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Site Purge


Guest Anonymous
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Guest Anonymous

We've recently refreshed our site and there are a handful of members that have hung on through the refresh, however they've never been active.  Or at least, they're active enough to meet the bare basic requirements which isn't enough to move a plot forward or even bolster the site plots.  When we refreshed we tried to emphasize the importance of being active, plotting and threading on the site but it hasn't motivated them to step up.  I feel bad about kicking them when they are technically meeting requirements, but at the same time I really feel like they're dead weight and removing them will help freshen things and encourage more activity.  Thoughts?  Should I suffer through or purge them out?  And would purging them be a crappy thing to do? 

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  • Operations Mod

I really do understand this predicament. It does a site no good to have members who don't contribute. 

 

But as far as this goes:  

12 minutes ago, Guest Anonymous said:

they're active enough to meet the bare basic requirements

 

You've tied your own hands here. 

 

You can't set a base standard, then ban people for meeting no more than that. 

It's like going to a bar and wanting Tequila, but ordering Whiskey - You can't get mad at the bartender for giving you Whiskey, when that's what you asked for. 

 

 

17 minutes ago, Guest Anonymous said:

I feel bad about kicking them when they are technically meeting requirements

 

Well, I mean I reckon you can get mad about it... but then you're the asshole. Why'd you ask for something you don't even want? Where do you get off expecting anything else than what you asked for?

 

You can do whatever you want with your own site, that is the nature of the internet - but you also have no choice but to deal with the consequences. 

 

20 minutes ago, Guest Anonymous said:

Should I suffer through or purge them out?  And would purging them be a crappy thing to do? 

 


Yeah. By nature this is a shitty thing to do. You set a standard. 

Your members are meeting the standard that YOU chose to set. 

 

If YOU are not happy with that standard, then it is on YOU  to reset the standard, and give your members fair notice to shape up or ship out. 
 

Purging them is also your choice, but don't expect your site to survive long term after word gets out about your behavior. You're literally getting what you asked for, and trying to punish your members for giving you what you asked for. 

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Guest Anonymous

I’m going to put this out into the world but it almost feels like instead of a “refresh” you wanted to restart your site fresh. That these people are baggage that you didn’t want continuing forward.

 

I agree with @Dragon that you either set your bar lower than what you actually wanted or you revamped a site that you wanted to start from scratch.

 

It doesn’t matter which one you were doing but I think you need to evaluate what you believe to be standards. When they are changed based on your current activity because you want something different you can have adverse affects. I was once the most active player on a site but my word count (on a no word count site) was suddenly not enough. The staff changed their rule because of me and I left the site which made all of my active RP partners (which there were a few) leave as well.
 

I did nothing wrong per the rules I agreed to and joined with but the staff didn’t like that I was more active and completing more threads than them. This is the same for your slower members. 
 

You need to make a standard that you want. Not something that you think people will comply to. I won’t join a site that says “1 post a month” but expects “1 post a day”. It’s a double standard. It’s like that RPG Rating thread where they say they are 333 but are really 222.

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Guest Anonymous

Thank you both for the tough opinions but I needed it.  You're right.  It is a double standard.  Thanks for pointing it out.  

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I think the others have covered the ethics of purging these players very well, so really I just want to address options for other ways to handle the situation. First, as mentioned, you could alter your activity rules, either to make them conform more closely to what you want or expect activity to be on your site, or to abolish them altogether because these people are a perfect demonstration of why activity rules don't actually encourage activity, they just give players something to hide behind whilst doing the bare minimum.

 

Second, you could talk to these players directly one on one and find out what the deal is. When it comes to moving private plots along, their slowness is really between them and whomever they're threading with, so if people have a problem with their plots dragging, the best way to handle it is just to not thread with them. Site plots, however, should come with an expectation of timing. On our site, we conform to a pace of 1 post at least every 2-3 days; any longer than that and the character risks being left behind or knocked out, which is what players agree to when they sign up for the plot. If a character is so important that the plot can't happen without them, that character should be played by staff or at the very least a trusted member who can fulfil the appropriate activity requirement; don't give flaky players important roles until they've proven they can be trusted not to flake.

 

Third, something that has really helped us is having somewhere to lay out posting preferences, expectations, and requirements. It gives each player a place to say how much and how fast they like to post, plot preferences, triggers, and whatever other information they want other people to know before hitting them up for a thread. It ensures that players who favour certain play styles can find each other, which makes it less likely people will end up resentful and annoyed by having to thread with someone who just isn't suitable for them.

 

There is something positive to be said about these players sticking with the site through the revamp, and we can speculate all we want about why their activity is the way it is, but you won't really know unless you talk to them. At the end of the day, there isn't anything wrong with having players of differing speeds on the same site, so long as everyone is on the same page about what to expect, and I doubt that their mere existence is holding the site back in any way, especially if the rest of you are active and plotting and posting.

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I feel for you on this it is annoying when people just meet the bare minimum but at the same time sometimes it takes someone a push to be more active. I would rather reach out to people. Talk with them and see what it would take to get them more active. Saying well you are doing the minimum of what we ask get out is rude and I feel looks bad for a site. It says hey we say one thing but will still kick you even if you follow the rules so don’t bother.

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Just as a small reminder, aside from these other options, make sure you TALK to your members and let them set the requirement with you. What you expect can be TOTALLY different from what you expect too. Meet in the middle and plan accordingly. 

owner of some website ❤️

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  • 1 month later...

Never enforce non-existent rules. Only in the most extreme cases, or the most generous cases (e.g. relaxing standards), should you make policies that are 'retroactive'. 

Change your rules, though, and give your players a month to follow them, give them time to adjust and reorient. You can even make standards specific to roles - "plot lead characters", or specific groups like "all angel characters". As long as the policy doesn't punish a specific player, and is a broadly applied rule, go for it - just give warning if it is a tightened standard.

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