Current Server Situation Discussion: Cats out of the bag edition

[MasterZ01]

Doesn't particularly matter what you're in favor of, or not in favor of. For someone to leak screenshots of our Slack is nauseatingly annoying. Our confidentiality has always been important.

Furthermore, to call it evidence is ridiculous in itself. To even imply anyone is on trial here. This angry mob mentality has devolved the conversation far beyond being any sort of respectable discussion about Abby's or any other staff member's conduct.

Aye, While I'm still not in favor of punishing 'Whistle Blowers' I believe I was caught up in the moment. Now that I've had some time to think it over, I see my statement's a bit ignorant and naive. I'm a very opinionated person(if y'all haven't noticed already ) and I get caught up in the discussion/debate and sometimes I lose better judgement.

Also, I'd like to add I'm not staff so I have no knowledge of what conduct codes you have in place other than one officially stated, I'd presume there's a set Confidentiality rule on the staff chat but I'd have no way of knowing other than other people saying so.

In most structures I like alot of transparency because it tends to alleviate corruption and Ill-practices but my opinion is irrelevant.

-Thought I'd add this before my post is criticized further.

[DMAN]

Aye, While I'm still not in favor of punishing 'Whistle Blowers' I believe I was caught up in the moment. Now that I've had some time to think it over, I see my statement's a bit ignorant and naive. I'm a very opinionated person(if y'all haven't noticed already ) and I get caught up in the discussion/debate and sometimes I lose better judgement.

Also, I'd like to add I'm not staff so I have no knowledge of what conduct codes you have in place other than one officially stated, I'd presume there's a set Confidentiality rule on the staff chat but I'd have no way of knowing other than other people saying so.

In most structures I like alot of transparency because it tends to alleviate corruption and Ill-practices but my opinion is irrelevant.

-Thought I'd add this before my post is criticized further.

Agreed, people have a right to speak as they do to privacy, so if the statement of confidentiality is clear and cut it should be respected. A little whistle blower doing a deed shouldn't be too damned, and it wasn't that dire in this situation. I'd just acknowledge it and let it slide, no need for the staff to do their own "mob mentality" and have a man hunt for a whistle blower. That'd just be silly, and all should just speak freely, eh? A little community communication is all swell, especially between the regulars and staff.

[LocalizedDownpour]

Agreed, people have a right to speak as they do to privacy, so if the statement of confidentiality is clear and cut it should be respected. A little whistle blower doing a deed shouldn't be too damned, and it wasn't that dire in this situation. I'd just acknowledge it and let it slide, no need for the staff to do their own "mob mentality" and have a man hunt for a whistle blower. That'd just be silly, and all should just speak freely, eh? A little community communication is all swell, especially between the regulars and staff.

The issue here is that this person knows he/she shouldn't be doing this. And needed or not, justified or not, there are consequences to said person actions, be them what they may.

[DMAN]

The issue here is that this person knows he/she shouldn't be doing this. And needed or not, justified or not, there are consequences to said person actions, be them what they may.

They probably broke some trust, but not any signed up agreement. Therefore they're void of any punishment and shouldn't have to seek "refuge," but of course that doesn't matter. Shouldn't sting them for doing something for the community.

[LocalizedDownpour]

They probably broke some trust, but not any signed up agreement. Therefore they're void of any punishment and shouldn't have to seek "refuge," but of course that doesn't matter. Shouldn't sting them for doing something for the community.

No but having your team not trust you, especially the heads of that team is a good way to get you off the team. Even more so when there is no contractual obligations.

[Westhybrid]

They probably broke some trust, but not any signed up agreement. Therefore they're void of any punishment and shouldn't have to seek "refuge," but of course that doesn't matter. Shouldn't sting them for doing something for the community.

You have a very funny definition of what you think is "for the community."

[DMAN]

You have a very funny definition of what you think is "for the community."

The only funny thing about all of this is how it's getting blown out of proportion and how people don't fess up properly, I mean they never do. This is like a broken damn record to me, friend.

