Disgruntled

TODAY, a disgruntled fan posted at the Station 8 Comment room: http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/comment/index.php.

Here's the post in full, and my response will be below it:

I posted this message on AskGreg but it was censored. I guess only sucking-up messages are allowed. Here it is:

Dear Greg Weisman,

I would just like to express my deepest outrage for what happened today (April 17). I'm talking about, off course, the new 5-questions-per-post limit you've pulled out of thin air with complete disregard for your most loyal followers. Yes, I realize AskGreg is not a right, but a privilege, like Greg Bishansky so well put it on the comments room (though he goes out of his way to kiss your ass on every turn), but WE are fans. YOURS, no less.

Basically, up until today the rule regarding the quantity of questions per post one could ask was TEN (http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?rid=925). Changing it after one month worth of answers seems like foul play. And this new limit comes off as a rather draconian and disproportionate edict, because there's no direct correlation between the number of questions and the required time to answer them. Say there is a post with 30 yes-or-no questions and another with only one that demands a more in-depth response. The former doesn't comply with the 5-questions limit, whilst the latter does. However, would the former really take up the same time to answer as the latter? How do reviews and rambles (that sometimes only prompt a three or five worded answer from you) get precluded from this? Don't they consume more of your time than answering 10, or even 20 short questions?

Also, it seems that forcing posters to spread their questions won't solve the problem, but only add to it, because instead of making one big post with 30 questions, they will make six. This will simply increase the influx of posts.

While I believe this to be illogical, logistically speaking, I understand it may seem like a good solution in theory (though I think I've just disproved it) and you feel the need to try something out. But what's really unfair is to enforce this rule as a blanket for all the approved 10-questions-posts that predate it. Those actually complied with your initially established 10 questions limit. How is this fair or even rational? Some posters ask stupid, shallow questions, but others actually take their time to think and write insightful queries, and, not unlike essays, those take time, and throwing them with such careless disregard is very disrespectful. Particularly so when those conformed to the policy, have been stewing for ONE MONTH and now have to be distributed into different posts and take the back seat at the end of a two months' waiting (or longer) queue. Wouldn't it be more logical to close the queue as you've done before so that you can clear it?

I do realize that this very post can be axed under the auspices of some new made up rule to cut down the number of questions, even after and if it gets approved. In case this does get through, I'm sure you won't see it until the next couple of months, and when you do, I'm sure you'll write some well composed answer making me come off as an ungrateful and obnoxious douche, and you'll have the last word, because I won't have a chance for a timely reply. But I felt like I needed to share my disenchantment for what seems to be a gross disrespect of your FANS. You know, the people who watch your shows, buy your merchandise and keep you on a payroll.

Sincerely,
Disgruntled
A disgruntled (former) fan.
posted @ Fri, Apr 20, 2012 12:46:02 pm EDT

MY RESPONSE:

Dear disgruntled (former) fan,

I agree with some of what you've written. Among other things, this post should NOT have been deleted by the moderators. And I'll make sure they know it. Comments, positive or negative, are fair game here. Always were and always will be.

And it's true, of course, that sometimes a post with many questions can be answered more quickly than a post with a single in-depth question, but I have NEVER wanted the moderators to judge or try to guess in advance the length of my response to anything, let alone gauge the time it takes me. Setting a question limit seems like a reasonable way to make things manageable.

I also, as I've stated before, see the unfairness in me reducing the limit from ten to five without warning and applying the rule retroactively to posts that contained 6-10 questions. As I've admitted, I screwed up there. I thought I had said five in the past, and instructed the moderators to erase all posts with more than five. By the time it was pointed out to me that I had said ten in the past, it was too late to recover those questions. TOO LATE. We don't keep a record of disallowed questions, so that's it. I screwed up and admitted it, but it's done. So from here on out, the max is five. And some posts were lost unfairly. And that does suck. And I do sincerely sympathize with your frustrations and disgruntlement, up to a point.

But here's that point: you don't seem to get or acknowledge (or perhaps care) that I'm currently on the verge of shutting down the site entirely. ENTIRELY. You don't have to praise me, my work or Ask Greg, but I'm trying to take measures to make me want to keep doing this AT ALL. Some of these measures, are indeed, as you've noted, 'draconian', forcing you to - horrors - repost your questions and wait even longer for the answers you do seem to feel entitled to. But again, the alternative is you NEVER get your answers. EVER. Now if this response, makes you "come off as an ungrateful and obnoxious douche" - well, I don't know how else you would expect me to respond. But this doesn't have to be the "last word". Normally, I only occasionally stop by the S8 comment room, but I promise for the next week or so, I'll stop by there every weekday and at least once on the weekend, which should give you "a chance for a timely reply". Any post there (like this one) that seems relevant to the current conversation will get pushed right to the front of the line and be published here at ASK GREG in a ramble (like this one).

