It's early, it's a spam section, here's what I *really* think

[Rayne]

I have been cruising around message boards for a very, very long time. I started off on the old BBS services- most of you kids don't remember those, but they were local and you had to dial them directly with your modem. From AOL's walled garden to the lassiez faire approach of the campus message boards, to phpBB and vBulletin boards across the web today.

This whole election affair is a recipe for nasty board drama, of which this board has, in my experience, been mercifully clear of. I have seen it happen far too many times, when a position of authority is dangled as if it were a reward in a contest to be won. I have watched an elections process completely gut one of the most popular MMORPG forums on the internet in the matter of a year, as the more respected members of the community let disagreement flower into animosity, which bloomed into anger, and wilted as people just stopped posting because they were sick of the bullshit.

One post from me isn't going to suddenly put the kibosh on this process- it seems that the powers behind it, for reasons I can't figure out myself, are dead-set on seeing this happen. I'm sure that some people asked for an election, and I'm sure that agitation has been going on behind the scenes for a while, but an internet message board is a very poor place to put democracy into practice.

This process will get nasty the later it gets- especially with the "rep points for votes" idea. While there's no real practical way of preventing that process, by enshrining it in the election procedures, Slyfox has established that there will be a market for votes that the board administration will not interfere with. Caveat Emptor, gentlemen. This will be a popularity contest, make no mistake about it. I don't think this board is ready to find out who's more popular then who else in real-time fashion.

I therefore do not stake claim to starting the "Anti" party, for by forming a party on these boards, I legitimize a process I view as self-destructive. I do however pledge that I will not endorse or defame a candidate in relation to the board elections, that I will not join a board party here, and that I will abstain from the voting for a new moderator.

I do not respect the legitimacy of the process, however, I respect the authority of the board administration to name their representatives in the manner they see fit, on property that they own. I will treat the moderator selected by this process no different than any other moderator, and will not view them as some 'false' moderator because I chose to abstain from this election.

I wish you the best of luck with this process, gentlemen. I want no part of it. To the people who wish to compete for a moderator's position- you clearly have no idea what you are getting into if you actually WANT the job, but I promise that you will get everything you deserve.

 

[Gelgarin]

Well that was a waste of time.

 

[Paralyzer Z]

I guess he wrote this so people would stop Pming him to join thier parties.

 

[Rayne]

I guess he wrote this so people would stop Pming him to join thier parties.

Pretty much this. A batch response became necessary; a lot of people requested my opinions in the form of my posts for their party, and thus I saw fit to give those people my opinions, and this works a lot better than one at a time.

I expect there will be a lot of people who disagree with me about the elections, and that's fine. I can't un-have my experiences with them, so my opinion isn't changing. I also expect that there will be a lot of people who feel reading seven short paragraphs is a chore, and that any idea worth having can be expressed in a one-sentence pithy online comment. Kill yourselves. Elections should be undertaken by people with the brains to understand them, and you are exactly the people who damn this process every time it is undertaken, from the bowels of the internet to the bowels of the White House.

 

[Gelgarin]

Verbal diarrhea does not equate with intelligence or complexity of thought.

 

[Larry]

Hey ya know what, I respect the hell out of what he just did. Speaking out like that is a heat magnet but he cares enough about where he stands to say so regardless. That's admirable at the least. I think the important thing for everyone to keep in mind to avoid the apocalyptic revelation of Rayne, is to remember that this IS also supposed to be fun. No one need take it TOO seriously. Obviously there you have to take the position itself seriously because it is a lot of work and once you're in it that is your mandate, however this whole election process(or so I had gathered) is supposed to be kind of a fun way to select a new mod instead of having the current staff just do it themselves and have everyone saying who they SHOULD have made a moderator. This gives everyone a fair chance and allows the forum to decide without the staff having to take the heat. I think it's a good idea and we can all have fun competing against each other in the process.

 

[Coco]

I don't think this board is ready to find out who's more popular then who else in real-time fashion.

We run poster tournaments on a semi-regular basis. I think we are. I also think we know that I'm the most popular and that any evidence to the contrary is just people over-thinking it to the point that my popularity is considered a bad thing in their deluded mind. Because if there's one thing the IWC hates, it's a popular, successful good guy.

 

[The Man They Call WMD]

I have been cruising around message boards for a very, very long time. I started off on the old BBS services- most of you kids don't remember those, but they were local and you had to dial them directly with your modem. From AOL's walled garden to the lassiez faire approach of the campus message boards, to phpBB and vBulletin boards across the web today.

This whole election affair is a recipe for nasty board drama, of which this board has, in my experience, been mercifully clear of. I have seen it happen far too many times, when a position of authority is dangled as if it were a reward in a contest to be won. I have watched an elections process completely gut one of the most popular MMORPG forums on the internet in the matter of a year, as the more respected members of the community let disagreement flower into animosity, which bloomed into anger, and wilted as people just stopped posting because they were sick of the bullshit.

One post from me isn't going to suddenly put the kibosh on this process- it seems that the powers behind it, for reasons I can't figure out myself, are dead-set on seeing this happen. I'm sure that some people asked for an election, and I'm sure that agitation has been going on behind the scenes for a while, but an internet message board is a very poor place to put democracy into practice.

