Opening the WhatsApp chat?
in Feedback & Suggestions ·
mistyhound94 said:I get what everyone is saying, but honestly, just restricting things and deleting stuff isn't going to achieve anything. I guess my opinion is that all parties involved should try to make this forum a real place for discussion, but also just for joking around and hanging out. It’s easy enough to say, "we aren't responsible for this or that," but if you want to make this place actually livable, both sides need to step up. You guys are here to moderate and set boundaries—acting like judges, which I suppose isn't easy—but it’s still way too simple to just shrug and say, "it's not our job." Ultimately, decisions like this should fall to the admin or supermod, but if you have different agreements in place, fine, just coordinate among yourselves. Just explain the reasoning behind why something is being done instead of everything just getting locked down and having people told, "we aren't obligated to do that."
And honestly, the US would be a pretty rotten place without the chat. It gives the regulars a spot to hang out that isn't just about whatever current events are blowing up in America; there's so much more to talk about. I guess I can't even list all the people who met through that chat in different ways, and I doubt they could have connected anywhere else on this forum unless they were already talking in other chats. Most of the folks in the LJES-ov chat are the same ones posting everywhere else, though every chat has its share of random drop-ins. But you have to realize that LJES isn't quite like the US section. In the US area, it's mostly people who feel like they belong there, even if they're lonely. The vibe is just different, and the chat was at least some kind of oasis for the US section.
At the end of the day, you guys call all the shots anyway. Most of us "regular" forum users aren't really consulted on anything, but I still don't see how shutting things down actually achieves anything positive. Maybe it would be better to just clearly define the boundaries and rules, then punish the people who actually deserve it without making a scene. I guess we should at least be allowed to have our own opinions on these matters, instead of everything being handled with that "we're the mods, we have the final say" attitude. It shouldn't be about anyone having the last word. Sometimes, finding a real solution might require taking a harder, different path rather than just closing everything down and claiming the "problem is solved."
If you want another suggestion to actually consider, maybe take Air Canada off the list of mods for the USA, since that guy isn't even really active in the States. I guess you could give the role to ja-cu-poluditi instead—she’s much further out there and way more active in the USA anyway. At least I trust her to stay impartial, and she might actually have the nerves to handle the crowd running wild in the USA.
Misty, how long have we been trying to fix the WhatsApp group? Three years plus? Let's not kid ourselves here. We deal with constant arguments, people acting like they're all that, and then the complaints from WhatsApp start flying.
Next time this happens, I'm out.
mistyhound94 said:I get what everyone is saying, but honestly, just restricting things and deleting stuff isn't going to achieve anything. I guess my opinion is that all parties involved should try to make this forum a real place for discussion, but also just for joking around and hanging out. It’s easy enough to say, "we aren't responsible for this or that," but if you want to make this place actually livable, both sides need to step up. You guys are here to moderate and set boundaries—acting like judges, which I suppose isn't easy—but it’s still way too simple to just shrug and say, "it's not our job." Ultimately, decisions like this should fall to the admin or supermod, but if you have different agreements in place, fine, just coordinate among yourselves. Just explain the reasoning behind why something is being done instead of everything just getting locked down and having people told, "we aren't obligated to do that."
And honestly, the US would be a pretty rotten place without the chat. It gives the regulars a spot to hang out that isn't just about whatever current events are blowing up in America; there's so much more to talk about. I guess I can't even list all the people who met through that chat in different ways, and I doubt they could have connected anywhere else on this forum unless they were already talking in other chats. Most of the folks in the LJES-ov chat are the same ones posting everywhere else, though every chat has its share of random drop-ins. But you have to realize that LJES isn't quite like the US section. In the US area, it's mostly people who feel like they belong there, even if they're lonely. The vibe is just different, and the chat was at least some kind of oasis for the US section.
At the end of the day, you guys call all the shots anyway. Most of us "regular" forum users aren't really consulted on anything, but I still don't see how shutting things down actually achieves anything positive. Maybe it would be better to just clearly define the boundaries and rules, then punish the people who actually deserve it without making a scene. I guess we should at least be allowed to have our own opinions on these matters, instead of everything being handled with that "we're the mods, we have the final say" attitude. It shouldn't be about anyone having the last word. Sometimes, finding a real solution might require taking a harder, different path rather than just closing everything down and claiming the "problem is solved."
If you want another suggestion to actually consider, maybe take Air Canada off the list of mods for the USA, since that guy isn't even really active in the States. I guess you could give the role to ja-cu-poluditi instead—she’s much further out there and way more active in the USA anyway. At least I trust her to stay impartial, and she might actually have the nerves to handle the crowd running wild in the USA.
I don't make these calls, but if my memory serves me right, when this was brought up before, they said they weren't going to appoint someone just to manage a chat.