New Era, New Direction
Dfg
Admin
I am writing this thread after e-mailing Easy-e the Administrator of Totse2, our sister community and e-mailing someone who tried to break into our server. We started this venture back in 2010 after we got tired of Zoklet and decided to part ways.
We did many mistakes, I mean we raided Zoklet, we tried to attack them and people were just hell bend on destroying that place. I always kept away from that because at that time I didn’t have much control and everyone was just doing their own thing. I admit to doing some stupid things in the past but I made my piece with Zoklet when I posted my last thread. That place was my home and there were some users who respected me and loved me and in turn I loved them as well. I guess it was mostly a problem of trust with Zoklet, no matter what we did, it just wouldn’t work.
Zoklet is Zok’s website, he can run in whatever fashion he wants it, agreed he got tons of user base but honestly he has a job and he is trying to earn a living as well. It’s not his fault that he got burdened with that much diverse user base. Sure, it had an amazing potential to get off the ground but it just didn’t happen.
Enter Totse2, it’s a place which was started by Easy-e and got some mild reception. It has been going on and off for quite some time. Like Zoklet, it lacked direction and dedication on some part but it still has potential. It’s sort of a close knit community and they just like doing what they want without caring for anyone else. We had a steady relationship with them, I used some ambassadors who ventured into that community and helped them and even contributed. If I had time, I would have done the same but alas my hands were full with Totse.info.
In comes Totse.info, build on foundations of Totse.com this website had a goal and mission which to this day we try to adhere too. But unfortunately we inherited some elements from Zoklet that were the reason why totse.com ended. They were trolls and inexperienced people who didn’t know a thing about life. They were everyday rebels who thought that calling everyone names was cool and going against what everyone was doing was considered Nobel in some way.
I have always talked about this, I am just using whatever I have been given, you give me trolls and I will try to make them posters and my past record shows it worked to some degree. In terms of posts and content, Totse.info is blessed with amazing content and user base but that diverse user base is also our greatest weakness.
For months, I have been working on trying to build a core team, I tried everything that I can possibly can short of just handing them my real information I tried every door. The thing is, our team was out of sync. There was butthurt and drama every day, the mods didn’t work in a team and the whole forum suffered. During that time we discovered a way to fix this issue.
For a guy who didn’t speak good English or wasn’t fluent with it or had accent issues, I just went ahead and drove right into it. We had our first Skype chat and I realized something. This forum is just an extension it’s an extension to a community. It doesn’t matter if we post on comments on another website in the end we’re all connected. Voice communication was the key to everything, it helped us build trust and we got to know each other. It ended some major conflicts and it helped me analyze something that Jeff Hunter himself would have hard time thinking.
My friends, I am not an idiot, I knew where this would all end. If we kept following the path we were going, we would end up closing shop like Totse.com. It’s the honest truth. Back few days ago, when I was in the process of changing the CMS, I was thrown into a shit storm that resulted in me, yes me, banning and removing most our staff and users.
To the outsiders it might seem a harsh decision but I wasn’t absent from totse.info. While I was working on my IRL project, I did keep tabs on key users and I saw a plot enfold which I am sure the team behind this would deny which is pretty much expected from them.
I had to cut of ties with people that I cared for I mean I honestly cared for them, I even had a wish list with their names on top just so I can meet them in person but the damage was already done. I made my decision when I was forced to take a stand. I am a nice guy, people always say this and it’s true. I am the guy who would take a bullet for you and won’t complain that’s just me and I am not going to change but I am afraid of my bad side as well. I try to keep it in check but if you get backstabbed by the people you trusted, you just can’t keep going on.
I went ahead and start making changes, the first change was the theme. I took down Totse theme and changed it to new a theme with orange colors. It was modern and worked in almost all browsers. The idea was to send everyone a message in a subtle way and it worked. The next change was the main page and Drupal. I took it down and used Wordpress with a new theme.
These two major changes were the first step. The next step was cleaning up the house and thankfully before I had to go on and send PM’s to mods and users they just did me a favor. By causing a shit storm just like the one we saw on Zoklet, they identified who was what. You see it’s pretty easy to poison someone with few PM’s. I have seen that happen on this very website. The trust within the community was lost.
As expected Totse2 was used to mount attacks against us, from ALT accounts to numerous sleeper accounts and yes it was done thanks to Mr. Butthurt Fang. But we did suffer some damage because other users fell into his lies and I just didn’t bother with correcting them. I banned and removed them. Which might seem harsh but I just fighting for the survival of this community.
