RoKeT wrote:MLH I love you but... How do you figure? I mean I complained about Biast Mods Months ago, Years ago maybe even, but those were different mods, more mods come and people complain about biasedness and they are different mods... So it's just a cycle that is never changing people who don't like answers they receive and they complain... now I could be wrong like as i've said i'm obviously not aware of your circumstances and what happened toyou, I can only say for me I complained aswell but about different mods before me others did, and after me others have we have all complained I think at one time or another about "biased Unfair mods' but in the end they are always different mods, you can never say who is a biased or unfair... Haz was blamed in one thread he is brand new so the time thing wouldn't work there either... I don't want ot argue but I wanted to speak my peice
RoKeT I love you to and your one of my favorites. I remember when you first came on scene with a BANG and had trouble every where you turned. You were tenacious and demanded to be seen and heard. It worked for you ... and you seem satiated , Im happy about that.
But this is not about me or you ...
In the beginning of this thread it is asked by a timeless devoted member of this forum.
Psi Kiya Trist wrote:So, what is it worth to you? Are you willing to put aside the animosity to get new people in here? People who could contribute great opinions, and great ideas. Or, are you going to tell me I'm completely wrong, and that the decline of the forum was caused by another reason, that you can explain as thoroughly as I have here? I will be looking at this thread with great interest.
I believe the decline of the forum is due to poor design... and due to human nature it was predetermined to function at this level.
Preceded by ...
Psi Kiya Trist wrote:Lately, a lot of people have been saying "the community is in shambles", "no one wants to come here anymore", "the community is not as welcoming as it once was." From these observations, blame has been thrown about to all kinds of places. Turkey seems to blame the mod team. I would blame the community itself.
This has been a constant complaint over many years and many Users Mods and Admins. Most recently there has been a begrudged mass exodus of some long term committed players and genius forum contributors. More often than not it is as a result of a conflict with forum policy and poor forum management.
I dont think anyone is to blame here. The kids were left to babysit themselves. Surprisingly enough the Mods themselves were and are some of the most intelligent well spoken individuals Ive had the pleasure to read. Unfortunatly I found a surprising lack of professionalism, structure and respect within the infrastructure. I would attribute this to ego age maturity , game related rhetoric , roll play, agenda and in the end human nature.
On the same note and for the exact same reasons mentioned above one cannot blame the community.
Psi Kiya Trist wrote:To expand upon what I mean, in the past, members of the community(usually parts of the larger alliance groups) massed people for merely expressing their opinion on these forums. It was an impressive form of propaganda control, but it also destroyed the good feelings and friendship that existed before then. Before then, the "word" on the forums was respect. You could talk to anyone and expect to get some semblance of respect, we were all "equals". Once the massing started, it became an issue of "who's better" can control the forums, and they did, for a while. What happened, was eventually the massing caused a huge public outcry. The community could no longer stand it. Since they had no recourse in the game against the top four alliances banded together, they took it out on the forums. The forums became a hot bed of aggression and flaming. No more could you talk to just anyone, and have a good conversation. People were assigned sides, "With us or against us", "If you're not with us, you're biased." The truth stopped mattering to people. The forum became so bad, the administration of the time, decided that it was time to impose harsher penalties for flaming, and spamming valid discussions in an attempt to curb this aggression. It only half worked. The negative feeling has persisted, but the full aggressive "you're with us or you're against us" posters have decreased. Some things have changed for the better, and some rules have been relaxed since then.
This is an absolute and timeless truth.
I can say I am quilty of all of the above.
This is why it is difficult to mod, and this is also why I say a forum Administrator should not hold an Alliance or Empire leadership roll. It blurs the lines between forum and game. It causes undue unrest suspicion and hostilities therefor undermining the legitimacy of the Administration team and any valid argument.
Psi Kiya Trist wrote:You complain of how you "lack your rights" on this forum, but you do not know what it was like to be a Moderator in an alliance with someone, and having to mod them, and that person kicked you out of your alliance for it. The whole forum has a lot of growing to do in order to heal these scars, but attacking the Moderators is not going to help. The blame lies with all of us.
I would argue that the rights of the users are loosely defined by design and defined as needed.
Someone should write a users bill of rights. I have heard talk of one but have yet to see it happen.
I think what the users want is transparency and to be treated as equals and with respect. Again a flawed idealism due to the already in place blurred line between forum and game. Im not denying that its hard to be a moderator , but its shouldn't be you can make it as hard as or as easy as you want.
Limiting this to a time slot and subject to review for further service would encourage better service.
Psi Kiya Trist wrote:And this is not to say the moderators are blameless. I believe the moderators are leaders in the community, but only so far as "Servant leadership". They are supposed to lead by example. If we want a positive atmosphere for new people to come in, be able to speak their mind, and feel a part of the community, we need to be accepting of them. Not judging them according to our conceived notions. Correcting them of their misinformed opinions, and showing them the truth. The forums should not be about "with us or against us." It should not be about "I'm better than you, so I am not going to respect you." Everyone deserves some respect, it doesn't matter if they're new or old. I have seen many people go on about "They need to earn my respect". Which leaves me asking, "How can they earn it if you don't give them a chance?" This is why the Respect group was created all those years ago. As a positive move to encourage the rest of the community to accept others. With how the Respect group is now, it feels rather obvious, that
this community doesn't wish to become a fun place again. The pervasive negativity has become "a way of life" for the normal forum goer. I have long fought to challenge this, but it is not a fight any one person can fight alone. The community as a whole must make the move to correct the atmosphere of the forum.
Well said.
But we are all at fault right now if we agree that something is wrong and not try to fix it. Im sure we can go on and on arguing for days. These problems have been acknowledged by both sides time and time again. The debate is over the problems are identified.
There is no excuse for this to go on , we are all adults. Ive watched half of you grow up before my eyes. You are brilliant individually and a phenomenon collectively. I dont believe for one second that you are not capable of detaching emotionally and set aside animosity for long enough to build a blueprint for this house of cards.
Im not saying I have the answers thats why I wont make another topic in suggestions. Im happy to contribute but agreeably some things need defining.
I hope you can find someone to help you with that. 