Grievances Representative

[Anonymous]

Hi, Hello, and Good day to all.

I'm basically doing this to write some qulams that I see beginning to arise within the FA, and some things that should be done to fix them. Now I know the next couple of things I'm about to say might seem unfair, and negative jsut for the sake of being negative. But, unlike most, I offer possible solutions to my complaints. Also, I would ask that there be not to much, if you could cut it down to the bare minimal then great, deliberation on this. Atleast on this thread. Deliberation on a thread *kills* that thread. You want to talk about this, then make another thread. Please respect  the fact that I'm asking this, and the facts that I'm bringing up in this thread. Also, it will be a bit long, as you can tell from this first paragraph, but just bear with me, please. And also, if this hurts anybodys feelings, I apologize, but things must be said hurt feelings or not hurt feelings.


Where is the FA? Where is her glory? Has it faded into the hills to be dismissed away as a reminiscent thought? Its members to be scattered to those that still remain? Can you tell me? Can anyone tell me?

We have problems guys, and I'm not just ones that you can just innocently sweep under the rug. Because these things are starting to build up and it's piling up so much it's beginning to look like cats have gone and died. Now seriously, I'm not trying to make this seem "overly dramatic" or take it too seriously, but consider the fact that I considered it serious enough to make a full thread for it. Consider that I considered it important enough to write all of this for it.

As i've just said. we have problems.  I'm just going tos tate these problems and go a little into it. Then just give solutions for them.

1. What are we doing here? What are you doing here? Throwing away meaningful time of your life typing meaningless words to a group of people that don't even care? Coming on here to join people that do not even care? No, of course not. But that's what this is becoming. (And to those who aren't like the  majority I apologize. Realize that I am generalizing, as it is better for the clan as a whole. ) Am I the only one bewildered by this whole teaming up thing? I mean I am utterly astounded by how a *staff* member can say that they do not wish to group with the members that they're supposed to represent....I'm sorry but then what in the HELL are you staff for? What is your motivation? What is your basis? Now if you're apprehensive about grouping because of loss of exp, then I can understand your rationale. But when you don't give an apparent  explanation waht does that lead people to believe?

And EVEN IF you are apprehensive about the apparent loss of exp, realize one thing: YOUA RE IN A CLAN. And that means that you do not think about just yourself. you think about the team member that comes onto TS and asks a dumb noob question, you think about the member that couldn't make beta until now, you think about someoone who doesn' t have the oppurtunity to play al lthe time due to "Real-Life" issues and therefore isn't a higher level. You must take all of these into account when you decide to push and let go that little tiny submit button on that clan registration form. That's the committment you made.

And in NO WAY am I saying to become a philanthropist for the clan. Don't give your life. But give your life. We all know this is a computer game. But with the right amount of involvement from everybody we can make this the best computer game. We can make this the computer game that we'll remember when we're all old and can't do anything else but remember. And we'll remember this clan. And we'll remember the hard work that we each individually put into this clan to make it great, and therefore made it extra-special.

In A Summary: Go the extra mile for other clan members.


2. I know this may seem not like a whole "clan-diving issue, but at the moment it seems prevailent enough enough to say something. This whole...Eligoh, Nazi thing. I say squash it. I am among the ones here that knew Eligoh the most, the best. Contest me on that if you dare. But on this whole Hitler Nazi thing, I say still squash it. I am stillf riends with eligoh, and still will remain in contact with him, but he's gone. It's done. Why does it seem that when somebody leaves we have to fall apart? I mean Goddamn, even when Tyshalle was dismissed, there was like a whole "great dividing" and it was all around greatly considered it was better if he had left. But still we argued over tidbits and nothings. And with Eligoh gone, Angels watch over him, it seems as if we find something else to argue about that has NO relevance to the real issue at hand. That Eligoh has left, and the reasons why he has left. Now of course the first issue posted was about the facists, but I can assure you the whole "priveleged few" was a much  greater issue to him then the Nazi thing. Although, the way the whole Nazi thing was sort of the straw that broke the camel's back. And withe The_Watcher - the clan went through this period of literal witchhunt. Now, not to be a hypocrite because they are my biggest pet peeve, I admit I did buy into it and cause speculation a bit. And I apologize. And this is the type of thing we must advoid. Letting someone leave because of their own personal issues does notreflect the clan as a whole.

n Summary: Eligoh is better for leaving and so are we. It is better to ahve him at a palce he "truly" enjoys rather then be somewhere where he was skeptical. Let's concentrate on the person leaving and forget the sideshows.


