****************** ALL MEMBERS READ THIS ******************

Re: SALVAGING OUR REPUTATION

Another lucid dreaming forum, that shall remain nameless, seems to be disseminating the notion that we are an unfriendly forum. Notwithstanding any merit that that opinion may or may not have, I think this is something we should be heedful of and strive to avoid. While I find myself rather disappointed in regards to how some of their members conduct themselves--particularly an exuding (and unprovoked) insolence coupled with stark disdain for our forum--I feel we should take steps to rectify the situation.

So what can we do? Well, I ask that all members try to generally be friendlier to their fellow forum members here. Certainly the number one priority has always been to present a warm front to all new users...perhaps we should step this up so everyone feels completely welcome here. I know many of you openly prefer a smaller community; gradual evolution of the board dictates, however, that the board will inevitably continue to grow. The 'Community' forum was introduced to provide the best of both worlds (those of you who cannot access that forum simply have not been members long enough). There's no reason why additional community forums cannot be created, perhaps providing a smaller community atmosphere for different periods of membership here (perhaps without overlap with other community forums, so that the board doesn't become completely befuddled).

Also, I will be enlisting the help of a couple more moderators; not so much to introduce a "zero tolerance" policy regarding conduct--as that would essentially completely contravene what I'm trying to do here--but rather to help spearhead this new mandate (i.e. to be openly exuberant and warm). We are not accepting nominations this time; I already have in mind the two or three people I will be inviting to join our staff.

So again, please keep this in mind whenever posting on the forum...particularly when replying to topics started by new users.


Thanks.

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Originally posted by icedawg
Re: *SALVAGING OUR REPUTATION

Another lucid dreaming forum, that shall remain nameless, seems to be disseminating the notion that we are an unfriendly forum. *Notwithstanding any merit that that opinion may or may not have, I think this is something we should be heedful of and strive to avoid.

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I think one of the most important causes to this, was that padfoot (a young boy who was here) felt that almost all replies to him was bad.
As supposed, padfoot is propably very young, hence he could be comprehended as a immature person.

Personally, I think padfoot didn't mean to be annoying in any way.
Very young people have not learned how to behave sofisticated, and allways be on topic.
IMO; this is something who takes time to learn, and them who are very young, simply have not learned it.

I have seen this unpopular boy on other forums after his account was inactivated, and I hope nobody will offend him again, because he is propably very young, and don't know how to act sofisticated.
It is important to remember that a person can be friendly, even if he is annoying.
Also, young people seems to be less tolerate to bad comments.

I hope nobody will feel unwanted on DV again, and that DV not will be looked on as a unfriendly forum again.

OK, Seeker deleted my post, it was "inflamitory". Well, I suppose this time I'll just say I hope we manage to get the reputation we deserve, and that's a good one.

Oh and by the way, we have enough asterisks in post titles to be getting along with.

ok you need to understand... we pandered to padfoot. it's gone now but when the kid started posting in the TTT technique thread we were accommodating to an extent... but when the kid started flaming on members who were trying to help and then mods, while taking the thread completely off topic (it was an established and helpful thread), as well as posting about 40 times within 5 pages... opinions were formed concerning him. he took it too far in my opinion.

i for one will be more light hearted... for the little bit of time i have left. if that means keeping my opinions to myself concerning someone's claims then fine, i can do that. but please don't expect me to just passively agree... i'd sooner not participate in a conversation than suppress my opinions to keep from upsetting people.

we're the janitors of the forums so please don't feel intimidated... we're all open minded people and we can accept criticism. negative or positive... just please tell us what bothers you so we can amend the situation. the feedback forum would be a good place to be heard.

-jake

*edit* posts missing! i'll survive *edit*

I would like to take this opportunity to invite each of you to talk honestly with the moderators or admins.

Please keep it in a PM or offline.

Share with them:

Things you think they are doing well
Things that you think they can do better
Any praises you have for them
Any criticisms

Please make this a positive experience for both of you. The purpose of this is to make things better, not to vent at us.

Again, please do not post this on DV. This should remain a private conversation between you and the mo/admin.

Let's make this a growth opportunity!

My opinion, even with some of the recent strife, we still have the best darn LD forum on the web

oh boy! hate mail! :-P

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Originally posted by adidas
ok you need to understand...

