| Decide the fate of Retail-Worker (PLEASE READ THE THREAD BEFORE VOTING) | ||||||||||||||
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Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 61
| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 8:17 pm Post subject: Help us figure out the future of Retail-Worker.com... | |
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Read this thread for more about what's going on here...
Recently I've spoken with sleK about the future of Retail-Worker. sleK no longer has the time to manage the site anymore, so the decision was made to pass the site on to someone else. I approached sleK about a week ago about taking over here, and we started discussing it in finer detail. It seems like there are two routes to go down as far as the future of this community is concerned: Option 1:
+ I will work to ensure this community stays alive and thriving + We will erase the entire forum and start over, possibly using new software + We will improve on R-W, making it the best it can possibly be. Option 2:
+ Let the site eventually become less and less managed + Let the community eventually die out Obviously, Option 1 is the best option to go with, but rather than just selecting the best path for R-W in our own minds, I thought it would be a good idea to turn the fate of Retail-Worker over to the people who know it best: the people who use it! Keep in mind... If I end up taking over this community, I swear to you all right now that while there will be some changes around here, this will ALWAYS remain to be the same Retail-Worker we've all known for a long time now. I'm not looking to change the community here; I'm just looking to build upon it, so that we can reach the community's fullest potential together. I'm sure that everyone would love the slight changes I have in mind for the site. So take some time to vote on the poll, and also please take a second (if possible) to post here in this thread, and let me know of any ideas you have for the new and improved Retail-Worker, should it happen. I'm ALWAYS open for suggestions, because as I told sleK: I'd always leave most of the decisions for changes in the community up to the users, including this one! Thanks for taking the time to read and vote, and also for pitching your suggestions!! Thanks! - SS |
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Administrator
Joined: 30 Jun 2003
Posts: 1017
Location: over yonder
| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 9:15 pm Post subject: | |
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To add a little info, the reason I offered the domain name only is due to privacy. Specifically your privacy. The database behind the forum potentially contains personally identifiable information that belongs to you. Handing that information off to a 3rd party that none of us know terribly well would be, IMO, irresponsible on my part.
So, if the current members approve of a new site under the management of SearsSupervisor I'd be perfectly happy to transfer ownership of the domain name to SearsSupervisor. The only downside to such an arrangement is the fact that you'll all be starting fresh (not necessarily a bad thing) and the content contained in the current forum will disappear. |
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Joined: 08 Jul 2003
Posts: 6045
| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:26 pm Post subject: privacy | |
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slek I greatly appreciate that you are keeping our privacy & id in mind when giving the domain name only
To those who want to start with a new site I respectfully disagree.First I understand that without open registration this site is frustrating to many. But if you want a new site I'm sure you can come up with a name that would come up a search about retail workers. There are still let say issues with not letting the site die a naturual death as-is 1) Any new site that is established you have to re-register there one has to worry about privacy. Is it a bait site or can the owners/administrators be easily swayed to give up personal information. 2)There is a gold mine of information in this forum/archives. Just the articles alone are worth it. I frequently find myself doing searches just for the articles AND/or information including policy,dates,events memoes etc. Not that we're loosing a shakesphere but we would no longer be able to reference things like Aylwin's memoes on the Sears forum which are very telling about the new Sears. I also notice alot of questions about various jobs and/or promotions on the Lowes forum especially(no one wants to get promoted at Sears-wonder why). 3) In some respects this forum is free speech in one of it's purest forms AND for the most part self regulating. Yeah they're things and posters I don't like about this forum but I can say that here as can they about I. 4)One of the things I like about this forum it is fairly simple and easier to read in many respects. The pissedconsumer just changed their format. I think it's much harder to read now. I don't want to see the simplicity of many of these tech help forums where you need to read a dozen problems & solutions before you question/answer comes up but nor do I want bells,whistles and pretty colors. This forum and format forces you to focus on the post. And to all those that want a RE-DO ,RE-MAKE or revision of retail-worker why not simply put the effort into a new name because that seems to be sticking point. I don't want to see this forum disappear for history,perspective or contextual reasons alone. And again I want to thank Slek for all the effort that has been put into this forum and keeping things like our interest in mind. Thanks Again slek!!!! |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
Posts: 2353
Location: A little bit sideways!
| Posted: Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:30 pm Post subject: | |
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To lose six years worth of research done by many members of this site on the Sears forum would be a tragedy. We would lose links, articles etc.
