I have been doing bit of thinking -- rereading some topics and discussions. This post was written to reflect on SEN: the community, policies, what's been done right, what's been done wrong, and what goals to set for the future. Some philosophizing and perhaps some ranting will be snuck in. This topic was not written to hurl insults and repeated criticism phrased five different ways. In addition to not being professional or constructive, that would simply be all too easy. The idea is to analyze the past and present to see what is right and wrong, why it is so, and what to do or avoid doing in the future. One could say that an unexamined SEN is not worth administrating. If you choose to respond to this post, please keep that in mind.

SEN's rules have been written, revised, rewritten, and revised again quite a few times. One of my goals for the rules was to incorporate as much as objectivity as possible. In my opinion, this was a poor decision. The letter of the law was laid down quite firmly. Writing on the spirit of the law was, in many areas, largely deficient.

Generally, any post has been acceptable so long as it did not break any rules. I realize now that this bare minimum criteria is not sufficent. There was a time that SEN was about striving for and enforcing quality and higher standards on both members and their posts. On more than one occasion a moderator would try to delete lame or stupid posts and be thwarted only because the posts are "not against the rules". Enter the rules lawyers and only clear-cut severe chronic offenders would ever be punished, suspended, or banned. Changing behavior of members or dealing out justice often became enough of a hassle that often moderators or administrators would simply choose not to get involved. Ridiculous as that may sound, even I can confess to that. First, moderators need to have the written ammunition provided by a more subjective set of rules and standards to improve the quality of members and posts. Secondly, they must also have a working knowledge of how to use their power -- where, when, and why.

That was done wrong. In contrast, I will give my opinion the recent changes made to the Serious Discussion forum. I consider the turnaround there a success. The rules were rewritten and I've had some productive and informative discussions with the moderators and members. The purpose of the rules is defined; standards and expectations are set. If you compare the more recent pages of Serious Discussion topics to the topics of pages past, there is clear improvement. There is more intelligent debate and discussion of a higher quality -- and less nonsense. When there are posts and members not up to standards, moderators have the firepower necessary to act. It was an experiment that I believe can serve as model of something that works.

Now for some regrets. I regret that I did not realize all of this before AntiSleep left. (if anyone still speaks with him, I would like to contact him.) I regret that I did not listen to those who realized this before I did. I regret that I did not listen to a lot of people... people such as Hercanic, LaserDude, DT_Battlekruser, and Doodan. To an extent, I even regret that I did not listen to Tuxedo-Templar. Many senior members who were central to the SEN community have, in their frustration, packed up and left. Odds are that we will not be able to get them back, but it is not too late to raise quality and standards. Some of them have had immense paitence and tolerance - which I am very grateful for - through a gradual decline has continued for so long.

The truth of the matter is that over time, not only is damage done, but upheaval of what is now accepted tradition becomes more difficult. There were a handful of "no more crap" moments in the history of SEN -- the occasional banning of key offenders, v4's changing of the guard, the start of v5. The effectiveness of those is dubious, but not the main subject of this topic. Overall throughout those events, the true problems were only bandaged and ultimately discredited. These punctuated events were at best temporary solutions to a problem on a more fundamental level.

Where does SEN go from here? The decline being discussed is a self-perpetuating cycle. People gain a sense of what is acceptable and continue in that direction. In my opinion, the best solution (not coincidentally the most difficult) is to throw a big, fat monkey wrench into the cycle. It must be slowed, stopped, and ideally, reversed. Certainly some people will see future changes as "elitist" and protest them as such. If that is the case... well, then they might be right. So be it. I despise how elitism has become, for some, a dirty word on SEN. Personally, I think it's time that everyone became a bit more comfortable with it.

As these changes occur, I will do my best to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Hopefully, everyone "below standards" will be given fair notice and a fair chance to shape up. Those who can't, don't, or won't shape up... get shipped out. But, I believe that with some decent hard work by both the memberbase and staff, most people will remain and better themselves.

The consequences and shortcomings of past policy is evident. There are better ways of doing things. Some rules will be rewritten -- perhaps even an "SEN Mission Statement" of some sort will be created. The obscure spirit of the law must be clearly defined as is the letter of the law. I have wanted to hire new moderators for some forums for some time now. However, I realized that it would be irresponsible of me to do so until the spirit of the law, SEN's standards and ideals are spelled out and documented. How can I give someone power and then have to "trust their judgment" when there are no defined standards to be judged against?!

