An Open Letter
Clearly you feel that there is something seriously wrong with the way the MOUL forum is being run, otherwise you would not persist in your sarcasm-laden, poorly-veiled commentary on the moderators who run it and the posters who frequent it. I could swear I remember stating as a matter of public record some time ago that I would be willing to discuss perceived mistreatment of members and mismanagement of the forum by the MOUL moderators privately. Unfortunately, nobody involved in the explosion that triggered that statement has since taken me up on the offer, nor has anyone involved in the forum thread I linked to above. Is this simply poor memory on your part, or do you feel that it is better to try and publicly stir up bad vibes and goad people into taking actions you can later use as justification for your divissive behavior?
I have been entirely honest in my offer to extend a hand in honest, open communication regarding perceived mishandling of situations on the forums by the moderators, and my offer still stands. Vacant, public accusations of wrongdoing will get you no farther in resolving anything; I’ve learned that lesson myself. If you have a problem with the way the forum is being run by the moderators, take it up with me directly - that’s why I made the offer I did. If you have a problem with the behavior of a forum poster, take it up with them directly; don’t over-generalize and accuse the entire forum population of being Cyan yes-men when it’s plainly clear that that is not the case.
I look forward to working with you to resolve whatever problems you see as existing on the MOUL forums in a direct, professional, and speedy manner.
- Alahmnat
MOUL Forum Moderator
August 6th, 2008 at 3:03 am
*rolleyes*
There’s a reason I no longer visit that forum. Sadly, its worse than the official, closed one for SL.
–TSK
August 6th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
This is a prime example of why people don’t come to you. You fly off the handle at the slightest thing. Sure the post probably wasn’t the most tactful thing in the world, and my reports probably didn’t come off all that great to you, but you know what? Maybe there is a message behind all of this. Maybe people are doing this because there is a problem, but feel that even attempting to communicate it to you will accomplish nothing at all.
I know that is how I feel, and I know for a fact that others feel this way too.
So are you going to continue to be a part of the problem? Or will you be a *real* man and become part of the solution?
August 7th, 2008 at 2:58 am
Okay, so that’s how it is, then. I’m doing everything I can think of to give you an avenue to discuss the problems you have with the MOUL forum, and in return you insult me. What, exactly, would you like me to do to be a part of this “solution” of yours, since trying to behave like an adult and talk to you personally doesn’t seem to be cutting it? Your behavior on the forums, both in the locked thread and through the abuse of the post reporting feature, was out of line, and pointing that fact out does not constitute “flying off the handle”. Rather than even make an attempt to communicate your problems rationally, you instead went straight for the most obnoxious way of making your point as humanly possible. Flooding the post reporter with 22 identical (and occasionally sarcastic) reports is not a good way to get me to take you seriously, nor is insinuating that the mods outright refuse to tolerate alternative viewpoints and diversions in conversations when we have been demonstrably trying to ensure that everyone can have their voice heard while maintaining some semblance of order.
Maybe the reason we keep reacting the way we do when you and your post-mates show up is because you never attempt to do the adult thing and talk to us in a serious, sarcasm-free manner. Instead, you pull juvenile stunts and defy any efforts made by either the moderators or the admins at Cyan to discuss your problems. I would expect such behavior from a 5th grader having a temper tantrum, and that is how I respond to it. You want a serious discussion, try doing it without the overblown attitude and sarcasm, you’re likely to get farther that way. Sempler may be right, being overly nice is just politics and platitudes, but there is something to be said for tact: people will take you more seriously, and be more willing to listen to what you have to say, if you don’t act like a jerk and ignore olive branches when they’re extended in good faith.
If you’re still interested in being part of a serious discussion, I’m still willing to listen. You’re free to completely ignore my offer, of course, but I can’t think of a good reason why you wouldn’t at least try to make your point since I’m giving you the opportunity. Trust me, I have enough other things to do that if I were going to blow you off and ignore what you had to say, I wouldn’t be asking in the first place.
August 7th, 2008 at 9:17 am
I’m not getting involved here, but I just want to ask why a game forum requires you to be taken seriously or requires people to respect you?
It’s just a game, a failed game at that. Your running a failed games’ forum. Why are you taking everything so seriously?
August 7th, 2008 at 9:25 am
I’m still just waiting for a reply to my PM on MOUL forum. As to whom upset you, and why you locked the thread. Carry On…..
August 7th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Chogon picked my PM up in less than 30 minutes of posting.
August 7th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
You know why I haven’t wanted to talk to you as an “adult” about any problems I find? Because you turn them around and make them *my* or someone else’s fault or problem (I admit that that I am *not* completely innocent. I have made some poor posting choices myself) Your blog post of “Why we can’t have nice things” further proves my point. It shows bias and contempt for some of the community, blaming them for failures that aren’t even related to them. Moderators should be impartial, even if the user is the biggest jackass on the face of the planet, you should *never* turn it around to be their fault.
As for “flooding the post reporter,” there is no clear way to report an entire topic, so I decided “By Any Means Necessary!” I find it quite odd that a post about the userKI, which will not benifiet MORE in the slightest bit (Your argument of UU and the userKI were so entertwined is somewhat false. D’mala users had great fun without it.) In fact, the userKI was release in lieu of new content. Development on it stopped because the administrators were more interested in adding real content to the game. Something that will be done in MORE… The trivial “features” that the adminKI and userKI exposed are not appropriate for MORE and should not be discussed (Except for perhaps the code that allowed the user to don a Maintainer’s Suit).
