I'm done being silent on this issue.

[Halubaris Maphotika]

Alright, I've officially had enough. I kept my damn mouth shut for a long time because I didn't want to incur drama, but at the same time there is sheet that isn't being addressed that needs addressing, and it seems I unfortunately have to be the one to speak it. Be forewarned, I have no filter.

 

You Guys Want to Seriously Fix The Issues With YCM? Fine. Here's how.

 

STEP I

 

Demote inactive mods

 

I don't really care how much they wanted the job before. Inactive mods bring a bad reputation to the whole group. When a mod doesn't do their job or isn't there for at least more than 1 month they should be demoted at least to Junior Mod. That's right, don't demote them all the way, there's no point. However, one who doesn't visit the site that often should at least be put on probation until they become as active again. If they don't after one year, then they become a regular user again. I get it, when you get demoted it feels like you did something wrong and nobody wants to feel that way, but this really isn't about how you feel in the situation. If you can't commit, step down. Having inactive mods clog up the Mod Team makes new users and current users feel as if their voices aren't being heard as much.

 

STEP II

 

Mods Need to Lead by Example

 

Most of the things that have happening in this forum have been because of Roxas, Black, and Dad. The rest of you, whom I say this with the greatest amount of love and respect, need to step the funk up. When I was an RA at my College Dorm, we weren't meant to just enforce the rules, we had to be representatives of the overall community. We set up events, and made ourselves known. This isn't happening except by the three mods I have already mentioned. Half the mod team is gone and the other half is sparingly posting. THis isn't good for a community that needs professional arbiters to guide and defend noobs from being overwhelmed when they come to the forum.

 

STEP III

 

Unban Previous (Certain) Banned Users Depending on Specific Circumstances

 

"I don't see the problem when they can just make a new account."

 

You and I both know this isn't as easy as it sounds. Firstly YCM has a policy on Alts which is only enforced depending on the person who is making the alt acct. Secondly, most users don't want to start all over with an new account. Their old account was where they built their friendships, established their reputations, and many of their names have become synonymous with their person. Abandoning that is hard for some users who simply don't want to make new accounts. Not to mention there are an extraordinarily high amount of users who were banned for erroneous, personal, or ridiculous circumstances. In fact the amount of bans has drastically reduced the amount of contributing members in the site, most whom were perma-banned.

 

Setting up an official pardon system, like the President does each year, would allow us to welcome back old members who either were unjustly removed from the community, or whom have changed and wish for another chance.

 

 

AND NOW I WISH TO SPEAK TO THE USERS. BECAUSE IT ISN'T JUST THE MODS JOB TO HELP YCM GROW.

 

STEP I

 

Stop Starting Debate Topics in General When You Know Damn Well They Don't Belong There

 

I'm not stupid and I know why you do it. You do it because you want to have a debate where you can spout ad-hominems without harsh penalty (I have the urge to do it as well, we ain't perfect). Or you do it so you don't have to be held as accountable for your opinions as you would in debates, where your language, argumentation, and burden of proof are more densely watched over. THAT. ENDS. I know it sucks having your opinion of the world challenged but going into General to make your point doesn't funking help. It just gives you more cause to start Drama and act like an ass. And don't give me the excuse that there isn't a point to the Debates area, or that it won't go anywhere. Debates is stronger than it's ever been thanks to Dad and we have had some great discourse, the argument that it isn't going anywhere is erroneous bullshit.

 

STEP II

 

QUIT BITING THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU

 

I have a couple gripes with certain moderators. However, I am not petty and I have no reason to bring those grievances out where it will not be productive. Not all mods are perfect, but some do their job damn well and dog piling them when they make simple mistakes isn't helping.

 

Dad has worked tirelessly to perform not just to the expectations of his predecessors, but to the expectations of the YCM community at large. He reinvigorated the Debates forum, a feat I declared impossible when the thread for it's revival was being planned. He has acknowledged the views of the people and done his best to address them. He made one simple mistake, and yeah, it kind of sucks, but Dad didn't do it with malice. He didn't even HAVE to ask your opinion, but he did. He did it because he values this community and jumping on his ass after everything he's done for us will only hurt our efforts more.

