The Official Feedback Thread

[You got mail!]

One of the best things I've learned in my life is that communication is key. I've always been a quiet person but if I have something to say or contribute, I will say it directly to that person or topic and we'll see where things go from there. I will echo that we can invite each other to discuss, speak up and explain why right here and that complaining and joking about what's going on here calling it drama outside of this thread does not help. I'm glad that this thread exists since it gives users a chance to highlight problems and what can be done to improve things in the future. Even though I might not comment much on discussions and topics that go on here, the thread helps me to learn what people want improved, making me aware and informed of issues and it gives me a chance to put myself in their shoes.

As I said in a previous post in the other thread, I love this website but it has its ups and downs as did I and that's ok, we're human. 2018 was certainly a year for me and even though I've moved on from it and that it's been several years, I would like to take the time to apologize to anyone I've hurt from my spamming breakdown at that time and the staff again for my actions. We've all done and said things we regret and what we can do is learn from those experiences and improve in the future.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, let's give each other a chance to leave feedback and talk about it here. Even though it may take a while and mistakes might happen, progress will be made from the discussions and feedback. Not so long ago, I celebrated 10 years of being here. I love this website and I definitely do want it to stay for another 10 years and beyond! Also wanted to appreciate Mairmalade, LadyDestani, Mistreil and Mick for their posts!

 

[xSuperMario64x]

I genuinely don't want to overshadow what Mick, Mistreil and other staff and other previous commentors have said (thank you for all the responses I super appreciate you guys!!), but I do just want to emphasize that if you have any complaints about this thread, bring them here.

I'm seeing people vaguepost outside this thread and it's extremely disheartening because, well, we can talk about this like mature adults on the proper channels if you just allow people to speak to you. Respect begets respect. If you'd rather not look at this specific thread then that's 100% fine, you don't need to and I can't blame you, but please if you do have something to say then I ask that you either place it in the proper channels or don't post about it publicly at all. Otherwise it's very, very insensitive and hurtful.

I feel obligated to respond to this because I'm sure that it's partly directed at me. I had no ill intent talking about this thread elsewhere, and I sincerely apologize if it upset some people.

there was a period of time when I was even afraid to look at this thread; my personal life has been super hectic for the last week or two (trying to catch up with classwork, prepping for major surgery, making plans to move out, etc) and seeing the arguing going on in this thread on Sunday afternoon nearly caused me to spiral from stress. as such, I really did not feel comfortable barging in to the back-and-forth going on in here to make a statement. there were multiple others who posted about it elsewhere, I'm sure they also didn't mean anything wrong by it. we were expressing our frustration while trying to not get dragged into the mess.

I'm at least happy to see that things have simmered now, I need to read the most recent posts to see what the mods have said. but I'm afraid I still won't be able to read further back than that. eventually I would like to fully understand the context of what happened, but now isn't the time for that, for me.

again, I'm sorry if I upset you or anyone else with my comments. that wasn't my intent. I was just very concerned, because in my nearly nine years of being active here I haven't seen anything like this. staff and members arguing back and forth in such a way. hopefully the ones who partook in this took it as a learning experience.

 

[Jeremy]

Hey everyone, before we move on, I would like to reapproach and readdress this last issue (and my response) today sometime after we're back from maintenance. Thank you for the cordial discourse since yesterday.

 

[skarmoury]

snip

Sorry I had to take a huge nap before diving into this, but thank you for the response! I know everyone had the best intentions in mind but I just wanted to emphasize that taking it out of the feedback thread may cause more harm than good because it's not the proper channels. I understand people are frustrated, but expressing that frustration anywhere else but this channel doesn't seem right, at least to me. Let's give constructive criticism where it should be.

Spoiler: personal life dump

I don't blame you or anyone at all for not looking into this thread, and I hate to bring up my personal life but I too have had an extremely hectic 6 months because of my licensure exam happening in about... a week. It's an extremely important and life-changing exam and I cannot emphasize enough how many breakdowns and panic attacks I've had especially this March. If I fail this exam my entire life will be delayed. I don't show it here often, but my parents and my boyfriend know how hard I've been struggling. I've had to go to two doctors (who both say my symptoms are most likely because of stress) and I've had to rely on drowsy meds because I cannot fall asleep recently. It's been terrible.

