Can we PLEASE stay a community?
 

Since I have started Menewsha, it has been my virtual home. I quit another avatar community in favor of this one. In fact, I love this site so much I did a field study on it last semester for my anthropology class, and occasionally have added notes to it for my own reading after my study was due. Menewsha is a great online community with really awesome users. Many of which will strive to make the community as friendly and welcoming as possible. Yes we have grown slowly. And yes, as a result there have been groups to form that closely niched together, but ever growing and adding new users to the mix if only the users will come in and communicate.

But, things are now starting to trouble me and I sense a tension on the site now that I do not favor. Since I got a job roughly four weeks ago, I have not been on Menewsha much due to school and work. However, over the last two weeks I have noticed some disturbing drama and seems to be ever brewing behind and outside of closed doors, but at the very least tension clear to see if you come across it. And it troubles me.

Do I know exactly what happened? No. Will I trust what ANYONE tells me what happened? No. I did not see what happened. I will not trust "proof" of what happened. And quite frankly, not many on here may have noticed that something did happen. But for those like me who pretty much lurk different parts of the community and I became accustomed to with my field study, yeah. It is noticeable.

The point of this thread is to discuss what it means to you guys that Menewsha is an actual online avatar COMMUNITY. It is for remembrance of how the community started and formed and became close, no matter "ranking", for those who have been on here long enough. And it is also for those who want the tension and drama in the background to die down.

It is not to discuss what happened. It is not to even find out what happened. And Actually, besides "tension" or "drama" being the terminology used if you MUST bring it up to describe the change you have seen, I do not even want it mentioned in here.

I am creating this thread to remind people how great this community was, still is, and how I hope it continues to be.
Because I hate sectioned off communities.

Why don't we just stop talking about the whole situation altogether? It's enough that someone is basically trolling the forums now, but making posts like this just makes everything worse because it's drawing even more attention to the situation.

Eh, I kind of agree with Siri on this. :|

I personally don't see this immediate change in the community; two users against over 70,000 others might do the trick for me, though (by that I mean that they were two people I personally never interacted with - unless it's actually only one person, or more than two people... as if I care to know - versus many other users for me to interact with).

Honestly, it's such a minor issue that if it did anything to shake the community, I'd be immensely surprised. :roll:

Unfortunately Facade, it's more than just two users who got up in arms about it.

Winter, I'm glad you took action in making this thread instead of stewing about it on your own. I think this community is a great place and I honestly don't understand why we can't get along better, and why people gotta troll and junk. It's not like we could actually DO anything to each other--anything that someone perceives as "doing" is just petty over pixels and points.

Sure, I might disagree with someone over something, but I wouldn't let that get into the way of being friends with someone. Life is too short for that.

ILU WINTER<3

I haven't been on here that long to notice
the tension, but this site wasn't made for
fights. That's all I know!

And as a mentioned before. No names. No mentioning of the situation. Plain and simple in my post.

And I brought it up since I believe the tension itself had to be addressed. It is noticeable in some areas of the site that are frequented often.

When I joined in April of 2007 the site was lovely, the community awesome, and arguments infrequent. It still is in most ways.
The atmosphere is somewhat shakey now and I would like it to go back to being smooth as it was a few months ago.

I love that Menewsha is a close knit community that continues to grow. The downside to that is things just do not stay in the dark that, in a lot of ways should.

I do not want newer users to sense the tension and leave.

Which I think it is great that amyymickss hasn't yet. ^^

I would like to see that too, Winter. The community should come together and work out all the issues. I don't think things should be kept in the dark but I don't agree with making everything into a huge deal. I do believe the problems should be handled between the two parties (or however many) that are involved but certain actions taken or emotions felt can prevent that from being done.

And I don't want to cause tension between myself and anyone regardless of their stance on anything. Friendship means more to me than my pride.

Thank you Howdy. :)

I agree Winter.
This site used to be a really happy place for me but lately it depresses me even to get on. I still love it here but the drama really takes away from that. I would love for things to calm down.

And I have to say, I love your outfit Winter. Very cute. ^^

I can understand where you are coming from, Winter. However, whether it be an online community or IRL, there will always be tension somewhere. It's good that you are making this thread, though. It would be a shame to lose newcomers who get the wrong impression of Menewsha.

I love Menewsha, and its my favorite place to go on when I'm online. But drama and tension are always going to be unavoidable, and even though there is drama and tension, I don't really think that people are starting to doubt the community as a whole.

That is true, and I am aware of that. But there are conflicts that come up from time to time on here that really makes things really disturbing, and as a result lost a few good members, and I rather the situation just settle down before it escalates to the point it is a deterrent for newer users as well, if you know what I mean.

I just do not want people getting fed up with the drama on the site, saying it is not worth it and leaving before any progress is made.