This process will get nasty the later it gets- especially with the "rep points for votes" idea. While there's no real practical way of preventing that process, by enshrining it in the election procedures, Slyfox has established that there will be a market for votes that the board administration will not interfere with. Caveat Emptor, gentlemen. This will be a popularity contest, make no mistake about it. I don't think this board is ready to find out who's more popular then who else in real-time fashion.

I therefore do not stake claim to starting the "Anti" party, for by forming a party on these boards, I legitimize a process I view as self-destructive. I do however pledge that I will not endorse or defame a candidate in relation to the board elections, that I will not join a board party here, and that I will abstain from the voting for a new moderator.

I do not respect the legitimacy of the process, however, I respect the authority of the board administration to name their representatives in the manner they see fit, on property that they own. I will treat the moderator selected by this process no different than any other moderator, and will not view them as some 'false' moderator because I chose to abstain from this election.

I wish you the best of luck with this process, gentlemen. I want no part of it. To the people who wish to compete for a moderator's position- you clearly have no idea what you are getting into if you actually WANT the job, but I promise that you will get everything you deserve.

Form the Anti-Democracy Party.

 

[Slyfox696]

I have been cruising around message boards for a very, very long time. I started off on the old BBS services- most of you kids don't remember those, but they were local and you had to dial them directly with your modem. From AOL's walled garden to the lassiez faire approach of the campus message boards, to phpBB and vBulletin boards across the web today.

This whole election affair is a recipe for nasty board drama, of which this board has, in my experience, been mercifully clear of. I have seen it happen far too many times, when a position of authority is dangled as if it were a reward in a contest to be won. I have watched an elections process completely gut one of the most popular MMORPG forums on the internet in the matter of a year, as the more respected members of the community let disagreement flower into animosity, which bloomed into anger, and wilted as people just stopped posting because they were sick of the bullshit.

One post from me isn't going to suddenly put the kibosh on this process- it seems that the powers behind it, for reasons I can't figure out myself, are dead-set on seeing this happen. I'm sure that some people asked for an election, and I'm sure that agitation has been going on behind the scenes for a while, but an internet message board is a very poor place to put democracy into practice.

This process will get nasty the later it gets- especially with the "rep points for votes" idea. While there's no real practical way of preventing that process, by enshrining it in the election procedures, Slyfox has established that there will be a market for votes that the board administration will not interfere with. Caveat Emptor, gentlemen. This will be a popularity contest, make no mistake about it. I don't think this board is ready to find out who's more popular then who else in real-time fashion.

I therefore do not stake claim to starting the "Anti" party, for by forming a party on these boards, I legitimize a process I view as self-destructive. I do however pledge that I will not endorse or defame a candidate in relation to the board elections, that I will not join a board party here, and that I will abstain from the voting for a new moderator.

I do not respect the legitimacy of the process, however, I respect the authority of the board administration to name their representatives in the manner they see fit, on property that they own. I will treat the moderator selected by this process no different than any other moderator, and will not view them as some 'false' moderator because I chose to abstain from this election.

I wish you the best of luck with this process, gentlemen. I want no part of it. To the people who wish to compete for a moderator's position- you clearly have no idea what you are getting into if you actually WANT the job, but I promise that you will get everything you deserve.

I also expect that there will be a lot of people who feel reading seven short paragraphs is a chore, and that any idea worth having can be expressed in a one-sentence pithy online comment.

tl;dr



Nah, I kid. Your position is certainly understandable, and something I most definitely took into consideration. However, like Coco said, over the years we've had poster tournaments, end of the year poster awards, etc. and what always seems to be the biggest source of drama is the fact people trade reps for votes, PM random nobodies to vote for them, etc. all so their person can win. By acknowledging, allowing and encouraging said behavior, no one has the right to get upset if they don't win. If they don't win, it's either because they didn't work hard enough or they weren't well enough liked. I made sure when I laid out the rules and processes of this Election, I was very clear this was most certainly a popularity contest, so if you don't win, you only have yourself to blame.

And to answer some of your other unknowns, there hasn't been agitation to run such an Election. To be honest, I think the announcement was a surprise to just about everyone. I understand your experiences on other boards has led you to the opinion you currently have, one you're most certainly entitled to, but I think the fact it's openly acknowledged to be nothing more than a popularity contest will help alleviate most of the problems which exist. Combine that with the fact I also made it known that anyone running can expect cheap shots from their opponents, and people really don't have anything to be upset about.

All in all, the Staff on this forum is very good about keeping things under control. There is always some forum drama going on from someone, usually in the Bar Room, but it is usually kept out of the rest of the forums. In fact, aside from the PMs, if you never venture into the Bar Room or the Election forum, I very seriously doubt you'd ever know how the Election was progressing.

Your concerns are certainly understood and your experiences behind your concerns I can definitely appreciate. However, I'm hoping with the way we plan to proceed with the Election, it should help minimize the hurt feelings. And KB and I do have other plans to help keep everything going smooth, which we're not discussing with anyone else.

On a side note, while I can understand your desire not to participate in the process, I certainly would encourage you to follow along with it. I think it should make for an entertaining time, and I would think you would want to have your input on who becomes the next moderator, even if it is only through one vote.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Or this could be some Willy Wonka type rouse where each candidate finds themselves getting eliminated through spectacular circumstances leaving one kid with the decision whether or not to return their Gobstopper?