Introducing the Patreon moderators!

Hey everyone,

Firstly, thank you for everyone's response on last weeks post about comments and discussions, it was really encouraging to see the response and general sentiment about that. Link here for anyone who missed it - https://www.patreon.com/posts/158323944

I think the majority of our members understand what I was saying here.

I want to say something about this community - and then ask one thing of it.

You write fanfic. You make fan art. You get tattoos. You coin and highlight phrases that end up living permanently in the BKS universe. You submit story ideas that become actual audios. You show up to listening parties and stay for hours talking to strangers who somehow immediately feel like people you've known forever. You are collectively one of the most creative, intelligent and funny groups of people I've ever had the privilege of making content for.

That's a stunning community and that's a culture. And it is a culture worth protecting.

So I want to introduce two people who've been part of this one long enough to understand what it is and help do so.

KS and Murjani are joining as Patreon moderators. Adding some continuation from their roles as Discord moderators too which they have done for a long time. They will have 'BKS moderator' in their usernames.

If you've spent any time in the comments or on Discord you almost certainly already know them - not as looming authority figures, but as passionate members first and foremost. They're here because I believe that they completely get what this place is supposed to feel like and have a track record of doing that on Discord too.

They are not here to police opinions. Loved an audio? Say so. Hated it? Say that too. Couldn't hear him, didn't buy the build-up, not your trope, VA wasn't for you - all of that is fair game and always will be. Honest reactions, including negative ones, are how we make better things and learn quicker. I don't expect you to completely pre-process your feelings on the spot before speaking, that's not fair.

The one thing that isn't okay - and this goes in every direction - is going after people rather than the content. There's a difference between "this didn't work for me" and making someone feel stupid for thinking it did. One's a take, the other's an attack.

That also means: when you see a comment you disagree with, you don't have to reply in a way that shuts the door. And if you do reply, "just move on if you don't like it" and comments in a similar vein shuts a raw feeling or conversation down just as effectively as an insult. Everyone here is a paying member and everyone gets to say how they felt.

If something crosses a line, KS or Murjani will make a comment and intervene rather than you handling it yourself - that's exactly what they're here for.

We've discovered, rather frustratingly, that Patreon's moderation tools are currently a bit limited outside of 'Chats' and 'Live Streams'. We will have 2 main ways of doing things for now until we have other tools:

1) Murjani and KS will be enjoying the audios and in the comments on drop days and will keep an eye on how things go. If they see things getting too far out of hand, they will leave a comment(s) asking people to re-direct the conversation in a more positive overall direction.

KS and Murjani will be using the trust I've placed in them. Please extend to them the same respect you'd extend to anyone else in this community - that includes in DMs.

2) People who continuously cause problems, don't learn from past behaviour and ignore what KS and Murjani ask of them repeatedly will eventually be blocked from the BKS page by me.

I started BKS because I believed there was a specific kind of person who deserved a specific kind of content and a specific kind of place to talk about it. You're that person.

X

Rob