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 Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 4:09 am
Hello whoever's left,
This is an open letter to you, the guild, about what has been happening recently and how we should proceed. As in how we should actually proceed - also as in with your suggestions - and I hope that it will do something in order to like... I dunno... sort everything out that's been going on. I know that things haven't been great and with me and Reflected arguing all the time it is hard to want to stick around but hopefully I can explain myself in this and what I think has happened. Things have broken down. Yes they have. However, it is maybe not too late to fix things.
Don't get me wrong this is not an apology. I don't believe in apologies unless they are genuine and sincere and to do otherwise is a lie. I don't like lying because it would be hypocritical of me in my everyday life to ask people to be honest with me and then lie to them; it's one of the reasons I think apologizing for people is moronic because unless that person means it it is once again a lie and I won't be party to it. I am me and only I can apologize for myself. No one else.
So, let's start with me. The problem with me and this guild is that I haven't really given up on the Guild as per say but more elements of it; and when I say elements I mean people. I used to put in a lot of hard work into this guild and as time went on my efforts never really felt reciprocated. I grew angrier and more frustrated with the state of things and eventually I allowed this to boil over in a single event when I posted as Obama. With the Obama post, I thought I was being deep and clever by using and referring to an actual political landscape. It is one of the only times that I will probably say that I went for substance over style. I did drop character a little with the intention to shock and awe and give off an impression of a once vibrant and vigilant man breaking under the pressure of the metahuman crisis. I mean, whole neighborhoods were being wiped out and the President of the USA, a man commonly known as the Leader of the Free World, and his armies couldn't do anything about it. I wanted to show that and add depth to an NPC and perpetuate our plot along to a possible League that had some workings with the Government.
I saw it as logical that the government wouldn't allow a brand new Justice League to waltz about on their own. Kinda like the Avengers in Marvel dealt with such a complex matter in things like Civil War and the X-Men. I thought it was something worth exploring...
Boy was I wrong.
It was at this point that I felt myself become disillusioned. Not because I hadn't done well in my post, I actually rather liked it but more because of the reactions from people on the Moderator Panel. It was ridiculous. It was either ridiculously naive of them to think that Obama would allow someone from another country to determine the fate of America (especially when you look at the rise of the prominent right in America in recent years under his tenure) or they disagreed with it for reasons that were ridiculous also. Frustrated, I kinda snapped under the pressure and didn't believe I could do what I needed to do. I kinda phased out as people just kept going on and on and attacking me or patronizing me and I was kind of like... "Why even bother?". I was apparently in a corner with my back against the wall.
It was during this time that people started to like... I say "try" as if it's on purpose and maybe they don't realize that's how it happened but that's how I feel... try and make me look like an idiot. Try and make me look like the bad guy. Even though at the time I was carrying most of them on my back and some of them just got stuff wrong all the time. In the end, fed up and not able to really express myself righteously with anger - I went the other way entirely and still am that way now. Even as I write this I write with a cold and calculated indifference. I just let my autistic tendencies wash over me and became more detached from the guild. I wasn't Witty who could be that person who crashed head on like a bull in a china shop and wake people up to their failings; I just took a step back and worked things out and came to the logical conclusion. That conclusion was thus:
If things carried on the way they were going the guild was going to die.
It was that simple. I say this from almost 10 years spent on Gaia in guilds as a member, a mod, a VC, a captain, an alliance member as many different things. My experience and all the evidence pointed to this on inevitable conclusion. Which I was happy to let happen in my current mindset. Why? Well, because the guild wasn't what I wanted it to be for a start. A lot of frustration on my part came from the Guild becoming this strange top down system where if you were friends with Mods you seemed to get what you wanted. Or if you were this person you got special treatment. Or this. Or that. When I created Watchtower that wasn't the vision I had and I was asked to become more tough and more decisive against my wants and I did so and I allowed for things to fall apart. I was so frustrated with the situation that I began to try and see if I could bring back what I wanted.
No one posted either. I was busy flogging a dead horse. You'd put a dog down for less.
For those who don't know, I wanted Watchtower not to be the top down elitist, clique ridden snake pit that a lot of guilds are. I wanted Watchtower to work and function as a family. I wanted a round table where the mods, VCs and myself as the captain sat round with our members in an equality and harmony. Where we reached into the middle of the table and took equal shares of delight in what we had created together. That's not happened.
I have constantly put myself out there and advocated that Mods, myself included, are culpable. We can be held to account by our members. We're human after all. We make mistakes. It's something I've always said and I have always given people the means to express their opinions (in the right way): We have skype chats, we have the suggestion forum, we have the conflict and debate thread. We have everything we could ever need to make sure that you guys are heard and I have always tried to put myself out there before. But the more and more this didn't get used and the more and more I swear people were trying to put egg on my face... I gave up. I shouldn't have but I did. I couldn't deal with the fact I knew everyone was bitching and whining but wouldn't do anything about it when I am the one who has made people leave and made people apologize.