That's my compromise. It's probably less-than-satisfactory, but it's the best I can offer at this time.

[I also want to state, that you've NOT been privy to the discussions between myself, Gorebash, Masterdramon and Todd. I have RESISTED taking even more draconian measures suggested by them and/or by others at Station 8, because as much as possible, I'd like ASK GREG to remain the open free-flowing forum it has been for like a decade or more now. The measures we are taking, draconian as they may seem, are still less draconian than they might be. But if I am forced to truly make the site rigid, then the fun will go out of it for me in the other direction, and I'll still wind up shutting it down anyway.]

Obviously, I'm not in the business of taking fans and making them "disgruntled (former) fan[s]", but I'm hoping you're a fan of THE WORK I do, more than a fan of me anyway. I mean, face it, you don't know me. I could be an axe-murderer. But if you like Gargoyles or W.I.T.C.H. or Spectacular Spider-Man or Young Justice (or whatever), then the work is the work is the work, and I'd hope you'd remain a fan of that work whether I'm a big of a jerk or not, whether Ask Greg existed or not and certainly whether or not I get to the answers to your questions in one month or six. I mean there have been times when I've been TWO YEARS (or more) behind in answering questions. This lag is nothing in comparison to that. But somehow the discourse associated with the whole thing seems... meaner. And I'm really, truly trying to keep my desire to maintain this site below the boil-over point.

More Ask Greg Angst

Okay, I clearly messed up. Previously, I posted a guideline mandating a ten question max per post, and yesterday in my mind I changed it to five - and guilty of what I accuse others of - I did not check to confirm. So I'm here to (a) admit my mistake and (b) live with it - as we all will have to from here on out.

If in my head, the number shrank from ten to five, it's most likely because my patience has ebbed since I posted the ten question limit. Ten seems like a huge amount now - though lower than the twenty-questions-in-one-post that triggered the current guideline change. Frankly, FIVE seems like more than plenty per post, but I realize it's silly to require multiple posts on the same topic when questions are closely related, and five (or thereabouts) seems like a reasonable number.

So I do apologize for the error. But I'm not changing the new policy.

I have talked to Gorebash and our two moderators about updating the rules/guidelines on the front page, and that should be done in the next couple days.

ASK GREG angst

I just posted the following on the Station 8 Comment Room Page, and thought I should post it here too:

Just to be clear, there's NO point in being angry with the ASK GREG moderators. They are simply doing what I asked them to do. So be mad at me, not them. And, frankly, please don't be mad at me either. Try to remember that I'm doing the best I can dealing with an increasingly difficult situation.

And by the way, I have said MULTIPLE TIMES, including RIGHT BEFORE we reopened the queue to new questions, that I didn't want more than five questions per post. There's simply no way anyone could have posted any questions in the current queue before I stated this guideline. I'll admit that this is not listed on the rules on the front page - and we should probably update that when Gorebash has the time - but it has been stated by me over and over again. And I have asked people to check the archives before posting, so it seems to me, that this guideline was available. So maybe I should feel more sympathy, but I just don't.

I'll admit one reason I'm getting harsher on this - and feel less sympathetic towards even folks who are attempting (but failing) to obey the rules and guidelines - is as an alternative to something worse. Yes, all this is due to the abuse of the system by some people, and, yes, there's no doubt that all are suffering for the abuse of some. But there are worse alternatives, I would think. As I find myself getting more and more frustrated and more inclined to shut ASK GREG down entirely, I feel like being a bit more draconian about the rules and guidelines is the lesser of two evils.

And I have NOT outlawed the age questions. But I don't want lists of them. It's EXTREMELY time consuming, because I have to look it up, since I don't keep that information in my head. I can't just answer off the cuff in my free time. I get the value of the question, and I've tried to answer them. But someone posting a list of TWENTY characters and asking for ALL their ages is abusing the system, in my opinion. And ultimately, on ASK GREG, everyone needs to get used to the idea that my opinion matters. I don't have to do this. I used to enjoy doing it, and at times I still do. But the whole thing feels like it's gotten out of control, and I begrudge it more and more these days. So unless the goal is to TRY to push me over the edge, i.e. to try to exercise the power of the internet to force me to SHUT the site down, then everyone needs to live with the ups and downs of the thing, even as I am struggling to do the same.

