As you may or may not know there have been many, many months of anxious discussion between the Council and Jay and some other random people regarding the future of HW.

I am quite certain that you all have your own doubts and fears about the future of HW. After all, what is a kingdom without a king?

I have the most doubts and fears about HW than all of you, because I have the privilege to view all these lengthy, emotional conversations, but lack the wherewithal to do anything about it. And yet people keep asking me to make a decision; pick a side.

But I'm tired of the arguing, the confusion, and the lack of progress in any decision-making. And mostly I'm tired of all this taking place in the Council Hall, among a few elect. I realized I have no idea what ya'll want. I argue for radical changes in the leadership; saying that it will lead to a more productive forum, but I have no idea if it's true or if I'm making a broad assumption. I pretend to know the mind of HW but I've hardly talked to any of you in ages.

And part of this is because we're afraid to talk openly. We're afraid to condemn a current system for fear of being accused of disloyalty. We're afraid to discuss our leadership for fear of being accused of gossip. We're afraid of being attacked by people who disagree with us, or told that such things are not our decisions.

This is a thread of No Fear. Rank here does not matter. This is a place to discuss the things you love about HW, but also the things that get on your nerves. This is a place to make suggestions, however radical, for changes to the system. This is a place to recognize that change isn't bad, however frightening it might seem. Erase the current system, and envision the perfect structure. What does it look like? Are there more rules or less? Is rank something you can strive to attain or an award conferred on the privilege?

My hope is that through open conversation we can all figure out what a better future would look like, and what we the people can do to obtain that goal. I would ask that Council Members simply observe, and use those observations without actually participating; as you have an entire forum in which to express your opinion.

This is not a place to debate, to spread gossip, or to tell us our place is to wait patiently. I will be watching this thread carefully, and posts I deem out of line will be deleted; so you need not fear a sudden explosion of temper.

I love Holy Worlds, but with activity down lately, I hope it doesn't get forgotten like other forums I've been on. I think it would be great to have everyone more involved like they used to be. Not necessarily for the sake of reaching a goal as a forum, but just getting to know each other and having fun. When we did that, we had lots of things happening like PotM that don't happen now that some people don't have the time and others work on the site more than play on it. I'd just like to see people mingling more.

*nods in agreement* If we could figure out a way to make that easier/more appealing/more remember-able... *finds it hard to mingle more, himself*

^^I agree with both of those answers above.

I honestly am not sure why there would be so much discussion on the future of HW. From my viewpoint, HW is running fine and there aren't any problems with the current system. I'm not completely sure why a change in leadership would be needed since, maybe I just don't appreciate enough what our current leaders are doing, but my impression is that the leaders more make sure that everything's running fine rather than specifically directing certain things. So maybe I'm just completely oblivious to the valid concerns about HW, but at least from my perspective, there isn't any problem. So, except for their concern, I'm quite happy with the way that HW is being run. And those are my thoughts on this matter.

*exhales deeply and runs a hand through her hair* Open? Really? Well... maybe it's time I said my piece.

I honestly feel that the current course HW is on will end badly.

I feel like HW has stagnated without any green light for the current leadership to take the reins, and is dragging the dead weight of an anchor as Jay struggles to keep up with what is going on. I am filled with a certain amount of dread every time I log in, because I see vast amounts of inactivity, very little new content, and still no set plan for moving forward. I know I also that I am partly to blame. As Rin mentioned, the POTM competition died as my life got busier, and I didn't put in any plans for keeping it running in my absence. I apologize for that, and would like to resurrect it once things settle down.

Knowing what I do of the struggles the Council has been having in regards to the leadership team, it has somewhat numbed my enjoyment of HW. I know that HW has got some awesome things it could push forward. Podcasts, publishing, art, and more; I honestly feel all the big plans and ideas for competitions and whatnot have been put on terminal hold until HW's leadership is cemented for the next period of time. But that isn't happening, and it saddens me.

