Operation Huntar

[Plaguespreader Zombie]

Oh I know it was a problem back then, but when it's been 1 year without Xyzs, and various other problems this forum is facing like a large decline in activity, I'd say it's an even bigger problem now.

[Brushfire]

It's come to my attention that there is in fact a [u]missing chapter[/u] from the link I posted in the first post, as it turns out that Atlas got banned before managing to finish this wonderful work of literature! The rest of the fic was posted on my site, SAW Entertainment... which is suspended as I stopped paying for it. I am working on a way to obtain this thread asap.

EDIT: So apparently I'm no longer allowed to even connect to the server. However, I have several backups of the site on my external hard-drive! ... Which I seem to have, erm, misplaced. Fear not though fellow members of Yugulan Cair Makur, I will retrieve it at some point.

[Kitty]

......Oh the shame. *hangs head* But it was a good shame.

Best part I liked was

This -> "The princes did what was right, this scum deserved to die…" said Princess Kitty as she spit on Darkness' grave during the funeral procession.

<3

[Mehmani]

It's really weird to think that around that time, I was gadflying away with my protest negs and regular bans, and somehow I ended up a mod. Despite loathing Hunter's tenure in the job, it provided us with a brilliant case study on how not to be a moderator. And with both Hunter and Icy gone for malpractice, it feels just as relevant as it ever did.

Also, "HUNTAR NO NEED CHARGES!"

[Catman25]

[quote name='Dark' timestamp='1342497099' post='5980590']
"Boy, was I stupid back then."

I think we all were. Whenever I come across one of my older posts, I cringe - they're poorly-written, the arguments are disgustingly flawed, and I cannot even begin to imagine how I went years (well, two or three) on this forum with people thinking I was a good debater. I've definitely progressed as a member since, but I really wish I could go back in time and delete all those incriminating posts.
[/quote]
Hey man, you made some sick card recolors back in the day.

[CinnamonStar]

Meh, I never found Hunter to be that bad of a mod.
Bloodrun used to be significantly worse.
There's just that really, being a good member and being a good mod.
If you can't keep your temper in check and freak out about little things, then you won't do that well as the latter.

Not sure if I preferred Hunter or glasstin, although Hunter WAS pretty bad during his last months here.o.o

As for past slip-ups and "aww I used to be so silly, now I smart":
[IMG]http://i49.tinypic.com/3bxhl.gif[/IMG]

It's all part of the process and tbh, I don't regret much, except a few slip-ups during my first year as a mod.
Never been flawless at all, but there's nothing I'd really like to erase.

[Brushfire]

[quote name='Kitty' timestamp='1342729749' post='5983090']
......Oh the shame. *hangs head* But it was a good shame.
[/quote]

You can't say you didn't deserve it.

[quote name='Botvinnik' timestamp='1342783971' post='5983697']
It's really weird to think that around that time, I was gadflying away with my protest negs and regular bans, and somehow I ended up a mod. Despite loathing Hunter's tenure in the job, it provided us with a brilliant case study on how not to be a moderator. And with both Hunter and Icy gone for malpractice, it feels just as relevant as it ever did.

Also, "HUNTAR NO NEED CHARGES!"
[/quote]

I really liked you back then, Alfred-kun. That's not to say that I don't like you now, it's just that you were great back then too. The empirical data that the Hunter scenario provided us with has indeed laid down great foundations on how to not be a moderator. Those two were always like that too.

[quote name='Cinnamon Star' timestamp='1342803273' post='5983805']
Meh, I never found Hunter to be that bad of a mod.
Bloodrun used to be significantly worse.
There's just that really, being a good member and being a good mod.
If you can't keep your temper in check and freak out about little things, then you won't do that well as the latter.

