- New blood arriving
- Old blood leaving
- Effective moderation
- An occasional kick from the big man
Three of these four things can't/don't happen anymore, and I don't want to see the other one happen more than it already has.
New blood isn't arriving because the signup page was disabled last time I knew. Plus, there are no new comics to attract people. The latter is not a criticism or a complaint, just a fact. See my addressing of point #4.
I don't want to see more old blood leave, because I fear we've dropped past the capability to maintain a stable community anyway. I hated seeing the ones go that have already, and that includes the ones I fought with personally. Each member we lose now, whether by ban or self-exile, is even more irreplaceable than usual, because of no new blood.
We have fewer mods than ever, and other than Nea poking her jackboots in occasionally, Snate seems to be the only one around on a regular basis. And I can't fault the job he's done one bit, but he's one person. He can't be here 24/7, and I refuse to criticize him for having his own issues that might keep him away from the board here and there. Everybody has them.
The Big I is busy with his personal and family issues, and has as good as said that he probably won't be back on a regular basis at all. I can't criticize him for that, and I wouldn't try. I know what some of the flavors of his problems taste like, and I wouldn't wish those tastes on anyone. But, that means he can't deliver the "kick" we might need with any regularity.
wwill, you know sailing, and that a course left uncorrected over time will tend to become a bigger and bigger problem, requiring a bigger and bigger correction. Well, one dimension of our course is fixed: time. The course corrections can come from moderators or Illiad. With one crippled and the other MIA, the navigator's seat is empty. The boat can steer itself to a limited extent, and I think it's been doing that mostly okay. But you're right, there has been a decline.
I don't know what to do about it. A reminder is useful, but I don't know that it will reach, or affect, everyone. I'm not proposing a solution because I don't have one. I'm just pointing out why I think things have gone the way they have.
This is just my two cents (adjusted down to 1.3 cents by inflation). |
