Servant Of All System Beta Launch!!!

[Toral Delvar]

Neisa, my point is that what "helps" the community is a matter of opinion. There are many things people do, that they feel help the community but that others think are not of any benefit, or maybe even harm the community. I suppose you could say that anything a person does that they believe helps the community. I think the people running the program are trying to find a balance between acknowledging genuine effort to help communities - acting as true servants of all, not disparaging work people do and not antagonising those who feel some particular act or group should not be rewarded

 

[Jaryd Kosari]

What if, in addition to the 'points' system, we also had a "service opportunities" forum? If/when a Tower member becomes aware of a volunteer or donation opportunity (of any kind), they could post it to that forum and then if people are willing/able to help out, they could. It would also be a decent place to put all the "please vote for my school/church/organization/neighborhood cat club so we can get some funding to get schoolbooks/a new piano/socks for homeless people/free dewormings for stray cats" threads, too.

I think it would encourage public service in an entirely different way than points.

I'm posting this here because I'm curious what the rest of the site thinks of the idea.

 

[Meirah Zaïde]

I really like that idea, Ninya. It's sort of like the "boosting the signal" stuff we do on tumblr and twitter - it could be a site-specific signal boost.

 

[Tree]

Ninya, that is actually an idea very very similar (nearly the same) to one that Siusane and I have been kicking around. I too am interested in hearing more of what people have to say about the idea.

Remember, the underlying goal of this program, and really a lot of the work that the Department of Community Outreach is doing, is to promote service as a unifying theme to this community. For those that want to participate in the program as well as those who choose to abstain, a spirt and a culture of service is something I think we can all agree on. We may not all agree on what counts as service, what service counts, or how best to define any of it, but the culture is something I think we may be able to unify under. Maybe?

 

[Jaryd Kosari]

PS: In case it wasn't obvious by the fact that I mentioned it, I'd really love to have such a forum. You know how a lot of our people find their news via the CE forum? I'd like to think a lot of our people would find their venue for public service via such a forum. It'd be pretty stellar.

 

[Vallah al'Dera]

i LOVE the forum idea!

 

[Kitan Tataru]

That forum idea is awesome!

 

[Miridyth Al'Landerin]

I am just a "flunky" for the SOA staff. I have played the devil's advocate with the religious thing and Sui and Tree have done an admirable job. Personally, I think that religion is a personal choice and not a "volunteer" type of thing. I go to church for spiritual strength and volunteer with other people in my church for community. I attend a church that has "agendas" that I do not personally agree with like limiting gay rights and women's rights. While I am okay with my "religion" and do not let it effect my political agenda, it wouldn't count towards a "Servants of all"...so tithing and donating at the service wouldn't count.

My church, however, does pull in donations for the local food bank and clothes bank every week. These "banks" are ran by a conglomeration of churches of differing religions. No one is refused food based on religion, race, or anything else. So if I donate food or clothes, through my church, for a non-secular charity that is non-discriminatory, this would count. If my church was to have a group that built houses for "Habitat for Humanity" (which when I attended a Presbyterian church they did this across the US), this would count. If my church was to have a tent revival meeting to share Christ with non-believer's and I volunteered, this wouldn't count because it would be my church doing its own agenda.

I personally think the term "Servants of all" must include everyone. If an organization that you are donating time and money to doesn't include "all" then it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that this wouldn't count. Brain surgery or even helping at a clinic for depressed people...if they serve "all" regardless of color, race, creed, etc...this counts as has been said.

In the past, I have never "tooted my own horn" in regards to money I donated in my community or the volunteer time I have done, even though I knew that there was an award already for this in place. What Sui and Ebona and Tree and others have done and been working so hard on, is to get a list of things that people CAN see and think "oh I do this" and IF they wish to be recognized for their service then the site is encouraging them to further their philanthropic activities and get recognition for doing so. No one is saying "hey you must volunteer" nor are they saying "YOU must fill out this form if you volunteer." It is not perfect, hence the Beta launch and to see if this works and if not, then we will tweak it better. Give us a chance to at least see if all the hard work will pay off.

On a separate note...I was wondering and will put this here...do we fill out a form for each service or can we lump everything together in one form? Which would be better for the SOA team?

