ResetEra Ownership Update

[Tygre]

I can't believe a thread like this has devolved to users taking pops at each other and the mods, while mods ban people for making pretty harmless jokes. A dude just made $4.5 million off of your collective asses, and you're still going after each other! Jaysus.

Normally when an OP bails out of a backfire thread this place has the decorum to direct it's ire in the appropriate direction: At the dipshit OP.

I know there will probably be a lot of questions about this so I'm going to try to answer as many of the big ones as possible here and now:

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Hey OP, just checking if you were planning on coming back and answering any of the other questions that have come up since?


People are very curious about why MOBA Network were the "best fit", given the state of their other message boards and their ties to online casinos? The fact that "Any post regarding sexuality, gender identity, ethnicity or women's rights to bodily autonomy is regardless of context considered a "forbidden topic" on an equal level with posting graphic violence gore images and is encouraged to be reported immediately for moderation." is stated policy for them wasn't a problem for you?

There are also questions around why a sale was the "best way to secure the future of the site", since it seems like no investment was needed or will be made given the massive profitability of the existing model. Couldn't the ownership have been transferred in a way that took the burden off of you without placing the forum in the hands of a for-profit business? Were alternative arrangements even considered?

Then we come to GDPR compliance, and whether the handling of user's data has met the standards required when a sale like this occurs? I mean I'm sure all the due diligence required was done, right?

Of course there's also the question of what sort of person you have to be to take this kind of massive payday while leaving the engineers who helped you to make it in the lurch, without even hooking them up with contracts to work for the new owners? I mean what kind of shit is that, really?


Maybe you could also add some additional details to your first post, like the press release from MOBA Network, or any of the news articles that have covered this. Just little things like the price tag, and the ongoing profits, and the plans to make more money from more ads in the future, just those little bits.

 

[labx]

So effectively:

• Guy takes advantage of exodus from other site, ropes people into coming here with the help of others
• Those others get no stake in ownership
• Gets people to work for him for free (for years)
• Charges people to help "keep the lights on" for a "community" forum
• Makes up to $500k/yr after costs
• Sells for $4.5 million to ownership group that allows transphobia on their other sites

Sounds like the ultimate grift, I have to congratulate him for pulling it off. Especially convincing everyone that it was a community forum that constantly needed help staying afloat.

I can say for certain that I won't be as active here anymore after this. I have other sites I frequent that scratch the same itch (dayonepatch.com) for current events and gaming. And reddit will help with other general topics.

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Grifters gonna grift. I feel bad for the people who actually gave him money.

 

[totofogo]

Don't they just need to wipe your email address and userame from their database to comply (unless your name in real life is totofogo)? It seems like it would be crippling if they had to wipe entire post histories, but I'm not a lawyer and I don't know jack shit about Euro laws.

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I edited the og message to remove GDPR from my ask directly after posting

 

[Lamptramp]

Like, how are you so utterly lacking in self-awareness? Some of your first posts in this very thread were peddling insane conspiracy theories about staff and their policy decisions, implying the reason they chose to not ban ActiBlizz threads was because of the upcoming buyout (completely false, obviously). You also said the site didn't take "any kind of stance" which is also flat out untrue. All of those things are incredibly insulting to staff members, particularly the mods who worked hard on handling those topics. But you are so lacking in self-awareness that you cannot even see how your own toxic shitposts are routinely part of the problem yourself. Not the first time this happens either.

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Like who the shit are you? have I ever interacted with you? how many posts have I made on my mission to cover this forum in "toxic shitposts" only in here and the Cyberpunk thread to my mind which cover issues I feel strongly about for some fucking reason.

you do not fucking know me you clown and you do not know the stresses and fears I have had being exposed to the shitheels from KiwiFarms for daring to stand up during the cyberpunk debacle, and how much I have stood up for ERA among the splinter groups that formed after that period.

Yes, I am angry, yes I am scared, yes I am upset, and yes my words may be hyperbolic, but when I gets mods replying to DM's during the Blizzard shit saying essentially "we plan to do nothing" and we not 6 months later are sold to an owner with ties to Blizzard forums which allow fucking bigotry and transphobia and homophobia the YOU CAN BE DAMN SURE I WILL SHOUT ABOUT IT.

