I'm resigning from the forum moderation team for a couple of reasons.
My focus on discussion and community interaction generally led me to write a lot. It's easy to burn out while writing, in fact, I'm already burned out while writing this post. I'm not an easy-going person, but I love to talk about things that matter to me - I'm not able to reach the activity requirements of the team because, while pursuing a high level of activity, I found myself saying things I didn't even mean (to be clear - I have the time to meet these requirements - I just cannot mentally bring myself to do so). I truly envy the other members of this team who are the ideal representations of forum activity - they aren't perfect, nor is anyone, but they are willing to improve. The new forums team is large and even larger changes are clearly ahead. They've got a long way to go in many respects, I really do wish them the best. To any of them reading - focus on the interaction, the truth. Remember the times when you were just a player - and then write your reply. Remember that you can only lock a thread - you can't lock an idea. We have to start addressing the problems of the community head on, you guys have an excellent opportunity to do so and I know we could do better. The staff team has a lot of incentives - I see a lot of discussion about this and I have put a lot of commentary on this issue myself. The love we have for promotions, demotions, tags, and awards are great. But our love for community is greater still.
Don't be mistaken, you can be sincere and constructive in any section of the forum. When it comes to the community, I gravitated toward detail and quality. I found myself talking and talking about the critical issues that this community has, the upsides, the downsides, the future, and the past.
A special shoutout to
Nuclear_Poptart , who is the principal reason I am a member of the staff team - and even considered being active on the forums when I first joined this community.
Everyone on the forums team, from Jen, Wandy, Jojo, Alpha (my first mentor!) and Combat (my second mentor!) to Shawn (snowman!), coolstick (the guy who spammed the FR doc!), and everyone in the org - you guys are pretty awesome. Thanks for all that you do! c:
I am genuinely not sure why I wrote a lot - I decided to resign a couple of days ago. I write a lot in forum threads - but on my wall - I usually keep it short and sweet. This has probably been an unforgiving read and I'm pretty sorry that I felt the need to write a lot - the classic one liner would have been sufficient for so many. For me, I really felt the necessity to write what I felt - I hope you forgive how much I droned on and on about really vague concepts and things that not everyone could relate with. Perhaps, it will all make sense some day.
