Meth Quokka

Let's B!tch. I feel it's a healthy release for our roleplay annoyances 2.0

This thread has always had a tenuous grip to life.

Don't ruin it by bringing up a recently locked thread.

Persistent World

For clarification, you are allowed to disagree on the OP's argument but don't throw personal insults around. Same goes for the other way around, the OP's opinion is not golden or closed to criticism. Criticise the idea, not the person. I am closely monitoring this thread.

World-Building Section

I'm cutting this off before it goes anywhere sour. Discussions are fine but circular arguments tending towards flaming is not.

Let's B!tch. I feel it's a healthy release for our roleplay annoyances 2.0

<Snipped quote by Odin>

"nothing to do but flame him"

Because stopping isn't a choice

@Silver Carrot

Commenting after a mod asks for the conversation to cease is not a smart ofea, keep that in mind in the future.

Site & Art issue.

The topic does have an interesting balance in terms of copyright protection in terms of intellectual property; in most cases it must be patented/trademarked depending on the exact nature of it.

End of the day the reuse of images is so rife in our society that it's pointless to argue that writers should never use images made by someone else if they don't explicitly say not to. Look at the comparison for memes, how many of us share and repost memes, yet never reference their original creator?

The underlying issue I see is there is often a misunderstanding from the artists perspective of when these images are used, they're somehow being claimed by the person using them rather them then going oh look, here's an image that perfectly suits the world/character I'm trying to create. That is based off my experience interacting with artists who have joined to complain about the misuse. They can't be surprised at the image being reused as it is in the public domain and often has no watermark or private use statement. I've used other images from google searches like this in the past because they capture that setting/flavour of the idea I may feel I'm not properly portraying in words.

However end of the day, this isn't a in court legal argument, it's more a commonality of respect among artists; we don't claim credit for other people's work and if the original artist has an issue with it, then we remove it.

On the topic of people being reprimanded over the use of plagiarism in contests, that is because there was prewarnings on the contest entries that it had to solely be your own work for the single purpose of the contest. Additionally this was done for the purposes of gain by cheating the system.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

@Kangaroo be in my thread like:

@Dynamo Frokane

I am indeed known for my propensity for a beer.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Got kicked off The Guild Discord, because I told someone to "Get Raped" which is basically the most ethereal insult you could make. Offering 20 bucks to whoever rapes them though. Figure it out.

As a sidenote, anyone who takes that seriously as a threat can also get raped.

@Chrononaut

I'm sorry I don't consider that to be fonz cool, especially when directed at a minor. You want to add that against a mod too? It's not a threat but not a common decency for the site.

I'm gonna give you a chance to rollback your stance here.

Looking Back - 5 months have passed, what now?

<Snipped quote by Kangaroo>

What constitutes a good mod and what not is, also, entirely subjective. I'm not saying you're wrong, because you're not, but as Hank has previously stated, he prefers janitor-style mods and I myself prefer a different style of mods. Neither of us is wrong, we just have different preferences.

@Odin

Yes I completely agree that quality is subject to a lack of objectivity, but my initial point remains is that who has ever registered me as a bad mod who should never return. As far as I am aware, it's no-one. Ergo an argument that my reappointment as a mod as being a sign of nepotism is most likely null and void and symbolistic of a failing of the system. If it's the second, please go ahead and tell me what I'm doing wrong, I welcome constructive criticism; the main criticismIi've received thus far was that I was too lenient.

I think there are plenty of good candidates for moderator positions that, as far as I know, have never been considered, where as I do know some people that I personally think are probably one of the worst picks you could make have been considered. Perhaps for that reason I'll ask @Hank if he could run me/us through the process that you go through when you are being considered for moderator. Or perhaps one of the other mods could. I'm interested to see what the process is from start to finish. How do you get considered for the position all the way to how is the acceptance of a new moderator announced.

Odin

The idea I have is that at the moment it's entirely whimsical and based on nominations from other moderators. You should be aware that you're missing out on a lot of good candidates like @Nytem4re or others, who by now have lost either the backing or the desire to help at all.
[/quote]

Who would you consider as bad mods considering I can only think of one nomination that I personally made in the past who hasn't made mod. The rest hasn't been direct naming as far as I am aware, so you're either accusing a mod directly or making speculative judgements. As for the consideration process, it is mostly based off the opinion of the current staff. To make something public that was previously private, I nominated Nutts as my successor because I believed he was right for the role and I stand by that nomination.