 

[jtb]

The way everything was set up from the get go, it's really weird how everyone is so surprised that this happened. It was obvious that this site would generate that kind of money and become valuable. Not on the peak GAF level, but it was always going to be big. If you didn't want one person, or a small group of people to do this (or even to prevent the repeat of Evilore level scandal), it should have been set up different.

Anyway, I was never that active here, so I don't really care about all of this. If I can still get my gaming news and leaks here, I'm fine.

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I think the problem is that the people who are surprised are the people who had no input in setting up the site; i.e. 99% of the stupid lemmings like me who just post here occasionally. Or transparency into how the site was set up. To me, it makes no sense that a site created out of GAF's implosion would be set up in an identical structure. Easy money I guess.

But like you, I don't have much emotionally invested in this place anymore, certainly never as much as I did at GAF during its heydey.

 

[Disclaimer]

Frankly, one of the issues with the reports against the trolls in the Media Create thread was the fact that the bulk of the reports consisted of one word:

Troll

With that much information, there's very little to work on. Additionally, the context of a history of trolling from a single post is extremely unclear, especially when the above information is all that's given. It wasn't until AFTER Chris's ban that people brought up the troll's off-site behavior. We can only work with the information we're given. We're a handful of people on a site of 50+ thousand. If you want us to do our jobs effectively, we need your help to give us actual information into what you're reporting.

I can guarantee you without a doubt that had we had that information from the get-go, that troll would have been banned a lot sooner. In fact, we're actually looking into ways we can improve the report system to help y'all provide us the information that we need to make more accurate judgements.

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Since this seems to be a recurring issue with reports lacking sufficient context, might I then suggest that y'all create a visible front-and-center template for what efficient reports should look like?

Preferably literally attached to the report pop-up, similar to how you sometimes attach a message above the reply box to preempt some behavior.

Because as-is, what I imagine is partly happening is that posters see the rather vague warn/ban messages that are usually used, and just report perceived rulebreaking based on how they see prior actioning being described.

 

[Kazooie]

how do we insure that the site stays progressive when each user is now a dollar sign to the owners

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I mean, each user before was worth 100$, so maybe that is an improvement?

 

[Hecht]

Since this seems to be a recurring issue with reports lacking sufficient context, might I then suggest that y'all create a visible front-and-center template for what efficient reports should look like?

Preferably literally attached to the report pop-up, similar to how you sometimes attach a message above the reply box to preempt some behavior.

Because as-is, what I imagine is partly happening is that posters see the rather vague warn/ban messages that are usually used, and just report perceived rulebreaking based on how they see prior actioning being described.

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Yeah that's the sort of thing we're thinking about. Depends on how customizable XF is in that specific scenario though.

 

[lexony]

I don't know about the talk with how much money this site made but yeah all this sounds just really sad. Power to a single person is/was never a good thing and I understand the pressure a person can feel because of that. On the other hand it's really disappointing how much stuff surfaces now on which most users knew nothing about on this forum. I think the problem of this site probably is that it should have been set up in a more transparent and "democratic" way from the beginning. But still mods do/did a fairly well job on here all things considered, even though it is sometimes really strict for my taste

For my part I will probably somewhat continue to post on this site, but for the most time moving on to famiboards.

 

[Embiid]

In my relatively short time here, going on 8 months, I've noticed one consistent factor throughout — the vast majority of the community absolutely resents the staff.

That utter contempt is to such a degree that I'm shocked anyone would want to volunteer for a position. Y'all are literally losing sleep and taking on inordinate amounts of stress for a community that, for the most part, despises you. Let's be real.

The Media Create debacle is a perfect example. The guy was banned for one fucking day, lmao. All that nuclear fallout over a one day ban? Sorry, also the fact that the "trolls" weren't dealt with. The reality of the situation with the MC thread is that they wanted their sub community to effectively be a self-congratulatory clique without any dissenting opinion, so the few regulars in there that offered counterpoints were labeled trolls and reported. There was even a mod in here a couple pages back saying how they looked into those reported users and the offenses either didn't exist or were tenuous at best.

