"Step 3"
It's a predictable cycle that has repeated a number of times over the past 8 years.
- Posting & popularity of the forums increases. I start to engage more, personally, as part of both participating in the hobby community and leading by example, trying to help folks help eachother and communicate effectively. Folks see my posts and perceive it as presence -- that I'm being more available. Since I'm available, they feel like I'm nearby in a way, and they can just shoot me a quick PM while I'm "around." The more available I appear to be, and certainly the faster I respond, the more present I seem, and the more they PM me. Little do they know, I have a life, and it's not all lived here.
- As it starts to get out of hand, I recognize that responding to PMs and personal posts is becoming yet another job unto itself, so to manage stress, I start to cut back. Responses get slower, and sanity starts to return. Briefly. That's when the "JANG I sent you a PM did you get it?" posts start to show up. Then come the "JANG I sent you a PM did you get it?" PMs. Even better are the "JANG I sent you a PM quite some time ago [meaning 3-5 days] ... I would really appreciate a response
" PMs. Then I really get taken aback.
- It doesn't take long for me to realize that in the grand scheme of things, the stress of folks on the forums heaped on top of the unbelievable stress of work (a level of which I hope none of you will ever have to encounter), just isn't worth it. I go into full retreat, and my "presence" fades dramatically.
Lo & behold, it's Step 3 time again! Bye everybody! See you in a few months! Well, wait a minute. One of the things that should be able to set humans apart from other animals is the ability to recognize complex patterns and learn from them. Let me see if I can prove that correct by figuring out how to end this cycle.
I like logic. Logic works in almost all situations, and it's a great tool for solving conflicts. So, I'm going to look at the aforementioned cycle and do a bit of logical deconstruction. Here's the crux of what happens:
- I give time to the hobby and the community
- The community starts to think they own my time
- I get stressed and irritated
- I take my time away from the hobby and the community.
I see something interesting in there, and I want to drill into it further. Let me distill things down some more.
- I give time to the hobby and the community
- The community abuses my time
- I take my time away from the hobby and the community
Better, but what what interests me is an imbalance in the actors in these different statements. Let me cut things down further, to really highlight the actors.
- I do something for the hobby and the community
- The community does something to me
- I take something away from the hobby and the community
Ah-ha! Do you see it now? I act upon two things. One of those things acts upon me. I then react, but to both things. It's a classic "throwing out the baby with the bathwater" scenario. The hobby doesn't abuse me, the community does (and I should add, it's not the entire community by any means, though it starts to feel like it thanks to the unfortunate human trait of generalization). I enjoy the hobby very much, and in fact very universally. Why should I punish the hobby, when it does nothing wrong to me?
All right, this is good progress. Now I need to capitalize on what I've learned! First, I do need to address the immediate problem, which is that I'm getting overwhelmed and irritated once again at some users' expectations and neediness. In response, I will once again decrease my "presence" on the forums, as this is proven to address the source of the problem while also giving me time to cool down and recover.
I don't want the community as a whole to suffer as a result, and I don't want there to be a gap in oversight and moderation that would lead to a need for me to bring my "presence" back prematurely for administrative reasons and to get things in check. Thus, I will be looking to increase the "presence" of active moderators in my stead, and that will involve bringing some new staff onboard. Note that this is not an invitation for everyone to start PM'ing me, "kan i be a modaratar plz??" -- we already have great candidates.
At the same time, I have recently been actually scaling up my participation in the hobby itself, and that's not about to change. I've sold off or discarded a significant portion of my extra parts and vehicles, leaving me with more working room and more focus than I've had in at least a few years. With my progress in simulation racing, improving education in full-scale handling & aerodynamics, and recent 1:1 scale Porsche purchase, I'm positioning RC in my life as ever more of an expression and application of my passion for motorsports in general, and that makes it more exciting, enjoyable, and fruitful.
So there you have it, that's the plan for now. Let's hope it works for awhile!
-Bamidele "The JANG" Shangobunmi
Previous issues:
4/11/08: "Hulk smash? Traxxas Slash!"
5/14/07: "Why?"
8/19/06: "In the Beginning... "
3/18/06: "Much Ado About Truggies"
6/22/05: "Various Shades of Black & White "
2/13/04: "The Greatest Year of URC"
8/13/03: "The Big Rant"
4/23/03: "The New Endangered Species List"
2/20/03: "Nitro vs. Electric: The Great Debate, part 2"
11/13/02: "Nitro vs. Electric: The Great Debate, part 1"