Seeking Mods (+ Explanations and Apologies)

[rarepairs_mod]

Hello everyone. As you've indubitably noticed, the administrative side of this community has been pretty much MIA off and on for the last... too many months to count. I know that there are a lot of people who really enjoy participating in this community, and who miss the days when there were several events each year, and you didn't have to wait two months for your claim to be approved. My laxness as a mod has been totally unfair to you guys, and for that, I'm really, truly sorry.

chimbomba and I (peskywhistpaw) created this community together in 2007, when we were both going to the same high school. We would talk about rarepair_shorts at least once a day, were always brainstorming event ideas and prompts, and would even spend a lunch or two on the floor of our history classroom with printouts of the fic exchange participants, trying to get assignments sorted. We did this for our last two years of high school. Things got harder when we both went off to college, however, because we suddenly found ourselves on opposite ends of the country, and discovered that our enthusiasm for the community had begun to wane. We carried on for a while, but eventually, chimbomba dropped out of fandom due to disinterest and academic demands, and I reluctantly kept the community going because it had been our baby, and neither one of us really wanted to see it go. (Plus, I'm an English major, and she's an Engineer. I get less homework.) But that means that I've been running rarepair_shorts by myself for the last two years. I was doing pretty well at first, I think, but obviously, things have deteriorated a lot.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I'd like to bring on a few new mods (two to three, or more, if there's a surplus of enthusiasm for the position). Technically, I'd like to still be considered a co-mod, but I would be solely in the background – more of a ghost mod than anything – in case the new mods need help coordinating anything, or would like someone to bounce ideas off of. (Though if the new mods don't feel they need me around, that's fine, too.)

So please, if you're interested, comment below. In your comment:
1. Tell me how you'd like to approach co-running the community.
2. Tell me WHY you'd like to help run this community.
3. List and briefly describe any communities you currently (help) run or have run in the past, if any.
4. Tell me how long you've been involved with this community.

To be perfectly honest, I'm looking for familiar faces, people who have been around long enough to know how this community normally functions. Obviously, I'm also looking for people who are relatively active on LiveJournal.

Comments are NOT screened, because I'd like for the potential co-mods to interact with each other in this post if at all possible. Is there a group of you that would like to work together? Are you open to working with people you don't regularly interact with? If so, feel free to chat in the comments and get to know each other before you commit to anything.

And PLEASE, if you have any questions for ME, don't hesitate to ask, whether it's about how frequently events used to occur, how much of a commitment running this community is, or whatever else you can think of. I promise I won't disappear on you until this issue is settled, and I'm more than willing to chat in the comments.

Comments

[brightflower]

I'd like to throw my hat in the ring. :)

1. I love the unique challenges that run here: Wishlists and the Number Game. I'd love to bring both of those back again. Seems Wishlists are the Summer tradition, so that would definitely run first. I'd also love to brainstorm with the other mods (I'm happy to work with anyone else who gets the job), as well as members about anything else we can do to spice things up around here. And of course we'd keep on posting from our prompt tables as well. This place has the most creative prompts I've ever seen!

2. Why, because I love it here! This is my favorite community, so it would definitely be a lot of fun running it.

3. Right now I'm running femmefest, the HP femmeslash exchange fest; it's my first major community. I do have 100greatsaves, a Cormac-centered fanworks community, which I started a while back with deathlydragon. Unfortunately, though, Cormac isn't such a popular character in HP fandom, so it didn't get very far.

4. I started posting here in March 2009, and I'm on my seventh table! I haven't posted much lately, but I am definitely planning on sticking around and getting more active again.

(If you don't recognize my name, peskywhistpaw, I used to be briony_tallis, but I recently bought a rename token.)

[peskywhistpaw.livejournal.com]

I'm really glad that you're interested in modding this community, because yours is actually pretty much the first name I thought of when I decided I was going to pass the reigns. :)

[myownmuggle.livejournal.com]

I will definitely be throwing my name into the mix. I'm currently tag-teaming with a colleague from a former endeavour and will be posting shortly. One question before that, though, what would you like to see from possible incoming mods?

[peskywhistpaw.livejournal.com]

Honestly, what I'd most like to see is a promise of time commitment. We used to have about three to four huge events each year (roughly one per season), plus additional little challenges often scattered throughout the spaces in between, so it would be nice if that kind of schedule could be revived. This community needs people who will revive its momentum – and be able to handle the maintenance of that momentum.

[myownmuggle.livejournal.com]

This is posted on behalf of myownmuggle and nathaniel_hp. Please don’t hesitate to prod either one of us with questions.
 
1. Tell me how you'd like to approach co-running the community.
 
We, myownmuggle and nathaniel_hp, have co-modded before and know that we work well as a team. Since we are based in the US and Europe respectively, one of us should be available to answers questions etc most of the time, which has proven to be of advantage in other modding situations. nathaniel_hp is a student, which means that he's always busy is able to move around engagements to make time for the comm without a problem.
 
myownmuggle works rotating shifts but always has access to email in order to respond to questions, issues, concerns, etc. I’m a detail person- I’ve been called freakishly organized on more than one occasion.  I like to keep things neat, tidy and moving along.
 
peskywhistpaw mentioned reviving seasonal challenges in addition to smaller, less demanding, though more frequent challenges.  Easily doable – whether it’s a prompt grab, an exchange, and special themed tables…my brain is starting to spin with ideas.  We would definitely consult the community and gauge what people are most interested in to generate the largest possible participation. Also, the wishlists are one thing that we'd definitely like to see again.
 