Not sure if I preferred Hunter or glasstin, although Hunter WAS pretty bad during his last months here.o.o
[/quote]

I liked Hunter as a person at the time, but I hated him as a moderator. I will definitely agree that Bloodrun was worse though (you should see my warn history, I used to get like two week bans for disagreeing with him and then have to ask Browarod to revoke them too).

glasstin was another great person but a terrible moderator, for the complete opposite reason. Personally I preferred him to Hunter though, as he wasn't provocative and therefore caused less problems.

[Kitty]

[quote name='Brushfire' timestamp='1342803623' post='5983810']
You can't say you didn't deserve it.
[/quote]

I never said that. I deserved it one hundred percent back then.

Going back and reading that now brings back such fond memories and some bad horrible memories that I curse you for digging up. It's all cool though.

[Mehmani]

It's really funny, I kind of feel like an ex-druggie hippie who has suddenly become a police captain. It makes me wonder - what would happen if we made all those protesters outside Westminster MPs (or if you're an American, all those protesters outside Washington being made Senators or Congressmen). I wander if change would actually be implemented our they would morph into borg-speak politicians too.

Maybe Hunter wasn't even truly evil, or crazy. As Zimbardo showed through data, authority corrupts. Stanford Prison Experiment, guise.

[Thar]

Ahh, Huntar. Those were the days. Back when he was known as the best card maker on the site. Then I challenged him and won 2 times out of three.

[Brushfire]

[quote name='Botvinnik' timestamp='1342805539' post='5983833']
It's really funny, I kind of feel like an ex-druggie hippie who has suddenly become a police captain. It makes me wonder - what would happen if we made all those protesters outside Westminster MPs (or if you're an American, all those protesters outside Washington being made Senators or Congressmen). I wander if change would actually be implemented our they would morph into borg-speak politicians too.

Maybe Hunter wasn't even truly evil, or crazy. As Zimbardo showed through data, authority corrupts. Stanford Prison Experiment, guise.
[/quote]

That's an interesting concept... I do love how you replied to my psychological operationalising of this situation with your own though. Zimbardo's study is an interesting one certainly, but we can't exactly say it was valid when he used high school students in order to prove his hypothesis; it's just not generalisable.

[Mehmani]

[quote name='Brushfire' timestamp='1342825306' post='5984111']
That's an interesting concept... I do love how you replied to my psychological operationalising of this situation with your own though. Zimbardo's study is an interesting one certainly, but we can't exactly say it was valid when he used high school students in order to prove his hypothesis; it's just not generalisable.
[/quote]

It should be performed again with adults, certainly. The trouble is it has probably been considered, but declined due to what happened with the kids.

[Brushfire]

It's just not ethical, you can't expect the participants selected to be prisoners to go through that, and you can't warn them in case they display demand characteristics. I just don't think an experiment like that can be justified, and that goes for a lot of psychological research nowadays.

[Death Metal]

People still remember this stuff? That's just insane. Haha. xD

[Brushfire]

[quote name='Death Metal' timestamp='1343000038' post='5985909']
People still remember this stuff? That's just insane. Haha. xD
[/quote]

I forget how I found it again but yeah, I instantly remembered it after I did haha.

[Catman25]

Guyz you forgot Tea Leaf

[Mehmani]

You may be aware, or not, that Icy has now lost his moderator status following a majority decision by the active moderators of this site.

EDIT: Tea...intelligent but temperamental. I would have kept her.

[~/Coolio Prime\~]

[quote name='Brushfire' timestamp='1342562045' post='5981288']
It's come to my attention that there is in fact a [u]missing chapter[/u] from the link I posted in the first post, as it turns out that Atlas got banned before managing to finish this wonderful work of literature! The rest of the fic was posted on my site, SAW Entertainment... which is suspended as I stopped paying for it. I am working on a way to obtain this thread asap.