That is the segue into my next reflection topic. Moderation will be addressed -- including but not limited to: the instruction of moderators, how moderation is executed, moderation policies, and, of course, failures of moderation. Well, until next time.

Sounds to me like you just had some kind of breakdown Moose, and you're trying to find out what just happened. Good luck with this, SEN does need it, even if my say isn't worth much.

Beautiful speech moose. It has been truly sad to see senior members leave sen such as tux (Especially because I helped beta test just enough to get my name placed in his map astrogears under testers). Changing the ways around here to even a elitist point of view should hurt anyone, as long as it continues to keep good mappers mapping and new people learning to become part of the good cycle around here, productive.

Is it just me or has a lot of people around SEN started thinking about older days and why we need them back?

I agree. It's fine to say that we want to help others raise themselves to a higher standard. But this attitude being fine with members who are not worth the moderation that's going to go into keeping them in line has got to stop. I applaud changes in this direction Moose, and quite frankly, I thought you'd never wise up on this point.


As always you know where to contact me if you want some input on anything.

Good luck, Moose. I'm sure most will support you any way they can.

Does this mean we can't joke around anymore?

FTS, I'm sure the idea behind this isn't to suck all the fun and goofiness out of SEN. Rather, it's to force SEN to go to the bathroom and take that shit it's been holding in for the past year, to flush its system, if I may use so crude a metaphor
Besides, if there was no joking around allowed, SEN would die. I think there's really good ways and bad ways to joke around. Spamming 400 topics with something like SFKJHSKLFJHSKJ = bad, no matter how funny you find it, but posting nonsense where nonsense belongs (probably null?) or constructive nonsense would be both joking around and constructive at the same time.

Although I know you are exaggerating, I've never seen anything that bad on SEN. So I think MM is talking about stuff that is less bad, but still spammy.

Ah, well. I was having fun. I suppose my post in the Temple Siege topic about the dota song fits under your category of 'not-acceptable'? In my defense, it was April Fools.

Good luck with this. Might as well end the party before SCII comes out, or the newcomers will think we at SEN are party-people. Don't keep it completely serious, though - SEN right now isn't active enough and SC isn't inspiring enough (what with SCII coming out) for maintaining very high post quality to actually be worth it, in my opinion. Or, maybe that doesn't make sense.

Also, isn't calling yourself a 'Philosopher King' giving yourself awful airs?

Yeah I agree, it does sound like you had a little breakdown

I agree with a lot that has been said - there were people to remain nameless that thwarted the spirit of the law by being the "rules lawyers" you talk about and I think they were definitely given too much leeway. In a way it was a lot like public politics: make a big enough fuss and the system will accommodate you in order to shut you up. I never thought I'd see this site under this leadership change its position on "elitism" though, and I'm surprised and pleased.

A lot has happened that is pretty irreversible like the loss of many members, and even I feel I've started to leave, in part. Starcraft 2* provides an interesting catalyst in the future, because I think a decline in Starcraft mapping has coincided with a decline in the community. In a lot of respects, we really have hit the limits, and not surprisingly since we've spent some 11-odd years. I still respect you, though, and the best of luck in brining this on.

*Note: April 1 marked the end of the 3 years. I am not eating my socks.

He's one of the "kings" of the website, so no.

Interesting read, as well as the linked topic of Anti-Sleep's.

I look forward to something along these lines, another community of mine has the same issue: following the rules became more important than the spirit of them. Ideally; a valued member of the community should never even have to read the rules; they should be intuitive and only applied to those seeking to cause trouble. I look forward to such a change.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Apr 8 2009, 3:11 am by FaZ-.

Here's a start - disable name changing once and for all. As someone who doesn't visit this forum often, it is confusing as fuck when half of the members change their names every week.

The only people that changed name since presidents day was Phobos. Theres not THAT many.

I doubt that's the case; that would suggest that from my perspective half of the forum's population is leaving and being replaced every month.

SEN's elitism of the old v4 days encouraged people to come back IMO. The cumulative posts things awarded only through non-null encouraged members to post constructive and well-thought topics to get that coll green colour.

However, you must have strict moderation to avoid people like 7-7 spamming their way to that status.

Having an in-crowd with high standards inspires most members to strive to impress that crowd. Of course, there's always the anti-crowd that develops. But no matter what you do, there will be someone who goes against it.

Get yer facts straight, noob.

You didnt change your name thought. MOOSE did mr #88 ;o