Anyway I digress; if this thread stresses anyone out then you definitely do not have to engage or involve yourself at all. It's fine. It's not an obligation at all and it's not like I'm keeping tabs who is and isn't contributing lol. I don't check this thread daily, but I do read from time to time out of concern. ^^

I'd disagree that this is the first time it's happened — these big issues have always been here, I've heard of them, I've seen them, and I have my own complains as well. People are just more vocal about it right now and I definitely appreciate that we are slowly moving forward. Many things still need to be patched, but I always hope for the best for this site. It is a safe space for many people including me, after all.

 

[-Apples-]

Hey everyone, before we move on, I would like to reapproach and readdress this last issue (and my response) today sometime after we're back from maintenance. Thank you for the cordial discourse since yesterday.

Your welcome.

So what’s your new stance on the last issue?

 

[CoolJhon]

This won't be relevant for a while starting tomorrow, but I've noticed that on mobile, the double arrows on the bottom of threads really blend in with the current background, and it's a bit annoying. Maybe it would be possible to alter the color a bit to make it stand out more? Maybe make it darker or black?

 

[DaCoSim]

I figured I could maybe make a couple of suggestions since I’m off today (FINALLY!!!)

In regards to the fair or camp, and adding more animal crossing related ideas rather than maybe not as many art categories/contests; I would really really really love to see the new leaf (well now new horizons) photo challenge brought back. I loved this so so much back in the day. I also thoroughly enjoy doing the small gyroid decorating events!!! And also caption the picture!!!

 

[themysterybidder]

I’ve got to say I absolutely love TBT and it’s helped me through some really tough times, and I appreciate staff and all the lovely members and friends I message! There was something else that I was going to add, but I’ve edited it out, maybe in a future post I’ll add it!

Staff

I don’t know how manageable this would be, but maybe staff could think about having some Junior Moderators to deal with minor issues, such as moving threads or general questions about TBT who post and look at the site regularly. I’m not sure how much this would help, but maybe it would take the pressure off the senior staff to deal with more serious concerns in the ‘Contact the Staff’ thread. Maybe, rotate a few guest junior moderators for a week or two, then if the opportunity comes up for a Moderator post, staff could take into consideration who fitted the position best. Additionally, it doesn’t bother me with staff who are classed as ‘inactive’ until events. Sometimes, I don’t post for a while, however, it doesn’t mean I’m not keeping up-to-date with threads. There was one occasion I had to contact the staff to ask why I wasn’t given voting privileges, I received a reply which was very blunt, then I got another reply shortly from a different staff member which explained the issue in a friendly and approachable manner and it was resolved very quickly. I do think that it helps to have friendly and approachable staff.

Events

I would like to see less art events, as many have said it’s an Animal Crossing forum, not an art forum. Also, I’ve never been a fan of the ‘effort’ requirement. I know I’m never going to win and nor do I expect to whenever I see other artwork which looks professional. I take part for participation points and because I love being involved in the community. I do enjoy drawing, but I have dexterity issues with my hands and drawing is extremely difficult for me for several reasons. It’s important to add that I’ve never had a drawing rejected, however, my drawings may look as if they’ve been done in 15 minutes, but they take many days as I can’t hold pencils, etc for long. I know members enjoy baking for events, I do think an option for baking would be beneficial as again I don’t feel safe having to bake as I risk injury baking. I would also like to suggest a level of ability to enter an entry. It could be in tiers 1 – 4, possibly. If you enter your entry in a lower tier, you still have a chance of winning, but maybe a lower tier of collectible or an amount of TBT.

I know some members are worried about their entries not being accepted on time and they won’t have the time to resubmit. Could there be a grace period added to events for rejected submissions? Such as: entries must be either approved or rejected by event hosts by a certain date, if it’s rejected you have one week to resubmit. Again, I’ll add I’ve never had a submission rejected (only to add a username to a ACNH screenshot when I was a newbie) as late as it would worry me, but I can understand members worry that when it comes near to the deadline they won’t have a chance to resubmit.

