Dear Fellow Wheelmen,
We made changes, and you have feedback. This is something that we expected. Please understand that we are new to this and are learning as we go. As we transition into our roles, and as the community transitions into having us in these roles, there are going to be growing pains. We have a vision for growing this community, and please understand that this community has significantly grown from its roots since it first started. While this is great in so many ways, it does present a significant challenge: allowing the community to have their own discussion areas within Discord while still keeping the community together.
This community was built using our forums. The website serves as a foundation for this community and as a repository of ideas that can be shared with the community. Many of us have abandoned the website and with reason. That shit got hacked. However, the website is back up and we have been working very hard to bring forth a (working) and renewed experience. With the website live and running again, it’s important that we make a distinction between the purpose of our website and of Discord. The website is the perfect place to post information about specific subjects that you don’t want to be drowned out. It encourages discussion about a specific topic, as people can click it if it interests them and respond at their own timely convenience without it becoming buried. The purpose of Discord is for active discussions. Topics intended for wider commentary should not be posted in Discord. Anything shared should either spark or be part of an active discussion.
The changes made to the channels in Discord were not for the sake of change. We approached the Discord from the perspective of a newcomer into the community. Upon logging in, there is an overwhelming number of channels within the server, some of which were very niche or specific. Others were filled with bots posting updates, and some hadn’t been actively used for a long time. After discussing ways that we could address this, we came up with the idea of consolidating channels into broader categories. We believed that this would not only tidy up the channel list but would also help to achieve one of our main goals: to bring activity back to the website and forums and to find a way to keep larger parts of the community interacting through active discussions on Discord. We felt this change would allow people who may have interests in a genre or category to pick up a new game or activity to try out with fellow wheelmen. We’ve heard some feedback and recognize that some channels served more specific purposes for active discussion and consolidation created unneeded confusion.
We realize that the changes are sudden. And while we have publically shared our plan for the community at large, the changes that we have made thus far to achieve that goal haven’t been detailed to explain how they fit that vision. We promise to be better about explaining the changes we make and being more transparent about them moving forward. While we experiment with changes, please be open-minded and provide us with constructive feedback to help us.
We are all Wheelmen, we are a community, and most importantly we are friends. No decisions are intended to cause rifts in any of these three domains, and that is the last thing we would ever want. As we move forward and get better with communicating our ideas it is equally important, if not more so, for you to communicate your ideas with us. We have spent hours collaborating and working hard to brainstorm ideas that will help make this community flourish, and we would appreciate that all feedback be directed solely at us in a respectable manner. Any comments, concerns, or general feedback can be placed in appropriate forum threads, or through direct communication with Jon, MC, or Monster.
Kindest Regards,
~The Staff:
HWM Jon
HWM MC
HWM Monster