I want Menewsha to grow, its userbase to grow, and the stuff available on the site to grow.
The staff have made great improvements to the site. We have gained many new users to the point it now shows in certain forums.

If you're referring to who I think you are, they weren't all that great. =\
As much as what you are trying to do can be appreciated, I don't think that any drama is too great to hinder how Menewsha has flourished. Yes, I agree that it would be a shame for newbies to leave immediately or frequenters to get fed up from drama, but I don't think that things have gotten all that bad just yet. Also, if people have left due to petty drama, then well... *shrug*

While I certainly don't enjoy or approve of drama, I don't know too many people who have left on the basis of drama alone.

Demo and Zweres both pretty much said it all. :)
The last ordeal of this caliber was back in... Late '07? Early '08? To my estimate, anyway. And if people know what I'm referring to, they know what I'm referring to. If not, then... well, they don't. :roll:

Anyway, what I was saying earlier is basically that there's more where they came from. :lol: I personally won't miss them, and if others do, well... I miss people who've left a myriad of sites for a myriad of reasons, and you don't hear me whining over just a couple. :|

Being a community involves doing the best for the community as a whole, and I've yet to see more than a select few people affected.
Now maybe I'm being a bit too nearsighted in this matter (and undoubtedly more bitter than humanly possible in these situations), but... Eh. It's all about perspective. :P

Touché.

But there has been more than just one other occurrence that I am thinking of. :|

My point is, the drama going on now is more open than ever before and it irks me more than ever before. And it is the "just yet" part that is worrisome. Hence me addressing this matter in the first place.

I want the community to remain as friendly and unbiased as possible to parties directly and indirectly affected.

And your wishes are valiant, they are, but Menewsha isn't perfect. Menewsha will never be without biased users nor without drama. It's like saying, 'I'm just trying to achieve world peace'. Sure, it's a nice thought, but it will never happen. Thankfully we have Mods who enforce the Menewshan laws. Oh and drama will happen, you'd better believe it, but the Mods will abolish it before it festers even further.

Sorry, I don't want you to think I'm bashing at you by challenging your statements. I am glad that there are users like you here in Menewsha, but I'm just thinking realistically.

I've only been on a couple of weeks and haven't noticed anything unfavorable or tense. The community seems as welcoming, polite and mature as anyone has described it to be. This thread makes me really curious, though, as to what did happen. I can't imagine something on a message board getting too serious, since most people don't know each other personally. I'd think most people would be able to get over it if they like this website enough and the cause of the problem is over.

(not that I know anything about it though ^__^; )

xD I actually think you are more misunderstanding me.
Hell I do not even believe in the word peace. xD

Hmm, how can I put this?
Okay suppose that this was a school, we are the students and the staff is the faculty.
One student does one thing and it generates in a lot of she said he said they said side taking load of blargy.
Stuff happens, things are made public, school reported the the board of education/state board of education for such and such. School is reprimanded and put back to right.

This is how I am viewing it if it makes any sense. Except that higher authority isn't there so it hits closer to home.
That is what I want to avoid.

I guess this thread is more aimed toward older users or (in)directly involved users.
With comments and discussion from newer users who are experiencing the site now.

Ichinose- ^^ That is great then. I felt welcomed to the community since the moment I joined in 2007 and still feel welcomed. And I try to be as friendly as possible to users who I come across as a result in hopes of a chain reaction. I guess sort of like those liberty mutual commercials. xD
Great. xD Now I want to learn to use windows movie maker to make a menewsha "commercial" like that. xD

I can see where you are going with the whole school-institution-idea, but I cannot compare Menewsha to that. I think of it more like, say, Someone breaks a rule in town and is punished for it. That person, then, makes a huge deal about it and takes it out directly to the authorities. In order to prevent another outburst and/or clear up any misunderstandings, the authorities speak out and set an example. Is that really so wrong? I may be going out on a limb here, but your example works...for a school, but Menewsha is more of a town/village by comparison and things don't necessarily work the way that a school does in regards to privacy.

Okay, going along with yours, if the authorities look like they are stepping out of hand(not saying they are or are not), it goes to the next level once again.
And that is nonexistent here.

However, it is true the privacy in schools is different than that in a city/town/village. But, at least where I live, it is existent to a point.

I choose school as something I believed more people could relate too. That and the schools I went to were close knit and community like, teachers and students, because of the small size and where most of us came from.

But on a better note, the tension i have/had seen isn't as bad anymore. Which is a good start. =D

Yeah, I don't want this to turn into a huge debate! xD
I'll just finish off by saying that I agree with this statement.

Say whut?
There was drama?
I guess I'm just to busy in my little corner of the virtual world.

But it should stay a happy community.
Just not one of the fake-happy ones like Desperate Housewives.