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I understand it was a reason for the bad replies to padfoot, but I also think that rumors about bad replies can set a forum in a unfriendly light, because people who only hear rumors usually don't hear the whole truth.

So I think several people have heard that padfoot was unpopular, but not the reasons why.

hrm. based on what i've heard and read this wasn't an isolated issue (in regards to padfoot). please bear in mind that i was absent during the whole padfoot fiasco, and don't know what really happened at all. personally, i feel whatever he did is completely irrelevant; apparently he's only 9 years old, thus it would be quite irresponsible of us to allow him to continue to use our forum: some of the topics discussed here encompass adult-themes, and quite honestly i don't think a 9 year old needs to be exposed to them. the age restriction is not simply to alleviate us from the burden of the more immature; it's for their best interests as well. we could certainly consider accommodating the younger and providing them their own forum in which they could dwell (while denying access to the remainder of the board). Regardless, let's please not discuss that incident anymore, and instead focus on my request.

also, i agree with seeker's request that users please discuss with us (via email or PM) their comments and feelings (either positive or negative). actually i welcome very negative comments.

Fault of: (can't remember name)

who posted DreamViews at ld4all with things like "they seem a bit critical".

Anyway, it'd be a good idea for icedawg to go right over and put them right. Now.

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Originally posted by Techboy
Anyway, it'd be a good idea for icedawg to go right over and put them right. Now.

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Naw, Icedawg has nothing to gain by that. If we are perceived as being unfriendly, it is up to us to correct this impression. The best way to set it right is for us to be aware and work toward making things better.

Ok, Well, I say delete all of these "unfriendly" posts. All of the "we hate padfoot" and the "post whore" thread. Gone. Forgot about. What about that?

I say we apologize other than delete threads, at least that would be the "right" thing to do.

Although, it does seem like a inevitable cycle. We are slightly more popular than the one forum I think you are talking about, and if they dislike dreamviews, and just go to the next forum down the line. And of course they are going to tell them about their previous experience with forums. So the real challenge is keeping as many users as we can here. Although we can't hold on to everyone (*cough*assholes*cough*), we should try anyways. A reputation is an important thing.

NB: This is just my opinon.

When Techboy said "there's a thread you should read Kaniaz, it's about the forum being unfriendly", I said: "Unfriendly? UNFRIENDLY? We're not unfriendly!". And that's just what I think - I don't think we're being unfriendly at all. In my opinon, everyone who is here are the most friendliest people I've ever met.

But since concern has been voiced over it, and i'd hate to see this forum being classed as "unfriendly" and have it's reputation demolished, I will make it my upmost priority to, well, be more friendly. (That sentence was rubbish). :P

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Originally posted by Kaniaz
When Techboy said \"there's a thread you should read Kaniaz, it's about the forum being unfriendly\", I said: \"Unfriendly? UNFRIENDLY? We're not unfriendly!\"

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Or words to that effect....

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Originally posted by Kaniaz
and i'd hate to see this forum being classed as \"unfriendly\"

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I must say I wholeheartedly agree with that comment

I agree with Kaniaz, I don't believe we are being unfriendly at all. I do however admit that at times I am a bit jaded, and instead of giving the newbs the warm welcome I generally do, I just tell them to check out the tutorials, site, etc. or something else that might not be categorized as a real friendly and warm behavior. I will try to keep this to a minimum. Sometimes we are not the friendliest bunch, but that is generally only when we feel one of our own has been insulted or such. That is when everyone gangs up on a certain individual.

If people don't mind(otherwise please edit this or ask me to do so myself) I will take the "Postwhore" thread by evanescent as an example. People all ganged up on him to a certain extent because we are protecting our board from spam. Because we want people to earn their rank(not only in how much they have learned, but how much we have learned from and about them). Topics like this tend to get us all riled up and participate in things that might be categorized as "unfriendly" behavior, such as critizism.

Overall I think we are a very friendly board, despite what they say. Otherwise, I would have never stayed here and be as active as I have been and presently am. This board is like a home to me, and its members are great friends.

I will do what I can to help improve this place, and make it an even better place. I guess we should all try and embrace the fact that we are growing(as it is inevitable) and just let it be. Hopefully we will get more people like the regs we have now...