[Abbysynth]

I just like how people keep bringing up points about me from like, 7 months ago. The reason you don't see the results of most investigations is that there tends to be a lot going on that you're not aware of and the issue is dropped. I've been penned twice as admin, once due to being overly silly as a Pred and once for going to the planet as CE. Sometimes I do silly things because it's how I let off steam after 100s of straight hours of coding for this game. If I didn't have that outlet I would not be here and we would not have CM as we know it. That's why there's Emergency Rescue Chimps, because I find it funny and amusing. That's why my Predator will sometimes collect all the pets on the map and bring them home for a corgi training montage. Rahlzel and Apophis tend to look the other way at my least obvious silliness because it's not worth interrupting our insanely awesome development system. We've been #1 server for over a year, people. A YEAR. I've been playing SS13 for 13 years and I've never seen that (.. maybe old old LLA).

Please take the game less seriously. It's a game, not a job.

[LordeKilly]

I just like how people keep bringing up points about me from like, 7 months ago. The reason you don't see the results of most investigations is that there tends to be a lot going on that you're not aware of. I've been penned twice as admin, once due to being overly silly as a Pred and once for going to the planet as CE. Sometimes I do silly things because it's how I let off steam after 100s of straight hours of coding for this game. If I didn't have that outlet I would not be here and we would not have CM as we know it. That's why there's Emergency Rescue Chimps, because I find it funny and amusing. That's why my Predator will sometimes collect all the pets on the map and bring them home for a corgi training montage. Rahlzel and Apophis tend to look the other way at my least obvious silliness because it's not worth interrupting our insanely awesome development system. We've been #1 server for over a year, people. A YEAR. I've been playing SS13 for 13 years and I've never seen that (.. maybe old old LLA).

Please take the game less seriously. It's a game, not a job.

Weren't you the person who was denying stuff that wasn't lore friendly?

[Abbysynth]

Weren't you the person who was denying stuff that wasn't lore friendly?

You are definitely thinking of someone else because I have always been extremely clear about seeing "lore" and "canon" as suggestions, not holy bibles.

[SpanishBirdman]

I find the staff response to this thread very disturbing. Regardless of any salt that is found here, Artouris has posted multiple separate incidences of Abby using her powers far and above what is required by the position of coder, having very significant effects on players and even entire rounds. Artouris is by no means the only person to have complained about Abby's conduct, and regardless of what the staff eventually decide to do it is clear to me and many others that something is wrong. When I look through what staff members have posted in response to this thread, I see only two types of posts. Ones saying "stop being salty" and ones unequivocally defending Abby and other staff members' behavior. Only one of the documented events has even been mentioned by any staff member, and that is the staff chat. Even there, most points are about whether or not the logs should have been released, and not the very worrying contents of them. The idea that these comments are OK in context but we can't know what the context was seems to further the idea that the staff are closing ranks against the community. This is behavior that is by no means new to game admin staff, but I thought that CM was insulated from it.

[Westhybrid]

I find the staff response to this thread very disturbing. Regardless of any salt that is found here, Artouris has posted multiple separate incidences of Abby using her powers far and above what is required by the position of coder, having very significant effects on players and even entire rounds. Artouris is by no means the only person to have complained about Abby's conduct, and regardless of what the staff eventually decide to do it is clear to me and many others that something is wrong. When I look through what staff members have posted in response to this thread, I see only two types of posts. Ones saying "stop being salty" and ones unequivocally defending Abby and other staff members' behavior. Only one of the documented events has even been mentioned by any staff member, and that is the staff chat. Even there, most points are about whether or not the logs should have been released, and not the very worrying contents of them. The idea that these comments are OK in context but we can't know what the context was seems to further the idea that the staff are closing ranks against the community. This is behavior that is by no means new to game admin staff, but I thought that CM was insulated from it.

Sorry to disappoint you?

We're well aware of Abby's actions. Some of what she does is in the wrong, and the rest of it is in the "who really cares" category. The point is that it's an internal issue. Meaning we'll solve it without the direct involvement of the community, as we have dealt with literally every other staff issue before.