Though Jay cannot run HW from where he is now, I firmly believe we don't need a new leader, singular. The reason Jay put the Council together was because, in his own words, "HW is too big for one person to run". He was right. And now, any one person that might be elected to take his place as admin would not have the time to run the enormity that is HW. I know the Council has dwindled a lot, however if I were to postulate my ideal situation? Have the Council elect and promote new qualified and respected members, and from there - as a whole - run HW themselves. Freely - without restraint.

With no ill-will, no disrespect, and no discourtesy to Jay whatsoever, I believe God has called him to a different area of ministry. Jay is a visionary. He's always got his eye on bigger and better things to begin (And everyone who knows Jay, knows this ). The first steps of the journey are his favourite. If God indeed wanted him to still be completely immersed in the world of HW, would he have ended up where he is now - unable to reach it and run it successfully? I don't believe so. For now at least, I believe HW's best course of action is to move ahead without Jay, and pursue - not Jay's vision for it - but God's. God has great things in store for Jay to achieve, and He has great things in store for HW to achieve. I believe though, that at this crossroads, they are not compatible.

For me personally, knowing that the behind the scenes of HW is still unresolved makes me not want to participate on the board. I feel like this nagging, empty waiting cloud is hanging over me, that things are still unsettled, and for anyone who knows me well, they know I hate uncertainty. I rarely act when I feel uncertain, therefore this could explain a lot of my absence from HW. A lame excuse, however it is a true one.

I think once the Council has regrouped and becomes the primary team of leaders, HW can get under steam again. Without having to check with a distant admin, they will able to confer and discuss with each other on big plans and bring them to fruition. This is not to say Jay would be left out of it. I reckon all the new things the Council brings to the table of HW, and allows the members to contribute will excite Jay as he hears about it in our letters and emails. Sometimes when you get caught in one train of thinking, you can't see any other way. Allowing the Council to run HW as they see fit under God may uncover some things Jay never would have thought of, and would pave the way for even greater things God will achieve in this project.

Call me weak and ineffectual for my pathetic contribution of late, but I think I would find a renewed vigour and passion to participate on HW again once new leadership arrangements have been locked in. I would love to then resurrect the POTM in a way that it will be easy to run, and easy to compete in. I'd love to see the CS story take off, and more poetry/short story books off the press. I'd like to see more writing competitions. I'd like to see more people in the chatroom (myself included ).

I've sat on my hands all this time and been so useless whilst hearing of the struggles going on, so even if this does nothing but muddy the water, at least I can say I've said something that I pray will be useful somehow.

Quick Question: For those who are still relatively new to the forum, what is POTM?

Sorry Aratrea. POTM was a photo of the month contest, created to draw people to submit a photo and/or photomanipulation to the HW art gallery.

Open thread on HW's status? O.o
I agreed with Bushmaid on this. However, at its current point I think that HW is becoming ignored, and from my perspective, it's because of only a few issues.

It would be nice if we would at the very least, set up some sort of temporary chain of command, even if it shut down once Jay came back. As a forum, we essentially form our own mini-government. Thus, in its current status, HW cannot run at its full potential. Having strong, knowledgeable leaders who can make decisions unaltered by their own views would most definitely help.

On the other hand, if we stopped arguing HW in general would become more popular. No one enjoys it when a forum just sits around and argues over who's beliefs are "better". People may be leaving because they are tired of the arguing. I have stayed away from HW because I just don't feel like messing with arguments, and I know that quite a number of other people would agree with me.

While I think we could carry on like this, it is obvious that HW would suffer greatly. A more available set of people as the Council (no offense to current council), and people willing to put their arguments aside would, from my perspective, get HW back to its formerly epic state.

And yes, I know that may have been a little blunt.

