Over the past several months I've heard too much about this topic, mostly people complaining to each other, some random discussions over IM, and a few PMs sent to me. It seems to me that there seems to be a deluded sense that HNZ is either "one big clique" or just divided in to a whole bunch of cliques, with no real community.
Define: Clique
- an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn- A clique (, in American English also ) is an exclusive group of people who share interests, views, purposes, patterns of behavior, or ethnicity. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clique
Those are the definitions I will work with for the sake of this blog rant, since I feel a well defined definition is better to work with than some vague one different people conjure up in their minds.
Is HNZ a clique?
No is the simple answer. We are a group of people who share interests (Harry Potter, Roleplaying), patterns of behaviour (signing on to the board), but we are not exclusive. Registration is open to everybody and we're quite welcoming to anybody who looks for help or introduces themselves (I, for instance, encourage new members to PM me and subscribe to the Welcome Forum so that I can say hello to everybody who takes the time to say hi to us). I know that plenty of people who have joined HNZ have felt overwhelmingly welcomed, and this helped dispel some of the overwhelmingness HNZ can hold for people knew to RPing.
So while the site as a whole has some characteristics of a 'clique', because it is not exclusive to only a set group of people, it is not one.
Are there cliques on HNZ?
This one is slightly more difficult to answer. I suppose to some it may appear that there are. There are certainly groups on the board who interact with each other more than others, who have developed a strong relationship off of the board as well and that's great! It's also human nature. Unfortunately, or perhaps even fortunately, we don't like everybody equally. We can't relate to every single person on this planet in the same way, and that's definitely a blessing. So the simple fact that I am close friends with person X, Y, and Zed doesn't mean I refuse to speak to, or help, anybody else - and I trust that is true of most people on HNZ.
I wish I could stop this blog post there, but I can't. I wish things were that simple, but they're not. Not only are some willing to go so far as to say their are cliques and exclusive groups on HNZ - but that unless you are in a certain clique, a certain 'in-crowd' you won't get anything on the board. Your applications will be denied, your characters will never be given major roles, you'll never be asked to help out, you'll be entirely ignored by others, etc.
When I first heard that... it hurt... a lot. I spend a decent amount of time on HNZ. I try pretty hard to interact with as many people as I can, get to know people, and with all that I obviously try to be as fair as possible with things like applications. I'm sure when people say things like that, they don't think of who might read them, and who it reflects upon or hurts directly, but I rather think they should start. I was in shock completely and wondered how many people thought that of me, of Livvy and I, and if I should even bother continuing to try with things on HNZ.
It's kind of ironic, too - because the people who I've seen say things like that are the same ones that rave about HNZ being their home, and how much they enjoy the site, and how they like everybody in it - but then they got a few applications denied and obviously it was because Livvy and myself don't like them (not because they didn't put much thought in to the application or its effects on other areas of the board). Or their character didn't become prefect/headboy/headgirl and it's obviously because the head-of-house/admin are just choosing their friends (it's quite clearly not even conceivable that things like that are largely in-character, where lesson attendance and character behaviour actually matters).
Livvy and I take great care to deal with applications on their own, but we don't just consider the application, we also consider:
- Past Requests
- Warning history of the user (if you've caused trouble on HNZ recently, it makes sense for you not to get superb privileges
- Quantity of requests coming in (if 50 pureblood requests come in one week, it's likely that most of them will be denied, even if they're all excellent).
In fact, when Livvy makes a request for a plot I treat it, or try to treat it, just like I would anybody else's request (the difference being that she can see my post, my exact response, and reply to it). I also know that were I to make any sort of request, Livvy would handle mine the same way. It frustrates me to know end, knowing personally the efforts I go to in order to ensure I'm not seen as ignoring any one person or their 'group', I talk to as many people as possible, will just quote any random person's post in a 'spam' topic and work with it, try to be almost super-human in how I look at and handle applications - then I feel like people just look at it all and slap me in the face by saying that the site staff/admin are just as biased/clique-based as could be.
I'd like to give a concluding example of how wrong this assumption on the part of some users is. Six months ago, I barely talked to Kaitlyn. I mean, I talked to her in GD, I had already given her her nickname of Sir Kaitlyn, but I thought she rather disliked me/was pretty mean to me at times, and barely considered her to be a GM. Other members of the site staff who did know her vouched for her, and brought to light some excellent points (how well she knew the board rules, how often she reported topics, etc. All things which would be useful in a GM). So I trusted the opinions of the others and Kaitlyn was made a GM in January. Before her promotion many of her applications had been approved (though I was rather neutral on her as a person, again, thinking she didn't like me much) and after her promotion some of her applications have been amended/tweaked/denied - just like anybody else. Since her promotion I have gotten to know her quite well, and see her very differently then I did before - I'd even go so far as to say she and I are pretty good friends now. I think that's a fairly good example of how un-cliquey I myself am, and how un-cliquey I see most of HNZ to be.
As I admitted before, it is human nature to group off, find people you're close to, and talk to them the most - but to think that HNZ has an 'in-crowd' where if you're not a part of it you don't get anything from anybody is simply absurd, and, quite frankly, insulting.
I present to you, once more, our community signature:
No sign of cliques there for me. Just a bunch of people who are enjoying HNZ and how great it is, hoping that it will last out another five years. Am I missing something that you see there, somehow?
~Nick
P.S: Additional plug... HNZ's birthday is awesome and ongoing! Be sure to check it outtttt!
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"In fact, when Livvy makes a request for a plot I treat it, or try to treat it, just like I would anybody else's request (the difference being that she can see my post, my exact response, and reply to it). I also know that were I to make any sort of request, Livvy would handle mine the same way."
ReplyDeleteActually Nick usually wants to deny my insane ideas. :r We'll talk about them usually for days and they'll be modified or even downright rejected by both of us. Not that I didn't still want the plot to happen but because while it would have been great for me and a few involved character wise, it would have really messed things up boardwise. This is something we both take very seriously. What's good for one might not necessarily be good for all. Vice versa. ;)
We both put a lot of thought into weighing the merits of each app turned in. We have researched HP canon, searched through past threads, etc. just to see if something would work that was requested to be approved.
It's not, oh wow, I hate so and so, big fat DENY button! It's the thought put in, not just of your character, but in it's long term effects on all involved.
Put time into your apps, don't rush through, brainstorm with the others involved and think think think! ;)
I, for one, am very sorry that this offhand comment hurt Nick. It's not right, not with everything he has done for everyone on HNZ.
I've been gone for months and have not fully returned to full Admin/RP, etc. capacity whatsoever. My life simply is a hectic, chaotic mess. And Nick and the GM team have gone above and beyond anything anyone ever ever ever asked of them.
So maybe instead of making allegations that hold no merit, perhaps the people who hold this 'clique' view should instead give some thought as to why their app wasn't approved.
I've been back to the drawing board many many many times and I'm one of two HNZ admin. ;) So what does that tell you?
Oh and *huggles* for Nick, because in case anyone hadn't noticed, if not for him, HNZ would never have become what it is today.
There's always gonna look like there are cliques to some people, and I hate to admit it, but I notice that sort of thing a lot. But I've never given the same thought to HNZ. I actually did a research assignment at school on cliques. And I understand why people might consider it something big, or even simply notice it. There are people that act irrationally, and they probably don't even think about things properly before they speak.
ReplyDeleteNick, don't worry about people who mention this sort of thing. It usually passes until next time they get into a grump, and if they thought about it properly they would (hopefully) change their minds :).
And also, the admins and GMs are awesome. 'nuff said ;)