We hear and listen to all complaints, but the issue with this one is we have to sift through the parts of the complaint that are genuinely concerned, salty about the updates and just plain antagonizing. Rest assured that we're having conversations about Abby's behavior, but what those conversations shouldn't have are community members breathing down our necks and calling for her crucifixion.

[apophis775]

The issue with posting logs, is the violation of trust.

And as far as the Abby situation, What would you like us to do?

How about the COMMUNITY tell me what THEY think we should do for once, instead of just telling us to take action.

She's been demoted in the past for a similar situation once, and we do talk with her about these issues when they come up. But what actions DO YOU think we should take? Programmers (GOOD programmers) typically almost ALWAYS fall a little short sometimes on social niceties/etiquette (which is why you never see a programmer representing a game at a news conference). I might be slightly biased, as I've dealt with that side of programmers for OVER A DECADE, but it's just sort of a fact of life.

How about, if instead of people saying "OH, YOU SHOULD DO emmmmmmmmmmmm~~~~~~~SOMETHING~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~~**" you give us the action YOU want us to take, and we'll discuss it and how reasonable it actually is. Tell me what you want, cause at this point, all I see is complaining and no solutions or solutions presented. Many of you, are just players and have never staffed a server. Because for the most part if you DID staff a server, you'd know that a LOT of talk and discussion goes into things like these situations, sometimes over days as the discussion travels across time-zones.

To be BRTUALLY honest for a moment (and to slightly rant off-topic), SS13 is the absolute most self-entitled community overall I have ever experienced in my decades of involvement in gaming communities and my near decade as a game designer. And one of the annoying parts of that, for me (and a LOT of developers and hosts across nearly every codebase), is that the the SS13 general community KNOWS this, and wears it as a badge of honor (Host-Chat actually discusses this with a fair amount of regularity). The community, for some reason, frequently bands up against staff/servers that are doing everything they can to try and develop and create new experiences and shit all over them. I mean, look at Goon, everyone constantly talks about "how bad their staff is, how shitty it is to play there" but the moment the code is released it's like a group of piranha around a bucket of chum. If anything EVER kills CM, it won't be Staff, or Developers, or broken code. It will definitely be the levels of toxicity that the community can reach sometimes. Now, that being said,

I get that a large amount of that stuff, comes from people being PASSIONATE about SS13 and servers like this, but understand that many of us who are running these games, do it in our free time while working full-time jobs. I try to dedicate as much time and energy into CM that I can, but sometimes it takes WEEKS for people to see results or even to get all the discussion out of the way and proper people briefed on situations to get things moving. Hell, we've been working on figuring out which candidates for headmod the staff are going to vote on, for nearly 3 god damn weeks.

My point here, isn't to try and shit on you guys but to tell you to CALM DOWN and BE CONSTRUCTIVE. Random posts of just "oh this fucking sucks" or "He's fucking horrible" don't do anything or help anyone. They aren't constructive, they don't tell us "new" information in most cases and they don't accomplish anything other than stressing EVERYONE out (both the general community, the players, the staff, the devs, the heads, and the people who make the complaints in the first place). An example of this, is that the reason we have the specific format for suggestions, is because many suggestions were just "DURRR THIS SUCKS" or "HURRR MARINES ARE OP NOW THAT AYYLIUMS CAN'T STRIP". Instead, I came up with the suggestions format that allows us to structure the issues so we can see the validity.

I am aware that there is a situation, we are looking into what we need to do to fix/rectify the situation. At this point, what you need to do is give us TIME. Creating big threads complaining isn't going to do anything if your not being constructive and giving us options or ideas on how to handle the situation as well. And "remove Xenocuffs" isn't an option. It's the first part, of a decent sized Xeno/Combat overhaul that's going on. In the end (in a few weeks) I expect that, just like when we removed the ability for Xenos to strip aliens, people won't even remember there was this much drama.