HW has been pretty slow recently. I don't think we need new leaders, we just need the leaders we already have (HRMs, mods, MLs, Council-members) to get people interested again in what we've already got. (I mean, go to the forum index and see what color of the people who last posted are. Just in the citadel I see 4 HRMs, 3 editors, a mod, and a council member.) And I mean... we don't need more leaders or else that will leave us with a hugely disproportionate RU-leaders ratio.

I also agree that MLs/council members should be more handy.

Perhaps we should start getting people interested in HW again. POTM, photomanip contests, etc. Maybe occasional chat discussions or chat parties.

And... I'm always here to help in any way I can.

I agree. The current council is doing a wonderful job, but it does seem like they could maybe use more members, and Jay's position has isolated him from being admin, though none of us like it. And I agree too-it wouldn't mean Jay wouldn't be involved, just he wouldn't be involved in the same way.



I do think the current council has done a good job of being available, but sometimes it isn't obvious how available they are (to me, anyway). If and whenever I get the nerve to actually try to get a CM's help, or send them a PM, they have never made me regret doing so...but sometimes it is hard to remember that they are there to help in that way.
(what sort of arguing? *thinks he might understand and agree, but wanted to clarify*)



I agree that we could be doing more with what we have (myself included), though I still think we could use more CMs, that would be more likely a transferring of roles than new members of the leadership team in general.



Agreed. This sounds fun. Try to get more people involved, and more of the newer members--I think HW was a much more vibrant place when I first joined, and thus the first impression has kept me thinking of HW as an awesome place even as it's gotten slower. But...I wonder what some of the new arrivals see HW as, having never experienced its more active days.



I'm gonna echo Elly here. I'm a moderator, but I'm also a follower--I need help in order to help. I wanna serve, if I can be shown a way to do so.

This. It's seemed awfully quiet lately, and I haven't really felt like there's anything I could do about it. I'm not sure what would fix it. But more activity would be good. (Mind you, I could perhaps add a bit if I actually went and finished certain bits of worldbuilding and tossed them into posts or something...)


*blinks* Huh... I'm not actually sure what this is referring to, to be honest. I mean, I guess there have been a few vaguely argumentative threads, although I've thought the ones I've actually looked at much were more of discussions. But that doesn't mean you're wrong; it might just mean that I'm missing it somehow, or it doesn't bother me. Or worse, I might be part of the problem. Anyway, if you don't mind clarifying this a bit, I'd appreciate it.

I agree with BushMaid. The reason we have the forum team set up the way we do is because HW is too big for any one person. We have a design set in place to handle this exact problem. We don't need more ranked people necessarily, I've always been concerned about the ratio there, but we do need people to step up and lead this forum.

I loved HW "back in the day", a couple years ago. It helped my writing immensely. We've changed since then, and I don't think it's for the better. People are less and less involved (myself included, but I'm resolving to change that), and we're not growing like we were talking about growing back then. Yes, Jay isn't available as he was, but shouldn't we have this covered? God has given him new responsibilities, but I strongly feel that this doesn't mean HW is supposed to die. I think there's a lot more God wants to use this forum for. He's still got a plan, and we need people to say "I'm willing to seek out what this plan is, and see that it is brought to fruition." Put aside personal preference and work together to see that Holy Worlds becomes and stays what it was meant to be. We mourn that Jay can't be here to fix everything, so why are we letting all his work go to waste?

This is why the forum team was made. Everyone's got a job to help HW run smoothly, everyone had responsibilities. Yes, for some life has gotten in the way, and they are unable to do those jobs. But that doesn't mean they can't be done at all. We need to get people who CAN put time into this, and explain what's going on so they can pick up where we left off. We were doing so good, and now Holy Worlds is stagnant. We have a system in place, now is the time to use it.

We've archived everything instead of deleting it. Let's go back through those if we have to, figure out where we were headed, pray about what direction God is taking us, and just go for it.