Decisions were made and actions were taken. Anyone who remotely tried to cause the shit storm was taken out. I had a 0 tolerance policy for it. I have seen how things break down if not controlled and I had to keep them out. Sure the dedicated people felt betrayed but they can’t blame me, when you leave for months and don’t contribute and go around others back and start working with others, what do you expect?
This was the past and I will remember it. I learned things from it and I am glad it happened because now, we can finally move on forward. The old Totse.com is dead, it’ finished. No point in beating a dead horse. It cannot be revived and it’s just a hopeless cause but that doesn’t mean we’re finished.
We have so much potential here. When I talked to Remade and Paco, I was stunned. I didn’t have a clue what they were capable off. I mean this whole year we spent seems a waste of time considering what we could have done. We kept on trying to mimic something wasn’t perfect, we kept on trying to be old school and we failed at it.
We targeted an audience which doesn’t exist! We ventured out to find people who were idiots and only wanted to read about blowing stuff up and didn’t have any idea about life. Look at the user base guys, we have a cat fucker and some retard who thinks trolling is everything. This isn’t what we ventured out for. Few weeks back, I was inspired by Bill Hicks and I wrote a thread regarding it. I saw what that man tried to do, change lives by helping people.
I look at Totse.info and see changed lives but not in a good way, the few that got help were the ones who were close to me. The others were just drifting. I got into freelancing and I thought I will help writers who had skills get some exposure but this drama that kept going on and off prevented me. I had to buy a domain totseans.com to fund that project just so I can help the user base change their life and these elements didn’t let me finish that.
We have writers, musicians and people who are blessed with amazing talents. Instead of going out and acting like a dick, why don’t we become a real community and help each other. I have been using teamspeak a lot and it has helped me create a bond of friendship and brotherhood that will last till my dying breath. That was never possible on a text based board. I met these people that I only knew as some random people and I wanted to help them out, these people were the core of Totse.info. They dedicated their time and energy hoping for the best.
Of course everyone hated the new addition, why wouldn’t they, it was against the Totse culture but it helped us, it made the team stronger we saw each other as real human being as people who we could care for, for the first time I felt I belonged to a family.
Some got angry when I made staff changes and added TDR, they guy who everyone thought was Spectral and Daguru combined. As much as I tried to clear the doubts no one just got the message. It kept on going on and off. The problem we had were out of sync members of trolls.
The problem couldn’t be solved by discussion, whatever I said they’re going to say this is Totse and this is our freedom of speech, freedom of speech doesn’t mean you can go into a jammed packed hall and cry FIRE! This is what these elements were trying to do, hide behind Fake FoS and trying trolling the community. If that’s not enough the staff team was divided on that and that’s the reason why we went from community run to community driven and now to Dictatorship.
Did I want to put my foot down? No, that’s the last thing I wanted to do but I saw the writing on the wall. It had to end. I implemented a strict policy I upgraded the rules and asked TDR to take care of the situation. Contrary to what others might think TDR is an excellent manager, users received extended warnings and PM’s. Every action was checked by me and I give the go ahead for it. That’s why I was in Teamspeak because I could work on my job and still keep an eye on things. We weeded out the trolls and problem users and that pretty much got everyone mad but that was expected.
So, what now?
Users might say that hey DFG your circle jerk buddies destroyed Totse. Sorry guys this isn’t Totse. It could never be Totse. It was destined to be something else. We’re moving on, we will be adding more strict controls, we already have a new system in place, we have strict policies regarding trolls and shit storm makers and we will iron out everything.
But from this you get a place where you can share something and not get flooded with trolls, you get a place where you can invest time in and in return get help from people from all walks of life. Not only do you get training, you will get a chance to promote you work.
The new Totse is all about building a solid family, it’s a hybrid concept community the likes you will never see on the Internet. It will be run by a core group of dedicated members who will work endlessly for the betterment of the community and it will not be a place which it used to be.
We’re aiming to attract a different audience that knows what life is and wants to share their experiences and knowledge with everyone. We’re not going to waste time on users from the new era of Totse. Sorry, they’re damaged goods. They have shown what they can do and it’s not much.
This is the change that we were destined for, we we’re meant to be Totse.com, were meant to be something great, something that actually makes a change in this world. So, I have faith in me. I know things will look bad for a while but it will improve, I will never give up on this and I will hunt down our enemies and take them down if required.
I ended ties with many people here but only because they didn’t trust me and only because they wouldn’t understand. They had their misconceptions and I needed to show them by example what I meant.
Take care my friends, remember we’re a family and we will get through this.
Special thanks to Easy-e, Adminstrator of Totse2 for helping us.
