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[–]Musky 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (4 children)

The CF thing didn't seem to affect the bots at all. We're only seeing even more spam now because u/Zapped and u/Vulptex threw in the towel.

I suggest you make u/in-the-clouds a top level non-watered down admin and let him manage the site. You have a number of good people here but that dude's above reproach. My only concern is it'll drive him away too ultimately like all the others.

[–]magnora7 7 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 2 fun -  (3 children)

The ultimate root problem is that this is a terrible endless job that no one wants to do, I'm not sure there is a way to do this without burning out everyone who volunteers, and I find that upsetting.

Similar to how I put mccheetah as a mod of askreddit to remove spam, maybe I'll do a bunch of anti-spam appointments on a sub-by-sub basis. Maybe that'd be more stable long-term and divide up the work more evenly, and prevent burnout.

[–]Zapped 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I enjoyed doing the spam removal for 15 minutes every morning. It just became part of my routine, along with drinking coffee and reading up on the local and national news. A big reason I got "burned out" was because I felt I was doing my part like a good little soldier, all the while I had no control over the organization and culture of the site. After a while, it feels like one is wasting their time here while they are not allowed to contribute in a more meaningful way. People like to feel productive in a meaningful way. If I had no stresses of work and family, maybe I wouldn't have gotten burned out at this time. Who knows.

I really appreciate you, u/Magnora7. You have done a great service in getting this site going, along with D3RR and whoever else we may not know about. You have created a space where people can come to find and share information that is censored or suppressed in other spaces. If I may, I will give you a perspective that my wife showed me. Last year, she let me know that I act as though I have control issues sometimes. I own a small business, and sometimes I won't let me employees do their jobs. I will push them aside and do the job myself. I always thought it was to help out and get it done faster, but my wife made me realize it is because I don't trust them to do the job the way I would do it. Unconsciously, I had decided that I am the only one who can do the job 100 percent correctly and guarantee to make everyone happy. That holds us back. In my opinion, managing people is the hardest job of running a business. Not only is it a skilled job to be a manager and know how to direct and delegate while making sure that the chores are getting done, but you have to actively manage different personalities and motivations. The Edward Johnson character at this stie has frustrated me, trying to figure him out. Maybe he's exactly who he says he is and maybe he uses his odd sense of humor here and maybe he's a little of both. But anyway, he has always been spot-on with his advice on you using your position as creator to set up and keep an eye on a management team here. You would still be the overseer if anyone, or the team, strayed too far from your plans and ideals, but would take so much of the burden off of your shoulders.

My advice is to spend a little time each day the next few weeks reaching out to the user base, gathering ideas and names of those who others think can contribute. Actively manage that team, even it is just to keep in contact and tell them they are doing a great job. Give them instruction when you feel it is need and try to keep them on the path of the culture that you want to contribute. I know I use that word "culture" a lot, but I think it is important to acquire and maintain and allows everything to fall into place more easily.

Make both the users and the volunteers feel valuable here.

[–]magnora7 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Thanks for the thoughtful feedback and for all your help here. I wish I had more energy to manage and be cheerleader for everyone here at saidit, but real life has given me a lot to deal with and I am doing my best. Thank you for your help cleaning up the spam, I did it for 3 years by myself so I know it is tough and there are a large number of persistent trolls which makes it especially difficult. Thank you again for all you have done and continue to do for saidit.