The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

I like to think I'm over all that, but yeah, being reminded of how people turned on me for that mistake (of wording and perhaps timing, I believe, not of intent or moral character) still sucks a whole lot.

So, thanks for apologizing. No hard feelings. I know you only meant well. *hugs offered*

~Neshomeh is at work now and can't talk much, but wanted to acknowledge that.

Here's me being attacked.

Here's what it was a response to.

Here it is again.

Yep, same link.

Let's just keep shoving it right in my face.

The whole sharding purpose of this so-called Concilliary was to get the unresolved issues out into the open so they could be cleared up, sorted out, and left in the past. This - this dragging out of things over and done with years ago - goes precisely against that purpose. This is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to avoid happening to people.

But you had to drag it all up. Had to make me read this again. And this. And remember all the other people who felt that they had the right to attack and insult me because they wanted to.

I hope whatever goal you had in posting links to the sharding thing is worth it.

hS

I meant that paragraph to be supportive of you and Neshomeh, and that makes it all the worse a decision on my part to even have brought up Jacer during it. I didn't intend any criticism or accusation for a long-past event. I feel terrible that I caused you unnecessary upset here today (And you too, Nesh, if I did so).

I promise the both of you that have immense respect for you and the effort and attention you pour into our community, and I don't harbor any ill feelings towards either of you. I'm sorry.

—doctorlit

• Tomash, who, summarizing very broadly, revealed someone else's True Name in the Dizzy Chord and has undertaken a period of exile from Plort out of guilt and shame

Just goes to show that finding information that's already been written down is also sometimes a hard problem, I guess.

- Tomash

Someone relatively new PM'd me on Discord asking where to look to find out about the Jacer stuff because it seemed important now. I had to go dig up the altchives link (for the record, new people, this is the thread that started it all, this is a followup departure post, and here is where constitutional amendments started getting hammered out).

We should have some document that gives newer people the ability to figure out what the heck all the oldbies are going on about. Short summaries and a list of archive links is probably sufficient. Heck, leave off the summaries and just gather up all the old-drama related archive links in one place so finding them for the next newbie with a historical question isn't a huge pain in the neck.

Given how easy it is for stuff to hide in the corners of the wiki, a wiki page might be well-hidden enough. If that still seems too visible, then use a document linked from a wiki page.

No matter what, like a lot of people have pointed out, any official (or seemingly official) document needs to be serious. There seem to be too many pitfalls involved in trying to do anything but when it comes to creating a referencable record of historical stuff.

- Tomash

First, "deterrent value" was the wrong phrase. What I meant to say was something more along the lines of "norm-setting value". I don't think my actions were an attempt to manipulate the PPC into viewing bans as a punishment, but I was trying to send messages.

Before I get to that, though, I should clarify. As I said then, I consider my two-and-a-half month ban to be a punishment. I'm (this thread aside) having to miss out an participating in all the interesting and fun things we get up to, even though there's nothing external to the PPC that's stopping me from joining in (like exams or whatnot). That feels bad. It's supposed to feel bad, because it's a consequence of me doing a rather bad thing.

The punitive aspect of my ban works because I still want to be around here, and it's possible that it only works because it was voluntary.

That being said, "doxxing is super not tolerated here" is a message I (and 55% of us, unless I'm misremembering people's rationales for voting) wanted to send with my temporary ban. If that means that me pushing my own ban through counts as me trying to change the rules without bothering with consensus, then, yes, I did that.

There was also, at the time of the ban, an idea going around (primarily, I think, among the witch-hunt group) that we needed to be harsher on wrongdoers. When I called my ban vote, that idea was in my head. So, yes, a secondary motivation of mine was to make my ban the first act of the New Community Order (tm). Said New Community Order has not materialized. If I had to speculate, it's because we held off on actually discussing changes until way after the "Something must be done!1!" and other strong emotions wore off.

One other effect I wanted my ban to have (and still do) is to make more explicit the norm of taking a voluntary break after you really screw up around here, since, even though I called it a ban, that word didn't quite fit. People don't usually ban themselves, after all. Therefore, my case might not be a good example if we need to forcibly ban someone.

As to precedent, it's up to you guys what precedent my ban sets, if any. I'm not in charge here either. If this ban ends up in PPC history as "Tomash felt awfully guilty and banned himself for a bit, but that was a one-time thing." then that's what it'll be.

- Tomash

The story was taken down, but not until after I started working on it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HkVpSAOG31-RpjxOnXisT82-2yPSXjMN9BhsfanVo/edit?usp=sharing

Cat-on-the-Keyboard was a wonderful beta. She quietly pointed out problems and praise, and there was only one case of disagreement.

There is a dwarf, her appearance is so vague that her beard appears and disappears. She ended up in medical or ficpsych, reading a manual. Before that, she was confused about the Sue that was or wasn't her friend.

I think I can recall another story where the Sue heard the agents snickering in the bushes. Maybe she wasn't recruited.

I like Derik and the realtiy room.

I think that a sensitive approach to old problems is best. Right now, these names are like boogey-men and I'm not sure where in the archives to look for them unless someone points them out.