I'm all for promoting people if we need them, but that's not the biggest concern. We don't need to outnumber "un-ranked" members, we just need to delegate. Yes, I think we need to train a few new Council Members, seeing how so many have stepped down, but other than that I think the first priority should be to get things running like they used to. Or, rather, how they should be now, regardless.

I know you all know God always has a plan. Let's seek that, and let's carry it out. Stop worrying about "who is leading?!", we've already got that covered. We just gotta work together for a common goal.

I think that HW is running fine right now under its current leadership. I do think that we could mingle more - I know of several times where I just check on some threads before leaving instead of going into chat, or times when I have to stop in really quick to check my private messages.

I do know, though, that one thing about this current system is bugging me, but that's just me being impatient. It's my clicking the 'I forgot my password button' in haste rather than clicking in the tab where you type your password.

All I meant was that sometimes our discussions about our different views can get carried away.

When the Marcher Lord group was created it was with intent to have a group of people capable of running the forum since it was too big for Jay. This group was mostly volunteers, although later on it became more of a recruiting post. The Council was formed for the more specific purpose of helping Jay guide the future of the entire conglomerate. Forum activity wasn't required, because they were a brainstorm group. But over the years their purpose has changed, until they have been considered to hold the role that the MLs once held; only without being as large a group or with as much time.

What if, instead of promoting more CMs, we had a council of Marcher Lords? They're our more active members anyway. People who wanted to go around helping to get the forum back on its feet could request to join the group; people who didn't have time could step down without fuss.

Is that a system ya'll think would work? Do any of you remember the pre-Council days? Here's the thread that originally set up the group.

I agree with reading through the archives. There's some cool stuff down there with Jay's original vision that might inspire us to go forth and conquer. Some of it might be in the ML archives, but I could dig it out and send it to the planning room archives if I find anything juicy.

*nods* It makes sense to me.

Wouldn't that just be a Council with different members? I mean, people have gotten used to the Council and MLs being what they are now that people come back to being MLs because of what the MLs now are. If more CMs were promoted, they'd be the people who would be on an ML council anyway...

And it's not just the leaders that keep the place active. Anybody who has something to say and says it keeps us active no matter what their ring colors or leadership status. I think promoting everyone who wants to see the energetic, friendly Holy Worlds would just be another attempt to form a rank devoted to that task. But that rank is The Holy Worlders. It's everyone's role to keep HW going, and if everyone who has time to (and some people won't) throws in their writerly thoughts and passions, we'll have what we love.

A lot of people have voiced a concern about leadership, but it's the leadership's job to troubleshoot, not activate. It's every Holy Worlder's place to activate.

So let's get creative, passionate, and wordy! Let's get active!

I thought the leadership also headed up things like contests, etc. which is mostly what I was talking about... *agrees with the rest of your post*

That's what I meant, too. It's up to the HW populace to keep HW active, but it's up to the leadership team to head projects.

What I mean by a Council of MLs is not take a select group of MLs and give them the job, but simply let the entire rank be our highest authority. Like it used to be. And instead of being people who were appointed, let it be people who actually want the job. Like it used to be.

Brendan is telling me a story about the Ghost of Holy Worlds Future, which I might have to write up for you here in a bit.

In a word, delete the rank of Council?

Yup!

That could work. But at the same time, there are a lot of ML's; having the Council one level up with fewer members in it could help in tough decision making that the ML's need guidance in. That's my .02, anyway.

I'm for that. Although you may need to cut down on the number of MLs or have three ML group leaders who make the decisions. It'd be like combining them into one rank, not erasing the one and keeping the other.

To be honest, this falls under the category of one of my few doubts about HW. I seriously doubt a revamp of leadership will change things for the good, and I fear it would cause more trouble than it would avert.

I really believe the problem with leadership here is that it's always trying to solve problems by changing the leadership.

I think there is much wisdom here...

I want to say that this thread has been a great source of encouragement for me. And Aussie, your post was beautiful. It did my heart great good!

As I am obviously a Council Member I won't give my opinions or views here, but I did want to be an encouragement.

