User blog:CantWin4NutN/Who Am I?

Welcome to my very first blog.....ever!

My name is Diana (real life name) aka CantWin4NutN and my game name is CantWin (I was one letter too long to spell out the entire name).

I came to Seeker's Notes to find a friendly, challenging game that was similar to Secret Society. I have played Secret Society for a couple of years. First as Diana which I later changed to Diana56 to more clearly identify myself from the unknown, countless number of other Diana's out there. Before Diana, I had another game, which I don't even remember the name of (I think it was Diana also). I lost that game when my hard drive crashed on my computer and the tech nerds I took my computer to for repairs could not retrieve it. I was so bummed. I was a level 220 something and had to start from scratch.

I used the SS wiki for game information only and advanced nicely on the Diana56 account, then........Foss retired!

For a while, nothing changed on the wiki that I could see and the List of Collections page suffered. I noticed an "edit" button, clicked on it and the light bulb came on. I could update the page with the numerous new collections that had been added to the game since her departure.

When I first looked at the editing process, I noticed I could either use the Visual editor or the Source editor. I tried the Visual and it just wasn't for me. Source was the way to go because years earlier I had taught myself how to create and maintain a website (I had a website for organic dog treats) using HTML and this was very similar.

Next, I had to learn how I could make the pictures beautiful like Foss did by removing the background. I found a free, online editor, I played around with some images until I felt comfortable with meeting the standards set by Foss. I looked at what Foss had done in the past. Learned her reasoning behind how to name the images so they would be easier to find when it came time to insert them into the articles.

It was time for me to put my talents to work. I made a few edits to the List of Collections page and of course, it was noticed by the new Bureaucrat and I was encouraged to continue, which I did until it was up to date, or so I thought. As I looked at a select few, older collections, I noticed there were many collections listed but no article to go to for them. As it turned out, there were 300+ that needed to be fixed. What happened from there? I became a member of the "Editing Team". My main function was to prepare and upload the images and others were assigned tasks of using the images to complete the article(s). That being said, with a minimum of 7 images per collection, (the cropped image was created by the team member that created the "stub") I accumulated a lot of badges. After I completed the images for the 300+ collections, I did very little to contribute and just waited in the background for the next update. I would have loved to take on additional responsibilities to help but understandably, by then there were a lot of cooks in the kitchen and possibility of tripping over each other was inevitable. So I just did the right thing and waited.

By being a member of the Edit Team, I was privy to the private email correspondence between members and mainly just read the emails to remain in the loop as an informed members. Things took a turn when a discussion between the Bureaucrat and another member resulted in my decision to leave the Editing Team. I did not understand why it was thought that the only reason people enlisted to help the team was to accumulate badges to make themself look good. That recently became clearer after reading the forum posts on SS explaining the reason for "protecting" the many, many pages/articles on their wiki. Too little, too late for me. I had already decided I was done with SS other than playing the game. Then a new update came out. If my memory is correct, it had 30+ new collections which meant that the member who took over the image responsibility was going to be overwhelmed. I prepared some images and emailed them to her so she could upload them and get a jump on the massive task. I was informed by her that the Bureaucrat realized I was helping and she was told to tell me to stop.

While I was out of state, there was the major friends glitch on SS. Since it turned out to be a long reaching glitch, it wouId be the perfect time for me to change my name to CantWin4NutN because I didn't want to be associated with Diana56......period. I also deleted all my game friends and started over making friends under my new name. It was not a nefarious decision, I just didn't want to be targeted and made to feel unwelcome. As far as the SS wiki goes, I had requested and received the name change from Diana to Diana56 through Fandom, which meant I could not change Diana56 to CantWin4NutN because name change can only be done once. Ok, no big deal, I registered as CantWin4NutN and posted remarks on the forum only and avoided anything that would cause me to earn badges. I was happy, I was playing my game, but it was boring. Hence, I found Seeker's Notes.

When I found Seeker's Notes also had a wiki which was started by Foss, I was thrilled but it really needed help. I did some more research and found that it would be a good idea to make a forum post as to my desire to help and wait to see if there were any objections. This is where the paranoia spilled over from SS to SN and my intentions were questioned. I did not understand why a new member was questioned but I did not take offence. To my dismay, I had be more transparent and share my previous identity when all I wanted to do was erase my association with Diana56. I opened myself up to those who questioned me and we resolved any concerns. There still may be some out there who are not completely convinced yet. Hence, my blog.

As many already know, I am currently working on the List of Collections page. This requires a lot of images and, even though I would like to remain at ZERO badges, to my knowledge, I can not. If anyone out there knows if there is a way to avoid earning badges but still contribute, please, please, please, tell me how.

I have a lot to learn about SN and every day is a learning process. This is my new "go to" game and I love it. My biggest, long term goal is to get my game to the point where I can gift any and/or all items. Hefty goal but eventually I'll get there. I remember thinking, 'I can't wait to be level 87" on SS so I can gift tokens.  Once I did that, leveling up just kept happening without effort and I am now level 300+.  But along with meeting my goal(s), I am bored and waiting for new updates while at a minimum, I gifting daily (ok, and playing Gem Match a couple of times per day).

Thank you for taking the time to read my very lengthy blog. I'm usually not much of a Chatty Cathy (for those of you not old enough to remember this toy, she's from the 1960's).

Diana