![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
Application update and other such things
It's been a while since I did one of these. Admittedly my absence over the summer and ultra-laziness in the next couple of months afterwards might have had something to do with it, but I reckon we're back up to speed.
Letting newkids in through the gate in the first place is always something of a minefield. There was one time where Tina insisted that she and she only would be the one operating the gates, being the one with the best eye for troll-watching, as a legacy of what happened to "the old community" which we don't talk about any more. Still, although it's "her job" (officially), sometimes the rest of us will take a look and see who's trying to get in and make an informed decision on who's worth our time. Here's how I do it: when I look at the entry queue I will only let in those who I think should have an easy time getting in, and who are least likely to troll. Such shining examples have recently been seen in![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
castratikron (see here) and ghost0reveries (see here). You two have proved yourselves worthy, so now use what you've earned and be active!
Sometimes, there are those who get an outright at-the-gates rejection, such as one misguided Russian who had made his journal the day before, made one post (in Russian so none of us except Tina could read it) and tried to join. Not a chance, mate - hang around LJ and get some friends before I'm prepared to lift the veil of suspicion that casts over the whole affair.
And then, there are those I'm unsure about. Generally, I do not give these an outright rejection, just an extended waiting period in the queue, for others to take a look and make the decision instead. This is probably counter-productive, as many will end up not applying when they could make good members. But, should I let them in and we get a troll attack, I'll have Tina shouting at me (and she's a lot scarier than she appears) for being the root cause of the trouble. So I let her do the honours instead - which may coincide with those weeks on end that she disappears from LJ. Maybe the others take the same approach - I don't know. Those with strictly friends-only journals (with one visible post saying so) make the decision annoyingly difficult - there's no easy way to tell if this is an active or defunct journal, and usually I will stay on the side of caution.
One of these recent additions I was unsure of is, currently, part of the community - that'smetalmassacre13 who, by his/her (it's impossible to tell) userinfo, could do well here, but we'll never know until an application is posted. Will it be, or won't it? Time will tell. (That's a disguised way of saying "Get on with it", incidentally.) The other one I was unsure of was metalhead684, who I've seen in many other communities... mainly MP3 sharing communities. This, it has to be said, rings the alarm bells, because someone who's a member of every metal MP3 community out there usually only wants to join up here to leech. Hence, I hold out little hope of an application. In this case, when it did happen... she probably shouldn't have bothered, and, for all intents and purposes, didn't. In a way, that confirms my suspicions. Minimum effort on the application signals minimum interest in contributing to the community.
As an aside, I've just been archiving the community pages up to the end of October, and last time we had a truly dreadful application, Tina blew a fuse and had a huge rant. It's worth another read, for those of us who were there at the time, and worth a first read for those of you who have arrived since then.
Maximum effort, on the other hand, is inevitably rewarded, and the two of you who are newly accepted now have the freedom to contribute where and when you see fit... well, almost, as there's always that final hurdle of moderated access. Be a regular contributor that isn't spraying the contents of several tins of Spam at us and that'll soon be lifted.
Further on the subject of effort, I'm going to being Metalhead Of The Month out of its unintentional hiatus on Tuesday, and make an award for November. I know that's supposed to be Simon's job, but the anti-malaria drugs are still making their way out of his body. Plus, it's nearly summer in Oz-land and he's probably sunning himself on the beach rather than sitting in front of a computer. Here at 53°N it's cold, but failing to snow, and there's nothing making me go out into the real world until Saturday (Monster Magnet and Karma To Burn at Rock City) so I'll take charge this time.
To finish, one last slice of historical application mini-drama. Wheneviltwinemma arrived here, I caught a post on her journal from someone telling her not to apply (when she already had) because the community would be dead and buried in a few months. Most of you will not be aware of this, but 9th December marks four years since the creation of this community, and it's still going strong. I urge you all to make a lot of posts that day to celebrate. I know I've got something in store. Just you all wait.
Letting newkids in through the gate in the first place is always something of a minefield. There was one time where Tina insisted that she and she only would be the one operating the gates, being the one with the best eye for troll-watching, as a legacy of what happened to "the old community" which we don't talk about any more. Still, although it's "her job" (officially), sometimes the rest of us will take a look and see who's trying to get in and make an informed decision on who's worth our time. Here's how I do it: when I look at the entry queue I will only let in those who I think should have an easy time getting in, and who are least likely to troll. Such shining examples have recently been seen in
castratikron (see here) and ghost0reveries (see here). You two have proved yourselves worthy, so now use what you've earned and be active!Sometimes, there are those who get an outright at-the-gates rejection, such as one misguided Russian who had made his journal the day before, made one post (in Russian so none of us except Tina could read it) and tried to join. Not a chance, mate - hang around LJ and get some friends before I'm prepared to lift the veil of suspicion that casts over the whole affair.
And then, there are those I'm unsure about. Generally, I do not give these an outright rejection, just an extended waiting period in the queue, for others to take a look and make the decision instead. This is probably counter-productive, as many will end up not applying when they could make good members. But, should I let them in and we get a troll attack, I'll have Tina shouting at me (and she's a lot scarier than she appears) for being the root cause of the trouble. So I let her do the honours instead - which may coincide with those weeks on end that she disappears from LJ. Maybe the others take the same approach - I don't know. Those with strictly friends-only journals (with one visible post saying so) make the decision annoyingly difficult - there's no easy way to tell if this is an active or defunct journal, and usually I will stay on the side of caution.
One of these recent additions I was unsure of is, currently, part of the community - that's
metalmassacre13 who, by his/her (it's impossible to tell) userinfo, could do well here, but we'll never know until an application is posted. Will it be, or won't it? Time will tell. (That's a disguised way of saying "Get on with it", incidentally.) The other one I was unsure of was metalhead684, who I've seen in many other communities... mainly MP3 sharing communities. This, it has to be said, rings the alarm bells, because someone who's a member of every metal MP3 community out there usually only wants to join up here to leech. Hence, I hold out little hope of an application. In this case, when it did happen... she probably shouldn't have bothered, and, for all intents and purposes, didn't. In a way, that confirms my suspicions. Minimum effort on the application signals minimum interest in contributing to the community.As an aside, I've just been archiving the community pages up to the end of October, and last time we had a truly dreadful application, Tina blew a fuse and had a huge rant. It's worth another read, for those of us who were there at the time, and worth a first read for those of you who have arrived since then.
Maximum effort, on the other hand, is inevitably rewarded, and the two of you who are newly accepted now have the freedom to contribute where and when you see fit... well, almost, as there's always that final hurdle of moderated access. Be a regular contributor that isn't spraying the contents of several tins of Spam at us and that'll soon be lifted.
Further on the subject of effort, I'm going to being Metalhead Of The Month out of its unintentional hiatus on Tuesday, and make an award for November. I know that's supposed to be Simon's job, but the anti-malaria drugs are still making their way out of his body. Plus, it's nearly summer in Oz-land and he's probably sunning himself on the beach rather than sitting in front of a computer. Here at 53°N it's cold, but failing to snow, and there's nothing making me go out into the real world until Saturday (Monster Magnet and Karma To Burn at Rock City) so I'll take charge this time.
To finish, one last slice of historical application mini-drama. When
eviltwinemma arrived here, I caught a post on her journal from someone telling her not to apply (when she already had) because the community would be dead and buried in a few months. Most of you will not be aware of this, but 9th December marks four years since the creation of this community, and it's still going strong. I urge you all to make a lot of posts that day to celebrate. I know I've got something in store. Just you all wait.![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif){kind=small}
accomplished
aggravated