I've been considering stepping up and helping to continue Jay's work here. I have the time. As far as publishing goes, I have connections and my own plans and dreams and we could all benefit by having some sort of relationship between my plans and the publishing ventures of Holy Worlds.

Problem is I haven't been very much involved in what happens here, or known much about it, even though I have technically been around for more than three years.

*Nods in agreement* I think the problem we have now is that the leadership are not in accord; when Jay was around things were the same as now, but he was there to oversee, and make the final say on decisions. Now we have no one leader but a group (The Council); we are left with no decision maker, and a group of Leaders who have different ideas on how things should go. To me, we need that decision maker again. That person who is put in place to have the total authority to give the final decision. I think when that is in place again, we can progress and continue. I feel that adding even more Leaders to the count, with still no one person to make final decisions will not help matters at all. It will just add to the confusion. We don't need more Leaders, we need someone who can replace Jay to have the final decision in matters, at least whilst he is not here. Just a few of my thoughts, at present.

As I understand, after the unified login there will be a place for the MLs of all the forums to discuss things, right? So there will be communication between all of the higher-ups.
The purpose of the Council was to oversee Holy Worlds as a whole, while the MLs have their individual forums.

Wouldn't the Council still be that person with the final word? The MLs are to run things, we have the authority and will be working together. So do we need the Council, or are we doing its job now?

However, HolyWorlds does have a problem. And we need people, either in the council(current system) or MLs(proposed system), who can be online to make responsible decisions.

No offense to the current council members, but they have their own life now. That is leaving people confused as to who they need to talk to when there's a problem.

At the very least, we need to clarify who's in charge and who's online the most with a high level of authority. (ML or council)

My .02

I want to second the people who talked about the need for activity, including the part where there's more I could do myself. I know for me one of the things that's made it harder to post or hang out in the chat room is that last year (and especially last summer) I wasn't around so much. Coming back has been hard. I feel a little disconnected, like I'm not really part of HW anymore. *shrugs* I'd like to get re-involved, as much as I can, (life might get crazy come fall), but I'm not entirely sure how.

As for the leadership and what we need from that...no clue.

This is correct. All the MLs (and all the ranks, actually) will be able to congregate as a unit, although they'll still be "deployed" on specific forums/sections. (And for those of you that don't know about the unified login, give me 'til Saturday and I'll give you an announcement explaining all. )

However, this does not mean the roles of the CMs and MLs have to change. Certain sitewide issues (like policy and big decisions about the future) will still be reserved for the CMs unless we decide to change that for other reasons. What this change will allow is for the MLs from all forums to work together on issues that are already within their domain. For example, projects. That's ML business, always has been, but right now a lot of stuff happens on Fantasy (like the poetry book), and the yellow people on SF and HF get second-hand information. This change will allow all MLs to work together on projects, whether genre-specific or otherwise.

I've read this post over and over and over with mixed emotions. . I would like to chime in here if I might, even though I have only been here less than 6 months.

First I would like to say just how much Holy Worlds has been an answer to prayer for me. There are so many here that have encouraged me to write, learn and grow. Everyone here has made me feel at home, so much that I began to spend a little too much of my time here. I have no doubt that finding HW was directed by our great King.

Secondly I would like to add that for me it has seemed that everything here in the worlds has been fine. There has been a lightening of traffic, which from the post here, seems to be the focus of much turmoil.

Lastly, I would like to offer my service to the citizens of Holy Worlds. If it is helping with promotions (i.e. gaining new visitors), engagement on topics (like I am doing here), offering advice (though I am still learning in many areas), and more "If by my life or my death I can protect you, I will. You have my sword." I honestly am not sure how much one person can help, but I will where I might.

I believe the vision is strong and that there are many yet to be helped by this great community:
"Holy Worlds is here to encourage, equip, train, challenge, and facilitate quality and effective use of niche media genres for the glory of God and the furtherance of Christian culture."

