Letter to Dfg
Amie
Regular
Little bit of background info: Dfg noticed I had some issues with the way he's running this place, and I promised him I'd write a nice letter explaining him my opinion. That's what it is: me sharing my opinion. If you think differently about it, feel free to comment.
Here it goes:
"Goodday DFG
As I promised you last night, here is a letter explaining the whole "DFG's circlejerk" issue.
When you moved to Totse.info, you told us it would be a place where the ideals of free speech of the good ol' Totse.com would still be the nr.1 rule. You also told us it would be a place without the zoklet politics and nepotism. The users would all be treate equal, based on their contributions to Totse.info and regardless of their history on Totse.com, zoklet, totse2 or any other internet or IRL activities. Mods would be picked amongst the best contributors without favoritism or concern for former friendships or feuds. Important decisions would be made by the community, not by the mods & admins.
Sadly, I see this is not the way it is. Now hold your horses, calm your anger flashes and think long and hard about the following. When it comes to users without history, so to speak, the first paragraph describes the way you and the other mods act quite well. However, when it comes to users with a history, you always let their history and the impression they left with you cloud your fair and neutral judgement.
The whole issue regarding the dark rodent / yoda is the most obvious example of what I mean. Now again, hold your horses. I can hear you thinking already "Geez, won't that matter ever be left alone? Get over it already!" The thing is, you failed to learn an essential lesson from it. The way you let TDR add shitty post after shitty post to the site and let him have his multiple accounts etc. was a serious error in judgement. It was a series of actions you based on your history with TDR and on sneaky alliances hidden in PM's. It was not what you should have done had you honestly judged him by his contributions to Totse.info without regard for former friendships / feuds.
Now I'm not saying you need to demod / ban TDR now (well, actually I am in the "demod the rodent" thread, but the community vote should clear that issue, not just my opinion). The past is the past, and this letter is all about the future. What I am saying is, you failed to learn anything from the shitstorm that ensued after the TDR issue. You continued to treat users based on their history, not just on their contributions to totse.info. Spectral is another fine example of this.
You may see this letter as clinging to problems from the past, but that is not my intention. The reason I write this is because I hope this letter manages to communicate the core issue me and several other users have with the way totse.info is being moderated. No user should ever be judged by anything other than his / her contributions to the site. Users will come and go, mods will come and go, some will contribute, some will try to ruin the place. Shitstorms will ensue, people will feel butthurt. That is the way it is and the way it is going to be.
What you need to do is not try to avoid these issues at any cost, but handle all these issues by the moral code you want Totse.info to carry. Freedom of speech, community rule and judging users based on contributions is what you told us that would be. As long as you stick to those principles, you can let any butthurt comments, threads full of bitch and user complaints roll off you like water rolls off a duck. Be true to those principles, and it will not cause you any effort to shrug butthurt comments and drama off. Because let's be honest, there will always be drama and butthurt. And in those seldom cases where you feel it is in the best intrest to break the code, don't. Even if you really want to.
And if you really, really feel it is necessary, make a thread explaining why you feel it is necessary, open a poll and let the community decide before you take action. Because that is how you told us Totse.info would be ruled: by the community, not by a (benevolent) dictator. Totse.com had a benevolent absentee dictator, and that had its advantages and its disadvantages. Totse.info is to be community reigned, and that too, has its advantages and its disadvantages. Sometimes, a decision will have to be made and executed when it is not the best solution, only because the comunity decides they want it that way. Let it be that way. That's the way a democracy works, and that's the way you told us Totse.info would work. You cannot ever break this code, because even the smalles compromise opens the door to a dictatorship instead of a democracy. If you don't want to stick to this code, then don't, but be honest about it and quit saying the community rules Totse.info.
This leter is not intended to open old wounds, nor is it indended to be a declaration of war. This letter should not cause thousands of old issues to be treated again. This is about moving forward, about how we will make totse.info a true place of freedom and equality. If people feel there are some old issues which still need to be addressed, they should make a thread about it so the community can vote. Once the community has decided, the issue should be left alone.
I will post this letter in a thread tomorrow. Today, I want to give you the chance to think about it without the drama & butthurt this letter will almost certainly cause when I post it on the board. Let it mull over in your brain, sleep a night, and if you feel like you're not 100% certain what the point of this letter is, tell me so and I will clarify it. I want to be certain you understand the full meaning of this letter before it gets out in the open.