I have recently went to Ron on skype because what happened to him in the Skype chat was disgusting. I have tried to make amends from where I have made a mistake in Central with Chaos because I was enjoying fighting him and if he thinks I've done something wrong then I'm going to fix that s**t.
This is how it has always been. I am willing to take criticism in a constructive manner especially when it is justified and logical. Not when it is just someone having a tantrum. Not when it is someone trying to tear me down. Not when it is someone bitching about me like a snake.
This is how I feel. This is the truth but this is not what will decide whether or not the guild will stay open. As per my initial announcement the deciding factor in whether or not this guild lives is: YOU.
You vote. You post. You do. And you will have a guild because I have worked hard, I am tired. I am stressed out from working with over 1500 hormonal teenagers but what stresses me out more is that when I come home and log on to Gaia... I am apparently once again at work doing the same. I am no longer enjoying myself because there is no room for me to. Everyone takes but never gives.
So, if you want the guild to stay open vote yes. But don't just vote yes and then do nothing. Vote yes and post. If you don't vote no. And with either answer post underneath this and say why! This is OUR guild. It's not mine. I won't hand it over to people because I think you deserve better than what they are showing me not because I'm power mad or hungry. If you don't believe me I can direct you to WotS and to my friends and to who I think can defend me.
But to be honest, I want to prove myself. If I am a monster I am Frankenstein's Monster and a monster of my creator's doing and definition. Or, as someone told me recently, just misunderstood. Where you stand on that is up to you.
Yours,
Roxas
P.S: Feel free to post underneath this. However, this thread is not for insulting people or being a d**k. If you want to do that... keep it in your private skype chats.
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 7:15 am
So I can start this out with a nice so you know your both my bros and will continue being so. With that said I going to lay it on to your both. You guy a both being goddamned stupid jackassed morons and you both need to cut your s**t before I buy a plane ticket to England find where you both live drag you both under my arms to a god spot and crack your damn heads together to see if it helps loosen up those thick skulls of yours. Roxas I get everything you said here your tired, frustrated, you always seemed damned if you do and damned if you don't. You don't have the time to be on as much and your just looking to have fun. Makes total sense what I do now and I can get away with it cuz I just a VC and I can push an extra work on my partner ol Master Time Lord if I can't get to it. You sadly can't do that because your captain and you NEED to be there. Which is going to lead me into one other truth and I saying this so you know. This wonderful round table of equals guild you talk about has never existed and I not saying that you didn't try to make it exist. I am saying it never came to be and I not going to put all the blame on you the members could have seized the power if they wanted to but never seemed to want to. They wanted you or one of the mods to make all the decisions for them. Which is fine technically what the mods are suppose to do. However the other deciding factor was you. You were captain you always had the final say no matter what. The entire mod team and the guild could agree on something after talking but you weren't swayed or thought the idea was terrible or whatever and you would either say I have seen it before and it failed or say I don't like the idea.We would try and change your mind and sometimes you would go ok and it would happen and things would go along. Or other times and I have seen this happen you get upset feel like we're attacking you or trying to overule your authority and just say well fine you all do it. (I want to reiterate that you didn't always do this but you did do it quite frequently throughout my tenor in the guild) And once again I don't ever think you ment to but what you slowly did was make this guild into a republic with you as the President or Supreme Chancellor. We could all get around and talk to you and talk about ideas but in the end it was always up to you to make the final decision. Not us as a whole. This I think is what has slowly shut down a lot of people from trying besides doing there basic modly duties such as approving profiles and just keeping activity up. You have slowly overtime to one person or another assumed Kingly role over the guild so we would wait for you to ask our opinions but unless we had something we knew you would love would no longer say anything to you. So you know I don't peg any blame on your I was part of a similar guild ran the same way and it was fine. The crew kept maintenance up the VC assisted and ran executive orders around and worked with the Captain. The Captain would call weekly meetings about what guild/story ideas everyone had we would discuss it and the Captain would decide his favorite or the most feasible to be done based upon what was discussed and we would break and get to work. Keeping any ideas that weren't chosen saved for later use. Members would get to just play and have fun occasionally if things couldn't be decided amongst the mods a poll was put up for a tie breaker and the guild got to vote on their favorite. No hassle no mess was wonderful. I was in that guild for 7+ years til everyone just got older and had to quit gaia for life. So we closed it amicably. To be honest I think that is how the Watchtower should move forward if it ever does. Our members just want to play, as you do, and everyone does. Gaia is a fun recreation to rp it is not a job and the moment it becomes one is the moment people no longer want to play anymore. This goes for you too Roxas my man. The moment running the guild became a job and choir you started shutting down, became indifferent and pushed everyone away. I understood what was going on and am to busy to really get involved in huge skype chats anymore but I read em and in your moment you may not have realized you began pushing all your friends away. Not intentionally I think just as a side effect of what was going on. So just think on some ideas that would make the guild fun again talk to us about it if you want or your the captain man. Lead us to where you think the future is or if you need a break just pick something small that you think the guild needs alright. ^^b Now as you reflected my old chum time for your reality check of broness. Ya you have been kicking a** as a crew member you check profiles