Mojo old chap, you seem to miss the point entirely. If you read the posts in this thread backwards, they would still make sense, if you know what I mean (not ruling out the possibility you don't, judging by your post(s)).
1. The threads deleted were not reasonable for our standards (and surprise, we go by
our standards here,. not those of anyone else, no matter who they are and how much anyone likes them). If I can believe Phoenix (which I surely can), the answers to the questions in said posts were answered either here or on the old forum some time ago.
2. We do not hold grudges. Our patience has its limits and harshness in action increases when limits are reached. This is not the first time we've dealt with these matters, and indeed our patience has slowly grown thin.
3. I respect everyone on these boards, even when I apply sarcasm or speak jokingly. The thing is, respect is a two-way concept. A post that is in one way or another disrespectful can receive disrespectful response - do not be too surprised at this.
There is a saying "your communication reflects itself in the response you get".
There is no judgement in this saying, it merely portrays wisdom.
If people get angry at you, delete your posts or apply sarcasm, there are two possible responses.
- The first, and generally applied reaction: you ignore their point, since they are obviously wrong and you apply threats (or examples, whatever you call them
), arguments and generally start or continue a fight on all fronts.
- Another way to respond, would be to reflect on the general response. Do not allow yourself to react to initial anger/feelings, do not allow yourself to be hurt by them directly, but let it seep in, think about what you can do
yourself to change both this response, and the effect of your communication.
Are you getting out of this what you wanted to in the first place?
Does the application of the 'first' type of reaction help you reach your goals?
If not, why continue along that path? It's certainly not helping either yourself or the receiving end.
All this applies to us (moderators) aswell. If we post a news item or use our moderator privileges to which a lot of rude comments are issued, we should think about this, and not respond by forcibly furthering to express our opinions in the same manner (and yes, that
is hard to do).
In any case however, we are both the initators
and represent the response.
Phoenix' response was to delete the threads mentioned earlier, and surely you still remember our response to the new player class idea you ventilated some time ago. This is what I recommend you to think about. I'm not saying we were right to respond the way we did - I'm not saying your ideas are bollocks in general - I'm just saying that you're not going to get what you are/were obviously
trying to get out of it.
A change in this can only effectively come from the initatiators' side, so I hope you, mojo and vadertime, may find this advice helpful (I know it was an eye-opener for me, once upon a time). Just as we will try to be patient as much as we can.
Two tactics that are not working so far:
- The 'democratic community' idea (also known as 'stop-acting-like-gods'). "The community is god and moderators should do their bidding. Admins should be gentle, even when the community is not, because that is their place." - it won't work with us, Phoenix has clearly (and respectfully) explained why.
Comparison to other communities or boards does not change this.
- Threats, accusations, examples are a no-no.
For example, the bit about the 'all-seeing-professional-hacker'... doesn't help - this is the internet. Any hacker true of heart shall agree with me on that. Their purpose is not to 'fight the unjust', because such a thing is never black&white on the net. Hackers strive to learn and educate about security problems, flaws and loopholes. Professional hackers also try to make sure their efforts are well met - otherwise there'd be a lot of jail, and very little profession left for them. All in all, being a hacker is an honourable task. I fear not of them, but would encourage a good conversation at any time - much can become known through this.
I'll leave it at that for now. I've hardly ever typed this much, but this is pretty much the base of how things work for me.
