[BuddyUP] : Sunday shakeup!
Shake it!
It’s Sunday today and that means it’s time for a few changes on the BuddyUP server!
After a pretty slow week and some temporary burn out, I’ve decided that the BuddyUP server needs a little bit of a shakeup.
What’s going on?
Thankfully, our BOT is well on its way to getting finished! My friend underestimated what was involved and it has taken a little bit longer than he expected. It isn’t too much of a big deal since we are all getting along just fine in the general chat for now but when Buddy Request is set up and running I'm sure we will see a lot more activity.
He has told me that he wants to get it working the best he can so that there isn’t much-repeated work needed.
I’ll be updating everyone about the progress in #the-pond so make sure you look out for the @everyone messages.
Catch of the ... what?
Yes, I know. There hasn’t been any Catch of the Day members and the Catch of the Week has been forgotten about because of a low number of votes.
People had said that the feature would take a little bit of time to get going but I feel as though it would be better to save the Catch of the Week for the future, just so we can focus on other features first.
Catch of the Day is live! Starting from today, I’ll be putting a blog link into the channel daily. I will get round to everyone, and I will repeat users depending on their activity on the server. In time we will have this automated to make sure everyone is mentioned.
Hello?
Myself and @CoachJJ were talking the other day about the PYPT show on Thursday night and how we felt about speaking on the show.
We both feel like we need more practice when it comes to speaking over the mic with people on Discord. I’m sure there are other people out there that feel exactly the same!
Our plan is to get a voice channel organized on the server so that we can all hop in and chat with each other.
I think to start, it would be handy to have a few set times through the week where people can hop in and have a quick chat about ourselves so we have the chance to get to know each other. In time, we can incorporate different approaches and people can get involved with hosting and running different shows if they like.
If you want to get involved with this, drop us a message!
NEW POST PROMOTION
@NotConvinced and I were speaking yesterday and he brought to my attention that we could be doing so much more with our post promotion channel.
At the moment we just have a stream of posts being dropped in and it’s not easy to see if people are swinging by and checking out everyone's content.
Feedback and constructive criticism are just as important, if not more, than praise and compliments. Different channels have a variety of approaches when it comes to operating their post promotion channels and I think we should try to make our channel a little bit different too.
How would you guys feel about having somebody give you some criticism about your post if they didn’t think it was worth an upvote?
The idea is;
You enter the channel and you see the last post that was submitted.
Before you drop your link in, you have to decide whether the post above is good content.
If it is good content, you have to upvote it and leave a constructive comment that adds some value to the post. As well as adding the user's discord name to your link.
If you feel like it isn’t good content, you have to leave your reason why in your discord message alongside some constructive feedback about how to improve the content.
As you can probably tell, this could be an absolute disaster. People may get hurt, someone may feel discouraged and it could all blow up.
The key in criticism is not too attack when giving it and not to defend or deflect when receiving. - @NotConvinced
I won’t be going ahead with this change until I’ve had some feedback from yourselves and if it does change it will test first over the course of the week.
Right now we have a stream of posts... we could have a stream of advice and tips for anybody who comes to look at it!
Consider this, if any newcomers come along to check out the post promotion and they read up through some of the feedback that others have had to handle and deal with, they will be less likely to do it themselves. Your temporary ‘pain’ (depending on how you handle the feedback), could be a major growing point for another user in the group.
@everyone
Some of you may be new to Discord and some of the notifications might get slipped under the rug at times.
That is totally understandable.
I can only ask that you try your best to look out for the @everyone tags in the channels, these will contain information that you will need to know when using the server. As well as little updates and announcements.
I will be keeping them to a minimum so that it is only for necessary information. All I can ask is that you keep your eyes peeled, thanks!
Any feedback?
This isn’t my community. As I said to @dreemsteem last night, I wish I wasn’t classed as the owner of the community. It’s our community and we shouldn’t look up to any one person as the ‘leader’. We all have a voice, you all have a say in what happens to BuddyUP.