The fallout from it, that (large) sub community leaving and literally creating a new forum, was hilariously disproportionate to the crime. It's hard to blame Morrigan and, I forget the other mod's name, for what they said in those screenshots because the vast majority of people following that drama are going to have "what the fuck is wrong with these people?" takes. Their mistake was putting it out there in a chat with non-staff members.

 

[Disclaimer]

Yeah that's the sort of thing we're thinking about. Depends on how customizable XF is in that specific scenario though.

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Could always do it in a good old fashioned sticky if that functionality isn't supported.

Even if people visit stickies infrequently, it would be far more visible and helpful there than it would hypothetically being sequestered in the Announcements section, which no one visits unless something's goin' down.

 

[FliX]

Well excuuuuuuse me! And excuse me if I spelled "Promonent" incorrectly, I have dyslexia and can barely write for shit, but thanks.

After the cyberpunk omnishambles and it was a fucking omnishambles, I was under the impression that lessons would be learned and that people would become closer to communities to ensure that PROMONENT members would be heard over and above bad actors, but clearly not.

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I'm sorry. But spelling isn't my strong suit either and I was assuredly not making fun of your spelling. I was adding italics for emphasis that it's a vague term in this context.

 

[Lamptramp]

OK I am done,

I am sorry I was scared and worried and wanted to lash out, take your anger our on me since I am fucking worthless and a piece of shit and clealry want to hound everyone else to death.

Have your bigoted piece of shit network of sites, enjoy the pleasure of deciding where the line crosses when they come for you.

I just wanted to feel me, and authentic and not have to worry about what I see on twitter or facebook, or imgur or every other fucking website ourt there.

 

[lt519]

Good post. I also very much miss the Era of the first three weeks. I barely post anymore because people are too angry and it's exhausting.

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Aye, there is such easy low-hanging fruit to start moving it in the right direction too; contests, give-a-ways, promoting positive threads/content, restart Q&As, community events/nights, etc. Maybe an actual community manager that isn't bogged down by reports and other issues and can focus on promoting community activities. Things that all were happening at the start and just vanished or stopped happening.

 

[FliX]

OK I am done,

I am sorry I was scared and worried and wanted to lash out, take your anger our on me since I am fucking worthless and a piece of shit and clealry want to hound everyone else to death.

Have your bigoted piece of shit network of sites, enjoy the pleasure of deciding where the line crosses when they come for you.

I just wanted to feel me, and authentic and not have to worry about what I see on twitter or facebook, or imgur or every other fucking website ourt there.

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No one here is angry at you. Your concerns are valid and worth discussing.

 

[construct]

…post progressive topics? Have progressive discussions? No one's asking you to suddenly make Mitch McConnell redemption threads.



Tell r/KotakuInAction I said hi.

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I dont mean about topics, I mean about the community. I come here because I know diet racists and worse won't be tolerated, how does anyone know that those rules won't be relaxed. someone will eventually ask why joeroganfan was banned

 

[Hecht]

Aye, there is such easy low-hanging fruit to start moving it in the right direction too; contests, give-a-ways, promoting positive threads/content, restart Q&As, community events/nights, etc. Maybe an actual community manager that isn't bogged down by reports and other issues and can focus on promoting community activities. Things that all were happening at the start and just vanished or stopped happening.

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We have been trying to get some things going for some time now. Then something like JK Rowling opens her mouth and we get a million reports.
But yeah, it's definitely something we're working on.

 

[labx]

Wait a sec... Morrigan and Queen Vulpix are treasures here and over discord. They are fine people.Morrigan sometimes can be "harsh" but is in good faith. And how the hell is Chris. I'm so fucking lost in this thread. I mean, isn't this thread to comment about how capitalism won and people made someone rich?

 

[blame space]

how can you tell if you are harsh in good faith or not

 

[Lamptramp]

No one here is angry at you. Your concerns are valid and worth discussing.

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TELÖÖ THAT TO FUCKING MORRIGFAN

My conerns are ignored until I start getting baity and shitty since thats all te staff are happy to reposnd to.

I am toxic shitposter number 1, I am the reason this site has gone to shit, for daring to speak my mind during this and the cyberpunk fuckup. I have apologised for my tone to you and transistor, but noooooo thats not enough I have to be on my best behaviour and be poked and prodded until I fly off the handle and in a moment on tear filled self loathing and suicidle thoughts lash out!

thats when I can get banned, thats the ERA way.