I’m not going into detail as I think just about everything that has been written I agree with about the Valentine’s contest, I disagreed with the outcome of the entry. However, I did strongly disagree that a submission was accepted last year and then disqualified. The member did still receive the participation points but lost out on the chance of winning. There was another submission that was similar and that wasn’t disqualified. In my opinion, it was a fun entry, and both screenshots only included items from ACNH. Since the items were included in the game, I feel very strongly that the entry should have been accepted even if members complained as the game is suitable for 3 years and over and followed the rules with the TBT age rating.

Dark mode

Finally, dark mode! I always use dark mode where possible, so if that was added that would be a huge benefit!

I'll quickly press 'Post reply' before I back out!

 

[SkyKnight03]

I do wish the low post quality rule only existed in the case of repeatedly doing it, or as a problematic behavior. Not every thread warrants a detailed response.

If I go into a thread and it's asking about my favorite ice cream. I write simply write 'vanilla', but the rest of my posts are generally more thought out, is that worth issuing a warning over?

Or add greater specifics towards what is considered low quality. During one of my first times on this website, I posted an image with the quote 'Life has no limitations except the ones you make'. And received a warning. Considering the content of my post existed within the image. I didn't know that I was supposed to specify with my own words. (Unless I took the rule as absolute literal, which I suppose it was).

granted I don't even agree with that quote anymore, but it's beside the point.

Sometimes I feel that making a rule as an absolute is detrimental to it's purpose. And if it's not meant to be an absolute, then it would be nice to have that updated.

 

[Jeremy]

Hey everyone, I wanted to readdress the previous topic we talked about, especially because of some of the heated responses it received. First, I encourage everyone to read my original post, in which I stated our agreement that the situation related to effort rules from our Valentine's Day event could have been handled better, and explained what we plan to do in the future to help. This is something that should have been solved during the event itself, and I apologize for the delayed response and for allowing the situation to escalate further. I believe my initial post may not have been clear enough, so I'd like to state this more plainly:

• We thought sleepey's original entry showed enough effort to qualify for the event rewards.
• Measuring effort is difficult between different mediums, and we should state medium requirements clearly.
• This should have been addressed by the staff sooner.
• sleepey was not wrong to have their feelings hurt considering how the rule is worded and our lack of response during the event. This was not our intent, but we take responsibility for it.

While event rules are never enforced with malicious intent, it is completely valid that it would be hurtful to have an entry you did spend time on rejected for this reason. We believe that keeping some form of this rule is important for events, but do not think that entries like sleepey's should be declined because of it.

I would also like to address the requests for Chris to make an appearance regarding this topic. When he has the capacity to address this situation, it may be done privately towards sleepey, the affected party, rather than publicly. This may take time, as he has his own circumstances, but we hope this is understandable. While we acknowledge that no one likely meant to come off as hostile, having many people directly request an apology in the manner it occurred can be uncomfortable. At the end of the day, staff members are volunteers and people too. We sometimes word things without realizing that they may make others uncomfortable despite our intentions, but I hope it's understandable that the opposite is true in this case as well.

Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge that the dynamic of this thread turned rather negative earlier this week, which I played a part in by airing moderation grievances. This was wrong of me and was a result of various factors. Among them: just as some members have grown frustrated with this situation and felt the need to speak in defense of their friends, I felt the need to do the same. While this can't be undone, I hope this perspective is at least a bit understandable and I apologize for any discomfort that anyone felt as a result. I hope through this process we can all come to a better understanding of the issues faced by both members and staff.

Receiving a large amount of feedback all at once has been challenging to keep up with, but very helpful and productive overall. We have touched on some of your good ideas and concerns brought to our attention, with many more responses in the works. While we have mentioned problems with certain styles of criticism multiple times, I want to stress that the vast majority of your posts are helpful and appreciated. Nevertheless, a few concerns have come up before and through this process, which I would like to address.

Before continuing, it's important to restate that we have never banned or penalized anyone for giving feedback and I assume this is quite obvious by now considering the lack of action taken against most posts in this thread. Please understand that, in the following parts, I am not asking you to change your opinions or concerns, but rather to consider how you are expressing them or how you are expressing your disagreement with others.

