the details aren’t super important and i’m not going to go into particular depth here but, in summary: i am on break. the burnout is quite bad. the “avalanche analogy” is pretty apt for what i’m dealing with here.
if you’ve never heard the “avalanche analogy” before, it is this: no individual snowflake is the problem, but the accumulation in an avalanche is still catastrophic.
individually, nothing i have dealt with so far―technical stuff, users, situations, arguments on here, etc.―have been issues that make me want to not use the site. the accumulation though is currently unbearable, even on this fairly small size. effectively all the time i―or any other admin, for that matter―am on here, i am being constantly paged with things to handle; people to sort out and placate; content to remove; bug issues to delegate; and all while having hundreds of people make contradictory suggestions to me i have to make sense of, balance, and generally hear nonstop while being expected to act like a service worker. it’s pretty draining!
accordingly, i have not logged in for about a week (or really done anything with the site, for that matter) and even thinking about it is exhausting. so things aren’t great. it’s pretty clear i need to extensively step back―which i’ve already been doing because i’d like to actually, eventually use the site i help co-run here again. i don’t feel good about just dipping without saying anything longer than i already have though, hence this post.
i’d ideally like to be back sometime next week, but i obviously can’t promise that. it’ll happen when it happens. please do not page me in the mean time with site stuff―it will be ignored.
thanks
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Please take care of yourself. We seriously appreciate you and everything you’ve done, same goes for all other staff. This past week has immensely stressful across the lemmyverse and no one blames you at all for needing to tap out from all this. A lot of people are expecting lemmy and lemmy instances to be like reddit 2.0, but that’s just not humanly possible. It also feels like lemmy as a software has had it personally out for beehaw… kind of like a murphy’s law situation.
Take time for yourself! You guys deserve it. You’ve had a lot on your plate that you didn’t expect.
I’ve been in that exact same spot, running a community and experiencing that kind of burnout. Where something you enjoyed managing just felt draining and like work, when talking about it was a dreaded thing.
And really, taking a break is a good thing. Don’t actively push yourself if you don’t enjoy it right now, it will only hurt you in the long run. But I will say this, I realized all too quickly that when my motivation came back after my breaks, the burst of energy was short-lived before I was reminded why I burned out in the first place. After 2-3 times of that cycle repeating, the burst of energy never came again.
To give a piece of unwanted advice, I think you guys might be stretching yourselves too thin. You’ve got a considerably sized site at this point, and not many hands to run it. I can’t speak for exactly what sort of help would alleviate it for you, maybe creating a barrier of a few community-level mods to help take on some of the bulk to leave the site admins with the sitewide issues. Maybe you could even look into getting another admin or two, if most of the issues are site-wide.
But I believe I can say without a doubt that the circumstances around the burnout will probably need to change before the joy of it is gone altogether.
I wish you guys the best.
To give a piece of unwanted advice, I think you guys might be stretching yourselves too thin. You’ve got a considerably sized site at this point, and not many hands to run it. I can’t speak for exactly what sort of help would alleviate it for you, maybe creating a barrier of a few community-level mods to help take on some of the bulk to leave the site admins with the sitewide issues. Maybe you could even look into getting another admin or two, if most of the issues are site-wide.
we are talking stuff like this over but i didn’t put it in the post; more on that TBD
I actually think the best solution for a space like Beehaw is to just turn off the creation of new accounts for the time being. The point of this instance isn’t to be the biggest, it’s to be a high quality space. People will still be able to interact with Beehaw from the outside too.
Gotta take care of yourself first, nobody is going to begrudge you of that. I know exactly how you feel, I’ve been through the same thing before … like they say, don’t light yourself on fire to keep others warm.
You’ve got a good group of volunteers, they’re taking care of things, don’t come back until you feel completely ready!
you’ve been an absolutely wonderful admin. please take all the time you need and come back when you’re ready, if you’re ready; don’t come back too soon and burn out again. take care!
Take care alyaza! 🫂
Internet hugs to you. Thank you for your work. Take all the time you need, and then some.🐝❤
Get some rest! Hopefully when you come back the mental load is lighter and things work out, but at the end of the day, none of this is more important than your health and well-being.
Mental health is extremely important and often overlooked.
Thank you for everything you’ve done to date.
Take your time and we’ll all be here when you’re ready ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
Please take good care of yourself alyaza. Do what YOU need to do for YOU
Just wanted to thank you and everyone else making beehaw the wonderful, genuine and welcoming community that it is!!
What a refreshing world to be able to taklk to one another without the bots and feel of those ‘other’ places.
Much love you, and, really, THANKYOU, THANKYOU, THANKYOU!!
For the short time that I have been here, your comments have been some of the most engaging and insightful that I have seen.
I’ll claim responsibility for some of the headaches that you and other admins may have had (whether or not that is actually the case) and for that I am sorry.
I hope you get the opportunity to do whatever it is you need to do to get rid of what has been troubling you.
Good job at identifying that you need rest. I historicallly have been so bad at that.
Please go away (gently) and don’t think about us. Nothing that happens here is more important than your health.
Thank you for this space you have helped create. You deserve to exist in it as well, not just operate it. I appreciate your work very much but you are always more important than any work, so please take care of yourself. Wishing you well
Breaks are good, I hope you find peace and refreshment off site. I enjoy reading your posts so I hope at some point you are able to return, but I also can understand if it turns out to be too overwhelming in the end. Thanks for all the work you have done.
Take your time and relax as long as you need.
