[anchor=I6]Do unto others…
As you have them do unto you…[/anchor]
By Doge Robert
Many people claim to hold this sentence close to heart and to abide by its teaching whenever and wherever they may do so. It is a very old saying, trying to tell us all, how to behave towards other people. And if we would all of us follow it, the world surely would be a much nicer place to live.
Sadly, we cannot change the world in its entirety, although most, if not all of us, would probably very much like to do so. But simply because we cannot change everything, does not mean we cannot change anything.
It all depends on what we decide to focus on. Do we focus on the immensity of the task before us, if we were to change the world, or do we try to find those small places, where we may actually do something? Where we, each and every one of us, might really make a difference.
But where might this be? You may ask and the answer is tantalizingly simple: Wherever we are.
Our choices may not always make a big difference, but they make a difference none the less. It is directly linked to the amount of influence we have in any given area. For instance, I may not be able to influence World Peace, but on the other hand, me deciding not to beat up my neighbor, because he annoyed me severely yesterday, has a rather big impact on him and on me as well. Likewise, if I decided to try out for a position in the city government and actually made it there, I would likely be able to make a difference in a whole range of different areas. The possibilities are endless, but the truly important thing to remember, is that we all make a difference, wherever we are, whatever we do, whether or not we know it.
So what, you may ask, has this to do with this community? Well, the idea that we all make a difference holds equally much truth here. As a matter of fact, it holds a lot of truth here, as we are, ourselves, very much able to decide just how much influence we wish to have. To a certain level of course.
As an individual member of the forums, we may not be able to decide what game Paradox will produce next, but the community as a whole might very well be able to influence that decision, or at least how the final product will look. Again, to a certain degree.
On the other hand, where our true influence as members of these forums is felt, is right here on the forums themselves. Every day, what a person write on the forums, may influence the decision of someone else, as he or she reads that post. How a person writes something is equally or even more important. You may also say that who writes something, is as important as what they write. And here I am not talking about the Paradox employees, but rather those members, among ourselves, whom we have chosen to respect.
To give you an easy example, I will compare myself to Lord Durham. Lord Durham is, as you may all very well know, a moderator on these forums, more specifically the AARs and Fanfiction - General Discussions – Forum, although he may or may not be a moderator on other forums as well.
When Lord Durham writes a post, most people tend to read it and respond to what he writes, whether by replying in text or by following what he tells or asks them to do. And to be honest, that partly has to do with him being a moderator. But do you think he always was that? Or was he, at some point, just a member like everyone else, using these forums in the same way, everyone else were? I don’t know, as I wasn’t a member at that time myself, but I’m pretty certain, the latter of my guesses is correct.
I on the other hand, am a fairly unknown member of these forums? Does that make me less influential than Lord Durham? To a certain degree it does, of course, since not only is he a moderator, but he has been a member of these forums for far longer than I and most people know and respect him. But, if you consider this, then what are the main differences between Lord Durham and me? The answer is time, dedication and opportunity. Lord Durham has been a very dedicated member of these forums, for a long time and because of this, he has had the opportunity to not only become a moderator, but also for people to know him, know about him and to come to grips with the idea that when he speaks, you really ought to listen, cause most of time, what he says makes a lot of sense. But to be honest, do I not have an equal chance of getting to that same point, if I showed the same dedication, supported the community as much as he has and still does? I theory I believe I do, although I cannot know for certain that my name will ever by surrounded with the same amount of respect that surrounds the name of Lord Durham and many, many others. And to be honest, it’s not really important, nor is it my point.
My point is this: That we all have the opportunity to influence these forums, as long as we are willing to be dedicated to the task. It may take time and even a lot of it, but it isn’t impossible, nor is it in vain.
But what then, should we try to influence? What would be a task, worthy of our time and effort? The answer, in my humble opinion is simple: The Community. The forums themselves are the home of this community of which we are all members and whatever we do, we should work towards bettering this community, for the benefit of us all. Not with selfish intentions, although if we work hard enough, it will in the end, benefit ourselves as well, but with selfless intentions, working for the good of the community as a whole, including all members whether we know them or not. That is the true spirit of the old saying, which I chose as a headline for this article. And in my opinion, it is the only way to use our collective influence the right way.
However and this is important to remember. Letting one’s influence be felt does not necessarily mean a lot of effort on one person’s account. Nor does it necessarily have to take a lot of time. There are many small ways to do this and as long as enough people are willing to make a little effort and put a little time into it, the result may be felt throughout the community and make profound changes anyway.
But how, you may ask, can I do my little bit to help? There are many answers to this, but if you wish for a concrete example, I have one for you. It was an idea I got one day, when a fellow writer let me know, that one of his AARs had very few readers and he felt sad about it. You may not find that important, but I did and I tried to think of a way, in which I could help him.
I wanted to advertize his AAR to as many people as possible, without being offensive or interfere in the threads of others, with what I did. In plain language, I didn’t want to spam my message in other AARs, but I still wanted my message out.
The answer, when it came to me, was at the same time both simple and complex.
Signatures are used by many members of these forums, to promote their own work, links they find interesting or some quote or other, they like and wish to share with other members. I use my own signature in much the same fashion. These sigs, as they are usually known, can be seen in any thread, across the forums, which any given person has ever posted in. And at the same time, people find them neither offensive, nor interfering. They tend to glance at them, when reading posts and not pay too much attention to what they say, but still, they see what is written there and if they find it to be of interest, they study it closer. At least I do.