We did many mistakes, I mean we raided Zoklet, we tried to attack them and people were just hell bend on destroying that place. I always kept away from that because at that time I didn’t have much control and everyone was just doing their own thing. I admit to doing some stupid things in the past but I made my piece with Zoklet when I posted my last thread. That place was my home and there were some users who respected me and loved me and in turn I loved them as well. I guess it was mostly a problem of trust with Zoklet, no matter what we did, it just wouldn’t work.
Zoklet is Zok’s website, he can run in whatever fashion he wants it, agreed he got tons of user base but honestly he has a job and he is trying to earn a living as well. It’s not his fault that he got burdened with that much diverse user base. Sure, it had an amazing potential to get off the ground but it just didn’t happen.
Enter Totse2, it’s a place which was started by Easy-e and got some mild reception. It has been going on and off for quite some time. Like Zoklet, it lacked direction and dedication on some part but it still has potential. It’s sort of a close knit community and they just like doing what they want without caring for anyone else. We had a steady relationship with them, I used some ambassadors who ventured into that community and helped them and even contributed. If I had time, I would have done the same but alas my hands were full with Totse.info.
In comes Totse.info, build on foundations of Totse.com this website had a goal and mission which to this day we try to adhere too. But unfortunately we inherited some elements from Zoklet that were the reason why totse.com ended. They were trolls and inexperienced people who didn’t know a thing about life. They were everyday rebels who thought that calling everyone names was cool and going against what everyone was doing was considered Nobel in some way.
I have always talked about this, I am just using whatever I have been given, you give me trolls and I will try to make them posters and my past record shows it worked to some degree. In terms of posts and content, Totse.info is blessed with amazing content and user base but that diverse user base is also our greatest weakness.
For months, I have been working on trying to build a core team, I tried everything that I can possibly can short of just handing them my real information I tried every door. The thing is, our team was out of sync. There was butthurt and drama every day, the mods didn’t work in a team and the whole forum suffered. During that time we discovered a way to fix this issue.
For a guy who didn’t speak good English or wasn’t fluent with it or had accent issues, I just went ahead and drove right into it. We had our first Skype chat and I realized something. This forum is just an extension it’s an extension to a community. It doesn’t matter if we post on comments on another website in the end we’re all connected. Voice communication was the key to everything, it helped us build trust and we got to know each other. It ended some major conflicts and it helped me analyze something that Jeff Hunter himself would have hard time thinking.
My friends, I am not an idiot, I knew where this would all end. If we kept following the path we were going, we would end up closing shop like Totse.com. It’s the honest truth. Back few days ago, when I was in the process of changing the CMS, I was thrown into a shit storm that resulted in me, yes me, banning and removing most our staff and users.
To the outsiders it might seem a harsh decision but I wasn’t absent from totse.info. While I was working on my IRL project, I did keep tabs on key users and I saw a plot enfold which I am sure the team behind this would deny which is pretty much expected from them.
I had to cut of ties with people that I cared for I mean I honestly cared for them, I even had a wish list with their names on top just so I can meet them in person but the damage was already done. I made my decision when I was forced to take a stand. I am a nice guy, people always say this and it’s true. I am the guy who would take a bullet for you and won’t complain that’s just me and I am not going to change but I am afraid of my bad side as well. I try to keep it in check but if you get backstabbed by the people you trusted, you just can’t keep going on.
I went ahead and start making changes, the first change was the theme. I took down Totse theme and changed it to new a theme with orange colors. It was modern and worked in almost all browsers. The idea was to send everyone a message in a subtle way and it worked. The next change was the main page and Drupal. I took it down and used Wordpress with a new theme.
These two major changes were the first step. The next step was cleaning up the house and thankfully before I had to go on and send PM’s to mods and users they just did me a favor. By causing a shit storm just like the one we saw on Zoklet, they identified who was what. You see it’s pretty easy to poison someone with few PM’s. I have seen that happen on this very website. The trust within the community was lost.
As expected Totse2 was used to mount attacks against us, from ALT accounts to numerous sleeper accounts and yes it was done thanks to Mr. Butthurt Fang. But we did suffer some damage because other users fell into his lies and I just didn’t bother with correcting them. I banned and removed them. Which might seem harsh but I just fighting for the survival of this community.
Decisions were made and actions were taken. Anyone who remotely tried to cause the shit storm was taken out. I had a 0 tolerance policy for it. I have seen how things break down if not controlled and I had to keep them out. Sure the dedicated people felt betrayed but they can’t blame me, when you leave for months and don’t contribute and go around others back and start working with others, what do you expect?
