Hello everybody, this is the Lamenter speaking, on something I noticed just now.



Look familiar? Well, it should do. It was the post Aerandir made for his leaving thread on the Your Life subforum.
Now, its not a a comment on this being an oddity in itself, its just the response from Nienor.

I.e. Locking the thread.

Now to me, (no dig intended at the mods, so please do not take it as personal) this seems totally inconsistent, as Ellie's farewell thread and Este's farewell thread are both still open and unlocked.
So why is Aerandir's?
It seems somewhat pointless to do so, members have been doing such a thing for quite a whiles now (Since I joined anyways) and while I appreciate the forum space issue, It hasnt been as stringently enforced before, so why is it being done so now?

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"This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck? "

Because of course they lock all the welcoming threads and tell all the new people to welcome themselves only in the main welcoming thread (which is, by the way, a completely pointless thread). [/sarcasm]

Okay really, posting a farewell thread is the same as posting a welcoming thread. Making a new topic isn't going to take up any extra web space... it doesn't matter if you make a new thread for it or if you post in a main one, you'll still take up as much web space.

But yeah good question, Lammy (sorry couldn't resist )... I'd like to know the reasoning behind it too. It doesn't seem quite just, seeing as 5758798795658^10000 members before Aerandir have made similar topics.

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Well we share personal speeches and rants anyway in the "Your Life" section and the rant thread... it's no different than making one in the form of a grand exit.


I mean, no member ever made a personal attack during their speeches or pointed a finger at any other member as being the cause for their wanting to leave, so that's not violating any of the rules... still don't dig it.

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I'm glad someone else brought this up. I hadn't really thought about it before til gollum13 left few months ago. I couldn't quite wrap my head around why his thread was locked and Ellie and Estë's were not. I guess it's not really my place to question the motives, and maybe those threads just slipped by, but it's getting to me now that it's been mentioned...

I'd like to hear the mods' reasoning, because I'm sure it's quite logical and makes sense, but...yeah. I feel a bit like, it's generally only the somewhat well-known and long-term members that go to the trouble of posting a speech when they leave, and it doesn't happen terribly often, so I don't think it's a huge deal to let it stand. But like I said, there are two sides to the debate, I'm sure



You hothead, you

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Before I say anything, I want to point out that mods are humans too, and it was through tears that I made this post, mostly because it seems like a few people who I thought were my friends are questioning my integrity.

You're right. My actions were inconsistent. It would have been more appropriate to PM me privately or send a message to the mods, but perhaps it's better that this is dealt with in public. The question itself is perfectly legitimate. Here's my response.

For some time now, more than a year, the mods, especially myself, have been trying to get members to respect our rules in the Your Life section. We aren't worried about web space, as HoL suggested, it's simply that the Your Life section is very cluttered. There are designated threads for these things, and I don't think it's unreasonable to ask you to use them, especially since they were set up for your convenience. Over and over, despite the posting of several reminders, members have ignored the rule and continued to post their personal farewells as new threads.

You are all completely right that it was innapropriate for me to close only Aerandir's thread. The truth is, I have closed many before that, but not all, and here's why- I'm afraid of the members' reactions. I don't want hurt feelings and I don't want an uprising, so I let that weakness get in the way of my better judgment and on many occasions, I let personal farewell threads slide.

If you will allow myself to make a small defense, this is the content of my actual post:
"Hey Aerandir, I for one am sorry to see you go. I am going to ask you, though, to repost this in the designated thread. Thanks. "
Please at least refrain from casting me up as heartless.

The Your Life section is messy. There's already half a page of stickies and on any given day half the remaining threads are along this sort of line. I have been very frustrated by the way the members completely ignore my polite warnings and even my closing of threads.

I hope this sheds light on my motives and conveys my sincerity. I am very sorry for being unfair and singling out Aerandir.

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I am a Shieldmaiden for Christ!

I was Nienor before Nienor was cool. *nods coolly*
Kudos to Kitoky for the fabulous signature set, and art credit to engelszorn.
Who wants to join me in bringing back the lady?

