This is a post to give you some ideas and suggestions on how best to influence the direction of FK, if that is something that you would like to take part in, and also to tell you briefly about a new moderation policy we are going to apply.
There is a wide range of possible ways you can choose to interact with the immortals and administrators of Forgotten Kingdoms, which essentially range from some variant on combatitive in the extreme (everything they do is wrong, they hate us, they kill puppies) to sycophantic in the extreme (everything they do is right, they love us and would never do anything to us that we didn't thoroughly deserve).
This scale is perceived differently by different groups, and people are classified differently depending on where you are standing. For example, you might think you are providing valuable insights with your posts, but someone else reading it might completely mis-understand your tone and dump you (together with any valid points made) into a 'nutjob - ignore' bucket. Similarly, when someone posts something agreeing with the status quo, or something that you disagree with, you might dump them in the 'mindless yes-man sycophant - ignore' bucket, whereas in actual fact they might just be better informed.
If you find yourself raging impotently at an unhearing sky, ask yourself if people are putting you in the 'psycopath - ignore' bucket. If you think someone is a 'yes-man', ask yourself - do they know more than I do?
What is most useful to the growth of FK are people who care enough to want to instigate or influence change, who are capable of engaging with the FK community on a constructive basis and who are capable of explaining when change is necessary and why, without descending into flame wars.
So, if you want to influence FK, what do you need to do?
- You need to be sure that your ideas are read by someone capable of making them a reality, or at least by someone who will bring it to the attention of a decision maker.
- You need to ensure that your posts are clear, easy to understand, thoughtful, clearly state the perceived problem, explain why the problem is actually a problem, and suggest a reasonable, workable solution to the problem.
- If your posts are clear, cogent, coherent and compelling, and they co-incide with the interests, time and inclinations of a decision-maker, they will influence and perhaps guide the direction that the game will go in.
Thanks for your time.