Kind regards
Amie"
TL/DR: I know.
Here it goes:
"Goodday DFG
As I promised you last night, here is a letter explaining the whole "DFG's circlejerk" issue.
When you moved to Totse.info, you told us it would be a place where the ideals of free speech of the good ol' Totse.com would still be the nr.1 rule. You also told us it would be a place without the zoklet politics and nepotism. The users would all be treate equal, based on their contributions to Totse.info and regardless of their history on Totse.com, zoklet, totse2 or any other internet or IRL activities. Mods would be picked amongst the best contributors without favoritism or concern for former friendships or feuds. Important decisions would be made by the community, not by the mods & admins.
Sadly, I see this is not the way it is. Now hold your horses, calm your anger flashes and think long and hard about the following. When it comes to users without history, so to speak, the first paragraph describes the way you and the other mods act quite well. However, when it comes to users with a history, you always let their history and the impression they left with you cloud your fair and neutral judgement.
The whole issue regarding the dark rodent / yoda is the most obvious example of what I mean. Now again, hold your horses. I can hear you thinking already "Geez, won't that matter ever be left alone? Get over it already!" The thing is, you failed to learn an essential lesson from it. The way you let TDR add shitty post after shitty post to the site and let him have his multiple accounts etc. was a serious error in judgement. It was a series of actions you based on your history with TDR and on sneaky alliances hidden in PM's. It was not what you should have done had you honestly judged him by his contributions to Totse.info without regard for former friendships / feuds.
Now I'm not saying you need to demod / ban TDR now (well, actually I am in the "demod the rodent" thread, but the community vote should clear that issue, not just my opinion). The past is the past, and this letter is all about the future. What I am saying is, you failed to learn anything from the shitstorm that ensued after the TDR issue. You continued to treat users based on their history, not just on their contributions to totse.info. Spectral is another fine example of this.
You may see this letter as clinging to problems from the past, but that is not my intention. The reason I write this is because I hope this letter manages to communicate the core issue me and several other users have with the way totse.info is being moderated. No user should ever be judged by anything other than his / her contributions to the site. Users will come and go, mods will come and go, some will contribute, some will try to ruin the place. Shitstorms will ensue, people will feel butthurt. That is the way it is and the way it is going to be.
What you need to do is not try to avoid these issues at any cost, but handle all these issues by the moral code you want Totse.info to carry. Freedom of speech, community rule and judging users based on contributions is what you told us that would be. As long as you stick to those principles, you can let any butthurt comments, threads full of bitch and user complaints roll off you like water rolls off a duck. Be true to those principles, and it will not cause you any effort to shrug butthurt comments and drama off. Because let's be honest, there will always be drama and butthurt. And in those seldom cases where you feel it is in the best intrest to break the code, don't. Even if you really want to.
And if you really, really feel it is necessary, make a thread explaining why you feel it is necessary, open a poll and let the community decide before you take action. Because that is how you told us Totse.info would be ruled: by the community, not by a (benevolent) dictator. Totse.com had a benevolent absentee dictator, and that had its advantages and its disadvantages. Totse.info is to be community reigned, and that too, has its advantages and its disadvantages. Sometimes, a decision will have to be made and executed when it is not the best solution, only because the comunity decides they want it that way. Let it be that way. That's the way a democracy works, and that's the way you told us Totse.info would work. You cannot ever break this code, because even the smalles compromise opens the door to a dictatorship instead of a democracy. If you don't want to stick to this code, then don't, but be honest about it and quit saying the community rules Totse.info.
This leter is not intended to open old wounds, nor is it indended to be a declaration of war. This letter should not cause thousands of old issues to be treated again. This is about moving forward, about how we will make totse.info a true place of freedom and equality. If people feel there are some old issues which still need to be addressed, they should make a thread about it so the community can vote. Once the community has decided, the issue should be left alone.
I will post this letter in a thread tomorrow. Today, I want to give you the chance to think about it without the drama & butthurt this letter will almost certainly cause when I post it on the board. Let it mull over in your brain, sleep a night, and if you feel like you're not 100% certain what the point of this letter is, tell me so and I will clarify it. I want to be certain you understand the full meaning of this letter before it gets out in the open.
