Post by The Warsman on Oct 30, 2011 14:39:00 GMT -5
A friend on here sent me an old thread link discussing me leaving the board abruptly this spring (when I was Mod), and many things were said, guessed at, and probably made up to make me look bad. I just want to clear some things up, since the current atmosphere is very positive (comparatively) and most people don't know what really happened.
Most of you know I was part of a faction that focused on old school territories, and we had our share of "board enemies." Things were VERY ugly for many months. Finally in the spring, Jack S. sent me a PM that caught me by surprise, saying it was nothing personal, but he was tired of the drama on our board and he was getting too many complaints about me showing favoritism on the board. Jack told me he was de-modding me.
By the time I read his PM, I was already de-modded for an hour or two. I sent him a reply saying I respect him- it's his board and it's his decision, but to not let a very vocal minority make his decisions for him. An hour later, I checked again, and I was Mod again. No reply, though. Weird.
A few weeks went by. Things were pretty much the same. Sniping from both sides of the Fig Fed forum "fight"...other websites being made to run down people here...constant snarky replies to shows...and then the regular forum annoyances, mostly a full page of promises and first-looks at feds that never materialized.
All the while, I wondered if what my detractors had been screaming was actually true, that things would be better off if I was not the mod. I thought maybe it would increase their positive participation, and maybe the board would truly flourish. I decided to try an experiment. I would leave for 6 months and see how things were once I returned. I don't think I even told my forum friends what I was planning.
I PMed Jack and told him he might be right, things might be better without me, and that it was time for me to go. He replied and asked who should replace me. I replied and gave him the names of 2 people who I thought would be good for the job. One was a TWA member, the other was actually one of my detractors who did his best to look/remain neutral on THIS site. Jack S. didn't select either one, for whatever reason. He took his sweet-butt time replacing me, too, lol. I let him know I was leaving the site. Again, he knew I was asking to be de-modded and I didn't leave him out of the blue.
In the mean time, I came on the board a few times and noticed I was still listed as "Mod." I figured he would make the change soon...but apparently he never did for several weeks. It made it look like I just stopped logging in (which I did, but that's because I asked him to de-mod me). So long story short, I asked to be de-modded, they didn't do it in a timely manner, it appeared I just fell off the Earth as a mod.
Now, fast forward 6 months...I'm back and looking around. The same people who swore things would be better off without me have disappeared. I guess they needed me to kick around in order to stay here, lol. Oh well. The number and quality of shows is the practically the same, if not a bit lower in numbers. I'm not knocking the state of the board, I'm merely saying nothing's really changed like my detractors all thought it would.
The lesson I learned is that it's not the mod that makes the forum a great place/active place, etc. it's the people who frequent it. The very same ones who politic and backstab trying to get certain people removed, tattletale to Jack S., get themselves proped up, and friends put in the modship, etc. --If those people would put their energy into being helpful and productive members of the board, it would be the board we all want it to be--active and full of quality shows.
Right now, most of the negative energy is gone from the board. Let's all do our part to try to keep it that way!
Thanks for reading,
Wars
Most of you know I was part of a faction that focused on old school territories, and we had our share of "board enemies." Things were VERY ugly for many months. Finally in the spring, Jack S. sent me a PM that caught me by surprise, saying it was nothing personal, but he was tired of the drama on our board and he was getting too many complaints about me showing favoritism on the board. Jack told me he was de-modding me.
By the time I read his PM, I was already de-modded for an hour or two. I sent him a reply saying I respect him- it's his board and it's his decision, but to not let a very vocal minority make his decisions for him. An hour later, I checked again, and I was Mod again. No reply, though. Weird.
A few weeks went by. Things were pretty much the same. Sniping from both sides of the Fig Fed forum "fight"...other websites being made to run down people here...constant snarky replies to shows...and then the regular forum annoyances, mostly a full page of promises and first-looks at feds that never materialized.
All the while, I wondered if what my detractors had been screaming was actually true, that things would be better off if I was not the mod. I thought maybe it would increase their positive participation, and maybe the board would truly flourish. I decided to try an experiment. I would leave for 6 months and see how things were once I returned. I don't think I even told my forum friends what I was planning.
I PMed Jack and told him he might be right, things might be better without me, and that it was time for me to go. He replied and asked who should replace me. I replied and gave him the names of 2 people who I thought would be good for the job. One was a TWA member, the other was actually one of my detractors who did his best to look/remain neutral on THIS site. Jack S. didn't select either one, for whatever reason. He took his sweet-butt time replacing me, too, lol. I let him know I was leaving the site. Again, he knew I was asking to be de-modded and I didn't leave him out of the blue.
In the mean time, I came on the board a few times and noticed I was still listed as "Mod." I figured he would make the change soon...but apparently he never did for several weeks. It made it look like I just stopped logging in (which I did, but that's because I asked him to de-mod me). So long story short, I asked to be de-modded, they didn't do it in a timely manner, it appeared I just fell off the Earth as a mod.
Now, fast forward 6 months...I'm back and looking around. The same people who swore things would be better off without me have disappeared. I guess they needed me to kick around in order to stay here, lol. Oh well. The number and quality of shows is the practically the same, if not a bit lower in numbers. I'm not knocking the state of the board, I'm merely saying nothing's really changed like my detractors all thought it would.
The lesson I learned is that it's not the mod that makes the forum a great place/active place, etc. it's the people who frequent it. The very same ones who politic and backstab trying to get certain people removed, tattletale to Jack S., get themselves proped up, and friends put in the modship, etc. --If those people would put their energy into being helpful and productive members of the board, it would be the board we all want it to be--active and full of quality shows.
Right now, most of the negative energy is gone from the board. Let's all do our part to try to keep it that way!
Thanks for reading,
Wars