Personally, I don't think there is as much of a problem as it seems, when it comes to activity. Posting has gone down, yes...but posting fluctuates. I frequent several other forums (I know, how disloyal ), and what activity there is on here actually is greater than on any of those other forums. They aren't really worrying about dying, or anything, either. They're doing great, despite the fact that occasionally when I do my morning check there have been no new posts since I checked it the day before. I guess what I'm trying to say is...I think we're doing fine. Yeah, I know, things are bogged down in areas, and yeah, sometimes the amount of activity can serve as a barometer of sorts for the forum...but still. It doesn't worry me much that the posting amount has fluctuated.

Not, of course, that we don't want the activity to go back up. It's awesome seeing new (and old) users posting around more.

Okay, since this is a no fear zone, I shall attempt to be bold, despite the timidity I feel.

I share the concerns of Bushy, Elanor, Rin, and others. In truth, the idea of demolishing the Council devastates me. I'm completely and totally against the idea of implementing such a huge change as a unified login while things are in this state of upheaval. Never mind that I don't like the unified login idea at all, that is beside the point at the moment. Is this the time to be making any big changes, good or bad, to the forum?

Something is most definitely wrong. I agree with Bush that I've found my desire to participate in the forum diminishing with all the turmoil that I could sense in the leadership, even if I wasn't privy to any of it. The atmosphere is different.

I'm aware that things can't be the way they were before. But I don't believe that the answer is to run around and make changes. If we are praying for guidance from the Lord (and every member of HolyWorlds should be praying for the forum, its leadership, and its future), and we don't receive clear instruction from Him, I think that we should consider that He might be saying wait. Just a little longer. Pray, and wait. Who knows what clear direction He might be ready to give tomorrow? Or the next day? Or next week?

Please, HolyWorlds. Let's not be rash. Let's treat our forum with the care, and the love, that it deserves.

I hope none of this seems too blunt, or out of line. As a member of this forum, I am glad of the opportunity to have my say, and while I hope I have not offended, I felt that I must say these things. If anyone has been hanging back in regards to posting on this thread, please don't wait any longer. Please, say what you think.

*Smiles and hugs Grace* I am glad you spoke up, dear. You didn't sound too blunt at all, but I just want to clarify what I said above. I didn't say I thought a Council led HW was a good idea. The turmoil in the Leadership is what bothers me a lot at the moment too - but that's the problem to me. We need an admin again, not a council of people who aren't agreeing with everything and are at sixes and sevens with the way things go. The purpose of the Council was never to lead, it was to support Jay as he led. So at the moment, I don't think they're serving as they were created to, which is why I feel that there is so much turmoil. I really believe that getting back to an admin based leadership will really help. That admin would have a council of people to help him (although they won't necessarily have to be called the Council) and things will be the way they were before Jay left us. I really don't see that as a bad thing. Yes, HW has had a different atmosphere lately, but I believe it's because our Leaders aren't in agreement, there's so much turmoil there, and that's reflecting on the forum.

Those are my initial thoughts, feel free to say why and if you disagree. *Smiles*

*hugs Elanor back*

Thank you so much for your thoughts, dear. I actually did not mean to intimate that I thought a Council-led HW was a good idea, I just meant that I thought a Marcher Lord-led HW was a worse one. I think an admin is needed, ideally, but I'm at a loss for how to manage that. It's something that we could pray about.

So I agree with you.

One thought I had while praying about it this morning was that it would be good if we had some sort of training or internship system for leaders... I am not in on the promoting process really, so I may be mistaken, but it seems right now like we just promote whoever seems like they might be good at the job. And while all the people promoted are awesome people, I wonder if perhaps we need a bit more structure as to who we promote, why, and how. Especially among the leadership. I hope that makes sense and isn't too bold.