Starting fresh is a bad idea. Handing this site off and starting fresh will bring a much quicker death to this site then just leaving it be for now. That's my spin. ~GoodFella |
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Administrator
Joined: 30 Jun 2003
Posts: 1017
Location: over yonder
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:29 am Post subject: | |
| Well, another option would then be one or more people starting one or more completely new forums, with new domain names and everything else, promoting it to members here, and then I can simply lock this one up but leave it online as an archive of sorts. | |
Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 8212
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:40 am Post subject: | |||
I'll just reiterate what I said on the sears board first:
That said, I can't imagine someone else taking it over and simply leaving it the way it is. if that was their intent, why bother with it in the first place? On another hand, we've had numerous members... they all claimed to be different members anyway... come and go over the past couple of years that wanted to change the whole tenor of the site because they claimed we were being unfair to Sears somehow. They claimed the site needed to be more "fair and balanced" in posts about a company that has ruined the lives of thousands of people and that will ruin the lives of thousands more before it's over. And they took great pleasure in thread jacking and trolling the site relentlessly in their attempts to "fix" something that wasn't broke. In other words, to stifle discussion and dissent, if I may be allowed a little dramatic leeway. The fact that they stubbornly persisted, no matter how many times they were exposed and/or it was explained to them that if they wanted "fair and balanced" forum they could always go hang out with CE93 and Rob and Michelina indicates they weren't your ordinary garden variety trolls. So, with all due respect, I'm suspicious of strangers who come bearing "salvation" and wanting to "fix" things. No offense intended SearsSupervisor, but I don't know you. I haven't the slightest idea who or what you are except that you've suddenly popped up wanting help in "saving" Retail-Worker. If you simply want a site of your own devoted to Sears why don't you simply start one up? Why this one? Especially if you're going to have to start the whole thing from scratch as appears to be the case. I could easily see this is yet another (of several over the years) attempt to gather whatever personal information on employees that might be stored here such as IP addresses and such. If you've ever heard of CE93, I don't have to explain that... if you haven't, it would take too long to explain it. IThere's nothing else anyone could want... Other than the perceived name-value, of course, and WE... the members and sleK... are the ones who created Retail-Worker and gave the name whatever value it has. Change that and it's no longer going to be Retail-Worker anyway. If we're going to vote here, I'm going to vote for letting the site die a natural death... with its boots on and doing what it was always intended to do. I don't see much of a need to get all in a rush and either kill the site outright or turn it into something it isn't, thereby accomplishing the same end. |
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Joined: 11 Apr 2007
Posts: 463
Location: Earth
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:18 am Post subject: | |
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Two Points:
One, can people join anymore, or are they unable to? In the interest of allowing newcomers, I think it's fair that they could be able to, if they wanted. Two, who made it necessary to appoint you as the new moderator (no offense)? Why couldn't it be someone else? We could put it to a vote, or whatnot, if it was deemed necessary that a new moderator was needed. |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 61
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:34 am Post subject: | |
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Just to clear some things up...
