the details aren’t super important and i’m not going to go into particular depth here but, in summary: i am on break. the burnout is quite bad. the “avalanche analogy” is pretty apt for what i’m dealing with here.
if you’ve never heard the “avalanche analogy” before, it is this: no individual snowflake is the problem, but the accumulation in an avalanche is still catastrophic.
individually, nothing i have dealt with so far―technical stuff, users, situations, arguments on here, etc.―have been issues that make me want to not use the site. the accumulation though is currently unbearable, even on this fairly small size. effectively all the time i―or any other admin, for that matter―am on here, i am being constantly paged with things to handle; people to sort out and placate; content to remove; bug issues to delegate; and all while having hundreds of people make contradictory suggestions to me i have to make sense of, balance, and generally hear nonstop while being expected to act like a service worker. it’s pretty draining!
accordingly, i have not logged in for about a week (or really done anything with the site, for that matter) and even thinking about it is exhausting. so things aren’t great. it’s pretty clear i need to extensively step back―which i’ve already been doing because i’d like to actually, eventually use the site i help co-run here again. i don’t feel good about just dipping without saying anything longer than i already have though, hence this post.
i’d ideally like to be back sometime next week, but i obviously can’t promise that. it’ll happen when it happens. please do not page me in the mean time with site stuff―it will be ignored.
thanks
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Take time for yourself! You guys deserve it. You’ve had a lot on your plate that you didn’t expect.
We need to pay our mods! I saw you all make a significant amount per month as an instance from donations, let’s make it go up! maybe you should put a $1/month minimum on the instance for users? This is what will make lemmy better than reddit for sure.
I don’t like that, it has a huge impact on who can and can’t be here. Obviously most working adults can afford a few bucks here and there, but if you are trying to be inclusive removing any kind of monetary barrier is really important. Those on fixed income, minors, and from countries with extremely low wages would have to think twice about chipping in or may not have the means to actually do so even if they had the cash in hand.
I think it’s very important that Beehaw remains free to use. Though I wouldn’t mind if they nagged users a little for donations when needed.
Edit: to be clearer I’m for paying the people who run Beehaw if/when feasible but a mandatory fee is anathema to the purpose of this instance.
It just seems like the work for the mods is perportional to the user count. I can see maybe making exceptions to the membership fee for certain classes, just mention it in your application. Just a thought
I agree with you that a mandatory money barrier would split this community in an unnecessary way. Maybe setting up a patreon account for Beehaw would be a solution? Only those who can and want to afford a monthly payment would participate, but it would create a bit of financial planning stability, contrary to individual one-time donations.
Beehaw already has an Open Collective set up, it works in a similar way to Patreon. you can find it in the sidebar of the home page.
Oh, I wasn’t aware of that. Thanks for the heads up, please ignore my previous comment then. :D
Hey take however much time you need, relax properly and remember that your hard work has not gone unnoticed. You are probably one of the best admins i have seen on social media, ever. You are amazing and deserve some rest!
Thanks for the transparency. You’re a great admin!
You’ve done awesome with this instance. It’s great to hear you’re taking a break and paying attention to burnout - it’s not all on you, so take the time you need to center yourself and get your mojo back. We’ll be waiting, but not in the creepy or stressful way hopefully ^^
Well from the first day I joined it’s been evident how much work you do.
Do whatever you need to do, you’re much appreciated here. :)
It sounds like you need more moderators. Think about it.
It’s great that you’ve recognised the burnout and are taking steps to look after yourself. You’ve done a great job on here, as can be seen by the community that’s sprung up here.
Take all the time you need
Hugs. Try to be gentle with yourself. <3
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Really sorry to read this. Thank you and kudos for being able to communicate like you did.
I hope you manage to take your time and take care of yourself. From my burnout experience, I can say it’s likely we usually underestimate (by a lot) the amount of time and distance we need before coming back.
Please don’t feel you have to come back next week because you said so, and don’t feel like you owe us anything in terms of communication / visibility - it matters so much less important than giving yourself the healing space and time you need.
I also hope the admin team finds ways to protect themselves.
Will you make me an admin? I have several qualifications such as open PMs and being the first person to reply here.
Respectfully, I just don’t think this is the right post for this kind of humor.
you have a history of good comments on here and that’s saving you from what would otherwise probably be a permaban. please learn what comedic timing is, man, this is neither funny nor the time nor the place.
No.
Please take care of yourself. We seriously appreciate you and everything you’ve done, same goes for all other staff. This past week has immensely stressful across the lemmyverse and no one blames you at all for needing to tap out from all this. A lot of people are expecting lemmy and lemmy instances to be like reddit 2.0, but that’s just not humanly possible. It also feels like lemmy as a software has had it personally out for beehaw… kind of like a murphy’s law situation.
