An Open Letter To Christopher And Staff
Hola Christopher and Staff.....Please do not delete.
Over the past few days here on SD has been really turbulent. I know you have received many negative feedback posts about the new SD. First I want to apologize for being a little immature on my part for being vocal and inappropriate at times. I can't imagine what goes into creating a website like SD, as I'm sure you can't imagine doing heart surgery.
I was just very angry at the way the change came about. SD was the best learning site on the WWW. Not only the available information and content that was at our disposal, but what made it so special was the community atmosphere. Sure we learned a lot of English and Spanish, but we became personal in a special way. We talked about friendship, we comforted each other in times of personal grief, and we celebrated in each others joys and accomplishments. That is what separated SD from Spanish 123, and other many Spanish websites. In other words, they were cold and impersonal unlike SD which was warm and like visiting old friends.
Christopher, I'm pleading with you to take back SD like it was. Yes, keep the changes that you worked so hard on, but bring back some assemblance of the warm and personal site that it was. Bring back the people that worked so hard and gave their time to your site in such an unselfish way. We need Heidita, Cogumela, Lazarus, yesser, Ian, lovely, IndianaChris and the many I did not mention but are in my heart. We can work together, and give a little on each side.
Together all of us can make SD the most incredible site on the planet....and what will set us apart from the rest is the sense of community, family, and most important, lasting wonderful friendship.
Thank you for your time Christopher, I hope you consider, or at least listen to our broken hearts. They all can be mended.....and that is something that I really know a lot about.
Sincerely, Marshall
Note Please don't post anything negative on my thread here The time for that is over, and we have to be civil if we want to have Christopher consider what I talked about I love all of you my friends
7 Answers
If I ran this site, and had problem volunteers who were keeping the site so valuable and unique, I would hire them, not drive them away.
Si estuviera operando este sitio, y tenía los voluntarios problemas que se mantenían al sitio sea tan valioso y único, entonces les contrate. No los despiden.
Chris and staff,
Do the right thing. Swallow your pride. You'll gain a lot of respect. We can help make your business more successful. You can be the Number One on the internet. Think about it. Just say the word.
Sincerely, Patch
Marshall -
Thanks for the thread.
I have no idea as to any specific conflicts among moderators; in fact, I rarely spoke with any other mod, except to consult on the Phrasebook. Occasionally I had a social interaction with another mod, but not any discussion about SD per se.
My overwhelming feeling is one of disappointment and disgust for having been removed as a Phrasebook moderator with no notice whatsoever. Did I do a perfect job? I am sure I did not, but was it so deficient that my removal was required without even discussing it with me?
I confess to a twinge of anger for all the hours I spent reworking phrases and the hours I spent with a few other people reviewing articles and writing the quiz questions that the new moderators - who seem to have no record of participation on the forum - are recommending to some of the newer foreros. Granted, there was a token Amazon gift certificate as a thank-you for writing the quiz questions, which I appreciated, but it was offered and accepted as a token.
My usual approach is to take things with a grain of salt, since it is fruitless to try to make sense out of other people's nonsense. I am sure that in a day or two I will have relegated this experience to the back of a mental trash can also. However, for the moment I need to unburden myself.
Not that my opinion matters, because it clearly does not and maybe it should not, but I hold little esteem for a person in management who would say on the forum that he tried to email me several times in the past few weeks to let me know about the pending change in my moderator status. There was a short term problem with our email service for a few days in mid December, but that was cleared up and I have been receiving emails from people on this site without delay. My PM feature has also been working with no problems.
Once again, I have no idea as to any conflicts, real or imagined, among the former mods on SD. If there were any, I don't want to know about it, since it would fall under the category of gossip.
I do, however, know that in some massive house-cleaning, there were some dedicated people who were swept out the door.
At this point, I am uncertain as to whether I will participate anymore on the forum. If you have bothered to read this far, you are probably muttering "good riddance"! 
At this point it is a moral question for me. Do I want to support a site that seems to use people until they are no longer useful, and then brings in their own crew? It is the management's right, I know. I just wish things had been handled with more tact.
I would like to add some suggestions from the point of view of an old biddy who has seen people do things well and do things poorly for many, many years.
-Consider the ways in which your actions were offensive and insulting (yes, they were both).
-Consider how you might have been "gentler" ... more user-friendly; ask yourselves why you did not start with apologies and attempts at reconciliation (instead of ending with them).
-Consider in which ways you might have headed off whatever confrontations or differences of opinion were developing, so that they did not mutate into the current situation.
-You have delivered a very lengthy, wordy sort of apology already; consider how you might re-deliver it more succinctly, identifying what (as the Credo says) you have done and what you have failed to do.
-Please also try to remember that the best contributors to this site are also sensitive people (well, so are some of us duffers) and it is a real discourtesy to treat them as a "human resource" to be manipulated as you think best (needless to say, when you think "this way is best", it is a good time to think again and see if maybe something else is better).
I have found your actions of the past week unnecessary, unwarranted and actually odd, as well as very counter-productive. If nothing else, the "counter-productive" part should be a concern to you; you cannot be successful and enjoy a fine reputation by setting yourselves back, throwing away valuable (human) resources and failing to have foresight to prevent such situations from arising.
'nough said (and more); thanks for the ear.
The time to make some money has come. They don't care about the users.
What people seem to be missing here is that in Christopher's thread he said this....
"Over the past couple months there has been some discord among the moderators on the site"
I am not party to the why's, how's and what for's, but it is clear to me that 3 of the moderators are disgruntled (Yesser, Heidita and Mountaingirl) and 2 of the moderators are now running around like lambs in a green field on a lovely sunny spring day (Eddy and Mariana).
Contrary to how this post may look I am trying to remain objective here and not take sides. I have not got a clue about how all this came about, but it is obvious that it is not just a simple case of "oh lets forget about it and return to how we were." For whatever reasons some serious divisions amongst the heirachy have evolved and the Site Owners have taken a course of action. Reverse this and they alienate a different set of people.
So peeps, save your dignity and accept it. Life goes on! If you have forged friendships, then stick with your friends!! That is what I have decided to do. It's not a problem, my Spanish learning (and friendships) will continue!
Hi Marshall
You are sadly mistaken if you think this whole debacle is about the introduction of the new SD site.
