A new home for the Forum Cartel?

Again, you would have to create a new group, everyone has to join again, plus the land would have to be re deeded, etc. Is it really worth the effort.

Maybe just change the title of the threads then? Dunno

Oh and for what it's worth I never felt unwelcome. My reference in my earlier post to not being part of the group was meant more as a disclaimer than anything else The remainder of my comments were meant in a positive manner, if they were in any way ambiguous I'll go back to language school.

Now where is my pie..........

I think we're getting a little off topic here and I think it's partly my fault for criticising the Cartel. I retract this wholeheartedly. The terminology is not important enough to go to the trouble as Brenda describes, of changing it.

The hangout is terrific, truly. The group also. It's the group and the people in it that make it great. The name is just a label.

The topic here was the volume of thread hijacking and despite the majority of posters saying they want to stay here, we must do it by abiding to Linden's rules, however they may pan out.

Like Trout has announced, I shall try and restrict my destructive tendencies.

Man, are his arms going to be tired!

Happy Friday everyone! I'm looking forward to actually making it to the Hangout this weekend hoping to find others there and hoping to not get suddenly pulled away by RL events like the exploding dehumidifier.

I think it should be stated clearly about the Forum Cartel and one of its core purposes, which I think might be getting lost here in all this -

The Forum Cartel is an in-world group, first and foremost. One of its core goals was to facilitate opportunities for forum regulars to get together in-world, put names to avatars, and explore social opportunities unavailable here in the forums. Leaving forum business, animosities, etc "in the forums" was and remains central to our purpose. The Prime Directive, if you will. To this end, NOBODY is excluded from participation, so long as they have sufficient social skills to follow and abide by "The Prime Directive". I believe we have been extraordinarily successful with this experiment thus far.

We have grown from a small group, to now 166 members, and I think what we are seeing develop here is more along the lines of a new "community" rather than a "clique" or any sort of exclusive or elite organization. If anybody, whether currently a member, or considering joining, feels excluded in any way, let's work together to remedy that.

That being said, I believe we now represent a pretty substantial cross section of those who regularly participate in the Linden Lab sponsored forums, and who for the most part lend them the character they have today, for better or for worse. I believe that along with this comes a responsibility to be good stewards of the forums, and to acknowledge and support the purpose for which they are provided. Tongue in cheek humor, inside quips, etc, all have their place in any public discussion forums, but please, let's not lose sight of the bigger picture. We are bound to see more rounds of rapid ingress of new residents, and and I believe we owe it to them, if not to ourselves, to keep Resident Answers a safe, friendly and useful place to learn about Second Life.

Peace, Love and Happy Friday

Zaph

What.... Bilbo took out his destructive tendencies on someone's dehumidifier?

I find Zap's comments Highly Logical

It didn't laugh at one of my jokes .. but shh .. Bod doesn't know it was me! .. and with a Probability Factor of 6.755 and rising.

Happy weekend guys!

/me makes a note to tell all the inanimate objects in her home to consider bilbo extremely humorous.

*Cheers for Zap* Well said!

im not sure whether i think of the cartel as a clique or not. a couple of months ago i would have said it is not. today i am more inclined to think it is in some way.
i think the change came about once the land thing started up. there was a stratification of the group at that point. the opinions of some began to carry more weight than others, and for the first time we had people exercising executive authority and whatnot. i suppose i think of it as some flavour of a ruling clique, or a clique within the cartel actually. at least thats how it looked from my perspective.

i also get annoyed by the pie talk. id really dig it if the pie talk and whatnot was kept to the cartel threads. i suspect the cartel threads are allowed under the radar to serve as an outlet for the OT chat and pie talk. i reckon if that sort of thing keeps happening in too many threads strife will start thinking 'give them and inch and they take a mile'.

That says it for me, too, Des. Thanks.

And for Debbie...You mean I'm a member of a clique? Wow, FINALLY!

Seriously, though...I'm pretty new here myself, and I found the forum "regulars" to be very open and welcoming, not at all prone to exclude newcomers.

I think the name "Forum Cartel" is misleading. It implies some sort of closed society, and nothing could be further from the truth. The members and officers of the Forum Cartel (the in-world group, which is similar to, but not quite identical with the regular posters on the Forums) have all repeatedly said that it's open to all comers. Same goes here in the Forums.

"Send us your lurkers, your newbies, your confused and puzzled masses yearning for answers." Anyway, we need some new in-jokes. So jump right in here with some posts, OK?

Nina, I respect your opinions highly. But I think you've got the wrong slant on it here. The land purchase and the Hangout were a great idea...but if they were to happen, SOMEbody had to be in charge. The folks who stepped up to the challenge to run that project did so with my full blessing, and (I thought) everyone else's too. I don't see them as a "privileged class" in any way, although I may look up to them for volunteering to take on that job, and for doing it well.

i've kind of tried not to get into the politics of this forum cartel stuff. i just tend to go where i think people are fun, and stay away from those i don't care for.

so far, i haven't detected any clicky groupings. some people like to hang together more than others. it's the nature of human beings.

i would really hope that the forum cartel membership is not strictly limited to folks who post regularly, but to anyone who happens upon this forum and shows interest in meeting with people of like mind. that's what i thot it's intention was, anyway.

unfortunately, this place is moderated to NOT include general discussion, which is a real shame, and i hope LL (or whoever) will change that attitude soon. i can't believe these forum cartel type thraeds have been allowed to continue at all, since they are so NOT a real contribution to 'residents answers'.

just my wee (and simple version of my) perspective.

you just see it from a different perspective than myself.
i have some very definite thoughts on the point youve outlined here, but this isnt the time or place

Yes, once the land idea started, some leadership was needed. With 160 people spread all around the world, we had to have a small group of people take charge. You can't run a project this big and this complicated with out a group to step up and take responsibility. Pretty much the only things that have not been put up for open discussion and change are the two main group rules that we started with:

1: Forum arguments stay on the forums.
2: Everyone is welcome.


