The Tip of the Iceberg...
What the Admins/Moderators do...
Tuesday, July 19, 2005 by Jafo | Discussion: Community
Everyone who submits works to Wincustomize.com, or 'needs' to contact an Admin/mod for one reason or another can often assume his/her issue is unique, as it's of importance to his/her enjoyment/participation with the site.
They're not alone.
I have a habit of retaining any/all emails regarding Wincustomize.com....I have a 'folder' in Outlook just for them.
Since March, 2001 and up to June 2005 [more recent aren't moved over yet] I've accumulated 6,589 of them.
All are individually input emails, not auto-generated ones [like you get with an acceptance/rejection], and many have replies and veritable tomes of on-going communications/replies.
That's about 52 months, or 127 emails per month, on average 4 per day, every day, for 4.33 years.
I'm sure if you were to add the 'collections' of other Moderators you'd glean even more..... a lot more.
The Moderators don't post 'State of the nation' or 'what we've been up to' threads as the Site coders/bug hunters do, so I thought it moderately timely to keep people up to speed on the realities of managing a big website, and [maybe even] apologise for some responses going astray, perhaps.
Remember...'ego' is all about 'self' and 'self' is the precursor to 'selfish'.
When it's suggested to "be patient" with regards to the ministrations of the site, remember that even the biggest fish is a tadpole....it's all a matter of Perspective....
BTW....eventually the PSD file size limitation will force me to dump it all entirely ..... probably something MS could look into fixing for Longhorn...
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Reply #2 Tuesday, July 19, 2005 11:19 PM
A fine job, and perhaps not a job that gets enough recognition - so here's to you all:
- Thank for the tremendous effort Admins/Mods/Super Wizops/Wizops.
Reply #3 Tuesday, July 19, 2005 11:19 PM
Thanks for all and to all the admins. Keep up the good job
Reply #4 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 12:22 AM
Reply #5 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 1:22 AM
Reply #6 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 1:43 AM
I only hit 'send' once, promise!
Thanks for the great job you [and the other admins/mods] do. As Brad said in another thread "The site would be history if not for volunteers"
ne'er a truer line typed.
Reply #7 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 2:28 AM
Reply #8 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 7:11 AM
Then you too can have a 20 GB email archive going back 10 years just like mine!!!!! 
Seriously, y'all do an awesome job.
Reply #9 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 7:18 AM
Here's a log of what I was up to Sunday morning during the two hour run up to lunch:
Moderate the BootSkin queue. Hmm, sounds easy enough... read on...
Download and install all the BootSkins.
Each BootSkin is then checked for potential need for consent; suspect items have to be followed back to source and thoroughly investigated = much web browsing.
Does the BootSkin work? Simple enough that one, except you have to pull each one to bits to check the image sizes, colour depth and 'same palette' issues. Check the ini file for errors.
Aesthetic value - some images just don't convert well to 16 colours. Check for suitable content - some are just downright offensive (if only you could see - I'm still traumatised from one particular image from the recent past...).
Approve / reject. Put a suitable rating on approved BootSkins, send out rejections for the rest with a reason for rejection.
On top of that the site was in a bad way Sunday morning as some of you may remember = much frustration and head banging.
So, there it is, a brief glimpse into the life of a moderator
Reply #10 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 7:57 AM
Reply #11 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 7:08 PM
| That's about 52 months, or 127 emails per month, on average 4 per day, every day, for 4.33 years. |
Only 2 a day were mine...
I couldnt get site to work so I was unable to get to this thread after I read it..but, I just wanted to say that I found discussing issues with you in an email was always more productive..we didnt have to agree but, you have always been polite and replies are usually in the same day...
Reply #12 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 7:17 PM
Reply #13 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 7:28 PM
Reply #14 Wednesday, July 20, 2005 11:55 PM
Guess there's no pleasing some
Reply #15 Thursday, July 21, 2005 6:53 AM
True. There is something people can do to help though. Keep your eyes open for anything amiss. If you spot an offensive comment, someone misbehaving or rips - we can't have eyes in the back of our heads - drop us an e-mail if you see something we haven't.
Only this morning a rip of some artwork from DA was spotted by someone and promptly removed by an admin. There are currently 13,845,935 deviations at DA alone - no moderator, however conscientious, can be familiar with all graphics ever made, everywhere... !
E-mails of this kind are always welcome and are encouraged (no public posting though - private e-mails only )
Reply #16 Thursday, July 21, 2005 9:13 AM
| Only this morning a rip of some artwork from DA was spotted by someone and promptly removed by an admin |
The thing you left out of this is that it was a Bootskin, it was posted on Sunday, during your hard toiling on tearing apart each and every one in your two hours leading up to lunch, There was no permission, I posted a comment with a link to the original about a rip AND sent Stardock an email with the same information before this bootskin had 7 downloads. I forwarded that email to you after you admitted that you were moderating bootskins on Sunday, and another subscriber sent an email to 4 different people here last nite before it was removed...and very promptly, I might add..3 days and over 1000 downloads later. Save your fairy tales for bedtime. I love WC and Stardock but BS and Half-truths don't fly.
Reply #17 Thursday, July 21, 2005 10:22 AM
Boss019
Politely put a sock in it.
I received an email today, Thursday afternoon, in MY office hours, Australian Eastern time.
This was the FIRST time I had seen that Bootskin.
It was removed 30 seconds later....I think that's fast enough.
Reply #18 Thursday, July 21, 2005 10:47 AM
Reply #19 Thursday, July 21, 2005 11:30 AM
Whatever.
You're right, of course.
Excuse me for breathing.
Reply #20 Thursday, July 21, 2005 11:38 AM
If I did not get YOUR email....in all those 6,589 that I DID get...well, bugger me if I didn't respond to it....I'm not psychic.
As for any other admin/moderators....
Look up the word 'volunteer'
Look up the word 'patience'
Everyone has a REAL LIFE TOO....just like you.
And
Put a sock in it...please.
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Reply #1 Tuesday, July 19, 2005 11:06 PM