Catching up again

[denise]

Poor dw_suggestions. It hasn't been as dead as it looks (I've been moving things directly into the issue tracker all along for little changes that don't need discussion), but the queue got out of hand again despite my best intentions, and then (of course) it became A Thing where I couldn't just do one or two things from the middle without first handling all the stuff that had been waiting forever with profuse apologies so I just looked at the whole thing and went "ugh" and went away to go put my limited work time elsewhere. <sup>*

*</sup> My native slacker avoidant tendencies have been sharply exascerbated over the past few years due to chronic pain, depression issues, and untreated-up-until-now ADHD... yes, this is why news posts have also been few and far between in the past year and a half.

Anyway, HOORAY FOR MEDS (seriously, hooray for meds), and I will be working to catch up on the queue over the next few days/weeks. This means:

* There will be some old entries posted to the comm for discussion. When they're posted, please remember that the person who made the suggestion may have done so a very long time ago and wasn't necessarily expecting it to be posted now, or that things may have changed on DW or elsewhere on the internet since the suggestion was made. If there are any suggestions where things have changed on DW since it was originally written, I'll leave a note in a comment on the suggestion. Please read comments before voting and/or leaving a comment of your own!

* If you submitted a suggestion a while ago and it wasn't ever posted or rejected, you will be getting a posting or rejection notice sometime within the next few days. I'm sorry it's taken so long.

* Many suggestions have been sitting in the queue because they won't work for one reason or another, but they really deserve a thoughtful, detailed response explaining why it wouldn't be possible or why we've considered it or something like it in the past and decided that we didn't want to do it. A big part of why I got behind was that I do like to give those thoughtful, detailed responses when I reject a suggestion -- if you took the time to write the suggestion, you deserve me taking the time to explain to you why it wouldn't work -- and that takes a lot of time, brain, and typing that I haven't reliably been able to summon recently. In the interests of cleaning out the backlog and getting current on things, though, I'm going to give myself permission to be a little less carefully detailed and thoughtful when I reject the older suggestions. If my explanations are too simple or you want to know more detail, you can email me at denise@dreamwidth.org. (Just include the rejection notice so I can be reminded what I wrote -- I'm writing a bunch of them today!)

tl;dr: SUGGESTIONS QUEUE BEING CLEANED OUT. SITE ADMIN VERY SORRY. SITE ADMIN MEDICATING BRAIN PROBLEMS NOW. (Site admin has given up on body problems ever getting totally fixed, but at least has drugs for that, too.)

Comments

[zaluzianskya]

Thank you for getting to the queue and for leaving this explanation! I mean, yeah, we all know it's not an ideal situation, but I really appreciate the transparency from Dreamwidth staff in explaining why there are delays.

[denise]

The last few years have really driven home to me how important the concept of neuroplasticity is, as all of my coping mechanisms for working around the ADHD and depression have gone to shit because I'm getting older and my neuroplasticity is fucked from the chronic pain. (And of course the chronic pain itself fucks with your ability to brain, as do the drugs used to treat the chronic pain...)

I'm just glad that y'all are very understanding of my various issues-with-a-capital-I. ♥

[swaldman]

I am so glad to hear that things are improving for you ☺️

[denise]

Seriously, is this how 'normal' people's brains work? Thinking of one thing at a time?

[swaldman]

some of the time.... sometimes, even at the times that it's useful... ;-)

[zaluzianskya]

I assume so, but it's not how mine works. (I fit so many symptoms of ADHD, but the one time I tried bringing it up to my doctor he went "No, you aren't fidgeting at all right now, it can't be ADHD.")

[denise]

Arrrrgh, bad doctor who isn't current on definitions! (There's inattentive type, hyperactive type, and combined type in the DSM-V...)

[zaluzianskya]

Yeahhhh -_- I didn't want to push the subject, so I just laughed nervously and was like "Well I don't really care what the diagnosis is as long as I get fixed..."

Spoilers: I am not fixed.

[denise]

I'm just really lucky that I've built a nice team of doctors who like it when I show up with all the research I've done and all the PubMed cites etc, as long as I'm also willing to listen to their suggestions. It's taken me a loooong time to find them all, but it's great to have doctors who feel like they're collaborating with you and treating you as an expert on your own body and your own perceptions.

[montuos]

My very first thought when I saw the suggestion up at the top of my page was, "Oh hey! Denise must finally be feeling a bit better, to be able to tackle the backlog!"

Glad to know your meds are helping. :)

...and now to go back up and read the suggestions...

[jducoeur]

Sympathies on the challenges, and thanks for working on the queue! (And "moved directly to the issue tracker" is a *fine* response, which makes me very happy.)

Since finally making the full jump from LJ to DW, I've found myself mostly wishing I'd done it years ago. Y'all are doing great stuff here...

[denise]

Aww, thanks! I like to think we are doing a good job, in between moments of being utter failbots, at least. ;)

(Being a failbot in public serves to remind y'all that we're a tiny company with Real Human Beings working here, not a big faceless corporation. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

[kerravonsen]

Indeed, HOORAY FOR MEDS! (Fellow sufferer who rents sanity from the pharmacy)

[denise]

SAD HIGH FIVE OF BADLY BEHAVING BRAINS

[jazzyjj]

Thanks for this. Like I have mentioned previously, one of the reasons I registered on Dreamwidth in the first place was because I heard great things about the team here from somebody on a gaming-related website which I frequent. Well perhaps not so much lately due to a rather hectic schedule, but that's besides the point. But it's so comforting to know that Dw is not like some sites or pieces of software I've used in the past, that are hardly ever updated if at all and then they just basically go to waste because nobody wants to use them anymore.

[sciuro]

Thanks for taking time to answer my suggestion! Best wishes for your new meds to kick in! :)

[brainwane]

I'm going to give myself permission to be a *little* less carefully detailed and thoughtful when I reject the older suggestions.

Earnest response: GO YOU, I'm very glad for DW, as someone who cares about user suggestion flow here. And I'm glad as someone who has seen the standards of your writing and editing work and thinks even your a-little-more-casual responses will be pretty stellar, and is happy for the morale improvement that better flow has for you.

Zero-earnestness response: lowered_expectations.gif (did you ever see that recurring sketch on MAD TV?)

[denise]

I have not!

[brainwane]

Here's a sample from YouTube - it was a parody of video dating services, where every person making a dating profile video was clearly unsuitable for dating. The most iconic and lasting part of it was the "lowered expectations" jingle playing as the "Lowered Expectations" logo was superimposed on B-roll of a man and woman walking near a dingy dry riverbed and a barbed-wire fence, like, a dismal date.