RE: Is Ernest still here?

density, 2 months ago

Hope you feel better soon!

I have to say that I agree with others there are significant structural issues with the benevolent dictatorship type governance model. A team of people with diverse skills, strengths, weaknesses, commitments and all that is needed to bring a project like this to its potential.

Establishing a committee of some sort to share the work is really going to allow your efforts to shine to a greater degree and highlight your contributions, not diminish them. Perhaps getting in touch with some organization like Software Freedom Conservancy for advice? They exist to help with this sort of thing:

Conservancy assists FLOSS project leaders by handling all matters other than software development and documentation, so the developers can focus on what they do best: improving the software for the public good.

static, 2 months ago

I appeciate all you do, but please start delegating for your own sake.
Find people to handle the spam and moderation, that gives you more time to focus on dev and infra.
And on dev too, there is lots to delegate.

lutindiscret, 2 months ago

@ernest thanks! get well. Take time.

@kbinMeta

SceNtriC, 2 months ago

@ernest We wish you so much health!

frankboon, 2 months ago

@SceNtriC @ernest yeah, take proper care of yourself mate, and get better soon!

Pamasich, 2 months ago

I'm just focusing on clearing spam

This is good to hear, but there's still soooo much spam on the instance, it's clearly too much for you. Can you please accept some of the magazine ownership requests (and moderator requests on your magazines) so we can actually help you with this? I know I've applied to a few, which are still pending, so there's definitely people waiting in line.

SolacefromSilence, 2 months ago

Best wishes on your treatment and healing

RealM, 2 months ago

Get well soon!

Tarte, 2 months ago

Wishing you all the best!

rhythmisaprancer, 2 months ago

Thanks for checking in, @ernest ! I think you have a pretty devoted community, let us know how we can help. Be well.

HotDogFingies, 2 months ago

Take your time. I like it here. I hope you recover well and feel much better soon.

Hello_there, 2 months ago

Glad to hear it boss man.
However, you've got to remember that you're the boss man. You have to delegate.
You shouldn't be clearing spam. You have people for that.
I spend time doing a bunch of reports to you on pill pushers and spam links. I could just as easily be spending my time banning those usernames, resulting in faster responses and better experience for everyone.
I think most people on the site would say your time is spent on doing admin stuff. Not mod spam stuff.

Somewhereunknown7351, 2 months ago

Get well soon <3

Silverseren, 2 months ago

I'm just glad to hear that you're (mostly) okay, Ernest. I was worried.

ShadowRam, 2 months ago

Dude,

Close down /m/internet and /m/science so that someone else can create it and properly moderate it.

insomniac_lemon, 2 months ago

Honestly no, he needs to implement some kind of proactive spam filter. A new account posting SEO spam or openly mentioning code generators should be the easiest thing to prevent. And I'm pretty sure other fediverse instances have done that.

Probably more admins (or at very least, global mods) just for daily operations.

Also not the main issue now, but also some sort of removal federation even if it can be reversed in cases of bias. Because spam (or worse) removed on another instance shouldn't stay up here.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568, 2 months ago

Thanks a ton for the update Ernest! It's great to hear from you, and I hope your health improves soon.

That being said, I do have a few things I'd like to suggest.

--

In February, I spent my time visiting doctors and undergoing treatment with medications, which often had very unpleasant side effects. Therefore, I decided to hold off on any major updates to avoid causing even more chaos.

If I'm interpreting this correctly (i.e., that you chose not to give any updates as to prevent people freaking out), I don't think this was the best move. I understand where you were coming from, but (if you were able) some sort of small status update would've been preferable to a month-long silence (especially since you'd previously said that you'd be unavailable for only 2–4 days). A simple "Hey, I'm currently not doing well. I'll get back to things as soon as I'm feeling better," would've at least let us know that you were alive and that the project hadn't been abandoned.

--

Just because it's not visible that something is happening doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything during this time. In fact, two really significant things have been successful, which I've been working on for a long time and which I intended to announce soon once I recover.

I don't think this whole "holding off for a big announcement" thing is a great approach, at least not now. There are currently several issues that we're waiting to see fixed, and we have no idea which ones (if any) are being worked on. If you must wait for a big reveal though, at least telling us, "I'm still working on stuff" would be better than nothing.

--

And finally, I really suggest getting some more admins for the instance. You're absolutely correct to prioritize your health over Kbin; nevertheless, it's far from ideal for your absence to mean that spam piles up, moderation requests lie unanswered, and accounts can't be deleted. We'd all appreciate it if you could have at least one extra person on deck for whenever you're ill or in need of a break.

--

Thanks again for all you do for Kbin, and I hope things get better!

stopthatgirl7, 2 months ago

Agreed with all of this.

mizzyc, 2 months ago

I hope Ernest gets well soon and can pass through all of these stuff, but I must add one point to this:

And finally, I really suggest getting some more admins for the instance.

And, as important as this, letting more people help with Kbin development.

It's impossible to maintain the code and develop new features, while dealing with all his personal life problems (which of course are a priority) and maintaining the instance all at once and almost alone.

Why not getting some help? I know that Ernest already said he has a problem trusting people, but come on, it's visible that this approach is not working and it’s not benefiting anyone.

ProdigalFrog, 2 months ago

His reasoning is kind've... Like, off, isn't it? How would a single paragraph message saying "Hey guys, I'm not dead." cause... Chaos? Like what?

And him saying he's been working on stuff... So, he's been around and watching, but chose to work exclusively on the code when Kbin was under assault with spam, some of it illegal?

It's so crazily clear that Kbin needs additional admins to fill in for Ernest, to add more mods, to combat spam, to delete communities and accounts that have been sitting around for months, and yet still, there is absolutely no move toward rectifying any of that.

This isn't sustainable. People are saying it in this post, people have been saying it for months, there's no change. I don't mean to come down on Ernest, the dude is putting out all this work and effort for free selflessly, but it's becoming painfully clear that his personality traits (specifically the desire to do everything himself) is not only putting incredible stress onto Ernest himself, but it's severely effecting Kbin itself negatively, to the point that people are leaving and Ernest's response is... Basically business as usual.

I don't see a positive outcome here.

TheVillageGuy, 2 months ago

He may well be referring to my posts and the chaos that ensued in the comments thereof. You have a valid point. However, Ernest's communication has up to now not been very consistent, both timing and content wise. It makes sense he hasn't given updates, for the time being, as he didn't have any real improvements to announce, unlike this one, to prevent another escalation. Not the best strategy, but given the odds of a similar situation arising again, understandable. You are already part of a similar discussion it would have started and it would have been over nothing. At least now he had some (good) news to announce. I would not likely have responded though, I haven't really paid much attention since the last time. Once again I was attracted by the notification of a message, on matrix this time, leading me to have a look at what's going on. I am saying this because some people were convinced I was stalking and harassing Ernest last time, to give you an impression of what chaos he is likely referring to. Of course odds are something would have triggered my attention and I would have, as I said I won't be silenced. But other people have taken the lead this time.

Let's hope Ernest really is doing better and will do as he says, so we can forget about the past.