Leadership update: Alex Hillman stepping away
Published on November 21, 2024 by Nelson Chu Pavlosky
For some time now, decisions around Jawns.club have been made by consensus between the two admins, myself (Nelson Pavlosky) and Alex Hillman.
Alex is now taking an indefinite break from decision-making and other time/brain-consuming responsibilities. He says, "This year I sunk way more time into finding the fiscal host path than I expected, and I'm happy with the result but in the grand scheme of things I feel like it's best for me to take a step back." He may still help with moderation and other tasks that are easier for him, but that will depend on his capacity. This leaves me as the last person responsible for governance and determining the future of Jawns.club.
When I joined Jawns.club back in 2018, a team of several mods made the server a vibrant and welcoming virtual neighborhood. I want Jawns.club to get back to a more distributed model of responsibility and labor, but maybe to attract people willing to put in the time, energy, and commitment to re-energize our community, we need to show this is a community worth dedicating effort to.
If I tell you that we received zero applications last time we asked for more mods, is that taking openness and transparency too far? Would it be better to project positivity and success until it becomes real, fake it 'til we make it? Could be, but I want you to trust any positive news I might report, so I want to share our... learning experiences, as well.
I do not know why nobody applied to be a mod last time. Perhaps we did not prepare the ground enough, perhaps it was not sufficiently advertised; maybe the value proposition was unclear and our members could not see why they should take on additional commitments if the server seemed to function well enough without their help. What I do know is that it is my responsibility that we did not grow the team last time, and it is my responsibility to include more people in the future.
In the meantime, I am not waiting for our governance to get sorted out before taking action. We have challenges we must begin addressing today, such as our finances (which will be the focus of my next update). I intend to leave Jawns.club better than I found it, and hand over a thriving community to whoever comes after me. I will ask for your help with specific tasks, and update you about the threats and opportunities before us in the days and weeks to come.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us get this far, especially our founder Alex. I am grateful for every bit of assistance big and small we have received, even members simply reporting unfriendly accounts. With your support, I am confident that our unique intersection of Philly and Fedi will be able to weather any storm, no matter how frequently or infrequently it rains.
-- Your occasionally humble servant, Nelson
Alex is now taking an indefinite break from decision-making and other time/brain-consuming responsibilities. He says, "This year I sunk way more time into finding the fiscal host path than I expected, and I'm happy with the result but in the grand scheme of things I feel like it's best for me to take a step back." He may still help with moderation and other tasks that are easier for him, but that will depend on his capacity. This leaves me as the last person responsible for governance and determining the future of Jawns.club.
When I joined Jawns.club back in 2018, a team of several mods made the server a vibrant and welcoming virtual neighborhood. I want Jawns.club to get back to a more distributed model of responsibility and labor, but maybe to attract people willing to put in the time, energy, and commitment to re-energize our community, we need to show this is a community worth dedicating effort to.
If I tell you that we received zero applications last time we asked for more mods, is that taking openness and transparency too far? Would it be better to project positivity and success until it becomes real, fake it 'til we make it? Could be, but I want you to trust any positive news I might report, so I want to share our... learning experiences, as well.
I do not know why nobody applied to be a mod last time. Perhaps we did not prepare the ground enough, perhaps it was not sufficiently advertised; maybe the value proposition was unclear and our members could not see why they should take on additional commitments if the server seemed to function well enough without their help. What I do know is that it is my responsibility that we did not grow the team last time, and it is my responsibility to include more people in the future.
In the meantime, I am not waiting for our governance to get sorted out before taking action. We have challenges we must begin addressing today, such as our finances (which will be the focus of my next update). I intend to leave Jawns.club better than I found it, and hand over a thriving community to whoever comes after me. I will ask for your help with specific tasks, and update you about the threats and opportunities before us in the days and weeks to come.
Thank you to everyone who has helped us get this far, especially our founder Alex. I am grateful for every bit of assistance big and small we have received, even members simply reporting unfriendly accounts. With your support, I am confident that our unique intersection of Philly and Fedi will be able to weather any storm, no matter how frequently or infrequently it rains.
-- Your occasionally humble servant, Nelson