Phosphor [&]

@bazelgeuse-apologist

he/they

It's a horrible day on the Internet, and you are a lovely geuse.

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Phosphor [&]@bazelgeuse-apologist6/10/2023, 4:20 AM

someone in a Discord was talking about this neat idea they had for an IRL community thing and going "but the hard part here is going to be funding"

and I, being a wet blanket as usual, was like "that's a neat idea but what about [long list of various social nightmares], funding is nothing next to those"

and they were like "oh wow, these were things I hadn't even thought of! honestly the fact that you thought about these things means that you'd be great at modding, if you ever want to help"

and I went "thanks, that's very flattering. if I did that it would take forty years off of my life"

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Wobblegong @wobblegong6/10/2023, 4:45 AM

Sometimes I flirt with being a moderator for this or that very very minor no-stakes funtime hobby activity and every time I shut my brain off long enough to agree to it, Boy Howdy, There Goes A Year Off My Lifespan. And I have for the most part had okayish experiences in those spaces! It goes way worse for a lot of folks!

This is all to say your response is wildly correct and I am once again remembering an old guild leader who was a pretty perfect example of "the people best suited to leading are the ones it's hardest to scam into that kind of nightmare mess." (He was a VERY good guild leader, and also, every time he spoke he sounded dead inside from the joys and wonders of having to be a guild leader.)

Phosphor [&]@bazelgeuse-apologist6/10/2023, 4:56 AM

"the people best suited to leading are the ones it's hardest to scam into that kind of nightmare mess."

I have thought about this MANY times and also thought about how probably this is the reason a lot of social groups just kind of suck at dealing with Stuff. (On top of our Society sucking at teaching people how to manage their own Stuff, that is!) Way too many mods are like... mods for the wrong reasons, or well-intentioned but very inexperienced. And a sliver are battle-hardened veterans who are burning the candle of their lives for the good of the rest of us. (For free, more often than not :eggbug-pensive: )

Something I've rolled around is... a lot of the stress around Modding A Thing, for me, is this whole concept of modding being An Indefinite Obligation, and if you ever try to step away from it, it becomes this whole like, Affair. Like a shitty loveless marriage! ...So what if the Thing To Be Modded was finite by definition? What if you threw a big virtual party for a bunch of folks you trust to be cool and good at handling their own Stuff and let them mingle for like, a month, and then shut it down? (And if it was a cool and positive experience, maybe you could do it again sometime!)

I feel like this would fit pretty well with the whole like, "communities are for meeting strangers, looting your favorite ones to keep as friends, and then leaving whenever things aren't cool anymore" philosophy of "what is the purpose of community."

(I am being informed that this is, perhaps, the purpose of conventions, but those still imply like... a level of Ongoing Obligation and bewildering scale, as opposed to just Throwing A Party)

Wobblegong @wobblegong6/10/2023, 5:15 AM

yeah, I think this is pretty widely regarded as the fundamental problem with leadership in humans, lmao: the ones most motivated to do it generally have NOT GOOD motives!! But the people who would get better results for the rest of us are trying to Homer Simpson into the bushes rather than have all that responsibility, because without the brain demons chanting I WANT TO HAVE POWER SO I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT the allure of overseeing people is... you know. See above.
👀 but make it blurry from the force of my looking... I am VERY intrigued by the idea of finite duties. Man. I gotta see if I can work that into anything, that sounds WAY better because you're right, otherwise the plan is to die in the saddle but the saddle is like, made of burrs and it's saddled on a malicious undead horse that's actively trying to walk into ravines.
(or 2a.) I see where they could be coming from but I can only laugh harder as I insist that running a convention is the OPPOSITE of finite obligations!! You have SO MANY OBLIGATIONS and they even involve FILING TAXES!!! EVERY YEAR!!!!

Phosphor [&]@bazelgeuse-apologist6/10/2023, 5:43 AM

Come to think of it too, like. There actually isn't a real-world analogue for a Discord or a forum or a social media site in terms of like, always-on moderation load, is there? Like IRL your book club meets once a week and you might have headaches about That One Guy or people gossiping about each other in private but the like, period of Active Fire Outbreak Potential is still only once a week!

Online spaces are absolutely a blessing for the neurospicy and in these plague-wracked times but the amount of constant attention they need, the ease at which fires can break out at any time, is actually just... unnatural!

I'm honestly supporting the whole idea of "social media that shuts down after staff work hours" more and more, lmao. *paws at schlaugh which I like the concept of but is missing like Two Things I would need for it to work with my neurology*

Wobblegong @wobblegong6/10/2023, 6:30 AM

One of my parental units (affectionate) was involved in multiple clubs and community tasks, so I am extremely reluctant (and amused) to downplay how much recreational An Probleming™ humans can fit in between actual scheduled meet-ups. For the love of linguini, don't underestimate those fuckers. 😂

BUT, I think the point you are trying to make is quite right, that the Always On nature of online shit– while wonderfully attractive for socializing with folks in other time zones– is indeed rather novel (derogatory). It is, I would say quite literally, the difference between a job you leave at work when you go home vs being on call 24/7. And smarter folks than me have noted that being on call for work sucks. It's not like it's more fun when it's unpaid and literally 24/7!

Social media with "closed" hours needs to be road-tested. The results would probably be interesting. (For fun's sake, what would make schlaugh work better for your neurology?)

Phosphor [&]@bazelgeuse-apologist6/16/2023, 3:40 PM

TOTALLY forgot to answer this question, lmao!

Basically, at least one of three things, ideally all:

The ability to submit your Daily Schlaugh(tm) as multiple smaller posts instead of one big post
The ability to have multiple pages/schlaughblogs
The ability to make as many drafts as you want and release them on any day

Basically, these all revolve around the same core thing: I do not think in terms of Big Posts! I think in terms of a bunch of small, very low-effort posts that I think of additions to only after I've hit post. I make philosophical longposts sometimes but in truth those are actually smallposts that got out of hand. When I am told "here's your One Post for the day, make it count!" I completely freeze up, despite knowing that it's perfectly fine to kludge however many posts I desire into it.

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