BYW - why would I want to sign up to the experts ..... system.
Yeah, I think that program (and BrickLink does love a good program) is somewhat
misunderstood at this point.
Russell said in a forum post:
"Just to be clear, all admins are inactive until the new Community Experts
Program is put in place. This does NOT mean they will be inactive in the near
future."
The Community Expert (or Experts, as it has also been identified) Program was
also explained in the Next Steps announcement thread as follows:
"We plan to introduce a new program for our volunteers called the Community
Expert Program. This will recognize and provide support for everyone who contributes
time and effort to make BrickLink truly useful for our community. More details
in early 2020."
It's somewhat clear from both posts that this program is intended for people
who volunteer in some form for the site, which nearly certainly means the volunteer
people on this page:
Considering the fact that the volunteers are being moved to a "program," a person
could make certain deductions about what that could mean for those volunteers.
I believe what has confused people is this sentence:
"This will recognize and provide support for everyone who contributes time
and effort to make BrickLink truly useful for our community."
It's a slippery sentence laden with business-speak that can be read in a
number of different ways and, as I say, has lead to the kind of confusion seen
here:
and more. Of course, the rollout of the program not corresponding chronologically
with the furtive removal of volunteer administrative duties made things more
confusing.
My takeaway is that there has been some communication, which we should all applaud.
It may not have been easily-understood or comprehensive communication, but at
least it happened.
USA, Vermont
United Kingdom, England
Netherlands, Utrecht