3. Interaction. Where is the powerful Furious Angels? I know I have heard of sayings become true, but is the fact that the FA only has 20-30 members becoming true? Why is it that we brag to ourselves and to a select few in the outside world that we have over 100 members, but in all true reality we only have about 30 active posters? We must find ways to get people involved and excited again. We have to find ways to get to say, "I'm in the FA," and say it with pride again. This won't be too hard, as if the few actives begin to take on great responsibility, and help out I'm sure there will be ways we can entice the inactives back.

I will be starting the newsletter again. And I must say so myself that it is a GREAT way to get people involved. Write a story...create a design. Do something, then say That's mine! I mean hell if you even just take a green turd, slap on some matrix code and say hey this is my re-endition of the MxO game, that's ok. As long as it's something to do. (BTW If anyone can find a site to upload text files too please tell me!!!)

In Summary:  Get involved, help out. Begin to talk to the inactives and get them involved. THe more involved the higher the morale. The higher the morale the higher the gameplay, faction particiaption rate, and faction's repuation.


4.  Let's deal with this whole "the important people" a.k.a. "the priveleged few" before this gets out of hand. Now I am in NO WAY trying to demean the staff. I am just however, showing a way that some of us, or atleast let me say myself to be safe, have come to veiw this whole thing. And before I go into this, let's nip one supposed thing in the bud. If you figure me to be jealous, or envious of the staff and that is why you figure me to be making this issue, then you yourself, need help if you would figure me to be as petty as that.

But seriosuly, let's look at this. There is a supposed air of eliteness within the faction.  One of the reasons that I hardly frequented TS was because everytime I waould go in there to just "hang out and chill" 50% of the TS population would be in the private room or in "The Round Table" and stay there for obscene amounts of time. And then I would get told to "come on TS more" I was like wtf? If you didn't spend 75% of your damn time in private rooms then *maybe* just *maybe* I would be more compelled to spend a little bit more time on TS. I know it seems really small, but then when you would ask a question you'd get a reply of "Don't worry about it." Do you have *any* idea of how agitating and aggravating that can seem? And because they had no apparent reasons for all of these frequent meetings...there felt like (even if tehre wasn't) a lack of communication. And As I've stated before, lack of communication leads to confusion, which leads to speculation, which leads to mistrust, which leads to anger. Which leads to resignations, which ultimately leads to the upheveal and then downfall of a people. Something needs to be done to fix this before there are two divisions within one clan.

I suggest, as is the title of this whole encouragement thread, is Grievance Representatives. People, who aren't staff, that clan members can go to if they have a problem with one thing or another. These have, absolutely HAVE to be someone that the clan members as a whole respects, because these Representatives are only going to have authority of any type will be by and from the respect of the people. I think Nominations, and then Elections should be held. Possible Four at the most, no more then that. These people must have an obvious dedication to the clan. Their emails addresses have to be public, and they have to be listened to with respect from everybody, but no mod powers or that sort. I believe that if we have a sort of medium and more faction based inter-relation systems the more interaction we'll have and the happier everyone will be.

In Summary:  Get a group of inter-clan mediators. They can't have mod powers, but only respect, and therefore power, from the people. With these in place people will have individuals to go to without feeling like they're getting ignored.



Please everyone realize that this thread is not made to make you become dramatic of the FA's problems, as I beleive I've taken care of that for you , but I think that in the least you should consider some of the topics I've raised in this thread and think about it honestly and objectively.

Peace My Peoples

[Anonymous]

First off, IMO this needs to be moved for obvious reasons.

I can hear your frustration on many of these issues Eclipse, and I do understand how it can be hard to sometimes get "your group" in a large faction.  IMO, however (and this is an opinion of someone who also isn't in the so-called "in" crowd) we don't have a problem of that nature.  You cannot expect everyone to be best friends with everyone else in the faction.  Most of us weren't recruited with that in mind, we were recruited because we could complete a puzzle.  You also cannot expect someone who is higher level in the game to give up their own time to play with someone lower level.  You talk about the willingness to not be so selfish - well it works both ways.  A low level person ought not expect others to sacrifice their time.  

