A possible suggestion for avoiding the "popularity contest" aspect of voting could be to have the candidates anonymized and have them make a statement about their identity, experience, what they will bring to the role, etc. which are viewed by the voters without being connected to username. Totally okay if you don't think this would work out.
LGBT+ Secretaries
I'm sorry, folks, I'll talk about my perspective: I feel like any choice should be made by Toki and she usually asks for the input of the entire Pink House staff. Look, the Secretary must be someone that the current staff can trust and also, it's a position that requires a lot of patience. At this point, we don't have any time to discuss this subject properly, but I feel that before making any decision toward that, we need to restore the communication between the staff and the userbase first, which also requires time and people being able to discuss wich each other. Personally, I feel that it's kinda not fair with Toki to just point a lot at names at this point because she was elected to make that kind of important decision.
I kinda suggest that you all could and should give us ideas, but the final decision must be done by Prime Bimbo, so let's slow things down for a while, okay? Sorry if I'm popping out the balloon, but I feel like to succeed in anything we must keep realistic expectations and work together, with also means that we should give people time to discuss. Believe me, since I was one of the people who came out with the idea in the first place, I want to make it work, but you all should trust me on that one. Also, I think that quantity shouldn't be the focus. Instead, we should be thinking about the objects on it, the goal we have in the long run, and so on. Salmon input regards that are actually pretty important and reasonable and often, the one who spoke louder is the one who gets more attention by the one's who are not that involved on the question, so it will be a matter of who speaks loudest, which is not what the community needs right now.
Another practical problem to open votes is that: there's no real way to make a pool only for LGBTQIA+ persons, neither for POC users only. Open votes also mean that the entire userbase could vote and I'm completely against asking people on these occasions if they're LGBTQIA+ or not, so it's something that is not possible to be done that way. Also, I'm already predicting a lot of dislikes, but I'll apologize in advance. My goal is to help, I personally don't like how the community is split right now and I'm doing all I can to solve it, but I need help from pretty much everyone, so please, be patient. It's okay to disagree with me, but keep in mind that I'm honestly trying my best. If I don't care with you guys, I wouldn't even playing this game anymore because it's a lot of stress if you take in account that games, in general, are supposed to be fun and relaxing in the first place.
I kinda suggest that you all could and should give us ideas, but the final decision must be done by Prime Bimbo, so let's slow things down for a while, okay? Sorry if I'm popping out the balloon, but I feel like to succeed in anything we must keep realistic expectations and work together, with also means that we should give people time to discuss. Believe me, since I was one of the people who came out with the idea in the first place, I want to make it work, but you all should trust me on that one. Also, I think that quantity shouldn't be the focus. Instead, we should be thinking about the objects on it, the goal we have in the long run, and so on. Salmon input regards that are actually pretty important and reasonable and often, the one who spoke louder is the one who gets more attention by the one's who are not that involved on the question, so it will be a matter of who speaks loudest, which is not what the community needs right now.
Another practical problem to open votes is that: there's no real way to make a pool only for LGBTQIA+ persons, neither for POC users only. Open votes also mean that the entire userbase could vote and I'm completely against asking people on these occasions if they're LGBTQIA+ or not, so it's something that is not possible to be done that way. Also, I'm already predicting a lot of dislikes, but I'll apologize in advance. My goal is to help, I personally don't like how the community is split right now and I'm doing all I can to solve it, but I need help from pretty much everyone, so please, be patient. It's okay to disagree with me, but keep in mind that I'm honestly trying my best. If I don't care with you guys, I wouldn't even playing this game anymore because it's a lot of stress if you take in account that games, in general, are supposed to be fun and relaxing in the first place.
Surprise, b*tch! Something Wicked is coming, and I guess it's me! Who's the baddest witch in town? ;)
@ Levian: Actually, that’s a great idea. It’d also avoid candidates getting shit on for lack of better wording. Remaining anonymous will ensure that their identity isn’t easily trackable until they have more power to fight against someone who’d try to harass them.
