Posts made by Ghost

Ultimately, I think it's important to never forget that your fellow mushers are essentially strangers with similar interests. It's not like this is a philosophical or religious support group. We aren't bound by common interests related to ethics. It's a hobby, and with that hobby comes regular depictions of relationship drama, sex, and violence.

We've had discussions about Why X game is better because it allows sex with characters depicted as minors and whether or not rape scenes should be permitted on game.

So, with this in mind, it's important to remember that these people are strangers. They could be anyone: Ex-cons, sex offenders, people with obsessive/violent histories, undeclared mental and emotional disorders, or the classic bitterness that comes from dissatisfying personal lives. You can never control what these people do or how they react, or to what degree they will try to satisfy whatever sense of vindication they feel is due.

So, unlike twitch streamers, we have the ability to use email, lack of names, lack of pictures, etc. This will make it harder to socially engineer all kinds of threats on a data/personal/family level.

Just never forget that these people are strangers, and when it comes to the dangerous ones, a stranger can become someone more dangerous very quickly over any manner of social sleight.

I've seen prince charming become a stalker in 2 seconds flat.

Please, god, for your own safeties, never forget that these people are strangers.

@Cupcake God this sounds like a great pilgrimage trip for you for so many good reasons. I'll keep an eye out and please keep us updated. I really hope that this happens.

Also, bear in mind, Heather Langenkamp is a name from Nightmare on Elm Street. Ashley Laurence is not reprising the role of Kirsty. IIRC the last one she was in (despite me having a soft spot for it) was apparently a mess and it helped her redo her kitchen.

I'm okay without Doug Bradley as the Hellpriest. I believe there are other people who could have made that role amazing. For example, could you imagine if Bill Nighy had chosen to play Pinhead instead of Viktor in Underworld? I think we would have shit ourselves with how well Nighy might have handled that.

Or even take an idea from the comics and have Doug Bradley escape Hell as Spencer and Ashley Laurence take his place as the Kirsty Hellpriest.

There's a LOT Hellraiser can do, but even now Clive Barker isn't writing this content like he used to. The Scarlet Gospels was disappointing, IMO, and the idea of a Harry D'Amour (Lord of Illusions Bakula character) and Hellpriest showdown was pure fucking gold...but Barker 2017 isn't Barker 1992. It felt off, with a weird Scooby Squad element and another magical negro trope.

@auspice said in Good or New Movies Review:

I know @Ghost is already all over this, but: Hellraiser: Judgement trailer

I am, and the phrase that comes to mind is cautiously optimistic.

On one hand, it appears that it's going to expand on the mythology of the series in far better ways than some of the othet films did, but yanno...at the end of the day...it's a direct to video release in an era of moviemaking with a barely existent direct to video market.

So it was good enough to make, but not good enough for even a limited theatrical release?

A Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (OMFG that movie title) got a nationwide theatrical release.

I am always tempted to play a character that is horrible in bed.

I don't because I wonder if it will result in no one wanting to RP with me.

+1 on Orient Express movie. I liked it a lot, as well.

I'll offer my technical writing if you need additions for wiki text, etc. All that boring data entry stuff.

You have my axe

Here's one I'm saving for a special time. DJ Qualls.

Warrel Dane, singer of NEVERMORE and SANCTUARY (and regular go-to for sountrack entries for yours truly) dies on December 13.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/nevermore-and-sanctuary-singer-warrel-dane-dies-of-heart-attack-in-brazil.html#Dt7MgmV0drsPMdkx.01

Nevermore - The Heart Collector

Gotta say, this game and its code looks slick as Hell

I know I'm being flippant and I'm not trying to be a troll or make fun of anyone, but I think this is being taken far too seriously. I keep thinking about what it would actually take to create a moderator situation on this forum that doesn't result in the moderator becoming an instant target whenever they step in to actually moderate, and all I'm coming up with are things that step so far outside of the boundaries of honest, adult-like behavior that it's exhausting to consider.

People use this board for a lot of good things, but also as a demilitarized zone for attacking others. Some do it for good reasons, and others for sport, so you have to take this into account because when @Auspice and @Ganymede stick their necks out to moderate, it's only going to repeatedly create a target, and their moderation will only be accepted so long as their upvote/downvote social-media clout score remains somewhat universally accepted. Which, truly, will wax and wane based on their involvement in discussions and where they're playing which has nothing to do with moderating these forums.

WHO the moderator is, WHERE they're playing, WHAT people think about them and WHY they're moderating will always be held against a filter of people's opinion of the name following the @ symbol, but none of that has really much bearing on the actual moderation of a forum unless there are rules and guidelines for behavior to enforce.

So, what you have here, is a situation where a moderator has thrown a flag on the play, and people are arguing the validity of the moderator, the flag, the play, the reasoning behind it, any existing conflicts of interest, past history, assumed integrity, and timing of said flag.

This is your reality unless there are defined rules upon signing into the forum that are expected to be followed.

Otherwise, it's the Wild West, and sometimes John Ringo and the Cowboys roll into Tombstone, murder the Sheriff, and life goes on until the mayor finds someone brave enough to wear the badge.

@auspice I gave myself a migraine trying to guess your password and login as you to make that MOD VOICE post, but I feel better now that you're suffering for it.

...or did I?

I think the mistake was announcing who the moderators were, rather than simply rolling out two moderators with sanitized logins, then announcing that they are moderators.

I'm not going to soapbox again on my opinion that it doesn't matter who moderates this forum, but so long as said moderators are personalities who regularly partake in the discussions on the forum, their viability as moderators will be a constant uphill battle with the elements of this forum that love to break out the pitchforks and partake in character assassination. Face it, some people just love to tear others down. /soapbox

Another suggestion: Stage an elaborate argument between moderation on the Hog Pit. @Arkandel fires @Ganymede and @Auspice from staff as part of the argument, then states that he's creating the accounts @ModeratorUno and @ModeratorDos. Open a thread on the forum seeking PM requests for more moderators while you deal with the stress of having to fire the other two.

