Welcome to Gaia! ::

Hey, I know of people who completely missed the fact that it was happening other than O. I know I almost missed it myself other than the fact that someone posted in it, if it weren't for that fact, I would have completely missed it, but honestly, it doesn't really matter, what's happened has happened, I'm just bringing up something I thought was wrong with it this time so that maybe it can be remedied for the next election. I have one other complaint about it, but it's a rather petty one.

ayup, i agree w/ghost.

and not just because i ran the election. xd

the stickies are stickies for a reason. so they stay on the front page. if you're honestly telling me that its impossible for "older members" to do a quick scan of a few thread titles ((and yes, it was clearly titled...the original threads are in the memorable thread subforum if you're curious)), then, well, that's pretty ******** sad. and if people are upset because they thought they should be on the dedicated member list and weren't able to nominate themselves, well, a truly dedicated member would NOTICE A ******** NEW STICKY.

the nomination thread was up for two weeks. the voting thread was also up for two weeks. there is no excuse for missing it or not realizing it was going on.

also, i had a signature that said "all members go vote for dedicated members!" and i post everywhere.

its a weak excuse. and if you have any complaints about the voting, you need to either go ahead and speak up, or pm me about them since i'm in charge of those. don't just keep saying "well, i had a few issues with it" and then never name those issues.

sorry if it sounds harsh, but i'm tired of people bitching w/a piss poor excuse. swear to god, if i ran this s**t like i run my class, i'd just say "okay, ya know what? we just won't have recognized dedicated members! yay! problem solved!'

and i'm sorry i have to say that, too, but the whining of some comments lately has really 1) put the significance of the age difference between myself and the majority of members here in stark focus for me and 2) made me feel like i get off work after chasing small children around all day and soothing their little baby-issues, log onto gaia and then start doing my job all over again.

stare

well, i hate to have a little mini-rant, but OMG the whiny pm's i get! stare i'm sorry not everyone can be a spechul snowflake, but ya know what? EVERYONE HAD THE CHANCE TO!

confused

aw, i don't mind it normally. usually my pm's are great! or, at the very least, easy to deal with.

i have actually gotten a few obnoxious pm's via various mules since the election results have gone up. stare i don't answer mule pm's, but they're still annoying to have cluttering up my inbox!

speaking of inboxes, gaia seriously needs to give us some more storage! crying

My major problem with the whole thing was the lack of participation, we got a whopping 0.3% of the guild to vote, I think that it would have been better if it was in an area that got looked at more than in the stickies. I know that when I get onto the guild, I see the stickies, but since most of them are about rules or something like that, which I know, I don't actually pay attention to what the stickies say. I know I'm not the only one who does it. While I understand that you promoted it in your siggy, and had it in a sticky, I just don't feel that it was really advertised enough.

Also, the fact that it was a popularity contest irks me too, but the real thing that kills me is the way that voting was done. No system should allow a person to vote for themselves three times. You gave the example that in presidential elections, the candidates would not hesitate to vote for themselves, but the difference is that they only get one vote, also, millions of people are voting, so their one vote is pretty much meaningless. Either all of the votes should have counted the same, or you shouldn't have been able to vote for yourself as the number one candidate.

The whole nominations were a little odd too, I mean, I saw one or two names on the ballot who I've never seen post anywhere near enough to have satisfied the older, can't remember if it was newer as well, requirement of 1500 posts, or by now, just a ton, in order to be allowed to be nominated.

Those are just my issues with the process, as meaningless as they are. I didn't mean any of this as criticism of you Bluegrass, I just think that there are improvements that could be made to it for next year when you do the election again, whether you listen to my suggestions or not is your prerogative, and either way, I'll be fine with it.

the first sticky was labeled, in all caps: DEDICATED MEMBERS! COME MAKE YOUR CASE!

the second sticky was labeled, again in all caps: CAST YOUR BALLOT FOR DM'S!

not a single person voted for themselves three times, so i don't even know where that argument is coming from. stare if you mean voting for yourself first and scoring three votes THAT way, i really don't see how its not fair. if you truly believe yourself to be the best candidate, then you deserve to give yourself those three points. and in any case, EVERYONE could've voted for themselves first and it would've all been equal anyway. ((for instance, if you'll notice, i didn't even vote for myself AT ALL. it was my choice and i'm still happy i made it.))

as far as the lack of participation, guess what. that's voting for you. we, as mods, can put s**t out for guild members to do, but if they're not going to take the time to NOTICE stuff, or care, then that's their business.

that being said, next year i will probably make an announcement sticky in all the subforums as well to direct them to the thread...for all the people who never post outside the subs.

as far as i know, it wasn't a popularity contest ((although that really is what most elections are, in case you've been living in a cave for the past...oh, idk, when did the ancient romans start elections again?)). i stated quite clearly that people should nominate people they thought contributed the most to the guild. and since free and open elections MEAN free and open, anyone was up for nomination. the only action i would have taken, as a mod, would've been if a known troll tried to nominate themselves or something.

and i'm sorry that you feel that some of the people nominated haven't posted quite enough for your liking, however, the OLD requirement is just that. old. forgotten. we don't play that way anymore.

also, just because you don't SEE someone post doesn't mean they aren't posting in places you do not go. we also have quite a few very dedicated members who lurk and post only when they feel they have something to contribute to the conversation, but are nonetheless dedicated in assisting newbs and donating to people and helping members find their place.

we mods still reserved the right to veto or alter the list as we saw fit @ the end of the day, you know. all the people nominated ((with perhaps a few exceptions that were weeded out in the voting process)) deserved their nominations. all the people who made the list deserve to be on it.

end of story.

i'm sorry you missed the cut by two votes, kiddo. maybe next year.

what do you mean? we had 138 votes..