Minutes from Admin Meeting 5/6/17

The moderator meeting was held on May 6, 2017. In attendance were , , , , and . , , and were unable to attend. was nominally the organizer and presided over the meeting; took notes and did the write-up.

Several topics were brought up for discussion and four, specifically, were addressed at length. The first substantive topic was a decision to formalize expectations for commitment and contact of moderators. The second item for discussion was to talk about how to present and implement group-wide resources. The third list-item was to talk about group-wide events and contests. Finally, the last major topic was an attempt to institute a more organized approach to long-term events. Several other topics were brought up, but there was little in the way of exploration, so I’ll sort of lump everything else at the end.

The first topic, formalizing the expectations for moderators, has become a bit larger of an issue than I ever imagined it would, which is both good and bad. It’s good because it means that people are becoming invested in and ; the popularity of our groups is gratifying and shows that we've been doing some things right. It’s bad because we moderators are still just people and our ability to invest into the group is limited by our individual real lives. To that end, we’ve determined that moderators will provide a method that members can use to reliably contact us; those methods will be posted on the front page along with expected response times. Please note that while we, as moderators, will do our best to respond to requests in a timely manner, we cannot always guarantee that the response will be what you want: if you want someone to do free work for you, you may have to look elsewhere.

We, the moderators, respectfully request that members remember that we are all volunteers and, further, none of us are being paid; in fact, many of us have donated significantly both in time and money. We reserve the right to pass a problem on to a more qualified administrator or to refuse to address an issue if it becomes contentious. In the event of difficult problems or decisions, we will maintain open communications with the other moderators so that we are all aware of larger concerns.

The next thing we discussed was the idea that we needed to make group-wide resources a little more prominent and, further, that, when possible, we need to encourage people to use them (and to use them ourselves). There are several resources available to members, even now, but the current state of affairs makes picking them out and using them somewhat difficult. To this end, new folders in and will be created to help organize the resources. Additionally, a couple new forms will be designed to help create both settings and organizations. These new forms will be similar to the generic bio sheet and include a section to explain how the resource is intended to be used. Please review these resources periodically and make use of them to help cement your stories within the setting.

An important adjunct to these new folders and items is that members should use already-established settings in preference to creating new places when possible. While new settings will not be summarily dismissed, using previously established locations and groups will help to provide continuity within the group. Exemplars of the setting and organizations (such as Mallard’s, Caring Hands, and the MRT) will be placed within the folders and can be used as required in stories.

A further resource that and are providing— and which several other moderators have offered to help expand— is Facebook. At present, has a page up for Dr. Terressa Martin and has a page for Minnie. We have plans, further, to develop pages for the West End Weekend and the West End Renovation Project. Members are encouraged to create their own Facebook pages, either for themselves or for their fictional characters, and make friends with our pages. and also suggested that we create a Facebook Group (or, possibly, several), which is a project that we are looking into; anyone with expertise is welcome to help us figure out the logistics.

Finally, a resource which is, I suspect, currently under-utilized: has, among its mods, a master- (mistress?-) cartographer in . Although she was unable to attend the meeting, I would be remiss if I didn’t throw her under the bus… uh… I mean mention that she has made all of the maps for and and, further, that her rates for commissions are quite likely the best in the business. If you are making a setting of any sort, I urge you to speak with her regarding the development of a floor plan and placement on the city maps.

The next item on our agenda was a discussion regarding themed events and group-wide promotions such as the Lingerie Brawl, the Halloween Bash, and the Winter Bikini Contest. Numerous other events— Mischief Night and Founder’s Week for example— were brought up as well. The main thing that is currently lacking is organizational structure. Realistically, having more than one major event per month is not manageable, although we never want to discourage people from submitting their own themed artwork or stories. If, for example, you want to do a picture for Chinese New Years (thanks, ) or for President’s Day or May 4th, that is entirely at the discretion of the artist, and we hope members will feel inspired and emboldened to do so; it is simply that, as a group, we cannot endorse every project that comes along. We just don’t have enough hours in the day.

To that end, has been volunteered to submit a calendar which the moderators will look over and ratify; once the calendar is accepted, it will be placed on the front page on both and . If you have an idea for an event that you would like to see included in the group, please submit it to in a dA Note before June 9, 2017 and we’ll see what we can do about including it. If your idea is not immediately ratified, please do not be discouraged; some events may have to be delayed while we get the system up and running.

The last big discussion item was to ponder how to better organize long-term events. This topic resulted from the fact that the Halloween Bash lasted from October through May (sorry about that, guys— my bad) and the fact that the Faerie Invasion sort of grew somewhat out of control. This discussion was not really concluded, although several things were mentioned; the general consensus seems to be that actually organizing long-term events may not actually be practical; it sounds good, but there are too many personalities and variables involved. Added to that is the fact that neither members nor moderators are being paid and, further, there is no chief editor or publisher with a contract or deadlines to hold over our heads, and it simply becomes difficult to force direction. As an example, I would note that the Faerie Invasion was floated as an idea well in advance of implementation, had considerable buy-in, and even had a fairly detailed outline from which to deviate— and the whole thing kind of went off the rails within a month of getting started. A number of factors played into this, of course, but it highlights a fundamental problem with attempting to impose a more rigid structure on these events: reality can and will impose changes that cannot be foreseen, and authors and artists will have to adapt to the changing environment.

As an aside: long-term events are something that were introduced in and, I think, are the basis for something incredibly dynamic and entertaining as our groups move forward. Not only do they offer authors and artists a way to integrate their stories and characters into the larger narrative of the world, they also provide ways to change and expand the setting beyond the scope of the initial concept. With the Faerie invasion, we introduced fae and demons to normal people; the shape of society within has been changed forever. Our next long-term event may be an alien invasion or a robot rebellion a la Skynet; either one will create substantive changes, again, from expanding the known universe (which has already begun because of characters like Dal-Lii) or forcing people to take a hard look at the rights and abilities of artificial intelligences. That is part of the function of long-term events: to dynamically alter the way in which the world works and, through that, to expand on the number of elements available to authors and artists for use within the setting.

The last things we talked about were more general in nature; as moderators, we’d like to see more buy-in on long-term events, but there hasn’t been much thought as to what the best method of promoting that might be. Several people have also expressed an interest in having more meetings, while others have voiced a strong preference for fewer meetings (or, possibly, none at all). We commented on the need to seek help when overwhelmed (actually, mostly it was people telling me to get help… I think they meant with my work, but it may have been a commentary on my mental health, as well…)

As always, and welcome the free flow of ideas between members and moderators. Please submit your ideas and suggestions to the community, participate in chat, and otherwise banter with our community. We look forward to expanding our community and spreading our network beyond our borders.