Re-integrating Menewsha into Life
For those of you who are planning on being more active again on Mene, do you plan on having it replace or substitute any of your usual forms of social media? And as you've been writing, posting, and commenting, have you found it difficult to post like you used to? How has your social media engagement style changed? And is there anything you found in Mene that you were missing before?
With Mene somewhat back from the dead, I feel like it's worth investing time into the community again. However, I'm at a bit of a loss on how to jump back into things. Being a lurker on other social media sites for the past few years has made me accustomed to passively consuming content, since I would scroll Reddit and TikTok out of boredom or lack of creativity. My engagement with Mene is almost the opposite of that. I feel more incentivized to contribute. I find myself giving more thought and introspection because of the longer post format. And without the ephemeral quality of other sites where older posts get buried and throwaway accounts can be made on the fly- Menewsha even demands more vulnerability from me and the thoughts I share. It will be interesting to get back in the habit of this :) |
I burned myself out on avatar sites unfortunately. I've realized that my drawer of social spoons is much smaller than I previously realized; I'd be obsessed with a site, post excessively, feel myself burning out, try to force myself past it, and then like a shooting star I just burn out and end up flat out disappearing for literal years.
I don't want that to happen again with Mene. I'm on reddit, though I haven't been back there in a couple of months because I got distracted reading some novels, and I've been trying to pace myself better so I don't burn out again. I'm not active on any other social media. I think I have a couple accounts here and there but I'm rarely on any of them. [sweat] |
I had a bad experience on another avatar forum that I used to frequently use... I stopped being active on it for a while because I was busy with Discord, (which is my preferred way to communicate with people.)
Basically, someone on this other site, who I thought was my friend, blocked me, then started talking about me behind my back to other people and also purposefully misgendered me behind my back... :/ It sucked because most of the people on this other site are cisgendered so they probably didn't even realize that what this person did was transphobic. So it kinda soured my view on avatar forums, unfortunately. I wouldn't even really be active on any if it weren't for Mene coming back to life. I'm kinda half glad, half hesitant... I don't want another experience like that. Mene will replace my use on that other avi site, 100%, but I don't know if I will be all that active like I used to be. I've changed a lot and I've gotten used to the instant responses of Discord that a forum feels too slow for me... |
I totally relate to that! The problem is exacerbated on a message board because of the longer lifespan of each thread. Each conversation is like a commitment and it can easily get overwhelming.
I should probably set some healthier boundaries and be more okay with just.. not replying once I am out of things to say. That's why I like the thumbs up emoji, but Mene doesn't really have an equivalent way of acknowledging a post without responding, I think. P.s. don't burn yourself out on Mene ;) ---------- Post added 12-15-2022 at 07:48 PM ---------- Kory: I am also concerned about the speed and pacing of the forums, but at least I can get my dress-up fix again. Sorry that happened to you. |
Yeah. I think that's the only draw I am seeing with avatar sites now is the dress up part. xD Otherwise, I would rather talk on Discord.
I've gotten so used to instant messaging, so the forums feel slow and empty to me now. |
Oof yeah, that's true. I'd burn out, but then I'd feel bad about just leaving the person I'm chatting with hanging or not responding, and then I'd force myself to respond, and then the sensation of burning out worsens, until I finally implode and just disappear. Not healthy, I know. >_>;;;
That's one of the reasons why I started hanging out on reddit. No one gives a fug who you are on reddit and you can just up and disappear any time and nobody will care. xD Downside is also that nobody cares about who you are so it's much harder to make friends and there are a lot of messed up people on there, but the anonymity, not needing to care about responding or not, and the ability to just up and disappear is nice at times. I'm trying :P I really hope I don't burn out again. |
I'm only back as of today, but I'm hoping to make Mene a place I check in and just. talk without trying to market myself? Being a Content Creator is a lot, and I feel like here I can just be a person instead, y'know. So I've bookmarked the home page and I'll try come back once or twice a day to just hang.
On the plus side: avviessssss. also there's a far less infinite scroll on mene compared to twitter or tumblr or any of that carryon |
I have more time than I used to for Menewsha/avatar sites. Though I stay pretty busy with the kids, I'm mostly always home.
So, in between other demands, the kids, daily household chores is when I'll make time to try and be more active on here. I'd love to see Menewsha become active again. I'll do my best to check in daily at the very least. |
I am so excited to be back on Mene, but I too feel a bit shy about jumping back in. [lol] Mene has always felt like home to me, and I'm so happy to see so many familiar people returning, but also, I've always been on the shy side, so while I recognize people I don't actually know anyone particularly well. [blush]
It so weird to think that Mene is older than most social media sites. It's in a while different category in my mind, like, I hary even think of it as social media because that germ hardly existed yet. To me, all the major socail media sites serve a different purpose or have a different vibe, so they just overlap each other, and I'm just as much of a lurker on all of them, lol. Mene has always felt different tho. We can be anonymous here if we want, but its also a small niche community so you can also feel part of the group. Kinda the best of both things, maybe? Although I can relate to the burnout potential, I've definitely gone through periods of saying "I'm going go be more active on Mene!" and then overwhelming myself. |
I am like you, a lurker for the most part.
