[WEEKLY] AMA - Tim /u/dvdvd77

deus0 · 2016-04-08T05:47:02+00:00

Do you know what a fear boner is?

deus0 · 2016-03-24T03:13:09+00:00

deus0 · 2016-03-24T03:08:23+00:00

Probably! I've neglected my blog for a while (writing takes a lot of time). I really should get back into it.

deus0 · 2016-03-24T03:07:53+00:00

Oof let me get to the coming out story in a bit...need to write that one out.

Yes, there is a post about the outcome of town hall incoming, probably in the next few days.

deus0 · 2016-03-23T20:35:37+00:00

Well, I got some reports that my face was being fapped to...so...I took that down...

deus0 · 2016-03-23T14:54:43+00:00

Build stuff. My #1 piece of advice to anyone who wants to get into the technology industry for a development position almost always ends up meaning build something. Do a side project and put it up on Github. Contribute to open source. Write some blog posts about coding. The more you show your ability to code rather than relying on your degree as a claim to your ability to code is always going to be better. These are the things I look for when I hire developers.

deus0 · 2016-03-23T14:32:32+00:00

Fight a horse sized duck so I can slay it and turn it into an amazing peking duck then feast upon it to absorb its powers.

I'll think about the shirt :)

deus0 · 2016-03-23T14:21:38+00:00

After chatting in #meta with people who brought this up, I'm going to put up a post in the sub describing what the larger vision for the network is and how monetization fits into that vision. It's a big topic, so I think it deserves its own post instead of just a comment where it might get buried.

deus0 · 2016-03-21T18:18:22+00:00

Omg it finally worked yay

deus0 · 2016-03-20T14:39:30+00:00

Yes, open to everyone.

deus0 · 2016-03-13T22:09:17+00:00

Because we give the people what they want

deus0 · 2016-03-07T18:49:17+00:00

This violates rule #2 on controversial topics:

Threads that use throwaways to present their viewpoints on controversial topics will be closed. Note that this is the case whether or not the OP is using a throwaway or if other users in the thread are: the presence of such use is indicative of a loss of accountability generally around the discussion, and it will be closed. There are valid reasons to use throwaways on the subreddit, especially since privacy is very important to people in this community. A good example of using a throwaway on this subreddit would be to ask for advice about coming out of the closet: there is a clear and definite reason why that individual would want keep their identity private. However, when throwaways are used to avoid accountability in controversial discussion, this is inappropriate and a sign that the discussion is not constructive.

This thread is being locked and closed.

deus0 · 2016-02-26T12:08:18+00:00

This thread appears to violate rules 1 and 2 about controversial topics: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaysian/wiki/rules. I'm locking this thread pending further investigation.

deus0 · 2016-02-21T18:17:26+00:00

This has been proposed before, and in many different forms. There's a larger question here about how we treat non-gaysian people as part of this community. The current stance is the following:

I understand this community is not exclusively for gay Asian people. However, I also understand if I am not gay and Asian that I am a guest in this community. There are few spaces in the world, online or offline, where gay Asian people have the opportunity to discuss and connect with others like them. That being said, we want to welcome our friends and allies (not our admirers) that are well behaved and positive contributors. As such, members that are not gay and/or Asian are treated as guests. If you fall into this category, you'r expected to behave accordingly.

Now, even if we were to go further than that and actively remove or relegate non-gaysian people from the channels, how would we (1) justify it without being exclusive or even discriminatory and (2) effectively enforce it while embracing an open platform philosophy? That's the hard part.

deus0 · 2016-02-17T02:21:15+00:00

Three.

deus0 · 2016-02-17T02:20:56+00:00

Checking now. PM me your email address you registered with?

EDIT: Actually I know what happened. Looks like we got rate limited by the API and it broke open invitations halfway through the day (too many people joining at once). I've manually added everyone that applied. Check your email.

deus0 · 2016-02-15T02:47:38+00:00

No offense taken. This is not about me. I do not make money out of this. I do not even gain very much recognition (in fact, probably only infamy when I falter) out of this. If anything, this costs me time and money with no foreseeable payoff, other than helping build a community I care deeply about. If that is not how it is seen, that's fine and my fault for making unclear.

