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Interesting points, but there are as many different situations as there are members. My sister is a member (of both the forum and the store), but she hasn’t said a word and she isn’t likely to. She just doesn’t have the time. She’s a cat person and loves Mel’s cats. She’s a paying customer. Because she doesn’t log on to see what she wants to see and she doesn’t comment, should her account be deleted? Is she not “worthy” to enter a raffle, because of same?
Of course some/most/all/whatever of us feel a heck of a lot better when one of the “regulars” wins the raffle. Why wouldn’t we? We feel like we’re family. On the other hand, why would a lurker lurk and enter raffles, if they weren’t interested in Windstones? Maybe to sell on eBay for a profit? Hmmm…we’ve beat that horse to death already, several times.
I’m not trying to start anything, I’m just pointing out that not everybody that doesn’t post is somebody’s duplicate account looking for an extra raffle entry and not all of them are being rude by not saying “thanks for the welcome”. (Not many people participate in posting on the Welcome threads anymore either. I don’t know if that’s the chicken or the egg, though.) Some people may be really shy. I don’t know about anybody else, but it took guts for me to start posting here. There was a top, seemingly tight group of posters and I had to wonder if anybody would even talk to me. That’s not a reflection on anybody…I’m just stating my own insecurities. How about the people that used to be top posters, that are now falling behind for whatever reason?
I guess all I’m saying is, well, be kind….maybe that won raffle prize is the best thing that ever happened to that person. Maybe we won’t know the story, but still…. I know…I’ve been criticized for being overly empathetic here before…that’s just me and it’s just my 2 cents. 😉
drag0nfeathers wrote:I’m not saying everoyne who has zero posts is trying to win stuff, but it seems like we hit a spike in new *ghost* memebers ever since raffles started….just saying is all. :shrug:
well now at least my comment about the last raffle being won by a name I knew makes more sense!!
I have thought for a rather long time that some of those dead/ghost names/profiles should be deletedGB About people not replying to the welcome thread….
I didn’t see mine for a week! It never showed up in the active or new topics when I clicked on that… so some people may have just missed it. I went there to introduce myself and found the welcome thread for me that way. Many people may not do that. So they may not all be rude… just… unobservant.
And it is nice when we see a long standing member win a raffle, but someone who lurks on the forum ever day, and just doesn’t feel the need to post… should their accound be deleted or they excluded from the forum because they aren’t chatty enough? This horse has been beaten dead over and over again, so I hear. To change the rules now would make things really complicated.
i should post that I have had forum member buy from me who ARE and were lurkers. they don’t/ or never commented for manny reasons…. but are active collectors that buy windstones, sell windstones, and love the windstone line.
So it is a huge shot in the dark even trying to decide if some one truely no longer is active.For instance, I signed up here, but it was MONTHS before i even logged back in and made my first comment. the reason? I was intimidated. I had no windstones yet and every one here already knew one another.
Another example: there is a lovely lady that collected all my seasonal wolves….but all the sudden i could not get ahold of her for months! she had not logged in for a very long time, i think almost a year. All the sudden i get an email from her… She had been stationed out at sea on a ship and had no way of even accessing the forum or her email.
I have one lady who as far as i know has NEVER commented hear, but has commissioned me and checks this forum daily.
amongst others.
We should becareful to apply such motive as “just here to win a raffle” to names we see that never comment or show a not active. Even though it may be the case for some, we may hurt some ones feelings who enjoys reading the posts and is a lurker..but never comments.that is my two cents.
I think we’re talking about two different type of people here:
The ones that lurk and the ones that don’t log in. I don’t mind the ones that lurk, that’s their business if they don’t want to post. But I do see the list of names that go on and on that have not logged in…in a couple of years. I think it’s the latter that we need to clean out. You don’t have to log in to see posts and if they want to enter a raffle, they can create a new user id.
Adaneth wrote:I like the idea, and 9 of the 27 pages in the list are people with no comments…but some of them might have signed up just to win raffles. 🙄
My thoughts exactly. I have seen so many winners whose names I have never heard before. Maybe I am the wrong person to comment seeing as I won the September raffle.
KoishiiKitty wrote:i should post that I have had forum member buy from me who ARE and were lurkers. they don’t/ or never commented for manny reasons…. but are active collectors that buy windstones, sell windstones, and love the windstone line.
So it is a huge shot in the dark even trying to decide if some one truely no longer is active.For instance, I signed up here, but it was MONTHS before i even logged back in and made my first comment. the reason? I was intimidated. I had no windstones yet and every one here already knew one another.
Another example: there is a lovely lady that collected all my seasonal wolves….but all the sudden i could not get ahold of her for months! she had not logged in for a very long time, i think almost a year. All the sudden i get an email from her… She had been stationed out at sea on a ship and had no way of even accessing the forum or her email.
I have one lady who as far as i know has NEVER commented hear, but has commissioned me and checks this forum daily.
amongst others.