Over the past week, multiple members have informed us that they do not feel comfortable sharing their opinions in this thread or elsewhere on the forum. This has been due to various factors such as feelings of being railroaded or fear that they'll be met with hostility. We have also noticed a few instances where members have essentially been shut down or made to feel like their opinion was wrong. Some of the posts that have crossed a line in this regard have been removed, but we would still like to address this.

While we would like to believe no one is intentionally trying to make others feel uncomfortable or unwelcome, we would like to ask you all to be particularly mindful of your tone and wording especially when addressing other members in this thread. Due to the nature of the thread topic, there are bound to be disagreements and thus it is understandable that people may have to handle feelings of rejection which can be difficult. While these feelings can't be helped, being mindful of how you disagree can help make this process easier for your fellow members. We should all keep in mind that every piece of constructive feedback is helpful, whether one agrees with it or not. Additionally, polite disagreements themselves can also be helpful in understanding multiple points of view.

We should strive to be a place where people who aren't bigoted are allowed to openly express their thoughts without being dismissed. It's important to be patient and understanding with others by giving them the benefit of the doubt before assuming they're an adversary who needs to be shut down. This is a matter that goes beyond site feedback and controversial issues but is even useful to consider while discussing seemingly mundane topics. In a world that is growing increasingly troubled, we want TBT to remain a place where well-meaning people are safe to contribute and express themselves without fear.

I hope this post, as well as the previous statements from the staff, will help better show our honest acknowledgment and receptiveness about your concerns, no matter how big or small. Likewise, I ask for the same understanding from the community about discussing, not just the issues brought up in this thread, but any topic, more cooperatively. This is something that should go both ways: staff need to hear members, members need to hear staff, and members need to hear each other.

Mairmalade's post on Monday gave a small preview of a few other topics we have been considering, but we'll be addressing each item in the list I included in the second post of this thread. Ideally, in the future, we'll be more able to reply directly to feedback left in this thread as it comes in, but to start, our primary focus will be this list we compiled from the original feedback thread. One last thing I would like to touch on that relates to this topic: based on a few examples from recent years, we have noticed that it has been difficult for staff to respond to issues quickly while events are taking place due to the commitment required. This is something we are looking to improve (and this feedback thread will help).

I believe (and hope) that we all ultimately share a common mission: We want to foster our small piece of the internet into a welcoming home for ourselves, our friends, and new people looking to meet friends. Let's work together to support this mission and our community. I appreciate that, over the past couple of days, we've used this thread as the productive and positive space it was intended to be. Let's continue to do that while we move forward and hear from everyone about other topics!

 

[Ra8bit]

This thread was posted within a week of me joining the forum, and I've been following it from the beginning.
As someone not just uninvolved in what transpired but a new member to boot, I didn't feel like it was my place to get involved or chime in with a genuine "are y'all alright", "this is wild", "that sounds rough" etc.

That being said, I did think that—and I'll fully admit that what I saw had me reconsidering becoming an active member.
What happened before I signed up doesn't affect me directly, but the way it was dealt with was concerning, and I'm glad there were more senior users who risked speaking up to address the issues and ask for accountability.

TBT seems like a really caring place, and I think it's sometimes precisely in these sorts of spaces that feelings are more easily hurt because people are so invested in the community. Professionalism only goes so far when what's really needed is feeling heard.
If it hadn't been for the more recent empathetic staff responses, I likely wouldn't have come back to posting.

In a world that is growing increasingly troubled, we want TBT to remain a place where well-meaning people are safe to contribute and express themselves without fear.

I was looking forward to finding a bit of an escape from the world here, and after your post today, I believe that's still possible.
Thank you.

Also thank you to the other staff and all the members who spent time and effort navigating this situation. I don't know you yet, but you have my utmost respect and gratitude!

 

[-Apples-]

This thread was posted within a week of me joining the forum, and I've been following it from the beginning.
As someone not just uninvolved in what transpired but a new member to boot, I didn't feel like it was my place to get involved or chime in with a genuine "are y'all alright", "this is wild", "that sounds rough" etc.

