Going Forward

[Myr]

This is a difficult post to write. I have been thinking about it for over a week now.

 

I have heard three complaints very loudly from various sources. I will list them out here:

 

1) Administration of GA is not transparent.

The main reason that we discuss things in private is to protect privacy. You would think that the members of this site of all places would respect that. However, there have been a vocal few that feel that they need to know everything that we are doing and have it be totally transparent. When we do something that is not, they start their own rumors, or have allies on teams that are privy to that information leak it.

 

2) GA Administration never listens to the members.

We don't? That's a crock of complete bullshit. I or my team personally address every issue, complaint, suggestion, idea that is PM'd, posted or emailed to us. Some things we can do, some we can't. We do listen. Just because we don't follow your suggestion to allow you to do anything you want at any time for any reason on the site, it doesn't follow that we don't listen. Please grow up.

 

3) Kitty is the Antichrist. The amount of vicious vitriol directed at this kind , hardworking woman disgusts me beyond words. There is no excuse, no reason, and no right to treat anybody as the sniping cowards have been treating Kitty. Unfortunately, this has all been occurring offsite, mostly in MSN chats. I've read transcripts and such, but it is outside GA. None of this has been posted here, I have been reluctant to fulfill the role of jackbooted thug and banning members who have been misbehaving offsite. After all, most of us live in a society where people are presumed innocent until proven guilty. None of this occurred where I know the logs have not been doctored.

 

Unfortunately, I made a mistake. I should have banned the lot of you when this started. However, in an attempt to try to let this all blow over, I took notes of who was involved and I have kept records. I so wanted this problem to go away, but no one here was adult enough to let it drop. Kitty is a strong woman and has been more help for GA then I could ever ask, but unfortunately, some people dislike strong women. She forged ahead with the tasks I assigned her and did wonderful work. She butted heads with volunteers that volunteered but did not do what they said they would. Those people were asked to step down or were removed. It does no good for the site to volunteer to do something, then not do it. Unfortunately, this made Kitty the heavy and the fall guy. People have developed a visceral hatred of her because of this. The cruelty of some of you so disgusts me that if I could reach through the net and punch you in the head, I would.

 

For those of you who are reading this and are feeling anger: Good! You can see what I have to deal with EVERY day. Kitty has resigned and will be stepping down as soon as the Winter Anthology is posted. This is my fault for allowing it to get out of control. I was distracted with a rough time at work and completing my master's degree, but I still should have done something. For this I am sorry to both Kitty and to the community for failing to do my duty.

 

Several people have been very busy in MSN chat and elsewhere bashing GA. They have even been bold enough to make posts on GA, that if you know what is going on, have been subtly bashing the site. Almost every single one of them has either replied to this thread or sent me a PM telling me how much GA means to them. I find it rather disappointing that they realize how much GA means to them after they have done their best to destroy it. There is no guarantee that we will recover from what they have done. I will say that the only one that has not done this is the person I consider the main instigator and ringleader in this effort. I was happy to note that he started his new site when I made my post above. He's finally listening. If you don't like how this site is run, start your own and run it. I've run a large number of sites now and GA is by FAR the best and most stable. I've learned. I've tried all the things you've wanted and they don't work. Maybe you'll have better luck. Just so long as you aren't in my hair any longer.

 

I'm only going to list one name here, since he has an entire site dedicated to his side of the story and I've let it lie until now:

Onetime - He was banned awhile back and is probably one of the largest issues to date. He is regularly a MSN chat member with all the troublemakers. He was banned because, the logs showed, that he is at best, a sick pervert and at worst a child rapist. He is good friends, apparently, with most of the people making life miserable for us. There is more than enough in the logs to show that he's not the type of person we want here. There is probably enough there for the police to get a search warrant for the cesspit in which he resides. He's a loser and is consorting with all the troublemakers of the site. If you happen to be consorting with him, then you are on my list of people that might find themselves banned for any reason. I would remind people that you should not be harassing him via email or any other method. If you happen to be doing so, please stop.

 

To those people that know they are on the list:

I'm sure you can figure out who I'm referring to above with his new site. I'm not going to call him out any further today. I do, however, consider him to be the ringleader. It has been GA policy to not publicly post information about why someone is removed. This is mostly to protect privacy. Unfortunately, a select few use this as a way to bash the site and go unanswered. If someone on the list gets banned, I intend to release more than enough information to justify my actions. You would do well to remember that everything said in the Live Chat room for the last year has been logged and Google Desktop is pretty amazing about finding keywords in files. That said, I haven't banned anyone yet. Your actions will dictate how things move on from here.

 

To all:

I cannot and do not want to control what you do away from GA. If, however, word leaks back that you are negatively affecting GA or your doing activities away from the site that could harm us, then you will be removed. Further, if it is something illegal, I'll be sure to forward any relevant logs and information to any requesting legal authorities. Constructive criticism is welcome, and in the near future, we will even have additional venues for you to express your thoughts. But ignorant bashing is never helpful, nor desired.

 

Be Fairly Warned: For the better of this community, I will be oiling squeaky wheels and shooting quacking ducks. Don't be a quacking duck.

[Jack Scribe]

To those people that know they are on the list:

I'm sure you can figure out who I'm referring to above with his new site. I'm not going to call him out any further today. I do, however, consider him to be the ringleader. It has been GA policy to not publicly post information about why someone is removed. This is mostly to protect privacy. Unfortunately, a select few use this as a way to bash the site and go unanswered. If someone on the list gets banned, I intend to release more than enough information to justify my actions. You would do well to remember that everything said in the Live Chat room for the last year has been logged and Google Desktop is pretty amazing about finding keywords in files. That said, I haven't banned anyone yet. Your actions will dictate how things move on from here.

 

To all:

I cannot and do not want to control what you do away from GA. If, however, word leaks back that you are negatively affecting GA or your doing activities away from the site that could harm us, then you will be removed. Further, if it is something illegal, I'll be sure to forward any relevant logs and information to any requesting legal authorities. Constructive criticism is welcome, and in the near future, we will even have additional venues for you to express your thoughts. But ignorant bashing is never helpful, nor desired.

 

Be Fairly Warned: For the better of this community, I will be oiling squeaky wheels and shooting quacking ducks. Don't be a quacking duck.

 

I'm not sure if you're allowing any replies to this important topic...but here goes.

 

You're really being very forgiving. Maybe it's in the spirit of the holidays? I, for one, think that this "ring" should take a hike with your banning them from GA. That such a hard, talented worked like Kitty is resigning is most unfortunate.

 

Although not an expert of the workings of these sites, I do find GA unique and the best in this genre. The broad range of members, representing so many locations in the world, is amazing. The forums available are used with an incredible volume and offer very diverse points of view.

 

This site and your peace of mind is too important to allow a stage for a few demented flakes to create chaos.

 

Jack