For some reason I could see Recon reading all that >_>.. but I skimmed through it and saw this: [quote]The VII Toast affair springs to mind. He seemed a nice enough fellow – until he was elected a moderator, at which point reality surfaced and he was revealed for the savage power freak he truly is. The problem is, the community and its pleas for action against his transgressions were ignored, and it took until the senior ninjas started to take notice for him to be brought to justice. This process took well over a year, and he had already wrought considerably havoc upon the site, deleting posts, thoroughly deceiving users and banning others for no reason.[/quote] Justice was served. :)

Long rant is looooong.

Part 4: It is all very easy to complain, as I have proved. Indeed, whinging is a large part of the Septagon, but unlike most others, I have always endeavoured to offer a solution. Solving so many deep-rooted issues with a community can hardly be done in one fell swoop, however. I am dubious as to whether indeed many will stoop to accept that these issues do exist, so it stands to reason that my proposed answers will simply be ignored. First – Bungie.net needs its community guy. Sketch seems a perfectly nice chap so it’d be a shame to see him go, but a doer and not a deserter is required. If he can fulfil that role again, then excellent. If not, then an alternative must be sought. Thus, a more intimate relationship can be established between the community and Bungie. The other staff members who can help, should, since their responsibility is foremost to Bungie.net and not HBO. I’m not suggesting at all that the community should be restricted just to Bungie.net, but the Bnet community needs to be the chief priority of those contracted to work for it. Secondly, the exclusive social clubs must be dispersed and the snobbery forced out of the members on punishment of a banning. They must realise that all but the worst spammers and the greatest snobs have a right to participate as long as they follow the rules, and it is the moderators’ job, not theirs, to ensure that the people do just that. Many people on Bungie.net seek attention and nothing more, so permitting them it is not a good encouragement to the better spirit of the community. Some of the girls, sadly, get attention just because of their sex, and more sadly, some of them even enjoy it to no end (though thankfully most do not). Some of the site staff are guilty of such attention-doling, also, and it seems not that the humpdays and the intimate friendships between staff and girls have any other root than gender. Thirdly, the ninja selection has gone out of control. With a single decent choice from the five of the most recent batch (GodsProphet, another target of the TFM “wannabe moderator” assaults), there must be a clamping down immediately. Bad moderators should be fired, and new ones properly tried. The selection must be administered by Bungie and not by the ninjas themselves. Fourthly, the community needs to do things as one. Chapters can play in their exclusive little groups, but the Flood should be a forum for everyone to talk off-topic, not stupidly, and the Septagon should be for those from all “walks of life” to congregate and discuss matters at hand. A few gaming events here and there can’t hurt, after all. Division amongst people is always inevitable, but at current there is no opportunity for anything to be different. Again, that is why chapters exist, and the fact that so few chapters are successful is reflection that people do not need them, as their little groups grow in public forums, slowly infected public property and morphing it to private. I am being hugely idealistic here, and apologies are due to those whom I have misled into thinking that a perfect community is a realistic prospect. Nevertheless, there needs to be more incentive for the interested users to stick around than the prospect of modship (and with so many moderators being chosen seemingly at random, this lure is a very large one), and also for the lovers of the games. Perhaps I am asking too much. I don’t consider myself entitled to anything – I am not an ignoramus who considers a Halo 3 beta my God-given right, for example. Thus I do not think Bungie owes me anything, but the potential of Bungie.net disappoints me, or rather the potential that is lacking. It wouldn’t take much and the provisions are already in place (the community team and website), it just needs Bungie to up the interaction again. The major issue, as I did outline, is the community itself, and maybe a better one would render such interaction unnecessary regardless. Perhaps a better fanbase would actually encourage more Bungie staff members to log on. Everyone is so scared of authority and damaging their chances of becoming ninjas these days that they are afraid to speak their mind. Take it from somebody who has devoted countless hours to trying to improve things both publicly and privately, and who has seen many great members fade away to be forgotten. Ultimately, I am wasting my words. Next thing you know, JAY132 and Jeff McCrae will be sitting there proudly with