- 19,853
- Alabamamania
It's probably no secret that after 6 years of being here at the 'Planet, I've wondered what it would be like to be a moderator. To be frank, I figured I'd have become one by now. But alas, my time wavers here: One day, I have 3 hours to spend, but most days, 3-10 minutes. Which is probably the reason I'm not a mod (PM me the real reason, if need be).
But for the past 18+ months, I've been contributing to a site called WikiMapia. Perhaps you've heard of it: When you click on highlighted coordinates on Wikipedia, you get to select WikiMapia as one of the 100+ choices for viewing a specific location, if you do one of those GeoHack things.
The basic concept: Google Maps + Wikipedia = WikiMapia. To me, this is like chocolate and peanut butter, with a cup of Kona coffee. The idea/slogan is really simple: "Let's Describe the Entire World!" Obviously, this might take a while...with 6 million locations in 2 years, we're likely about 1/1000 of the way though. Don't do the math.
Anyhow, I got on board in the early going, and eventually became promoted to an administrative-type user, thanks to my suggestions and welcome contributions. We propose ideas, do good works, make suggestions, and edit edit edit...you get a promotion. Karma this and karma that, you make nice-nice and it all works out.
But here's where the lofty part becomes work, or maybe just un-fun: The world doesn't exist in a server, it exists in this great big ball of dirt and water, with it's own heater and air conditioning, which is a dandy sealed unit but the warranty was voided the moment organisms invaded it. The orgnaisms drew lines all over it, named things, built things, and called themselves names.
But eventually, the organisms grew too big for their little petri dishes, so they re-drew the lines, that may or not have belonged to other organisms (oh hell, they're not even organisms, they're animals!), and named and re-named and named again, and who's land is this anyhow?
And in the name of greater organisms, seen and unseen, or possibly with books and tablets written/carved about them, they said stuff. Chosen organisms and the like might one day be more than just a couple of cells. Something like that.
Anyhow, editing wars!
1: Place!
2: Re-place!
1: Place.
2: Re-place! (Dummy)
1: Place! (Damn you!)
2: Re-place! (You son of a...)
1: Place! (And we butter our bread on the top, unlike you savages!)
2: Re-place! (Dumbasses over there should butter their bread on the bottom, like we do.)
Ad infinitum. And so it goes...over and over they edit one another, until someone goes to sleep. For example, the Persian Gulf has about 600 edits. But 300 of those edits say "Arabian Gulf".
Who gives a ****! It's a salty body of water!
Name Calling. Slander. Privacy troubles. Personal places. Meaningless places. Long descriptions. Ambiguous locations. Spam. Garbage. Vulgarity. Spelling errors. Translation errors. Sock puppets. Forum flooders. Member impersonations. Language gaps. Ideology vagueness. Made-up crap. Personal vendettas. Bots. Attacks on people and companies. Ethnic cleansing. Religious fanatics. Politics. Independence versus Colonialism. Self-haters.
All in a day's work: A kind of world within a world. Most of it is actually interesting.
But you start to realize that you're contributing a different sort of workload to a site when you moderate; you're now a drone behind the scenes. You get to do less of the fun part, and more of the work part than before. You get some respect, and you're not just one of 110,000+ members, you have a lot more say in what goes on. A balance, if you will.
But man, you suddenly realize how many people have nothing better to do than sign up for 50 accounts a day. Or argue with everyone. Or to spew drivel for the sake of doing so. Or they try to use their tiny piece of the globe as an for instant messaging or chatting client.
Or just...don't...get...it!
GT5 will arrive one day, and it turn GTPlanet into a hive of buzzing activity with more noise than honey. My hat is off to y'all; this isn't as easy as it sounds, because the fun gets sort of stripped away at times in this position.
But for the past 18+ months, I've been contributing to a site called WikiMapia. Perhaps you've heard of it: When you click on highlighted coordinates on Wikipedia, you get to select WikiMapia as one of the 100+ choices for viewing a specific location, if you do one of those GeoHack things.
The basic concept: Google Maps + Wikipedia = WikiMapia. To me, this is like chocolate and peanut butter, with a cup of Kona coffee. The idea/slogan is really simple: "Let's Describe the Entire World!" Obviously, this might take a while...with 6 million locations in 2 years, we're likely about 1/1000 of the way though. Don't do the math.
Anyhow, I got on board in the early going, and eventually became promoted to an administrative-type user, thanks to my suggestions and welcome contributions. We propose ideas, do good works, make suggestions, and edit edit edit...you get a promotion. Karma this and karma that, you make nice-nice and it all works out.
But here's where the lofty part becomes work, or maybe just un-fun: The world doesn't exist in a server, it exists in this great big ball of dirt and water, with it's own heater and air conditioning, which is a dandy sealed unit but the warranty was voided the moment organisms invaded it. The orgnaisms drew lines all over it, named things, built things, and called themselves names.
But eventually, the organisms grew too big for their little petri dishes, so they re-drew the lines, that may or not have belonged to other organisms (oh hell, they're not even organisms, they're animals!), and named and re-named and named again, and who's land is this anyhow?
And in the name of greater organisms, seen and unseen, or possibly with books and tablets written/carved about them, they said stuff. Chosen organisms and the like might one day be more than just a couple of cells. Something like that.
Anyhow, editing wars!
1: Place!
2: Re-place!
1: Place.
2: Re-place! (Dummy)
1: Place! (Damn you!)
2: Re-place! (You son of a...)
1: Place! (And we butter our bread on the top, unlike you savages!)
2: Re-place! (Dumbasses over there should butter their bread on the bottom, like we do.)
Ad infinitum. And so it goes...over and over they edit one another, until someone goes to sleep. For example, the Persian Gulf has about 600 edits. But 300 of those edits say "Arabian Gulf".
Who gives a ****! It's a salty body of water!
Name Calling. Slander. Privacy troubles. Personal places. Meaningless places. Long descriptions. Ambiguous locations. Spam. Garbage. Vulgarity. Spelling errors. Translation errors. Sock puppets. Forum flooders. Member impersonations. Language gaps. Ideology vagueness. Made-up crap. Personal vendettas. Bots. Attacks on people and companies. Ethnic cleansing. Religious fanatics. Politics. Independence versus Colonialism. Self-haters.
All in a day's work: A kind of world within a world. Most of it is actually interesting.
But you start to realize that you're contributing a different sort of workload to a site when you moderate; you're now a drone behind the scenes. You get to do less of the fun part, and more of the work part than before. You get some respect, and you're not just one of 110,000+ members, you have a lot more say in what goes on. A balance, if you will.
But man, you suddenly realize how many people have nothing better to do than sign up for 50 accounts a day. Or argue with everyone. Or to spew drivel for the sake of doing so. Or they try to use their tiny piece of the globe as an for instant messaging or chatting client.
Or just...don't...get...it!
GT5 will arrive one day, and it turn GTPlanet into a hive of buzzing activity with more noise than honey. My hat is off to y'all; this isn't as easy as it sounds, because the fun gets sort of stripped away at times in this position.
Although I have to say that it’s probably harder for you, just because of the nature of a Wiki (less reputation and more anonymity for each profile, plus people have to 🤬-up a bunch of times on a Wiki before they’re reprimanded, while here we can nip the problem in the bud). It’s a chore sometimes, but we have some of the best members of any forum anywhere. 👍
:tup:
