Let me go ahead and post my 2 cents as I've been gone for the past 2 months.
It has been stated 1001 times by Shane and the other members of the Twink Info Staff to l e a v e the moderator discussion out of the forums. Problem? Message the Admins or other Moderators. End of discussion. You don't create @mod threads and complain about him/her. That's just purely immature. I know you all love to hate me, that's fine. Sure I'm strict with the CoC, I wrote it.
I do not understand were you get this idea that everyone hates you just to hate you. Sure some people act like Youtube haters in the comment section call you and everyone else a faggot with little to no reason, but there are other who dislike what you BELIEVE IN and ENFORCE, not for who you are.
The reason they verbalize this distaste is because your beliefs have a NEGATIVE effect on them and/or the community they are a part of. Yes, there are people who just spew hatred because they are angry people in real life or are using it as a form of venting, but you really need to get your head out of your ass when you just label anything that could possibly be seen as hate when in fact it is someone explaining a commonly held objective - and sometimes even constructive - opinion.
On my first day back an EU member started raging on the forums about me being asked to moderate the forums and enforce the CoC. After Shane had warned him to leave the Moderator discussion off the forums, he found himself with a 2 week ban at Shane's hand which he circumvented earning him an indefinite break from the site. Meanwhile another US user was doing the exact same thing as this EU member, but stopped once he was was warned
On your first day back it wasn't just the EU players that were up in arms. They may have been the ones who actually posted but my Skype, Realid and In-Game whispers were lighting up like a thunderstorm. The majority of the community knew that this was a really bad idea, it was almost like watching a car crash in slow motion as it was happening and being completely powerless to stop it.
I believe that Shane warned that user, not because he was wrong, but because he went about it in a very immature way. Again it wasn't because that user or the idea he held was wrong, it was because that discussion got out of hand and he simply wanted to end it as I can only assume to take some stress off his back - which is totally understandable. Meanwhile I was doing the same same thing but in a more mature and professional way (that was a nice subtle way of saying you pulled rank on me btw). The one thing that you misunderstood was I didn't stop because I was threatened, I stopped because I realized that trying to persuade someone with such a dense mind would cause more harm than good. This is another reason as to why I believe you are not fit for the role.
The last few games to occur in the bracket were played by many people whom I have never heard of and who weren't even on these forums. I believe only about 6/10 players per side were commonly known 19 twink names.
The bracket went into a slow and declining death largely due to (although not exclusively) the over moderation on TI which played a major factor in causing this stagnation, no matter the amount of denial you wish to hold.
If you can find an example where a discussion was ended by the Staff for reason being: Disagreeing with other members (As Saxxon has claimed), please notify me and any actions taken against said post, thread or account will be reversed. If there is any impact on the in game community as a result of Twink Info (besides organization) it would be the lack of respect.
Of course there isn't a specific instance where we can definitively say "Oh, here is where over moderation caused 40% of the bracket to leave". It's something that took its toll over many many months paired with other factors that I listed earlier on in this discussion.
- The issue is when there is no respect for absolutely anyone on these forums. I have a job to do: Enforce the CoC. I haven't done it in two months. Before banning any member they must first accumulate 3 active infractions for a typical ban. Infractions happen when someone has a hard time posting on these forums while respecting others.
The issue is when people believe that anything that has any possible controversial contents is seen as being "disrespectful". Just because someone disagrees doesn't mean they disrespect the person's view. You have a job to do, to moderate a forum thats' lifeblood has been driven by competition since its' birth. Sometimes you have to let things slide to allow the bracket to flourish, and as unattractive as it sounds sometimes you have to be the cleanup crew even though you saw it coming.
Preemptive action is not always the best solution.
- I warmly welcome all discussion 100% of the time. No discussion has been ended on this site because of the argument, it was ended at the result of there being breaches of the CoC most commonly being related to disrespecting other people.