<Snipped quote by Kangaroo>

I don't and didn't mean to pry in your personal life - when you resigned I respected it because you'd shown that you were critiquing yourself as well and I liked that. When I named you here, I critiqued you for still not being as active as others. Perhaps it was a momentary thing, I can't tell as I am not omniscient. The reasons for that are irrelevant to me if I am not aware of them - this is why the suggestion of a moderator thread where mods can post status updates or other things is a good suggestion because it makes people aware that one given mod might be away for a few days - in this case I was unaware of the reasoning for you being gone and therefore could not make a weighted judgement. You're telling me now, yes, but if I'd known this prior, perhaps I would've understood why you were gone instead of having to judge that for myself.

Odin

I believe the main part of this is asking why I wasn't present on forums? as I said, I would be active on discord when needed but may have periods where I fall back to relying on push notifications.

Looking Back - 5 months have passed, what now?

<Snipped quote by Kangaroo>

First of all: any appointment of a new moderator is going to be influenced by a little bit of nepotism. Denying that is ridiculous. If you think that you were selected 100% for being a good moderator, then you're doing yourself a disservice. Whoever selects moderators (I imagine Hank + Mahz + the rest of the moderator team is allowed to pitch in) is naturally going to have a preference for people they like.

Whether that is because they just like them, or because they would fit well in the team, that is another matter, but ultimately nepotism is bound to play a role to a lesser degree. It's more problematic when it occurs in larger degrees. As far as I know we've not reached that point yet and I'd like to keep it that way (hence, I'm not really looking to have moderator elections).

Secondarily: appointments where nepotism played a larger role than expected/usual would probably be that of Ruby. It's not really a secret Hank and her get along and it didn't take too long for her to be re-appointed. Call me a cynic but I don't believe she was approved for re-entry just because she's, according to the rest, a good moderator. It definitely helped her case that a lot of the moderators know her and like her.

Your own reappointment also comes to mind although that event was far less publicized so I have even less of an idea how that all played out. If it was you returning and saying 'hey I got time again, make me mod again please' then clearly that's not the process it should've been. But, as usual, nothing was really said about it, so I'm not sure.

Besides that I am unaware of recent appointments as all the other members of the moderator team have been there for quite a while. But.. do note that you're inferring that I said there was nepotism involved in the current staff. I never said that. I said we should beware of that. There's a difference. The nepotism on Newguild is far less rampant than it used to be in my eyes and I want to keep it that way too.

The key point I was trying to make and that I am sure you'll agree with is that elections for moderator positions are ridiculous and stupid and invite nepotism.

@Odin

Having reread the conversation, I did misinterpret it but I guess I will address the points raised nonetheless. This may seem like an argument of semantics but sometimes definitions are important; I personally consider nepotism to be promotion/selection in spite of ability; ergo the appointment of someone right for the role does not entail nepotism. Am I perhaps arrogant by suggesting that I am a good mod? perhaps, but that is built off the commentary of multiple people from different cliques.

Is the fact that I have previous experience with the mod team and a history of interaction a factor in my reappointment; absolutely. It's the same as a company rehiring someone who'd previosuly done a good job, they're hired off merit and the knowledge that they can perform with the team currently assembled.

The ruby reappointment I can't comment much on as it was during my period of well documented absence but my own I am happy to discuss beyond my personal issues. I'd put out an offer to resign from being a moderator around a year before my actual leaving because I recognised that i didn't have the same activity that I thought would be required from a mod. The feedback i received that there was no cap on mod numbers and I was free to continue because my opinion and perspective on issues was desired.

When I resigned was because I was cutting ties to focus on some central personal issues, when I resolved them I sent a message to Hank and made the point that the issues were resolved and that I was more free in terms of time. About two months later he contacted me and asked if i was still returning because he wanted my opinion for the defence of a genre thread/event. That is the circumstances of my return.