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Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 5:59 pm
Sevi Rais Did anyone else hear about the recent shake up? Noraboo, Whitejoker, Desna, and Wolfie are no longer admins. Crazy. Whaaaaaa?
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Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 6:52 pm
Lady Pyre Sor - You sure it's really Pink Eye? not all conjunctivitis is contagious. I get really bad mucousy swollen eyes from seasonal allergies, but I'm not going to make anyone else sick with them. (I was pulling strings of snot off of my top lid with tweezers last night. Ew...) I think so? I'm not sure what it is EXACTLY, but my brother got the rest of the family sick when he was visiting from Berkeley, and me and my dad both developed conjunctivitis. Either way, I'm still oozing snot and coughing, so it's probably best I didn't go in today. I wouldn't want to risk getting anybody else sick just before Thanksgiving. Sorry your allergies are so bad, Pyre. :C I had hay fever as a kid, so yeah, I know it can be just really bad allergies.
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Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:25 pm
Soranoko I think so? I'm not sure what it is EXACTLY, but my brother got the rest of the family sick when he was visiting from Berkeley, and me and my dad both developed conjunctivitis. Either way, I'm still oozing snot and coughing, so it's probably best I didn't go in today. I wouldn't want to risk getting anybody else sick just before Thanksgiving. Sorry your allergies are so bad, Pyre. :C I had hay fever as a kid, so yeah, I know it can be just really bad allergies. Oh, fun. sad Feel better soon. And it's my own fault for forgetting my allergy medicine yesterday. So I was thinking of the terrible plot of Love Never Dies and how pretty much everyone is completely OOC and I started wondering, you know, if Erik didn't die at the end, how would that work (assuming someone with a brain wrote it)? And... I just could not see him in any sort of relationship. I mean... can you imagine how he'd over-react to every petty couple's squabble? The Opera would be burned down at least five times a day! Then I found this 30 second clip on youtube. I've watched it about 100 times and I'm still cackling like a maniac. rofl
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 6:36 am
Pyre: I've heard that description before in regards to "sea". I think it means that the sea itself doesn't change (as in, the ocean will always be an ocean). But, yeah, water is more changeable than anything. Lanzer just posted a journal entry about it. Lanzer Recent changes in Gaia HQ For a while now Gaia had been a big company working under big strategies and big rules. By big I mean that we as a company has about a hundred people all trying to do what we can to make Gaia a better website. In order for us to orchestrate a large team, many of us end up spending more time managing teams, while the dynamic of how great ideas come from lunch time conversations, or ideas big and small come from chatting with users online become less and less possible. The result, which should not be surprising to many older Gaians here is that there were many decisions made in the past that upset the community, while many core features are left un-attended. The "just do it" attitude changes to "let's do what majority will agree to do after the next big meeting" attitude. To make a long story short, it took us a long while to really sit down and just allow creativity roam free and let individuals run wild with ideas and addressing specific user concerns. The recent flash game updates or the heaven forum are some of those examples. There came a point in which we notice that acting like a bigger company comes at the expense of not being able to quickly respond to the need of Gaians as our level of communication also took a toll. Realizing what we need to do is not enough. When we're a team with a hundred people, saying "let's work like when we have very little people" is not easy to do at all. In the meantime, the cost of keeping a large team was taking a toll. To keep a large team going, Gaia HQ need a large sum of money. It's kind of simple math but what it all means is that everything lead to what many Gaians called "Gaia was becoming money hungry". This is another aspect that act against our goal of creating a great place to hang out. This week we've been making a number of changes that are painful. It focus around reducing how much money we need each month by reducing the amount of people within Gaia HQ. Similar to what happened two years ago, it lead off to some very painful decisions and moments. As we continue moving forward. We vow to place more and more focus towards fixing broken features, building better events, telling more stories, and adding features that are core to the Gaia community. But that's not all. We also have efforts which will allow us to create games and features for people inside and outside of Gaia. The thought process is simple - imagine if we build a game and we only ask Gaians to help pay for it, we'll need to push much harder and nobody will be happy. Compared to us building a game for both Gaians and people on other sites such as Facebook to also play it and help pay, then the stress over asking only Gaians to keep our teams going will be less. Hope that makes sense. Kinda reminds me of when Dri was fired right before Christmas (so she would get a better severance package). Man, losing all these great admins makes me feel a little uneasy about Gaia's future. I mean, I knew that Gaia would probably lose more staff members as the economy grew worse, but still....
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 7:14 am
well. hmph. yes. ok, I get that salaries weigh heavily on the costs of a business... but it's just got to be good ones who go, doesn't it?
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 8:23 am
Pretty much agree with you there. I can't believe that they aren't even mods anymore. Just regular users. Weird. Noraboo has been a mod since....man, I don't think I ever remember her being a regular user.... Same for the other admins. It's just weird.
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 2:09 pm
I remember when they all were regular users. [/old fogey]
And why would anybody want to go from being a paid admin to a volunteer mod, anyways? Mods are probably more overworked and under-appreciated than any Gaia "staff." Which is why so many of them these days ******** suck - nobody in their right mind wants to be one.
