LadyO

Qsilv, I meant "Qsilv" ... a thousand pardons ... bad eyesight and tiny screen makes for some major goofs!

solosater

Sorry if I misquoted or misinterpreted anyone's thoughts or ideas.

solosater

I’ve been reading through The forums and see so many really good points being made. I personally said that , And I quote, “I do think the non-violent protest might work if EVERYONE does it and it STOPS the hating, screaming, name-calling et al in the forums.

“Otherwise we wont really be showing Rachel anything at all.” My point being that no amount of hating, screaming, or name-calling would get us anywhere but a united front may show TD and Rachel that we really would like something done so that if the current voting system either overhauled or made secure.

lynnspotter made an attempt to bring the artists together in a non-violent, hating, screaming, name-calling protests and as it seemed like the only idea that ANY people could agree on I personally agreed to try is as for myself I care little for the votes anyway.

I did however feel that as a site that is open to the whole world it should be explained to all if possible; that is why I made the effort to translate the info to some widely spoken languages (apparently the translation service I used [Google Translates] was not so reliable). Oh well I tried.

Qsilv made some very good points on competition namely that, “ The harm in competition comes in two stages -- the first is no biggie. In a complex world, with people of varying neediness and maturity, some are going to abuse the system a little, and some are going to be hurt by that ---again, a little.

“This is not a pain-free world, folks. It's not a wholly fair one. That's the price of freedom --flexibility. It's worth it.

“It turns into a biggie whenever someone reacts to their own hurt by allowing themselves to fixate on it AND to express it so often and so vehemently that it takes over.

“That's not the fault of competition per se.

“It's not even the fault of the system... although we could argue that a faulty system provoked someone into behaving poorly.

“We are now trying to control the system... and that's fooling ourselves. It's really not ours to control. It's Rachel's. We are guests.” (I believe she was making reference to Logins great story about the whole mess.)

In another post in another thread Qsilv made a very good observation that THIS IS NOT OUR SITE, and I believe it was Luna who likened it to us being guests in her (Rechel’s) house and thinking it is OK to re-arrange the furniture to our liking. And said, “ We ARE guests here. Let's behave like it and let Rachel make the changes as she see's fit.”

Qsilv also made the point that, “The most effective --and incidentally the gentlest-- way to deal with Flame Wars on the Internet is... to... ignore... Them.” I believe she is absolutely correct.

Login says’ “If TD gives us the gift of a voting system, less open to manipulation, I will be so grateful. If TD chooses to keep their baby just the way it is ... then I will accept their decision gracefully.”
kmkagle stated that’ “A vote became all too important, comments mean more. A vote says nothing, an encouraging word speaks volumes. Don't be afraid to draw your pictures, do it for the joy of it! I enjoyed the humor but I enjoy integrity, honesty and morals more than anything, I value them highly.” and that. “I've learned so much here. Skills I didn't know I had evolved. I took pride that "I did that"!! I felt small compared to the professional artists on this site.” and., “If no voting solves the problem, wonderful. I think my peers opinions are more important. I think lynnspotter's suggestion is an excellent one and I think we should try it.”

Baldur said , “There has never been a rule about using all the features when romping in a playground.
If anyone chooses to draw but not vote there is really no slight to anyone involved.” and, “This really isn't like a revolt of the inmates, we are all free to wander away if we choose.

“That being said I'm going to try to abstain from voting if only because I might feel more apt to leave a comment instead.”

Qsilv Hs since decided to go back to voting and says,

“Q's personal suggestion--

“Solosater's and Lynnspotter's impressive movements showed us that we can modify our behaviours...

they aimed at the voting as if it were the trigger, I want to aim at the anger/hate itself, as if it were the whole gun.


“Instead of not voting.... let's try not shouting. Except for joy.

“Instead of not voting.... let's try not spitting at each other. Except for sneaky fun.

“Instead of not voting.... let's try not escalating friction -- no matter howwwwww much that itch demands to be scratched!


“No, we won't get it perfect. But hon, even 90% earns an A. (ok, over-achievers can aim for 98...)


....but... BUT... it's lots harder to make great posters for this!

...and... AND... there's all those multilingual posts to be updated... Aaarrrggghhh” (Oh yeah, I’m guessing I’ll be at it for a while… Oh well.)


I fully agree that the goal is to get back the joy and fun TD and stop the shouting, spitting, and escalating friction. I don’t think there’s any question lynnspotter’s goal was to make this happen and I don’t think her suggestion was in any way trying to make the system non-voting for good but only to get the attention of the people who could make a change so that the vitriol in the comment both in the gallery and the Forum.


marg e-mailed Rachel and then posted it on the forum, Rachel responded with this info:


“As for changes to Think Draw:

“We have hopefully just made the loading of pictures (especially recent ones) much quicker.

“It is time for a new theme or an improvement of the current 'Faces' theme. Let us know which you would all prefer.

“Email verification of new accounts before users can rate or comment on pictures is something we should have done a long time ago. Hopefully this will go some way to alleviating the current rating issues.

“Finally, the next feature should be the ability to add favourite pictures to a personal gallery and/or subscribe to follow other artists contributions. Again, in time this could be incorporated into the Top 5 system to improve the choice.

“Thanks to all for your continued participation and as always we welcome any suggestions and requests!”

I noticed that the email verification of new accounts sounds to be aimed at new accounts only and that it is second on the list.


I am with you all on the need to regain the joy and fun of TD and I hope we do. I personally will not be voting, at least for a time, as I see no point if the system is broke. And I feel comments are way more encouraging to me personally and to many others on TD.

Login

I'll second that.

Luna

Qsilv, we like you too. You are the voice of reason and harmony.