As far as the active member thing, I suspect that'll work itself out.  Folks come and go.  A strong faction is not necessarily a large one.  Also, while I understand that we were picked for because we have a strong constitution for helping and discovering bugs, it's sometimes frustrating.  Like, really frustrating, right now.  I'm not sure this stage of gameplay is the best one to judge activeness and willingness to get involved and excitment.  Although I agree that it's never too soon to BE involved and excited =)

I think your "member representative" idea is a good one.  Of course, if the idea is to ensure that we have someone who can interact with the members and the staff, making them a "Member representative" may just ensure that they become one of the staff, heh.  Anyway, I see that as a positive idea and any guild I've been in has had a spot like that one.  Here, I'd like to think we don't need it because members should feel free to talk directly to anyone else, but if folks disagree then it might be a good implimentation.

Finally, as far as Eligoh goes....we just disagree there.  He brought up these issues in his final post and it's to be expected that members might voice their opinions about it.  Had he not raised the subject, I seriously doubt anyone else would have thought to raise it.  /shrug

[Tbone]

I posted a reply that was probably my longest and most heart-felt post in this faction to-date, and when I hit "submit" it asked me to login. I did so and it deleted all I had typed. I'm so frustrated right now...it took a LONG time to type. And clicking "back" did not work. Man, I'm pissed off. I can't believe I typed all that up and it is gone. Anyway, I'm moving this to the Beta forum for NDA reasons...

[Tbone]

Well, this snippet was saved via copy paste. This is all that is left of my beautiful message...

"3. You state our participation in the faction is meaningless. I would just like to point out that there are many opportunities here in the FA. We chat on TS and IRC. We have a radio broadcast, Red Pill Radio. We have a roleplaying forum. We were let into MxO Beta as a faction. We are far from inactive and far from having no purpose. We are the faction that the MxO staff looks to. We are considered the "positive members" of the MxO community. If you need proof, check Eris' most recent post here in OUR forums. "

[Tbone]

I guess I should at least try to summarize what I typed out.

-Eclipse, you do not participate enough to have a valid argument. If I saw you in Teamspeak at all, maybe what you said would have more weight. Your argument seems to be pieced together from second hand information.

-The game is not optimized for grouping. More defined grouping in-game will be set in the future. In the meantime, find someone you enjoy gaming with and hang out with em.

-I am not FORCING anyone to game with anyone else. We have different people of different ages. Just have respect for each other. No one has a "duty" to game with you, just as long as they have a gaming group in FA (Hovercrafts will form from these groups)

-Creating another thread about Eligoh does not help reduce the "drama". He left for his own reasons. There is no sense in turning it into a "the faction is falling apart" thing.

-The faction is in no way falling apart.

-No one is elite or more important. I need help running things, and a few people offered. I drag them in private more because they do my slave work, not because they are better than you. They do have specific tasks that I listed in detail in my post that never submitted.

-You are ALL now Grievance Representatives. If you have a grievance, PM me. Your task is to monitor your own grievances and report to me about it. Congratulations on the promotion.

-If you talk to me, I will listen. I cannot listen if you do not talk to me.

-I'm not a "drama" person (despite being an actor). We have fun. We are a mature, intelligent, hardcore gaming faction. If you can't find happiness in FA, then we are probably not for you in the first place. I personally want to have fun playing with friends and be able to group together to make an impact on the game. The "he said she said bullshit" just really isn't my thing. If you're not happy, come talk to me about it. No sense in making it into a huge gaping blackhole of despair and deterioation that could never be salvaged woe is me FA is doomed!!!

I very much apologize for this crude version. This post is crap compared to the other one, but at least it gives you some general idea of how I responded. Excuse me for "getting to the point" in this one. If you would like for me to talk to you about it in detail, track me down in Teamspeak!

P.S. I miss my original post

[Anonymous]

i have to agree with tbone here (and no i'm not ass kissing.) but eclipse you areguilty of ignoring people in beta also. when i was in yesterday i saw you and followed you even sent you a message but you just ignored me.

if i have a problem i go to tbone or the person who caused it. and that's what we all should do, but i also agree with you that we ALL should be more active on the site.

i ask you how meny members do not have a bio on the site? it might be a small thing but to me, it matters.

[Anonymous]

This is the first 'long' thread in the forums that I have truly read every word. That is because this is a serious issue, whether you agree with Eclipse or not. I think that the newsletter idea was really good, and I was disappointed when nothing happened about it. It was a way to get the clan reading, and looking at, the same sort of thing, and thus tie us together more. I believe that the Radio idea deserves just as much Praise. It can be used not just for Music, but also for announcements, if we need it, and so is an invaluable asset. I do not, however, agree with the select few 'respected' members being elevated to 'greivance representative' idea. No matter what you say, it would alienise those people from thier comrades, and, even if they do not join the 'elite' group of staff members, they would still be 'better' than the rest. True, we do need more active members, but inactive members get dropped, that is how it has always been. I am pissed off at the moment because I can't play beta, I don't have enough space on the right operating system, but I am working on it, I am trying, which we need more of from more people.

