When a community stops being a community

There are so many times when people say that they want to be part of a community, but they aren’t willing to even pay a few dollars a month to be part of that community. I understand that every community is going to be different. I believe to a couple of communities online and the biggest value I get from these communities is feeling like I belong and are part of a group of people that share a common bond.

What bothers me is when a community goes from members only chat to subscriber chat and anyone can post questions/comments, and they can sometimes be frustrating. I know that we all try and help answer the questions and something the moderator needs to understand is that we will answer questions in a general way to let the person know that we know the answer will be coming up shortly.  What goes get frustrating is when we see a comment from a moderator saying, “Don’t answer questions in the chat”. Why can’t a member answer a question in a general way because that will help keep the community as a community. When you say that you are the only one that should be answering questions it shows that the community is breaking down and that is a major concern. If I am paying to be part of the community, I should have the right to answer questions unless there is a general rule posted that states “As a member you are not allowed to answer questions in the chat.” If this happens, I know I would leave that community because that is part of the joy that being part of the community gives me.

If a moderator is going to post such comments as, “Don’t answer questions in the community” they need to keep those comments available and not delete them later on because that doesn’t help either because members see what is going on and they are going to think about where their dollar is going. Saying something and then deleting what you have said doesn’t build a community, it starts to destroy a community.

As a community we cannot compare one stream with another stream because all of them are different, and they provide a different level of quality and service and value to the community they are serving. I know that I have put my money into a community that I enjoy being part of because of how things are monitored and controlled. The community might not have an open chat but that is part of what I enjoy.

An online community is built between the trust between the members of the community and the moderator. If the moderator starts to destroy the trust that is going to mean that the community is likely to fail moving forward.  It doesn’t matter who we all are but we need to ensure that we are their for either other and a community is such a key part of any who is involved in the chat.

Social Media

 How many times have you heard someone say I am taking a break from social media, and the break lasts them maybe a day if that. Social media, be it Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or any other social media apps are a continual stream of posts.

I know for me I have set myself limits of the amount of time I will be on the social media apps because otherwise it can take over your entire life. There are people that have to constantly be checking their social media accounts because they might miss a post by a friend. My attitude is if I miss the post I wasn’t meant to see it. I know that I have missed quite a few posts from family and friends, but I have had to accept that. I have always told both family and friends that if there is something that I need to know they can either message me or send me an email and that way I will see it.

Another thing that can happen with social media is through the various messaging methods people will think that you are always available to chat no matter what time of day or night it is. This can be a challenge especially if there are time zones involved because your good time to chat might not work for them and vice versa. The best way to use the messaging methods is to write that message but know that it could take a while before you get a reply and don’t get upset if it takes a while.

Social media is a great way to stay in touch with people, but you must understand that not everyone is going to use each social media platform the same way that you do. I know that when it comes to Facebook, I know that there are quite a few people that aren’t on much at all and then there are people who live it in and post multiple times a day. I think this applies to all the various social media platforms because some people want to be seen doing things while others just want to manage their life their own way.

The one thing that you have to understand about any social media platform is it doesn’t work for everyone and if you like one platform more than another.  That is fine, but I might not use that platform at all, so I won’t see your posts and you must accept that.

 

 

What makes me happy

I have been thinking about what makes me happy and I can honestly say it depends on the day. For me a lot of the things are very simple, and I guess I could say obvious but now to try and write some of them down.

Spending time with family – being able to spend time with my husband and my sister and her family makes me happy. It is nice when my husband and I can just do-little simple things like going for a drive in the country just to escape the routine of everyday. Even sitting after dinner and just chatting about nothing in general is also what makes me happy.

Sitting on a patio – when the weather is nice, I enjoy being able to sit on a patio and either people watch or watch airplanes if the patio is near an airport. Being able to just enjoy the warm weather while sitting outside is so nice and something we try and do. I love watching airplanes so being able to watch them land or take off is a nice thing for me to do. The patio doesn’t have to be near an airport for me to be happy because there have been times we have just decided to go out and have a coffee and sit on a patio and that has been nice.

Crafting – my crafting makes me happy because I can lose myself in doing something that I enjoy doing. I can do this alone or sitting with others, but my crafting is a means for me to escape and recharge my personal battery. I do enjoy seeing things finished but I enjoy just working on the various projects and when they are close to being done, I am trying to figure out what the next project will be. My happiest place is the actual working on the projects and seeing a finish is secondary to the progress.

Writing – yes this might sound a little different but yes, my writing makes me happy when I can see that I have achieved something, be it a blog, a story or just some fun notes. My writing is what brings me joy a lot of the time.

There are so many little things that make me happy and I know that it depends on each person what makes them happy. For some people it is being among a group of friends and spending time with them and other’s it is just spending time at home and relaxing. It doesn’t matter what you do to make you happy if you realize that some of the simple things may be part of what makes you happy as well.

Parcel delivery in an apartment building

Getting parcels delivered in an apartment building can be a challenge especially from businesses that do not use the local postal system. In our building we get our mail delivered to our unit and parcels are given to us if we are home as the postal worker knocks on the door. If we aren’t home, we have a postal box in our lobby and a key is left and we can go downstairs to collect the parcel. 

When it comes to some other businesses that delivery is done so differently. Normally the parcel is simply dropped off at your door and it doesn’t matter if you are home or not. Now when it comes to apartment buildings at least in Toronto, there is an issue having parcels just dropped off at your door. See, it is against fire regulations to have anything outside an apartment unit.

So here are some suggestions that I have regarding delivery of those types of parcels:

• There needs to be a location within the building where these parcels can be dropped.
• If you are ordering from these businesses make sure that you are going to be home the day that the parcel is scheduled to be delivered so you can collect, it when it’s dropped off.
• Track the item if possible as that is one way to know that there is something sitting outside your door. This is a good idea even if you live in a house.
• If you cannot be home when the delivery is going to arrive have it send to another location, example the local postal station or to someone else who will be home.
• Tracking may not be real-time, and your parcel may have arrived before it shows it has been delivered (if possible, listen for something being dropped off).

I understand that not everyone can be home all the time but what is important is to try and know when a parcel is going to arrive and make the necessary arrangements do that a parcel is not left outside your door for too long.

Something that these businesses also need to do is at least knock on the door so that if someone is home, they can quickly collect the item. The simple knock will help quite a bit otherwise unless you keep checking the door you won’t know the parcel has arrived. Another thing that type of business need to improve on is the picture they take when they drop the parcel off. Make sure that the unit number of street number shows in the picture because too often you have no idea where that parcel has been delivered.

So, if you are getting parcels delivered try your best to be around to collect your parcel from outside your door to ensure that it’s not sitting there for too long, so that someone else doesn’t walk off with it.

 

Being a Canadian Team in a mainly US dominate competition

Here we are sitting at 3 games to 2 games lead during a baseball competition that means that the winner will be names the World Series Champion. There have been times when I have been sitting here and thinking why are we considered the Canadian Team versus why we are just not another one of the teams competing for the World Series. It is so hard to be sitting and thinking that we are the only non-American team and why are we always referred to as the “Canadian Team”.

For someone that has been born and raised in Canada it can be extremely frustrating when we heard that baseball was founded in the US and no other team should be allowed to win the world series (I was told this by someone that I know). If the “World Series” was only allowed to be won by an American Team, it should be names the “United Stated Series” because that is entirely different than the “World Series”. We also must remember how many players are not American that are participating in the World Series because we have players both in Canada, United States and a lot of the other international countries so we have to respect that.

I have even heard people say that because baseball originated in the United States (it’s an American game), but I must correct the person because baseball evolved from the older bat-and-ball games already being played in England in the 18^th century. Baseball wasn’t founded in the United States it was imported into the United States, and we have to accept that.

This year we are seeing that the first NLB game was played in Japan, and the final game is going to be played in Canada. Sure, it might be the Los Angles Dodgers that was the team involved both of these games, but we have to respect that the first and final games were played outside of the United States, so the World Series is really a World Series this year.

I am not writing this after game 6 or 7 because I want to be totally neutral because right now we don’t know who is going to win the World Series, but I want to ensure that we are getting credit for being part of the final series of the season and yes we are a Canadian Team, and the only Canadian Team. We are going see what happens in the next couple of days and I am going to be happy to say that the Toronto Blue Jays, win or lose, have really shown we are as good as any American team.

I must say that I am extremely proud to say that I am cheering for the Canadian Team (the Toronto Blue Jays) and I would really welcome the World Series Title and Trophy back here in Canada after 32 years.

 

 

 

Sharing thoughts/idea

How often have we decided to share an idea or a thought with a colleague only to find out that they have run with the idea and now what you thought was your idea suddenly appears to be their idea. This can happen far too often, and we all need to understand that just making simple comments to a colleague can change who owns the idea.

So often in a work environment people are bouncing around the various thoughts and ideas as they are trying to figure out if it is a good idea or not, but little do they know that the sharing of an idea could result in an idea being “stolen” as used as someone else’s idea. There are a lot of times when someone has an idea, and they aren’t certain if it is a good idea or not, but they will start to talk to over to with colleagues and a colleague may shoot it down saying they don’t think it will work. Well, the idea is such a good idea that the colleague decided to take that idea and decided to suggest it to management. All a sudden your idea has become an idea from a colleague and management likes it, who really gets the great for the idea, well it is gong to be the person that when to management with it not the person that originally came up with the idea.

So often there are times where an idea might not seem that great of idea, but it is just the seed that starts others to do some thinking and your small idea because a bigger idea and you don’t get any credit for it because your colleague has taken it as their idea and moved it forward. When we have even a basic idea, we all need to ensure that we keep the thoughts to yourself until we can at least find a way to let a bunch of colleagues know the idea not just one person.

Sharing a thought or idea might seem like such a simple thing to do but we need to ensure that we aren’t giving away too much detail because that idea might suddenly become an idea of someone else. Yes, it is nice to be able to share thoughts and ideas with others, but you have to be careful the amount to detail your share because your idea might become their idea.

A collaborate team is so much better as now one know where the original idea comes and everyone is given create for the work. No one can say they were the main contributor to an idea.

 

Eating out with food allergies - one issue I have

Something that really bothers me when eating out is when I am charged 100% of the upgrade your side option when it isn’t my choice.

I understand that there is a cost for upgrading a side option but when I have already told you that I have a severe food allergy to an ingredient that can be in that item why can’t the cost of the upgrade be reduced by a bit. What I am talking about is when I go into a restaurant and they serve calamari which is considered shellfish, and I am severely allergic to shellfish (both types).

Shellfish allergy - There are two groups of shellfish: crustaceans (such as shrimp, prawns, crab and lobster) and mollusks/bivalves (such as clams, mussels, oysters, scallops, octopus, squid, abalone, snail). Allergy to crustaceans is more common than allergy to mollusks, with shrimp being the most common shellfish allergen for both children and adults.

One side that is available most often is French fries and they are quite often cooked in the same fryer as both the calamari and shrimp. This can cause a cross-contamination issue so it is something that I must be extremely careful of. It has been interesting talking to some servers, and I ask if the calamari is fried in the same oil as the French fries or chicken fingers. Some servers are aware and can answer that yesterday and others will go back to the kitchen to confirm. 

So, my challenge when the French fries are cooked in the same oil as the calamari is always the cross-contamination risk, so therefore I cannot have French fries and must select an upgrade as my side. The restaurants that I like are the ones that have a couple of options for a standard side (soup, French fries, salad) and then you pay an addition cost for other sides. If someone says they are allergic to something and it can be in the basic side option, it would be nice to have the cost of the upgraded side reduced a bit to let the customer know that restaurant understands the challenge.