VIP's for birthday threads.

Well, if someone adds their name to the birthday calendar, that's permission as far as I can see. Adding the level of having to get permission to make it seems very unwieldy and unnecessarily complicated. Like I said, if a mod just checks the list, all they have to do is take the time to look at the birthday person's WUL and find someone there who would like to make a thread. I would PM someone on the birthday person's list and remind them it was their birthday and, usually, that worked out. For the times I didn't get a response or whatever, I would make the thread.

I agree, harps, that it's nicer when a birthday thread is posted by a friend, but, sometimes, that doesn't happen. In that case, I still maintain it's the JCC mods' jobs to make it happen so that people (like yankee) don't feel left out.

This isn't very difficult, gang. The JCC mods just need to coordinate this and make sure that the users on the birthday list get a thread. Either by doing it themselves or PMing the birthday person's friends to get one done. This isn't a difficult concept that needs a five page Comms thread.

 

No, it is awesome...made of chocolate cake and win.

 

It's been nice knowing you epic.

 

I think this is probably the best way to handle it, to make sure people that want birthday threads get them, but allowing their friends to start the threads as much as possible.

 

Disagree. If nobody posts the thread, then nobody posts the thread. It's a ridiculous waste of effort for the mods to have to check the birthday thread each day and then wait around until midday has passed just so the thread gets made. Unwelcome responsibility-R-us.

Sarcasm cannot be retrospectively applied.

 

Agreed. If you don't get a thread, that's too bad. If you don't get a thread and want one, PM your friends and ask them to make one for you. If you don't have any friends on the JC, you probably have bigger issues than getting a birthday thread/your birthday thread isn't going to be so great/the JCC doesn't really need to be bothered about your birthday. Harsh but true. But it's really not the mods' jobs to make every single person on the board a birthday thread every day. It's ridiculous, and the mods have several significantly better things to do with their time. This is what friends are for. If you haven't gotten a birthday thread and want one, don't make the mods do it -- make your friends do it. If you, though whatever unfortunate circumstance, don't have friends, it's not the mods' job to be your friends.

 

Allow me to clarify what I was saying: I think that's the best way, if you want some system to make sure people have birthday threads. Its better than having some user (mod or otherwise) doing all the birthday threads. That said, I don't think its necessary.

 

I can't believe this thread is still open.

 

Only 16 more posts, to go.

 

little e

 

Part of me is tempted to lock this at 99 posts

It'd be saving a life!

 

My last post in order to save epic's life.

Like mods have a ton of stuff to do that they can't take some time to make a thread for someone that might not get one? Right. Of course it's not necessary and it obviously hasn't been done in a long time. But it's a nice thing to do. That's it. It is part of the mods' "job" to create community building and support their users. If the mods can't be bothered, then fine. That's one way of dealing with your users, I guess. What the hell do I know. My only point was that we don't need to assign a VIP. If it's going to be done, it should be by someone's friend or, if that isn't going to happen, a JCC mod that wants to take the time to make their users feel supported.

 

Let's close this up. epic's a cool guy.

 

They don't have a ton of stuff to do, no, but ensuring someone isn't without a birthday thread is not something they do need to be doing. Their day doesn't need to be filled up.

The community can - and does - take care of itself in this regard. Indeed, redundant birthday threads are often more of an issue than the absence of one. Users get birthday threads when they've made an impact on the community sufficient that someone else wants to make them one. That is not the mods job to judge. It's firmly in the chunk of stuff that mods are not there to deal with. If the community is a good'un, birthday threads will spring up. That's it.

To level an accusation of "not being bothered about community building etc" at mods simply because they don't think it's right for them to be making birthday threads is a dramatic exaggeration and makes a mockery of those occasions when mods have actually not been bothered about their community.

 

QFNT

 

Don't you know that every time you turn the page, you get us closer to the monster at the end of this book?

 

Sorry I didn't catch that...

 

I'd just like to say that it's VIPs, not VIP's

 

I kind of want to disagree with, say, Everton to keep this thread going for a couple of pages more.

*disagreement*

 

Yeah, that. It's certainly a nice thing to do, and mods in general should do nice things. But that doesn't mean they have to do every nice thing they could do. It's their job, in a vague sense, to create a positive atmosphere and make users feel welcome and comfortable. But that doesn't translate into specifics, because specified positivity is artificial, meaningless positivity. It's not the mods' job to say nice things about every person who posts a picture in the post-a-picture thread. It's nice if they do, but it isn't and never should be required.

The mods are there to create a positive atmosphere, but that doesn't mean that they're regulated into having to be saints. It's not their job to be everyone's friend or make threads for every single person on the board or edit out anything that might possibly offend or make uncomfortable a user. It's just not their business, any more than it's the police's business to respond to your 911 call that McDonald's gave you a Quarter Pounder instead of a Big Mac -- even though the police are there to create a positive community atmosphere. I'm not advocating mods being jerks, I'm not advocating their not giving a crap about their users -- I'm just saying some things aren't and never should be their business, and hurt feelings because your friends didn't make you a birthday thread is one of them.

 

I don't recall Kate suggesting it should be a requirement of the Mods. In fact I believe she specifically stated that it was a suggestion if the mods were looking for a way to keep birthday threads friendly and acknowledge more than just the most popular members of the JCC.

 

Yeah, but the "What if mods made the threads if no one else does by the afternoon?" proposal is basically proposing a requirement -- if no one makes the thread, the mods do. And my point is that we shouldn't touch that idea with a ten-foot pole, which apparently needed some clarification, which now needs some more clarification, and puts epic that much closer to killing himself. Sorry, epic.

 

I really want to see if epic actually goes through with this....

In relation to what Kate has been saying, I don't mind having to create threads if that is what the community wants to happen in general. It needs to be remembered though that in being from a completely different time zone to the majority of JCC users that the timing is likely to be an issue. Personally I don't see birthday threads to be a big issue, but in saying that I don't really celebrate my birthday all that much and in the last 10 years I've only had one real birthday thread created (and two joke ones partaking of the difference in US vs. Aus date conventions).

 

HITBHITTSO?