mistyhound94 said:A question for the recently hyperactive owner, Maria Barnes, and his right hand, Nice.
What exactly is the game plan for Lonely Heart?
Basically, since this "beloved" newly elected moderator took charge of Lonely Heart, we've seen a sudden surge in activity from the owner himself. He’s trying way too hard to act all talkative and cool, throwing out a mountain of new ideas—though clearly, his attempt at organizing things didn't really land. If I may say so, the quality actually improved when ruggedscout76 and Ludica were here; there was a real sense that the subforum was heading in a positive direction. We had some decent ideas involving advent calendars and New Year's celebrations; you could actually feel a shift. But at the exact same time, this "beloved" new moderator has been constantly hovering, whispering instructions and chiming in on topics as if she's the one managing ruggedscout76 or dictating what she would have done differently in her place.
None of this would seem suspicious if, out of nowhere, Maria Barnes hadn't dropped into Lonely Heart like a paratrooper—someone I haven't even seen around here since I joined. Now, Nice has popped up here and there, but this whole pattern is familiar; whenever a new mod is brought in from the upper echelons of the site, suddenly the mods become hyper-active on a specific subforum. And then the rest of us mere mortals are left feeling like gods have descended among us, just waiting to bow down. 🙏
So, what ended up happening to Lonely Heart?
A good chunk of the active crew from Lonely Heart avoided it by moving over to Offtopic, where we were wonderfully welcomed; Boa is lovely. 🙂
But for many of us in exile, Lonely Heart was home. Why? It was the people and the vibe. For the most part, it worked out fine; things got a little heated occasionally, but nothing major. Even in the middle of the pandemic, us regular folks tried our best to make Lonely Heart a pleasant place for support, relaxing, and just chatting. I miss it, personally.
Now that ruggedscout76 is gone, the whole thing feels broken. I wonder how long it will stay like this, but one thing is certain: many of us who left probably won't be heading back up to Lonely Heart. The reason is this "beloved" new moderator who, overnight, secured her coveted spot where she can play the lead and act superior to everyone. I don't know what kind of behind-the-scenes maneuvering went on, but the fact remains: every other new mod used to get a welcome thread with all the "congratulations" and fluff, but she didn't get that. Now I see this forced effort by the owner to show up at Lonely Heart—presumably to bring in "fresh blood" or whatever—where he started pulling up old posts on the chat to praise them as "cool," failing to notice that in those very threads, most of the people he's quoting don't even post on Lonely Heart anymore. Not to mention how this "beloved" new mod behaved toward us; she seems to view our exodus as just something temporary, thinking, "hehe, they'll come back," while she just moves on with her own agenda.
It's obvious that Lonely Heart lost a huge part of its core team—people who were active in the chat but also contributed heavily to other threads, helped others, and drove real discussions. Then, out of nowhere, a new moderator is appointed whom 80% of the group can't stand, all under the guise of "we need people active enough to cover most days." Was she truly the best choice? Why isn't the "community" consulted during moderator elections? Absolutely no one—or at least the vast majority of the Lonely Heart crowd—had an issue with ruggedscout76 and Ludica being mods. In fact, they were arguably the best choices, at least in my view and based on the feedback from others.
I don't know, everything at Lonely Heart feels so forced right now, especially with the owner arriving with these "fresh off the boat" ideas that clearly aren't revitalizing anything; honestly, nobody even seems interested. Was it really worth risking the departure of such a high-quality group? Some might say, "it doesn't matter who the mod is, just ignore it," but it does matter, because the leadership sets the tone and creates the atmosphere that encourages people to write and debate. This hasn't happened since the previous set of mods practically drove us all to Offtopic and killed the chat, but now it's happening again, just a bit more quietly.
So, I’m sitting here wondering what the actual plan is. Is it even worth heading back to the US at all, especially now that the "beloved" newly elected moderator is running the show over on the US chat?
Thanks for asking. 😁
Like I’ve mentioned before, I see Lonely Heart as the vanguard of this Forum. 🙂 I stumbled into the US section just when Ludica stepped up as a mod. My goal was to fix a glaring flaw we have when bringing in new mods—throwing them straight into the fire to figure it out themselves without actually teaching them the Forum's core vision. Usually, new mods just mimic whatever the previous ones did or follow rules from other sub-forums, which isn't always the right move. The vision for the Forum—and specifically for Lonely Heart as a microcosm of the whole site—is too massive to explain in one post. But it has worked; the moderator discussions in US are now almost as active as the main threads themselves. 🙂
Rome wasn't built in a day, so these ideas will roll out as they come. Their defining trait is that they break away from standard forum clichés.
Since I've been closely monitoring US for about a month and a half now, I feel the need to jump in and go beyond the surface level. Sometimes I forget to switch to my alt account, so my posts end up under this handle. 😁
As for Butterfly, she’s a veteran mod who consistently contributes to moderator discussions and stays fully looped into everything we’re trying to build. She helped bring Shadow in moderation on board, helped brainstorm ideas, and has been incredibly active behind the scenes. Honestly, she was basically our third mod long before she officially got the title. Lata used to be a mod back on LJES during its peak years, so she understands the spirit of the old Forum—back when things were more inventive and exciting, before everyone started getting banned or kicked, and topics were rarely locked. That connection to the Forum's original inspiration is invaluable. Since I know how she thinks and we click, she was my choice, regardless of whether people liked it or not. You can't please everyone, and I'm not going to waste energy trying.
Anyway, do you have any specific complaints about Latino moderation, or do you just dislike her?