| 18 people marked this as a favorite. |
I don't usually bump my own threads, but I'm pretty tired and sad today with how things are going, so I thought I'd recenter on the positive a little.
| 8 people marked this as a favorite. |
I could use a little kindness around here today. We picked up a rescued rat companion for our old guy and the two are at the puff-up-and-battle stage! I hope to get through that ASAP and reach the curled up and cuddling together for evermore stage. But there will probably be some unkindness for the next 24-48 hours. :[
Oh Rats!
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm finally continuing the writing project :'D My insanity levels have reached zen level of enlightenment of "brain empty can write". Currently writing chapter involving alien cockroach manager complaining how the heck mysterious ancient aliens bothered building 10 km^2 square shaped city of square shaped buildings
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
What a wonderful post KC - I missed this originally. Thanks for the bump. :)
Director of Community
|
| 13 people marked this as a favorite. |
I had the opportunity last weekend to go to SkalCon. It is the first convention I'd been to since lockdowns. This is a little con with a great heart that raises money for a local charitable organization (Tubman). Its attendees come from all over - I don't want to name names without permission, but I recognized several names from the boards.
While my anxiety was high and I had a panic attack the first day, everyone was very understanding and supportive and the weekend only got better. Thank you to everyone I got a chance to talk to. Ya made the weekend exceptional!
For anyone who hasn't attended, I highly recommend putting it on your con radar.
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
I was present at SkalCon, and both Alex and Tonya were gracious and amazing despite some of the fundraising shenanigans directed towards their tables .
In addition, as a shout-out to SkalCon and 10,000 Lakes Gaming their approach to health and safety put my mind at ease and helped me cope with mental health concerns of my own .
It was the first vacation in a Very Long Time where I came home and had the 'vacation vibe' with me past the first day of being back to work
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Thanks for spreading the kindness around KC. and the smurf reunion was an extra bonus too:)
I haven't had any personal interaction with anyone at Paizo, I'd like to say everyone at Paizo I've seen online posting here or in videos has been very inspiring, the things you create are amazing! and the community you help create make Pathfinder and Starfinder seem like more than just a game we love to play.
ends my turn, by passing the kindness to the next person...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
this reminds me of a better smurf time
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Smurftastic!
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I had the opportunity last weekend to go to SkalCon. It is the first convention I'd been to since lockdowns. This is a little con with a great heart that raises money for a local charitable organization (Tubman). Its attendees come from all over - I don't want to name names without permission, but I recognized several names from the boards.
While my anxiety was high and I had a panic attack the first day, everyone was very understanding and supportive and the weekend only got better. Thank you to everyone I got a chance to talk to. Ya made the weekend exceptional!
For anyone who hasn't attended, I highly recommend putting it on your con radar.
I was present at SkalCon, and both Alex and Tonya were gracious and amazing despite some of the fundraising shenanigans directed towards their tables .In addition, as a shout-out to SkalCon and 10,000 Lakes Gaming their approach to health and safety put my mind at ease and helped me cope with mental health concerns of my own .
It was the first vacation in a Very Long Time where I came home and had the 'vacation vibe' with me past the first day of being back to work
awwww... I think I'm gonna blush.
y'all are the greatest
| 18 people marked this as a favorite. |
Finally got it written!
However, every time I've seen Tonya posting here, it's been in the spirit of keeping the boards safe, friendly, and open for disagreement. Tonya has been really friendly and helpful, and she and the whole moderation team have resolutely done their best to keep controversy threads open even through all the chaos of the last two months. The moderation team has been super responsive and supportive when I've emailed them. Tonya has posted with constant empathy as well as an uncompromising support for trans community members. She and the rest of the moderation team have clearly been doing everything they can to make these forums safe for us, even through incredibly difficult times. I appreciate that immensely.
Tonya, thank you for your fairness, gentleness and grace in engaging with the community, as well as your many years helping with PFS, which I hear is pretty fun for a lot of dice-rolling nerds out there.
Oh, and thank you for helping bump this thread. That was honestly just really sweet of you; I haven't been feeling positive enough to really keep the kindness flowing lately and it warmed my heart to see.