and rate everyone fairly you make sure to do your job on activity checks and offer assistance whenever needed. You sir were Roxas and all the mods wet dream. You actually wanted to work on the guild. Go you bro. Now that being said I dont know what happened but you began getting just as frustrated as Roxas is about the state of the guild you have gotten agitated and now your attacking anyone and everyone who tries to even discuss with your. I read that s**t with Ron and if it was still going on I would have shut you down quicker than you could type "wha". Everyone has a right to there opinion and that includes there opinion on gun rights or religion or whatever. Yes we can have debates and s**t that fine and yes they can get heated. But you went from defending your side to just straight up tearing into Ron that ain't cool bro, and that isn't the first time you have done it. I won't count the amount of times you have tore into Roxas some of them justly so, others dude you just trying to insult him and throw all the blame on him. You did it Grogan and a few other people. here and there. I never mention it because you usually realize what you have done and go back and say sorry didn't mean to get heated lately though. They are lucky if they get a half assed sorry. You need to back off a little we are suppose to be friends trying to have fun here not rivals tearing into one another for any mistake or varying viewpoint. Secondly stop tearing into people publicly. It just not cool man. First off you will always come off as the bad guy. Even when your right strictly because human nature says we always root for the underdog and the weak. If you want to talk to people about some s**t you can pm them or take them to a private skype chat or whatever. They won't feel so put on the spot and defensive and you won't have a ton of people bearing down on you for being a bully. In short dude all I trying to say is lighten up a little things don't always needs to be so serious. Get frustrated thats fine pm or skype someone else right your hateful s**t to me. I actually support talking about frustrating people to others. It lets you get out some steam without actually saying things that will hurt people. Just as long as everyone knows it is said in confidence. I don't care what people say behind my back as long as when they return they are calmer more rational and show they still want to talk to me. Then go go my friends and talk s**t all you want.I will do the same we will get those negative vibes out come back more rationale and move on accepting each others flaws. Now my final say on the guild. KEEP THIS ******** OPEN!!! Seriously why is this even in question yes activity is down but people are still posting and having fun. As long as atleast 2 people are having fun with each other there is still hope yet. So until such a point where everyone stops posting all together and stops wanting to hang out this guild needs to stay open. Kapiche. *drops mic* Josh out
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Josh Starwind Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 8:30 am
I appreciate your candor Josh. smile I think you do have a good eye on stuff and I genuinely trust you when you are around... So maybe you are right. Who knows anymore? Whatever I am. I still need help though. And whilst, yes, it could possibly work at the moment; it will not work if we have a bunch of people who are willing to point out a problem but not able to take their own initiative to fix it. If this is a republic... Parliament is currently sleeping in their chairs and something has got to give.
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 12:25 pm
Ok where do I start. I guess to reply to Josh since he quoted me. Yes I will admit, I can get seriously heated. Now more than ever cus I have a lot going on in my life, but I won't explain that here. Yes at some point I tilted more to ridiculing more than arguing. And no I haven't apologised yet, I want to know what to say, because to me apologies are important, and I don't want a half assed one like Josh mentioned. I'm still thinking of how to say what I mean, because being honest, feelings in general I struggle to get out, and I want to make sure I get it out right. (thankfully it'll be in text so I can revise anything I phrase wrong rather than saying something accidentally and having no way to reverse it) Secondly "tearing into people publicly" Roxas is the first person I have done this with, and I will delve more into it later. You will see my reasons for doing so below in fact. It is not something I do, well ever really. I only do it when I feel it is necessary or I am extremely sick of something. Hopefully I will not have to do it again. As a wholeOk this is the important bit. Josh was right I'm as frustrated as Roxas about the guild, maybe even more so. More specifically I'm frustrated with Roxas and how he acts. He's been acting egotistically, hypocritically and just down right out of order at times; and I can no longer ignore it. I called him out because I am sick of it, I will go into more detail without insulting, since apparently I keep going wrong there and I need to work on it. I am not the only one mad at him, I have had 4 people back me in this, and actually had someone say they won't confront Roxas because they're scared. So they're sitting on the sidelines so they don't get in trouble. If that doesn't say something, I don't know what will. Ok my issues. Lack of respect. As proven by his very first post here, he couldn't make an important message without swearing or insulting. He called the mods actions "ridiculous" in regards due to what happened with Obama, simply because he didn't feel the same way. He had to reference me as having a tantrum, and bitching about him like a snake. He refuses to acknowledge the efforts of his mod team and brushes them aside rather easily. He happily paints people in a different manner to make himself look better. He does so much that is disrespectful and it needs to stop. Hypocrisy and lies. A man who claims me to be all these terms such as "monster", "child", "tyrant" is in effect all these things. We've seen you do it, it keeps happening, and I pointed it out in public. You say apologies don't matter to you unless they're sincere, then why did you insist on in the past, making mods apologise publicly for a private incident? It loses sincerity then. Why is it you are allowed to voice your opinion and have it heard, yet in your eyes others may only have both of these when you decide? You publicly lied about insults I supposedly threw, whilst insulting a member in the mod chat. I could type a lot here, but I feel people will know what I'm saying. His threats/attacks. We've all seen them, the biggest one was the threat of closing the guild. According to other mods this has happened before, but this time it's public. This just shows they've escalated. Then of course the ones I have recieved from him over skype, including the time I fixed a portion of the application thread to avoid issues, and he heavily insulted me for it. I will not put what he said here unless asked to for evidence however. Egotistical. There have been many occurrences where either myself or another mod has said something and we've been shut down because he knows better. A common thing that comes up is how he has more experience thus all points, other than his, are mute. It's sickening, and has to stop. Especially for a mod team, in order for it to work the captain must at least listen to the others and respond accordingly. Things must also go to your wishes, even if it means using other characters. I changed my opinion and gave you a chance, but when you started saying on how batman had to be placed a certain way, I got real mad. I'm pretty sure at the time spoke about to a minimum and I was just comforting time lord about the character, but it was ridiculous. I get you have plans but you can't decide where someone else's RPC will go. I could honestly say so much more but I'm not sure how to break it down into subsections so I'll just put a few that come to mind. He's not sorry for any of this, all this happened and there's no sorry, because according to him they're pointless if not genuine. He seems to have lost all motivation for the guild and has slacked a lot. He has caused mod members to quit, and when confronted simply says "They couldn't hack it", he does all the bad we other mods do that he so happily spills out but won't admit to it. He can't admit his wrong doings without dragging someone else under. When he has given up on the guild he refuses to pass it on so others may enjoy it (for what reason I do not know, but closing a thing people enjoy without even considering the alternatives seriously is selfish) All in all, either Roxas sorts himself out, because these actions have gone on too long or we need new leadership. And I believe that should also be left to the members of the guild to decide which mod would take the spot if such a thing were to happen. If I'm perfectly honest I did respect him, and I trusted him a lot. But after all this, I'm done ignoring it and facing up to it, he's lost my respect and has let down his own good image he created at the start. I'm sorry Roxas, but this is how things have gone. If you can earn back the respect and trust, then so be it, but right now, both of those are gone. I will also be PMing the people who spoke to me about all this and the guild, I will be asking them to post here. I will not be naming them as as I said before, at least one of them is scared to speak their mind. However whether they post or not is up to them. This has been RP/Brandon. And this is all right now. Thank you for reading. Any edits will be added clearly beneath here incase I missed something or I have written something incorrectly. This is another step to avoid any chance of being called a "snake" again. I have not, nor will I play with people nor posts to get something/somewhere. First edit: In addition to insults. He pretty much referred to the people of the guild as being as bad as dealing with hormonal teenagers.
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ThisCloudedLife Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 3:45 pm
This is how I feel, you want me to be honest and what not and then when I am it still doesn't seem good enough for your lofty expectations. I can't go on like this and refuse to. You lot are hormonal teenagers. If you guys are sitting bitching behind a computer screen and not talking to me about a problem then you are snakes. That's just how it is. I can't sit here and wait for you all to talk to me if none of you are going to take the initiative and I don't understand why anyone is scared of me either. The only one who has cause to be scared of me is you Brandon because, to be honest, my opinion of you is through the floor and I think that you're a problem. We all have s**t that goes on in our REAL lives. However, everyone expects me to just deal with it - they too can be held to their own standards. Is that not fair? Is that not right? All of these issues aren't just me - none of you talk to me anymore. None. And I'm hardly egotistical, I speak from experience which I thought was fair. I don't want the same things that happen in other guilds to happen here. I have seen alot of things happen for what was believed to be the better - I even suggested some of them - I then watched it destroy everything. I watched countless resets and corrections and reworks and it's just... BLERGH! That's the only way to describe it and it carries on that way until anything that is left of the guild is for the carrion. It's not a living thing anymore. It's a mess and a dead mess at that. And for the record I refuse to give up this guild because none of you are ready. You can hardly post once a week. The amount of stuff I was asked to do or had to do requires more than that and right now. I was supposed to quit Gaia LAST YEAR. I had always told myself that I was going to leave when I was 22 because it was time to move on and stop. I wanted to give this over. Then I waited silently... I didn't tell you to avoid masks and lies and I measured and found everyone wanting. I would give this guild to Josh in a heartbeat if he wanted it. I trust Josh with it. But he can't. He couldn't. So here I am 23 years old on Gaia delayed from my retirement. We all have issues RF, my issues are mainly with you and your arrogance and that is between me and you. However, I can't demote you and take back control of my guild because you'll see it as some sort of sick victory. Which it isn't. You're just going to block my way if I try and make any extreme changes or put my case across... So what's the point. I don't need your respect right now. I don't need you to like me either. I need you to fulfill your role and work with me. You won't though so... Meh. T'is what it is. I can't reset. I don't have the time. Plus we were so close to actually doing something and I don't want to remake the same character for the umpteenth time. I am sure everyone agrees with me on the fact it would be a complete ballache. I FEEL (as in me, myself and I) as if I can't trust anyone to do it. So what now? Also can I also have it stated for the record that when you fixed a bit of the applications it was wrong... Like totally. You went in without consulting me first and just messed about with stuff and then got it all wrong. That's why I was mad because you went off and did something thinking your name was Google and that you knew everything.
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 9:54 pm
To borrow a title for one of my girlfriend's college papers, at least for her rough draft, "I was up at 1 am typing this stuff up". I admit, I have not been as active as I would of liked to be because life gave me a cold hard slap of reality after my vacation to Wisconsin. I changed to a job that gave me more hours and a better pay and thus have less time for Gaia beyond private rps. I come home not very motivated to do much other than talk to my girlfriend and then catch some zzzzzzz's. I understand why Roxas and some of the other mods can be a bit frazzled with dealing with upkeep of the guild and upkeep of life.
Enough about my life update though, I came to speak my mind about things. I have been silent about what's been going on, but it doesn't mean I don't see it. Yes, activity has gone down because people aren't posting, and I am one of the issue, but because of issues dealing with my personal computer. I am typing this on a tablet, and probably will have hurt fingers at the end of it. But I am going to be blunt and say that I wouldn't want to post in this guild either with two of the crew, who are supposed to be grown adults, are bickering like teenagers. It doesn't reflect very well on the guild when crew members fight each other. I've been in that situation before.
It also isn't reflecting well on a crew member when they fight with another member who doesn't agree with their opinion. You should at least let him have that opinion, not denounce it immediately. I was appalled by the way you handled that argument, as that was unbecoming of a member of the guild crew.
Recent arguments aside, I honestly feel that we can keep this guild alive, with some reform and restablishing of the way it's supposed to be maintained. I am all for it, when I can make time. But we all need to come together for this, crew and guild member alike. Because I know from experience that Roxas is getting tired of doing 65-90% of the work. In short, yes I want this guild to stay alive, and I'll put in an honest effort to balance guild time, work, and other things
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Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 11:08 pm
So, uh, I'm not sure who I'm supposed to quote, if anyone, so I'm just gonna do this. Reflected has asked me to say my piece here, so I shall. When reading this, please keep in mind that I'm not trying to start any bigger mess or anything like that. I'm just here because I was asked to weigh in. First things first, I'll admit it. I'm the one who said that they're scared. And honestly, I am. I'm terrified. There's stuff I've been wanting to say, but haven't, because it seems like every time I've seen someone call Roxas out, he goes straight to attack mode and tries to tear them to shreds, without sincerely admitting his own wrongdoing. I'm too sensitive to take that kind of mess, and I wouldn't have the strength to fight back like I should. So, for the most part, I've kept my mouth shut to avoid being attacked like the others. Now, my experience with Roxas is pretty mixed. On one hand, he can be fantastic. He's got a lot of neat, interesting ideas in that head of his, and he can be really helpful! When I first joined the guild, he helped me figure out how to play my villain, Ace (who I've now shelved/placed in the Grab & Go, for personal reasons), and when I had to rework Evie into a Legacy and had to change her abilities, he gave a lot of good suggestions for new ones. When he's good, he's great, and times like that are when I really admire and respect him. However, there's definitely a Hyde to his Jekyll, and unfortunately, I've been on the receiving end of this, also when I had to rework Evie. Now, I'll admit that I get pretty damn defensive when it comes to changing my characters (seriously, just ask Grogan. If I remember right, all but one of our major fights have been about that very subject sweatdrop ). And that's a good chunk of what caused the problem. I will completely admit to that. But when Roxas said something that directly contradicted an earlier thing he said, namely that I could not lose Excalibur, based on the fact that Evie is King Arthur's reincarnation, I pointed it out. I even showed him exactly where he'd said that. Okay, okay, yes, I called him a liar. But I honestly felt like I'd been lied to, or at least like Roxas was going back on his word, in a sense. I was angry and frustrated, and rightfully so. In his next post, Roxas did explain what he meant. But not before essentially telling me to either comply or leave the guild, and immediately after his explanation, he pulled the "I'm only human and humans make mistakes" card (along with a rather insulting analogy), which he seems to do a lot. Not that there's anything wrong with that card, per se, but the way he uses it, it honestly feels more like a manipulative way to justify whatever he did and point the blame back at whomever he's arguing with for expecting him to be a saint. And I don't think anyone is expecting that (or at least, I'm not). I think we all just want him to sincerely admit to his mistakes. Like, yeah, we get it, bro. You're human. We all are. Unless you're a horse lime.  Tension-diffusing meme aside, it's time I move on to my next point. Roxas doesn't listen and thinks he knows better than everyone else sometimes. For example... when he forced me to change Evie's religion. This happened in a Skype chat between myself, Roxas, and Grogan (because we basically needed a mediator by this point), but I can easily pull up screenshots if anyone wants to see this conversation. Now, this one's pretty personal, and I'm still really ******** pissed about it, so please excuse me if I sound bitchy. Seriously, I just read over it today in preparation for this post, and I got just as frustrated and distraught reading it as I did trying to argue it, and if given the chance, I would STILL argue against the final change. Hell, I'd physically fight against it. Granted, I'd likely lose, because while I am a compact, fiery ball of barely bridled emotion, I am still small and not physically powerful (unless you count giving you an infection from a bite wound). I'll still fight, though. Throughout the entire conversation, both Grogan and I offered perfectly reasonable compromises, but he kept saying that those options would be "blasphemous" in both Christianity and Wicca, even though he admitted