A new home for the Forum Cartel?

I remembered my point!

Don't be scared off, even if it looks intimidating in these forums, its not.

Yes, I also joined the group without invitation. Unfortunately it is now invite only (or however that is termed). So some might see that as non-welcoming. There was something about griefers, but I wasn't at the hangout whenever that occurred.


I never know when or where to say something. I started off trying to be helpful, and occasionally find an occasion to be helpful, but this forum has greatly allowed me to realize how uninformed I am about SL. So I randomly say stuff and hope people don't hunt me down.


Yes, I like the hangout. I wish I had found that bull-riding machine before that "don't add anything more" edict was handed down, but I didn't.


Here is where I probably should have inserted that "I have no information to give in help". Ah well.

By the way, what were the competitors? Wasn't there two competiting threads at one time with different names? Forum Cartel and something? Way back at I?

What are we up to now, anyway, MMVII?

The open joining was turned off because of some griefing ues, namely people begging for money In every case thperson was a new avatar, with no profile. They were removed from the group immediately.

If the topic continues to be regarding people feeling excluded then it's pertinent to the conversation. Dismissing it only adds fuel to the fire.

I'm dense I guess. I just don't see anyone being excluded. They may PERCIEVE it, but it isn't true. Do they want someone at their door with an engraved invitation? A couple people making complaints...*Not you Brad* haven't even set foot on the property to see what it is......*sighs*

Actually if you read my earlier post I was there for quite awhile last night.

I agree that no one is excluded, but obviously some feel that way. Just trying to get to the root of the causes and not trying to stir any flames. It's not the way I feel, but it seems enough people have expressed concern about it that I felt compelled to comment.

Don't worry, I'll get back there soon enough to show my ass.

That's why I put the *Not You Brad* disclaimer.

Well I'm open to suggestions as to how to make things more inclusive. Please tell me , either here or in world.

She said she didn't mean you, Bradley. Actually, as one of the people who managed the project, I feel really bad that people felt excluded. Oryx and I took responsibility for the project (it was Nika's idea originally, but somehow she dodged the bullet. Danged genius, that girl). We honestly did the best we could and we worked very hard on it, as did the others. Most people don't see how much went on behind the scenes - like the hour I spent on the phone with LL after three support tickets and countless other attempts, trying to convince them that there was no link between Mumfuzz and Osama bin Laden or La Cosa Nostra and could they PLEASE reactivate him because if we don't buy the land quickly, the whole thing could fall apart. I convinced them to go from "it might take a few days" to "try to log in now, I think you're good to go".

Things like that were not something that we could reasonably put to a vote. They were the administrative matters and glitches that go on in any project, including RL ones. We asked everyone for their input, had a big public meeting that everyone was invited to, discussed every idea. Oryx spent a lot of time coming up with an agenda and running the meeting.

My concern is that despite our best efforts, we failed to make people feel like they had a voice, and I'd like to rectify that if possible. Do you have any suggestions as to what we could do or what we should have done differently?

Regarding the building of the Forum Hangout:

In my RL job, I have been involved in several "built by committee" projects. In every case, they turned out badly, or worse, they never got implemented at all. Everybody had all the input they could have ever wanted, and the end result is something nobody wanted. Why does it happen this way? Because people get the weird idea that 100 people talking about something over and over will eventually lead to total agreement about the best way to do it. But you know what? It doesn't. People have different opinions, and compromises must be made.

In my experience, the best results happen when you (a) accept that the results may not be exactly what you want, and (b) hand the project over to someone you trust to do it well, and let them do it. When approached this way, you usually end up with something of at least acceptable quality, done quickly.

The thing about the Forum Hangout is that it didn't have to be perfect. I'm glad that we took the mostly non-committee approach, getting something "good enough" built in a very short time. Because really, the hangout is not about the building of it. The hangout is about the hanging out.


(And apologies for not coming inworld this weekend to do some of the aforementioned hanging out... I'm going to be a rebel and venture out into the real world. )

Lol Cartel threads are getting too serious when someone makes a shot at derailing one!

Nina, I respect your opinion and agree with a lot of what you've felt, but I hope we don't rehash the hangout project here. It's done, we have it, it's REALLY cool, and last time I checked everyone agreed that it isn't cast in stone.

Watch out, or whenever we decide we need to change it, someone will put You in charge! Which, given how much noise I personally gave the people who were plowing ahead trying to get it actually built, is certainly not an enviable position!

/me looks around

It's Friday ... can I put in an order for custard pie? Please?

Thank you!

/me carefully eats all the filling then picks up the crust and nibbles, eyes closed in delight


mmmmmm

I feel rather iffy about trout-certified pies. Very few fish have any culinary training whatsoever.

I didn't certify the pie - I certified the cook.

My culinary training amounts to eating SIGNIFICANT quantities of pie. I don't know if that qualifies me to do anything other than nap on the couch and double down on the cardio, but I sure did enjoy it.

Iunno, the cook's looking a little green these days...

Does that make the fish certifiable?

Whoa. An Orion Slavegirl.

OK - who left Ann out of the fridge? She was fresh when I certified her.

ok - that combined with the girl-next-door image I had of you...wait...

/me stares for a while

ok...no, still need to do a little more computing...

/me stares some more...

5.9, but I can't go higher than that unless you lose the top.

/Lexxi Gynoid transforms and goes for the pie . .



So . . .what's my score now Trout? I'm the dino.
As you might notice, I'm completely nude in this snap, Trout. ALL NUDE! ALL THE TIME!

I guess you can't go any higher then.

That was the result of a very random MSN conversation I had last night...after a bit of ogling, my friend claimed he was stealing the look for his female av's Halloween costume. lol

10 on the scale of really cool avatars. Unable to compute on the slut rating scale. You appear to be a naked dinosaur, so you would think that would get you extra credit, but I really don't have a good perspective on how dinosaurs view these things.

I'm leaving your score as a neko/human the same as it was, but I really dig the dino avatar. It looks like it would be fun.

Thank-you.

And for the rest of you, this is one of the pictures I sent Trout. He told me to try harder.

He probably wants you to take your top off too.

Lexxi: You didn't send me that one. I got several from that series - or at least with that outfit. Or parts of that outfit...or without the outfit...

That was pretty early on in the days of the rating system, so I hadn't perfected everything yet - I did reassess you later and give you a higher score.

Ann: sorry - did I cross the line there? I was just joking around.

Heh. Probably. I'm wearing just a jacket in that one without shirt or bra, but if he wants it all off; another naked shot of me: