Getting Involved
The SIG is deceptively simple in how it works and how it gets things done and how people get involved. Basically, the process works something like this:
- A good idea is had, and shared with the group. ex. “Hey, we should have a picnic!” We call these initiatives, because we couldn’t think of anything better.
- Someone volunteers or is assigned (if we must) to take ownership of each initiative. This lessens the cases of six months later someone saying, “Hey, I thought we were going to have a picnic. That was a good idea, but it’s winter now.”
- The initiative owner keeps track of what’s going on with the initiative and provides periodic reports, usually at online SIG meetings or on the mailing lists. “We need a sunny day and a location for this picnic to happen.”
- The initiative owner does what he/she can and recruits assistance (and sometimes people from the committee get strongarmed) from other interested SIG members and keeps the cats herded in the same general direction. “Dansky, weren’t you going to bring the libations for this picnic?”
- Stuff gets done. Mostly due to the pressure of having to report once a month or face questions. “Weren’t we going to have a picnic? Who was in charge of that?”
It’s important to note that we’re all volunteers here and most of us have some form of day job. We try to avoid pressuring people with scary deadlines and piling on too much work. We do what we can do when we can do it, and if you don’t like the lack of progress well - you can step in and take on the job yourself.
Some time ago we were dealing with way too much traffic on our one and only mailing list as we tried to coordinate work on initiatives in the same space we were trying to build a community of writers who can discuss how to write a good cutscene. So we split into two mailing lists. One is the “general” mailing list, where “general” discussion happens.
The one where most of the minutaea relating to various initiatives gets hashed out is the “committee” mailing list. You don’t have to be officially on the committee in order to be involved in initiatives, although if you participate enough you’re likely to be co-opted onto the committee.
For more information on how to join the mailing lists, see our page about the mailing lists on this website.