Don't let the username fool you... Just because I'm a supervisor at Sears doesn't mean I'm working with them to attain personal information or anything. In fact, I hate my job. I'm not in this to sabotage the community, I'm just simply trying to help out. I would not turn the idea of R-W into anything other than what it is right now. Free speech is important to me as well, and I wouldn't do anything to interfere with that. If the forum software changed, it would look almost exactly like it does now, except for a few minor tweaks here and there. Those of you who are worried about the appearance and ease of use aspect shouldn't be worried. If option 1 is pursued, I would like to see if it would be possible to create an archive of everything already posted on R-W. If privacy is an issue, it could be arranged so that no one other than sleK would have access to any personal information behind it. This isn't about me wanting to open up a Sears based website (anti-sears or not). It's about me wanting to help out the community that I've become so fond of during the past year or so. Also, I wouldn't be appointed as a new moderator. I would attain new ownership of the domain name and thus be the new owner of Retail-Worker. I pursued this endeavor as I have the time, and resources that would easily allow me to continue the life of Retail-Worker.com. If everyone draws to the conclusion that they would like to see R-W keep on living, I propose that sleK just changes the nameservers to point towards my hosting company servers, rather than me getting total control of the domain. After the year is up, and the domain needs to be renewed, then it could be transferred to me, so I could continue to pay for it. I would also grant sleK complete administrative rights on the website. It's not like I'd be able to do anything wrong, even if I wanted to. I understand that you're all very wary to let me take over the community you've known as yours for a long time now. I assure you that I mean this community no harm, and I won't come in here like a bull in a china shop destroying everything... I just want to see this community stay alive longer than I know it would if no one is left to maintain it. Thanks for your time 
- SS |
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Joined: 14 Jul 2006
Posts: 515
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 3:15 am Post subject: | |
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Too bad that it just can't stay the same and registration would just open back up. But those are things I don't understand and whatnot...
I don't want the site to die but I don't want it to change. Does that make sense? 
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
Posts: 2353
Location: A little bit sideways!
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 3:33 am Post subject: | |||
Makes a ton of sense vickers. I know sleK does not have the time to run this joint any more but there has to be some way that new registration could be handled by maybe others on the board? I would be more then happy to help with that. Shit, I don't know? But there has to be a better answer then just handing it off. ~GoodFella |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
Posts: 2353
Location: A little bit sideways!
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:05 am Post subject: | |||
Of course this so called poll is bogus too. Of course as we all know there is no way that option 1 would make this site better. ~GoodFella |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 8212
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:41 am Post subject: | |
Yeah... kind of a loaded poll. eh? 
Just Kiddin'. |
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Administrator
Joined: 30 Jun 2003
Posts: 1017
Location: over yonder
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:45 am Post subject: | |||
Not really. Certainly some processes or procedures could be relegated to others but in the end the responsibility to coordinate even that has fall to one individual be it the admin, the "web-master", the owner, or whathaveyou. That's just the way sites work and that's precisely what I don't have the time nor inclination to do anymore. It's nothing personal. My interests have simply led me elsewhere. This entire brouhaha is simply an effort to avoid what happened last time, when RW went off-line without warning and left y'all in the dark. Now, I don't know very much about SearsSupervisor as s/his history here is rather brief, hence my concern about personally identifiable information, but I've read nothing that should immediately disqualify s/him from consideration. SearsSupervisor's offer does, however, appear to come with some benefits. Namely knowledge and resources. If some of you have particular questions or concerns it's up to you to inquire and this would be the thread to do it in. |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
Posts: 2353
Location: A little bit sideways!
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:10 am Post subject: | |||||
[quote="sleK"]
Thank you for that. That was awful.
That alone might be a reason to leave it be for now. BTW, my full respect on the way you have run this joint since day one. Thank you sleK. ~GoodFella |
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Joined: 04 Jul 2003
Posts: 2353
Location: A little bit sideways!
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:20 am Post subject: | |||
You think?  ~GoodFella
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 8212
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 4:29 pm Post subject: | |||||
What GF says goes for me too. I'd be more than happy to offer whatever help I can. I wish my financial and physical conditions were more amenable to taking it on fully but that's just not the case. But I am more than happy to assist in any way I can. |
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Joined: 16 Jul 2008
Posts: 41
Location: Pa.
| Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:22 pm Post subject: | |
| It's a shame that things can't remain just as they are now, since there probably will be no Sears Holdings in a few years. Then we will have nothing to bitch about anyways. | |
Joined: 25 Nov 2008
Posts: 60
| Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:55 pm Post subject: | |
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I know the powers at be, would love to see past information deleted - and a whole new board created - meaning those at corporate level
I also believe that their is a wealth of information here - in past posts and article links and that is a big item to lose BUT - if the moderator is no longer available to do this, we really don't have a choice here choice one - delete and start over choice two - do nothing and die? Somewhere choice three needs to exist Find a person who can be trusted to hand the reigns too to continue what was started. The question is Who can we trust? |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 8212
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:54 pm Post subject: | |
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You left out one... start your own retail forum and see if you gat any crossovers from here.
