again and step up to that plate. I will clean up the things I need to clean up, fix what needs to be fixed, etc. It'll be a lot of work, but as long as GCRPG is a viable forum it will be my baby and I will take care of it. Right now instead it's looking so bad that I'm concerned that my efforts would be wasted, so I've been wondering if it's better for everyone if I just pull the plug. That's not something I want to do at all or take lightly at all, but that's how it is. But I hope that between everyone still here there's still enough desire to make GCRPG thrive again.
Now, I have a vacation coming up from the 20th to the 27th. I'm going to Alaska! But that doesn't mean that I won't be available to be around - while I definitely want to enjoy Alaska while I'm there, I'm also desperately in need of some downtime - my job has been rough and I've been too much of a busy bee in general. Writing posts and doing other things on the forum is a relaxing downtime thing for me, so I'll very much be available. So if during the next couple of weeks some of you can step up to the plate and get things going again properly here, I'll be there to do it with you. If, on the other hand, I don't see anyone else actively making an effort? I'll probably end up playing lots of match-3 games instead. And if I get to the end of that vacation and nothing much has changed? Well, that's probably when I'll make some difficult choices.
One more thing: I'm begging you guys to please not respond to this post by telling me how much you care about the forum and giving me all your promises about what you're going to do. I've heard all that before - too many people, too many times. Frankly, I'm fed up with that, so don't tell me what you're going to do. Show me your commitment. Show me your motivation. Put your time where your mouth is. You don't need to tell me that you care - if you didn't, you wouldn't be here. But the forum needs more than people who would be sad to see it go, it needs people willing to actually put in the effort required to keep it going.