I think I will mostly scroll Mene passively during my work day! It is the only way I have a desktop at this point. I am trying to figure out how to balance my energy, but i'm sure it'll come back to me as time goes on. I am super excited to see Mene back in action and to dive back into the community. |
I will probably post some but i was always a bit of a lurker and had strong tendencies to stop talking for long periods of time. I will probably respond mostly to pings and such mostly and otherwise just lurk. Unfortunately with this pandemic I've gotten kinda antisocial...
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My main places to comment now are Reddit and Discord but even those I tend to shuffle which subreddits/servers I’m in based on what I’m currently interested in. At the moment I’m big on Pokémon Scarlet & Violet but I’m sure that will taper off eventually too. |
I love the longer posts in Mene, I missed it so much. I'm really hoping to get back into the community doing interactive things, like forum games, making and sharing avis, trying out pixeling things on the Mene bases, and maybe RPing?? :eyes: I haven't honestly had a good rp partner since mene stopped being active.
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The longer posts. I miss them too but sadly with mobile it's really hard to read them :(
I gotta figure out a setting for text wrapping on this phone... |
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As for Mene, I will check in and try to be more active, but I have a bad habit of checking out for awhile, then check back in. Mene holds a special place in my heart though as it was the first online community where I felt truly welcome.(Other than going way back to IRC chats with my fav online fandom years ago.) I have been on and off other avatar sites as well and have found two that I really loved, one is kinda gone now... mainly talks on discord which I don't frequent to much anymore cuz my kid and I share a computer and he's on discord all the time. The other site is active and I frequent in and out like normal. |
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I'm definitely a lot more active on discord these days. |
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I totally get what you're talking about in terms of not knowing how to jump back in. I have always generally been a passive consumer of content myself. Mene was the place I dove into the most and actually made friends that I still talk to everyday and even hang out with on a weekly basis (although online cause I'm a homebody and they are across the country [XD]) I have other socials but I don't engage with anyone regularly. Besides Mene, my SWTOR guild is the only place I know people by username or name in some cases. Anyways... I think for me it's easier coming back because there's a lot to do behind the curtain so I don't have to dive directly back into constant social conversation. It's very easy to get lost while digging into the back end and trying to come up with fun things for everyone to do, relearn admin skills, and root around in the library to start breathing some life back into the story and parts of the site that have been so neglected. So as it stands right now, I do not feel like it is difficult to get back into posting except that it can be more tiresome if there's a lot to reply to. My social meter gets fuller quicker nowadays XD Quote:
I personally though really enjoy the fact that I can delay my responses and life can go on XD instant messaging was really fun when I was younger but sometimes it requires a commitment to the moment and the person I'm talking to that I can't always give. So for me, it's nice to have that delay (unless it's something that you really need to talk to someone about ya know?) Quote:
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The last time I really remembered feeling that was, well, here. I'd tried to come back a couple of times, but I just wasn't at the right place in my life yet, y'know? I'm really happy that Menewsha's return matched up to when I was in a place to come back too [boogie]. I'm a bit of a wordy bugger, and I like feeling like I can take my time with responding. I'm not racing against the clock to be heard, y'know? And there's a lot less risk of someone taking what I'm saying, reading the worst possible thing they can into it, and then judging me based on what they think I've said, which I've had happen on a lot of shorter-form social media. I do feel like the way I word things is a little more awkward than it used to be? I'm hoping that'll smooth out as I get used to having the space to say as many words as I want, but only time will tell [:?] I'm definitely going to have to unlearn the feeling that no one cares about what I have to say, if that makes sense? Re-learn to trust that people will take the time to read my whole message, maybe even multiple times, in order to construct a response. Oh oh!! And being able to quote multiple responses and respond to multiple people in a thread! I love that feature and have missed it so much. I don't want to have six different branching conversations nestled in on themselves without any context of the greater discussion! (looking at you tumblr) I want them to be contained in one post! Quote:
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And deffo agree on the lack of infinite scroll being a plus side! There are landmarks! Natural stopping points my beloved [eager] Quote:
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I'm kinda hoping to be more active on the front end of things though. Back when the site was active I was always so so so busy that I almost never dragged myself out of the back rooms. I never had time. Its so nice to see familiar faces that I want to invest more time in that >.> |
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---------- Post added 01-07-2023 at 12:11 AM ---------- *waves at Silverk* Heyo! |
my subscriptions inbox is so full today!! wow, it really feels like the old days :') i am fully prepared to be left in the dust here too now that activity's picked up [sweat] i have an ambition of being subscribed to every active thread, but i'm definitely the type to read my threads like the morning paper and not actually respond to half of them [lol] i've also been known to comment on someone's profile if the convo has moved too far for me to feel comfortable interrupting with a quote, i am not chill enough to let something go, once i wanna say it i gotta say it.
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I'm probably going to be mostly in my journal. Posting things other than what I post on re.color.
I can't be as open about myself on here as I can be there with the rules as they are. Pretty sure I have two infractions coming for mentioning my drug use, cutting and posting a nude pixels of one of my characters. Might be enough to ban me if it were old Mene. |
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