I'm coming out of my internet hibernation to respond to this thread, which I will say outright that I think it is absolutely ridiculous something like this is brought up in such a manner. To criticize a group of people under the guise of "
discussion", and doing so anonymously, on top of it all, is extremely cowardly. It blows my mind how self-righteous you think yourselves are, to bring out an attack on the governance of the TAFL network, yet not revealing your own identities. Do you know how much this undermines your integrity? Do you know how this will in effect make people take this topic less seriously? If you really wanted to raise your opinions to be discussed in a fair and just audience, why don't you put your name on it? You talk about a democratic process, yet in turn, you hide behind a veil of secrecy in order to preserve your ego. This is the first and foremost reason why I don't think you should be taken seriously at all. You haven't shown any indication that you want to be.
Furthermore, I think that because you do not reveal your names, you actually don't have that much support behind your accusations. If you had a forum of individuals backing up your claim, you would proudly reveal yourselves. By guising your post as "discussion" and posting anonymously, you are trying to gauge and gather "support", thus effectively saving your own behinds from any inadvertent consequences.
Lastly, I would like to conclude this portion of my post by saying, if you so strongly believe in your claims, why do you not do anything
constructive towards your ends? Instead of whining about "unfair rules", such as you claim, why don't you suggest alternatives or solutions to the "problems"? Would this not be a more efficient way to meet your goals? All you did was make elementary statements about your grievances. So now, we're still stuck at the first step. Nothing is changing; and people are just getting more frustrated. Thus, I ask, was this your intent?
-----------------------------------------------------
And, now, to address the topics you have raised:
Forum related administrationI will only touch lightly on this topic since I'm not a spammer of the Boards like I used to be, and therefore wouldn't have the most relevant things to say. I would just like to point out that, as somebody who has moderated large forums with screaming fangirls,
it is an extremely tedious and, frankly, annoying task. Do you have any idea how much time is spent reading each post that is made everyday, to make sure that they adhere to the rules? Usually at a forum of this size, there are only a handful of administrators for the hundreds and thousands of regular members, who, quite frankly, can do a lot of damage in a matter of hours. Just to be able to keep up with the volume of posts made per day is not easy. Also, might I point out that, forum administrators don't actually like to warn/ban people or delete threads. Forums are supposed to be fun, and that's why we're here. But somebody has to be the police.
In conclusion, forums have rules and they must be enforced. Otherwise things would get out of hand. If there is not a forum for your tastes here, then you can find another place or even create your own. Then you can make your own rules.
Fanlisting rulesI can go on and on about rules, but I'll try to keep it simple. I must stress the fact that
rules are there for a reason. TAFL staffers don't just make rules because they hate you. They don't, I can assure you. They make rules because it makes the network easier to manage. Might I remind you that the TAFL network has almost
6500 fanlistings. That's A LOT. And there are only 21 staffers, 14 of whom take care of the categories, which are most relevant to fanlisting owners. In order to manage a network this size, including the volume of inquiries received on a daily basis, there has to be governance.
Again, I ask you, have you ever thought about
why these rules were put in place? Whether it be the 6 upcoming or 3 pending... They are there to make it easier for the staffers, who, I might remind you,
are working for free for YOU, to manage the sheer amount of existing, upcoming, and troubled fanlistings that we have. The anime/manga fandom, as I'm sure you know, is GIGANTIC. You try managing it without wanting bang your head on the wall. It's mind numbing sometimes. These rules were put in place so that
1) staffers get a manageable load for the amount of time they're putting into this work and
2) so that every potential fanlisting owner has a chance to own a fanlisting. This benefits both parties. Because if staffers don't have time to manage,
no one will own fanlistings, well at least not ones approved by TAFL. So I beseech you,
have some respect and appreciation for staffers. They take countless hours out of their precious days so you can own fanlistings.
As for the codes rule, all I can say is that it's a way to standardize. Is it really that hard to put the subject of the fanlisting on codes? It takes all of 5 seconds, seriously.
Staffer biasFirst of all, I don't think you use the term "bias" in the right context, but what the hell. You guys aren't saints anyway. I think it's merely perception that Staffers seem distant and are only authoritative when it comes to the forum. You have to keep in mind that Staffers have to play two roles, one obviously is to be enforcers of Network rules and the latter is to be a participating member of the community. I think you need to distinguish those roles when you're reading a Staffer's post and put it in context. What you say as "scolding" is a mere policing of the rules. You shouldn't blame them or condemn them just because they're doing their job. What is wrong with doing their jobs? Part of their jobs is also to make sure fanlistings are approved, etc. Are you saying they should stop doing that too? Don't take things for granted. It only makes you seem immature. You can't have candy all the time.
Is it too much to ask to have Staffers who will talk to everyone and not make us feel like we're the scum of the earth because we got a little angry about a rejection or ungrateful about something else?
In response to that, I ask, have you ever considered Staffers as your fellow community members? As your "friends" that you're socializing with in this forum. I think not.
You already come with the
bias that Staffers only want to put you down. So why do you have the right to talk about Staffer bias? To me, it just seems like you're using this as a convenient excuse to blame Staffers on whatever you're unhappy about.
-----------------------------------------------------
Originally, I was going to post this anonymously due to the harshness of my words. But I reconsidered. Because I don't want to be a coward like you. I have already prepared myself for whatever rebuttals might come as a result. So feel free to attack my argument; I welcome it.
And lastly I just want to say how disrespectful you have been. For all the the time and work that TAFL Staffers have put in, how dare you try to slander their character? Shame on you.
