I've spent lots and lots of time thinking about this today. I will try to not beat a dead horse however, or at least give my best go at it.
Full disclosure: Once, I too was a mod. I was a really terrible mod. I made many bad calls, was slack on prompt decisions, my player communication leaved much to be desired, and I steamrolled ahead always believing my decisions were the correct ones. Sometimes they were, but oftentimes they were not. So understand that I say this all only with the hope that it is of some use. Experience is supposed to be a good teacher, so maybe mine can offer something of merit.
I also have never really had any outright bad experiences with the moderators here. Perhaps at times I wish it could be a little more prompt, and oftentimes I wish things felt a little more clear - sometimes the direction of the mecha crew's sub-plot feels a bit out of my grasp - but that is more an indication than anything of how clear it is this game is far too large for only four of you to handle. My experiences are clearly not those of everyone, so it does sadden me to see things have gone down like this.
I see drops, I see hiatuses announced, considered, or just... quietly happening. I've seen no less than three people - named, actual people; not anons - just at a cursory glance who were gung-ho to app here but no longer will be for the foreseeable future. I get the feeling there's many more than that if I dug deep enough, just within comments on my own Plurk timeline. Within a couple of days, this has gone from the game I wanted to drag my friends to and bolster the population of, to help grow and expand the world of. Now? It feels as if trying to convince anyone of doing so would be difficult at best. Not without changes, which I know you are already well aware of.
Because I want to bring more people here. I want to have fun here. As of a couple days ago, literally right before this happened this also became my only game. I love Save the Earth. I love the concept. I love the people. I am more invested in the characters I have here, and the CR they have, than I have been with anything RP related in many, many years.
I know I'm not the only one who feels this way - clearly, as this whole post is evidence of - nor am I the only one who wants to help find a means of fixing matters. There's enough people that really do care about this game, their characters, and the world to - I hope - still make this work, even if they do not agree with you guys and your decisions. Either of late, or overall.
There's already a lot of really, really good suggestions here. Many of the things that have come to mind today for me would just be +1-ing those; Linda has them compiled quite nicely, and I hope they do you and all of us some good. So, I'll try to comment on some other things:
I have already talked about my concerns of information dispersal. I will try not to repeat much of that, and I didn't really realize how much it may be a problem overall until I was listening to other people today and understanding it can be actively difficult for anyone to get a good grasp of what's going on sometimes. Or more importantly, how they can do anything with it.
I can't look at them and give anyone an answer to that, either, and I've been here for nearly six months. While I've been more or less fine with how my things have gone - while anything directly I'm concerned about there is better saved for another time and venue - I am starting to see and understand how to some people, the present state of things can seem a little inaccessible as far as getting involved with things in any way that matters goes. Any way that does matter feels like it requires direct, behind-the-scenes discussion with the moderators, and... If there are this many people that are uncomfortable going face-to-face with mods, even if I have not personally felt that same discomfort? That's a problem.
Plot Posts haven't even felt nearly as active of late as they were earlier in the year, either. That feels indicative of something being amiss, in itself.
However, I do have an actual suggestion! It just does not relate directly to the problem at hand, so I will put it in a reply to this comment. It does however relate to concerns that I've seen raised at various points, particularly since Season 2 opened, and that is Application consistency.
no subject
Full disclosure: Once, I too was a mod. I was a really terrible mod. I made many bad calls, was slack on prompt decisions, my player communication leaved much to be desired, and I steamrolled ahead always believing my decisions were the correct ones. Sometimes they were, but oftentimes they were not. So understand that I say this all only with the hope that it is of some use. Experience is supposed to be a good teacher, so maybe mine can offer something of merit.
I also have never really had any outright bad experiences with the moderators here. Perhaps at times I wish it could be a little more prompt, and oftentimes I wish things felt a little more clear - sometimes the direction of the mecha crew's sub-plot feels a bit out of my grasp - but that is more an indication than anything of how clear it is this game is far too large for only four of you to handle. My experiences are clearly not those of everyone, so it does sadden me to see things have gone down like this.
I see drops, I see hiatuses announced, considered, or just... quietly happening. I've seen no less than three people - named, actual people; not anons - just at a cursory glance who were gung-ho to app here but no longer will be for the foreseeable future. I get the feeling there's many more than that if I dug deep enough, just within comments on my own Plurk timeline. Within a couple of days, this has gone from the game I wanted to drag my friends to and bolster the population of, to help grow and expand the world of. Now? It feels as if trying to convince anyone of doing so would be difficult at best. Not without changes, which I know you are already well aware of.
Because I want to bring more people here. I want to have fun here. As of a couple days ago, literally right before this happened this also became my only game. I love Save the Earth. I love the concept. I love the people. I am more invested in the characters I have here, and the CR they have, than I have been with anything RP related in many, many years.
I know I'm not the only one who feels this way - clearly, as this whole post is evidence of - nor am I the only one who wants to help find a means of fixing matters. There's enough people that really do care about this game, their characters, and the world to - I hope - still make this work, even if they do not agree with you guys and your decisions. Either of late, or overall.
There's already a lot of really, really good suggestions here. Many of the things that have come to mind today for me would just be +1-ing those; Linda has them compiled quite nicely, and I hope they do you and all of us some good. So, I'll try to comment on some other things:
I have already talked about my concerns of information dispersal. I will try not to repeat much of that, and I didn't really realize how much it may be a problem overall until I was listening to other people today and understanding it can be actively difficult for anyone to get a good grasp of what's going on sometimes. Or more importantly, how they can do anything with it.
I can't look at them and give anyone an answer to that, either, and I've been here for nearly six months. While I've been more or less fine with how my things have gone - while anything directly I'm concerned about there is better saved for another time and venue - I am starting to see and understand how to some people, the present state of things can seem a little inaccessible as far as getting involved with things in any way that matters goes. Any way that does matter feels like it requires direct, behind-the-scenes discussion with the moderators, and... If there are this many people that are uncomfortable going face-to-face with mods, even if I have not personally felt that same discomfort? That's a problem.
Plot Posts haven't even felt nearly as active of late as they were earlier in the year, either. That feels indicative of something being amiss, in itself.
However, I do have an actual suggestion! It just does not relate directly to the problem at hand, so I will put it in a reply to this comment. It does however relate to concerns that I've seen raised at various points, particularly since Season 2 opened, and that is Application consistency.