And finally, I apologize for my current time issues with CM. My situation is that I don't have the time I used to have, normally my course-load for teaching is 2 6-contact hours classes per semester, this semester I've had 4 ( 2 6 contact hours, 2 4 contact hours). Finals are next week, and after that I'll become MUCH more involved with CM again as my time will be MUCH more open. But also, I leave you with this:

CM is not dieing (we are still Top server). We also aren't going anywhere. No staff members have been punished over anything involving the "leak". I don't believe in punishing people for giving their opinions or bringing up issues so long as they aren't being toxic assholes. In fact, I'm fairly certain that on most other servers with this level of population, this whole discussion would have been silenced and the offending parties banned. But I try to avoid doing things like that.

Right now, I just ask for your patience.

[sicktrigger]

...

well i think you should have less transparency, honestly. Keep staff complaint investigations private, beyond saying its being investigated and what action ends up being taken (if any). if the complainer doesn't like the result then screw. Players are never going to stop reporting problems, but when they're wrong they're wrong.

by posts you've made in the past it's clear you don't take staff abusing their powers lightly. As long as that doesn't change, and server staff know that, shit is gravy.

[sicktrigger]

basically do the opposite of what the OP wants

[Artouris]

Now that I've returned from work and that I've read through all the information that has happened during my 3 hour leave of absence. I have formulated my reply.

Something tells me Apop in your tone there, tells me you've already decided your judgement on Abby. Asking us to something that's already decided already tells us that apparently this all hasn't done anything. The stuff in your post tells me that much.


About old incidents but hell, its still got merit.

Saying that these programmers lack social niceties is actually quite sad, not because that they might be lacking in these social niceties, but that you're now grouping alot of people into a group they might or might not want to belong in. I have seen programmers representing games. Not to mention that if you're going to say that this is like game design and/or game development. Then don't be surprised that in the past game developers who have been actively rude to their player base have had issues. (One notable mention which no one remembers is Fez the game. Phil Fish was ultimately a massive asshole).

Also Abby, when you say that this happened months ago. That's not true. To point out,




These aren't that old. I haven't been much on the server(and a few of them are not related to this abuse. The one yesterday was TR's) recently completely attentive. I have been observing but I haven't been logging often because I'm also quite busy with my own things. If you want to let off steam, play a different game? Go mess around a test server? If there's no test server then go to the thunderdome. As I've said, there are other options. Even barring that, you have access to the source code which you can download and run on your computer. If you got moved down to coder, you can still download it and make yourself a host in the downloaded code. There are many many options. I've actually pointed this out when the projectile update was released and broken. There could have been testing done not even on a test server but on one's own computer. In a way there was no excuse for the brokenness of that update.

You make some great work. But your actions do not give you excuse, your unprofessionalism will drive away people who want to stay. There will always be brown-nosers, but this type of action will eventually drive away people who might want to stay. The server already has an high non-permanent turnover rate. People don't stay, they come in for a bit, drop out and leave. While that's fine but that's an hollow community. If you want a hollow community then you guys will do that on your own.

If you guys as I said earlier as well, want to provide updates that are part of a bigger update. At least provide us a roadmap or some information on how that will come into balance out with things. Then we can at least say "Lets wait and see what happens". Instead we have received a broken update with little information. Hell I personally thought it was added nesting time. We didn't understand that it was actual cuffs. We don't know what your planning because we are not a psychic community.

If you want to tout game design experience, then you know that alot of game designers and games have some kind of projection of what the future updates will be. There are roadmaps for games. They let people know that things might become severely unbalanced but it will be fixed in the end goal where you can imagine it with the information at hand. How can we provide constructive criticism without knowing what your plan is? We can't say Do X because that might unbalance the end goal. Because otherwise we're throwing on additional work for people to fix it. Provide us with a roadmap that has information filling it about what the plans are.