To be clear, I AM not looking for feedback on this post - even positive feedback. Churlish as it may sound, I'm not looking for a bunch of cheerleaders to say "YOU TELL 'EM, GREG!" Because I'm not taking any pleasure in taking this site into an area of more and more rules. I LIKED that we used to have a few simple guidelines, and that otherwise the thing was more free form. It kills me EVERY TIME I have to add to the restrictions. That's not what I ever wanted Ask Greg to be. But I suppose times have changed, and the site has to change with them.

Finaly, I have NO interest in having a "PREVIOUSLY DELETED QUESTIONS" page. Feels like a legal problem just waiting to happen.

But back to the start, please do not take out your ire on the moderators. They're simply doing what I've asked.

SPOILER NASTINESS

Hello,

I've given the ASK GREG moderators permission to DELETE any question that refers to or spoils episodes of Young Justice that have NOT YET AIRED in the United States.

Personally, I think it's bad enough folks are spoiling things FOR THEMSELVES, when they will soon be able to see the episodes in English and at a decent quality within a matter of a few short weeks. (And the blame-Cartoon-Network excuse holds ZERO water for me, as these people are still CHOOSING to view episodes ahead of schedule. No one is holding a gun to their heads.) But the fact that they are spoiling things for folks who are trying NOT to get spoiled is just outrageously obnoxious.

I'd like the ASK GREG queue to be a safe place. I NEED people to be able to read the queue to see if someone ahead of them has already asked the question they're intending to ask. In fact, I've pretty much DEMANDED that people check the queue before asking a question, so forcing them to check something that will spoil their enjoyment of the series is flat out unfair.

Thus the deletions.

And this is all beside the fact that asking a question HERE at ASK GREG to get an explanation of something in an episode that wasn't understood because it was not in English is, well, IDIOTIC. At the length of the current queue, it'll be months before I get to these questions, and the episodes will air here in the U.S. in a matter of weeks. So by the time I get to these questions, the answers will no longer be required - so all that is really being accomplished is that folks have found yet another way to bog down the queue. In fact, this practice is SO idiotic, I'm having trouble believing the questions are being asked with any sincerity. It seems more like a demonstration of power. Trolling, pure and simple.

Either way - whether this is due to naivete or trolling - please just STOP. Please.

ASK GREG is back, MARCH 3, 2012.

So I've finally gotten through the queue. I could definitely feel myself getting cranky again by the end here, so I'm going to take a short break.

Young Justice resumes airing on Saturday, March 3, 2012, and we'll reopen ASK GREG's question/posting function on the same day.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE follow these simple guidelines BEFORE posting.

1. DO NOT REQUEST SPOILERS!! All requests for spoilers will be met with "SPOILER REQUEST. NO COMMENT." Prefacing your spoiler request question by saying, "I hope this doesn't trigger a spoiler alert" or the like doesn't help. THINK BEFORE YOU POST. If you're asking me for information about what is TO COME on a show, it's a SPOILER. And I flat out will not answer. So all you're doing is clogging the queue.

2. CHECK THE ARCHIVES to make sure your question hasn't already been answered. Any question already answered will receive an "ASKED AND ANSWERED" response. Again, this only serves to clog the queue.

3. CHECK the UNANSWERED QUESTION queue before posting your question. I may not have answered it yet, but if you can see that someone's already asked the question, then there's no point in asking it again. All you'll receive is another "ASKED AND ANSWERED" response. Really, the amount of times I was asked Zatanna's age was just preposterous. If I'm taking the time to answer your questions, the least you can do is LOOK to see if your question was already asked before posting and clogging the queue.

4. CONSIDER asking your question from knowledgeable fans BEFORE posting it. For example, the folks at http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/comment/ are very familiar with my work and can usually answer stuff much faster than I can.

5. If you are asking multiple questions in one post, please NUMBER your questions. And if you're asking more than, say... ten... then create a separate post.

6. But please, do NOT flood the queue. Show restraint.

7. Please do not submit any original ideas, notions, concepts, or drawings of original characters. No stories, no fanfic, no teleplays, nothing.

8. No original ideas masquerading as questions. Asking me what Demona did during World War II is fine. Asking me if Demona tried to assassinate Hitler during World War II is an idea masquerading as a question and is not all right. I'm sure you can all see the distinction.

9. No requests for employment. If you want to ask generally about how one might break into the business, I'll try to give my perspective, but this is not an appropriate forum for personal pleas for work.

If these guidelines are followed the results benefit us all:

a. The queue doesn't bog down. I'll get to questions faster.

b. I'll be happier, which means I'm more likely to expand on the questions I can answer, instead of being so fed up that I speed through those too, just to bring down the size of the queue.

I know I must sound like a curmudgeon here. AND THAT'S ONLY BECAUSE THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I AM! (ASK ANYONE!) But you can help reduce my curmudgeonliness by following these guidelines.

Thank you

See you in a week(ish).