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

First of all, I said that I meant no personal offence in making this post Nie. All I wanted to know was the reasoning, because it just seemed odd. On reflection, perhaps, a PM to yourself or the Mods would have been more appropriate.



So, in making this statement I am now cast as the Witchfinder General am I? Well, I did not mean it. All it was was a geniuine question/comment (which is why I put it in this subforum) and I meant nothing by it but just to find out for my own curiousity.

I have no objection to using the there and back again threads, absolutely none. Ive used them before, and I understand its there for a purpose.

It is not a question of questioning your integrity, it is just an honest question, and all that it required was an honest answer at the end of the day. I cannot apologise if you took offence, because I meant none.

The Lamenter

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"This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck? "

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

So Im not allowed to ask a question? Or use an example to illustrate that question?

Of course I have a personal vendetta against Nie, which is why Ive been causing so much trouble [drymanner.exe]

If Im not allowed to make a point or ask a question about something someone has done, then the word question is completely invalid.....

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"This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck? "

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^ By me and my SS *squiggle hugs*

This should be a clarification of what I intended this thread to be.

Originally, I asked was for a reason as to why the thread in question was shut. Thats all.Nothing malevolent or hurtful was meant, but what I said seems to have been taken that way.I merely made a comment concerning the Mod policy concerning Farewell Threads in the Your Life section. This thread was never, and I mean never meant to be me having a dig, or singling one Mod out, it was just something I noticed.
That is all. This thread sounds like an argument in the making, so I make the suggestion that we abandon it here and we all get on with our lives.


The Lamenter

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"This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck? "

*nods* I quite agree with what Ellie is saying. This debate could potentially be turned into something bigger than it's not, and I don't think any of us want that to happen. At this point, I feel like we should have some direct suggestions from the mods on what to do about such threads from now on.

Do you have any suggestions (or can think) of ways to try and clean up and prevent Your Life from getting so cluttered? We are always open to suggestions.



We understand that you meant no attack on a moderator, The Lamenter. But there perhaps could've been other ways of wording your thread post so that it did not single a mod out. It's possible to question why an action was taken or was not taken in a general way. Discussing things online can be tricky, especially with something thin-lined as this and getting the impression of how someone is posting is difficult to gage. Nie felt that it <i>was</i> questioning her integrity; and therefore, she went on the defensive.

Just like how you're going on the defensive now. No, The Lamenter, no one said that you were an evil, evil, evil person for asking a question. My interactions with you on the forum have always been formal, polite, and pleasant. But, you always have to be careful with how posts may seem to come across. The fact that you referred to Nie's reaction to Aerandir's leaving post was just to close it <i>did</i> come across as implying that she was heartless, which was in fact not the case.

Future questions on inquiries of why some mods do this or some mods do that can be easily be answered by a pm. We have always asked questions on a moderator's actions to be pm'd The A-U Moderators account, or another active moderator.

Should we have an onslaught of the same question from time to time, we can easily post an announcement thread explaining so members can refer to it.

Thank you,
Kitoky

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I think that this makes sense Lar. Some clarification on where leaving/anniversay threads goes would be welcome. I am more than open to such suggestions that the Mods (and maybe the members ) would come up with, and will follow what the overall concensus says on this.

El Lamentero


EDIT- Just read the last post, so Ill add some more.

As a member,I would like to make a suggestion about how perhaps such threads like leaving/anniversary etc threads can be handled. For Leaving/ coming back, Id say get everyone to repost in the There and Back again thread. Its there for a reason and it makes sense to put it there.
As for anniversary threads, perhaps a single thread, in the Your life section could be used to handle it, and one or two volunteers could maintain a list of anniversaries for that week

Obviously, there must be some debate on this, but thats my two pence there *shrugs*

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"This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great. Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it? Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck? "

For Leaving / Coming back-----when you say repost in the There and Back Again thread, do you mean.... have someone copy-paste the farewell/back post in the thread or....?

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<center>

THE HALLOWFEST 2010
<a href="http://www.arwen-undomiel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20958">information here</a>

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