MOD ANNOUNCEMENT

[theearth]

As many of you are aware, there has been a recent incident involving ourselves and a few players. We wish to address this matter here.

Firstly, we apologize not only for our delay in speaking on this, but for our own behavior during this. We do take fault for having been too inflexible on the matter which started everything. All of us are to blame for this inflexibility and we all take responsibility for it; not just one mod is fully to blame for anything which happened. The plot the player desired should not have been dealt with in the way that it was. Our reasoning had been that we had not seen evidence that the plot had been set in stone, we had not been given reason why change was necessary to reconcile the plots, and that the details behind this plot/what was needed to occur to bring it to fruition were not brought to us. We offered one compromise, it was not taken, and we should have been more flexible about offering further compromises. We are, again, sorry for that inflexibility on our end.

Secondly, to prevent any risk of this sort of situation ever happening again, we are discussing a frankly overdue new system of accounting for, organizing, and simplifying coordination between planned plots, both meta and player. Details on it will be coming soon.

And thirdly, the mod with the most concerns voiced about her has been issued a warning, and will be taking far less of a stance involving plot-related issues for the time being. We will monitor her behavior to ensure a repeat of this kind of situation does not occur again and, should it, she will be dealt with. In line with those concerns, while she will still be involved in plotting and whatever issues may come to us, the other mods will have far greater a say, and will be considered the figures of authority where directly addressing player concerns and needs is concerned.

However, what we stand firm about is that ganging up on a person while refusing their own comfort is not permissible. The mod in question had become extremely uncomfortable having so many people, including one not in the game, on her all at once while she was not feeling well. This was the reason warnings were issued. We do, however, concede to having been too impulsive in issuing warnings to all involved, and once more, we do apologize to the parties who had been warned without having acted severely enough to warrant a warning. All but one of the warnings has been lifted.

Finally, not all the mods are experienced mods, and even the more experienced mods will acknowledge they can always use some help. So please, we ask that if any of you have any suggestions on how we might improve to come and tell us.

Thank you and, once again, we all apologize for our respective parts in this situation.

Comments to this post are enabled. At request, they have been unscreened. If you have left a screened comment and would like it unscreened, please indicate so! As per the suggestion of Guin, if you would prefer to leave us a screened comment, please do so on the Mod Contact post.

We will make a second post addressing those concerns, resolutions, and invitation of a second round of feedback as soon as we're able.

UPDATE - 5/3:

The StE modteam is currently planning to come together as a group and discuss all the issues brought to them on this post. Linda and Guin will be present while we are all on to continue discussion as a full team in order to ensure that all points and issues are thoroughly addressed.

This discussion will be happening as soon as possible - but coordinating schedules has proven difficult, so please bear with us.

This post will be edited accordingly once the discussion's day and time have been set.

UPDATE - 5/3:

The discussion will begin Sunday, May 4th, 5:00 P.M. CDT/3:00 P.M. PST.

UPDATE - 5/4:

The discussion has begun and is underway; it's proven to be more intensive than anticipated and hasn't yet ended, but will resume tomorrow and continue until concluded.

In the meantime, screencaps of the discussion thus far are posted at Linda's public Plurk; further updates will be made on this post and the linked Plurk, including the date, once set, of the second post.

UPDATE - 5/5:

Discussion has now concluded - we're sorry for having been quiet for so long!

Formal address of the points brought to this post as well as a second OOC post and a mod apps announcement will be coming by the end of tomorrow - Tuesday, 5/6.

- THE STE MODS: Anduin, Blue, Mini, and Olga

Comments

[pianistofraielin]

Hello everyone. I had a player come to me with a concern that they did not feel comfortable posting themselves, and I am relaying the following, written by them, on their behalf:

I feel this needs to be said. It isn't just the mods making me feel like communication isn't possible. I'm not naive enough to think that people are going to function maturely on anoncomms, but the fact is that it feels like the anoncomm influences on this post are stronger than normal. What's clear is that there's a significant portion of people contributing to the discourse in the roleplay community who don't care about fixing the game and are just here to watch it burn instead.

Because of this some people feel that they can't speak up, because even if they did so from a sock account, just presenting an opinion that disagrees with the overwhelmingly negative majority would be met with aggression and hostility. This happened to one such individual who objectively critiqued both sides, despite the players impacted by this situation admitting themselves that they felt they acted in error.

Amid all the calls for transparency from the mods, I think we should be aware that the player end of things is contributing to a lack of it. For the record, I would never deny anyone what they need to do to feel safe speaking out, but unfortunately it ultimately leads to an environment where what one says without the cover of anonymity must be carefully and meticulously considered, while those who do use the cover of anonymity can speak more freely. I'm not accusing those who are using socks of being out to get people, but I think it's important to note how intimidating it can be and the effect it has on the discourse. We need as many people to feel free to communicate as possible. Not everyone is comfortable taking the same risks as others are, and for some people even posting under a sock in this environment can feel unsafe.

This is a valid point. This player is not the only one to have voiced this concern to me, either.

Please remember that we are trying to foster open discussion among the playerbase, and shutting down those who voice an unpopular opinion is detrimental to that. I would like to remind everyone here that the people behind the sock accounts are still people, and to treat them as respectfully as you would if they were posting with their name attached.

I would like to emphasize that if you are uncomfortable voicing your opinion publicly on this post or privately on the mod contact, you are more than welcome to bring your concerns privately to either myself and/or Linda by way of PM or PP. We will gladly relay your message wherever it needs to go.

[nowi_wins]

+1 to everything this person said. I have been thinking all of those things for a while now but was scared to say anything. But just knowing I'm not the only one who feels that way makes it easier.


And let me add that I really want this game to survive. I'm still new here but I've really enjoyed playing so far. We can still save this game, but any game needs both players and mods to work together. Mistakes have been made. We all know this. But I think it's better to focus on correcting the mistakes and ensuring they aren't made again than to focus on what kind of punishment should be applied for making them.

Aannnd hopefully that wasn't too rambly and made sense.

[sockwall]

I'm not naive enough to think that people are going to function maturely on anoncomms, but the fact is that it feels like the anoncomm influences on this post are stronger than normal.

No fucking wonder, considering the only place we can talk about this is on anon, otherwise we'll get banned.

[pianistofraielin]

I ain't disputin' that, friend. The people using socks certainly feel they must for their own safety, and that's legit.

All I'm asking is for people to remember that they're still talking to their fellow players and to be respectful to the sock commenters.

[nowi_wins]

Has anyone gotten banned for speaking out on this post? Or have there been ban threats?

[pianistofraielin]

No! I did not mean to give that impression and I'm sorry if I did.

The fear is originating from the original warning issued to myself and other participants in the plurk with Olga and Anduin. We were issued warnings and what looked like a ban threat for a relatively minor offense, and it has led people to fear that simply voicing disagreement with the mods will get them banned.

[nowi_wins]

Oh! Okay, I see. I didn't think so, but I wanted to be sure.


And also let me just say that you have stood out beautifully as the voice of reason in all this. And I thank you for that.

[pianistofraielin]

That's very nice to hear, thank you!