This was the past and I will remember it. I learned things from it and I am glad it happened because now, we can finally move on forward. The old Totse.com is dead, it’ finished. No point in beating a dead horse. It cannot be revived and it’s just a hopeless cause but that doesn’t mean we’re finished.
We have so much potential here. When I talked to Remade and Paco, I was stunned. I didn’t have a clue what they were capable off. I mean this whole year we spent seems a waste of time considering what we could have done. We kept on trying to mimic something wasn’t perfect, we kept on trying to be old school and we failed at it.
We targeted an audience which doesn’t exist! We ventured out to find people who were idiots and only wanted to read about blowing stuff up and didn’t have any idea about life. Look at the user base guys, we have a cat fucker and some retard who thinks trolling is everything. This isn’t what we ventured out for. Few weeks back, I was inspired by Bill Hicks and I wrote a thread regarding it. I saw what that man tried to do, change lives by helping people.
I look at Totse.info and see changed lives but not in a good way, the few that got help were the ones who were close to me. The others were just drifting. I got into freelancing and I thought I will help writers who had skills get some exposure but this drama that kept going on and off prevented me. I had to buy a domain totseans.com to fund that project just so I can help the user base change their life and these elements didn’t let me finish that.
We have writers, musicians and people who are blessed with amazing talents. Instead of going out and acting like a dick, why don’t we become a real community and help each other. I have been using teamspeak a lot and it has helped me create a bond of friendship and brotherhood that will last till my dying breath. That was never possible on a text based board. I met these people that I only knew as some random people and I wanted to help them out, these people were the core of Totse.info. They dedicated their time and energy hoping for the best.
Of course everyone hated the new addition, why wouldn’t they, it was against the Totse culture but it helped us, it made the team stronger we saw each other as real human being as people who we could care for, for the first time I felt I belonged to a family.
Some got angry when I made staff changes and added TDR, they guy who everyone thought was Spectral and Daguru combined. As much as I tried to clear the doubts no one just got the message. It kept on going on and off. The problem we had were out of sync members of trolls.
The problem couldn’t be solved by discussion, whatever I said they’re going to say this is Totse and this is our freedom of speech, freedom of speech doesn’t mean you can go into a jammed packed hall and cry FIRE! This is what these elements were trying to do, hide behind Fake FoS and trying trolling the community. If that’s not enough the staff team was divided on that and that’s the reason why we went from community run to community driven and now to Dictatorship.
Did I want to put my foot down? No, that’s the last thing I wanted to do but I saw the writing on the wall. It had to end. I implemented a strict policy I upgraded the rules and asked TDR to take care of the situation. Contrary to what others might think TDR is an excellent manager, users received extended warnings and PM’s. Every action was checked by me and I give the go ahead for it. That’s why I was in Teamspeak because I could work on my job and still keep an eye on things. We weeded out the trolls and problem users and that pretty much got everyone mad but that was expected.
So, what now?
Users might say that hey DFG your circle jerk buddies destroyed Totse. Sorry guys this isn’t Totse. It could never be Totse. It was destined to be something else. We’re moving on, we will be adding more strict controls, we already have a new system in place, we have strict policies regarding trolls and shit storm makers and we will iron out everything.
But from this you get a place where you can share something and not get flooded with trolls, you get a place where you can invest time in and in return get help from people from all walks of life. Not only do you get training, you will get a chance to promote you work.
The new Totse is all about building a solid family, it’s a hybrid concept community the likes you will never see on the Internet. It will be run by a core group of dedicated members who will work endlessly for the betterment of the community and it will not be a place which it used to be.
We’re aiming to attract a different audience that knows what life is and wants to share their experiences and knowledge with everyone. We’re not going to waste time on users from the new era of Totse. Sorry, they’re damaged goods. They have shown what they can do and it’s not much.
This is the change that we were destined for, we we’re meant to be Totse.com, were meant to be something great, something that actually makes a change in this world. So, I have faith in me. I know things will look bad for a while but it will improve, I will never give up on this and I will hunt down our enemies and take them down if required.
I ended ties with many people here but only because they didn’t trust me and only because they wouldn’t understand. They had their misconceptions and I needed to show them by example what I meant.
Take care my friends, remember we’re a family and we will get through this.
Special thanks to Easy-e, Adminstrator of Totse2 for helping us.
Comments
To the future!
i hope this site keeps growing and more people will relize what is happening here the direction this site is going in is better for every one its more modern and based on most of the same foundation as the orginal
long live totse.info
I have to say though, the new direction looks good moving on, moving forward.