As for the Cartel name, it was meant as a joke. When we started the group, it was mainly made up of the outlaws of the Forums. We were somewhat the Anti FIC. We never expected the group to grow like it has.

I did smell smoke when I went downstairs. I assumed it was from the motor burning out but perhaps it was that Southfarthing pipe weed?

---------------------------------------

Regarding the rest of the discussion--SL is a virtual world inhabited by real people. We can't see anything there except through the lens of of ourselves that we bring to it. I simply choose to experience it with a pleasurable nonattachment and not project a load of expectations on it or its inhabitants. So far that's working.

We're stuck with the Cartel group name, but (as some have suggested) can we change the name of the Cartel threads to something like "Forum Chat Thread MCDVIII"? That might make it clearer to newcomers and lurkers that are all welcome to toss their 2L in.

I think Raymond really summed it up here, at least for me. It's true. I had made a perception in my mind that you guys were a tight group and probably did not want outsiders...but I made that perception before I ever even attempted posting and I have never been to the hangout. My first post on this forum was in this thread and yeah I was worried it would be ripped apart or just chalked up to pie, but it wasn't, you guys listened, responded and I felt good about it. It was my own pre-determined ignorance that prevented me from posting before, whether it was a true ignorance issue, fear of rejection or lack of self confidence...I don't know. You guys are good people, I don't think you should leave, change things or sugarcoat things with a name change.

You've got a whole weekend in front of you, Bang - Plenty of time to check out the Hangout! You'll usually find a pretty good crowd there in the mornings and evenings on the weekend (SLT/PST). It thins out midday and as it gets later in the night.

We're adding camping chairs to increase traffic to the orgy room.

OK. I made that last part up. I haven't actually checked traffic lately, but I think we've been getting a pretty good turnout of people, and since there isn't any shopping or camping, those numbers are probably all people looking to hangout and have a good convo.

This is where I am in total disagreement. I had and still have serious concerns the way the leadership of the Hangout was handled. There was no democratic process whatsoever. A few made the decision for all despite the fact that a large number of people were donating land, time and money. I don't think there was any ill will intended. I think it was just a knee jerk reaction. Unfortunately, this is where I believe the disconnect really began. I have no issues with anyone involved and would have voted right down the line with those in charge, but think it would have been best if others could have been more actively involved in the process. One person posting a suggestion and a few others saying "yes" in a few short hours does not make it inclusive. I aired my concerns then and was pretty much dismissed by the same individuals making the decisions.

That being said, I do think it was nothing more than an error in judgment and I am still very happy here. I don't think there is a clique whatsoever. It did appear to me that way at first and made me feel very much an outsider and is something that I try to keep in mind. I did learn that once I jumped right it and joined the fun that I was welcomed with open arms. It's not going to be everyone's thing and that's ok. If others don't feel comfortable participating in the whole cartel thing, that's just the way they are, but I do hope they stay and help assist others which is my primary purpose here. I definitely want to have fun along the way though.

As for the term "Cartel". It's just fun. Lighten up folks.

You summed up my experience almost verbatim Bang. Thank you.

I think the Forum Cartel should start a new group with a new name at least once a week or better still after each rolling grid restart.

IMO that will...

a) weed out any inactive members
b) keep all active members on their toes

I'm a member of the group. I joined the group without invitation, just found it in world and joined. I've been to the hangout (not enough, but I've been there). I've posted a little in the forums.

I don't really participate in the Forum Cartel threads, mostly because I'm not sure of the etiquette (when is the right time for pie and how well do you have to know Brenda before you can refer to her pants, that kind of thing). I haven't been here that long, don't really know anyone here that well.

However, everyone was really welcoming when I went to the hangout (special thanks to Brenda), and I was very glad I went.

See, this was supposed to be going somewhere, I'm not sure where though......

The point I'm trying to make (I think) is that the forum cartel threads seem a bit intimidating but if you go to the hangout you will be warmly welcomed.

In general everyone here is remarkably helpful and welcoming despite the fact that any long time regular must have answered the same noob questions hundreds of times. And it's good for regulars to have a thread to chat in. So I don't know what the answer is (but a name change for the threads might help, I agree with others that the Cartel bit seems a bit exclusive).

erm, i'm going to stop rambling now......

and confuse the rest.

Thank you Bang. As for the Project, it's done. Do we need to keep rehashing it? It was thought up spontaneously, grew too quickly, and was in danger of going way out of control. Chris and I as the group owners in conjuction withe the other officers did what we thought best to get it under control while still giving as much input to the membership as possible. As someone who stood along the sidelines on most of it, I think they did a great job, I don't think people were excluded. Not everyone can can have a decision on everything in life. There is no Ruling Class or inner core or other such nonsense. If you feel otherwise, that's your right I guess. As is your right to leave the group with no hard feelings. Your tier will be returned, and I'll give you back your cash donations if need be from my pocket. This all meant to be fun for us all, nothing more.