19, she/he pronouns ONLY. Barely on the site anymore so don’t bother. Please don’t interact with me if we aren’t friends, it makes me incredibly uncomfortable and anxious.
I am honored to be on the list of folks that people trust to speak up for justice in this space. I'm also wary of taking on more responsibilities with a big time commitment--draculaura's list of representation and considerations for true equity and inclusion is really good, and I am also reminded of something that comes up a lot in my work in meatspace with marginalized communities--when people are facing lots of kinds of marginalizations, we have great sensitivity and sharp analysis and our voices and perspectives are needed, but also--we are experiencing a lot of kinds of marginalizations. We are often tapped to do more work without reward for the greater good while having less access to resources and support than people who are straight or cis or nondisabled or average size or white/settlers. I don't know that I have a solution to that, and I do love the idea of representation for the LGBTQ+ community, and I love the idea of people who can advocate for disabled folks and especially for Black and Indigenous people and people of color. Maybe this looks like 3-4 ministers, or maybe it looks like user collectives or committees by and for that community? There's an LGBT server (that I have yet to join because work lolsob)--maybe there could be specific committees or closed forum spaces that people can opt into, where those communities can make recommendations or intervene or review warnings/jailings/bans?
***fat queer cripness intensifies***
Share the fat pride and liberation here: https://bimbo.land/forum/show-me-your-boombos/t4278
Disability/Mad/Deaf/Crip pride here: https://bimbo.land/forum/disabled-people-are-hot-show-me-your-disabled-bimbo-lewks/t5057
Share the fat pride and liberation here: https://bimbo.land/forum/show-me-your-boombos/t4278
Disability/Mad/Deaf/Crip pride here: https://bimbo.land/forum/disabled-people-are-hot-show-me-your-disabled-bimbo-lewks/t5057
I’m not opposed to that idea. I think having some sort of “council” would mean more people are on the team—the more the merrier, and in this case, also more protective and safe for our community.
19, she/he pronouns ONLY. Barely on the site anymore so don’t bother. Please don’t interact with me if we aren’t friends, it makes me incredibly uncomfortable and anxious.
A thought, since Poison alluded to a time constraint. I assume this means Toki wants the Secretary position set up during her term, so then maybe the focus should be on finding secretaries who can essentially start working on planning an actual work infrastructure for future secretaries?
Meaning, these secretaries would be people from the community the Pink House staff trusts as Poison put it, and they would focus on finding more Secretaries and setting up the who does what with what powers and when of the position, with the Pink House staff.
And I think in the future the communities that the Secretaries are supposed to help should have a voice in who they want as candidates, because sometimes that’s a great way to vet out people who might actually have issues with members of the community they’re meant to represent, and we wanna avoid that. Other than that Dove put the opinions of the community pretty extensively, so I have nothing more to add.
Meaning, these secretaries would be people from the community the Pink House staff trusts as Poison put it, and they would focus on finding more Secretaries and setting up the who does what with what powers and when of the position, with the Pink House staff.
And I think in the future the communities that the Secretaries are supposed to help should have a voice in who they want as candidates, because sometimes that’s a great way to vet out people who might actually have issues with members of the community they’re meant to represent, and we wanna avoid that. Other than that Dove put the opinions of the community pretty extensively, so I have nothing more to add.
they/them|| The eyes are the nipples of the face ||
Tl;dr: This is an amazing idea, but there is much more that needs to be implemented to even begin to fix the issue you are trying to address. A great idea, but a dollar store band aid to something that needs a tourniquet.
So, after reading everyone's responses, this is what I have come up with myself:
It's obvious that what we are wanting can NOT be easily achieved by a handful of people. It sounds like a reworking of Staff is needed, basically.
What I mean is we need committees/councils. And it shouldn't be limited to just what's being discussed here (we definitely don't want ANYONE to feel left out.)
I propose these committees (off the top of my head of course! I'm sure I'm missing some communities):
LGBT Committee
BIPOC Committee
Trans Specific Committee
Disabled Committee
Cishet Committee
Religious Committee ( I mean, cmon. I have counted MAYBE six religions represented in the shops....)