the titles of “Forum Ninja” under their usernames. It saddens me that I would no longer be surprised to see this happen. – A most disgruntled former Bungie.net user [i]So there you have it, if you actually took the time to read it all I appluad you, yet I know in my heart most will ignore this if only for it's length. The fact is most of this, if not all, is true in one manner or another, and just updating the site isn't going to fix this. There are real problems here that need to be addressed. I will not delagate my own opinions on this thread, for they would only be a copy of what was already stated above in better form, but, I will implore those who really do care, who really do wish to see this community become, in fact, a 'community', to recognize these problems, if nothing else at all. For in recognizing them you will be taking the first step. When a community can band together, help to moderate the forums, provide help with fledging chapters, create a commitee for the betterment of the 7th Column as a whole, and be completely overlooked and ignored, no proof is needed, for you are a part of it.[/i]

Part 3: Fast forward half a year, and now there are four of them free to do as they please, with powers they intend not for the bettering of the community but for their own egotistical purposes. Job well done? Well, they must be good, if Bungie picked them. But Bungie didn’t, since nobody from Bungie, save Frankie and KPaul whose main interests lie in HBO and not the site they’re contracted to work for, really frequents the community. Achronos does his bit in the Septagon and occasionally travels further afield to answer in-depth or plain arrogant queries, but that’s not involving in the community on the whole. Again, the lack of a community guy is salient. Also, wasn’t a personality instead of a few set phrases a prerequisite of becoming a ninja? I suppose not, anymore. Granted that Achronos does have the final word in selections, but he’s always really going to trust the word of his moderators who spend more time amongst the community unless he’s specific reason to think otherwise. The damage these people cause is to the community itself, by setting a poor example of behaviour standard and also repelling members by their actions. Because TFM has always been very aggressive and, if one of their number does not like a person, they will all join together against said user. Nosferatu_Soldie is another name of which I can make an example, though not that I really wish to since I, at least when he used to visit Bungie.net, liked him a great deal. Here was a promising new member who apparently had quite the social objectives, which isn’t a bad thing considering he didn’t act like an arse-kissing jerk publicly nor, from what I’d seen, privately. Yet in very little time at all he was promoted to the status of ninja, and here certain TFM members, ironically in that their members became moderators in practically the same manner, were outraged. The explanation for his upgrading was, apparently, that he’d played World of Warcraft with Bungie and had got to know them quite well. Really though, fair enough, it’s Bungie’s website and it was their decision. He, like Jim after his acquisition of powers, faded away from Bungie.net and ceased to be quite the superb members they once were. Granted, both had plenty of personal excuse, but even when they returned more permanently the activity levels didn’t increase. Recently, too, Nosferatu became a master moderator, though his contributions to Bungie.net during the period before that were negligible. Proof of the social structure of moderator selection, and also the hypocrisy when the claim is made that moderators are picked based on contributions. That said, it’d still be excellent if he were on more often, as with so many good members of the community jumping ship, every remaining one really counts. The VII Toast affair springs to mind. He seemed a nice enough fellow – until he was elected a moderator, at which point reality surfaced and he was revealed for the savage power freak he truly is. The problem is, the community and its pleas for action against his transgressions were ignored, and it took until the senior ninjas started to take notice for him to be brought to justice. This process took well over a year, and he had already wrought considerably havoc upon the site, deleting posts, thoroughly deceiving users and banning others for no reason. During his reign, he was undoubtedly responsible for the selection of yet another poor ninja choice, and perhaps more than one. More damage done to the community. If the worst, most blatant abuser takes about a year and a half to be dealt with, it is distressing to consider that he was not the only one to have taken his privileges lightly. I think it is fair testament to the issues with moderating now that impurity quit his post as ninja after a short while indeed. Here was a guy who had countless discussions about the betterment of the community in olden times, who always sees the best in people and who at the same time opposes snobbery. It was a good day for all those concerned with the