As much as I think "ggigling at the ghosties" is perhaps useful, perhaps a more clinical essay is the way to go. Something that condenses the problem down in a way that's easier to understand, rather than having to read the entire archives.

I'm interested in learning about incidents.

I only looked at Jacer's permission thread, not noting who said what. The impression that I got was that the community failed Jacer as much as she failed them. It was only in a private conversation that I got a summary of why Jacer was unfit.

I feel sad that a newbie got chased off by drama. Perhaps that is why problems should be dealt with quickly.

I think that the board is intimidating for some of us. I recently realized that I've been here for over a year and should stop acting like a timid newbie.

((Before I had permission, there was a discussion on the permission process. I felt that I should have been more forceful then. "Shut up, it's not your problem anymore." "Excuse me, it is my problem now.))

... that theming my team after the event that killed all of them off didn't end well.

Who knew?!?!

hS

1: Foxic is an electric lifter - the head and arm lift up. However, Craig forgot to put a bolt in the arm (on account of being too busy helping Sabretooth return from the dead) so when he drove it over the floor flipper, it couldn't self-right. Craig is... not a lucky man.

2: You know what? I'd design Foxic. It's an excellent spinner killer, and I have this on fairly good authority. Craig is partly based in North Carolina and he attends RoboGames fairly regularly. The old Foxic fought Last Rites (insanely destructive horizontal bar spinner and current BB champion Tombstone with the serial numbers filed off) to a complete standstill, so it should be able to hold up against Carbide's considerably lighter blade. Tactically? Do what you do against any spinner and rush them before they can get up tae speed now, boys a head of steam. The jolts will damage the weapon armature (this is particularly true for horizontal bars and flywheels, less so for verts and drums) and transmit shock through the machine. We saw in the Eighth Wars that Carbide's bar broke down on Terrorhurtz's Hardox wedge, because that's what works well against horizontal spinners. It's... less good against vertical spinners, as we saw against Aftershock and Sabretooth, but it still works.

Me personally, though? I think I'd go for long lifting forks and a shock-mounted, heavily armoured wedge. The wedge can absorb the impacts, but the forks are the primary component; if they're low to the ground, they can sneak under the blade and lift Carbide up, controlling the fight that way. Bung in some powerful drive motors and you're laughing. =]

It's heavily fictionalized, and it tends to be in the broadest possible metaphorical terms, and it's not like anyone is going to point at Plort and be like "look at this if you want to know the actual history of the PPC." Every Boarder can tell their story their own way in Plort. It's not an Official Telling of Events that everyone has to accept. I think that's the difference between Plort and what Cat has suggested. So, I don't think there's any need to shut down that side of it, for you or for anyone else. I mean, if you don't want to do that anymore, that's one thing, but I didn't mean to tell you not to do it. {= (

This has been Just My Opinion.

~Neshomeh

...I would like to apologize for spilling these issues in the first place. I thought Nord's issues were common knowledge in the PPC, due both to past habits and things said in the IRC channels. I also felt it was relevant information to bring up in this context.

I'll try not to do that again in the future.

I have spent a great deal of time recently being informed that people will bow to oldbies' desires, regardless of how those oldbies phrase them, and despite the fact that those oldbies have no actual authority.

I believe this problem will be significantly worse when you create people with actual authority. I think it will be worse than the way people treat the Permission Givers, whose powers have nothing to do with running the community.

Here are some hypothetical scenarios for your consideration:

-Boarder X feels bullied. Boarder X thinks 'oh, but I'm not a Community Manager, no-one will care'. Boarder X does not raise their problem.

-Boarder X feels bullied by a Community Manager. Boarder X thinks, 'no-one will act against a respected Community Manager'. Boarder X does not raise their problem.

-Boarder X is a Community Manager who feels bullied. Boarder X thinks, 'people will think I'm abusing my authority if I say anything'. Boarder X does not raise their problem.

All of these situations have happened recently, with 'oldbie' taking the place of 'Community Manager'. In fact, if you substitute 'Discord mod' in one of them, all three have happened to the same person.

I stand opposed to this suggestion.

hS

Here you go. This category includes in-universe stuff, too, but sub-categories could be added for greater clarity if that becomes a problem. If anything's missing, please add it.

I'll also point out that the Fill the Plothole page says nothing about hS or anyone owning it. A few words to the effect that anyone can start a game could easily be added.

We have a great resource for preserving knowledge. Let's use it, aye?

~Neshomeh

My intent wasn't to mock, but to showcase the likely outcome (as I saw it) of the proposal. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry for using Plort in this way, and for creating it in such a way that it could do so. I can't make the setting go away, but in future I will refrain from creating history for it, and will limit myself to designing shields for people.

hS

While I agree with you and I get it, this seems a bit harsh to Key, who is after all trying to help. We wanted more people to speak up. We should probably not mock them when they do, even if we don't agree with them. {= /

Also, Plort kind of does this? That's not what it's explicitly for, but I at least have encoded some of my negative experiences in that way...

~Neshomeh