[Anonymous]

Well I am trying not to turn this into a thread of deliberation

RomRipper your claim is quite basically,  moot. I DO NOT EVEN HAVE beta so how could I ignore you on it? I'm still waitin around to find out if they accept Discover Which btw they don't, so I won't be able to join *anyone* in beta until the pre-order beta stats which will be sometime around next month.


Tbone instead of negating me on this issue it would be alot more productive if you just agreed. And no I'm not saying agree for the sake of agreeing but really hear my thoughts out rather then just try moot them.

I think some people are trying to take me wrong here. I am not trying to like envision a clan where people can't play around. I you got that from the whole Seven thing it was because he abused his power, and I felt he should ahve been held accountable. And it just wasn't with the Interveiws. But I'm saying all that to say that I *am* a fun-loving guy yadda yadda you know what I mean.

But seriously I didn't create this thread about Eli. If all you receieved from this thread or think that this post is about Eli then I'm sorry but you're wrong. But for a while there,  if you read his resignation thread that it went AWAY from Eligoh? To a whole nother random tangent topic that was dividing the clan? And I did not only mentioned Eligoh. I brought up other past examples to show the general feel and aftermath of what happens after there is a resignation.

And no one said to force people Tbone. But to "heavily encourage" is another.
"Yeah I can't help you right now. Why don't you join up with so and so for a bit?"
And now I am hearing you guys saying about how the game isn't tailored for grouping yet, *but* if the same attitude was allowed to continue would there be gaming?

And Tbone I DO participate! I mean not to throw it in your face but look at my post count. Is that not participation? Is that not loyalty? Is the fact that I even created this thread not loyalty? I have a job man, as I'm sure most of us do. Plus I have school. Now, soon, since I'm quitting I should have some more free time to be on. And lately I haven't had conenction at my house (thanks to Verzion :|) so I've been reading the forums and posting at school.

I mean *do* you think I wish to leave? I mean seriously I didn't write all those things just to see how nice I can type. I wrote those things *because* I want to stay here. *Because* I see something good here. *Because* I beleive in us. *Because* I beleive we can be the best faction in the game. Please do not take my action of bringing up problems I see to be some form of negativity or 'wow, this faction really is a pos'. Because If that was how I felt I would ahve handed you my resignation a long time back.

Also, I did not mean to say that they don't have responsibilities. But when there is a lack of communication, which is one of the purposes of this thread is to Please God Please start some communication, what is common of people? I've spelled out the cycle twice now. I'm sure you get it.

Ajax: The Representatives wouldn't be alienated because they wouldn't really be above anybody that did not give them that power. The only people being nominated and then chosen by the people,  are in fact the ones chosen by the people. This is the ones that they respect, and since obviously they cannot respect them for nothing, these people ahve values and would not try anything elite because they don't ahve any powers. None. They can't delete a post, moderate a thread,  nothing except be a mediator.

[Anonymous]

1. The only staff member that said they don't want to group with people spends at least one hour everyday interacting and helping out brand new people on the server. This creates an outstanding presence for FA in the community. NO ONE else even comes close to doing that much for the faction as a whole within the game itself. Not to mention that that person doing exactly what they are doing directly led to the entire faction being invited into beta.

2. No comment.

3. The last time there was a game-wide gathering, the FA had a significant presence there. So significant in fact, that I couldn't have a decent conversation over all the /tell's complaining about how many FA were in beta. Just because someone keeps their peace on the forums doesn't mean they aren't active elsewhere and in game. Just like you're active on the forums and not in the game.

4. a. There is no more Round Table. The Round Table was created to discuss the future of the faction. That's what happened in it. The reason it was separate from the Loading Dock was because of inane chatter. It originally had no password. It was later passworded because people kept jumping in to make stupid noises and more inane chatter. If you wanted to take part in the discussion, all you had to do was ask. I'm sorry if you made an assumption, and that assumption led you to a negative conclusion - but that's what assumptions normally do. HOWEVER. If someone told you that you weren't welcome (and I'll take bets on who it was if that is what happened), then that person was wrong, and you should have asked someone else. (And again, sorry that you were incorrectly turned away - and that goes for everyone.)

