I guess what this all comes down to is
I am not talking about in game problems.
I don't like Hilscher- the poster. Not Grail, the character.
So for me it has nothing to do with 'democracy' or 'presenting arguments' or 'motions' its got to do with the fact that Hilscher is an asshat. Notice I said "Hilscher" and not "Grail".
So you can say 'this is how democracy works' blah blah blah all you want, but the point is, I am not going to be involved in this thread
at all when we have someone attempting to undermine the fun of it.
Shall I start providing examples?
First off, Hilscher essentially hijacked Lav's community fortress. Not a big deal, Lav doesn't seem to mind, but the way Hilscher wrote just started to reek of '
There is only one possible way, and it is my way'
Well if it isn't then Lav needs to say something, but if you re-read the OP for this thread, it's pretty obvious it was meant to be a succession game. What with rules for 'whichever player' is controlling the fort during a season between votes being allowed to do whatever they want short of suicide charges, so long as they worked towards the goals voted on. That can only be interpreted one way.
Sounds pretty harmless by itself... but when that is a follow up to this post:
I don't think that's how it works, Hilscher. I asked about that when I signed up, and the response stated that it would only be a succession game if we decided on that by vote.
it becomes obvious Hilscher is exerting a 'you are wrong, re-read the post and you will see I am right, like always'. Still, not the biggest problem in the world, but it helped to set the stage...
...and then the negativity came out:
(Meh, I think this thread/game died.)
... thank god Emmanovi followed up with a pro-active post and kept things going with a positive attitude.
This next post strikes three points:
1) Hilscher is indeed attempting to progress the game (a good thing)
2) But without regard for community (a bad thing)
3) and under his own rules... This is the first time I have seen the 'voting format' announced, under not vote, no ratification, nothing. he just invented it am implemented it. That was fine- it worked- but when he more recently made an outcry (ill get to it later) about how
his format is not used (when in reality it was, just minus the re-recording of votes) and declared
his format was
the format, it really bugged me.
(Taking time to get things done is not the problem. The extremely low post-rate and post-volume is, though. We need timely voting and content updates. It can't take two weeks - or however long it has been - for a season to resolve ever again. Let's get a seasonal update, Lav. I'm still here, but I'm ready to bounce if things don't change. We have at least three Dwarves who have not said a word - they should be replaced ASAP.
Hence, I hereby move that Martian, (Voksdon) « Last Post in this thread on: May 08, 2009, 09:38:50 AM » be nullified and his place made open for someone new.
I further move that Goron, (Goron) « Last Post in this thread on: May 08, 2009, 07:29:41 PM » be likewise nullified and replaced.
I lastly move that Katsuun, (Kat) be nullified and freed up for someone else if, as Lav suggests, Katsuun has gone inactive.
I allot 24 hours for these measures to be seconded, and then an additional 48 for them to be voted on by the remaining members of the thread before being resolved at 5:00 PM CST 2009.27.5)
You may ask, 'how was that without regard for the community, Goron?' - Simple, LegoLord's response made it clear:
Did you PM them?
Did you PM them?
No, feel free to, though, if you haven't already. They have a right to know that these motions have been made.
Quick to kick, quick to 'appear sympathetic' but lacking in any kind action.
Then we have the onslaught:
I think it's only fair to give them a chance via PM, just so we can be sure they are aware.
I'm happy with succession. I conditionally second the motions, given that they have been PMed.
Hilscher motioned to have me removed, received
conditional support. Everyone
but him had a level of sympathy. Not to mention, Emmanovi's conditional second was violated.
I never received a PM. Hilscher, in game and out, over stepped his bounds and continued the vote to remove me.
When I made an appearance, I get this:
Wait, am I still here? You can convert Kat for Goron, I don't mind.
2Goron. If you are back - welcome. :-)
Grail IIRC assigned Martian's dwarf to me, not yours.
Thanks Katsuun and Lav, its nice to see some people are not asshats!
And then this:
(You're still in the game, and the vote to remove you, or Kat for that matter, will not resolve for another 24 hours. If you want to play, I'm sure you can convince Lav and Emmanovi to change their votes.)
Interesting... At first glance this seems genuine and kind. He has indicated there is a way for me to stay in game... but then you need to take a step back and remember that the vote to remove me was invalid in the first place as I
got no PM. and then you can continue to read this:
That is why I have not changed my vote to nullify Goron's dwarf, because I don't think people change. I think this trend will continue.
