Leading a group at AW can at times seem thankless, things are so quiet these days. Yet, I constantly hear peeps talk about how inactive the boards are, and yet I see very few active groups. And I have pondered the problem many times. There are a few things that contribute to what I call the tumbleweed effect. First there are peeps who join groups just to look busy, who join and then don't participate, it's not just patron's but people with several persona's, I don't know who is the worst offender, multiple persona's or patron's who can join more groups, and let me say, I am guilty of being more involved in some of my groups than others, but, I always check my group boards and when they become lax, I tend not to be as involved as I had intended when I joined. So I too am guilty.
Then there is Real Life, it has a way of commandeering your online life, we have at AW, parent's, students, soldier's, teacher's etc that impair our online time and online life. Real life should always come first and the way things are today, RL is more intrusive than ever.

I also blame season's, I've noticed when it is winter in most parts, AW is busier than when it is warm, but, the thing I blame the most for dead boards, is people wanting to be a part of something and then just becoming complacent and bored.

When I go to KMT and see all of the member's and the lack of posts, it makes me sad, the one board that get's action is a fun and frivolous board, and I'm all for fun, not taking that from anybody, maybe this world has gotten way too serious for all of us to be serious here. But, I for one love history and like to hope that there are people out there in AW who would like to still post historical stuff. Roleplay can be just as relieving as arbitrary goofeyness. It is another means of escape and allows you to be someone else in another time and place. I'm all for that!

Having said all that, for months I have beat my daggone head against the wall trying to get KMT'er's to post, I've done a banner competition which only one member joined, asked for birthday's so we could celebrate with one another, etc, blah, blah, blah but I couldn't get people to post. Then a person suggested a new board idea and I posted about it, and granted it only got a few replies, it was more than I have ever gotten from any other post. It's hard being a leader, much more than I thought it would be, we can only lead if there are people who are with us...I have felt alone a lot lately, so, hearing from some of my member's made me feel a bit better. I often thought of resigning, but, I did have people in the background whispering, hang in there, and so I have and I'm glad to have had the encouragement, I love KMT and I don't plan on going anywhere, I'm going to stick it out and continue to do my best. To me the group is deffinetly worth it and the people I have met there are fabulous. I'll just keep on keeping on and hope for the best :-)

Yikes, just lastnight, I was going on and on about learning, just after I posted a webring at Arachne, I thought I was full of wisdom and learned today, I'm just as clueless as ever. And I don't fault the Arachne member's, it's all on me. They had "suggessted" a ring which I didn't like, so I went with bravenet, which I'm somewhat familiar with, I worked on it for a couple days(here and there) posted it, and they kindly hated it because it didn't come from an arachne webring. Well, I didn't know the ring site I hated was Arachne generated. Yikes, and ouch!! I'm coming to the conclusion that I need to quit volunteering for things, because, I'm not near as smart as I think I am, or as capable! But, my heart is in the right place and the Arachnids were very kind in their displeasure. But, I'm left to wonder, what the hell was I thinking? Once again I volunteered because I have the time and once again failed miserably, if I weren't a learner and fighter, I would give up. If you are ever thinking of volunteering, think twice and do your home work. I for one am bemused and leery of ever doing so again!

The first group I joined was KMT, I love that group, so much learning to do, fun to have, imagination to share. So when Lotus put out the call for an interim leader, and no one jumped, I thought, I'll do it. I just wanted to see the group continue and perhaps thrive again. And I will never regret doing that, however, I learned a lot about people, AW and how managing a group works, not to mention you quickly learn who your friends are, who wants to help, and the other's who just don't like you because you are not their natural leader.

I knew stepping into the shoe's of AER was casting a mighty shadow over myself, but, it was only to be temporary, and everyone knew it, so, I thought, it would be okay. WRONG!! But RIGHT!! I had people quit for leadership reasons when I had just become leader, but, then I had people who were so supportive, encouraging and helpful that it made it worthwhile. Talk about a double edged sword. Then I went to learning about the boards, I failed miserably, I asserted my authority where I didn't realize I was doing it, made many posts no one responded too, and believe me, there was one member that called me out on stepping on their toes, that I learned to educate myself more on boards, board leader's etc. I went from clueless to having a clue. When I first posted the group members, it really hurt my feelings because they didn't give me a chance, when the member called me out on things, my panties were in a pinch, I was pissed, but, then when I calmed down, I realized they were teaching me something. So here is some advice, especially for someone taking over leadership of a group, learn your boards and threads, who your group leader's are and what their function is, don't just go in gung ho and make changes. Ask questions, inquire and if the only feed back you get seems to be negative at the time, sit on it, and reflect it might teach you something. And be thankful for those who do support you, and let them know you appreciate them! And if you ever get lucky enough, for the old leader to return and have them embrace you, be very grateful! Thank you Azure Eyes!