Generalized Committee comprised of reps from the other committees, and also the rest of the Senatorship/PB/President/etc.
The specific committees would handle things that are specific to their group. This would include reports of -phobic activities, advocating for more representation on the site, etc. Then the general committee would be where the specific committees bring their community's issues to the rest of the Senatorship/PB/President. The committees also wouldn't be JUST the Senators. They would have to be comprised of ALL staff to fairly spread the load.
I think having anonymous voting would be best across the board, not just for these specific positions. It would keep the popularity contest feeling down, and would ensure that those who are elected are truly good for the community as a whole. And honestly, would probably boost the number of people wanting to run for office.
Unfortunately Toki, I don't think this is something that can be implemented quickly. Regardless of how we go about it. There is just too much that would need to be done in order for something like what you're wanting done to be done well and with a chance of succeeding. I think, also, the rules of the land NEED to be followed and enforced. Obviously there is an imbalance here (people being quite literally silenced for speaking out).
I love your idea, please don’t misunderstand me. I think it’s something that’s definitely needed. I’ve been around since the website was Miss Bimbo. I love this site a lot. I think, though, instead of focusing on a set of secretaries to put in place NOW, the focus should be on starting the changes that need to be done for something like this to even succeed. So putting people in place that will be in charge of starting these changes. We obviously have a subset of the site that will shoot down all of this every chance they get, and I’m sure Meisha is NOT the only one in ANY of the marginalized communities who don’t feel safe currently. And that’s where the starting line needs to be. Otherwise, this will fail before it even starts.
I think having community specific forums that are locked to anyone not in those communities is the best place to start. It will start to foster a sense of safety that we are lacking right now. And -phobic or hateful content in those forums would HAVE to be enforced pretty heavily. So mods for those forums would have to be part of the community they are modding and be aware of current phobic/hateful behavior.
Ambrosine wrote:
This thread was created specifically to discuss the establishment of a team of LGBT+ people who would help address homophobia and transphobia on Bimboland. This addition is pretty inappropriate considering that cishet people are the group mainly responsible for LGBT+phobia. Maybe put the suggestion of a cishet committee in another thread?Cishet Committee
I agree with what Draculaura said. Also, as much as I’d love multiple committees, I just know they won’t like the idea of having it implemented. Which is why we’re taking baby steps.
19, she/he pronouns ONLY. Barely on the site anymore so don’t bother. Please don’t interact with me if we aren’t friends, it makes me incredibly uncomfortable and anxious.
I feel that if voting happens, it needs to happen on the site. While google docs are really pleasing, voting via google has two huge issues involved (that I can see);
Making a gmail takes maybe 10 minutes at absolute maximum, so destructive voting by non-LGBT players via multiple alt accounts could completely skew voting towards the worst candidates. Though this would be less of an issue if being in at least 1+ of certain communities (like the ones listed by Traggot) was required to be a candidate to begin with. I can also see this being an issue with voting here, but level restraints help.
Not all of us have our real names connected to the website, though I feel that accounts connected to Google are going to be waaaay more connected to our personal lives. That could potentially lend towards harassment. It would be awful if someone who wants to vote for someone to represent them can't because of fear of being outed irl.
A council sounds great, even if it's just temporary as we vote for who our secretaries are ._.
Not all of us have our real names connected to the website, though I feel that accounts connected to Google are going to be waaaay more connected to our personal lives. That could potentially lend towards harassment. It would be awful if someone who wants to vote for someone to represent them can't because of fear of being outed irl.
A council sounds great, even if it's just temporary as we vote for who our secretaries are ._.
I'd also like to mention that as someone relatively new to Bimboland, it's not obvious to newbies who we should go to if we have issues. If we cannot approach the racism and homophobia because we need to mend communication between users and staff, we need a straight up list of staff members somewhere that's easily available for everyone. We can't communicate with those we don't know exist. It'd be lovely if we had a staff button on the very bottom of the website next to "contact us" but that's an issue for another thread I suppose.
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