I've enlisted my sisters to pray, and am discussing this with others among the forum, but I am trying fervently not to be gossipy, step out of line, or cause more division... If you think of it, you might pray that God would guide me in my words. I don't want to gossip or hurt anyone.

As I told Jasmine earlier, I'm personally rather stuck in HW Past. What I want most of all is for HW to be the way it was over a year ago, with those I'm close with still quite active and Jay here. Yet I know that's impossible.

I agree with others that part of what makes me reluctant to click the HW button on my browser is the turmoil in leadership. Yes, we've had it before, but there was always Jay to put his foot down and say "we're doing this and everyone please evaluate your current relationships to and interactions with one another." Now, there is no Jay to do this. I agree that we need one person who can take this role. The way I see it, we have two options. The first is to help Jay so he can still fill this role. Send him the posts of what is being discussed and the discussion and let him make the final decision. The second is probably more practical, that that is, as others have said, to have one person - very preferably Jay-appointed - who can take his place until Jay is freed.

Another thing is that I think we need to go slowly with change, whether visual, role-wise, rule-wise, or otherwise. I don't know if I'm the only one, but I look at every change and wonder if it's something Jay will have to undo when he comes back. I know we have no way of knowing what will happen with Jay and the forum when he is freed, but if he does come back in the manner as before, I don't want him displeased with what we've done. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying don't change. I'm just proposing that it be done very slowly for the sake of those of us who are leery about it and considering how Jay would look at it.

I agree with the others, I am sensing quite a bit of turmoil, more than there used to be. I thought maybe I'm just over-sensitive about such, but I guess not.

I have... other thoughts, but I need to mull those over a bit.

*Quietly watches thread*

*pulls up a seat to watch and consider*

I wrote this for you guys.

Actually, I wrote it for the Marcher Lords.

And then I decided posting it to the Marcher Lords was a bad idea.

I trust you a smidgen more.

Here, have a provocative blog post.

http://katielynndaniels.com/wordpress/2 ... s-not-bad/

I agree with your post, Katie. Personally I'm not averse to change. Change is good. And in fact, the older members would know that HW has seen many changes already, I think most of them for the greater good. I just pray that any changes we make are the right changes that God would have us implement. Having God in the change makes all the difference to the outcome.

Frankly, I didn't know that there were any problems going on with the council or the leadership. (shows how much I know) However, I find it interesting that there is so much turmoil to the idea of a unified login or for any cosmetic changes implemented on HW. I think the concern over this raises some questions, but here are my observations about HW and the unified login. As of this moment all three forums are essentially islands that share the HW banner but are isolated communities. Because they are isolated, mostly due to inconvenience, there is very little crossover with users, visitors, and content. From a user perspective it is extremely inconvenient for me to visit the Sci Fi and Historical Fiction forums due to the multiple logins, passwords, and keeping track of all the different usernames. [I mean, y’all already have like thirty nicknames and change your usernames every other week ]

To be honest, the unified login should have been implemented when the second forum was created. To be even more honest, one big reason I don’t visit the other forums is I feel it is a waste of my time to sort and relearn names of friends I already know on HWF and to constantly login on all three forums. Auto login is not an option due for me due to security reasons. As HW currently stands, if a new visitor wants to join the entire community they have to register a new name three times, create three passwords, wait for the registration to be approved three times, and then complete three confirmations of their accounts by email. That is inconvenient. It should be a one and done process. For a new person teetering on the edge of joining HW, would their final decision be influenced more by having to go through all that hassle or by registering once?

What I believe the unified login will do is create a bridge between the HW islands and finally connect them. One login. One password. One click to any forum. HW suddenly becomes convenient, more accessible, less confusing, and will eventually lead to more participation across all boards. In basic website design, the easier the user can navigate your pages and access your content the more willing they are to stay on your site. The more inconvenient the navigation the less time they are willing to spend… and the less chance of them returning. *shrugs*

To briefly touch on what this change will do for the ranked members…from my limited understanding on how the behind the scenes work is accomplished, it is a waste of time to make an announcement in HWF then trudge on over to the other forums just to copy/paste it again and again. Simplifying the background work makes it more efficient. Instead of the ML’s having project discussions spread across three boards they will now have a central command center. Everything will be organized in one room instead of three. That is good.