EDIT: So apparently I'm no longer allowed to even connect to the server. However, I have several backups of the site on my external hard-drive! ... Which I seem to have, erm, misplaced. Fear not though fellow members of Yugulan Cair Makur, I will retrieve it at some point.
[/quote]
I wouldn't worry too much about it, for Chapter The Fifth I only got as far as a child from the distant farmlands born with the name "Huntar" being led to their execution so that Huntar could get out of his skeleton costume and reclaim his title he had cast aside. Even I'm partially hazy on my reference by now, though I remember OMGAKITTY made an account which took Hunter's original name when he had switched it to Skeleton Jack or whatever for Halloween. That took up about two paragraphs and the rest which had gone on in the forum by then, a swarm of Coolios aside, was same old same old, so I just kinda' stopped there.

If I ever tried this again it would be less jokes and more general commentary on power roles, or less outward comedy, since Huntar is (now) more of a state of being than an actual person. Before the mods and "rebels" and suckups and the such all had usernames to attribute them to with forum incidents and mannerisms to sprinkle in, while nowadays those positions have been swapped a number of times. Save of course the absent Yugulan Cair Makur, who in retrospect would've been better as a deital figure whose existence was questioned as he is never there when called upon and is only really used by savages to justify their rule. He would then randomly descend during a crisis for a deus ex machina, only as he's entirely cut off from forum ongoings, spending too much time in the godly plane of Rial Lief mortals here have only heard about, he'd just make things worse before vanishing.

[Brushfire]

[quote name='Botvinnik' timestamp='1343083699' post='5986719']
You may be aware, or not, that Icy has now lost his moderator status following a majority decision by the active moderators of this site.
[/quote]

I didn't know that. Doesn't really make much of a difference to me anyway...

[quote name='~Coolio~' timestamp='1343085610' post='5986752']
I wouldn't worry too much about it, for Chapter The Fifth I only got as far as a child from the distant farmlands born with the name "Huntar" being led to their execution so that Huntar could get out of his skeleton costume and reclaim his title he had cast aside. Even I'm partially hazy on my reference by now, though I remember OMGAKITTY made an account which took Hunter's original name when he had switched it to Skeleton Jack or whatever for Halloween. That took up about two paragraphs and the rest which had gone on in the forum by then, a swarm of Coolios aside, was same old same old, so I just kinda' stopped there.

If I ever tried this again it would be less jokes and more general commentary on power roles, or less outward comedy, since Huntar is (now) more of a state of being than an actual person. Before the mods and "rebels" and suckups and the such all had usernames to attribute them to with forum incidents and mannerisms to sprinkle in, while nowadays those positions have been swapped a number of times. Save of course the absent Yugulan Cair Makur, who in retrospect would've been better as a deital figure whose existence was questioned as he is never there when called upon and is only really used by savages to justify their rule. He would then randomly descend during a crisis for a deus ex machina, only as he's entirely cut off from forum ongoings, spending too much time in the godly plane of Rial Lief mortals here have only heard about, he'd just make things worse before vanishing.
[/quote]

I don't remember anything about Chapter the Fifth so I had no idea if it was actually any good or not; it being the latter saves me the effort of having to get it though. It would be pretty strange for you to try this again in regards to the site now, I don't think it would have the same satirical effect that it had before, and the more contemporary references wouldn't do the older ones justice. I think Huntar was always representative of facist dictators and that sounds the perfect role for the near-mythical Yugulan Cair Makur.

[~/Coolio Prime\~]

I mean that I only did two paragraphs of the fifth one and never released it, so there wouldn't be anything on SAW. And the thoughts on a sequel was just conjecture, since some guy was talking about it and I thought about it before too. I don't think I'm going to even have time to try for another at any point, but your point on newer references being stale compared to the old ones is why I said I would've turned it into a more timeless concept and avoided using new names, since at this point the role of admin, mod, popular member, etc. is too dynamic.