Over the next week, I’ll be asking a couple of people if they would like to help out with managing some of the channels and they will receive the ‘Pleco’ role.
This doesn’t mean they are any different, as I’ve said before, we are all equal.
The roles just mean they can get some permissions to manage the channels and monitor some of the messages.
Any other ideas are welcomed and encouraged, so don’t be shy and send over a direct message on Discord.
Arrrr me hearties!
If you were a part of the PYPT show on the Steemit Ramble server on Thursday night you may have heard of the movement that @dreemsteem has started.
On Thursday, we took part in a fast and furious version of the Treasure Hunt contest that @dreemsteem is hosting. This involved finding specific words in 4 different posts and using them together to make a sentence.
It was super fun! Although I ended up with a very different set of words compared to others… oops.
The event on the show was just a little taster for what the treasure hunt is really about and I urge you to head over to this post to find out more!
To give a very brief understanding so I don’t end up making some mistake and ruining it…
There will be 4-5 ‘Ports’ in the form of a post, curated by @dreemsteem.
The pirates (anybody getting involved) will head over to the Port and will give the post a read, an upvote and a comment.
Within the post will be a secret word and you will be given a clue to find it.
All the words will make up a sentence and you will win the weekly prize if you come up with the sentence first.
Regardless, the reason behind the contest isn’t about the current 5SBD prize pool. It’s about heading over to great content, getting inspired, impressed and leaving some constructive input!
In the end there is no losing, everyone is winning something. If you are a pirate and you knock up some great content, @dreemsteem will be approaching you to be a Portmaster so that your work can get some recognition too!
Make sure you follow @dreemsteem for further information and any updates regarding the contest!
That’s that!
I hope I’ve been able to clear up some things today and some hope is restored for the community. It’s a much bigger undertaken than I realised and it’s something that needs to work well for all of you guys so you will be seeing a lot more effort from my end.
I’m really enjoying the vibe we have in the server right now, there is a lot of input from people and so far there has been no trouble which is always a massive plus.
Massive thank you to everybody within the community for the support and remember what I said before, this is a community for all of us, nobody is held in high regards and everybody has a voice!
BuddyUP discord server : https://discord.gg/9b7FtHu
Steemit Ramble discord server : https://discordapp.com/invite/KYWQenB
Treasure Hunt latest link : https://steemit.com/contest/@dreemsteem/raise-the-mainsail
I like your idea for post-promotion. The problem with society, is that over time our skin has thinned. People no longer want constructive criticism, because it hurts their feelings. I myself see the value in criticism and that not all personalities are able to be as diplomatic as other's. We need to tolerate stronger personalities and control our own egos better.
Without criticism, we are less likely to grow as quickly as with it. We shouldn't eliminate criricism because of potential harm. The problem isn't the tone of a comment, but the reaction to them.
If a comment illicits a violent response, the fault is from the responder, not the issuer. I think your proposal would be a good tool to help teach tolerance, which I believe is the #1 key to peace.
I am new to blogging and vlogging, for which I need help to get started. Please give me advice. So, I believe your approach is realistic and there will be plenty of compliments that result as well.
Maybe refine things to match traditional etiquette a bit by suggesting you start with a positive point first and end with the critique.
I am willing to involve myself a bit deeper into your project than being a mere user once I get a wider understanding of the platform. So far, I see a good idea behind it and would like to be involved in it's growth.
This is exactly the kind of response for the post promotion I was looking for.
I'm glad you also understand the importance of toughening ourselves up. When it comes to feedback we have to be careful with our wording, a good piece of feedback is worded well and motivates rather than demeans.
I think I'll be heavily encouraging follow-ups from people in an attempt for people to engage further. It's got to be known that people are giving feedback because they want us all to grow rather than to belittle us.
I will help you out 100% mate. Straight away you are doing very well leaving a comment of this caliber on a post. It opens up discussion, helps others who swing by and it also shows you are willing to put in the effort.
If you need any help, just send me a message on Discord and Ill be happy to respond. I'm very new to it myself but hopefully I can help you out with the starter steps to Steemit.