That being said, I did think that—and I'll fully admit that what I saw had me reconsidering becoming an active member.
What happened before I signed up doesn't affect me directly, but the way it was dealt with was concerning, and I'm glad there were more senior users who risked speaking up to address the issues and ask for accountability.

TBT seems like a really caring place, and I think it's sometimes precisely in these sorts of spaces that feelings are more easily hurt because people are so invested in the community. Professionalism only goes so far when what's really needed is feeling heard.
If it hadn't been for the more recent empathetic staff responses, I likely wouldn't have come back to posting.


I was looking forward to finding a bit of an escape from the world here, and after your post today, I believe that's still possible.
Thank you.

Also thank you to the other staff and all the members who spent time and effort navigating this situation. I don't know you yet, but you have my utmost respect and gratitude!

Be happy that you weren’t here 10 years ago. TBT was way worse back then. Everything wrong with this site from the last year or two doesn’t compare to what happened from 2013-2015. Especially in the spring of 2015. It was so bad that some users left because of how rude some of the members were. If we had a feedback thread like this back then (which we didn’t), it would already be closed within a few days or weeks because of some of the members on this forum, not the staff. The bad users didn’t let me vent about this site on another site either.

 

[QueenCobra]

Be happy that you weren’t here 10 years ago. TBT was way worse back then. Everything wrong with this site from the last year or two doesn’t compare to what happened from 2013-2015. Especially in the spring of 2015. It was so bad that some users left because of how rude some of the members were. If we had a feedback thread like this back then (which we didn’t), it would already be closed within a few days or weeks because of some of the members on this forum, not the staff. The bad users didn’t let me vent about this site on another site either.

Yikes. I wasn't in the best headspace back in 2015, so I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this site the way I do now. (Joined in 2022) Everyone I've interacted with has been perfectly lovely.

 

[-Apples-]

Yikes. I wasn't in the best headspace back in 2015, so I probably wouldn't have enjoyed this site the way I do now. (Joined in 2022) Everyone I've interacted with has been perfectly lovely.

Yeah, the site has improved a lot over the last ten years. New rules were added to prevent this kind of drama, everyone has grown up, and people have moved on from those kinds of drama we had in the mid-late 2010’s.

I will say that one thing that has gotten worse over time was the TBT Marketplace. Even though collectibles were taken very seriously back in the New Leaf era, it was more balanced and active in 2014 and 2015 than it was today. Now it’s heavily skewed in favor of the original glow wands and the Celeste Chick Plush, which nobody wants to sell, while nobody wants to buy any collectible that wasn’t an imposter or Tier 1 collectible. And although event dramas weren’t inexistent back in the New Leaf era, they became more frequent during the last few years than before.

 

[Ra8bit]

Be happy that you weren’t here 10 years ago. TBT was way worse back then. Everything wrong with this site from the last year or two doesn’t compare to what happened from 2013-2015. Especially in the spring of 2015. It was so bad that some users left because of how rude some of the members were. If we had a feedback thread like this back then (which we didn’t), it would already be closed within a few days or weeks because of some of the members on this forum, not the staff. The bad users didn’t let me vent about this site on another site either.

I'm just happy that this thread was made and things seem to be moving in the right direction. While I'm not one to usually say no to some good gossip, it's probably wise for me to stay out of bygone happenings and focus on the forum's present instead.

On a personal level, everyone has been very kind and welcoming to me. If I had any feedback to give it would be on the hassle I've had with formatting my journal, but that's a subject for another day (＞×＜)

 

[seliph]

Thanks for the response, I do appreciate the clarification and acknowledgement of the most recent issues. But I want to talk about tone more and how both staff and users can do with improving how they perceive and respond to it. Keep in mind I often use "you" in a general sense and am not speaking directly to any specific person after this point.