Now to cycle back to Apop's already decided. Not to mention that you've probably thought about a way to justify this stuff. Something tells me it might be the ace in the hole, which is


However I would like to point out a major point of this. "However, they will be fully accountable for their actions should they choose to exercise this privilege". Now with your already picked decision, that shows me a lack of this "fully accountable for their actions". This is actually worse. In the last few weeks, I've seen events rapidly coming and going. Some do work, but a good chunk of them have been very bad for people involved.

In response again to Vrai, remember that you thought I was out to fire abby? I'm not, if I was, I would have a picture for everyone of these events. I don't because in someways I never expected this happen, to have worked so well. I haven't had a vengeance for this. I want to help this place. However it is seemingly not to be working.

I read the Reddit, I can see how this is playing out. I see someone posted that we're supposedly entitled. I don't feel like that is the case entirely. We actually deeply care about this because we like the community for the most part, we like this server, we like this game. However to possibly call us entitled is kind of rude, we want the best for the server. Sometimes that's not for the best, understandable, but this has been going in the direction that the community will have to do something if the staff acts like this.

While I can somewhat understand your concern, that if you lose Abby, then we've lost a major provider of coding. However that is sometimes a harsh reality. If you say that CM has gone through rough times and hasn't died, then you realize that sometimes things happen.

Going further, WestHybird;

"We're well aware of Abby's actions. Some of what she does is in the wrong, and the rest of it is in the "who really cares" category. The point is that it's an internal issue. Meaning we'll solve it without the direct involvement of the community, as we have dealt with literally every other staff issue before."

That tells me that you're well aware of the abuses and do not want to actually say it. If was solved, then we wouldn't been having this discussion out here in the public. Not to mention this is about Abby's interactions with the public. Which has now become a community issue.

Why not be honest here? Something tells me that when I checked the staffwho or adminwho when the projectile update dropped. At the start Abby was there, saying praise me, then instantly left in about ten minutes after everyone realized it broke. Something tells me that they might have KNOWN that it was broken. Something tells me SOMETHING MIGHT HAVE HAPPENED IN STAFF CHAT.

Why not be honest here? Tell everyone that abby has special powers because shes a developer and therefor is allowed to ruin rounds for people at her whim. Predator Ship launches plasma into the Sulaco to blow up Engineering? Totally fine, Developer and she's rule 0 right guys? Totally fine? Right?

Why not be honest here? You don't plan on doing anything because Abby is so apparently vitally important to the server.

Why not be honest here? If you say you were joking about that in staff chat, that your actually lying to our faces. Who jokes they're above the rules? Who says that when THEY ARE VENTING ABOUT ANOTHER PERSON? That's going "Fuck X, they're stupid and a asshole". That's venting about the person, its another to say "The rules are only suggestions".

Why not be honest here? Why are you still silencing the opposition in ways that wont block your own agenda? Toxicity might kill a server, but tyranny will do so just as quickly.

Why not be honest here? The Staff has been defending other staff who have abused the rules and have gotten away with it? I've heard stories.

You can say that this was a legitimate grievance that exploded, well it still is legitimate. Not to mention that we've been ignored, passed over. The lack of unprofessionalism, has continued to the point where its now institutionalized. Its been part of the system now and you roll with it if your in the staff.

This has left us with a loss of faith. A loss of faith in the professionalism of the server. A loss in the faith that due process and justice actually exists.

If you want my final opinion on this, and in response as to what should be done to abby is, Drop her back to Coder, teach her professionalism, watch her closely during that process for unprofessionalism. Its not something that people are born with, you can TEACH professionalism.

If she refuses to do that, then there will be no solution to this tension other than to fire her. If she remains without accepting fault, without being taught professionalism, then the tension will remain. It might hold down for a while longer, but it will eventually bubble to the top once again. It'll be just as bad if not worse.

Not to mention the silent tension that happened for almost a full hour after you posted. If that's how you intended to mark out people, to profile them, to tag them like animals is somewhat despicable. I guarantee that you're also waiting for the first admin to post for you to continue the probable witch hunt you are now leading in your staff chats.