Oh, and did you know that sarcasm and jokes are natural human responses to problems? When I see saracasm on a forum, a red flag goes up, and I wonder “Is there something wrong here or is this user just being funny?” Look beneath the scathing words and you will find the harsh truth.
You know, I just realized something while pondering this post. Why am I fighting this battle? I am a programmer, not some kind of general… I pride myself on being like my father, and I most certainly am not acting like him now. So, you can sling as much mess as you want at me now because *I* *Don’t* *Care* *Anymore*. If you moderators want to make MOUL your secret SS HQ, then fine. I’ll leave you to it, and I’ll get back to what really matters in my life: writing applications that will make your brains explode into 1,000,000 pieces and laughing at incompetent buffoons that I see in R/L.
Good Day.
August 7th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
BAD:
I am in no way demanding that people be serious, fun-averse stiffs on the MOUL forum. Hell, I think that people can be pretty silly there, and I have no problem with it. However, when you want to communicate a problem to those you feel are doing something inappropriate, silly jokes and sarcasm aren’t exactly the best tools. Straightforward, honest, and direct communication is far more productive, I find, than slinging insults and being flippant.
As far as why I take everything so seriously, I try not to. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Perhaps the biggest reason I tend to be so serious in these situations is because it strikes me as an important characteristic for someone in charge to be able to be serious when discussing these matters. That said, I do tend to take Uru more seriously than others because to me, it’s more than just a game. D’ni is literally something that I grew up with. It’s a very special thing to me, and I can admittedly be somewhat protective of it. I do my best to stay out of conversations where that attitude is going to cause problems, which is why I tend to hang out where I do.
Wutt:
I apologize for not responding to your PM yesterday. I was at work when you sent it, and didn’t have the time to dedicate to writing what I felt would be an adequate response (in fact, I’m devoting entirely too much time to writing this response as it is). By the time I got home, other matters required my attention and your PM slipped off of my radar because, quite simply, I have a really terrible memory. It’s a crap excuse, but it’s the truth. If you want to see it as a personal sleight, that’s well within your rights. However, my lack of immediate response was out of concern that I wouldn’t be responding to you with the full attention I felt your concerns deserved, and I very much apologize for my later scatterbrainedness.
Hoikas:
I’m not entirely certain how much clearer I can make this point to you: I am trying to engage you, and others with your concerns, in a conversation because I’m willing to admit that there may be problems with the way the forum is being run that are a result of how the moderators are doing things. If my sole intent in opening a dialogue was to blame you for everything, I don’t think we’d be having any sort of conversation at all; I’d just be blaming you and not say a word elsewise. That said, I do appreciate that you’re willing to acknowledge that the problem is not as one-sided as it’s always made out to be, with the mods indiscriminately going after the Slackers whenever they say word one. There is give and take, as well as shared responsibility, in any disagreement. With that understanding, can we move forward to discuss ways that we (meaning the Slackers and the MOUL mods) could avoid stepping on each others’ toes quite as often as we seem to? We keep going around in this dance of sarcasm, reaction, offended response (lather, rinse, repeat) and getting nowhere.
Regarding the UserKI discussions: while I see and readily acknowledge your point that D’mala got along just fine without the UserKI, discussions of UU seem to gravitate to the UserKI with some degree of regularity (D’mala also had the benefit of intermittent Cyan participation through the DRC, and other more immersion-friendly user contributions that somewhat obviated the need for it). I’m well aware that most of the UserKI and AdminKI functionality is completely inappropriate for MORE, but in the interest of allowing people to discuss that point and reach their own conclusions (something we are continually accused of preventing), we opted to permit the conversations to continue. Incidentally, pretty much everyone involved in the conversation has reached the same conclusion you and I had already arrived at. At the same time, we did attempt to steer the thread about when MORE would be released back to its original topic because the UserKI had nothing to do with the purpose of the thread, and discussing it in its own topic was more appropriate. Please don’t try to use this one instance as an example of the mods trying to squash any alternative views or obstruct the natural flow of conversation, and please understand that even we sometimes end up contributing to a discussion that may be better suited in another thread. It is not our goal to be intentionally inconsistent; we’re human, we make mistakes, and unfortunately I think the mandated green text does more to highlight our slip-ups and personal opinions than accentuate our comments when we have something official to say.
Thank you, also, for pointing out what sarcasm can be used for. Between you and Tomala, I’m becoming something of an expert on the subject (see, I can do it too!). I’m well aware of the fact that sarcasm seems to be the weapon of choice for you and others when it comes to addressing problems. However, perhaps you should stop and consider whether your tone is helping matters or not when little seems to have changed as a result of your witty commentary. I’m not trying to push this back on you, because I guess by now we (the mods) ought to be used to your way of talking about your problems, but if sarcasm hasn’t gotten your point across in the past 2+ years, maybe you ought to try something less likely to put the people you’re trying to talk to on the defensive.
I’m not here to pick a fight, I’m here to talk. Unfortunately, my responses always seem to be on the defensive because all I have to respond to are charged or inappropriate comments, absurd hyperbole (SS headquarters? Seriously?), sarcastic jabs and questionable behavior which you yourself have admitted to engaging in. Would you want to talk to me or take me seriously if I were doing the same thing to you? Think about it.
August 7th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
All I can say is, this didnt work like you said it would then:
“If you have a problem with the way the forum is being run by the moderators, take it up with me directly - that’s why I made the offer I did.”
I did, You Didn’t, what ever.