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Introduction
Firstly a disclaimer, I have to write this post informing the community why things have occurred in the last few days. Due to the nature of the events, it is not possible for me to write this in a way which removes all of the disrespect, barb and venom.
It is our hope that this can be treated as a learning experience for both sides in order to prevent this ever happening again. Please do not flame this thread, the Mods will be watching it closely. We've all had enough drama right now and no one has yet been banned, let's keep it that way.
Situation and Resolution
As you might have noticed, someone called out the BAs regarding their inactivity on this site. What you probably do not know, is that this set off a chain reaction of concerns that had been building among some of our members and leaders for sometime. In the interest of unity we have historically let them slide, but this last few days forced them into the limelight. Due to the unexpected and unplanned nature of this event we were unable to react in the best ways possible. There was a lot of knee-jerk reaction. As leaders we learned a lot, so if we are ever subjected to this mess again for any faction or reason, we will perform better.
The BA's were transferred to "Associate Faction" after a quick unanimous discussion between 5 High Ranked leaders. (Now some of you may remember that group said "Minor Faction" initially, I simply made use of a largely unused pre-made group and forgot to rename it, making new groups takes time) The only effect this had was to remove access to the private Leadership forums, in order to address a security leak problem while proper voting was undertaken.
That vote was decisive, the BAs will be allowed a second chance at being an integral part of this communities leadership. However that vote was conditional upon them following the same conditions which all members and leaders are accountable to. Some of these have been violated historically, which was the source of this whole debacle; in the interest of putting this issue to rest, I only specifically refer to recent incidents in one bulletpoint below. Most of you will not know what this refers to, but the culprits will recognize it. I am giving them a chance to retain honor by not calling it out specifically, but warning them all the same, we know.
I am bound by duty to point the following obvious point out, if list below is violated in a way which compromises the community then we will be doomed to repeat this whole mess. (common sense really)
The Community Rules are freely and easily available, and all Leaders (inc the BA's) were invited to comment on them before they went live a few months back. Some parties gave their opinions leading to slight revisions while the lack of comments from others (after an entire week of access) indicated that they were indeed fair.
- Conform to the Community Rules that all members and factions are accountable to, if in doubt, ask.
- Do not leak private conversations from leadership forums
- Before starting a debate, check facts are as straight as you can get them, remember you can PM questions to Admins and Zero
- Do not derail threads into a politically motivated debate
- Leaders participate in leadership debates when required (no point elevating them if they don't actually want a say)
- Common courtesy and honesty to others (eg no Brother Angel thread repeat)
- Respect the privacy of PMs, do not leak their contents
There are no activity rules above (aside from leadership which is just common sense), there are no donation rules above. We do not demand either of these from our members, some members feel everyone should be active, but the leaders recognize this is not always possible due to real life commitments.
Right, upon the acknowledgement of the BA leadership to conform to the same regulations and standards we expect of everyone on this site, the BA's will be reset to the position they enjoyed before.
Addressing The Calls To Ban
Firstly donating to the site does not make you safe from the Mod team, this accusation has been made already; it is both untrue, and rather petty. Secondly, the original posts were made levelly, the resulting replies forced both sides into a flame war. If we were to ban one side, we would have to ban the other.
Certain members received the most severe Warning available for flaming due to specific posts which the Mod Team decided was well over the line. Also hostile or harassing PMs were forwarded to the Mod team, checked for alteration and then judged, warnings were issued for those too.
I want to thank the Mod team for a job well done, they handled this whole situation professionally and maturely.
Closing Comments
My apologies to the members which were left largely in the dark throughout this whole debacle. I know a lot of you found out what caused it all through XBL parties and the daisy chain, as opposed to listening to the ranting and flaming. We felt it was better to debate the issue in private rather than risk issues not based in fact being raised publicly, leading to excessive accusations.
As a final promise, we will no longer allow such issues to fester in the shadows to a point where they can cause this type of mess. We will address these issues as they arise in the future, rather than turning blind eyes.
Have a good day,
Cru
), you'll have no doubt that we're an extremely active Chapter and are just as passionate about SM as any other here.