If that ain't tyranny against your own people, I don't know what is. It is truly unfortunate that this has occurred. However it is in some ways necessary. When due process fails, who fixes it? When you have no faith in professionalism and the due processes of the server? Who fixes that? It can't be someone from the staff to imitate such a discussion because it will probably flop on its face.

I am just in the end horribly disappointed in this lack of professionalism from the staff about these issues. I enjoy the work really, but whats happening here, i can't respect the person side of this anymore. You can tell everyone that its only me, its only five people, its only a few people(not to mention once the number hits like 20 its a pretty large part of the CM server). However as I said way earlier. There is also people who've agreed upon these issues. You act as if we're angry over these things. In some way we are, but we're moreso deeply disappointed and have no faith in the systems you guys hold high on a altar.

I will admit I wanted to write more, cover more points. However I am unable to right now and for that I apologize. I can't write more for the fact that I need take a break from writing this post itself.

[Abbysynth]

This is just getting a little bizarre. What do those supposed log files mean exactly? Where are they from? "left in about ten minutes after everyone realized it broke" Uh. You mean when I was in another window, frantically fixing it? "Why are you still silencing the opposition in ways that wont block your own agenda?"? What? Apophis literally just said that on any other server you'd be banned by now, and he was right. Silencing the opposition? We've given people nothing but voices. You're bringing up stuff about me from literally months ago. You're talking about literally events that I have run as is my right as an admin and saying I'm abusing my power doing them. Are you for real? This has to be a really bad troll.

[apophis775]

I've made no judgement, because there are no accuasions. This is literally a thread based off of events in the past which have been dealt with, spawned by a thread that was filled with salt about a gameplay update.

You guys, are turning this into something much bigger than it is and I still haven't gotten: A CLEAR DESCRIPTION OF WHAT YOU WANT.

Also, As I admitted about 400,000 times at this point with the projectile update drop the first time, IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR A SINGLE ROUND ONLY. IT WAS ME, WHO LEFT IT ON ALL NIGHT. I figured the first round was smooth, so lets get some more data and pulled a "BRB Soup" and went to sleep. I've also already apologized about that, several times on the server, minichat, i think there's even a post or two around.



Also, what's with the generic HTML files without context? I don't know what they mean other than dates, and I can easily generate files like that as well.


And finally this:

I read the Reddit, I can see how this is playing out. I see someone posted that we're supposedly entitled. I don't feel like that is the case entirely. We actually deeply care about this because we like the community for the most part, we like this server, we like this game. However to possibly call us entitled is kind of rude, we want the best for the server. Sometimes that's not for the best, understandable, but this has been going in the direction that the community will have to do something if the staff acts like this.

Let me say this to get it out of the way: YOU ARE ACTING ENTITLED. Don't for a single solitary fraction of a second, think that you guys aren't. Now, don't get all upset and into a tizzy, but understand I don't have a real problem with that because it was sort of encouraged by our head-staff a little bit. Much of Sanctum/Banter had Skinner and other staff members pretty much on speed-dial for issues, problems, updates, news, etc. When he left, you guys lost that line and suddenly realized you were being treated like our standard players and didn't have the "inside scoop" anymore. It was a bit of an upsetting change, and people (generally) dislike change. I also understand, that SS13 in general (being a free open-sourced game develped as a hobby by the coders) breeds that entitlement among the playerbase (just look at the open-source-warriors). Personally, I'm not worried about entitlement or things like that. But don't pretend you are NOT acting entitled when your playing a free game that is developed and hosted by others for free, in their spare time. I'm not asking for you to worship me as a god-emperor. I'm asking, for you to see this from an objectionable view-point without bias: I provide a free-game for people to play. We Update and change the game as we progress through it. We did an update that people didn't like. The issue got so heated, that it went across several topics and pages.

I mean, look at this thread. It's the very definition of entitlement. You want us to curb to your demands despite the fact that we run the server, code the server as well as own the server. Not to mention, you want all that, for literally nothing. That is just about the definition of entitlement. Now, as I said, I don't have a problem with that. But don't try to sell me a piece of shit and call it a toaster.