 

[lt519]

We have been trying to get some things going for some time now. Then something like JK Rowling opens her mouth and we get a million reports.
But yeah, it's definitely something we're working on.

Click to shrink...

Could always separate the roles. Pick a couple community managers and don't let them get bogged down dealing with reports/bans/discussions about how to handle bigger issues.

 

[Apathy]

I can't believe a thread like this has devolved to users taking pops at each other and the mods, while mods ban people for making pretty harmless jokes. A dude just made $4.5 million off of your collective asses, and you're still going after each other! Jaysus.

Normally when an OP bails out of a backfire thread this place has the decorum to direct it's ire in the appropriate direction: At the dipshit OP.



Hey OP, just checking if you were planning on coming back and answering any of the other questions that have come up since?


People are very curious about why MOBA Network were the "best fit", given the state of their other message boards and their ties to online casinos? The fact that "Any post regarding sexuality, gender identity, ethnicity or women's rights to bodily autonomy is regardless of context considered a "forbidden topic" on an equal level with posting graphic violence gore images and is encouraged to be reported immediately for moderation." is stated policy for them wasn't a problem for you?

There are also questions around why a sale was the "best way to secure the future of the site", since it seems like no investment was needed or will be made given the massive profitability of the existing model. Couldn't the ownership have been transferred in a way that took the burden off of you without placing the forum in the hands of a for-profit business? Were alternative arrangements even considered?

Then we come to GDPR compliance, and whether the handling of user's data has met the standards required when a sale like this occurs? I mean I'm sure all the due diligence required was done, right?

Of course there's also the question of what sort of person you have to be to take this kind of massive payday while leaving the engineers who helped you to make it in the lurch, without even hooking them up with contracts to work for the new owners? I mean what kind of shit is that, really?


Maybe you could also add some additional details to your first post, like the press release from MOBA Network, or any of the news articles that have covered this. Just little things like the price tag, and the ongoing profits, and the plans to make more money from more ads in the future, just those little bits.

Click to shrink...

 

[ArrogantBastard]

I was there at the beginning and the primary thought at the time was more "there's no way this is going to fucking work" - migrating people, having a stable site, actually having things work properly.

EDIT: my favorite conspiracy theory is that this site was planned long in advance. No, it literally came together over those three days.

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Fair enough but once it was clearly established that it was going to work why wasn't there any discussion of turning the site into vet to the community?

 

[blame space]

did cerium sell the site in good faith?

 

[Lamptramp]

Morrigan is right, I am a piece of shit, just here to peddle nonsense and make the mods feel bad.

I don't know why I feel I have any right to speak out for anyone in the LGTBQIA+ community or for women, I am not a woman, I am a man pretending and after 40 years in a position of priveledge I have no right to speak for those who are worse off than I. I have no idea how hard it must be for real women or for the LGTBQIA+ community, I just .... I just felt accepted for the first time ever and felt able to spout a little fire on thier behalf.

just do what you want. I ahve no right to be upset in the decision.

 

[CitizenVectron]

So the purchase press release stated that Cerium made $500k (after expenses) in the past year alone from this site. Maybe it hasn't been that much each year. Let's just guess at a lower number of $250,000. Imagine the good that that amount of money could have done for charities instead of lining a grifter's pockets. Imagine even if it was just given to a single charity like Child's Play. Even better if it had been given to a bunch of smaller ones!

But instead, a single guy scammed a site into paying him money for a few years, kept a few hundred G a year, and then walked away with another few million.

And, imagine if instead of selling the site he had set up a non-profit that could buy it from him for nothing. But instead he sold it, got rich, and we'll never hear from him again. It's a real fucking disgrace.

 

[Embiid]

Morrigan is right, I am a piece of shit, just here to peddle nonsense and make the mods feel bad.

I don't know why I feel I have any right to speak out for anyone in the LGTBQIA+ community or for women, I am not a woman, I am a man pretending and after 40 years in a position of priveledge I have no right to speak for those who are worse off than I. I have no idea how hard it must be for real women or for the LGTBQIA+ community, I just .... I just felt accepted for the first time ever and felt able to spout a little fire on thier behalf.

just do what you want. I ahve no right to be upset in the decision.