The next point makes me cringe. There have been --- MULTIPLE - MULTIPLE - MULTIPLE - I cannot emphasize this enough --- discussions that have been closed due to an argument. Whether it be because someone gets butt hurt over some small snide comment or remark or whether some white knight controversy avoiding basement dweller feels it is his duty and reason for existence to make sure the world is free from anyone saying anything other than positive thoughts. The CoC in many of these instances is just used to rationalize the closing of these threads and a means of justification.
- The largest impact on the community population happened when other members were bragging about quitting 19s to other members. Keep in mind we didn't have pops half way through August.
The bragging of quitting came partially as a result of the frustration due to over moderation that came along side. This is just cause and effect coming into play.
- There were only a handful 19 members who tried to keep the community going after things really died down. These are the people who actually played in the last few games 19s had, played and organized wargames and world pvp events. Most of the people posting in this threads were not any of these members who tried to help the bracket endure a patch that is very, very game changing. These people typically never once stood by the idea that causing drama on TI was a necessity to the existence of the bracket.
Congratulations? So you had a small minority of the bracket who just happened to not care/want drama who continued to play got games? Gee I wonder why none of the players participated who knew of the major role of having a little drama and open conversations to aid in driving competition. Oh yeah that's right, they stop playing because their motivation went out the window bit by bit every time they tried to spark up some controversy it was closed down and/or people were infracted/banned. Honestly how is this blatant correlation such a mystery?
- I have a thread of 52 users along with evidence for each and everyone of them which supports how they earned themselves a ban.
Why should the number of accounts you have banned even be mentioned? How is it relevant? It just seems to me like this is something you hold as some sort of twisted achievement or a symbol of how "well" you have done. To be honest that sends a sickening feeling through my body.
This is the blanket concept for the CoC. If you can post whilst following this you will never have a warning, infraction or a ban:
Discuss whatever you would like to on these forums as long as you are not talking about problems with the TI staff (PM the Admins or Moderators themselves), disrespecting others or being extremely off topic (@threads are spam as they can be dealt with via PM). There simply is no reason nor excuse for a disrespectful post.
The major problem with the CoC is that most of the terms are so broad and open to multitudes of interpretation. On the @threads topic, I really hate the fact that you aren't allowed to post an [MENTION=18116]Top[/MENTION]ic. Just having those thread pop up in the forum gives a feel of activity being present or that the bracket is alive. It makes it feel like you are actually in a room of people and the @thread serves as a purpose of calling someone you know over so you can have a little chat. As long as it is not malicious there really shouldn't be an issue with it, it's honestly just a rule Drayner made and has been adopted but the true meaning and interpretation of what Drayner meant by it has been lost in translation through text.
I understand that Saxxon and others like to put me to blame for the "death" of the 19 community. I apologize that you feel that way, but I feel as though the twink info community was nearly obsolete after a member would sift through literally pages of disrespectful postings about other people, only to find a lack of information.
I don't think Saxxon, myself or other put the blame entirely on you. You just coincidentally have become the figurehead of this "Moderation Stiff Arming" that the majority of the community is against. At the same time to say that you have had little effect on this issue would be ignorant. Yes you may have had some positive influences on the bracket but this is one of the biggest issues and negative attributes that have contributed to the decline and "death" that we at least have a little say in (compared to game balance and other factors we have very little control over).
If there isn't any information to be shared, discussion to be had or organization of any event is there really a necessity to post a thread in this section? I honestly don't feel as though the fact that members want more drama is not reason enough to do so... If you want drama: skype group calls can handle many people. Go at it there.
Twink info USE TO BE a site dedicated to information about twinking but it has shifted from that to more of a community oriented site partially due to the BGForums being removed and the new ones being complete dogshit by comparison. We have to evolve with what is going on, it is important to hold to our roots and remember where we have come from but we shouldn't deny the changes just because it is not what this site used to be.
Remember that you are a Moderator, not a dictator. The community is opening up and telling you what it wants. Most of us are being reasonable, rational and professional about it. Now it is your responsibility to listen and to facilitate that to the best of your abilities.
That is all we ask.
- 19 Community