community’s progression and improvement when he was selected, but I think he began to realise that it was no longer possible to use his powers to any true end, and that modship had become nothing but a surface appearance. Most were content to carry on, knowing this, but he figured that he could help out more as a regular member than as an arse-kissed puppet. Dmbfan was the same, with good intentions, and quit knowing that ultimately his powers would go to waste and his better judgment wouldn’t have any effect. Moderating is a volunteer job at its core, which is fair enough, but it’s supposed to be an opening for the very best of members to serve the community in more than one way. With living proof of how more or less anybody who follows the formulae can become a moderator, junior members in both actual and account age have no chance of forming themselves as people properly on the site. So, their personality masks are liable to change on a whim, since it is not really their own character posting, but rather a stereotype with a specific purpose. As such, I and others have had former “friends” turn their back and become somebody completely different, at our expense, often using us as dive boards to propel their social rising, and discarding us just as easily when our purpose is done. Don’t think it’s an isolated few cases; it often happens with those who become moderators or those who want to. Another problem has always been the individuals’ self-focus. Rarely are people willing to collaborate in a good project, even when said project invites them to do so. Again, it’s a “good idea, boss” post which they think will boost their ninja chances. The good ideas are buried, and people are so afraid to help out with other people’s brain children – maybe because it increases the other people’s own moderating chances? Whatever the case, if the community as one would focus on achieving the better aims instead of always having a new, soulless individual proposal – or, heaven forbid, guide to a useless aspect – then perhaps its prosperity would increase. Perhaps again, the line is not clearly drawn as to what exactly will make people moderators, so the fear of doing anything that could either a) damage their own chances or b) improve another’s chances is rife. Credit is another issue. The few of us who have attempted community projects have always given appropriate credit to all involved at the expense of our personal glorification, but of course, many users don’t even bother, or will in fact steal others’ ideas or take credit for their work. I again employ the word hypocrisy to detail some behaviour. All too often to Septagonians bemoan the chatty nature of the Flood users and call them immature kids or words to similar effect, yet they often devolve to such phatic tendencies themselves, usually trying to involve the staff or moderators, or just their little friendship groups.

Part 2: Thus, without further ado, on to the primary issue: the people. Bungie.net is a community, populated by, as the very concept implies, real people. Sure, it’s just the internet, but you wouldn’t be here reading this if it were just a matter of code and browser rendering to you. So, you’ll excuse the melodrama herein. Now what’s good about people? Nihilists would argue nothing, but it’s more accurate to posit that it is their variety. Therefore, it’s quite unnerving to log on to today’s Bungie.net and witness a horde of thoughtless drones regurgitating the same old “ideas to help the community” nonsense, or the ancient “you’ve got the wrong forum” mantra, with the general objective of, rather sadly, attaining the status of moderator. This is not always the case; occasionally an original idea with some care and thought and real dedication will come along, but said idea will nearly invariably fade out in the light of concepts that require a simple “good idea, boss” response and no real commitment nor consideration. Likewise, the odd selfless user whose intent is to genuinely help out can arrive, but is usually the first to be picked off by the “wannabe moderator” cliché. And so we have our “Marathon fans”, much like sports hooligans, who use their “passion” as an excuse for snobbery and violence respectively. The community can be crudely divided up into a number of groups of very similar personalities, comprising of members who tend to “inhabit” a certain territory, such as a single forum. Firstly, and prevalently, there are the masses – those who don’t really give a stuff about all this online socialising malarkey and are content to log on, post to find out information, and generally neglect rules of netiquette. These people are nearly always dubbed “the morons” by those long-term users who’re so vastly superior; justifiably, too, in many cases, though crucially not always. The current community is quite happy to stay in its ways and rejects new blood. Next up for scrutiny are the “commoners” of Bungie.net, those who frequent the fast-paced forums and get involved with a select few in their own little way. These, too, are often dubbed idiots by the hierarchy, and occupy environments such as New