Simmers Dream, Enter Dreamland
Interview by: Nick Article by: Bologna Edited by: Bologna
Simmers Dream is a great fansite for the Sims 2. I love it there and there is such a nice community. This week, Nick interviewed Cheesy, one of the Administrators at Simmers Dream. So here is a look at Simmers Dream.
You know, Cheesy wasn't always an admin there. No, once she was just a member. "I was on a joining spree basically, I had joined like 20 sites... it was just another site," Cheesy responded when asked what made her join Simmers Dream. Little did she know that she would be an admin to this nice site. So what made her become an admin in the first place? "Emereld said she was going to be busy and was asking for volunteers. It was between Simpettable and I, but she backed down, so I got the job..... I figured if we got some new faces around then maybe [some of the fighting] would go away, and rules came as things would occur. There were very little rules in the beginning but with all sites as they grow, order needs to be taken." Cheesy also mentioned her past plans when she first volunteered to be an admin. "I planned on Emereld still being in charge and me just helping, but they kept me there. I was going to let the site die to be honest." But Cheesy didn't let the site die, instead she worked and worked and Simmers Dream now has 236 great, active members.
Nick took the time to ask some questions about Cheesy's time as an admin at Simmers Dream. When questioned on how she took action on making the forum better for the community, Cheesy responded saying "Some of the stuff I did wasn't always for the better of the community in the beginning, but in the end it all worked out. The staff grew closer and worked together a lot of the time, so it wasn't all me. In the beginning I did stuff without even consulting anyone and it made the mods angry, but as I said, in the end it all worked out." Thinking back on how far Simmers Dream has come, Cheesy says "Simmers Dream used to be a real tiny community, we were stuck under the 50 member mark for ages. Every time we got a new member it was basically a party. Now we have 236 members, most of this member growth has taken place in the last 3-4 months. I'm amazed."
As an Admin, Cheesy has to deal with many things. Aside from the members, she has a staff that she goes to and helps her with Simmers Dream. "We've had out quarrels. Though we got around it." When asked if it was hard to treat everyone equally, Cheesy says "Yeah, it's hard. Especially someone who's been a member since July and you've grown to know them, then someone who just joined maybe in February. [It gets hard when both of them commit the same offense, it's difficult.]"
Cheesy cares much for Simmers Dream. When offline Cheesy says "It's hard for me to do work and not think of what's going on; which is why I do work at the computer screen. Am I worried? Well sometimes it feels like there needs to be a babysitter. I typically don't have to worry about guests spamming us because most sections are closed to guests. I stress sometimes of what might happen when someone's not watching but I guess that's why we have staff and I can hope someone else can be there." And just like those Jr. Sim Masters at the BBS, Cheesy can get an occasional member who likes to act "adminlike". "Brighty says I get frustrated.... Typically I just try to nicely tell them to knock it off though."
"The future is unwritten, I don't know for sure as of right now [what Simmers Dreams' future plans are]. Things can change with the drop of a pen." Says Cheesy. Cheesy is a really nice person who is an admin to a really nice sims site. Her, Emereld, and all the staff are doing a great job! For all you simmers out there looking to begin your own fansite, Cheesy says "Don't expect members to just come to you, if you just affiliate with a bunch of sites people won't come. You'll have to post updates on other forums....sign some guestbooks, don't give up. And don't mass email and PM non stop that gets annoying. Be careful when picking staff...and too much staff can cause too many problems. It's easier to have a staff meeting when there are fewer."
I'd like to thank Cheesy for taking the time to answer all of our questions. I'd also like to thank Nick for interviewing her, he did a great job. I encourage you all too check out Simmers Dream. It's a great place to be!