Hey folks, I have a small request to ask of you.

Since me stepping back, I have received several PMs and skype pokes about it. Quite a few people shared with me experiences they encountered on the server that they felt were very problematic. Some were just venting (which is important!), others genuinely sought input for solutions or seek discussion to find way to articulate their feelings. But what was common for almost all of them, was a feeling of unease (to avoid using fear, as that is a little extreme). There seems to be a genuine unease of talking to the DMs about it, because they are afraid of possible repercussions for it or to be branded "whiners". Regardless if it is via the forum, or directly.

When these things are bubbling beneath the surface, it becomes a very serious problem. Far more damaging than those 15-page heated dicussions we all came to dislike in the past. For one, people talk, and opinions can quickly polarize to an extreme. It can become a subject of obsession or working oneself into a frenzy. Both of those terms are not fully accurate of what I mean, but with my lacking english it is the best I can think of to describe the effect. The other problem is that things get around in a grape-vine, and we all know how that can turn out. I also believe it is a problem the DMs have, where they discuss situations or players and they too come to a conclusion that simply does not fit the situation.

I do not believe the situation is even close to "beyond salvageable", but I do believe it is serious. It will just continue to fester if not addressed. There needs to be an honest dialogue. Both for the sake of the players and the DMs. The DMs need to know your thoughts, and keeping them to yourselves will only make it more likely the problems you have will remain unaddressed. And frankly put, the DMs who receive the feedback need to be open to it, not nitpick it, but try to address the buttom line. In other words, not being argumentative asses about it or just trying to prove them wrong, but trying to find the root of the problem and a solution to it.

Letumn and Amarice are two DMs I have found are very reasonable to talk to, and I encourage you to pm them your thoughts. With that said, I really do not mind hearing out your thoughts or giving my input. Having someone to talk to always helped me. I simply do not have any influence of changing things. I can also not relay what you tell me outside of such a generalized feedback to the DMs, to the point they do not have something in their hands to truly work with.

Comments are likely better put in the two other topics. Anyway, I intent for this to be my last post on the forum for a while. So for now, Amia is truly horse-less with this pony trodding off. I will check my PMs regularly though. Hope it works out!

Please moderate the individuals players that don't know how to forum constructively rather than locking entire topics please. You're breaking discussion flow and really not doing the "us vs. them" mentality -any- favors.

This. I don't understand why it was locked for someone to read.

_________________

Unfortunately, neither are you in your posting hat in a different thread. Respectfully: No, NC, it won't be opened at your demand. We've had it with the overall vitriol.

We will never cease to be the bad guys to you all. Not because we're actually bad guys, or fully deserve it, but because you are unwilling to bend in your errant assumptions and opinions of us unless we compromise our own integrities that were established to defend your privacies in order to prove we aren't horrible. Sorry to disappoint you so greatly, but we have too much integrity to do that.

I am tired, as many of us DMs are, of having the worst assumed of us while constantly trudging though the muck coming out of the people we try to help. But, you know what? I continue to do it anyways. We as a team shoulder you through your own refuse.

Shape up.

Pony has posted some valid ways to contact us. If you dislike us to the extent you claim, or feel we are that far off base, please PM Disco. If we can't be trusted, he's the one with the full authority to axe any single one of us or all of us.

_________________
Eli Hodgewall <{/,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~X
Sven <=={o===========>
Qeelak \ | / ,

Dusty, as a friend and colleague I'm asking you to take a step back from the forums for a few hours, or even the rest of the day if you feel the need. Whatever vitriol might be spraying around right now, adding hostility of your own can only make things worse, it won't help anything. I know you know this. We can't hold ourselves to different standards of acceptable posting than we hold the players, and the hostility in your post is not acceptable.

So please take a break, gather yourself, find yourself again, and return without the red haze in front of your eyes.