I feel there is an overall mentality on this site that a firm disagreement is the same thing as being rude or attacking someone, when that's just not the case. Tone and intent are difficult to both perceive and convey in the form of text. The way someone types can be a result of being tired or low-energy, or having something else going on in their life. If English isn't someone's first language, their tone may not come across correctly either. There are also various forms of neurodivergency and other mental conditions that affect peoples' tone, ability to convey emotion, and ability to translate their point into text entirely. In the same vein this all can affect how people perceive other peoples' posts - for example someone with anxiety may be more jumpy and mistakenly think another user is angry when they aren't, and I know almost everyone at some point has accidentally confused an excited exclamation point with an angry one or vise versa.

That's why in terms of people's tone, I really want to stress the importance of talking to each other before jumping to conclusions.

I'm someone who irl speaks in a firm, "straight to the point" kind of way, and I try my best to replicate how I talk irl in how I type because I feel that's more honest. I don't sugarcoat and I don't do cutesy unless we're very close friends. I do have problems with anxiety, but I'm confident in my ideas and I'm not shy. This doesn't mean I'm attacking you or being disrespectful, I'm just true to my feelings/opinions and I don't want anyone to misinterpret whatever it is I'm saying. I work full time retail, I'm not interested in using the retail voice outside of work! Once I clock out that battery is fully depleted until the next day.
I also prefer a "matter of fact" tone, both when I speak (or type) and when being spoken to because I have a huge dislike of when people are fake-nice or passive-aggressive toward me so I don't want to do the same to anyone else. I admit I have a tendency to read posts like "this " in a passive aggressive tone, however I'll also fully admit I'm probably wrong about it most of the time! It's a personal bias based on my own experiences that I have to be mindful of.

So instead of immediately assuming someone is attacking you and instead of tone policing people, just talk to them. There is such a huge aversion here to both disagreement and to responding to a disagreement, especially in Brewster's. This is a public forum, we have to be willing to have a discussion with each other and make sure we're understanding each other properly. If someone is insistently telling you they aren't attacking and they aren't trying to be mean, then they probably aren't! There was an instance that happened between another staff and I not too long ago and it turned out we were just both very tired and not reading each other's posts correctly! I already respected this person but I have a lot more respect for them now that they were willing to discuss with me instead of insisting on what tone I was supposedly using. If we can't have a back and forth conversation without pointing fingers then what's the point in being on a public forum?

That all kind of leads me to feeling I should once again suggest that if you really don't want anyone responding to your WBY post, you probably shouldn't post it - at least not on the forums. This isn't rude, it's an appropriate suggestion given certain circumstances. Crash already brought up users whose posts were concerning regarding their own health so I won't get into that again, but I've also seen posts that made me concerned for others - people posting about mistreating pets, mistreating other people, straight up incorrect medical advice, and while this hasn't happened in years there was a WBY post at least once where someone felt vilified for "disagreeing with LGBTQ". Posts like these are going to get responses, and they should! People aren't rude for responding to something out of concern whether it be for the original poster or for others, so please be more mindful of what you post publicly.
I know most of the usual WBY posters have Discord, so I suggest making a channel with just you and a handful of close friends for things you don't want responses to - I personally have a couple that are just me and 2 other people, and they're great for when you need to vent!

I really hope this all improves, I've been here 10 years and it's sad that tone policing is still such a huge issue. I feel like part of the problem is people immediately assuming the worst and running to staff when someone disagrees with them instead of just talking it out, but the other part, arguably the worse one, is staff immediately insisting that this person is correct and being unwilling to budge on it or take the other person into consideration.

Anyhow I'm here writing this because while I genuinely do think Jeremy's post is mostly good, I can't help but feel all the stuff about tone is both 1) not considering other perspectives and 2) a slight at me, so here I am making a wall of text and once again explaining that I just talk like this. I very well might be wrong about that second part, but based on the most recent Thing in this thread as well as several past Things this is how I'm interpreting the tone of the post, and I won't know whether I'm reading it correctly or not unless I'm told.

 

[Croconaw]

I hope it’s okay that I reference @/seliph’s post. I find it very insightful and while I see their tone is straight-forward or blunt, I don’t think they have any ill intent. I’ve worked many customer service jobs and come across people who speak similarly to seliph, and that isn’t said as an insult, so I apologize if it comes off that way.