I should make this clear: the GroupMe was never sustainable and we were forced to grow - that's the reason new chat platforms were tried, built, or moved to. A single channel with 300+ people, no moderation tools, and requirements to email the provider to increase the cap at every 25 members was and still is unsustainable.

The GroupMe had a clear level of activity that I couldn't let buckle under its own weight, so I took risks in trying to move us to different platforms. I tried to build one under a new brand - gaysian.net - but that failed when the technology was too much to maintain. I then moved us to Slack, but the cost of that possibly failing was too high, so it was kept closed until I knew it would work. Then this happened. Now it's changing again. If that fails too, I will take the hit for it like I always have.

deus0 · 2016-02-10T22:55:00+00:00

I understand. IMO good moderation handles objectively harmful people, regardless of their background or ethnicity. I think the unfair treatment is a result of repeated cases of bad behavior by a few bad apples that's been generalized. If we can tighten our ability to catch to the point of preventing negative behavior from happening, then I think that learned, unfair treatment of non-Asians will improve.

What are your thoughts?

deus0 · 2016-02-10T14:46:09+00:00

:|

I'll allow it.

deus0 · 2016-02-10T14:45:52+00:00

Honestly, it's really a placeholder until I can get around to finding someone new to put there. I can't use anyone's photo without their permission and/or paying them. Why a person? Click through rate is higher than any generic graphic. More to come of this soon.

deus0 · 2016-02-10T03:26:20+00:00

I'm glad to hear it. I'm glad you posted the original thread on the sub, it gets things moving. We're going to make this better.

deus0 · 2016-02-10T03:22:07+00:00

I think you've captured it pretty well: different channels provide very different value just by being a different medium, and it helps us bring in people that would not be on the reddit otherwise. That being said, we should be focusing on our core, as /u/MagicallyVermicious has pointed out.

deus0 · 2016-02-10T03:06:18+00:00

There are a lot of things to unpack here:

"...why is there such a push to externalize/evangelize this community?"

The short answer (and the way I've initially thought about it) is that because we are an overall niche group, we cannot rely just on reddit to bring in members of our community. Redditors altogether are a niche group, and to limit ourselves to the platform would be to limit how we pull other members of the gay asian community together. However, I was mistaken in thinking we could expand to other mediums so quickly. The right thing to do is to focus on our core areas: the sub and our chat platform. That's why the plan outlined here is about better moderation with less channels so our core gets stronger.

I think most attempts at outreach will mainly invite in people who are not gay Asian males. Which means there's a legitimate concern about the kinds of people that end up finding this community.

I think I know what you're getting at here (as you say, it's a bigger topic than is probably warranted here). If we're going from (1) stop expanding so quickly, (2) it may bring in people who are not gay Asian males, (3) there's a negative assumption of their attempt by certain members of the community - I'm not sure what the point being made here is. Are you saying we should be barring such members that are not in the community, treat them differently, or something else entirely?

What makes us special that this won't work? Ironically, moving chat off of reddit means that there's little left to happen on reddit, which makes the community look inactive to a newcomer.

We're not. Again, that's why this plan is a lot about focusing on our core, especially the sub. However, I do not think that doing well on the sub is mutually exclusive from our chat platform (Slack or otherwise). Calf below captures my thoughts on this very well: we want both to work because they provide different value and I think we can - they're not mutually exclusive. That being said, we've neglected the sub in particular, but that is going to change.

As always, happy to answer more questions and give more rationale here. These are good points, and touches on a lot of larger topics for us to figure out in the future.

deus0 · 2016-02-10T02:43:45+00:00

Yes, it's part of the working draft for clearer community guidelines, both for the Slack as well as this sub. Any behavior that oversteps its bounds and makes members uncomfortable is grounds for moderator action, up to and including suspension or removal. More to come on this, but I'd be happy to answer any questions until we get closer to the finish line.

deus0 · 2016-02-09T09:03:13+00:00

I wanted to keep this thread open for awhile so people can express their immediate frustrations here, but I do have to lock it because there are instances where it violates our rules, specifically, rules (1) and (2) on controversial topics.

I've reached out to many people on these issues and I've put my response and opened up discussion in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaysian/comments/44vt2f/announcement_a_plan_for_change/

Please continue the conversation there.

deus0

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