Moving on from that. As I've said, I understand you have concerns, BUT PLEASE.

TELL
ME
WHAT
THEY
ARE.

And try to be clear. Don't give me another 30 paragraphs of pleonasm and baseless accusations with "I've heard stories" as proof. Give me something summarized that doesn't read like a manifesto or playground rumors.

This situation, is turning into something akin to the #occupy protestors. Your trying to just FIND THINGS to yell and complain about because your angry but generally have no direction. Abby is an easy target, due to past actions and because she wrote the xeno-cuffs. But in this case, she has done NOTHING WRONG outside of maybe being too blunt with her speech. You 'somehow" got a single screenshot from staff-chat of her speaking her mind directly in the heat of an argument. We've talked with her, and I don't think she honestly feels that way.

And finally, STOP YELLING ABOUT TYRANNY AND OPPRESSION. YOU ARE NOT IN A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY AND NO ONE IS BEING SILENCED. A single staff member made that topic, and we came down on him for it and locked it (in favor of keeping this open). It's quite literally, the opposite of oppression. Additionally, I've not banned or punished ANYONE for speaking out on this or the current issues or ever in fact. So if your going to bring up issues, stay FOCUSED and stop trying to make me into a bad guy. I mean, I've even tried to directly engage people in civil discussion several times. But I can't really get a clear answer on what you guys want, or how to appease you. I mean, last night, I talked with sanctum for several hours about the problems they had and issues they were bringing up. I thought we were making headway, until I woke up and found more of this same stuff.

[ThatOneEngie]

I've been fairly silent on my opinion, and I doubt it will make a difference, but here goes nothing.

I can't fully comment on Abbys events, other then pred in a non pred round ( Which personally I think is okay in certain situations ) And they seem like a really okay person, but at the same time, some of the screenshots are a bit unnerving.
To be short, I think that abby is a-okay, but could maybe be a bit less confrontational from what i see.

[Rahlzel]

In case it's relevant, I've just applied an update to the server regarding the nest buckling:

Code: Select all

Humans buckled into a nest will now have the option to break free at their leisure (after waiting for the nest resist timer in ~ 3 minutes) simply by using Resist one last time to pop up instantly. This allows for nearby humans to coordinate their escape or allow a single human to attempt escape when they think there aren't any Xenos around and they're good and ready. Also, if the human has been additionally secured by their hands and feet, they will be told this when the resist timer is up so they can plan ahead. 

I think this should solve some of the unrest with the new update and give control back to humans while still retaining the balance of being somewhat vulnerable after popping out of a nest (i.e. the Secure Host resin cuffs).

Happy Mother's Day!

P.S. Nice signature, KeyWii.

[MrJJJ]

Also, what's with the generic HTML files without context? I don't know what they mean other than dates, and I can easily generate files like that as well.

Did you just...accuse him of making fake evidence?

[LocalizedDownpour]

In case it's relevant, I've just applied an update to the server regarding the nest buckling:

Code: Select all

Humans buckled into a nest will now have the option to break free at their leisure (after waiting for the nest resist timer in ~ 3 minutes) simply by using Resist one last time to pop up instantly. This allows for nearby humans to coordinate their escape or allow a single human to attempt escape when they think there aren't any Xenos around and they're good and ready. Also, if the human has been additionally secured by their hands and feet, they will be told this when the resist timer is up so they can plan ahead. 

I think this should solve some of the unrest with the new update and give control back to humans while still retaining the balance of being somewhat vulnerable after popping out of a nest (i.e. the Secure Host resin cuffs).

Happy Mother's Day!

P.S. Nice signature, KeyWii.

Praise, Rahl, The, Savior, Of, CM,

[Artouris]

I just want to highlight the fact there’s a lack of professionalism. Rationalize it anyway you want.
Here are the logs I have that I linked in some of the images. Unfortunately the truly worst offense I find is the random predator ship warping in and shooting at the sulaco to blow parts up, but unfortunately I don't have the logs. That is probably the biggest act of unprofessionalism recently I would say.

