An Important Announcement

kjackson83 · Post by **kjackson83** » 15 years ago

(nb: I will be ghost-posting links to this thread in several of the more active topics--please leave all comments/questions regarding it on this page, so we can keep everything together)

Dear friends:
This post is being made on behalf of the moderating team (tcliffy and Jude Andrew) and myself, to bring the forum up to speed on some issues that have taken place "behind the scenes," so to speak.

What's happened

Our administrator and webmaster, Kevin, has largely disappeared: we've not had a message from him to the forum in almost six months. Following the teapot's tempest over pictures earlier this year, the moderators have made repeated attempts to communicate with him for clarification on that issue and others that have arisen from time to time, with no response. Updates have also slackened to the primary site as well.

We are deeply bothered by the webmaster's lack of input and participation in the community, and following a string of unanswered emails, the moderating team have been in contact with the sponsor of the site and forum, Mr Mark Lane, to discuss the reasons for the webmaster's extended absence and the ways forward from this point.

Our primary concern has, and will continue to be, the life of the community. Our family here has enjoyed an immense amount of participation from a large proportion of its registered members--something many other online groups can only dream of.

In the absence of the webmaster, the moderating team have taken on renewed commitments to promoting the life of the forum and ensuring this remains a lively space for interaction and a means of meaningfully supporting the boys.

What happens next

Following an exchange of emails between Mr Lane and ourselves, the moderating team have decided to move forward by appointing two new webmasters: Ty (tcliffy) and Jude (Jude Andrew). We will also be soliciting interested members for three moderators' spots, preferably from a wide range of time zones (more on these later).

What this means

The forum will have a new set of shepherds, and will be taking on a new set of moderators. Because the actual contents of the forum are locked, the moderators will largely function as a fail-safe against anything getting truly out of hand (not likely). The webmasters will also be bringing with them new ideas for discussion and ways to make the forum even more useful and enjoyable.

What this does not mean

Nothing is changing for individual users. This is primarily an administrative issue that's being taken to ensure the forum remains taken care of and managed--as the issue over pictures demonstrated, a single incident that isn't handled by the administrator quickly (or at all) generates a great deal of confusion, frustration, and hurt feelings. What is happening is a reorganisation "at the top" to ensure situations are handled rapidly and to provide better guidance and feedback to the membership when questions arise (as they frequently do/will).

The primary site (Libera-Dreams.com) is not changing...the solutions to the current situation apply only to the forum, no other sites in the LD network are affected.

What you can do

We would ask first and foremost that you continue to participate and contribute to the life of the community. If questions arise, we ask that those are sent on to the appropriate webmaster or moderator for resolution, as usual. We're interested in hearing your ideas and contributions for making this space more dynamic and interesting.

As regards this particular situation, we are ready to listen very, very carefully to the membership: if you have any comment, complaint, request, question, or other issue regarding this transition, we strongly encourage you to communicate that to us, via reply to this thread, a private message using the forum's software (click the "pm" button) or our email addresses listed on our profile pages. We encourage every interested member to dialogue with us on this change in leadership.

What happens next

As Mr Lane and the moderating team work out the path forward, we will post new developments and/or any changes to this thread and to all other appropriate threads on the forum. We will also be listening and responding to members' comments/suggestions/problems through the appropriate means. We encourage the membership to post their responses here, on the public thread, as much as possible, to bring the entire community into the discussion.

We are also in need of someone with experience using computer code. If that applies to you, please let a moderator know via email/pm as soon as possible.

We want to thank each and every one of you for your participation in the life of this community and for supporting one another. That such a diverse group of people from around the world have committed themselves to nurturing this family is a testament to our collective "togetherness" and the strength of our support for the boys--which has always been the forum's primary purpose. We want to ensure this space remains fresh, viable, and above all, a strong means of showing support for the group in London. We thank you for your participation in making it so, and we ask for your continued support and commitment during this short period of transition.

Jude, Ty, and Kelsie

kthomp · Post by **kthomp** » 15 years ago

well i am glad to hear that the forum will now be more supervised and hopefully will keep going, it had been in my mind for a while that kevin seemed to have left his website (< i hope he is ok)

thanks ty, jude and kelsie for your help with the forum and think you all deserve some recongition somehow

as for the main website being left in the past is there something you three are going to do about that without taken main responisblity away from kevin?

once again thanks

Yorkie · Post by **Yorkie** » 15 years ago

As a Newbie I'm obviously not very up on what has happened here but you (we) seem to have a nice friendly group so I wish you all the best in keeping the site a success. Unfortunately, I know nothing about computer code (even less than I do about singing & dancing

).