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You're being way too hard on yourself. Your opinion is just as valid as anyone else's in here.

 

[Kyou]

did cerium sell the site in good faith?

Click to shrink...

Do you think Margaret Thatcher funneled money to illegal paramilitary death squads in Northern Ireland in good faith?

Sidenote: this is an eric andre joke

 

[Nairume]

EDIT: my favorite conspiracy theory is that this site was planned long in advance. No, it literally came together over those three days.

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I will say this having at least observed things from the beginning. For as much as I do think the staff in general (but not in totality, as some of you all have at least made some of an effort) has acted very poorly about things over the past few years and especially as of late, Era being a grift from the start is a silly idea. We were all there seeing how things came together. It was quick, but not suspiciously so.

That said, I don't blame people for thinking things were scammy in light of recent developments.

 

[Deleted member 4321]

did cerium sell the site in good faith?

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I don't see what religion has to do with this.

 

[Mido]

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I actually laughed my ass off.

 

[lexony]

The people I called people cunts and manbabies were specifically the assholes who were constantly harassing and insulting cvxfreak and demanding that he resign etc.

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The thing is a normal user on this site or off site would have probably got warned or banned if they called anyone this words. Because a mod would maybe not have known in which context this user stands.

Of course I also don't know the full context of the mods in the sales + Nintendo Community meltdown but you realize that posts like this don't exactly help to gain trust? People are upset and it seems like all sides are making things worse by being toxic.

 

[Lamptramp]

I'm sorry. But spelling isn't my strong suit either and I was assuredly not making fun of your spelling. I was adding italics for emphasis that it's a vague term in this context.

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I want to lash out at you FliX as the one authority figure prepared to talk to me, but I can't since you replied so nicely, I am so sorry to have made your moderation less easy. I just wanted to lash out after the Trans ERA issues where I though listening to a community would be a lesson learned. I honestly didn't want to make you or anyone else feel so bad, honestly...

ERA made me, me. and as much as I may bitch I am terrified of losing that.

You're being way too hard on yourself. Your opinion is just as valid as anyone else's in here.

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I used to think that. not any more.

 

[rochellepaws]

So the purchase press release stated that Cerium made $500k (after expenses) in the past year alone from this site. Maybe it hasn't been that much each year. Let's just guess at a lower number of $250,000. Imagine the good that that amount of money could have done for charities instead of lining a grifter's pockets. Imagine even if it was just given to a single charity like Child's Play. Even better if it had been given to a bunch of smaller ones!

But instead, a single guy scammed a site into paying him money for a few years, kept a few hundred G a year, and then walked away with another few million.

And, imagine if instead of selling the site he had set up a non-profit that could buy it from him for nothing. But instead he sold it, got rich, and we'll never hear from him again. It's a real fucking disgrace.

Click to shrink...

It could have been a real good thing with a setup like that, a community to be proud of.

The line in the OP of "best way to secure the future of the site" just feels extra dirty when you consider the money this place was making and just like with Era Clear he tried to gaslight the community one last time into thinking the site was struggling financially and extra help was needed to survive.

 

[lexony]

I used to think that. not any more.

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Hey you and your opinion is just as much worth as anyone else. If you need someone to talk just DM me. I struggled a lot with my self too for a long time and truly hated myself. I don't know if I can relate to your feelings but sometimes it is nice if you can just talk.

 

[rjinaz]

So the purchase press release stated that Cerium made $500k (after expenses) in the past year alone from this site. Maybe it hasn't been that much each year. Let's just guess at a lower number of $250,000. Imagine the good that that amount of money could have done for charities instead of lining a grifter's pockets. Imagine even if it was just given to a single charity like Child's Play. Even better if it had been given to a bunch of smaller ones!

But instead, a single guy scammed a site into paying him money for a few years, kept a few hundred G a year, and then walked away with another few million.

And, imagine if instead of selling the site he had set up a non-profit that could buy it from him for nothing. But instead he sold it, got rich, and we'll never hear from him again. It's a real fucking disgrace.

Click to shrink...

It feels gross enough to me that I would totally support a max exodus and move on to another website like before.