So I thought about this and I came up with the idea to use my signature, to promote the AAR in question.
I wanted the message to be eye-catching, yet not offensive. I could have used flashy colors or enlarged text, but although that would certainly have caught people’s attention, it would have been annoying to read twenty times in the same thread and I made a special point to avoid that. It would not only be detrimental to my purpose, but I would have hated to see such a signature myself and thus, I did not want to make one.
I thought about it a little further and trying out a few ideas, I came up with one, which seems to have done the trick. I have written the idea I came up with next, purely to make it easier to explain.
An Irishman's Story ~ This new narrative Victoria AAR from Hardraade, author of the highly praised Return to Glory: A Germania AAR, is about William 'Billy' Killian, an Irish mob boss in Hell's Kitchen and his many troubles with the muscle-flexing Italians, among others. Although the story is still very new, the skill with which it is written, as well as Hardraade's usual flair for story-telling, makes it an absolute joy to read. So why don't you check out this pearl among AARs and show your support for a great story by an even greater writer. ~
First of all, I decided that simply posting a link to the AAR in my sig wouldn’t be enough, as it would most likely catch the attention of very few people. So instead, I wrote a short “review” of the AAR, what it was about and how I liked it. I started out by mentioning that the AAR was a Narrative one and that it was set in the Victoria game. Explained who had written it and mentioned another work of his, which was known by relatively many people. And then I gave a very short introduction to the story, along with a few descriptive words, to let people know what I thought about it and finally asked them to check it out and support it.
All that, in four lines of text, when seen in my signature. I added a few colors to highlight the promotion, making certain they weren’t too flashy or that there were too many of them. It was done to make people read the promotion, not get them to be annoyed at me for making something, which irritated their eyes, as they read a post by me. It takes a little testing, to make sure it works out, but it is well worth the time.
So, did it work? Well, I cannot say for sure of course, but within a day, roughly five or so new readers had joined the AAR, one of which at least mentioned that he had been directed there, from reading my signature. To me, that is enough and well worth my time and effort. Not only because the AAR had gotten a new reader, but because someone had gotten the chance to read, what I consider an excellent piece of work, which they might have missed, otherwise.
So, what is it I ask of you all?
I ask you simply, to consider how you may help someone else.
I like the idea of signature-promotion a lot, when done in a tasteful way and I believe it is a tool, which could benefit the community as a whole. Of course, one should ask the write first, before promoting his or her work, they might not like it, although I think most will. But I am absolutely certain, that if you just keep the rules of the forums, as well as what you yourselves would and wouldn’t consider inappropriate in someone else’s signature, then you’ll do it right. And if you happen to make some mistake? Well, there are a lot of people out here, who would be willing to help you out. That’s what being a community is all about.
Remember that I do not ask you to promote all the AARs you’ve ever read or all those you are going to read in the future. That cannot be done. At least, not by an individual.
But perhaps, if enough people took up the idea and promoted just one AAR, preferably one which could really use the help, maybe then, all together, we would be promoting all of them. At the very least, I consider it worth a try. And for everyone who takes up the idea, there is one more person out there, whose work is recognized and who might benefit from a little work on your behalf. And maybe, one day, when you write a new AAR, someone will return the favor.
I know that most people use the entirety of the 10 allowed lines of text (including empty lines) in their signature, but are you absolutely certain you cannot free one or two, to help someone else? Or perhaps push your text to one side and use the other side for a small promotion? The possibilities are there and I ask you to seize them. For the benefit of us all.
If you are willing to take up this idea, I ask that you take the time, to write a short introduction to what you are promoting. Not a long one, but just a few sentences and please, be honest when you do so. That way, when people see your promotion, they get an idea about what they will see, if they click the link and they know what to expect. And just as importantly, when they do glance across your signature, they might actually notice the promotion. Few people notice a single link, but if a few lines of text accompany it, they tend to read it through, at least I do. And if it sounds interesting, I’ll venture the guess, that at least some people will click that link and see what it’s all about for themselves.
I understand that not all people and maybe not even a lot of people will like this idea or, even if they do, be willing to take it up themselves. And that is alright. What I really wish for everybody to do, is consider how they might help someone else. How we, each of us, might use what influence we have, to benefit the community. It’s the same idea as when we donate money to charity, except it doesn’t cost anymore than a little bit of our time. If one person gives a dollar, it might not make much difference in the long run. But if a thousand people donate one dollar each, it’s suddenly a whole different story. And in essence, this is what I ask of you. Give a few minutes or even a couple of hours of your time to help someone else on the community, by writing up a small promotion in your signature. Perhaps even sacrificing a small part of what you’ve already written there. Isn’t helping someone else worth that much? I think it is and if enough people agree with me, then those few minutes or couple of hours given by one person will be multiplied by many and in the end, it will make all the difference for the community. And what is the community after all, but all of us, you and me and everybody else, put together? We are the community and thus, by benefiting the community, you end up benefiting yourself. You just happen to benefit a lot of other people at the same time. Whether by directly promoting their work or allowing them a chance to read something worthwhile, which they might otherwise have missed. And as I said, who knows, maybe someday, someone else will benefit you. That is the essence of the old saying: Do unto others as you have them do unto you.
Doge Robert is a contributor