We should becareful to apply such motive as “just here to win a raffle” to names we see that never comment or show a not active. Even though it may be the case for some, we may hurt some ones feelings who enjoys reading the posts and is a lurker..but never comments.that is my two cents.
That’s my concern with deleting accounts. It can be a nice idea, since we have had the luxury of enjoying such a small and almost personal experience with the forum, but at the same time, there are so many reasons why someone might not log in. I do have an account on a forum that I do log in to once or twice a year, maybe. I’ve gone over a year logging in. Just comes down to time or want, but I wouldn’t want my account deleted. I know of a member I have a commission with who was active on the board, but as they are Navy, I believe they have gone out to sea on duty, so I may not hear from them until around next summer. There are plenty of people who lurk and just don’t feel comfortable talking much on the forum, but might want to ask Melody, Maya, or one of us a question, or to contact someone via PM for a commission, for an item for sale, have something repaired, etc. They can read and keep up on the forum without logging in for months on end, but maybe they have a day where they have a question, or someone is selling a limited or ooak piece or pyo that they want. They might finally login to contact the seller, or ask a question. Some people are just very shy when it comes to the internet and talking to strangers to, but might have need of a login at some point. My mom has an ebay account and hasn’t used it in over 2 years (she usually just has me bid and pay for it since I’m better at sniping or dealing with it). Does that mean her ebay account should be deleted? No. She might want to get an item when I’m not around or off on a trip. She still knows her login and password though. While some may create a login just for the raffle, there isn’t any way of really knowing how many and it would be unfair to assume. It could be 1 or 2, it could be 200. You don’t really know and one shouldn’t assume either. Just food for thought.
I’m fairly new here and i cant log on much because i dont have a computer. Someone said they didnt log on at first because they were indtimidated. I am very shy and it takes a lot just to admit that here but you dont know me. I have only 2 windstones and i love them. I am very careful about revealing a lot about myself so i may not comment as much. Sometimes I do and sometimes i dont. im just feeling my way and it will take me a long time to become comfortable if i can. I dont know when i will get a computer to be on more but i hope in time to feel comfrotable enough to join in on a regular basis.
Raven wrote:I’m fairly new here and i cant log on much because i dont have a computer. Someone said they didnt log on at first because they were indtimidated. I am very shy and it takes a lot just to admit that here but you dont know me. I have only 2 windstones and i love them. I am very careful about revealing a lot about myself so i may not comment as much. Sometimes I do and sometimes i dont. im just feeling my way and it will take me a long time to become comfortable if i can. I dont know when i will get a computer to be on more but i hope in time to feel comfrotable enough to join in on a regular basis.
Over all this is a very friendly place, I hope this little bit of bantering going on does not make you more shy from commenting 🙂
people can have strong opinions here but I am fairly certian, from being here so long myself, that no one would want you to feel more intimidated by the opinions being stated.
It was very brave of you to admit that 🙂I guess this is where opinion differs. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for a forum to clean house. I have no expectations that when I sign up for something like a forum or group on the web that my information will exist there forever. Especially when I haven’t logged in for years. And when a website evaluates reasons for member deletion, I like the log in as the criteria, because, well, there is no assumptions being made; everyone is evaluated equally and treated as such. I can’t think of a more fair way. Those who are just one time visitors will be forever gone and those members who always visited unsigned in who decide 3, 4 or X years later to use the PM system or ask Melody a question (or get raffle rights again) can make a new account. I’m not envisioning Nam cackling while indiscriminately deleting accounts; prank emailing all those members before she deletes their info. I don’t see this as an evil, mean act. This isn’t personal. No one’s banned for life.
I don’t care either way whether accounts are deleted here, but if they are, I’d prefer it done by log in date. I’m not trying to be a jerk; I’m honestly surprised (and maybe a little offended [not sure yet, let’s see where the thread goes :lol:] ) others consider anyone insensitive or not thoughtful or making assumptions because they support a member list clean up. Of course, I’m not for using post counts as a deletion criteria, as anyone can lurk to their heart’s desire. And just log in every six mnths or year to show they still have interest in the forum. And anyone off to sea for more than two years (or 3 or 4, whatever the cut off number be), we will welcome them back with open arms 🙂
And welcome, Raven. I hope you get a computer soon as I look forward to your contributions 🙂
Allow me to add that I didn’t bring this up so much on account of the raffles. I like raffles, and I especially like when they go to active participants, but the giveaways are from Melody and it’s none of our business deciding whether the recipient is “worthy enough” if Melody’s happy to send them her work. It was just a nuisance when trying to find a name in the list of members, a name I would have recognized if I saw it but couldn’t think of, either connotation or first letter, because I know the lady better by her real first name.
Also, like Lokie says, even if an account were to get deleted though the member was still interested in Windstones, it’s not like they couldn’t reregister at a later point.lamortefille wrote:I don’t know about anybody else, but it took guts for me to start posting here. There was a top, seemingly tight group of posters and I had to wonder if anybody would even talk to me. That’s not a reflection on anybody…I’m just stating my own insecurities. How about the people that used to be top posters, that are now falling behind for whatever reason?