So, the elephant: This is a really hard time, and I'm really trying not to "take a side" when it comes to faulting individuals. By default, I am going to assume that both Tonya and Jessica are fundamentally good people. That's how this thread operates.
Obviously, there are active controversies and criticisms around some of the people I've thanked here, some of which may be valid and some of which may not. But you know what? Nothing I've heard in those controversies and criticisms cancels out anything I've said here. Except, perhaps, Cosmo's many controversies. Look, the Blame Cosmo thread is really long and it's a Monday. Cut me some slack. I stand by what I say here wholeheartedly, or else I don't say it.
I honestly can't imagine what it's like to be trying to help moderate threads that are, among other things, directly talking about you by name and constantly appraising your performance and comparing you to a colleague you likely had tons of respect for. Seriously, that sounds terrifying. I struggle a lot with impostor syndrome and RSD, and I would not be able to handle that. Doing so every week takes a lot of strength and a lot of courage, and I hope Tonya has a strong support network in place to help her out. Nobody deserves to feel alone when dealing with something like this.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
It's very hard to be kind. Thank you for trying.
| 11 people marked this as a favorite. |
I wanted to give a shoutout to HMM, because I just remembered--I still have Iggy, her kidnapped iguana! I'll bring him back at the next PaizoCon, assuming things get sorted out and I'm back to being the dutiful consumer. HMM is an incredibly friendly and valued member of this community, and I'm super glad we got to meet in person that one time! She always posts amazingly constructive, thought-provoking content. She makes these forums shine a little brighter and greener.
| 12 people marked this as a favorite. |
Also, I hate to share negativity of any kind here, but I have some bad news. I have been informed that my beloved cat, GLaDOS, had to have a very dangerous emergency procedure executed last week called a "haircut". She tells me she only narrowly survived.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Also, I hate to share negativity of any kind here, but I have some bad news. I have been informed that my beloved cat, GLaDOS, had to have a very dangerous emergency procedure executed last week called a "haircut". She tells me she only narrowly survived.
KC your cat is making me feel bad with that look, through a screen...TBF, I have gotten that look from one of our own fluffy cats...the similarity is astounding actually...
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Also, I hate to share negativity of any kind here, but I have some bad news. I have been informed that my beloved cat, GLaDOS, had to have a very dangerous emergency procedure executed last week called a "haircut". She tells me she only narrowly survived.
Have you tried a cat wig, might help her adjust until she gets over the shock of it. Glad to hear she survived it does sound like a very dangerous procedure.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
We had a similar feline family member until March 2020. When she came to us through relatives after my aunt passed, Gracie was a painfully matted mess.
Apparently my aunt had been paying for her to be groomed regularly, but the intermediate family stop was not in the best of financial states to be affording that.
After we got her trimmed down, she went from being an antisocial dust-mop to a loving cuddling drooling mess -- and we could generally tell when she needed to get another dangerous procedure because her demeanor would change dramatically.
Don't know what the weather is like by you, but we had a sweater for Gracie in case she got cold after getting the trim during the winter.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Lion cut, not as ferocious as it sounds...
Contributor
|
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
I wanted to give a shoutout to HMM, because I just remembered--I still have Iggy, her kidnapped iguana! I'll bring him back at the next PaizoCon, assuming things get sorted out and I'm back to being the dutiful consumer. HMM is an incredibly friendly and valued member of this community, and I'm super glad we got to meet in person that one time! She always posts amazingly constructive, thought-provoking content. She makes these forums shine a little brighter and greener.
Oh KC, I am so glad that Iggy found a forever home with you! You don't have to return him. Indeed I am delighted at how much you enjoyed Iggy during that PaizoCon where we first met!
Hugs,
Hmm
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
Well, I'll have him with me if/when I'm back at the Con regardless. Can't go without my gaming buddy. :)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I'm so glad that our cats never needed this. They would have probably killed me several times just for thinking about it (and yeah, I'm pretty sure that cats are natural telepaths).
That's why one recruits a vetted reliable professional to do it -- there was no way in any afterlife WE were going to be able to pull of that grooming procedure.
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
Yeah, if I call the procedure "life-threatening", I'm not referring to her life. ;)
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
foot razors...yep
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
...this was a triumph...
