Welcome to Gaia! ::

In another thread (random musings) the idea was brought up by two guild members to start a Facebook group. I felt this was a pretty important topic and warranted a lot of talking on my part (sorry!) and a lot of discussion on the part of the Guild.

It's an excellent Idea and I'd be happy to set it up.

But first we have a few quick concerns to address about setting up a facebook group:

1. Members of this guild who don't have Facebook and either members who don't use Gaia anymore and want to communicate solely through facebook, and members of Facebook who want to join but aren't part of the Gaia guild:

In a previous Guild I had suggested a site B for the event Gaia was offline or people couldn't log in to Gaia (some members of that guild had restricted internet access that was blocking the site). In that case the project more-or-less-died. However that being said I'm a huge advocate of having a guild outlet outside of Gaia so that if something does go wrong with the site- or too many of our members just get fed up with Gaia- people can still stay in touch. I like to think we've entered the stage of the Guild that many people are beginning to form friendships and feel a bit like a family.

However the downside of any outlet out of Gaia is that we will be splitting members in a sense. Those who don't post in the Facebook group might feel left out, and if people post in the facebook group but not the Gaia guild may wonder what's going on here. We also have to decide whether or not to accept Facebook requests that are not related to the Gaia Guild- newcomers who got interested through that channel. Facebook is ten times more public than Gaia and may pick up some unexpected join requests...

2. Facebook is ten times more public than Gaia. I also know that when I surveyed the guild months ago there were differences of opinion about how much people wanted to disclose to the guild. For some the idea of putting real faces and names to the screen names we talk to is a wonderful idea. Other members prefer anonymity- something I'm rather sure wouldn't be maintained on a site such as Facebook. We will have to mediate how comfortable people are having their real names, pictures, location, job, education, etc known by other Guild members. I don't believe there is any threat to people's security in this Guild- but as a moderator I have to consider safety of taking our guild to this new venue.

If we start a Facebook chapter then I will have to make some sort of guide particular to this situation and points to consider- I realize this is technically Facebook's realm of responsibility but as leader of the Guild I have to ensure that I've done my part to protect the privacy and safety of all members. This would be linking your personal life to the Gaia guild- meaning your friends, employers, and family may gain access to your life in this guild. One of the luxuries we currently have is that we're an obscure little group on a website most personalities don't check- so members have a sort of freedom to really say what's on their minds here. Considering this concern- we may have to discuss changing our Guild settings to Hidden on Gaia so that non-members won't be able to see your association via facebook and start poking around the guild for things posted here that may not be said there. Granted our Screen name may be enough to maintain this anonymity- but most of us still have discussed jobs, family, and exes here because those parties were not privy to our posts. In fact our greatest danger may not be having our full identities displayed to guild members, but having our guild identities displayed to non guild members.

I consider this a pretty sacred place in the sense that things said in the Guild don't leave the guild. I like to think that we provide that sanctuary where you can say what's on your mind without fear of losing your job, having a family member disown you, or having your exes flip out on you for venting about them.

3. But a Facebook would be awesome because... ok enough rambling on about the million dangers of opening up a new venue, it's time to balance the discussion out with some positives.

-Facebook means if you get hacked you can still talk to us. Gaia hackers aren't usually so clever as to get into Non-Gaia accounts, thankfully.

-Facebook has much cooler titles for Moderators- I've salivated over this tool for a long time my friends. Captain, Vice Captain, and Moderator are lame names that don't denote any individual assignment- Facebook allows you to name ranking moderators spiffy things.

-Uploading photos would be easier, and people wouldn't have to upload to flickr or photobucket first.

-If people leave Gaia they can still be a part of the Guild. Unfortunately some people just can't take the 12 year olds and leave. It'd be nice to retain those people.

-Still no chat room, this one makes me sad, I wish we had a chat room.

Now:

Your thoughts, you've listened to me drone on, what do you think?

Wonderful idea on both the account of making a facebook group AND on how to not trace it back to the guild. 3nodding

I'll post more later, but all in all let's just say I'm all for this; sorry a bit sleepy and cold (been out and about most of the morning and it's snowing again mrgreen Now I may heart snow, but I'm a bit too chilly and tired now to enjoy it)!

Do we have any other thoughts on the subject? If you're not comfortable discussing it in front of the guild feel free to private message me- your identity will not be included if your viewpoint is expressed.

I'm game for it. I haven't set of a facebook account yet, but I'm always up for something new.

Fine with me; the more planning and time it takes generally means the better it will be in the end. biggrin

Before I consider making:

Discuss:

-Should people be able to join the Facebook group that are not part of the Gaia segment of the Guild?

-What should our name be roughly?

-How Many Licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop?

-Should the Facebook group be public, private, hidden, etc?

-Should the Guild become Hidden?

Of course people should be able to join the Facebook group that are not a part of the Gaia segment of the Guild.

Artistic Geeky Adults is the only name I can come up with. whee And that sounds very cheesy. cheese_whine

I believe the Tootsie Roll FAQ said it best: "It depends on a variety of factors such as the size of your mouth, the amount of saliva, etc. Basically, the world may never know." blaugh

I believe the Face book group should be private, but then I don't know how that will work if we would like others to join that aren't associated with Gaia. (I'm still a bit of a newbie on Facebook.)

The Guild I think can stay as it is, but only because I don't really think it is that big of a problem. Although, I am known to be wrong on occasion. sweatdrop

I like this.