Announce that you're hiring myself and @surreality , but then we'll have a really big argument on the forum while you're taking PMs from people seeking to moderate, and ultimately you'll announce that neither myself or surreal are going to be moderators because we don't get along.

Then, announce that you've hired two moderators for the job, who will then login as @ModeratorUno and @ModeratorDos, but to avoid issues with the general populace you will not be announcing who they are...

...but they're actually @Ganymede and @Auspice

And while people start to consider whether or not Uno and Dos are Gany and Auspice, the three of you will have to hold this secret in trust for years to come, remembering to throw minor hostilities at each other in the Hog Pit, and then log in as your Moderator logins to write messages to your other logins to show the rest of the forum that you're using the ModStick to legislate peace between three former moderators who have fallen out of love.

Then, all you have to do is take your secret to the grave and never, ever, ever speak on behalf of VASpider using a Moderator login.

@surreality said in Regarding administration on MSB:

We already have people braying to know if all the mods were consulted on any given thing a single mod does, so it's hard to not be that pessimist who can see the petulant foot-stomping demands to know which mod wrote any given thing as a near certainty.

One shared moderator login would be amazing and might work, though I suggest that all communication @Ganymede and @Auspice has is sent via text to @Arkandel so that it all appears to be typed using his personal style, because you know that even if the others were logging into the moderator account, the differences in writing styles would be analyzed.

Someone please create a text-to-speech account that we can link in audio to, and then all the moderator has to do is insert a link to their text-to-speech announcement. That might work better.

@surreality said in Regarding administration on MSB:

@saosmash Honestly? Some of the names in that thread were braying for Auspice's head in this one not so long ago. I've personally observed how long they wank on a grudge and go nit-picking and twisting anything and everything into a federal case for shit to attack when they single somebody out with the intent of causing harm or humiliation or driving someone out. It's childish bully behavior, it's bullshit, and there's no excuse for it, or turning a blind eye to it and pretending it isn't happening, amongst people who claim to be adults.

Hence my suggestion for moderator logins like "ModAlpha". When it's not entirely clear who the moderator is, then their integrity cannot be assassinated for sport.

Which is sad, when you think about it, because this is the same method that cops in Mexico use to keep their children from being placed into Kidnap and Ransom by the Cartel for their being honest cops. They wear facemasks over their faces so that it's harder for the Cartel to follow them home from work and kidnap their family.

But the same concept applies.

@saosmash You're one of the ones I would wholly trust to approach that point of view exactly as you say you do. You make yourself very clear on a case by case basis. As well I know XD

This wasn't dirrcted at you. I think your voice can be appreciated to not address an issue like this without petty poo flinging.

ModeratorAlpha
ModeratorBravo
ModeratorGamma

I'm repeating my suggestion, because I think that had @Arkandel said it and not @Auspice this discussion would be happening differently.

I'll also note that this is the second time someone has cried foul at @Auspice using ModVoice, and the rate is seeming disproportionate to when Ark does.

I mean, FFS people, she was just trying to point out that someone reached out to her as forum moderation to let her know that someone was allegedly planning to use MSB as a way to bring the game down. This is exactly the kind of information you'd expect a moderator to receive, and if it were your favorite game you'd appreciate someone getting involved to try to stop the space from being used as an attack platform for selfish purposes.

My Spider-Senses are tingling. In my experience, this may not be so much a complaint about the use of ModVoice, but that the use of ModVoice is possibly the justification for a round of mud slinging.

@surreality said in Regarding administration on MSB:

I'm still just not on board with this theory that incivility or poor behavior on games is the fault of the forum. I just can't get behind that one at all.

No one's said this. What was said was that the Hog Pit creates a demilitarized zone to take the fight off of the game server and onto a place where they can't get banned from the game for it, and by result, lends to more negative behaviors on the games.

@Ganymede You're right. If not the Hog Pit, it'll just happen in all of the other places people congregate, like Discord or Skype or Google Hangouts. It's going to happen either way. It's a shame. My main concern, however, are the people who don't partake in these games who still linger around to get in on the action when it comes to punishing people for slights.

It's a very weird thing, for me, and I think it'll spread to the Administration of the forum (bringing this back around to topic). I think that any attempt to curb that semi-bloodlust factor will only result in people being dragged into the killing fields.

What's interesting to me is that this board doesn't abide by the same rules regarding civility, harassment, and abuse attached to the very games this board is designed to promote/discuss.

Waxing philosophical here, but how can we expect people to treat each other with respect and civility on these games if the general standard for many is to take the OOC drama from these games to a demilitarized zone where they can behave aggressively and abusively without it affecting their actual roleplay time? It in no way keeps the drama away from the games, it just takes the fight to a place where they're less likely to be banned from the game for it, because it's not happening on the server itself.

A constructive zone on this forum should be kept just that, constructive. People should be able to post and communicate with each other without the fear of aggressive behavior from people who come to troll, abuse, and assassinate the reputations of others.

In the end, this protects you as much as it permits you from this behavior.

My suggestion: Hold the "Constructive" zones of the board to the same standards requested on games. At some point it has to be asked "Is this acceptable behavior, or is it being used as a sandbox for allowing behavior that isn't allowed on the games?"

@admiral if you see no value in the forum without the Hog Pit, then that would be your decision, but you're helping prove my point.

I would prefer to see people finding ways to work together and be civil, rather than twist statements around into being sideways attacks based on assumptions such as making things the way only one person wants them to be.

C'mon. I think you could have a lot to contribute to something more positive. There's no need for that kind of attitude.