Even though we are posting this as a team, we are not at all averse to adding more people to the mod team. The more, the merrier - and we'd be able to distribute the work and ensure that no one gets overwhelmed. That said, more than four people would probably be too much, but if there are one or two others who love the comm and would love to run it, I think that would work perfectly.
 
2. Tell me WHY you'd like to help run this community
 
nathaniel_hp:  Even though I have not been an active member of the comm for some time now, I'd love to see it revived, both with the ongoing personal challenges and with special events around the year. I do have OTPs, one of which is a rarepair (Remus/Ron), but what I find most interesting and challenging and rewarding is the exploration of rare pairs, both romantically and as friends. The fact that the comm is geared towards shorter fiction suits me perfectly well, and I think I am not the only one.  After my last intense modding engagement I have taken some time off, but it is time to get involved again. :)
 
myownmuggle I am also returning to active participation in several communities that used to be a big part of my fandom life.  Serious personal issues forced me to take a step back from online life a couple of years ago, but returning to my fandom roots has always been high on my list.  rarepair_shorts is one of those communities.  I thoroughly enjoy diving into shorter pieces of fiction – I find that I can give them greater attention and focus without distractions.  One of the things I’ve always appreciated about this community is that there is such a wide spectrum of rarepairs – without judgment. It’s a fantastically supportive and creative community.
 
3. List and briefly describe any communities you currently (help) run or have run in the past, if any.
 
nathaniel_hp:
- used to be a co-mod at hogwartsishome and ran several subcommunities of the comm
- remus_ron_slash
- used to be involved in a number of beta communities both on LJ and elsewhere
--> in short, quite a bit of experience and not a bad mod either (or
so I've been told ;) )
 
myownmuggle I’m not currently running any communities, but I used to run a Last Drabble Writer Standing community. I’ve also previously served as a Prefect at hogwartsishome.  As far as modding experience in general, I was a moderator and Head of House (Ravenclaw) at a major fan fiction archive.  At the same time, I was a test marker and mentor for Perfect Imagination (prior to the site’s closure).  I am currently active in a number of fandom related communities here on LJ as well as an original flash fiction community.

[brightflower]

Well, you guys definitely seem to know what you're doing! While I'd love to help out in any way I can, I'm also happy to simply be a member and participate under your capable leadership. :)

[myownmuggle.livejournal.com]

I think having three active mods would be an ideal situation. At any given time, one person could be tied up with school, work, family stuff...etc. That way there would always be two people on hand to run challenges, do day to day stuff, etc. It also would help keep things fresh creatively, I think, if we were able to bounce ideas and manage tasks as a group. Also presents an individual from getting overloaded.

What do you think?

And while it's not a rarepair, the Potterverse did have the Trio...plus we'd have peskywhistpaw as our Dumbledore!

[nathaniel-hp.livejournal.com]

I agree with myownmuggle. I think it would work wonderfully to mod as a team of three. When things get busy for special challenges etc., none of us will get bogged down. For day-to-day stuff, we can just distribute the work and always have someone at hand to take over if one of us is too busy. Also, you have been more active here than both of us, or me at least, so that's a good thing too.

So, a modly trio?

What does peskywhistpaw think? :)

[peskywhistpaw.livejournal.com]

If the three of you are willing to work together, I would be more than happy to have you all! Like you said, bluemermaid has been extremely active on this community – among the most active – and has been around for a long time; you and myownmuggle seem like you work really well together, and have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish together (and I'm used to seeing your names around here, too); and all three of you seem to have varying and sufficient degrees of modding experience. I think that all three of you will bring different aspects of experience to the modding table, and having three of you will be really helpful, like you mentioned, when one or more of you gets bogged down with RL tasks that obviously take precedence. And it will be especially helpful to have as many people on hand as possible when the fic exchange comes around, as there are so many different aspects of that event that are better handled when there are multiple people available.

[nathaniel-hp.livejournal.com]

Cool. I love the idea of a modly trio, I have to say. So, if bluemermaid agrees, then I'd love to go ahead with that :)

[myownmuggle.livejournal.com]

Excellent!

[brightflower]

I definitely agree with all of you! I think the three of us would work together splendidly. :)

[nathaniel-hp.livejournal.com]

Wonderful!

How shall we proceed? peskywhistpaw, do you want us to PM you our email addresses so you can send us log-ins and account infos and other material or templates that you have?

[peskywhistpaw.livejournal.com]

That would be great! You can also email me directly at lostmaeblleshire[at]gmail[dot]com.

[myownmuggle.livejournal.com]

Part 2 for myownmuggle and nathaniel_hp

4. Tell me how long you've been involved with this community.
 
nathaniel_hp:  I have been part of the comm for a couple of years, though admittedly I haven't been terribly active lately.
 
myownmuggle:  I have also been a part of the comm for several years, though I have only recently returned.  I look forward to being more active and getting reconnected with all of you!