...and it all becomes clear. He chose his words carefully in the quote before, indicating I may be able to change
other peoples votes, but after this post its obvious he id not include his name along with Lav and Emmanovi for a reason.
In the proper Democratic method I will protest Emmanovi's vote to nullify me. I bring quote A as evidence for my cause:
I conditionally second the motions, given that they have been PMed.
I at no time received a single PM from anyone about anything- much less a PM regarding my lack of activity
its a pity I had to expose Hilcher's cheating the system to sway votes.
And then his laziness and hostility to Org begins:
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
In that order
So helpful.
EDIT: Just to be clear, I'm not going to adjudicate these votes until I know specifically which things you are voting yes to and no to. Sorry, but vagueness is not helpful to me in my task.
He blatantly declares he will not tally votes just because he does not like how they were made- they were against
his format.
Well, I really support anything I haven't actively talked about. So aye to anything I haven't already been marked as having voted for.
Yeah, as I said with Org, that doesn't really fly. You have to specifically say what you vote for and which way you vote or it's an automatic abstain. -_-
If its not
his way, its
no way. God forbid we actually have fun while trying to cut through the red tape.
And then the impatience comes out:
(How's that update coming, Org? -_-)
The text in its own is fine, the face adds expression...
(Then why'd you accept the task as being director? Delays are bad. I nominated you to find out if you'd do a good job. It only takes ten to thirty minutes to do a season. We've been waiting for days. Squeeze in the rest already. Your update was good, but let's finish it up already.)
for not being a fan of ad hominem attacks, he sure is damn good at making them.
Org, as resident jackass, it is my duty to inform you that you suck.
This was a well hidden gratuitous ad hominem attack... or maybe not that hidden.
Now I present the rest of the crew's response to the situation:
Org, I don't want to sound impatient or demanding, but by my reckoning it has been a week since your last update. I would ask that you either complete the season within some reasonable time, say 24 hours, or the turn is conceded and taken by someone else. I don't know the others' stance on this, but if one season might be taking this long to resolve, then when debating time is added in the fortress will develop at an alarmingly slow rate. Hence this special motion, which I make out of necessity. I suppose it's up to the chairdwarf to ratify it.
Wow, he points out the problem (in a non-negative way) and presents solutions. SOunds good to me.
P. S. I suggest that Org either completes his turn within 24 hours or at least uploads current game state so the next player could continue from then onwards.
Another one that does not contain any direct attacks on org, but rather addresses the issue.
And my post:
As for Org's absence. I will execute some chairdwarf power and start a delayed vote of no confidence in the current directorship. This vote will be to replace the current director, Org. It is delayed, in that we provide him 24 hours to step down, finish, or hand off the incomplete save from the time that this idea was first suggested... here: Org, I don't want to sound impatient or demanding, but by my reckoning it has been a week since your last update. I would ask that you either complete the season within some reasonable time, say 24 hours, or the turn is conceded and taken by someone else.
and 'seconded' here:
P. S. I suggest that Org either completes his turn within 24 hours or at least uploads current game state so the next player could continue from then onwards.
The time of that post was 6:23:11 AM EST on Tuesday June 09, 2009. 24 hours from that time, 6:23:11 AM EST on Wednesday June 10, 2009 we will hold a vote of no confidence assuming the situation is still unresolved.
Notice how I actually fashion a motion, based on actual posts and seconds and within the conditions presented. Oh, and not to mention I at least had the common courtesy of sending him a PM.
And despite all this, we still get the default negative from hilscher:
I say we scrap Org's turn and just nominate a new person to pick up Emmanovi's save state. I'm glad others are as impatient as I am.
No Hilscher, others are
not as impatient as you. We are giving him a chance, we are following with vote, and we
PMed him.
And guess what, it seems PMs work cuz he responded very quickly... only to get shot at:
Then you shouldn't have taken the post. It takes thirty minutes to finish your season and upload the save. Do it. Otherwise I'm in favor of replacing you immediately. The time you have taken on a single season is unacceptable.
And then we have my favorite post:
Lastly, Goron you're doing a bad job as chairman. You're not showing who is in favor and who is against. Voting starts as soon as a motion is made. Motions have 24 hours, Seconds have 48 hours, Voting has all 72 hours. The overlap is what makes the system work, it's what I was having issues with the first time. Color coding makes for easier reading, too.
