Kincaide
Legend
The purpose of this post is to tell everyone in the 20-29 community which way the staff is leaning on a current decision we have to make concerning the new account statuses that Blizzard has made available. Though some of the following will be a repeat of things I have said on the topic elsewhere, I'm re-emphasizing it here for those in the larger 20-29 community who may not be aware of what's happening.
Twink Info as a website is primarily focused around creating, organizing, and delivering information. It is a wonderful side effect that the communities of each battleground bracket have established identities and utilize this platform to communicate with each other, but fundamentally this is not part of the primary objective of the site. The site's purpose, and therefore its organizational structure, is centered first and foremost around the organization and availability of information.
Because of the new development of Blizzard's "Veteran" account status, allowing a subscribing account to play at level 20 with Starter Edition restrictions while off-subscription, we realize that many users may fluctuate between different account statuses often throughout their twinking career, and from an organizational standpoint, we do not want users to feel like they have to change their group of friends just because they change their account status. Since Starter Edition accounts--both linked and unlinked--, and subscription-off "Veteran" accounts, and subscription-on "Subscriber" accounts all play in the same 20-29 bracket, and since an individual user's informational needs may fluctuate between any of those account types while their self-identity and their friends will not fluctuate so easily, it makes the most sense from an informational and organizational standpoint to roll all information that applies to any aspect of the 20-29 bracket back into one forum.
For those that don't remember, this is the way the organization used to be. At the time, approximately three years ago, the thinking was that by separating the Starter accounts from the Subscriber accounts, we would alleviate some of the tension that was arising between the groups. The culmination of this three-year experiment shows that the division not only did not achieve that goal, but arguably made the fracturing of the community and the enmity between the various groups even worse. In the present, in order to facilitate being able to change account types without the stigma of leaving or joining a social community at the same time, we are going back to having just one social community.
You're not all going to like it. Many of you are so entrenched in the us vs them dichotomy that you can't even imagine thinking of somebody with a different account type as being your brother in arms. Simply put, get over it. If you are mature enough to be a part of a community, then you should be mature enough to recognize when the fractured narrative is no longer working. You don't have to love everyone, but love or hate someone based not on the color of their account, but the content of their character.
I want to give everyone a chance to vocalize their thoughts on this. I want to emphasize that this is not a call for feedback on whether we should do this. As a mental exercise, let's say for the sake of discussion that this is a done deal, and process that and check your emotions and your egos and make calm, rational, well-thought-out and well-spoken posts about your reaction to such an idea.
In truth, it is not a done deal or a foregone conclusion, as the staff is still discussing it and because of course Shane is the final decision maker in all things. There are also unaddressed matters of how we go about reincorporating the various groups, but for the time being let's leave those concerns outside the scope of this thread. Nothing is set in stone, but we want to gauge how maturely you're going to take it if we do pull the trigger on this.
Every person's reaction is equally valid on this no matter what account type or even what bracket they currently play in, so please don't let me see you guys arguing with each other about each other's stances. Talk to me about how you feel.
Twink Info as a website is primarily focused around creating, organizing, and delivering information. It is a wonderful side effect that the communities of each battleground bracket have established identities and utilize this platform to communicate with each other, but fundamentally this is not part of the primary objective of the site. The site's purpose, and therefore its organizational structure, is centered first and foremost around the organization and availability of information.
Because of the new development of Blizzard's "Veteran" account status, allowing a subscribing account to play at level 20 with Starter Edition restrictions while off-subscription, we realize that many users may fluctuate between different account statuses often throughout their twinking career, and from an organizational standpoint, we do not want users to feel like they have to change their group of friends just because they change their account status. Since Starter Edition accounts--both linked and unlinked--, and subscription-off "Veteran" accounts, and subscription-on "Subscriber" accounts all play in the same 20-29 bracket, and since an individual user's informational needs may fluctuate between any of those account types while their self-identity and their friends will not fluctuate so easily, it makes the most sense from an informational and organizational standpoint to roll all information that applies to any aspect of the 20-29 bracket back into one forum.
For those that don't remember, this is the way the organization used to be. At the time, approximately three years ago, the thinking was that by separating the Starter accounts from the Subscriber accounts, we would alleviate some of the tension that was arising between the groups. The culmination of this three-year experiment shows that the division not only did not achieve that goal, but arguably made the fracturing of the community and the enmity between the various groups even worse. In the present, in order to facilitate being able to change account types without the stigma of leaving or joining a social community at the same time, we are going back to having just one social community.
You're not all going to like it. Many of you are so entrenched in the us vs them dichotomy that you can't even imagine thinking of somebody with a different account type as being your brother in arms. Simply put, get over it. If you are mature enough to be a part of a community, then you should be mature enough to recognize when the fractured narrative is no longer working. You don't have to love everyone, but love or hate someone based not on the color of their account, but the content of their character.
I want to give everyone a chance to vocalize their thoughts on this. I want to emphasize that this is not a call for feedback on whether we should do this. As a mental exercise, let's say for the sake of discussion that this is a done deal, and process that and check your emotions and your egos and make calm, rational, well-thought-out and well-spoken posts about your reaction to such an idea.
In truth, it is not a done deal or a foregone conclusion, as the staff is still discussing it and because of course Shane is the final decision maker in all things. There are also unaddressed matters of how we go about reincorporating the various groups, but for the time being let's leave those concerns outside the scope of this thread. Nothing is set in stone, but we want to gauge how maturely you're going to take it if we do pull the trigger on this.
Every person's reaction is equally valid on this no matter what account type or even what bracket they currently play in, so please don't let me see you guys arguing with each other about each other's stances. Talk to me about how you feel.