Kind regards
Amie"
TL/DR: I know.
Comments
As to your ridiculous allegations of secet PM deals, now you are starting to sound like Spectral. The only PMs that take place between Dfg and I are BCC's I send whenever I request (via PM) that another user alter their behavior in a given thread I moderate.
Your whole opinion is full of factual holes from what I am reading. For instance the part about Spectral. He was treated well until he decided to blow up the boards with his angst. He was asked politely to stop by several staff members at the time (I was not among them as I was not staff at that time). Dfg tried to reason with him and tried to ask him nicely to alter his actions. But Spectral would have none of it. How dare anyone suggest that a person of his impeccable pedigree be asked to follow the same route to becoming a mod as everyone else. The fact that you insinuate the Dfg treated Spectral in anyway different than anyone else due to his history is laughable. Hell, all Spectral had to do was be a reasonable person instead of the flaming ego maniac that he is and not only would he have never been banned, but he most certainly would have been a mod. It was Spectral's action here, on totse, and not anywhere else that got Will Faggert the treatment he earned.
I think you are confusing community guided with community ruled. There is no way you can have a board and it be 100% community ruled. If you did then the rules and guidelines would change with the wind. As new members entered and old members left opinions would change, polls would ensue, and the rules would change like a mood ring from the 70's. Then people who had been warned, infracted, or banned under the old rule would become all butt hurt because others were doing things that got them banned. Then more polls would ensue and the rules would shift again. Then people would get pissed because they were not allowed to do something that they used to enjoy doing.
The bottom line is you will find no other site in the internet where you have a chance to not only have an intelligent conversations, but have the freedom to express your complete opinion in that conversation.
Everyone thinks they have all the answers but nobody except Dfg has put his money where his mouth is and stepped up to the plate to actually implement answers as reality. What I mean is there are a plethora of people who think they could do it better but none of them go off, buy a domain, get a VB license, and put their money where their mouth is. Now before you say it, I know Dfg did not buy all of those things, but as far as I am concerned he has earned every bit of that and more with his labor and dedication to this project. Time is money so Dfg has certainly put his money where his mouth is. Can you say the same, can any of us say it?
I almost wish there was a practice site where all these back seat admins could go and try running things for a couple of months on even a low traffic site. Everyone of them would come back with a new point of view.
As far as I can see your freedom of speech has never been infringed upon here so I can only wonder what a denizen of #Rimjobs is really at with all this banner waving about free speech when their fee speech has never been threatened. In fact the only two people who have ever had a pissy sock stuffed in there mouth are Fatty and Spectral. To anyone who would argue that they were treated unjustly I can only reply with one word, bullshit.
Benevolent, intelligent, dictatorship is the most effective method of rule. Sure, community this, community that is wonderfully democratic, but the community opinion represents the average, which historically in the Totse communities case is distinctly unimpressive. The consequence of allowing true community rule in this case would probably be Totse slowly sliding into a HB shitfest, at which point an admin would be will within their rights to ask 'what the fuck is the point of all this?'.
I don't agree with several of Dfg's actions as admin: I can see why he chose to ban/limit Spectral although I'm not comfortable with it. As for mod shit-posting you should look higher up the foodchain than TDR, at least to start with.
Having said this I think that overall Dfg is doing well.
I do not disagree that a dictatorship has it's merits, and maybe it is the most succesful way of ruling a forum. I would not be opposed to this place being run by a benevolent intelligent dictator. However, if that's the way it's going to be, then he should tell us so. Dfg always said this place would be ruled by the community, with him as the executor of the community's wishes. If he thinks that strategy is failing / will fail he can change it - it's not like we can stop him, but he should tell us so. "Announcement: From now on, this will be a dictatorship. Now worship me, sock puppets." Kinda like that, you get the point.
True dat. If I really disliked this place, I would have left a long time ago. It's just that there are important things he's doing wrong in my opinion - and not only mine. The only way to change some of that is by telling him exactly what he is doing wrong. The reason I took the time to write this huge ass letter is because I care about this place. If you do too, please, take the time to think about some of the issues Totse.info has and explain your point of view to the mods & admins.