Anyway here are some of the logs:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dvmynkbyu6ar2 ... 9.htm?dl=0

In about the mid is the trader ship (link above).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/a4wui539s5txg ... 9.htm?dl=0

Here is the TR bit over there (link above). It’s toward the middle and end I believe which was before I had to go to work.

The rest was on the forums, changelog, and an image of the game – which is pretty self-explanatory. If the dropbox does not work I will put them on pastebin.

ADDED AFTER APOP POSTED:Alright this is what I would like to see: I want Abby to be limited with her power’s on server so she can re-learn how to better control herself on server instead of constantly doing things that can be seen as unprofessional (spawning preds when not supposed to all the time, doing unbalanced events, etc.). Her actions are simply unprofessional. It's not fun either.

The way she’s been acting lately has felt simply disrespectful, of both staff and players.

I feel as of recently that staff have been acting unprofessional, and that it's becoming an OK thing for it to happen. I feel that there’s some favoritism that needs to be checked - perhaps not with you specifically, Apop, but with the entire staff team in general (except Rahl. Literally except Rahl). There are reports that are sometimes completely valid that get snuffed out by overlooking evidence.

Well I suppose I should quote me saying that I'm concerned with the professionalism.

I am just in the end horribly disappointed in this lack of professionalism from the staff about these issues. I enjoy the work really, but whats happening here, i can't respect the person side of this anymore. You can tell everyone that its only me, its only five people, its only a few people(not to mention once the number hits like 20 its a pretty large part of the CM server). However as I said way earlier. There is also people who've agreed upon these issues. You act as if we're angry over these things. In some way we are, but we're moreso deeply disappointed and have no faith in the systems you guys hold high on a altar.

Its not my interest to have abby fired. I don't have much of a interest in other than exposing the issue for what it is. I think her unprofessionalism however has gotten out of hand. I would be totally fine if she stayed, because she has done some great work for the server. However that work does not give a "Get out of jail free" card because of it. We are all (in theory in real life) subject to the same laws and are expected to follow them. That's what this server in theory has.

For me this has lead to the loss of faith in certain parts of your server. I have lost faith in the professionalism of the staff on some level. Some of they do amazing work and keep a amazing level of professionalism. I have also have had a loss in the faith of reporting said staff members because to their defense will come the ones who are guilty either directly of the same actions or by association for not saying anything about it.

Not to mention I’m not the only one who seems to think this way:

In all honesty, I have not reported admin issues because I have lost faith in the process. Staff can claim that the process is taken seriously, but I've seen cases dismissed or brushed aside with "this will be taken care of" with little change in how the complaint causer behaves in game. Frankly put, Abby is right in that for her, the rules are just suggestions. I expect this situation to resolve like this: Apophis says Abby has been talked to, Abby takes a break, Abby comes back and does the same thing she always does, rinse and repeat.

I understand that the short story format of my arguments have made my intentions a little unclear, but I hope that this post clears it up.

DISCLAIMER: Also I'm not in Sanctum or banter.

Here's my short sentence summary:

I am worry about the unprofessionalism that is happening. Abby has shown a string of unprofessional actions recently on server. Her actions need to address through proper punishment which will set an example for future acts of unprofessionalism. The evidence is all here. I can get more if needed.

[DMAN]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHgYtKkSEDA

[Rahlzel]

Unfortunately the truly worst offense I find is the random predator ship warping in and shooting at the sulaco to blow parts up, but unfortunately I don't have the logs. That is probably the biggest act of unprofessionalism recently I would say.

I'm not sure I understand how this is unprofessional. It's a random event. It's relevant to the era. No one died (if you're talking about when it blew a hole in the Brig - I was there that round). There was even a MOTHER report made about an incoming transmission, from which Abby played the Predator growl sound, which I thought was a pretty cool addition. It freaked everyone out and made things interesting.

At what point does it become unprofessional?