The end of Days A little Appreciation goes a long way

Middle-Earth Messenger: The End of Days

Truth or fallacy? That is something that has been resting on the minds of some these passing months. It was a month to this very day (the day of my writing this editorial) that I created a thread in Out of Middle Earth regarding the impending foreclosure of the Plaza Newspaper: The Middle Earth Messenger. The thread turned out to be fairly successful with a few people coming forth with their ideas. The one thing that ran strong in all the posts was that no one wanted to see the paper closed.

Various editors of Kingdom Papers came and raised their thoughts and for that I have to thank them. For I too edit a Kingdom Paper, so actually hearing the views of other editors was refreshing. But that is not the point that I am trying to make.

Here we are only a few days from an already extended deadline. For a paper dedicated to the whole LoTR Plaza it is surprising to see that there are only 10 writers who have actually put the effort in and submitted articles; but let us not forget that three of these writers in fact are Editors of said paper as well. So that brings us down to a round total of seven writers. Seven! I feel I must point out that we had decided to scrap the December issue until this thread was put up and people said "No, don’t scrap the paper! I’ll write something." Let me make mention that - with the exception of one person - none of those promised articles have been delivered. We also can’t produce a decent paper if members sign up but don’t let us know that they will not be completing their submission. Invisible ink just does not cut it.

There is so much that we could cover as a paper, the Fellowship Festival, the upcoming festival in Toronto, out of character looks at how Tolkien’s Books or Peter Jackson’s Movies have influenced individual members, Plaza Members take on things, lore reviews… you name it we could find a place for it. But ideas are pretty worthless when there is no one willing to step up and say ‘yes, I can write that one.’ Is writing one piece, creating one piece of artwork, interviewing one member, too much to ask of the many people who said we should not retire the Plaza Newsletter because there still are people who love it?

Currently we are publishing quarterly editions, but I can’t help thinking is it actually worth it anymore? The work that goes on behind the scenes to get the paper out in a readable form is more than many would realize and as with everyone else, we – the editors - do have lives to live as well. If I could write all the articles that I would love to see published, I would, but I can’t. I have not the time for it all on my own.

So this is where we need YOUR help. If this paper is to continue to be a feature that we, as Plaza members, can be proud of we’re going to have to work together. I do not want to always be the bringer of the bad news for the paper, but since I started the thread stating that we look so close to closure I plan to see it through until the end.

Together we’ll succeed, divided we will fall.

Signing off for this month,
Firefly

The end of Days A little Appreciation goes a long way

A Little Appreciation Goes a Long Way

ap·pre·ci·a·tion    ( P )  Pronunciation Key  (-prsh-shn)
n.

Recognition of the quality, value, significance, or magnitude of people and things.
A judgment or opinion, especially a favorable one.
An expression of gratitude.
I include with my editorial the dictionary.com definition of the word appreciation. Why? Because it seems to me that oftentimes on the Plaza the meaning of this word is forgotten. And being the civic-minded person that I am, it only seemed right to remind everyone. *grins* Do I forget sometimes myself? I’m sorry to say that yes I do, but I truly also can say that I try my hardest not to.

Where have I noticed lack of appreciation on the Plaza you ask? Well, the first thing that comes to mind is all the complaining over the Halloween icons. Perhaps they are not canon Tolkien. Perhaps they are from a movie/TV show/book that you’ve not heard of. Perhaps your particular icon was even downright ugly, I mean we can’t all be the beautiful-in-black Vader. But was it really worthy of complaining about? Did those who complained forget that there was a hardworking RL person who had to make all those icons? A hard-working RL person who had to plug all those icons into the proper slots then take them all back out to put the regular icons back in place? And twice this year I might add, so that even the R/As got a fun surprise? And that is the reason for the Halloween icons - FUN. Can it be too much to hope that next year those who don’t like their icons will just appreciate the effort put into them and keep the complaints to themselves? No one is asking you to like every icon, heck if I was a fluffy bunny or something hideously ugly like that, I wouldn’t like it either. But I would still appreciate all of the effort by my kingdom’s rulers and Peeg to bring these icons to the Plaza, and instead of complaining I would most likely just make it the most evil fluffy bunny in all of Arda and enjoy it anyway, even if I did have to endure immense teasing.

And speaking of rulers, and I might as well throw in the Admins, have you hugged your R/A today? Seriously, I’m not talking about brown-nosing and sucking up (oooh that gives me an idea for my next editorial) but true appreciation of what they do and the time they spend here. Does that mean we are all expected to agree with everything they say or do? Of course not. But it does mean that while we all have the right to post a grievance, we also have every right to post a thank you. And even if we cannot find it in our hearts to post a thank you, at least when we do disagree about something we can appreciate that our R/As are people too and at least do it courteously. That isn’t so hard is it?

And my last little group of under-appreciated plazaites are those who toil tirelessly to moderate games and RPGs. I won’t even speak to questioning judgments and rulings, as I’m sure we all realize those should be done courteously, but I would like to speak to just basic appreciation for someone willing to run an event, whether it runs as smooth as silk or as scratchy as wool. If we all can just remember that some RL human being is behind the scenes giving up their time so we can play, or in other words appreciate their effort, then maybe the Plaza can be a happier place. Nothing wrong with happy is there?

I will make this public pledge to try harder to appreciate all my fellow Plaza members - anyone with me?

Respectfully and appreciatively signed,
Rhoannon