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[QUOTE]Originally posted by MinutiaeMan: [QB] Time to chip in my 2�... I'm a recovering forum admin myself -- I was an active admin at the Subspace Comms Network, along with Bernd, for a number of years but I eventually got burned out from all the constant, manic activity and the need to coddle various instances of jackassery. There's a very real reason for such concepts as "signal to noise ratio" and "quality over quantity" -- because the more people you get in a community, the more likely it is to grow even further. Then you're stuck with a lot of yahoos who think their RPG is the best thing since "The Man Trap" first aired. Whenever I think of these kinds of issues, I generally get a mental image of a spectrum, with the Trek BBS (where I also was a moderator many many years ago) at the low end of the S/N ratio -- that is, a high percentage of crap among the gems, with the SCN somewhere in the middle, and with Flare at the very high end. And I think there's a very simple explanation for that: tolerance, or the lack thereof. As several people have already stated, Flare isn't really intolerant of newbies in general, we're just very intolerant of crap and spam. As a result, we attract fewer newcomers to the community. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Considering all the various junk and crap out there, I've consistently come to Flare because I rely on it for stimulating (more or less... ha!) discussion. And it requires far less management on the part of the moderators, for sure. Even at the SCN, I was often spending so much time on various brushfires that, even if there wasn't some immediate crisis, I felt like I needed to take a break and avoided any general discussion. I couldn't be both a member and an admin. Here, the mods -- except Charles, of course -- are more like "first among equals" than admins. I like that sense of community. Sure, we're arrogant at times. But it's sort of a [i]deserved[/i] kind of arrogant, you know? We've got a great track record of material going back almost a decade now, and we've made some key contributions to the tapestry of [i]Trek[/i] fandom. (Take the Wolf 359 thread, for instance.) So in some sense, we're kinda like an elite intellectual's club. One that may be past its prime, to be sure, but an elite club nonetheless. So I feel fully justified in viewing any newcomers with a little skepticism... not because they're automatically assumed to be "stupid until proven intelligent," but more of a "what do you have to contribute to our community?" kind of attitude. So, though sometimes the rhetoric could be toned down, I have nothing wrong with the overall treatment of newcomers. I also don't feel that we need to do much (or anything) to try to actively attract any more members. However, I do have some concerns of the makeup of the forum. The simple fact is that a great deal of the material in [i]Trek[/i] has been discussed over and over, so there's less of interest these days. I see Flare as being firmly on course for becoming a reproduction of that metaphorical Q Continuum -- that dusty old station on the side of a desert road. Flare could become a haven for a few old timers who still hang around because they've got nothing better to do, occasionally discussing both "The New" and "The Old," but rarely having anything interesting happen. I don't think that Flare is dying, but I do think that it's beginning to fade away. As for what to do about that... well, it's mainly about attitude, I think. We can keep trying to pitch in and continue discussions and start new ones in various ways. Community projects would be awesome... Shik's idea of writing an original Federation Charter is something that I would absolutely LOVE to help with. (We tried it a while back, but that was a nonstarter because of... well, certain events.) Krenim tossed out his idea of a group-authored [i]Series ?[/i] Technical Manual a long while back, which would be a kick-ass idea. Stuff like that to keep us active and fit, so to speak. I'm definitely against any sort of "extreme makeover," not because it wouldn't stimulate anything, but because it wouldn't solve the issues. But I do believe that some tweaking could be in order. Mainly stuff in the line of fleshing out what we're already interested in -- general sci-fi, Trek starships, artwork, and so forth. Regrouping and reordering the various forums. I like the idea of a gallery. Making Flare Upload more integrated and/or accessible would be cool, too, though I realize the immense amount of code working that would require of Charles! Something to freshen up the place for existing membership, and maybe entice a few people who have some interesting things to contribute to our community. I guess that about sums it up for the moment. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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