Part of the issue is my fault. I'm actually trying to do two very time-intensive activities at the same time: 1) Keep everyone motivated and address negative events and posts as they come up, and 2) Drive our "Calls to Action", including coming up with ideas and executing them with relatively little pain. And sometimes in there, get a little bit of sleep and a few meals.
I think I'm getting a bit overloaded trying to handle everything, so I'm going to start working harder to delegate some of the responsibilities for running this effort to more people.
What I need you all to do are three things mainly: First of all, PLEASE stay respectful towards each other in the community. I knew that we have a really diverse group here, and not everyone is going to agree with our individual thoughts and ideas. Shoot, I'm pretty sure that even some of our most ardent supporters have at least once or twice thought that I was probably crazy. In fact, I've posted a few things that, even at the time, *I* thought were a bit on the nutty side, but that I've honestly felt gave us our best chance at getting us what we want. That's not to say that you have to be sugary sweet towards the trolls. The people I most often butt heads with are the people who keep saying that what we're doing is useless and that we should just shut up and accept what's happening. But before you go jumping down anyone's throat,
even if they're being snarky, please ask yourself, "Are they honestly trying to help, even if they're a bit misguided?" If the answer is yes, then for god's sake, don't drive them off.
Second, when I try to delegate something, if you think you can run it, PLEASE step up and volunteer. Some things will probably be a bit on the time-consuming side. For example, we've got NY Comic Con coming up in less than a week, and I've put WAY too little effort in coordinating that effort. I REALLY need folks who have the initiative to come forward and say, "I can handle this, let me do it," and who will run with it with little to no supervision. The less micromanagement I have to do, the more time I can spend writing press releases and thinking about and working on rolling out big-picture kind of efforts. Please don't interpret that as me saying, "Don't bother me!"; if someone has questions, I'm here. But I trust you guys a lot more that I sometimes think you trust yourselves, and the coolest stuff I think we've seen come out of this effort so far has been when other people take an idea and run with it.
Third, kind of related to the above, please don't be afraid to initiate efforts on your own. You do
not need my permission or input on something to run with an idea. For example, the people who have been running the
City Sunset forums have done so almost completely without any input on my part. That's not a bad thing, this is exactly the kind of initiative that we need! If you have some idea that you think will help, I certainly don't mind you pinging me and saying, "What do you think of this?" But if I don't respond, don't take that as a sign that I hate it; it's much more likely that I'm being deluged with a bunch of stuff. If you think it's a good idea, run with it! Post some messages, and as soon as it makes my radar, I'll try my best to sticky it or add some comments.
Oh, and if I do add some comments, PLEASE don't take that as saying, "Wow, this idea sucks. Let's kill it dead." What do I look like, NCsoft? Seriously, I know that sometimes I come off as criticizing things when my intention is only to add some thoughts to consider. I'll try to be more aware of such thoughts and add phrases like, "I think this is a good idea, but..." to make it clear that I'm not trying to kill something, just steer it in a direction that I think might be more productive.
Anyway, please don't lose heart. I wish that this hadn't have turned into the slog that it's become, that it had all been resolved within the first few weeks. But hey, we still have a ways to go, and you can rest in December.
(Speaking of which, PLEASE do not get panicky as time goes on; we are also leaving open the possibility of acquiring the game after it shuts down. Around the middle of next month, I fully expect the trolls to step up their "Ha ha, I told you so!" posts. Don't bite, and don't let them discourage you. These forums will continue operating, and we'll continue our efforts to make NCsoft want to sell City of Heroes.