4. b. Private channel discussions usually involve spies and attacks on the website. After the discussions are over they are almost always made public - unless it's something like Seven where he didn't want his conversation made public... and of course, even that was made public in the end. Making possible vulnerabilities public, however, is not something that falls into the Good Idea (tm) category.

4. c. Since the last batch of insanity, (the dissolution of the ships, the spy hunt, the ddos attacks, etc.) no one has been in a private room for more than about five minutes at a time - and the only time I've been in one is when someone had a personal issue that they didn't want made public. So, I suppose you could say that the improvements you seek in communications have already been made. Check it out.

4. d. Teamspeak has a facility for having private conversations with people in the same room as you. If anyone really wanted to keep things from other people, they would do it that way - so that you never even knew anything was going on.

And yeah. What T said. If anyone has a problem with anyone else (including me) you can tell me about it. If it's something you don't want other people to know about that's cool. I don't want anyone to be uncomfortable at any time, but if there's a thorn in your rear and you fail to tell anyone about it until it has become infected and inflamed, you have no one to blame but yourself. And if you don't feel comfortable talking to anyone on staff, find someone you are comfortable with and have them bring up your issue.

[Ketamininja]

Hmmn, I think there are a few "linked" threads here. You all probably know my stance.
I'm mos definitely up for trying to make the clan better - clan activities, clan roles, clan fun.

Its damn hard to run a clan well, damn damn damn hard, but T bone you are doing a fantastic job I have to say, regardless of how well others perseive it.

I just want to make sure that the clan is doing the best for its members. If people voice their concerns, that is their opinion but defensive action should not be taken. If someone is actually feeling down, then they are feeling down... regardless of wether or not the rest of the clan is.

I made a suggestion before regarding "Foreign Affairs" "Internal Affairs" etc etc, so that there are clear areas where people can go for advice about any topic. It can also help bring the clan closer together by having tight administration, not that we don't appreciate all you are doing T.

Anyway, I am more or less happy. I do have a few concerns, but not everyone can bee 100% happy all of the time I guess.


--edit--
Personally, I would like to see teams. Hovercraft crew together.
Captains are the first port of call, any problems should be taken up with them in their hvcft forum.
The captains should then consult the next group up (say internal affairs in my example), and then if the problem can still not be resolved, the Commander should be asked for the final word.

[Tbone]

We originally had Hovercrafts and Captains. The problem was that our Captains became inactive and so there wasn't really a point to keeping them around. We decided to dissolve the Captains so that we could assign captain positions to those who proved to be good leaders IN GAME. We also wanted to reform hovercrafts based on playing preference, so there's a big chance that you might end up in a different hovercraft with different people. It's completely up to you. I trust my members enough to give them that freedom. I don't feel like I should have to say "Ok, you have to game with these people and you HAVE to be this class." I want YOU to have fun in the group. If you don't WANT to game with a group of people in FA, then maybe you weren't cut out for gaming clans.

Gillette, thanks for addressing each point. That is what I originally did...lol. Eclipse, I don't care what your post count is. Your argument is about the faction's activity. You ONLY look on the forums, therefore that's the only thing you see going on. Let me give a few examples:

"I mean I am utterly astounded by how a *staff* member can say that they do not wish to group with the members that they're supposed to represent"

AcidicPlague's excellent Beta testing skills is what got us in Beta in the first place. I was told by the MxO staff that his name was like a household name around the officie because of all the useful bugs he reports. Out of all of us, he's the one who is actually playing Beta correctly - he's actively testing for bugs. He does not want to group because he has a responsibility to make MxO a great game. While I can't go into details, both Acidic and I will most likely have to game separate from the group for a while because of responsibilites we have accepted. You wouldn't know about any of this, though, Eclipse, because you only look on the forums.

Why is it that we brag to ourselves and to a select few in the outside world that we have over 100 members, but in all true reality we only have about 30 active posters? We must find ways to get people involved and excited again.

I'm always struggling to keep up with posts on the forum. Every night during Beta, Teamspeak is buzzing with people. To say that people are not "involved and excited" is simply an ignorant statement. If you become more involved in other areas besides the forums, you will see exactly how active we are. Not everyone patrols the forums all day long.

One of the reasons that I hardly frequented TS was because everytime I waould go in there to just "hang out and chill" 50% of the TS population would be in the private room or in "The Round Table" and stay there for obscene amounts of time.

