Blog:JohnVMaster/Happy Birthday, Applebaby12!!

Okay, so Apple's birthday was yesterday (July 10) and I didn't get a chance to finish posting this in time. Oops... :(

Still, let's take a step back and wish a belated happy birthday to Apple! This is a great chance to talk about how much she has done for all of us and for this wiki.

Apple has done incredible work for this community, some of it behind the scenes and some very public, and I'd like to ask everyone to take a moment to appreciate her. I joined her as a discussions moderator and alongside each promotion she has been a consistent pleasure to work with time and time again. I cannot tell you how often she is the first to be there when any of us brings up an issue on the wiki, how often she has been among the first to deal with trolls, and how many users have told us they rely on her as a friend. She has proven to be an invaluable member of the team.

The most important thing that needs to be said is that Apple is a pillar of our community. I cannot stress this enough. When we worked together as discussions moderators, she took on most of the workload every time. There are so many users in the discord who have told me Apple is one of their best friends and that she has been a shoulder to cry on. She took on question of the week duties in our discord server for months, helping keep social engagement up. She's usually keeping an eye on #sodosopa when she's online. More than an important member of the team, she is also a good friend. Staff members and regular users alike depend on her and it's hard to imagine what the community would look like without her there.

On a personal level, she has the capacity to understand different points of view better than most which is an asset in management that I think is criminally overlooked. You need team members who can remind you of other prespectives so you can make informed choices. I have never seen her rush to judgement on anything without taking multiple angles into consideration. She makes an excellent sounding board in this respect, as well - I can't tell you how many hours I've spent on call with Charlie and Apple discussing ways to improve this wiki.

Take some time in the comments to let Apple know how important she is to this community and how you hope she had a happy birthday, too!