I felt the same way when I joined. But you know what stunk the most? when people started to voice their opinions and started getting slapped down for it. I know a few of the first members just don’t feel that this forum is the “Homey place” it used to be. 😕 Sometimes I get the same feeling. But, we also have to remember some people are more passionate about some things while others of us are not. 😉
I was never a lurker, but I didn’t post much at first either. I was jsut happy to find there were others who actually collected Windstones. Anymore, there are so many different things for us to all fight over because it isn’t all just finished Production pieces we see in a store anymore, like it was before Windstone went to the World wide web.
I admit, it is mighty frustrating to watch the raffle prizes go to people I have NEVER even heard of, but obviously they must look at the forums occasionally in order to see that they want to enter for that prize. And, I honestly haven’t spent too much time on ebay lately, but has there been alot of reselling of the raffle prizes? 😮WindstoneCollector wrote:And, I honestly haven’t spent too much time on ebay lately, but has there been alot of reselling of the raffle prizes? 😮
I only know of one raffle piece being rehomed and that was Buckeye. The “rehoming” was done here on the forum.
There are larger forums that do send you an email if you haven’t logged in and posted for 6 months and then they delete your account. But I feel it would be up to John and Melody to do this. I also try and look at the viewpoint of someone who is very new when they see threads like this. I wonder if it makes them feel welcome or otherwise. Some people are very shy and may not be that good communicating themselves. I’m fairly new and I’ve only entered one raffle because the prize really interested me.
I feel over all this is a great forum with great people but they’re people. We really don’t ‘know’ each other is there anyone who really, really thinks they know a person and I don’t feel it would be proper to judge anyone’s motives. If they have duplicate accounts, doesn’t mean they will win the current month’s raffle. And by MySpace, Facebook and these numberous other forums, we are really small potatoes. But I’ll support whatever John and Melody want to do and the worst they can say is ‘no’.
LadyFirebird wrote:is there anyone who really, really thinks they know a person.
Well, Louis and I know GB, she came and stayed with us in our cramped little corner of the house for 2 weeks and we had all sorts of fun! Took her to the factory, out shooting various rifles and hand guns in the dessert, took her to the beach, and took her to a Rennaisance faire among other things! =P
We also know DDVM (Pam), we got to meet up with her last December when she came out for the Wyland dinner gala and we got to spend an awesome day at Disneyland with her and her friend, and we keep in contact about life and stuff (though not as often as I should.. 😳 ).
When Melody and Co. were down here in N. Hollywood, we went to visit them a number of times and they were kind enough to invite us over for dinner and we helped them cook and had a blast!
I think I know Drag0nfeathers pretty well too, we kind of got off to a rought start, but we’ve since reconciled and as much as we post about our personal lives on here have a pretty good feel for eachother. I mean we’re going on a 2.5+ year online relationship LoL!
Those are just to name a few. There are MANY others on here that I would be more than happy to put up if they ever came to visit (though I’d be a bit embarased about it untill Louis and I got our own place), but I trust them, and hope that they trust me in return.
While I know this forum can get kind of catty at times, and has in the past, I really enjoy reading everyone’s opinions and thoughts about controversial topics. Even if I whole heartedly dissagree with what a person says, I still respect their opinion and I think it makes me a better person having listened to it and trying to understand it from their point of view and others points of views. In a lot of cases, I find myself doing a LOT of google searching to see if what a person says is indeed fact, or if there is another truth behind it. Just because someone quotes you and contradicts what you were saying doesn’t neccessarily mean they are flaming you, but maybe they have a better understanding of similar situations, or they’re just using your thoughts to illustrate their own conjectures. I know this is not always the case, and honestly if you think someone has intentionaly flamed you, just send them a PM asking if that was their intent or not. Or if the case is REALLY obvious (like when Mmloda first got here for one instance) call us out. We are human and tend to say stupid crap that when we are forced to think about it a little bit, will realize that it was uncalled for.
That being said, I don’t know that I can adventure an opinion on “culling the herd” but I do agree with many things people here have said. I don’t think just deleting accounts is a good idea, but maybe sending an e-mail out tho those that haven’t even logged on in over a certain period of time as a “warning” that if they don’t contact us or log in within the next say 2 weeks, their account will be deleted for inactivity and clenliness of the forum. I also agree that there are a LOT of people who have real life issues that come up (i.e. active duty, family issues, etc.) and need to at least be given the chance to respond before their account is just deleted.
As to the lurking lovers of Windstones, I cannot stress enough how really good natured the people here are, some more than others and some just need to see your “face” a few times before they can open up to you, but over all this is the BEST group of people that I’ve met online. EVER. I can understand if you’d like to remain anonymous and that is perfectly fine! Just know that even though we don’t know you, we’d like to know you and welcome you openly to our little corner of the web.
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