TresCom Forums

Draconisaurus wrote:And Sam, I'm afraid I can't understand not checking all the new posts while we still have so few of them But at least some admins do, I guess it should then be sufficient..

You can't just assume that they are or aren't going to do something. Assumptions are for politicians

Plus, being a leader, you shouldn't go by what "should be sufficient." You need to make sure you know all alternative routes and have backup plans. Things that "should be sufficient" have a nasty habit of not being sufficient (Look at just about every man-made disaster of the 19th and 20th century, as well as the security on 9/11/01).

The following is a general message to the community and Ops. It's long, but it's not a rant. More of my thoughts on the future of this community based on the Chaos Theory and real world examples from other fan communities for obscure things and some recommendations based upon my experience in group leadership outside of TresCom as well as my Group Dynamics class:

Think of this community as a complex system. You can assume that certain things will happen, but since you don't truly know all the variables it is impossible to know with true certainty what will happen. There are two certainties that are important. This community started and this community will eventually end. What happens in the middle is unknown. We can control certain variables to extend the time or reduce the time before this community falls off the edge of chaos and suddenly finds itself no longer existing. I've seen many fan communities just end suddenly and no one expects it. I've also seen many communities experience some catastrophic and unforeseen incident and never recoup. We averted disaster this time, and we should continue to do just that as best as we can be. I'd love to see TresCom last at least another ~10 years and I'm sure everyone else here that's been here for years would also love to see that. Maybe longer if possible.

When you do a "reboot" you must give the user more (in this case, content) than what you are taking away (in this case, the old look). We might still loose some members/lurkers due to the future change but if you can overcome the initial shock of change, then you can start pulling in more people to make up the difference. It's like economics, raise the price and you will lose some customers but you'll (hopefully) have enough dedicated and new customers to make up the difference and then some. And with new people comes new ideas and new content.

We can extend the life of TresCom but we need to work together to do it. I don't want to see the last update being something like what is at spacecases.tv "Knocked off the dust, kicked the tires (they were a little flat)... and have cleaned up the site. Several pages and links were old, missing, bad... you name it. Most everything should be working on the site now." or even the first Trespasser fansite - Project Trespasser "Well its about that time, perhaps it has past? Perhaps it was this very day or tommorow, no one knows for sure, but it is Project Trespassers 5th anniversary! . . . Anyhow its been a great past five years and who knows? Maybe in five more this site will be here covering Trespasser II? " Both sites believed that things were looking up and that things were going great but nothing else happened after that. A lack of action is to blame. The Admins could very well keep the site up if they wanted to (Like the guy who still updates CloverfieldClues.com, even though the movie has been out for a long time and that there are no longer any clues. His life is dedicated to spotting Slusho in JJ Abram's new show Fringe).

I added both Draco and Mickey to the Ops because they not only have been here for a long time, but they both are also very well regarded by this community. This site needed active Ops members like it had in its infancy, people who knew what they were talking about and had the best interests in mind for the community. The moment alternative/personal objectives enter this is the same moment that this site will start pulling itself apart.

My recommendations:
1. Greater cohesiveness among the Ops. The original Ops team were all good friends by the time TresCom became official and it worked well.
2. Greater cohesiveness between the Ops and the Community. The cohesiveness between the two has been wearing thin for the last couple years.
3. Authoritarian leadership until we get this thing back to normal. We need a take charge leader who will do his/her job (Hence why I picked Draco, he had great contingency plans written up within only a few hours when it seemed that the community would fall away below us, even beyond the few ideas I tossed around).
4. Once things are back to normal, a more democratic style should be employed, with regular members making their own recommendations for how the site progresses from that point. (Site features, for example)
5. The senior members here, not just the Ops, should be more supportive of newer members. I know that even I have sometimes treated new members poorly, but if this community is to continue we must have new members and we must pass on our knowledge to the next "generation" as it were.