[...snip...]
By the way, great job on your season, Lav.)
Wow... this one really threw me off. Hilscher throws a one two punch with some sneakiness here... One: "Goron you're doing a bad job as chairman" - ouch my kidney, Two: "By the way, great job on your season, Lav" - ouch, uppercut. ... what was that about gratuitous ad hominem attacks Hilscher?
I didn't even know how to respond... I mean, first he accuses me of not showing who is in favor and who is against... something that I suppose I can indicate is true. I did not update the
motions list with votes until after
all motions were in... I felt it was more important to focus on who was proposing the motions at the time. Then he accuses me of messing the system up...going into detail abotu how many hours this and that has... yet, I clearly indicated:
Once the time to vote rolls along, I will do my best to look through these 'vote' posts to try and tally your votes- but I would very much appreciate if you could 're-vote' tomorrow...
I am curious how Hilscher got "I am not accepting votes at all and they do not count" out of that?
Then he goes on to talk about color coding!!! I guess maybe he is just colorblind to blue and yellow...
I mean, I hardly even needed to defend myself, Emmanovi did a great job for me:
Lastly, Goron you're doing a bad job as chairman. You're not showing who is in favor and who is against. Voting starts as soon as a motion is made. Motions have 24 hours, Seconds have 48 hours, Voting has all 72 hours. The overlap is what makes the system work, it's what I was having issues with the first time. Color coding makes for easier reading, too.
As far as I am aware, we never properly ratified that voting system (or did we?), and I would hold that Goron is free to conduct the meeting in whatever way he likes. If we are dissatisfied with his conduct and methods, we can move to replace him, but I wouldn't go that far. A simple request to begin tallying votes and to show who is in favour and against might be more diplomatic. Currently he does seem to be using colour coding, and he's very helpfully linked to the original posts so we can see how the motion was made.
Then this post is what really thre me over:
I'm starting to get disillusioned. I'm not even going to bother to object to the revisioning of the voting system. You're opening it up to all kinds of abuses and flaws, but whatever. It really, truly doesn't make any difference to lay out logic and reason because no one bothers taking it in anyway. This is why political parties form, because they're not going to listen to reason, just pandering. Petty, empty alliances of friends will form to vote the same way regardless of reason. Better to be a free thinking loose cannon aimed at everyone. In theory anyway. Force shits on reason in the end, so in the grand scheme of things I guess it's better to be a flunkie tool.
Right now I don't even know what motions are up and being voted on. I was hoping the precedent Emmanovi and I started would hold, but I guess not. This equates to confusing ballots driving voter participation down. Apathy, yay. I think it's time for Grail to go off and create Protester's Redoubt to the north. Let me know when you have a charter.
It starts off completely negative, definitely not contributing to the fun. Then he goes on with "Right now I don't even know what motions are up and being voted on." which was absolutely absurd. I kept a clear list of every motion, with direct links to the original posts, the status (moved, seconded) and color coding, updated every couple of hours with new motions/seconds. Its quite obvious Hilscher was just trying to be an asshat at this point.
Then this: " I was hoping the precedent Emmanovi and I started would hold, but I guess not." What amazes me is I did not differ from that precedent (I notice it is a 'precedent' now and not
the official only possible way like he previously treated it, ever since Emmanovi put him in his place) in
any way except that i did not re-record votes until after the first 24 hour period.
that was the only difference. Again, Hilscher was just trying to be an asshat.
I challenge him:
How is it open to abuse and flaws? Please explain? Your last post only criticized and never presented any suggestions or solutions, don't claim no one takes in logic and reason when you never presented any in the first place.
and he dodges the question:
Nice try Goron. I've been presenting reason all this time, and now I've given up.
Was there a post I missed somewhere? One in which he
actually presented reason about how my methods were not
right? I can't seem to find it. And he obviously can't seem to find it, else he prolly would have pointed to it. Nah, he was just back to being an asshat.
notice all my issues and quotes and such with Hilscher have nothing to do with in-game issues? I will say it again, I don't like Hilscher, the person- not Grail. So it has nothing to do with 'thats how democracy works' or 'disagreement over issues'. He makes this thread hostile and unfun.