Unfortunately the outrage, justifiable or not, doesn't seem to be there this time. It's a shame. But, life goes on. I'll keep coming here until for now anyway until the inevitable disagreement with ownership.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

This you?


Like, how are you so utterly lacking in self-awareness? Some of your first posts in this very thread were peddling insane conspiracy theories about staff and their policy decisions, implying the reason they chose to not ban ActiBlizz threads was because of the upcoming buyout (completely false, obviously). You also said the site didn't take "any kind of stance" which is also flat out untrue. All of those things are incredibly insulting to staff members, particularly the mods who worked hard on handling those topics. But you are so lacking in self-awareness that you cannot even see how your own toxic shitposts are routinely part of the problem yourself. Not the first time this happens either.


Oh boy here we go again huh. The people I called people cunts and manbabies were specifically the assholes who were constantly harassing and insulting cvxfreak and demanding that he resign etc. (this was made clear in the comment I was replying to, by the way). This means I "don't have empathy" now? LOL, spare me the pearl-clutching. No, I have empathy towards people like cvxfreak who didn't deserve any of this insane amount of vitriol, but yeah I guess I don't have much empathy towards toxic manchildren who harass my friends over petty nonsense like a 1-day ban. Funny that.


See this is more false narratives. I never was involved with that community. I never stepped foot in those threads. I was literally Idontthinkaboutyouatall.gif about them. All I did was, in a semi-private Discord, say not-so-nice-things about people who were harassing and insulting cvxfreak over and over when that stuff going down. I also didn't "rally" anyone, I just reassured people who wanted to go in there to support cvxfreak that doing so wasn't bannable (because, well, it wasn't), as they were afraid of doing that and getting dogpiled.

As for mods "driving them away", that's also laughable, as they had already decided to leave by then (over the 1-day ban), long before things escalated with the screenshots.

In other words: you don't know what you're talking about, you're just parroting the same tired persecution complex nonsense that constantly circulates unchallenged in these Discord echo chambers where people whip each other into a frenzy over any slight, whether real or imaginary. Don't worry though, you're far from the first (nor the last) to do that. It is what it is.


Moderators have been shit-talking troublesome users to their buddies since the beginning of time. It comes with the territory because the job is basically to be hall monitor where they're mostly dealing with the annoying unruly children and bullies,. If you believe that a mod shit-talking bullies to their friends is beyond the pale, that's on you for imputing far more meaning and baggage onto the behaviour that what the speaker probably intends.

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lol the irony dripping off this post

 

[Lindsay]

Seems like theres no need for the new owner to maybe, or maybe not, tear this place apart. Plenty of posters in this thread are doin' it here an now! Issues are being raised about the new owners sites/businesses but that all gets drowned out in some wild poster/mod/former mod war instead. Which is kinda not what this thread was about in the first place. Oh an there are still people giving the thumbs up to generic wealthy white male for cashing out. >_> I may not stay here if this place drifts right under the new owner but I'm sure not gonna sign up for a bajillion other forums each covering only a tiny niche fraction of what this place is/was an that makes me alil sad.

 

[BigDes]

Seems like theres no need for the new owner to maybe, or maybe not, tear this place apart. Plenty of posters in this thread are doin' it here an now! Issues are being raised about the new owners sites/businesses but that all gets drowned out in some wild poster/mod/former mod war instead. Which is kinda not what this thread was about in the first place. Oh an there are still people giving the thumbs up to generic wealthy white male for cashing out. >_> I may not stay here if this place drifts right under the new owner but I'm sure not gonna sign up for a bajillion other forums each covering only a tiny niche fraction of what this place is/was an that makes me alil sad.

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Yeah, I honestly find the complete lack of like, anything, from the new owners to be a bit weird.

Like we're in a new person's house and they can't even be arsed to come downstairs and say hello.

 

[srtrestre]

Good post. I also very much miss the Era of the first three weeks. I barely post anymore because people are too angry and it's exhausting.

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Early Era is definitely gone for good, and that's a damn shame. What's left is a grotesque and off-putting doppelgänger that is now associated with some heinous bs.

 

[Embiid]

It may be a good idea to temporarily lock this thread and give people time to cool off because things are getting pretty heated in here.