 

[Siusane al'Cuyler]

On a separate note...I was wondering and will put this here...do we fill out a form for each service or can we lump everything together in one form? Which would be better for the SOA team?

right now, the form as set up allows for one service/type of service to be entered at a time. (now, you can and should put together repeated acts of the same thing - if you go do something every week, you don't have to do a separate form for every time, just mention how many times or how much time for a given time period).

but you can't currently use the form to list that you took stuff to goodwill, and you volunteered at the animal shelter, AND that you...whatever else.

it has been suggested that the form allow multiple entries like that, and actually, that was tested - an earlier version of the form asked, do you have another act of service to report? and went on to another page if so. but as far as I can tell, all that information has to become one long row in a spreadsheet. so it cannot go on infinitely, and it makes the spreadsheet unwieldy enough that instead of setting a particular limit, it seemed easy enough to just ask people to click the button to submit another response form instead of having multiple entries in one form.

 

[Siusane al'Cuyler]

What if, in addition to the 'points' system, we also had a "service opportunities" forum? If/when a Tower member becomes aware of a volunteer or donation opportunity (of any kind), they could post it to that forum and then if people are willing/able to help out, they could. It would also be a decent place to put all the "please vote for my school/church/organization/neighborhood cat club so we can get some funding to get schoolbooks/a new piano/socks for homeless people/free dewormings for stray cats" threads, too.

I think it would encourage public service in an entirely different way than points.

I'm posting this here because I'm curious what the rest of the site thinks of the idea.

oh, and I realized I hadn't replied to this, but yes! good idea, and as Tree said, we have been kicking around something related. from earlier, "I would like to see, in the long run, a place where there can be more conversations about service - what people do, more resources for what people might do, what inspiring things they have heard about - there can perhaps be other ways to focus on service besides just getting points."

 

[Liiane al'Rhuidea]

If we actually had the type of person here who would not only (a) donate significant time or money to a hate group, and (b) actually be proud of it to they point where they'd submit it to this program, could we then (c) politely remove them from the community?



Seriously though. The three years I spent living in the South made me realize I can't live in places where bigotry and hate is not only practiced actively but accepted by other members of the community as normal and not something to be shunned over. To me, this site has always been socially accepting and liberal and that's what drew me to it over other WoT (or other) fansites in the first place. It would make me really sad to find that we somehow allowed an active bigot to slip through the cracks and become part of us.

So if you really want to donate to the KKK, then pretty much go ahead, and then please GTFO.

Religious stuff is different, but it seems to me that there are two categories of religious service -- service that anyone can benefit from, regardless of their membership in that church or religious viewpoint or sexual orientation, and service that benefits only the members of that church. The second type is no less valid as service, and it's awesome that so many of you volunteer so much of your time for your churches, but in the end, that type of service isn't serving all, it's serving your own inclusive community, and to me, that would be disqualified for the same reason all the hours we donate to work on this site don't count, because it's serving our own selves.

It's late, so if that doesn't make a lot of sense I'll try and untangle it in the morning. Hopefully at least the gist came through.

 

[Siusane al'Cuyler]

it's a Liiane!

just to be clear, I don't think anyone is arguing that we should be able to give money to the KKK or any other true hate group. I do understand the concerns from the order/wording in announcement that we might be considering typical church or religious service as "hateful". and it should be clear by now that we are certainly not.

 

[Alaria Celentari]

1. Yes. It's a benefit open to all, in support of music and the instruments themself. It is not intended as any kind of missionary work. You aren't trying to convert people to Christianity, you're trying to raise money to restore musical instruments. That you happen to be playing religious music (which a lot of organ music is, I know), does not subtract from the value of what you are doing.
2. My gut instinct says Supporting Your Neighbor. Because it's in your own country, and it doesn't involve food&shelter, animals or the environment. However, if you work as an organ player in you everyday life and do these concerts pro bono, then it would be Leading the Way.
3. Because you said there is so much work going into these concerts beforehand, I'm leaning towards it being a major act of service, giving you 3 points. However, this would have to be discussed by the SoA team. I cannot make any promises of points in this announcement thread.

Edited to add:
Jeffan and others who raised this issue: If you can't donate blood, organs or hair, there are other ways to gain the Giving of Yourself Achivement: You donate money to a related group, like a blood bank or Locks of Love, or you volunteer your time to such a place. For example by being on a stand and handing out flyers to promote organ donation. So there are always ways to serve, even if they aren't always obvious.

Thanks, Ebona! I'm actually a violinist (my parents are both organists), but we play lots of ensemble music at these programs - most non-specialist people find a concert entirely of organ music to be a bit dull I'll submit my info when we do our next program in early March (actually the reason I'm not going to be at Anni )

 

[Ivanor Winshaw]

If someone is SO hung up on recognition through this program that they go out and help another individual, I think we've done something good.