that he knew very little about Wicca. Of course, I then tried to explain how Wicca works, in a very basic sense, to prove that no, it isn't blasphemous in Wicca to worship the Christian god. Seriously, you can pretty much pick whichever deity you want, and worship however you want, as long as you're not harming anyone, including yourself. I even tried to explain how my proposed compromise could work without being it "blasphemous" in either religion. But he talked over me and disregarded what I said, acting like he knew MY religion better than I do (or at least, it felt that way), and continued to insist that I was wrong and that Evie's powers would be taken away if I followed my compromise. He later pretty much told me that either I change Evie's religion, or she would be removed. I dunno about the rest of you, but that doesn't seem very reasonable to me. As I said at the beginning of this lengthy post, Roxas can be a great Captain and a great person, but he can also be downright awful. And unfortunately, we've been seeing a lot of the latter lately. I understand that this cannot be fixed right away, but I think a good step in the right direction would be for Roxas to stop going on attack mode and spreading the blame everywhere else the instant he's called out, so that people like myself won't be so scared to speak out. That way, we can get more communication flowing between members and the mod team. Another important thing would be for him to actually listen when someone else has an alternative idea and is trying to explain it. Again, this would help communication. And with better communication should come fewer misunderstandings and arguments, and in the end, a happier guild for all of us. So, uh, it's really late, and I'm hella tired. So I'll end this here. Periwinkle out. ....Please don't murder me.Edit: I PROOFREAD THIS THING LIKE, THREE TIMES. HOW DID I MISS THAT TYPO. FRACK.
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Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2015 1:24 am
I have quite the post to write about this all:
Well this certainly has been quite the turn of events and sad to say it took the fourth time a matter like this had to happen for perhaps people to finally say and do something. This is not to throw anyone under the bus or insult them; I've noticed that every time a negative situation occurred in this guild, nobody has wanted to speak up and say something. That should never be the case as I believe everyone should come out and fight for whatever injustice they feel they are up against. Not talking to come to some kind of actual resolution will often lead to the guild collapsing for the fourth time and I should know. Everytime I tried to resolve certain matters as a mod on some incidents if they were needed, egos tended to contrast and nothing really got done. People tend to claim because I am affiliated with certain individuals that I am biased, but in actuality, I sit and listen to both sides of the stories and see what can be done, like an actual journalist does or counsel if you want to go that far into context. That being said, I'm going to dissect through a lot of this.
To me, I picture this guild like Star Wars: There's the Empire and there are the Rebels. The guild is intended to remind everyone they are a family and I can say, they got the feuding part right. Every incident I see, I won't say I was present to witness any of it because I left the chat a long time ago after a certain incident, but trust me I have the logs both sides sent to me, have always ended without a resolution. This guild continues to suffer because nobody is willing to compromise on both sides. What happens when there is no compromization? The guild forever remains at a stand still. People who enjoy the guild and are not aware of the issues are left screaming and forever seething in rage. People who are aware of the issue and decide the best option to win is by fighting with fire will forever lose. Those who believe that their dreams are being burned to the ground need to realize London's bridge has not fallen down at all. The point I am presently making out right now is that neither side, these Rebels and this Empire, are not making the situation any better when they see one side arm their weapons with words and decide the best course of action is by responding in the same tone. If one of you believe you are fighting for good intentions, then it should be shown by how you word everything, absolving all anger to debate effectively.
Yes, I said debate, because that's what this has all come down to: Both sides arguing for whichever reason they are fighting for and instead of seeing that this is a situation where they have to be formal in their approach and this includes every form of etiquette and matter, it has instead turned into a contest of seeing who's lightsaber is the longest. At this point in time, neither side is at a right. This all comes down to that one word I have read people refuse to say unless it's intentional or they simply do not know how to handle it: A P O L O G I Z E
I have been in a lot of incidents as a mod in three other guilds where I would often say "I refuse to apologize because I am right in this matter and they will yield," but I learned the best way that people will yield is when you be the better man or woman or what have you and be the first to say "Look, I apologize if this came out this way. When I initially started this, I wanted..." so on and so forth. Apologizing does not make you the weaker man nor does it give the other side a "win." It's letting the other person know that you, like everybody else, is human and subject to make mistakes, especially when you become heated and stir an argument that has been boiling for a long period of time. Nobody wants to be the stubborn mule in a matter and trust me, I have...I am...in guilds where because people have not seen eye to eye, some mods that operate the guild as whole ignored them instead of "getting rid of the infection" with a removal from the guild and when a mod that owns every thread ignores you, you cannot post anywhere in the guild. It's like you're a ghost forced to watch, unable to talk or do anything and eventually, you fade. None of this has to be the case if both sides would learn to stop trying to take each other's necks and increase their scores by saying "Oh Lordy, lookie here. I got over on the other side. 6 points for me! Yippee kai yay!!!"
stare
No.