My first therapist spoke in that tone and when I kept interpreting it as being rude (much like people tend to do with seliph), she replied that it’s just the way she speaks and refers to herself as monotone. In person, the tone used to make me very uncomfortable given her career as a therapist. In my mind, therapists are supposed to be understanding and nice, and to me, she was the opposite. I mention this because people often see seliph as someone that’s either rude or not understanding, when in reality they aren’t. (They can refer to both seliph and my first therapist in this case.)

I don’t think seliph is a bad person at all. In fact, I’ve seen them remain calm in many instances, especially the recent one in this thread where he was called out directly and he could’ve snapped but didn’t. I think that shows he possesses a certain level of maturity and I can appreciate that.

For what it’s worth, I’ve not gotten any hunch whatsoever that seliph is mean or rude, and that includes the forum as a whole and not just this specific thread. Bluntness is often mistaken as rude, and even more so online where tone is misinterpreted everyday.

Also, seliph, I apologize for any times we interacted on the forum and I misinterpreted your tone as rude, and for my past passive aggressive comments that were directed at you or your friends. I’ve made mistakes and I’m working on myself, to be better.

 

[Sheando]

Oof. Did not see this when it was posted, somehow.

I've been here for a decade now (with intermittent breaks) and it's still one of my favorite places on the internet. That's partially because staff put in so much effort with events and moderation, and partially because the community really does try to support one another and be kind. As someone who has never even really made a friend on here, I so appreciate just having regular positive friendly interactions. Like, it genuinely feels special in its own way to give and receive kindness from people who AREN'T personal friends. So-and-so has no reason to send me a flower collectible, but they wanted to make a user happy. I don't have to draw extra art of a user for an event, but I want to, because I know they'll find it meaningful.

I used to moderate a forum for years, and for that reason I do have a lot of sympathy for staff. To me, at least, TBT really is "yours" in a way that it isn't "ours"--I hope that doesn't come across as negative toward our many active users, I just mean that we did not actively build the site and we do not have to organize and maintain its activities, its infrastructure, and its guidelines. Running a forum takes a lot of personal investment. My best friend is still a moderator there, and she is often very hurt by the sweeping assumptions that users make with 2% of the information. (I can honestly even see why Chris has not made an appearance in this thread.) I always try to assume the best of mods for that reason, and I actually do think that we are freer to provide feedback here than in most spaces.

That said, I am also really glad to see clearer and fairer discourse on the last couple of pages here, and more encouraging responses from staff. I agree that a couple of initial staff responses took me by surprise. I am someone who really tries to be thoughtful and respectful when posting, but my natural communication style can come across a bit clinical or blunt at times. For that reason I always try to give the benefit of the doubt there as well. Seliph, I remember going back and forth with you a bit recently and appreciating that while we were both being direct, I felt like you were actually listening to and responding to my points and we concluded by thanking each other for the discussion. I would not want staff to jump to conclusions about my posts or use loaded language to describe my intent, either. It was good to see a staff apology for how that particular interaction was handled.


General thoughts going forward:

