self revieuw about my term as ombudsman

[zeekomkommer]

with my current term as ombudsman comming to an end i think it is apropriate of me to give myself and descisions i have made as ombudsman a critical revieuw.

now let's start from the start, the ombudsman elections. when i ran i realy had no clue what i was actualy doing or getting myself into. i asked friends of mine wheter or not i should, many replyed that i would be perfect for the job. 1 however said "you shoudn't, you won't last". those words motivated me enough to post my aplication. i hover tought i would be completly overrun by semper and freespirit but it didn't happen. becausse i was a better choice ? NO.

those were the times of the server war in full force and both sides battleing and discussing everything everywhere they pleased. both side wanted the ombudsman be delivered from their side becausse they blamed eachother from having biased mods and admin. as the PI leader FUALL suported me as 1, i got suported by ppl who i hardly knew just becausse i was fuall. in the end i came second.

during the elections i talked alot with manetheren and about 3 days before the end of the election (i was ahead by 20 votes) we descided regardless of who won we would take the other as our understudy. in the end the suport manetheren got from TTF was bigger and he became ombudsman. in some aspects i was a sore loser for fighting some irregularitys that happend during the election to change the outcome to better myself. it failed and looking back now, i'm glad it did becausse i was not ready to be the ombudsman yet.

as the understudy of manetheren i tryed to help out as much as i could and becausse mane is such a great guy he alowed me to help everywhere i wanted. sort of tag teaming the cases. i deemed us to be unstoppable. 2 players on their way to do what many had tryed: to make the forum a better place for all. i tought we knew everything better, we didn't.

we were trown in the fire straight away with noobert and ceasar2 public vendetta. both insulted the other until the point yo could call the ombudsman officer their second home. Inexprienced as we were we descided that we would just handle the complaint and not the issue. The problem never realy got solved until the hatred between fuall and ttf lessened.

I tried to do my best and learn as much as I could from what was going on. Still thinking we were the knights in shining armour I descided to push my luck, it was soon to run out. My first personal mistake happened: the quacol ‘popsicle case’, the only case I still regret up to this day. (all records can be found in the ombudsman corner since no topics are deleted). In stead of taking our time to properly consult moderators and admins regarding the issue we removed the warning. Only later did I fully realise what had been posted there and what I had done. And I feel I must take this opertunity to say sorry to everyone who was involved in this topic. You deserved better.

sadly enough that was not the only mistake I made. A couple weeks later noobert and freespirit got their mod rights removed for 2 weeks for an action as a forum user. They appealed their case to us but we did not have jurisdiction over it. So in stead of accepting that we couldn’t help them with their problem we descided that perhaps we should expand our jurisdiction. Make the ombudsman able to handle admin-mod cases. We tried to get the mods written rules and set punishments for disobeying the rules. Unsurprisingly we fell, hard! It took me a while to figure out what was wrong and it was a real eye opener for me.

I started asking myself: who were we to try and make rules for the ppl who put so much more effort in this forum then we do ? ppl who do what is needed so the forum remains orderly. Ppl who sometimes are forced to act instantly and make fast calls. Calls we have days if not weeks to make. Ppl who put their heart and soul into this forum and get so few in return. From the humble market mod to the admins and GM’s. you are the ones making this forum a better place. But back then I was to proud to see what I did and to stubborn to say sorry. But I want you all to know that I’m truely sorry about the way I acted then, you deserved better. Our intentions were noble but our actions were not.

this affair came to bite me back a few months later. Voices amongst mods and admins were questioning the need for a forum ombudsman. It was painfull to see, instead of stopping to think and act when needed I descided to ‘jump the gun’ call it my youth, call it my character. I made the descision to resign from office that day. I made it public and wrote a big rant about it. It started a big discussion about the ombudsman and in the end it got it’s position clarified. The ombudsman office would remain, it would just undergo some modifications to change it back to it’s original purpous. I was asked by the admins to help out with this and only then learned that I could substantially debate with the mods and forum staff about changes. Changes that were needed and changes that were fair. I did what I should have done instead of resigning and what I always wanted to do but never could: make the difference.

instead of yelling the loudest I opted for the voice of reason, the voice of unification. And tried to work out something that would work for mods, admins, ombudsmen of the future and the forum users. A lot of things changed then, including me. I was no longer the cocky addolesent who tought he could change the world. I became the ombudsman who tried to mak a small contribution.

Then a stroke of luck came my way, the forum admin team resigned and therefore could not accept my resignation. The new admin team was faced with a lot of chalanges and an understudy resigning was not a top priority. Manetheren descided to leave the game so the forum was in need of an ombudsman. I remembered that when I putted myslf up for the position I made a promise to you all. The promise that I would serve you all until the next ombudsman came. I widrew my resignation and started handleing new cases. It was here that I refound the lost joy of helping others. Not as the all knowing ombudsman but as a humble servant who was blessed with the trust of friends to do what is right.

In conclusion I must say that yes mistakes were made but I have learned from them as a person. But not all was bad, I believe that for the most part manetheren and me did a good job in helping you all out. Sometimes ppl just wanted their storys heard and I hope that I was a good listener to you all.

thank you all for the trust and support I was given during my reign, but also thnx to the critics, you are the ones who kept my feet on the ground and who motivated me to improve myself

[Caprila]

Interesting and honest read

Thanks for sharing with us

[Lore]

Very well written, and written in truth. Zeek the only thing I really hated was the confusion that was caused when you and Manny were told you had powers you didnt, and lead down the wrong road. I always thought you and Manny did well. You argued/debated well, even when you disliked those you were arguing for, and their complaints. You did your job.

As an Admin during your term, TY

As a forum user, Thanks