Hot from the chat box...from me (plus some extra super informative notes!)
As much as I dislike it, I'm going to chat to end the chat. The group guidelines ask that you do not post asks in chat, and not answer them. If you post in the group, you can let people know by pasting just the link to that post in chat. And as likeable as we all are, the group is not a social hub. There is no good reason to use chat in the group. And there are several good reasons not to. First, the chat feature can not be turned off. And, if someone does chat, the group message mail box notice auto-annoyingly pops up over, and over, and over again. For me, and likely others, the only solution is to ignore the message notification, which means notifications about new post are not seen. Not good. Not good at all.
So, our group guideline ask that you do not use group chat. I started the group as an alternative to chat, and in the first month of our now two year existence, we became the largest and most active group on OSW. For many, our group is one of the best experiences we have on the site. We have a dedicated crew of helpers, including grid and shop owners. We are nice people. Please be nice back and don't use chat.
Chat in this group not only annoys people in general. It annoys me. I don't want to be annoyed. You don't want me to be annoyed. So, lets look at what annoying things have happened since yesterday.
Cyber posted about a problem. Harper provided a solution. Jamie, one of the group moderators, said that she had taken action so Cyber wouldn't see the group chats anymore. Any chat messages after that were not necessary.
And yet, now a day after all had been resolved, the chat was kept alive by further chat. The chat was about a person. No one in this group need chat about people -- especially when you are requested to chat not at all.
Jamie took steps to stop Cyber from getting chats. She removed him from the group. In the past, I've taken the same step when people consistently ignore the group guidelines, even after they have been reminded of them in a personal message. Please regard this as a personal message to those who haven't read the guidelines, and/or don't follow them.
The moderators and I can remove persistent chatters from the group when they ignore a private message to follow the guidelines. Hopefully, removing people from the group will not be necessary. And if some is removed, all they need to do is private message us and say that:
1. They have read the guidelines and
2. Agree to follow them.
That has only been necessary a few times, and when people return, they are often one of the first people to remind people in chat not to chat, PLUS move the request made in chat to a group post. How cool is that! We want to help people find what they are looking for. And they ain't looking for no chat.
No chat? Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!