If that's the reason for the big let-go, then I hope they stick to it. I'd trade a few admins who can hopefully find good jobs elsewhere for more of a community feel. But Gaia is pretty notorious for going back on its word. And Lanzer is pretty notorious for not knowing what the hell he's talking about. So we'll see.
I hope that comment about non-Gaians helping pay for features along with Gaians means that Monster Galaxy will eventually be added to Gaia and not that we're all expected to join Facebook to support it. Because as curious as I am about it, I'm not gonna.
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 2:38 pm
&*^!@&^!)%^%^ ******** you, FDA! ******** you in the eye!
They pulled Darvon and Darvocet off the shelves because they found out they cause "heart problems." They've only been around forever. I've been on Darvocet practically since I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia at age 13. They've switched me to other meds a few times, but I've always had a bad reaction and had to switch back.
So what the ******** am I supposed to do, now? It's coming into the worst season for pain with all of the wet and cold weather, and I only have enough left for 10 days. And I was just at the neurologist less than a month ago, so... !)^)#!^#&)^!@#^)!<******** IT ALL.
Edit: Oh, I just love this part I found in a News Report: "Patients taking the drugs should speak with their doctors immediately, and shouldn't make the decision to stop on their own, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends." Really, FDA? Really? And how the ******** do you propose I keep taking it? I found out when I went to the pharmacy and they refused to fill my prescription.
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 6:08 pm
It's bad enough I have a little TV "staring" at me on the header, but now a little tree with the Cash Shop symbols rustling in it next to that?
FFFFF-
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 6:38 pm
Sorce It's bad enough I have a little TV "staring" at me on the header, but now a little tree with the Cash Shop symbols rustling in it next to that?
FFFFF- Female avis don't get the TV, anymore. Apparently we don't eat beef jerky. I only saw the cash tree the first day. I've been "watching" Gambit videos in another window while I browse the forums. I'm starting to find it hilarious just how many recipes Kraft is trying to get me to make using Philly cream cheese.
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 8:54 pm
Another old hag here who recalls where Dri, Noraboo and all the mods were just regular users (Dri was so nice crying ). I understand that Lanzer have to look at his business models but, to be frank, he needs to find some business expertise outside of Gaia HQ. He started something that had grown into proportions he could never had DREAMED of and he kinda improvised with how to manage and keeping it successful. Now, he feels like he's causing a lot of dissatisfaction with his customers (which is what we are) and tries to correct the situation in a clumsy manner.
Pyre: Holy s**t! I can only wish that the docs find the med that will substitute to your previous medication as knowing you in pain is not a fun thought at all. sad
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 8:57 pm
Lady Pyre Sorce It's bad enough I have a little TV "staring" at me on the header, but now a little tree with the Cash Shop symbols rustling in it next to that?
FFFFF- Female avis don't get the TV, anymore. Apparently we don't eat beef jerky. I only saw the cash tree the first day. I've been "watching" Gambit videos in another window while I browse the forums. I'm starting to find it hilarious just how many recipes Kraft is trying to get me to make using Philly cream cheese. I've got the Nissan Rogue one in the Gambit video and, for the second video, I've filled my age and it refuses to show me the video because I'm not the target audience. eek Guess I should fill my age ten years younger and give it a try next time.
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Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2010 10:41 pm
can't believe it's over. 3.5 years.
sigh.
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Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 1:03 am
Blah blah blah "We spend more that we make so thats why we whore ourselves to any advertiser that will take us and fire the few good mods we have."
I know the economy is in a downturn and all, but lets be honest: this is a god damned forum. For what it's worth, even with the tons of users on at all times, it shouldn't take much to run. And what you actually need, more than programmers for your lame flash doodads no one wants or uses and artists who work solely on updates for your ******** pay shop, are mods to make sure the core function of your site stays in shape and programmers to make sure the forum functions function.
If you're going in the red from running a forum, particularly one that has so many advertisements and paid functions as Gaia (there are no less than 2 pay items released a week, and 4 new ads) then you are a terrible businessman.
Protip: having less flash pop ups on every page, videos no one watches, games no one plays might actually, I don't know, save some money. JUST A HINT.
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Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 11:13 pm
Beni - Thanks. It's just that the timing is totally terrible. End of semester stress. Beginning of winter weather. Holiday difficulty getting a doctor's appointment. Ugh. -_- I guess I'll have to take aspirin or something. I don't think there are that many moderate painkillers out there I haven't tried and I don't want to take something like Vicodin or Oxy. On an up-note. Did you know there is a webcomic where Erik and Jareth are roommates? Holy crap! Only two of my favorite fictional characters ever. The author has issues with pacing when she does more serious arcs, but the gag comics are fricking hilarious. There's one for Sarah and Christine, too. Too bad they're on devart. RoommatesGirls Next DoorAnd yes, I have seen the Dario Argento version of Phantom and I know exactly why poor Jareth has this look on his face. Haha. I also love that the Phantom doesn't have lightbulb moments - he has candle moments. rofl
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