*Claps*

And to add my final piece:

I have noticed very little unfriendly behaviour on the forum. So we don't increase our incorrect tagging of "unfriendly", lets keep it that way, OK?

I have received many complaints from newcomers and even some people who have been around for a little about pedantic behaviour, and also arrogance.

The typical complaint I hear about is that newcomers are discouraged to post a new thread anywhere for fear that Moderators will flip out and give them hell for posting their topic in the wrong thread. Quite simply, newcomers are afraid of being ridiculed because they are new.

One example: I thought "n00b" was a term used in games as an insult, not for dreaming.

Righto.

I'll have to start to categorize some kind of FAQ, perhaps with the help of some members, so that we can direct new people to that and specific parts of the FAQ that are relevant, and post that in a friendly way, because I realise now, alot of people interested in this subject havent visited any sort of messageboard in their lives before.

As far as I understand, we already have one by lowercase society...Maybe we can help expand it, though.

I guess what we have is an attitude problem, now that I think about it. Lately it's been Dreamviews vs. the newbs, instead of accepting that the newbs are a part of dreamviews. That is something that, at least, I will try to accept and modify my attitude with that point of view.

God Bless all the new members! Let's all grow together!

Who knows, the next n00b to walk through the door could be a young Serinanth or Lost Soul!

It would be ashamed if the door hit his/her butt on the way out!

Do you guys know that we have had over 100 new members in the past 10 days! Incredible!!!

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Originally posted by Seeker
God Bless all the new members! *Let's all grow together!

Who knows, the next n00b to walk through the door could be a young Serinanth or Lost Soul!

It would be ashamed if the door hit his/her butt on the way out!

Do you guys know that we have had over 100 new members in the past 10 days! *Incredible!!!

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i know...it's just crazy. the board stats are so hopelessly skewed that they're essentially useless: they claim we get like 2.7 new users a day because they encompass every day the forum has existed, even when we first came into existence and just got a few new users a week. there's just more and more people coming here, and right now there are a ton of users and guests on (and they're real guests, too; not bots crawling). i'd imagine i'm going to be getting into trouble with my hosting provider soon...probably going to have to upgrade our hosting package.

anyway, to everyone following along with this thread, i have a plan to help make new users feel more welcome and comfortable here. i'll be posting further details once the moderators provide their thoughts on the matter.

There may be a lot of slander between the forum members that have been here since the beginning, as a result some of the things said, While not taken offensivley to the person you are "joking" with, some of the newbies may think otherwise. My friend, who is a member said he does not feel comfortable in this forum becuace he does not feel in the click. (The group)
Also I believe anyone who does visit this forum long enough to inneract with its members will find out how wrong that this accusation is. It is just a shame that the sight is being badmouthed elswhere. :cry:

I don't think I was rude to any of the newbies, but I will be patient with them in the future and try to help them in anyway.

As for what howtzer said, That is so true about the click thing. When I first came here(which was a long time ago), I was afraid that I would not fit in, but I learned that this site has an accepting community that are very friendly. When I came back after months of not coming here, I had already seen that new people that had joined after I left have already become part of the community like Opheliablue and Evanescant(sp?)(great people if I may add). I think People may seem intimidated with how close the members.

Any thoughts on this?

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Originally posted by nightowl
I don't think I was rude to any of the newbies, but I will be patient with them in the future and try to help them in anyway.

As for what howtzer said, That is so true about the click thing. When I first came here(which was a long time ago), I was afraid that I would not fit in, but I learned that this site has an accepting community that are very friendly. When I came back after months of not coming here, I had already seen that new people that had joined after I left have already become part of the community like Opheliablue and Evanescant(sp?)(great people if I may add). I think People may seem intimidated with how close the members. *

Any thoughts on this?

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Thank You nightowl, well if we keep this up we will have about 1000 more next year, but if we keep climbing at this rate we might have as many members as my amount of posts in a year which will be like 8030 which is very truthful add it up.

In my opinion, the Paperdoll EP thread was a possible no-no for newbies.
Sure, it was funny, but it showed some disdain and arrogance about their lack of knowledge/experience in LDing by 'fooling' them into believing something they didnt fully understand.

Eg. I had more than one newbie tell me that they no longer liked the (unnamed) orchestrators of that thread.

Just a thought...