• I agree that the art-heavy events can be discouraging, but I'm not sure how best to avoid it. I love seeing the gorgeous user art and I don't necessarily want to walk that back. I do agree that recent events have broadened the scope of activities for the better; I support having a wider variety of activities to choose from. Also, with staff favorites, I thought that staff typically chose extra winners to compensate for duplicate winners, so nobody was "losing a slot" for people who were nominated more than once?
• Anyway, this might be a bit unpopular, but I am not entirely sure that I would prefer just having more categories (funniest, most improved, etc.). For me I think it could feel even more disheartening not to win: not only am I not a great artist, apparently I am not very funny, diligent, creative, clever, and so on? As it is now, I have made peace with the fact that there is literally no way I will ever win an art event because my art is (very accurately!) not even close to the level of our winners. It kind of frees me up to just participate for fun. Adding more categories could just add more axes on which to compete, which might make it even more stressful.
• Which leads to my more general feedback: I think there is an unavoidable tension with events between wanting things to be a competition and wanting them to be just for fun. If members are encouraged to be highly competitive, they will be less relaxed about participation and expect more from staff so that the competition will be (or feel) "fair." If members are encouraged to be more relaxed and rewarded just for participating, they will be less uptight about the event and about staff roles, but will also be less fixated on ensuring submissions are the highest possible quality. TBT tries very hard to do both at once, which is completely understandable, but I think also a little impossible? If top-tier collectibles are extremely scarce and require 50+ hours of real-life work to earn within an event, it is inevitable that users will begin taking the activities very seriously. I don't think that staff can be rigid with acceptance rules, limit collectibles, award gorgeous, untradable animated collectibles to a select chosen few, require multi-hour submissions for individual activities that may not even be approved, and then expect members to treat events like they're no big deal. That's not intended as a criticism in any specific way, I'm just saying that I don't think those two mindsets can realistically coexist on a large scale. Intensity from staff will be met with intensity from members, so I think we have to decide as a community what kind of "vibe" we want events to have.
• On a personal level, I would be happy with an entirely competition-free TBT. I do not enjoy competing and I think hurt is pretty much inevitable. However, I respect that lots of people find competition fun and rewarding, and I won't be upset if it sticks around. I genuinely have come to a place of (mostly) peace about the events, and I think that the large number of collectibles in recent events has ensured that I've been excited to participate and pleased with my "haul" despite almost never being awarded anything. I think users are pretty positive and encouraging regardless. If it were up to me, though, I'd really enjoy more collaborative events with collectibles awarded for participation. Team competition events where the whole team can be punished for the mistake of a single member is kind of worst of both worlds, in my opinion, and I do not think those events should exist.
• This may also be deeply unpopular, but I would far prefer the rare/challenging collectibles to be tied to something I can control, such as "submit to [# of activities minus 1] events in the Fair" or "solve every puzzle in [activity] to earn X" instead of tying them to staff opinion. I'd be really proud of working hard for a collectible instead of having to hope to luck out--I liked that in some ways the last fair tried to do this.
• I am not really sure WHY certain collectibles need to be nigh on impossible to achieve. Seems like a status symbol thing--not sure why we need status symbols? However, I do like that particular collectibles are limited to events, making them mementos of a specific experience. The collectibles in general are such a cool idea and I've really enjoyed growing my collection.
• Last thing: I really appreciated the earlier staff posts that mentioned prioritizing staff responsiveness during events. Given the intensity level of some of the events and the high standards for entries or certain group challenges, I think it can feel super stressful to not hear back when you have a question. However, I absolutely do not think staff "owe" us instant responses! Shrinking the scope of activities a bit, lowering standards so participants are less stressed, and changing the way staff responsibilities are distributed could all help address this. I would absolutely support events or activities being a bit smaller and more manageable if it means that staff had more bandwidth to keep up, for their sake and for ours.

 

[-Apples-]

I remember a few months ago, we were told to stop discussing drama from other servers. Does that also mean you can’t complain about how non-TBT servers treated you (like how I frequently complained about the Ghost and Molly McGee server, also known as Mollycord) on this site too? I do remember years ago, threads trashing Animal Crossing Community got frequently locked because they discussed other sites negatively, even though the rules didn’t explicitly say anything about it.

And yes, I’m still angry at that particular Discord server about Molly McGee (it’s even getting closer to the one-year anniversary of my wrongful ban from the server). I have to say, this site was way better than that server, and the staff are more mature and less biased than Mollycord’s server admins. You could actually be discriminated based on political beliefs from Mollycord (for instance, if you even slightly defend the electoral college, they’ll assume that you’re a Trump supporter and will set you up for a kangaroo court).

 

[.: Meri :.]

• This may also be deeply unpopular, but I would far prefer the rare/challenging collectibles to be tied to something I can control, such as "submit to [# of activities minus 1] events in the Fair" or "solve every puzzle in [activity] to earn X" instead of tying them to staff opinion. I'd be really proud of working hard for a collectible instead of having to hope to luck out--I liked that in some ways the last fair tried to do this.

I was just thinking about this the other day! I would also love to see more heavy participation prizes, like the Lost Book from the island journaling event, or the Key to Bell Tree Manor, which you could unlock heh by completing tasks in all five "rooms" of the haunted house. They still took considerable effort to earn, but without the competitive element of staff favorites.