The biggest issue is that we can't hire volunteers and staffers fast enough to handle the size. D: We have to find people who are trustworthy AND have time. AND train them on how to do both maintenance work as well as social work (member drama and so on). By the time we get someone trained, someone else has to retire because of life commitments, etc. With our current number of members we need AT LEAST 30 active staff members, and we're barely able to reach 20 (on a good season).
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I'm always here and -cough- I might -cough- have plenty of -cough- time on my hands. I might also -cough- have an app in -cough- for CV/Staff.
the logical thing to do is to stop letting in so many people until they get things under control, instead of continuing to do a shit job of running the site.
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Exactly. I would rather see a site being well-managed and running smoothly than see one constantly mismanaged and all but collapsing on itself.
I would challenge the logic that people need so much handling.
This isn't a restaurant; there isn't a limited number of seats, we don't need cooks to make content for us, we don't need waitresses to direct us around. This is more like a picnic ground- we might need one or two security guards to break up fights, but generally people should be bringing their own food, and cleaning up after themselves.
This isn't a school where we need teachers and faculty running things, this is an open message board where all we need is a giant wall upon which to staple our writings.
And that should also explain exactly why limited access to this place is such a bad idea.
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This IS a community that is very large and, mind you, NOT free to run. The more people that come and post regularly, the more bandwidth is used. The more that is used, the more expensive the site. The more expensive the site, the more donations are important, etc.
Granted, that isn't what this is about, so I will return to the topic at hand
The fact remains that the staff cannot keep up with such a volume of individuals. They are trying very hard to do so, but many do not have all day every day to simply handle site matters. As such, they are trying to stop the site's managerial matters from getting too bogged down and stagnating... thus leading to severe issues site-wide. YOU may not like it, but you are being very shortsighted and narrow-minded. People will be allowed to join if they are invited, and Diana has said there will be periods of open registration.
Relax, mate.
Bad idea! What if you're really interested in that thread, and you don't know anyone there? What about the new guys that don't have any friends yet? How are they gonna be in a thread if they need to be invited? What if in real life you don't know anyone who is in Iwaku? That would be unfair. I think you should find another approach, because that will only decrease the number of members, and people will soon stop joining or new members might delete their accounts, cues they can't do anything anymore.
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Not entirely correct. Take me, for example. When I was new, I hung out in the chatboxes and got to meet new people. It was a bit awkward at first, but after a week or so I felt comfortable and posted my first attempt at an RP on this site (not my first ever RP... been doing that for eleven years now. Yes, I am old.) and got a good group of people. Some knew me from Chatbox. Some knew me from the past. Some were brand new people. Some were long-time members who wanted to give the new guy a shot. We're a friendly community full of laid-back and awesome people. There's no need to be worried about that.
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All in all, I can say this is probably a good move. And hey, if we can get the Staff/CV situations more stabilized... what's to say we can't reopen registration to 3000 active members or more? It's all about the community. This site has ALWAYS been about the community. The more stable we can make things, the better off we are as a whole. So, my fellow members, just relax and realize this is for the good of the site and for us.