I'm now about to approach this current situation. I mentioned that there are three sides before, the two that will butt heads and those in the middle who are not aware of what's been going on in this guild for the past year or two. Roxas, trust me when I say this to you as I mean you no harm, you have come off as a tyrant. Things were so bad, people were like "Please tell me he's not causing an earthquake in the announcements again gonk !"
Whenever something has not gone the exact way you wanted it, you would opt, and have, shut something down. I recall you once saying we s**t on your yard, the yard being your guild and other associations to it like the Skype chat and to that I must remind you, manure is biodegradable. It will eventually set back into the soil and be used to make more grass and life grow. That being said, whenever something does not work out the way you wanted, remember what I said: Go to your family (the guild). If it's top secret, get all mods into action. I know that's hard because I was a mod and noticed a lot of them were not proactive on certain matters or rather they just never talked at all. Half of the time, I see Jack pulling more weight around the guild than most mods, excluding you. It should never be like that. The head of your House must first be in order and as my short time as a mod, it wasn't in order. I don't know what to tell you on how to fix the situation because I saw great mods leave because things were in a total mess.
I would say to try and find mods who will do work and not just hold the title because they are an expert over certain fields, but in all honesty, for a guild that has so many members and only 10, 12 on a good day probably, post, you cannot afford to lose any more mods, especially when half of the roleplaying populus were formerly mods and know firsthand what's been going on. Shutting the guild down is also not a best course of action either as it builds nothing but resentment. As I said before, this should always be a debate: You present a case before the mods, those who would actually do work, you ask them how would they approach it if something has gone astray. You offer what you think can be a good solution and you wait to see or hear what they have to say. If they agree that the action should happen, then the notion is carried and whatever task a mod has, you leave it to them to handle and if they aren't operating fast enough, that's when you jump in.
I had to manage guild events in another guild before. Whenever the "dream" was lost, we as mods came together on how to handle the situation and it's worked. The issue became solved fast and the event was free to continue as it once was and if the matter could not be solved with a simple fix, we still found a way to work it to our and the guild overall's advantage. Some events were simply downright broken and needed to end effectively because sometimes we (mods) will make mistakes and not realize certain things would happen, but one thing we never did was threaten to shut the entire guild down because the purpose was seemingly lost. In this case, this guild is far from lost because I see people in the OOC (They're not literally saying it because right now they're trying to have a contest with you, rather their actions) showing they are willing to fight for this guild to keep it running.
This goes back to what I said about debates (Yes, I'm saying it again lol), but this time I'm bringing up the fact that people have let their anger fuel the conversations so much they begin to let their heart become ice pumps and get cruel with each retaliation. Never should it be that anyone's words are meant to harm their brethren. Words should always be used to create, or rather, inspire them to do better. I say this time and time again, people cannot interpret words well over the internet. They become ambiguous which is why apologizing plays a great part in the matter to let them know you do not mean them harm. This is where I now look at Brandon and the certain individual who also fueled the situation by being a subtle troll.
Brandon, you do not deserve to be the one who is taking the blame for something you did not say, but you do play a part in something that should not have happened in the first place. One thing a person must always consider is that people are from different regions which therefore they are inclined to certain beliefs are hold certain values strongly. Wording plays a great part in how you say things to people because if you don't say them right, they (the other side) will believe you are offending them, which makes a civil conversation turn into a ugly altercation.
Ron, I'm looking at you and I am letting you know right now that what I tell you, I do not say with intent to harm. You were the first person that caused this matter. You even said so yourself you are heated already from making preparations for your religion at the moment, but the logs do not lie.You were heated throughout that entire conversation because Roxas and Brandon, both who are from different countries, did not see the same point as you and argued their side on what they believe should happen like any normal person would. I saw you curse. call them (Brandon mostly) idiots, and let the fuse to your temper get shorter and shorter. When all of those elements combine, the conversation turns bad real fast and at that point it time, it goes from being civil in the approach to now wanting to let words be used with the goal of striking a blow so hard, the other side finally caves in. That's whats going on in the OOC now and that's what happened in the Skype chat. Neither side is innocent and therefore both sides need to seek rectification from each other: A P O L O G I Z E
Brandon, you first must realize where you were wrong at and apologize. I could tell you where, but I know you are not the only person at fault. To this, I now turn to Roxas. The reason why I look back at you is because there is an instigator in the Skype chat that no longer roleplays in this guild and most likely may not be in this guild anymore. I say instigator because he flat out said
Quote: [21:28:58] Instigator.: 0 to Bible reading gun carrying patriot [21:29:06] Instigator.: How redneck are you?