Mombasa, Optimatch, and the Flood. Those of the former two tend to want to discuss Halo and nothing much else; the latter party wants to discuss pretty much everything else, and usually descends to socialising informally. The boundary between these masses and “commoners” often blurs, but for the sake of argument, let us assume that the “commoners” frequent Bungie.net, whereas the masses do not. This leaves us with the minority. The column-goers often keep themselves to themselves and rarely stray outside their groups, unless a need for recruitment calls. At one point this group was considerably larger, but in the absence of an appealing column, its current state prevails. Finally, to maintain this metaphor, we have the “upper class” and the “aristocracy”. These are difficult to distinguish between as their members can blur. Generally, the upper class offers a better quality of posting, with thought and effort evident in their endeavours, subjects ranging from Halo to Myth to the community, and they are not necessarily snobbish about this fact. They make friends with each other, occasionally with column-dwellers or commoners, but generally keep themselves to themselves. Most of these people become the drones. They lose their purpose in the crowd, they converge to a single forum - usually the Septagon – and they start to think that damn, those ninjas are cool! The aristocracy is a different affair. The upper class won’t become moderators, though they think it cool – they don’t have the connections. At the apex of the hierarchy, however, the story is different. The aristocracy behave however they will. Abuse of those they deem to be lesser? That’s okay; their friends have got their back, since those morons really are thick. The majority of these people desire power more than anyone. They’re conniving, with intricate plans to weasel their way up the social chain. A little arse-kissing there, a lot of false friendliness there, a little addition on Instant Messenger, and a friendship is forged. This new ally, with enough prodding, can open up a network of established contacts. The next thing they know, they’re playing Halo 2 with Bungie themselves, and a mod offer is waiting in their PM inbox! This deceitfulness, not the moronic proletariat, is the stem of rot. Because, make no mistake, ninjas are now picked on connections and connections alone. Formerly, the requirements to take on the ultimate responsibility included the augmenting of the community in some significant manner, and ostensibly this is still the case. Furthermore, the initial batches of moderators actually used their powers to make things happen, such as contests. Once the aristocracy achieve their status, however, it’s an ego trip of a lifetime. Just a lock or two here, a swift posting of an old cliché that they know the junior aristocrats will adore, and the self-centric expansion is completed. It’s bad enough that this is the case, but it is compounded by that a large number of the moderators are teenagers and not legal adults. If they’re responsible enough to moderate Bungie.net, which again with most of them I dispute, then choosing the right people is something that requires judgment a little deeper. They’re just going to pick their friends even if there’s no real malice behind it and they do honestly believe they’re making the right choice; but of course, since they are moderators, their opinion is given that little bit more validity. The façade is continued by the common “humour” – that is to say, the platitudes told time and time again, long after the effect has worn off. Bungie.net has long ceased to amuse in the conventional sense because everyone is so afraid to dodge the stereotypes. Plus, there are legions of people who respond to what moderators say and nothing else, trying to keep up a bad joke time and time again. And some opinions are common throughout the entire site, oddly. I have an example. Consider The Frozen Minority, a group of people initially from the community hub known as the Bungie Jumpers. The more exclusive – aristocratic, if you will – of these separated from the main congregation to form their own little haven, complete with some public forum moderators. Have these people ever contributed anything to the wider community? Well, yes, one or two did. Of course, the real work behind their sole project (the Bathroom Reader) is done by those who lack such high statuses. But, for the most part, no, they haven’t. In fact, their actions have even been detrimental towards others. Not too long ago, their troupe embarked on a number of rampages throughout mainly the Halo 3 forum, where they took full advantage of the uninformed masses and/or commoners and had significant fun at their expense. Granted, they’re not the only ones to have done this, but their intentions were malicious and their moderator friends turned a blind eye. Again, they were having fun and a bit of fun isn’t a bad thing, but these people have no idea when to stop, and those of dignity who are aware of their actions – the respectable GameJunkieJim, say – are powerless to stop them without in some way endangering their relationship.