Cheers guys.

tcenrt · Post by **tcenrt** » 15 years ago

Jude, Ty, and Kelsie,
Thank you very much for this information. Truly enjoyed participating in this Libera forum, but I am no good in computer......emailing and surfing the www is the best that I can do

As a relatively newbie here, I think this is a really well managed forum. Good job.

Ann

Liberation · Post by **Liberation** » 15 years ago

I found it curious. It's not quite Kevin his style. I too hope he's ok.
Thanks for the message.

kjackson83 · Post by **kjackson83** » 15 years ago

kthomp wrote:as for the main website being left in the past is there something you three are going to do about that without taken main responisblity away from kevin?

We're still working that out with the sponsor--at the moment, no--the primary website is still far beyond our "realm." However, the front page has gone without updates for awhile now--especially the contest.

For now, though, we're primarily concerned with the forum; we'll be updating the community (via this thread) as new developments occur.

xsakurax · Post by **xsakurax** » 15 years ago

Thanks, for giving us this information about the matter.

TullyBascombe · Post by **TullyBascombe** » 15 years ago

I thought that Mr. Lane had some sort of business arrangement with Kevin? If so I would have thought he would have some way of contacting Kevin. Perhaps Kevin is pre-occupied with finishing up this year in school. He did post Libera's summer concert schedule, maybe he just doesn't feel the need to add anything to the site right now?

Is he graduating? Maybe he's pulling a "Ferris Bueller".

tcliffy · Post by **tcliffy** » 15 years ago

Kevin has not replied to Mr. Lane either. Mr. Lane is in full co-operation with Me, Kelsie, and Jude.

kjackson83 · Post by **kjackson83** » 15 years ago

TullyBascombe wrote:I thought that Mr. Lane had some sort of business arrangement with Kevin? If so I would have thought he would have some way of contacting Kevin. Perhaps Kevin is pre-occupied with finishing up this year in school. He did post Libera's summer concert schedule, maybe he just doesn't feel the need to add anything to the site right now?

Is he graduating? Maybe he's pulling a "Ferris Bueller".

We're in contact with Mr Lane on the matter--emails from Ty, Jude, Mr Lane, and myself have all gone unanswered--we have given due consideration for school and other obligations. If those are the case, we have made clear our respect for that situation.

If I may be candid, however, and "with malice towards none": there are very few sustained life elements capable of completely preventing anyone from dropping in for the briefest of moments to update the community on their status. I don't think that's asking one to cleanse the Augean Stables in a day...

JimmyRiddle · Post by **JimmyRiddle** » 15 years ago

Oooh a cyber-coup, this is exciting.

Maybe he likes gangsta rap or heavy metal and is not as mad about Libera as he once was. Not like us

Anyway I hope he is okay, that's the main thing. It's probably a good idea that you've taken over webmaster duties for the forum, which gives you greater control over proceedings.

TEB · Post by **TEB** » 15 years ago

Guys,
Thanks for taking on the effort to keep this board alive and kicking. As I offered in a previous post, I will be a moderator for you if you so desire. I live in Pennsylvanis so I am on Eastern Time. I am usually on this board every day during the work week. Weekends are sometimes iffy as I am a Civil War re-enactor and my duties are always on weekends in the summer months.
Thanks again.

kjackson83 · Post by **kjackson83** » 15 years ago

JimmyRiddle wrote:Oooh a cyber-coup, this is exciting.

Yes, well...right now I personally find it's a bit scary, actually...no one originally set out to launch a kind of coup d'etat, least of all the mods, and there's always the possibility I'll wake up one morning and find my username gone

that's why for now we're sticking strictly to the forum.

If Kevin does eventually return to shepherd the primary site, we'll be all for that--for the moment, priority is ensuring the forum survives and the community has some kind of tangible leadership. Hopefully the rest will come in due course--we're still working behind the scenes with Mr Lane and each other on this, and we do greatly appreciate all the support the membership wants to offer

TEB wrote:As I offered in a previous post, I will be a moderator for you if you so desire.

Hopefully we'll be in a position to post a request thread for mods later this week--Ty and Jude need admin status to elevate people to mods...the thread will be cross-posted to this topic as well, so be on the lookout--we'd love to have you on board.

TullyBascombe · Post by **TullyBascombe** » 15 years ago

Is it possible that he lost his internet connection or might have been banned from the computer by his parents, perhaps because of problems at school? Has anyone tried contacting him by a method other than e-mail?

kjackson83 · Post by **kjackson83** » 15 years ago

TullyBascombe wrote:Is it possible that he lost his internet connection or might have been banned from the computer by his parents, perhaps because of problems at school? Has anyone tried contacting him by a method other than e-mail?

That thought has crossed our minds too, but the YT page affiliated with the main site has been regularly attended to.

In any case, ::UPDATE::

Following a flurry of emails behind the scenes, we think some positive developments may be forthcoming and will continue keeping everyone up to speed.