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Honestly, I'm such a huge Portal fan, I'm surprised I didn't consider "Chell" when I was picking a new name.
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm so glad that our cats never needed this. They would have probably killed me several times just for thinking about it (and yeah, I'm pretty sure that cats are natural telepaths).
Emotions is the shared language of animals. Those who live near humans learn to read us very well. Thankfully it can go both ways.
Thanks for the thread KC. You're the one.
| 18 people marked this as a favorite. |
I want to give a shoutout to Steve Geddes, who I honestly never really got to talk to a lot during their time here, but have over the last couple months been given a lot of reasons to regret that. Steve has acted throughout everything with integrity, loyalty, kindness, and decency.
I also want to thank Diego Valdez. I honestly don't remember us interacting much--maybe I just never caused quite enough trouble--but he's been an amazing force for good throughout all this. He seems like an incredibly noble, loyal, unbelievably upstanding person. I wish I'd taken the time to get into Starfinder so I'd be able to say more!
I already spoke on Sara Marie, but especially with regards to everything recently, and finding out so much about her work that we didn't necessarily know about, I am in awe of how overwhelmingly glowing everyone's appraisal of her has been, how much work she did out of pure civic obligation, and how everything she's done since her leaving Paizo has only strengthened my faith in her as someone who does whatever she can to help others.
Finally, I want to thank Cori Marie, who I basically met during this controversy and have been routinely blown away by in her poise, dignity, and kindness. She has an amazing patience and dedication to truth and fairness, and as with everyone else mentioned in this post, everything I have learned about her has only made me feel more proud to know her. I genuinely don't think I could have born to stick around through these arguments had she not also been here. She's been a champion lately, and I don't know where the discourse would have landed without her to help guide it in a positive direction.
I'm super drained lately, and all these people deserve more words than that, but I wanted to say something. I appreciate all of you, and however good or bad things are going for any given one of you right now, I hope things get a little bit better soon. I think I'll only stop saying "it's been a long two months" when we hit December and it's been three.
| 11 people marked this as a favorite. |
There are genuinely too many people to thank and not enough words in my head or hours in the day. I'll get to everyone eventually, I'm sure.
Contributor
|
| 12 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'm deeply appreciative of the forumgoers that choose to stay here, to show that this place is not 'beyond saving'. I know people who seem to expend more energy saying the forums are not worth the spoons than it would take to post here, and those accusations miss the point that the forum is who goes there. And for all the kind souls who are calling out transphobes, you are the reason the forums shouldn't be nuked. keftiu, KC, Rysky, and several others whose names I can't recall considering I just woke up, thank you.
This place would deserve nuking if the trolls overtook it, but they haven't. Keep fighting.
| 10 people marked this as a favorite. |
I have posted and immediately deleted comments amounting to "oh f~&! off" more than once lately. It gets hard. We appreciate you, TOZ. <3
| 6 people marked this as a favorite. |
Yep, I can relate TOZ. Done that sooooo many times over the past few weeks.
I have been so busy, I never noticed this thread until now. Absolutely fantastic, KC! You remain one of the best reasons to keep coming back to these boards that I have thought of as a second home for so many years.
So many of the people that made me feel welcome and accepted are gone now, and sometimes I wonder if the joy will finally vanish one day. I miss Dark Mistress, Mikaze, and so many others. But here you are spreading joy and kindness!
Keep on, my draconic friend! Keep on!
:D
| 7 people marked this as a favorite. |
I miss (...) Mikaze
Man, do I ever.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
This thread is awesome, thank you Kobold Cleaver! It's so refreshing to read something this wholesome again after all these other threads recently.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
I miss Ashiel, too. :(
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I miss Ashiel, too. :(
Damn, yes.
| 12 people marked this as a favorite. |
Major cats update, dedicated to the Customer Service team, past and present members <3
I see this, turn and quietly run for my phone.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Two cats enter...one cat leaves...wait, no still there...give it a minute. No, wait, to the victor goes the...no..wait still going.
What were we play fighting about?...lets stare at the one who feeds us with crazy eyes..yeah, that's the ticket.
Excellent catch KC.