I'm not an expert in forum politics, but you have to think of the group before you think of yourself. That's gotten people in trouble here before, and led to people having this weird foot taste in the mouth

hppav wrote:5. The senior members here, not just the Ops, should be more supportive of newer members. I know that even I have sometimes treated new members poorly, but if this community is to continue we must have new members and we must pass on our knowledge to the next "generation" as it were.

I'm not an expert in forum politics, but you have to think of the group before you think of yourself. That's gotten people in trouble here before, and led to people having this weird foot taste in the mouth

Right! we need all the people we can get

A much needed analysis I think, thank yee Sam.

hppav wrote:

Draconisaurus wrote:And Sam, I'm afraid I can't understand not checking all the new posts while we still have so few of them But at least some admins do, I guess it should then be sufficient..

You can't just assume that they are or aren't going to do something. Assumptions are for politicians

Plus, being a leader, you shouldn't go by what "should be sufficient." You need to make sure you know all alternative routes and have backup plans. Things that "should be sufficient" have a nasty habit of not being sufficient (Look at just about every man-made disaster of the 19th and 20th century, as well as the security on 9/11/01).

Sam.. You just slapped yourself in the face, hehe. I supposed that at least one admin viewing all new posts (me) could be sufficient. By suggesting it's not (that sufficiency is not enough), you're admitting that you (and/or other admins) should indeed check all the new forum posts Which is fine by me.

(Like the guy who still updates CloverfieldClues.com, even though the movie has been out for a long time and that there are no longer any clues. His life is dedicated to spotting Slusho in JJ Abram's new show Fringe).

awesome lol.

1. Greater cohesiveness among the Ops. The original Ops team were all good friends by the time TresCom became official and it worked well.

Probably true enough. Any suggestions? The TresCom "group" I set up in Windows Live allows for full-group IMing, though I haven't used it yet so I'm not fully aware of its features..

2. Greater cohesiveness between the Ops and the Community. The cohesiveness between the two has been wearing thin for the last couple years.

Ah lol, it's like the difference between cohesion and adhesion in water. (Cohesion is the tendency of water to stick to itself, adhesion is its tendency to stick to other things.) And yes we need both. Where do you think it is and isn't working?

3. Authoritarian leadership until we get this thing back to normal. We need a take charge leader who will do his/her job (Hence why I picked Draco, he had great contingency plans written up within only a few hours when it seemed that the community would fall away below us, even beyond the few ideas I tossed around).

Seems pretty logical. Hopefully the time between can be minimized. It's very easy to keep that tighter reign of power longer than it's "needed."

4. Once things are back to normal, a more democratic style should be employed, with regular members making their own recommendations for how the site progresses from that point. (Site features, for example)

That would be cool. I think it'll work even better when new members can register..

5. The senior members here, not just the Ops, should be more supportive of newer members. I know that even I have sometimes treated new members poorly, but if this community is to continue we must have new members and we must pass on our knowledge to the next "generation" as it were.

Something like that, though lately we've had few regular members who've not been here for well over half a year..

I'm not an expert in forum politics, but you have to think of the group before you think of yourself. That's gotten people in trouble here before, and led to people having this weird foot taste in the mouth

My point was that you shouldn't think it sufficient that there be merely posts on the forum for MP to know about things that are going on. You should make sure he knows what is going on.

Expounding on my 5 points.
1. There's this grinding within the Ops, like old opinions or battle scars from previous fights are getting in the way of progress. That needs to be gone.
2. The Ops don't maintain enough of a presence on the site for the members to respect them. I maintain enough for myself, and you and Mickey do. I just haven't seen much of machf, Rebel, Slugger, or any other Ops since the server switch.
3. Agreed, we need to get things done and get them done quickly, that way we can get things to where we want them to be. Think of yourself as FDR after the stock market crash having to pick up all the pieces. But don't think of yourself as FDR in that you stay in control forever until you die
4. Yeah, but we still have a few people who have accounts that haven't posted much who have come here recently asking questions about things
5. I know, interest in Tres is waning. We have to do something to keep it from slipping away entirely.

