When PokeCommunity Was Born...

[大輔]

Hey guys, I was just curious about how PokeCommunity turned into the large Pokemon Fan-Hub that it is today. What was it like for the admins and moderators who started it? Was it just as fun as it is today and how did you guys learn from your mistakes. I know this is a strange question but I'm really curious about how you maintained the site ( as I have one myself ). It would be an honor to hear back from you guys, even long term members :)

Thank you!

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

To elaborate on the last paragraph of Audy's post, think of the Ever Grande City Forums. They're a fraction of a percent smaller than PC, but they have members there who are regulars here and love the place almost as much as PC—if not moreso.

What I'm saying is you don't have to be big to be good. In fact, there are some other big-time Pokémon communities (which I won't mention for the sake of debate) who are nasty pits of drama, bickering, promotion-demotion mind games, and a lot of other filth from which I know all too well.

Point is, they're big, but they're bad. Some small-time communities are practically drama-free; PC just happens to be the best of both worlds. :D

 

[moon]

PokéCommunity is a strangely successful thing. People join for the pokémon and stay for the friends and, well, the community. That's quite a modern, beautiful thing when you think about it :)

 

[大輔]

Yeah, what impresses me the most is the fact that everyone here is pretty friendly. And for the most part I enjoy the community here because you guys are mature. I'm sure there have been a lot of problems starting ( some of which Ausaudriel had mentioned before ) but you guys made it :D!!

When drama happens on the site, how do you prevent it from getting any further or escalating? I've always had issues whenever that has happened before... as an admin it's probably really hard to be harsh and straight forward with people sometimes.

(lol I sound like I'm interviewing you guys :P )

 

[Nihilego]

When drama happens on the site, how do you prevent it from getting any further or escalating? I've always had issues whenever that has happened before... as an admin it's probably really hard to be harsh and straight forward with people sometimes.

(lol I sound like I'm interviewing you guys :P )

Depends. Are you talking about drama inside the staff team or drama between members and other members or mods?

Internal 'drama', I find, is much much much harder to handle than external drama. Our staff team is made up of a number of very mature people and usually things are fine but when bad feelings come up between us issues can really snowball into big things. I feel like we're progressively becoming more comfortable with getting things out in the open, though; if a staff member has a problem with something then I feel like they're more likely to just go ahead and voice it than previously, and I think that helps quite a lot. Getting rid of issues while they're small is the best way to handle drama inside the staff team.

As for member-level drama, that's usually much simpler. Honestly a lot of drama that goes on isn't our problem and we can 'resolve' it, as far as we're concerned, by asking them to take their issues to PM or offsite. We don't deal with peoples' personal affairs. When we do have to get involved - for example if there's drama in public or there's content in PMs which is very inappropriate - usually just a PM to anyone involved is sufficient. I think it's less often that people realise that we go for disciplinary action, although it does happen if something's really escalating.

As for if it's hard to be harsh and straightforward people - I personally don't really think so any more. I used to feel bad taking action against people but these days I just do whatever needs doing. Maybe it's down to having been on staff for a fair time (nowhere near as long as any of the other hstaff, mind (and for some context here - I'm answering this because I'm a staff member, just demoted atm)) but the best way of handling an issue, at least on 'drama' terms, is usually the most direct.

 

[大輔]

Thanks for all of the advice everyone! I'll keep these statements in mind when things start happening ( good or bad ). I really appreciate your concern and community support.

#Ilovepokecommunityswagdollamoneysigns