Stupid Guest Tricks

BRWombat wrote:Oh, hobie, you should know that wallabies are not native to South America...

Neither were the Japanese that emigrated to Brazil after the end of WWII. ;)

BW has apparently gone to the Dark Side, but hey, COOKIES ! !

hobie16 wrote:Neither were the Japanese that emigrated to Brazil after the end of WWII. ;)

Very weird meeting a Japanese guy with a Brazilian first name and Japanese last name. Sao Paulo was an interesting place though!

Shorty82 wrote:I wanted to contact you the moment I discovered the site was down, which was probably only a few hours later max, but as I only have your SGT email address I couldn't. I contacted Zazu asking him to contact you but he as well only had your SGT address. With the domain expired any emails we sent you would have bounced.

Though, you are right, the site is sadly dying. Not many Stupid Guest Tricks are posted anymore and there are never a lot of posts on any topic. I've met some wonderful people from here and have made some lasting friendships and I would be saddened to see the site close but closing the site may be the best option. I wish I could afford to even give a little to help the site but sadly money is very tight right now and will be for some time. I also just don't really have the time or skills necessary to grow the site.

Hi All!

Am just catching up on the site and all that has been going on.

First, many, many thanks to Cujo and all of the members who have selflessly supported this site both financially and perhaps spiritually. :D: It has been a haven for many cast members for so long. It always helped to see that "you are not alone" with all of the challenges we face everyday.

Second, Shorty expresses a valid point. Money these days is very tight for most which means time gets eaten up trying to run about grabbing shifts to make things work all while juggling silly things like family life. LOL Shorty, I feel your pain. But I just keep telling myself things will work out eventually.

Third, I think that this site is suffering from a few things that are not in our control. I left a while ago cause frankly I found that I was not happy with a few individuals that were suddenly coming here. I did not want to hear about what people on site X or Y said about things. I did not want to hear SGs that managed to find our site and so desperately wanted to be or affect the "cool peeps" here. There are a number of "guests" that are part of the fabric of SGT; they help make it a fun place.

The other challenge sites like this have is the Company's explicit stand on social media and what cast can share on line. Bottom line is if they can identify you from your post(s), they can take steps that you will no longer have to worry about what you say on line. The Company wants to micromanage the content available on line, especially from its own cast. While one would like to applaud how the Company wants to "protect the Magic" in the ether, these actions only mirror some of the "chilling effect" they have on CM free speech even backstage.

I would like to consider this a backstage area; a place where you can let your hair down. Vent, laugh, cry, and share what you are going up against every single day. A place that helps you get your 'balance' that you need in your life.

I have not been able to share much of what has been going on ... SGT wise .. because the stories are easily linked back to me. I have seen a sharp increase in the number of discipline actions, not excluding termination, for what the Company believes are breaches of confidentiality.

So, the question becomes how can this venue move forward while adhering to Company guidelines?

Discuss...a lot please ;)

mapo wrote:I would like to consider this a backstage area; a place where you can let your hair down. Vent, laugh, cry, and share what you are going up against every single day. A place that helps you get your 'balance' that you need in your life.

I have not been able to share much of what has been going on ... SGT wise .. because the stories are easily linked back to me. I have seen a sharp increase in the number of discipline actions, not excluding termination, for what the Company believes are breaches of confidentiality.

So, the question becomes how can this venue move forward while adhering to Company guidelines?

Discuss...a lot please ;)

I think that the Company's ability to impose their will on your personal, off-the-clock activities, is largely a function of the strength of your Union. Mine isn't much, but when the Company has made unreasonable demands, a single email from a shop steward has been enough to draw either a retraction or at least a cessation of harassment. Your Union may differ.

I also think that there is a big gap between stories where the cast member can be identified and ones where the guest might identify themselves. The latter is properly something the Company worries about, and it's something I try to avoid as well. But given that the Company has published instructions for how to disavow Company sponsorship of your posts, they clearly concede that we can speak even in situations where we might be identified as cast.

It would be possible to convert this to a cast-only site, or at least to limit new members that way. As you mention, it would cost us a number of valuable members. It would also prevent the site from serving an educational function. How often have people written here asking if something would be Stupid, or how to avoid Stupid?

That said, if we are to enjoy the benefits of stories that members feel unsafe posting in a public forum, perhaps we can leave the bulk of the site open, but have cast-only forums for such sensitive issues.

The challenge with any such restriction is how we might accurately identify cast members. There's also the challenge that some legitimate CM may be assigned by the Company to snoop on us. This then becomes as much a legal question as a technical one (right, Wombat?).

With the upcoming change in management, this is a good time to discuss such changes. I too would like to hear from many others, current cast, former cast, or guest.

When I joined, this forum was for anyone in the theme park industry, whether former, current or future. As a then-employee of what I prefer to call Nazi Fairy Farm, I found a welcome refuge here. I was also a member of KBFDrama, a now-defunct site similar to this one. I heard about both sites while a ride operator at KBF/NFF, by means of a sympathetic maintenance guy. When KBFDrama folded, this was my comfort zone, even though by then I was no longer in the theme park business. I appreciate the family atmosphere we've cultivated here, and would be saddened to see it go. I've had so many losses of things that meant a lot to me in my life, including a couple I've shared here, such as the loss of my precious special kitty Tripod. You all were wonderful in your support, and I will never forget that.

As some of you are aware of, I used to be a cast member. I have been spreading the existence of this site to other cast members whenever I get a chance to do so and when they notice my SGT shirt. I let them know that this is a site that has present and former cast members mostly from Disney, but from other parks as well. I let them know that it is a place they can come and vent about stupid guests or just to be entertained.
My shirt was last noticed this past Sunday, as I was getting ready to board the safari vehicle, by a cast member. This person claimed that they were a former member here who hadn't visited in quite some time. I assured them that the site was still here and invited them to log back in and check it out. As long as one doesn't give out too much information, it would be very hard for Disney management to find out who one is. They may not like what some of the forum members here are saying, but if they are smart they may learn a thing or two from it. I'm sure Walt himself would have appreciated a site like this, as it would have helped him find out what some of the short comings in the parks are. He probably would not be too happy about some of those things though. ;)

I appreciate the fact that you have allowed non-cast members to participate in this site. I may not contribute as much as cast members, but is is a site I am on everyday because I love the friendship and the stories. I appreciate the efforts you guys make in creating magic for us guests and I like the look into your work. If I am banished, then thanks for the stories. If I am allowed to stay, yay for me.

While I am not a cast member, I sometimes work for Mickey thru a contractor. That is in fact my current status. I am working for Mickeys live stage division, installing a very large show, which is headed for the bright lights of Broadway in the new year. But my paycheque comes from the theatre, not directly from the mouse. Although it is billed back to him.

I am also a twice a year park visitor and love the contact here with so many great CMs, several of whom I have met in person. I would hate to loose that contact. If there is need for a secure "current cast only" forum, I certainly support that. But I would also love to see our existing community of members continue to go on with the open forums.

Perhaps the answer to nervous CMs is an anonymizing service that will prevent the original poster from being tracked. It would need to be moderated, and the moderators would need to know the cast status of posters, but it could be made to work.

Would any CM who has refrained from posting a story here have been willing to post it if there were no way to track them?