Thank You for All You Do – A Message to The Blue Crew

The end of a year is a time for reflection and I’m in a reflective mood, looking back on the good, the bad and the ugly of the year that was.

I actually do this almost every night, to be honest – not recounting the whole year, just the time I modded that day. I lay in bed wondering… could I have managed that new chatter better? Was I too harsh with that “troll” who probably was just a kid? Could I have filled some of the silences between animals with more facts, observations or lame jokes to keep the viewers engaged? Did I forget to say goodnight to Valerie again? Am I overthinking all of this and should I just shut up and let the chatters chat? (these are rhetorical questions, by the way).

What if the answer to my last question is a “YES!!” What if all of us mods played it strictly by the book, no deviations from the rule? Maybe someday that’s how it’ll be, as AI fills our blue suits. Computer programs never get tired, never lose patience, never share recipes or have to get up to make Milo, they timestamp flawlessly no matter how often jackals interrupt them and of course, they never make typos. Kinda like Nightbot on steroids. Sound good?

As ReneGG might say, “newp”, and the more I think about it, the worse it sounds. “By the book” might get the job done but – as we’ve all learned AFTER accepting Connie’s invite to turn blue – there’s a lot more to being a mod than just moderating.

Most of us were chatters once (and often still are, in grey or blue) and the things that drew us to the NamibiaCam livestream are colorblind. We get involved because we ARE involved; we’ve become emotionally invested in what goes on on-screen and in chat as well. We want to protect the thing we love and we want to be part of it, and to so many viewers, we ARE part of it.

That’s a big responsibility – mods must be many things to many people while still representing NamibiaCam and supporting his vision (our priority). Not everyone can or wants to do it, and let’s remember that we’re all volunteers. So why DO we do it?

I’ve thought about this too, during my night-time meditations on modding, and it goes back to what I said about being part of something we love. Modding better enables us to protect the chat, and by extension the channel. We feel violated when trolls cause a ruckus, now we can deal with them. We can post links when we see something of interest at another cam, and chatters/viewers appreciate that.

If the topic of “what’s the craziest thing you’ve seen here?” or “what is the rarest animal we can see?” comes up, as it often does, we have video links we can post. And of course, we get to make Nightbot do our bidding (if he’s in the mood). Fun, right?

But there’s more to it than even that: what we do is appreciated! How do we know? They tell us! Time and time again, chatters thank us for posting info, tell us they’re laughing out loud at some comment we make, say they’ve recommended the channel to friends, co-workers, family and their children, thank us for modding and for keeping the chat family-friendly and a safe space.

They also tell us about themselves, some revealing their oft-difficult lives… Cameron (who is autistic) has thanked us for being his friends countless times. Maryjane (who is fighting a long and painful battle against illness) greets us with “Hello Namibia Family” because to her, we ARE family and she feels our support.

Itsjustme Justme tells us he feels better when he comes to chat, and he also gives back by relating facts and observations. Mr h UAE 87 has issues too complex for me to even guess at but in chat he’s treated with respect and compassion. As Connie told me once, “We are not social workers” but for those in mental and physical pain, we do damned good social work – and doing it makes US feel good too!

I would be remiss in not mentioning other chatters who are, well, more than chatters. People like kuna burger, cactusgarden and clippership108 who have spent hours and hours studying and analyzing zebras… and who then gladly share their discoveries with the rest of us.

Then there’s Blick IndieWelt, who’s in a league of their own (and has been asked to mod, repeatedly). Acting at times as a bridge between mods and chatters, these people make us and the channel stronger… and like all families, ours is diverse and boasts a rainbow of talents, interests, personalities and nationalities that cannot, should not, be defined by the colors of their chat suits.

Last but not least (and I’m sorry for this epic ramble but not sorry enough to keep it to myself, lol), our Blue Crew is very special, very unique, very loving and very much loved. I have no interest in what other channels do and what their mods do (or don’t do). We volunteer our time when we can – some of us work part-time or full time, others are dealing with chronic health issues, all of us have real lives we need to maintain.

How does lizzyfant sit in front of her computer for up to 11 hours a day, timestamping hundreds of animal visits, following chat in a foreign language? Theeny LSG works full time while making morning and afternoon commutes that are hours-long yet she still finds time in her busy schedule to mod.

Andy G wracks her brain week after week to provide chatters and mods with an hour of educational fun. How can Valerie mod chat, zoom the cam (sometimes at TWO cams) timestamp and watch all three cams at once while dealing with health issues that would knock most of us on our butts? How about Cape Angela, who works, mods and cares for her mother while battling crippling headaches and chronic maladies? Or our ever-twinkling “Desert Star” Bridget, who has shared her heartbreaking journey with us and, I hope, gains strength from our support?

Ed vdH puts in hours that would make an actual bot keel over. Steve Bates and many others apologize when their real-life workloads prevent them from volunteering to mod. The hours that clgildner and Red Cap put in, both consecutively and cumulatively, are simply staggering. I could go on and on: we have 2 dozen mods and ALL of us make sacrifices to be here because we WANT to be here, as unpaid volunteers, and have stories that deserve to be told (but I said I wouldn’t ramble, or at least I’d try not to).

Well, I’d better wrap this up (assuming anyone’s still reading)… thank you everyone, and thank you NamibiaCam for making all of this possible. In the grand scheme of things our daily dramas and documented oryx visits might not amount to much but over time, I really think we’re making a positive difference in the lives of our viewers, the welfare of Namibia’s animals, and the realization of NamibiaCam’s dreams and aspirations.

I wish you all well, literally and figuratively, and look forward to modding with you again soon and throughout the year to come. As our ritual expression goes, “Thank you for all you do” – it means much more than words can say. (December 24, 2024)

This statement was originally posted at the Mods’ private Facebook page as a response to another statement posted by another mod that I (and many others) took issue with. Instead of confrontation, I chose another path - while we moderators work toward a common goal in both the short and long term, we don’t always agree on how best to get there.