This break (which also corresponded with a drop in the amount of time I spend on GAIA in general) has made me realise what a vast timesink the site is. I mean, being a moderator is a responsibility that I enjoy, because it involves aspects of helping people, helping the community, and generally keeping things in order. It's nice to be able to have a positive influence, and to make a difference. But it's also something that you can do all day long, every day, and not have anything to show for it. And if you're on GAIA when you should be doing other stuff, that's a bad thing.
When I went on this break, I was planning to take some time off, learn to enjoy the forums again, recharge a little, let some of the annoyance and cynicism I was feeling towards the userbase (GD in particular) dissipate. "I'm on break until the New Year" was what I told people who asked. In the meantime, GD's mods have been doing an awesome job working to keep the forum clean and tidy and the report queue relatively up-to-date. Hopefully that'll silence some of the suck-ups who thought GD would fall over if I ever stopped modding. xp It's a team effort. I couldn't do it on my own, and trying to do it on my own probably contributed a lot to the sense of burnout.
Now it's the New Year.
And I'm trying to work out if I want to go back to moderating.
It's not as easy a question as you might think. Do I want to go back to spending a lot of my GAIA time cleaning up other people's mess, dealing with their pointless, inane bickering and abuse? Does my satisfaction at making a difference outweigh the negative aspects?
Definitely thinking hard about it. We'll see.
- Zahir
Community Member
If I was you, I'd be a helper. Nothing major, but something. Being the deputy to the sheriff, y'know?
I've only been on Gaia half a day, instead of every waking second. I've learnt to play almost a full song on a bass guitar in less than 24 hours.
That's something productive right there.
I've not got round to college work yet, but y'know...s**t happnens.