 

[Morrigan]

I dont mean about topics, I mean about the community. I come here because I know diet racists and worst won't be tolerated, how does anyone know that those rules won't be lax'd

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Technically, you don't "know", but multiple admins and mods have said that it won't happen, and that if they were forced to change their rules they'd walk out too. Maybe trust them? Like, am I a bit skeptical that "execs" will never interfere myself, somewhere/sometime down the line in the years to come? Sure. I get that concern too. But why freak out over it until it actually happens. (Not saying you in particular are freaking out, but yeah.)

Aye, there is such easy low-hanging fruit to start moving it in the right direction too; contests, give-a-ways, promoting positive threads/content, restart Q&As, community events/nights, etc. Maybe an actual community manager that isn't bogged down by reports and other issues and can focus on promoting community activities. Things that all were happening at the start and just vanished or stopped happening.

Click to shrink...

FWIW, this was attempted many times. Queen Vulpix was often spearheading those events. But they rarely got traction. And sometimes they do but get derailed by negativity, somehow, too. People here often prefer to wallow in misery.

Here's a perfect example: Vulpix made the lovely E3 logos earlier this year. As usual, E3 coincide with Pride Month, so for a few days, the Pride logos that were in rotation started to include gaming/E3 logos. (For a brief moment the Pride logos disappeared due to a temporary glitch but were quickly re-integrated, before anyone brings this up)
So naturally, this was twisted as "mods not caring about Pride", "mods only care about corporate gaming brands" blah blah. This was really hurtful for Vulpix who is LGBTQ herself, and to all the other LGBTQ staff members who also care deeply about Pride and being told they don't care/are only performative etc. All that over logos that were in rotation to celebrate gaming for 3-4 days.

This sort of thing happens all the time. Even innocuous, positive things get twisted into something sinister and malicious.

 

[Sikamikanico]

I want to lash out at you FliX as the one authority figure prepared to talk to me, but I can't since you replied so nicely, I am so sorry to have made your moderation less easy. I just wanted to lash out after the Trans ERA issues where I though listening to a community would be a lesson learned. I honestly didn't want to make you or anyone else feel so bad, honestly...

ERA made me, me. and as much as I may bitch I am terrified of losing that.




I used to think that. not any more.

Click to shrink...

Hush this nonsense. You are well loved, and you know you are. People wear fancy robes and buy props just to enjoy your stories - I wish I had that kind of godly power. ;-)

 

[RedMercury]

Does this MOBA company have a definitive position on the feature motion picture and cinematic experience Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

 

[Lindsay]

Yeah, I honestly find the complete lack of like, anything, from the new owners to be a bit weird.

Like we're in a new person's house and they can't even be arsed to come downstairs and say hello.

Click to shrink...

In a prolly very corporate-like way, they're likely wanting for things ta cooldown here before sending somone in and/or passing a message down through the GM/Admins. Companies often try ta bury negative news over weekends an look at when we are right now. I'd expect nothing prior to monday. Anything else'd be a surprise.

 

[random88]

I was there at the beginning and the primary thought at the time was more "there's no way this is going to fucking work" - migrating people, having a stable site, actually having things work properly.

EDIT: my favorite conspiracy theory is that this site was planned long in advance. No, it literally came together over those three days.

Click to shrink...

I don't think it was planned, but I struggle to believe that after a few months of the site being online someone thought that the ads wouldn't be enough to keep it afloat. The fact that both ads and Era Clear kept being a thing after the site broke even, while saying "from the community for the community" or whatever, and ultimately, caching in and leaving is morally wrong IMO.

 

[Wein Cruz]

Sorry, don't want to contribute to a derail.

 

[Josh5890]

Does this MOBA company have a definitive position on the feature motion picture and cinematic experience Star Wars: The Last Jedi?

Click to shrink...

Finally, someone is asking the real questions here!

 

[spootime]

Early Era is definitely gone for good, and that's a damn shame. What's left is a grotesque and off-putting doppelgänger that is now associated with some heinous bs.

Click to shrink...

Early era was people half-heartedly trying to relive the early gaf days when people actually tried to have fun and didn't default to max anger mode at all times.

 

[Brinksman]

Give the money away to a charity instead.