I would simply be happy with constructive criticism from the post-promotion section. I added my plea for help as a part of selling your idea.
And yes, the key in criticism is not too attack when giving it and not to defend or deflect when receiving.
I love the old saying, " sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
I get you, that's what it is all about. It should give us a good standard for sure. I don't mind so much about the upvotes right now, it's all about getting the feedback so you can continue to grow.
Good point about criticism, I'm going to copy that and edit it into my post if that is alright?
You have my permission.
I totally agree... I just still say we can criticize with kindness AND truth :)
I grew up as a mixed child in an all white (and racist) neighborhood... Words can and do hurt! Lol
I'm all for thick skin! Believe me!!! We DO need to toughen up as a society! Hehehehe but if we take a moment to think about how to approach the situation.. I think we can use some wisdom with our words.
I agree so much with what you're saying @notconvinced and @calumam!! I actually love how you outlined your comments thoughtfully!!! And I don't have any doubt that your critiques would be received with the heart they were written.
Our group right now is a pretty sweet group! Lots of laughter and kindness!
I'm thinking more for the future when the group grows. If anyone heard what was shared at PYPT by @awakentolife... We need to be prepared for some nasty characters to come to our group and head them off at the pass. (In my opinion)
You are 100% right, we need to watch how we word some of our feedback. Like you said to me before, there are younger members within the community and we don't want to set them back. As long as we are smart and encouraging, I think we will be ok!
I totally agree. Right now we don't have that much exposure and we can grow our community slowly but if things ever do take off it could get out of hand quick. I think it might be wise to speak with some bigger groups to see how they handled this.
It'll take time for sure but we have a great group of people with us already and I'm looking forward to the future :)
I understand your logic and agree. I do not at all think it should be an anything goes type of set up, as some things like racism have no place here.
But where to draw the line? Lately I have been seeing more and more people expecting everything to be powder puffed and muting/blocking people on other platforms simply for being direct with insensitive wording or simply for being of a different political affiliation. This type of attitude is wrong. Tact is preferred, but forcing people to be politically correct in all manners is ridiculous.
Unfortunately it's actually the types which preach tolerance that are the least tolerant. When you block out a person for simply using "too" strong of a tone, you are doing yourself a disservice, because every statement has something others can take from it if we learn to concentrate on what matters, not what we dislike.
If someone calls another 'ignorant', a 'jerk or swears, I have no issue with these things. I try to look past those things and try to understand the point. I tend to curse alot myself and just use these words as adjectives for emphasis. Other's take great offense just because of another using a swear word. This is ridiculous and counter-productive. Words only have the power you give them. It's a choice.
Now my youngest brother is half latino. My middle brother is my full blood brother. My mother raised us all together and none of us knew our fathers. We also grew up in an all white setting around many racists, even our grandparents. My brother took all the jokes and criticism in stride, laughing at them, instead of being offended. To this day he could care less if someone calls him a spick and he is better for it. He chooses not to respond negatively or take it too seriously and dishes it right back. He has fun with it, because he chooses to. We should all be this way, because if a person gets offended by a word and shuts out others for using words they dislike, we'll never find a way to get past it.
The key is self control. The receiver can either set an example or turn the situation worse. While it's better to be tactful, not everyone will be, so we have to learn to get along with all types. Right now too many piddly meaningless things divide us and it is the response that strengthens that division or attempts to bridge the gaps.
So, while words can hurt feelings you control how they hurt, but physical violence hurts everyone. For this reason the two cannot be equated.
Do I deserve violence for calling another a name? I don't believe so, but this is the way things are becoming. Certain words are now regarded as legitimately causing the violent reaction and that in my eyes is backwards.
You have a right not to be physically harmed, but not a right to happy feelings.
I like these ideas. Putting the Catch of the Week on hold to focus on other features, I think, is a good move.