[Mehmani]

The comparison of YCMaker to a deity is one I think is extremely pertinent. He is supposedly benevolent, but like the Christian God, impotent (no direct say in the world's affairs). He is praised and given offerings (Comments and Suggestions). He hand-picks vicars of Christ (the moderators), though like the Anglican church, those he has chosen have taken greater control and are now part of a more liberal institution (the same way the Anglican church now praise evolution and accept women as bishops or vicars). Occasionally, a moderator is appointed who disagrees with pretty much everything (Rowan Williams, of course, on YCM, tea.leaf or perhaps me [blowing my own trumpet]). Like a God, he produced great miracles in the past that are now hazily remembered, and remains absent after the age of enlightenment (or as it is on YCM, the rise of self-awareness and the growing maturity of its major contributors). Some became so disenfranchised that they discarded the faith and became atheists or antitheists. On YCM, we know these as people who migrate to DN or Yugico. YCM has many saintly figures and satanic figures (MarbleZone and Draco spring to mind).

As a character, Huntar developed from a implanted caricature into an amalgamation of all princely despots. He reminded me of Jean-Bedel Bokassa most, the despot who ruled the Central African Republic for a couple of decades (look him up). I find the character of Icy worse, personally, as he seemed intelligent enough to realize that he was being a cruel dictator, while Huntar was essentially an idiot corrupted by power (as I mention before, power corrupts anyone, and as Lord Acton said, absolute power [like that of a moderator, or generalissimo] corrupts absolutely). Crab Helmet often compared moderators to the police as a response to my comparing of them to politicians. However, the true role of a moderator is a combination of an enforcer and a diplomat, so they are like feudal lords more than a police service. They rule over the land that the Divine King has bestowed upon them with whatever force they choose. This, as you may point out, is represented by the "Lottery of Punishment", as I call it - the varied punishments you receive depending on which moderator punishes you. I post an angry comment in RC about moderators, my now good friend Josh gives me a standard warning of 30-40% (even that varies depending on how he's feeling). I neg Yankee in protest of his policy of removing his own negs (censorship, of course), he bans me for a month. He then pulled some stuff out his ass about how the reason for my ban was actually an amalgamation of all "the wrong you have [I had] done". Well, he actually told me after my first neg that I if I negged him again, he would ban me. I replied that the reputation system is a free one, and that he was corrupt and self-seeking by deleting his own negs, let alone threatening to ban anyone who spoke ill of him. So I did it again, and got a one-month ban.

Oops, went off on a tangent.

[~/Coolio Prime\~]

Another relation I could have used was Nietzsche's "god is dead", only now in the most literal sense.

That's too bad with Yankee. I never really got around to him, but he was probably worse than Ice or Hunter. I was actually thinking of including him later as a trigger-fingered prince who would frantically defend his name, so that story is pretty funny for me to read, though I may have just heard about something like that back in the day.

Anyways glad you guys still like the story. I had fun writing it, though I often did so in a bit of a rush.

[Mehmani]

[quote name='~Coolio~' timestamp='1343146501' post='5987644']
Another relation I could have used was Nietzsche's "god is dead", only now in the most literal sense.

That's too bad with Yankee. I never really got around to him, but he was probably worse than Ice or Hunter. I was actually thinking of including him later as a trigger-fingered prince who would frantically defend his name, so that story is pretty funny for me to read, though I may have just heard about something like that back in the day.

Anyways glad you guys still like the story. I had fun writing it, though I often did so in a bit of a rush.
[/quote]

How about the more Arthurian "God is not dead, but only sleeping?" The Legends of King Arthur were ironically, written by a convicted armed robber and violent thug who was exiled and sentenced to death twice at various points in his life (I think, but I can't be sure). But you are probably YCM's best satirist, and we need you to keep pissing people off. If you start it again, or try writing a sequel, I'll protect you. Certain people wouldn't feel comfortable with it.

[Night]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(251, 253, 254)]OMGAKITTY.[/background][/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(251, 253, 254)]It's been forever since I've heard[/background][/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(251, 253, 254)] that name. [/background][/size][/font]

[Mehmani]

I still remember Catbus, albeit vaguely. What was he banned for again? Dissent, I think. Or maybe he just irritated the mods, and HUNTAR NO NEED CHARGES.