When you talk about starting from scratch with this one, that's actually what you're doing anyway. Why does someone want this one intact with its database? Not something to be considered lightly when turning that kind of information over to someone could be tantamount to selling out your loyal membership. Note that I said could, not would. |
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Moderator
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Posts: 127
Location: B.C. Canada
| Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 3:54 pm Post subject: | |
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The good news, if there is any, would be that there's no real rush. There's plenty of time to hash this one out without destroying the community. If I understand correctly then the goal is to preserve the community and the information.
I think I like the idea of keeping R-W live while establishing a new site and letting people migrate naturally. Once the transfer of contributors is complete and everyone is comfortable with the new digs ( ensuring that is the case) and R-W c/would be archived. Just out of curiosity slek. Once a site has been archived is there an option to de-archive it? Can you bring a site back to life after? Rest assured, that regardless of the outcome, personal information will not be "handed over". |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 61
| Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:50 pm Post subject: | |||
I think the best way to keep the site archived is to just disable registration and posting to the current forum (this one), and just leave it as it is, while starting up a "fresh copy" of forum software. |
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Joined: 20 Aug 2008
Posts: 54
| Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 5:25 pm Post subject: | |
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I'd hate to see everything here thrown out. If you can't establish trust for the content, then you should just let it ride out and fade away, if that is what will happen. If the only thing that could be gained by SS is the name, why not pick another name and set up your site, and ask slek if you can post a sticky with the web name.
and what happened to having a'reasonably large personal investment' , if all that will be done is toss it away? |
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Joined: 06 Jul 2003
Posts: 8212
Location: Central CA
| Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 8:26 pm Post subject: | |||||
Registration is already disabled here and I can't figure out why you think posting to this forum should be disabled. What the hell does that accomplish other then silence the people here, the only beneficiary of which would be management?There is no need to KILL this forum just so someone can have a new one. You have yet to answer my main question... if you want your own Sears forum, why don't you just start one and send out invites or what ever and let those of us that are OK with the way things are on this one for now continue to do our little thing? |
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Administrator
Joined: 30 Jun 2003
Posts: 1017
Location: over yonder
| Posted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 9:57 pm Post subject: | |||||||
Yup. As SearsSupervisor has stated simply disabling the ability to post would essentially archive the forum in its current state.
Nothing happened. Said "investment", along with a host of other attributes, is still a requirement if I were to hand over the database. But as I've already told SearsSupervisor, and stated in this very thread, handing off the database "to a 3rd party that none of us know terribly well would be [...] irresponsible". Thus the database isn't an issue in this discussion, only the domain name. If the consensus from the community is "get yer own damn domain name", so be it. Also, I've never stated that anything will be "tossed away." But it's not a stretch to suggest that, at some point, the content will disappear. |
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Joined: 09 Oct 2004
Posts: 132
Location: Deep Space 9
| Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:36 am Post subject: | |
| Thank you slek for hosting this wonderful place. Many times after a rough day at work I would come here and just read the different posts. Sometimes I would get info that no one at my store had heard about yet. Other times I have had questions that have been answered or advice given by members here. Sometimes I have had rants that I am thankful to all of you who put up with them. I truly hate the idea of losing this site. Not only for the information that would be lost, but for the friends I feel that I have made here. I have never met any of you, but I know from your posts that you truly care for the welfare of today's Sear's associate. If it has to go, let it die a slow, but honorable death. As the Klingons say, "It is a good day to die". (I know , they stole it from the American Indians) But be assured, we WILL meet again. | |