Nice, I like the topic numbering system (which I already use in IM a lot), saves quoting space...

hppav wrote:But don't think of yourself as FDR in that you stay in control forever until you die

Yeah lol.

Draconisaurus wrote:A much needed analysis I think, thank yee Sam.

hppav wrote:

Draconisaurus wrote:And Sam, I'm afraid I can't understand not checking all the new posts while we still have so few of them But at least some admins do, I guess it should then be sufficient..

You can't just assume that they are or aren't going to do something. Assumptions are for politicians

Plus, being a leader, you shouldn't go by what "should be sufficient." You need to make sure you know all alternative routes and have backup plans. Things that "should be sufficient" have a nasty habit of not being sufficient (Look at just about every man-made disaster of the 19th and 20th century, as well as the security on 9/11/01).

Sam.. You just slapped yourself in the face, hehe. I supposed that at least one admin viewing all new posts (me) could be sufficient. By suggesting it's not (that sufficiency is not enough), you're admitting that you (and/or other admins) should indeed check all the new forum posts Which is fine by me.

I do that whenever I can. I don't answer to each and everyone of them, though. Don't think it's necessary, either.

(Like the guy who still updates CloverfieldClues.com, even though the movie has been out for a long time and that there are no longer any clues. His life is dedicated to spotting Slusho in JJ Abram's new show Fringe).

awesome lol.

1. Greater cohesiveness among the Ops. The original Ops team were all good friends by the time TresCom became official and it worked well.

Probably true enough. Any suggestions? The TresCom "group" I set up in Windows Live allows for full-group IMing, though I haven't used it yet so I'm not fully aware of its features..

2. Greater cohesiveness between the Ops and the Community. The cohesiveness between the two has been wearing thin for the last couple years.

Ah lol, it's like the difference between cohesion and adhesion in water. (Cohesion is the tendency of water to stick to itself, adhesion is its tendency to stick to other things.) And yes we need both. Where do you think it is and isn't working?

3. Authoritarian leadership until we get this thing back to normal. We need a take charge leader who will do his/her job (Hence why I picked Draco, he had great contingency plans written up within only a few hours when it seemed that the community would fall away below us, even beyond the few ideas I tossed around).

Seems pretty logical. Hopefully the time between can be minimized. It's very easy to keep that tighter reign of power longer than it's "needed."

4. Once things are back to normal, a more democratic style should be employed, with regular members making their own recommendations for how the site progresses from that point. (Site features, for example)

That would be cool. I think it'll work even better when new members can register..

Keep in mind that suggestions are just that and nothing more...

5. The senior members here, not just the Ops, should be more supportive of newer members. I know that even I have sometimes treated new members poorly, but if this community is to continue we must have new members and we must pass on our knowledge to the next "generation" as it were.

Something like that, though lately we've had few regular members who've not been here for well over half a year..

I tend to be on the side of the new members, in case you haven't noticed... unless they're complete a**holes, of course.

I'm not an expert in forum politics, but you have to think of the group before you think of yourself. That's gotten people in trouble here before, and led to people having this weird foot taste in the mouth

Ah, yes... "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... or of the one".

EDIT: Drac, you spammer... I just realized you are already over my post count! Wait until ten days from now, work shouldn't keep me as busy as right now by then and you'll see...

machf wrote:Drac, you spammer... I just realized you are already over my post count! Wait until ten days from now, work shouldn't keep me as busy as right now by then and you'll see...

I got the image in my mind of machf's display pic shaking his fist at Draco

hppav wrote:

machf wrote:Drac, you spammer... I just realized you are already over my post count! Wait until ten days from now, work shouldn't keep me as busy as right now by then and you'll see...

I got the image in my mind of machf's display pic shaking his fist at Draco

You better watch out, Draco XD

Oh, nooo! I hadn't actually noticed, but I knew it was getting close.. And that's good to hear you'll have more time for Trespasser.