- Joined
- Sep 12, 2010
- Messages
- 11,703
- Location
- The Netherlands
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- He - Him
- Discord
- Lightheart#7487
Dear Amyrlin and Keeper,
This morning, I decided that since it's been a little over 24 hours, it was about time to check out these new forums to see what the tone is like there before I decide whether I want to opt in. As it turns out, the forums are hidden for those opted out. Which is a decision I do not understand in the least, but that's a whole different discussion.
This event brought to the foreground of my mind something that has been bothering me for a while now, and since openness seems to be nice, I figure I'd throw it out in the open:
What's up with the secrecy and the veil of mystery site leadership has cast around itself?
Here's where I'm coming from. We have a bunch of new leaders. They're kind of... well, in most ways, y'all are not just new to site leadership in general, you're kind of new to the community. Frankly, I have no clue why those that made these decisions have chosen people from outside of the community, but I've seen enough of Seri's thoughts and ideas and I have at least a tiny bit of faith in the board to trust that there must have been a reason to do so.
That means, however, that trust needs to be created. We don't know you. I don't know you. Really, the only thing I know about Seri is her public AMA (which was a very positive experience, btw!), and all I know about Mieri is that she brutally shut down people voicing genuine concerns during one of our community's regular scheduled dramas some months ago. So I don't know what you'll do, what you're thinking, where you stand, if I can even trust you, if I can come to you with issues.* (I tried once and it didn't go so well, but I hear others have had better experiences, so who knows, really?)
It appears, unfortunately, that you have adopted a leadership style of secrecy. Where admin meetings have always come with detailed agenda's and notes for us to read and discuss, now the meetings happen unannounced and in secret, and instead of notes, we get a few vague announcements trickled down to us. Public dialogue is not engaged in. Instead, we're encouraged to email, with no idea whatsoever what will be done with those emails. "We hear you, we welcome all opinions," you say. Yet we (well, I, anyway, I'm not sure whether or not I'm the only one who feels this way, but I can't imagine I am) see no evidence of the truth of such statements.
So, with all of the above in mind, I genuinely ask you, why the secrecy? Not necessarily to tell you you're wrong, I just hope you'll help me understand why you chose to adopt this style of leadership. Is this something you're doing instinctively, or have you put real thought into the decision and formulated good arguments to support why you believe secret leadership is best for our community? If the latter, are you willing to share these arguments? (And if the former, maybe stop and think about it for a bit?)
Thanks for your time!
PS. Maybe "secret" isn't the right term for this kind of leadership, as it feels like it comes with some judgment attached to the word, but I tried googling and can't really find a better term to describe this leadership style. It's definitely not one of the common leadership styles, I think? It can feel a bit autocratic, especially with the secret meetings and such, but you seem open enough to feedback that I'm not sure that label really applies. Though I suppose openness to feedback does appear to always come after the decision has already been made, which means that, for me personally, I'm not yet sure whether I can take the request for feedback at face value.
PPS. I kept adding thoughts to the above postscriptum and now it really should have just been included in the main body of my post, but I'm too lazy for extensive edits, so whatever.
* And also, I irrationally hate change and distrust new leaders by default, so, like, it's not all on you, but y'all being completely new to the community (I do, btw, want to acknowledge that I am aware that Mieri has been quite active in the offline community in her area for a many years, but that's just kind of an unofficial appendix to the actual community, right?) and not doing much (that I observe, anyway) to remedy that doesn't help me.
This morning, I decided that since it's been a little over 24 hours, it was about time to check out these new forums to see what the tone is like there before I decide whether I want to opt in. As it turns out, the forums are hidden for those opted out. Which is a decision I do not understand in the least, but that's a whole different discussion.
This event brought to the foreground of my mind something that has been bothering me for a while now, and since openness seems to be nice, I figure I'd throw it out in the open:
What's up with the secrecy and the veil of mystery site leadership has cast around itself?
Here's where I'm coming from. We have a bunch of new leaders. They're kind of... well, in most ways, y'all are not just new to site leadership in general, you're kind of new to the community. Frankly, I have no clue why those that made these decisions have chosen people from outside of the community, but I've seen enough of Seri's thoughts and ideas and I have at least a tiny bit of faith in the board to trust that there must have been a reason to do so.
That means, however, that trust needs to be created. We don't know you. I don't know you. Really, the only thing I know about Seri is her public AMA (which was a very positive experience, btw!), and all I know about Mieri is that she brutally shut down people voicing genuine concerns during one of our community's regular scheduled dramas some months ago. So I don't know what you'll do, what you're thinking, where you stand, if I can even trust you, if I can come to you with issues.* (I tried once and it didn't go so well, but I hear others have had better experiences, so who knows, really?)
It appears, unfortunately, that you have adopted a leadership style of secrecy. Where admin meetings have always come with detailed agenda's and notes for us to read and discuss, now the meetings happen unannounced and in secret, and instead of notes, we get a few vague announcements trickled down to us. Public dialogue is not engaged in. Instead, we're encouraged to email, with no idea whatsoever what will be done with those emails. "We hear you, we welcome all opinions," you say. Yet we (well, I, anyway, I'm not sure whether or not I'm the only one who feels this way, but I can't imagine I am) see no evidence of the truth of such statements.
So, with all of the above in mind, I genuinely ask you, why the secrecy? Not necessarily to tell you you're wrong, I just hope you'll help me understand why you chose to adopt this style of leadership. Is this something you're doing instinctively, or have you put real thought into the decision and formulated good arguments to support why you believe secret leadership is best for our community? If the latter, are you willing to share these arguments? (And if the former, maybe stop and think about it for a bit?)
Thanks for your time!
PS. Maybe "secret" isn't the right term for this kind of leadership, as it feels like it comes with some judgment attached to the word, but I tried googling and can't really find a better term to describe this leadership style. It's definitely not one of the common leadership styles, I think? It can feel a bit autocratic, especially with the secret meetings and such, but you seem open enough to feedback that I'm not sure that label really applies. Though I suppose openness to feedback does appear to always come after the decision has already been made, which means that, for me personally, I'm not yet sure whether I can take the request for feedback at face value.
PPS. I kept adding thoughts to the above postscriptum and now it really should have just been included in the main body of my post, but I'm too lazy for extensive edits, so whatever.
* And also, I irrationally hate change and distrust new leaders by default, so, like, it's not all on you, but y'all being completely new to the community (I do, btw, want to acknowledge that I am aware that Mieri has been quite active in the offline community in her area for a many years, but that's just kind of an unofficial appendix to the actual community, right?) and not doing much (that I observe, anyway) to remedy that doesn't help me.
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