Subject: Site Issues, Post From My Heart
Content: Topic Will Include 1. Member Icons 2. On Topic Material 3. Drama, Disagreements, Terms Of Service MEMBER ICONS: Member icons can be industry related or personal pics. The polls were very close combined with a bunch of members that felt that "any" icon was ok. I weighed the situation and came to a conclusion. Thanks for participating in the polls. ON TOPIC MATERIAL: Please continue to keep the site on topic. It helps keep us headed in the right direction. Again, a little off topic here and there is ok if it pertains to something very important, loss of a loved on, someone being sick or someone having an extremely happy day in their life etc. DRAMA, DISAGREMENTS, TERMS OF SERVICE: No doubt that we have a couple of problems on the site. I'm going to make a statement and it will probably be one of the most important posts I ever post because if things don't change, either the administration will change or the site will change hands. With that in mind, here I go............. I know that folks on here absoluely adore this site, I do too. There will never be a perfect web-site. There will never be the perfect admin. As the community grows so will the issues. Some folks hate each other, some disagree with one another. That's life. There is nothing I can do about it. What members have to understand is that I LIKE everyone on here whether you like them or not, because they are on "my" friends list. For anyone to put me in the middle of a personal disagreement or try to lean me in a certain direction is wrong. I will not take sides unless you are wrong. In the past, I've been as I say innundated with this person or that person complaining about this and that. This sort of stuff is causing members to leave which brings me to another point. When you bail on HauntSpace, you're bailing on me. Failing to stick up for what you believe in is something that hurts not only HauntSpace but society in general. Last night I resigned from a place I love because I felt like I was fighting a war by myself. The little gold badge that says Chief on it that I love so much will be gone in two weeks. I'll fight the issues here if you're willing to stick it out. We will always have issues, not everyone will see eye to eye but how you handle it is very important and I'll sum it up right in this post on how to get past it. I have to mention that some of this recent stuff is absolutely ridiculous and I'm not going to lie to you, it really hurt this project. A) If you don't like someone, or disagree with someone leave the person alone. Don't message them, don't do anything that one will consider harassment. B) If you see something bad on HauntSpace REPORT IT, don't sit back and think that someone else will. DO NOT report something stupid. If you report something and you come back two weeks later and still see it there. Don't fire me off some hate mail, I either didn't get to it, forgot it or chose to let it stay. Please learn to agree with what I decide. I make decisons based on what's in the best interest of anyone, not just one specific person. C) If you see stuff on another site that you don't like, don't let it effect you here. I don't care what happens on another site, only what happens on HauntSpace. D) It's very easy to misunderstand someone when they're not in the same room with you. Not all is as it seems. None of us were born with the gift of seeing the world through perfect eyes. Don't judge a book by it's cover. WHAT IS PETE'S PROBLEM? Hey, I'm a member here just like you and I have a bunch of bad habits I have to put in check too, like ranting and raving (this isn't designed to be a rant, I'm not upset, I'm just trying to plug the leak in the ship.) I need to run the site like I did in the beginning and not rely on folks to give me information. I need to learn how to seperate things in life and not allow one situation and the stress related to spill over into something else. I've learned that when you bite off more than you can chew, it's easy to get all warped out and my tolerance becomes low. What I'm saying here is that in my mind's eye, I know when I'm wrong and I openly admit stuff like this on HauntSpace because of my admiration for you folks as members. I think that in some ways, I'm the ultimate administrator but at the same time when I blunder, it's huge. I apologize for that. I don't like knowing that someone's feelings were ever hurt on here, whether I'm responsible for it or not. The big reason I'm addressing this and admitting to this is because there are times in life where we have to sit back and look in the mirror. If I can do it, so can you. We all make mistakes and we will always do so but I think that in the end, it's about how you right those mistakes. We can either fight and get over it, or fight and hate each other. I can't be that shallow. Such is why if someone gets angry and wants to go, or winds up leaving that I will welcome them back even if that person and I had unpleasant words. I am also removing the delete account feature. I want folks to think about stuff a little before they leave HauntSpace. All in all and TRUST ME this isn't just one or two folks, we have a bunch of folks that care so much about the site that they're getting too involved. If each of us stick to Haunting and not worry about what the next guy is saying or doing, and only report TOS violations, everything would run smooth. Trust my decisions to let certain things stay, or when I decide to delete things. I know what I'm doing here, but I can't deal with folks tugging at my sleeves all the time. I have a good number of friends on here that I talk to daily and I like that. But hey, I have to run a web-site too, we can't play favorites. With any situation that gets out of hand, it needs to be addressed and handled. This is my goal here. We have a lot of lurkers, I know that a lot of people will read this, some that left in the past will probably read this. Here my statement to you. You are welcome back at any time. As long as you stick to Haunting, think of others and adhere to the rules, I don't see how you could possibly have a problem. If someone doesn't like what someone has to say, then don't post to it. If someone messages you and makes you upset, tell them not to message you anymore or block them. If you have a problem that you can't handle on your own and it deals with harassment or see that someone violated TOS, report it. Please remember something, when you do things that have major impact the only one that's really hurt in the end is me. When I have members leaving or threatening to leave, I feel as though I failed in some way. Good luck, I hope that some stuff resolves itself.
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