I know this person jokes a lot and I know this was what he had intended to do in order to calm the situation, but now I look back at Brandon and I say to you, good sir, your next set of words only made Ron feel bad for believing in a certain pagan religion because you compared him to those you know that follow similar beliefs and are more "sensible" than that. I see the logs. I know you were being sarcastic because I love a good read (to tell someone about themselves) or shade (to talk trash to a friend, knowing they know you're joking and often respond back with the same responses.), but he did not know that because you all had a poor conversation on who was right on something and who's views were simply idiotic. Your last response before he quit the chat was what I said in this post before about looking to go in for the kill with words and that was where Ron caved because not only did you all make him feel like his ideas were stupid, but you also unknowingly said to him that people you knew who practiced the same religion were more sensible than that.
Everyone should keep in mind, again, that people all hold some ideas strongly than the others and therefore they should not be insulted for believing in them. Because I am friends with you all, I am telling you all that you need to apologize to each other (Ron and Brandon).
To Roxas, I say to seek to find a remedy for the non-committing Instigator. I am friends with him as well, but if he's not committing to the guild and makes a bad time to crack a joke that only makes things worse, it should not be just Brandon that takes fault for what happened.
To Brandon and Ron again, I say to you to watch your tones. Brandon, this is not the first time you got a little too far in something and Ron, you didn't like what you read about the policy six months ago and came in already with a bit of anger towards it. I think you were also present, Ron, in the NML chat when there was a matter where people started a conversation and said things people did not want to hear which caused a lot of people to leave. You need to remind yourself that there are consequences to when you start a conversation that may more than likely be a sore subject in the first place.If I remember correctly, Religion and Politics were topics that were banned fom the AATW Skype chat because it could get ugly real fast, but I'm not in there anymore, so I couldn't tell you all, lol.
NOW, there was also a matter of people discovering words from the head honcho himself about their in roleplay affairs. I'm about to address you all as well:
To Alexis, I say to you: Roxas is right. He may not have said it favorably to you, but if your character is supposed to be the Legacy of someone, they must hold true to the actual virtues of the Virgin Mary and that is with Christianity. I am not insulting you about the matter, but I remember having this conversation with you before in NML about a certain Native American and that did not go over too well because you believed I was not trying to help you when I approached you several times and offered solutions on how fix the matter. If you are planning to play a character that is meant to hold a certain title, you're going to have make them fit to the occasion. I, personally, took the time to learn about other religions while I was in college to see where their aspects are coming from. While it may be alright for the Wiccans to praise the Divine Trinity, you have to remember it's not the same in the Christian, Muslim and Judaism communities. In this case, he wanted you to have your character be properly authentic to the title the comic held of them. You wouldn't need to know much other than they find nature based practices as witchcraft and consider it blasphemous. Now, I don't know what went on in that conversation. I can only make sense of what occurred from what you suggested and say to you learn to compromise. You have to remember, this is not for you, but for your character and for others and if your character has to fit a certain role or trait, they have to adapt and be flexible. If I could have made a suggestion, it would have been to make the character a Deist, but I'm no longer a mod and that situation has now come and gone. I praise you for wanting to be different in your approaches, but sometimes we have to make sure our characters are fixed properly as there are a lot of people from different ethnic backgrounds.
To Achi, I say to you I saw your message, but with school getting in the way, I was unable to properly respond back and deliver a plot pitch. Now, I think people naturally assume that the Private roleplay forums are isolated from what goes on in the actual roleplay threads, but I personally believe that you and Hanecco would be better suited to that as to clear up some confusion if it helps at all for others. Before I got a message from you, I could probably say that I was one of those people that were like "GRAH, WHY AREN'T THEY RESPONDING?" but you explained to me you all had a plot currently being played and that in this time schedule, things were a day ahead of the incident and that was good enough for me to hear and not think that you both were just ignoring things. I still want to plot with you all, but Clint just skyped me a few days back about an idea and I may work on that when I get the chance before committing to you both about something at the moment.
I do think it is a shame that a person has to see words like that, but I do commend you both on being civil about the matter and explaining your feelings, going as far as to say you did not need an apology, but explaining how you all felt personally because of it.
I also want to thank everyone who is now speaking up at long last. These things need to be seen and not hidden away to be heard from the grapevines. I would not have written such a long response if I did not love you all. As Roxas, said this should be seen like a family. The arguing you all got on part, but actually sitting down to talk and not view idealogies as stupid or idiotic or threatening to end something because it's not going the way a person wanted are the conversations that truly matter. If you feel someone is wronging you, say it right then and there. Do not be the Elk that is running from the the predator. Be the Lion that is chasing after them relentlessly.
Don't let the tension continue to build until it comes to a head which is having the Captain say they would end the guild. Speak so that you may be proven right and prevail when you judge. I'm not taking credit for any of this, but Roxas approached me when Brandon was in the OOC and I personally believed this thread had to be made for people to air out their dirty laundry. Roxas believed it wouldn't work, but I am now seeing people speak up finally, which to me, counts as some kind of compromise and intervention.
The above I do not say to harm anyone as always, I don't take sides and I try not to get swayed by two sides differing opinions. I want you all to be proud of what you do and if something needs fixing, don't insult anyone about it. Rationally approach them and see if it could be fixed. Now I think if everyone can learn to talk to each other and understand each other's challenges like Autism, their values, etc. this guild can get back to running properly.
~The Man Formerly Known as Sean
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