May I ask what made you come to this decision? I don't see how strict controls is going to make this website better. In fact, I'd say the opposite move is necessary at this point.
This is the internet, there are going to be trolls. Sometimes trolls highlight important issues, while most of the time they're just trying to stir up shit. I don't see the point in banning them however, there'd be nobody left to post here (we all troll sometimes).
The decision was made after seeing things wouldn't pan out for future, we don't generate enough content, we aren't focused and plus we're just breaking out humble host back. Things needed to be changed in order for us to survive plus, we needed a different audience.
As for the changes Dfg is implementing and putting down the chain of command, so to speak, will work. The Mods were notified through Teamspeak discussions and if I didn't support them then I'd have said something.
I didn't, because I want to see this place thrive. A new audience will be attracted due to the more mature and streamlined direction we intend to go in. I know it all sounds a bit hazy and whatnot, but I assure you it will work. No reason for anyone to leave and no reason to abandon the original &T mindset, but we are just adapting it for the new generation (and no, that doesn't mean Facebook). For example we have Blogs up which I intend to use more often, and so therefore things which will stimulate mature and focused (I know that is very subjective) discussions will be put into place.
In my heart of hearts, this place and the &T mentality has got me through a lot, and even kept me alive. I'd be heartbroken to see this place go down the shitter, which is why we have a democratic way of running things within the staff. And I know some people will object to me saying that with TDR etc taking action against elements which were harming the site (or not, depending on your view), but considering Jeff Hunter was a faceless dictator with Mods who sometimes ran amock, we aren't going too far wrong. In fact, to get where we want to be, we are going in the right direction.
Anway, my 2¢:
In the past it was the anarchic freedom of speech that originally attracted me to totse, but I actually welcome this shift. Totse, zoklet, t2 and .info all tried the same approach. One is dead, one is full of worthless trolling detritus, the other two are barely breathing. Fuck it, lets try doing it a different way.
It is important to note that this post is just speculation on my part as nothing concrete has been decided yet on these forums.
I can tell you personally, having serious intellectual conversations is not why I came to totse.
You might as well delete BI and Backyard Ballistics while your at it.
I came here to talk about things, that I couldn't talk about with regular people. It's plain and simple, and you had it perfect before.
I could understand that you want less trolling, but the thing I liked about this place, is that you can say whatever you like, and not be persecuted. That's what set us apart from the rest, and that's what Hellish and Vineman signed up for.
If you want to be like every other shitty forum, be my guest. Until then, I'll be elsewhere.
Anything I shopuld not do
Just don't crap in other peoples threads is all. Pretty simple really, if you you wouldn't do it in a live conversation in a bar where you would get your ass beat don't do it here.
No, I'm not. I've seen people get IP banned for "stirring up shit". Fucking Sharia Law.
Thou shalt not cause grief to thy Administrator, Global Moderators, or Moderator in their sections. These people volunteer their time and have been chosen for their contributions to the community in general as well as the forum(s) they moderate. Their time is better spent contributing content to discussion than dealing with useless drama.
That has been a rule forever, get it now. If you don't like it why are you back here BTW?
Cool man. No worries only reason for posting over there is to make zek suffer
I think either my English sucks or people still don't get it. You're free to make whatever kind of threads you like, as long as they're in proper sections and you don't shit in other people threads. We already wasted tons of time trying to deal with these elements, out all of the major Internet I have seen, none of them tolerate this behaviour. You get instant perma banned but atleast you got temp banned in order for the staff to get some room to work on rebuilding things. I mean I can't spent time e-mailing each and every user and telling him the same thing over and over again, I would prefer to spend that time on doing something that actually helps.
You, my friend have been responsible for some of that good content. Nice work and welcome to the new totse.info. The only mod here who is bit over the top at times is myself but only when shitiots give me reason.
Viva la Totse.
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.
Really shows how much I've missed and how goddamn busy I've been.
I do like the direction the community has been moving.
I wish I had more time to be a part of it.
As far as I can tell, dfg and other mods/admins have the exact right idea.
Sure, the site has a strong respect for the first amendment.
Respect for it doesn't mean you should go ahead and be a cock to everyone else for your own amusement.
Cheers, boys.
I think those involved deserve a huge pat on the back - excellent admin/mods, site design looks great, excellent flow of content, and vibrant community, hell TOTSe never looked better. I still have my old collection of text files from Jeff Hunter/BBS days, lurked (occasionally contributed) on the old site, so this really takes me back. TBH I've gotten married, have a kid, settled into a decent job, so I can't mess around like I used to, but it's always great seeing TOTSE live on and inspiring the new generation!
Hmm