I actually do like the idea of offering constructive criticism on the link before us in the post promotion channel. I see what you mean that people could get their feelings hurt. But, done properly, it's one of the best ways to grow. I know I've wondered if I'm really producing quality content or are people just not wanting to offend me. We can be one another's mentors.
As much as I hate voice calls, it's what I NEED to do to get better and NOT hate them. And it will bring us together more, i think.
I had a blast with @dreemsteem Treasure Hunt and already have my first word for today!
Thanks for providing direction for our community @calumam.
You rock!
I think it's necessary for now, we can bring it back in a month or so and hopefully we will get a good response and loads of votes!
I'm glad you support the constructive criticism too, it will definitely help us all grow. As long as we can monitor it well and follow up peoples posts with support we should be productive with it. I think getting a team of people who can monitor the channel might be needed. Just so that any abuse can be kept to a minimum.
I'm exactly the same! I used to voice chat all the time on the PlayStation but I don't spend much time on it anymore. I'm sure once we get started we will be fine! I'll make a channel where we can discuss times and ideas for the voice chats :)
I got my first word too! @svemirac 's post was awesome too! Such a cool picture.
Thank you for the continued support @CoachJJ!
😁
Yes!!! @svemirac had to deal with Capt'n Dreemsteem very late at night.... He is an angel!!!! Hehhee (with amazing photos of the heavens! Lol)
Can I just say... Look at the comments on this post!!!!!
You are all soooo part of my tribe!!!! 😍
Love the interaction and support and positivity!!!!
And @coachjj hahahahaha I agree with @calumam YOU ROCK LOL
This was amazing!!! And yes!! You explained the game pretty well!!! (Especially about getting the right phrase... I noticed a duck in the picture above hahahahhaa)
I LOVE the idea about criticism... But not sure about the down vote hahahhahaa
I'm big on positive encouragement :) so maybe just some "hey you know what would be cool to add next time???"
That kind of thing... But I'm a big softie :)
And I agree with the catch of the week for now! I'm a part of so many curation groups! It's a lot to really read and interact with! Lol sometimes less is more!!! :)
Capt'n Dreemsteem says "Arggggh ye best be bringin' yet nimble fingers this week. I sees many pirates congregatin' on the deck!!! "
Can't wait to see you all!!!
Glad you liked it! Hahahaha, I just realized that I managed to get a duck picture in there too.
I've got the channel set up in the server and it's live but I can sense it's going to be a channel that only a select few will use. I've set it so that Tetras can't access it yet just so that they can learn a bit before they join so that might help. Also, any downvotes will be rectified straight away by me but I really hope nobody goes that far, any criticism should be kept to the Discord server.
I think everyone is involved with so much so it's best to just focus on a couple of things so that people don't end up burning out! It's nice when you get a good routine, it is easily disrupted when you have to add more to it!
Jack black 😂😂😂😂😂😂
@calumam if I'm the captain... Doesn't that make you an admiral!?!? Lololol
I'm just the lowkey floor scrubber, I don't get in no pirate drama!
I save drama for the desert....
I'm gonna be so beside myself if you kill me in that game... I'm not even kidding hahahahahahhaa
I will die... And then I WILL DIEEEEEE
(But I will laugh a lot in the dying... SERIOUSLY games are so fun!!!! Hahahhahahahaa)
Hahaha, I bet I'll get killed by a snake... Actually, I can guarantee it
Thanks for the update. I think you have the right idea, as you have to keep trying to find what works. I think the idea to provide feedback for promoted post will help, and is worth a try. --3D
I'm glad you support the idea! I think it will help us all engage with each other better. Feedback is very important at the end of the day.
Thanks for dropping a comment bud! Hope you are having a good day.
Kudos, @calumam for utilizing and creating tools to help others! Community is key.
Thank you very much, got to give thanks to all those who support and keep the community going! Pat yourself on the back :)
This is an interesting concept for a channel, I am a fan and will drop by! Cheers.
Thanks, following along to see how this goes. I'm interested in the doing the same thing if I can get it all figured out.
Jump in to the server dude! The waters warm!
thanks man, I think I'm going to get started this evening!