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Now, I am thoroughly, utterly, miffed. I've been a Gaian for some years, now, participating in some events and observing the changes the site has undergone over time. Previously, the folks behind Gaia would tell us about changes to come well beforehand. Slowly, though, we Gaians have received quite a few "surprises" to the point where we only know about the changes made by noting the series of asterisks in our posts, or the emptiness of our signatures.
The site layout changes, I was cool with that -- even excited, concerning the current layout (come on, it's awesome!). The new marketplace I was okay with, thought it was pretty cool. But then came the tax. Gaians weren't informed about this 2% tax until a relatively short time before it was instituted. When Gaians "rebelled", we were told that they'd already worked hard on this marketplace -- a possible effort to make us feel guilty, even though we shouldn't because they went ahead on the new format without asking us? However, I shrugged it off and went about my Gaian business as usual.
The things that really got my goat were the latest changes: the tinyurl blocker and the forced filter. Gaia, appealing to the overprotective parents of underage Gaians, decided to establish a forced filter, even blocking out the non-leet-speek word for "p3d0f1L3." What the ********, Gaia? What the ********?! Since when the ******** did "p3d0f1L3" become a word to be covered up, away from the eyes of children? It's certainly not going to help them, since true members of the aforementioned term who also happen to be r4p1sts (just in case that word's blocked, too) try to appeal to the young'ns; they won't be forthright and say that they're p3d0s, they're gonna ******** say they're ******** tweens!
Honest to ******** goodness! Did the higher-ups forget that there are actual intellectual discussions on p3d0f1L14 *coughwishboneredemptioncough* :3? Or are they just so caught up in catering to the overprotective parents who can't be bothered (or are too ******** chicken) to teach their children the facts of life that they forget that there are older, more mature Gaians who want to discuss and not prey on the little'uns?
To give an analogy to the "knowledge is power" refrain: if a gazelle does not know that the lioness is near, then she will surely be a sitting duck, not knowing any danger until she is in the feline's clutches. However, if the gazelle knows about the lioness, then she can get away fast enough to escape the feline's grasp. Likewise, children who don't know about the online predators can get caught more easily than children who do know.
(side note: If it's one thing that guts my goat it's parents who are too "scared" to tell their children anything, or think their children are as pure as angels. Talk to your kids, dammit! It only hurts to not tell them! The Internet cannot be your "babysitter", as it's often said; you have to tell your children right from wrong, and what not to do on the Internet. The modern medium is the Internet, and it's here to stay, so stop being so goddamned scared and get with the ******** program: tell your kids not to give out personal information on the web. Oh yeah, and The Talk.)
When were they going to tell us about this filter? Or were we to just discover it on our own? At least they informed us about the Blacklist. Somewhat. Last minute.
The message.
So apparently, a blacklist banning the top scamming sites and tools was established Thursday, October 25. But did the average Gaian know that beforehand? I highly doubt it. In fact, it seems that the only folks who knew about this problem were those who use tinyurl or learned about the banning once the announcement was put out the next day. Again, when were they actually going to notify us about these changes? They obviously did a pretty atrocious job of doing so on Thursday, going by what I've observed.
This lack of communications between the higher-ups and the average users has gone too far. Gaia, please, kick your bad habits of telling us things last minute (or never telling us things at all!), for your users are pissed off. This is a truly funtastic site, but you only spoil it for us by keeping your lips shut about it. Loose lips will not sink the ship of Gaia -- uninformed users will.
Note: This is a rant about Gaians not being informed through announcements, which is the main way most Gaians get any information at all. I don't think every Gaian reads the Announcement or Sticky threads in individual forums for information that affects the entire site. If people are trying to give Gaia a cause for liticaphobia, then I understand; I just want the information up front, ahead of time. (But srsly, though, p3d0f1L3? Come on, now.)
Terri Cherri · Sat Oct 27, 2007 @ 08:08pm · 0 Comments |
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