You should be jumping for joy that people are in the "Round Table" for obscene amounts of time. That means we are discussing things and getting things done! How you can take that as a negative sign is beyond me. Also, the Round Table channel was deleted weeks ago, so your argument doesn't make much sense. You really don't come on TS enough to have a valid argument about this.

I DO NOT EVEN HAVE beta so how could I ignore you on it?

That reminds me, I need to delete the accounts that have not checked in in-game yet. Like I said before, if you can't get an account for technical reasons, you will be allowed back in the faction once you have your MxO account. Until then, you will have to be removed.

Tbone instead of negating me on this issue it would be alot more productive if you just agreed.

I don't agree with you, so why should I agree? To be honest, I see you as one of those people who like to jump into things. You like to start debates and arguments just for the sake of the argument. I have found your comments in the forums and on TS to often be "out of the blue" and confrontational without any sort of reasoning behind it. You have strong opinions that are often not the opinions of those around you. I respect you for your opinions and I did read everything you wrote, but that doesn't mean I AGREE with you. There is a difference between respect for what you feel you need to say and how much validity I give to what you say. You started this thread mainly because Eligoh said he was leaving and AcidicPlague stated he didn't want to group with others. I had complaints about Eligoh. There were many who told me that he rubbed them the wrong way. This is not FA's fault. It was just how well Eligoh meshed with everyone else. AP's reasons I have explained the best I can. Neither of these deserve a "the clan is falling apart" thread. The same thing happened with Seven's interviews. One person said they didn't find the interviews too funny, and you jumped on Seven with it, claiming that the whole faction was ashamed of his actions. I would suggest saving your "fighting energy" for the game, Eclipse. I appreciate you trying to help the faction out, but your way of dramatizing things usually just creates a bad situation out of something trivial.

[Anonymous]

Firstly: Thank You Gilete. All this thread was inteded to do was to create and inspire more inter-clan communication and point out things that I thought was important.

Tbone, I cannot honestly, even jeez there are no words for this, but I guess fathom is ok. I can't even fathom how throughout all my post all you got was certain names. I gave examples for an overall general point, not talking about specific people.

I was talking about the importance of grouping and comraderieship in the clan. Not Acidic.

I was talking about the things that happens when someone leaves. Not Eligoh.

I was talking about getting more people involved with ALL the aspects of the faction Tbone. Not just posting, and not just TS. Come one now.

And #4 has gone down a lot. I apologize if some took it as more "dramatic" then it needed to be. BUt as I've stated before, I'm a passionate person. *shrug

But Tbone your last sentence is a half truth. Something trvials yes. Bad stuation, only if you let it. You're looking as if I was being negative...I wasn't. But you're saying "trivial" proves what I was saying. Just constantly sweeping it under the rug makes things become bigger then they're meant to be.
ou wish to delete me Tbone, please don't hesitate to do so. Like I've mentioned to you in a pm, there is no need to delete accounts because just next month those who have pre-odered will be getting into beta, this is a great thing for those who don't have access to credit cards etc etc.

Please bring up any comments that I've made that seem to be conrontational "without any reasoning behind them." I'd be more then happy to explain my reasoning.


EDIT: BTW Keta I LOVE you avatars...where do you get them?

[Anonymous]

I don't think I really understand - how can you argue/discuss anything to do with the game and you've never been in it before?

[Anonymous]

can i just say sorry to eclipse. it is just someone else in the game is using his name. it is an easy mistake to make.

[Anonymous]

I just wan't to point out that Eclipse made no direct statements against any specific person.  He wasn't attacking anyone at all.  It's tremendously possible (almost obvious, since he hasn't been able to play[/] in beta) that the grouping staement was brought to his attention by someone who wasn't comfortable bringing it to the table themselves.

I see a lot off people being defensive without ever being personally attacked, perhaps due to guilt.

I see a lot or people attacking Eclipse without being provoked.

I agree with Eclipse on a mediator, but in extended contempating I feel now that if someone needs to have help addressing an issue, personal or otherwise, they can ask for assistance in getting it resolved if they want.

I discussed some of the topic above with Eclipse prior to this thread being created.  I'm confident that some of the other concerns described above were brought to his attention by others prior to our speaking that night.  I suppose that in a way, Eclipse was my mediator in some way, shape, or form.

Thank you, Eclipse.

Beyond thanking you, I want to appologise for you getting assaulted by keyboards for your (shared) opinions.

And again...thank you, Eclipse.