Some of you may remember that a thread was posted about a policy and some threads were removed regarding publicly thanking other TCS members for gifts right around Christmas. Bah Humbug!
We have come to a decision regarding these types of threads and would like to clarify it to everyone.
What we were concerned about and what had actually been disallowed in the past were thank you threads between friends on the site as those can be done privately. The history behind this was a group of people who had become friends were sending each other little gifts and were thanking each other on the board, but it was very apparent to anyone who was paying attention that it was a small circle of friends. We got complaints from new and old members who said that it made them feel very excluded on the entire site and especially in the Cat Lounge because they werenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t included in the “cliqueâ€. I know that the group werenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t trying to be exclusive or form a clique, but that was the perception by some other members, and it was something we could understand as well. Sometimes perception is as bad as actually doing the perceived deed. So thanking privately sent gifts publicly was disallowed. There wasnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t ever a reason to remind the members of this policy until this year when it seemed that suddenly the Cat Lounge was taken over by Thank You threads.
After long discussions by the team including input from members who had given anonymous gifts and felt that those should be an exception to the overall rule, we made a decision. The main argument was that the anonymous pick-me-up gifts should be excluded because posting on the board is the only way for the person to share their thanks and excitement with whomever sent the gift, and because it shares with the community that this is a different kind of web-community. That we truly care for each other, we notice when things are going wrong in a personâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s life or that they donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t have people in real life to share Christmas (or birthdays, etc.) with, and that we truly are friends here.
For those main reasons, and many more, we made the decision that while we do still ask people to keep their thanks for gifts between friends private, we will allow the anonymous thank-youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s to continue as they have for years. We have made a note to remind people of this policy well before Christmas, as that is when the Lounge can be overrun with those types of threads as it was this year.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or PM any of the Moderators.
What we were concerned about and what had actually been disallowed in the past were thank you threads between friends on the site as those can be done privately. The history behind this was a group of people who had become friends were sending each other little gifts and were thanking each other on the board, but it was very apparent to anyone who was paying attention that it was a small circle of friends. We got complaints from new and old members who said that it made them feel very excluded on the entire site and especially in the Cat Lounge because they werenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t included in the “cliqueâ€. I know that the group werenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t trying to be exclusive or form a clique, but that was the perception by some other members, and it was something we could understand as well. Sometimes perception is as bad as actually doing the perceived deed. So thanking privately sent gifts publicly was disallowed. There wasnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t ever a reason to remind the members of this policy until this year when it seemed that suddenly the Cat Lounge was taken over by Thank You threads.
After long discussions by the team including input from members who had given anonymous gifts and felt that those should be an exception to the overall rule, we made a decision. The main argument was that the anonymous pick-me-up gifts should be excluded because posting on the board is the only way for the person to share their thanks and excitement with whomever sent the gift, and because it shares with the community that this is a different kind of web-community. That we truly care for each other, we notice when things are going wrong in a personâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s life or that they donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t have people in real life to share Christmas (or birthdays, etc.) with, and that we truly are friends here.
For those main reasons, and many more, we made the decision that while we do still ask people to keep their thanks for gifts between friends private, we will allow the anonymous thank-youâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s to continue as they have for years. We have made a note to remind people of this policy well before Christmas, as that is when the Lounge can be overrun with those types of threads as it was this year.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or PM any of the Moderators.