Basically, my viewpoint is this change WILL benefit HW by making HW more accessible for new and old members alike and allow more focus on community projects by reducing grunt work.

***

A few concerns I’ve read state that these changes may not be to Jay’s liking and may be something he will have to undo when he returns. From my understanding Jay is not in the dark about any big changes coming to HW and has given his blessing for the unified login. If this change has his blessing why the concern? If he is excited for these new ideas why worry? What is the difference if he approves an idea while free or in jail? *shrugs*

This is how I see the situation: I don’t view Jay as a king. I view him as a regular guy who founded a great website that fostered an amazing community, but he is no longer able to run the site and the responsibility has fallen to a select few. Yeah, none of us wanted this to happen to Jay, many of you are still upset and hurt by what happened to him, and I get the feeling many are scared of losing HW because of his absence, but the reality is what it is. We need to accept this has happened and move on.

If the success or failure of this community is based upon one man then HW will FAIL. It will fail because HW’s foundation is weak. That’s the simple honest truth. When he gets out there is no guarantee Jay will still be involved with HW. There is no guarantee God’s plan for him will coincide with what y’all want. There even is no guarantee Jay will survive the car ride to the airport when he is released. If we are not implementing change because we are waiting for Jay’s return then HW will fail. If we are not making decisions because we are afraid of disappointing Jay then HW will fail. If this community is built around the notion that we NEED Jay’s leadership to grow then HW will fail. Holy Worlds must be able to function and grow without Jay’s leadership. If HW is not designed to work that way then we need to fix it. If leadership truly is the issue at hand then have Jay or the council appoint a new Admin or have the council run HW by majority vote. For me, it feels like all that needs to be done to destroy HW is to remove Jay from the equation, and I’d like to believe we are not so weak that losing one member will cause our downfall.

Instead of shuffling the leadership around, which I think is a terrible idea that will lead to more turmoil among the members and indecision, I think we should do what every sports team does when they aren’t playing their A game. Pull back, regroup, and go back to basics. What are HW’s basics? Well, the HW front page states our vision is this: “Holy Worlds is here to encourage, equip, train, challenge, and facilitate quality and effective use of niche media genres for the Glory of God and the furtherance of Christian culture.”
I’m willing to admit that I may be wrong on this idea but I believe the basics of HW is simply this: “Holy Worlds is here to help Christian writers master their craft for the Glory of God.”

Frankly, I believe if we regroup, focus on the basics, and have our leadership base their decisions on HW’s vision we will be just fine. We shouldn’t let our fear of change, fear of disappointment, or fear of uncertainty stand in our way. I like to believe HW is strong enough to bounce back from any event and decision, good or bad, because our foundation is not based on one man’s leadership but rather on God.

So, Raj. Do you want to follow me around and do all of my talking for me? That just a whole lot of my brain into the words I haven't been able to find.

Roager, that. post. 'Nuff said.

Huzzah for Roagre! I have nothing else to say.

*averse

Good post, Roager. The unified login is way overdue, I think.

Dude, you have editing powers, Batman. Use 'em.

Roager, as the person who is organizing the implementation of the unified login, I deeply appreciated your post. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and putting so much effort into articulating them. (My little brother Lycanis tattled that you had editing help. )

And yes I've been watching this thread the entire time. Deal with it. Really though... *gentle sigh* Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, everyone. And I mean everyone. And thanks for starting the thread, Katie.

No, not editing! O.O Just making sure he covered what he talked about the other day. As far as I could see the post was ineditable. Honest. *nodnod*

And...yes. *decides to say it here, too* That post is amazing.