About war stories...

[squall]

The war stories section sees updates maybe once a month. I read lots of great stories on here. I have read a long list of reasons why things are not considered a war story and have seen people slapped on the hands when a nomination is made. I guess I really don't understand why feathers get ruffled when a nomination is made publicly. I think people are really being encouraged not to nominate a war story on here. Some of the stories really speak for themselves and nobody needs introducing them. I have seen three war story posts added this year. I think there really are more out there. These are just my opinions though.

[Ree]

Since I tend to do a lot of hand slapping for the public nominations, I can answer this one.

The reason feathers get ruffled with public nominations is, well...the rules specifically state that it be done privately. Plain and simple.

There is a good reason for this, however.
We ask that the nominations be done privately to a mod because not all stories nominated will be accepted. It would be very awkward and a little embarrassing and upsetting to the OP to have all these public nominations for their story, but not have it show up, don't you think?
It would certainly be awkward for the mod team to have to answer to the member if they ask why their story wasn't picked for that section.

A lot of stories get nominated just because of who the OP is, sometimes.
Some members have a 'following' if you will, who hang on their every word and feel that every single post they write should be a War Story.
Also, there is a tendency to nominate any story that spans more than 2 posts in a saga.
There is a tendency to nominate any story simply because a legal dispute is involved.

I wrote an outline of what I feel a war story entails, and shared it with the rest of the team, where I was asked by them to post it on the site. So, while I can't speak with authority for the others I do think they feel the same way about my guidelines. It's actually a 'sticky' post in the War story forum.
http://www.customerssuck.com/board/s...ead.php?t=8384

I am assuming you read it since you mention:

I have read a long list of reasons why things are not considered a war story

...but did you also read the part explaining what a story should be:

one of those stories that you read or personally experience, and then share with other people, even years later, when asked about customer service. In the case of another person's story, we throw it out there as, "I knew of this person once, who..." and from there the tale unfolds, and that person moves on to share the tale with another, saying, "You will never believe the story I heard."
...It is just simply a story that epitomizes customer service, the perils of employment, or the suckiness of people, be they managers or customers.

You are right that there are many tales that could very well go in there, but they aren't all nominated. Sometimes, though, we mods even pick tales on our own to put in there without a single member nominating them.

Also, at times, there is a worry that everyone wants to be the next Aaron and have the next "Vinegar Boy" story. That presents a real challenge to us, because then, when we read, we have to sort out the facts from the embellishments that can appear to be put there simply to enhance the "Vinegar Boy" quotient.
Unfortunately, not all members read those same posts with the same grain of salt, and there can be tons of nominations for it, but it just doesn't make it to that section.

I don't think we are discouraging nominations, but not every story can go in there, either, or what would be the point of the forum?

You mention only 3 new stories in there in the past year.
We hesitate to put any active threads into that section.
The reason for that is, once it goes to War Stories, no more commenting is allowed.
If a story is still being discussed and commented on, we like to keep it out there on the board so that everyone gets a chance to participate in the discussion.
Once the thread dies, we close it and move it to War stories.

You would have no way of knowing if we are already considering a story and have it queued up for posting, so I imagine it looks like a neglected section to you.

Trust me, though, we do put a lot of behind the scenes work into that forum.

We appreciate any and all nominations that we receive, but we have already stated that not every story will be selected.

If you have nominated a story and it wasn't considered, and you feel it was unfairly rejected, please PM me again with the details and I can possibly shed light on why it's not showing up in that section.