 

STEP III

 

Stop Taking A Giant Dump on the Site When You Should be Encouraging It's Growth

 

I've made it no secret that I funking can't stand it when users jabroni on the status bar about how bad General or Debates are. It's needlessly negative and simply works to hinder activity in said forum. Debates get wild, fine. General can get obnoxious sometimes, we get it. However, the degree with which the forum is being lambasted by users who have their head so far up their ass their kissing their lungs is ridiculous. It helps nobody, it solves nothing, and only works to hurt activity where we should be encouraging it. Sick of how General is? How about instead of moaning about it in the status bar, you post topics you feel will make it better. IT'S. THAT. SIMPLE.

 

 

/endfuckingrant

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Nobody was jumping on Dad. Most of us were saying him falling on the sword wasn't right

 

Spinny and Raeg might come back. Thar might get a pardon. YCM is on a decline, but a fresh mod team, a new YGo series, and a inflush of old members can bring it back. Jack you know some old guys like Mikial, let's all work to make YCM great again

[Halubaris Maphotika]

YCM is on a decline

I actually disagree. When I first came back, it was massively stagnant. The community was all over the place doing F-All and new users weren't happening as often. Now, I see many users with less than 700 posts beginning to show up, Debates is thriving, and Comments and Suggestions is brimming with activity. Make no mistake. Our second wind isn't yet to come, it's happening right now.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

You missed the glory days of TCG. There been an activity shift from TCG to General, but we can have both

[Halubaris Maphotika]

You missed the glory days of TCG. There been an activity shift from TCG to General, but we can have both

I said we're on the rise, not that we are at our peak.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Fair, redo the mod team. Let Hina and Dad deal with debates/General. Birdie is the one we need to fix our transparency issue. And slowly we may be able to claw back users like lily and spinny. Our Vetrans are our stenght. YCM will reach its peak again

Left Field: put somone like garland as TCG mod. The kid is there at it's best and worse. We need to put somone with dedication to run that place up

[Halubaris Maphotika]

Fair, redo the mod team. Let Hina and Dad deal with debates/General. Birdie is the one we need to fix our transparency issue. And slowly we may be able to claw back users like lily and spinny. Our Vetrans are our stenght. YCM will reach its peak again

Left Field: put somone like garland as TCG mod. The kid is there at it's best and worse. We need to put somone with dedication to run that place up

I mean. I would keep Black as well and add Hina to the mix.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

Obv Black. I was mainly referencing the cuts Aix wanted to make. Would keep Evil too though

[Halubaris Maphotika]

Obv Black. I was mainly referencing the cuts Aix wanted to make. Would keep Evil too though

I'd keep Black, Dad, Japanese Letters and Evilfusion. Probably demod Treb, Night, and .Rai as much as it pains me to say that.

 

I would then probably replace them with Nyx Avatar, Deadpool, Hina, and Mido9

 

This would be in a perfect world where I could have everything go according to my plan.

[Ryusei the Morning Star]

I'd keep Black, Dad, Japanese Letters and Evilfusion. Probably demod Treb, Night, and .Rai as much as it pains me to say that.

 

I would then probably replace them with Nyx Avatar, Deadpool, Hina, and Mido9

 

This would be in a perfect world where I could have everything go according to my plan.

Treb is active enough. Deadpool and Nyx are unserious. Hina is enough for now @mido

 

We need time commitment Jack. Night and Aix already resigned. Lily has a post she wants to make before resigning. Roxas ans Rai are the last Aix list mods

 

Hina and Giga is still my ideal. Maybe Yui in the future if he feels up to it

[Halubaris Maphotika]

Treb is active enough. Deadpool and Nyx are unserious. Hina is enough for now @mido

 

We need time commitment Jack.

As I said, this would be in a perfect world where they would even be willing to hold such a position. Deadpool and Nyx are both incredibly level headed, calm, and professional in the way they handle situations. To me, that is demonstration enough. however, I am not the decision maker of these things.

[Kazooie]

There is a lot here that I agree with personally, and that I wanna talk about. It's a fairly long post, and I wanna give each section the respect and response it deserves so it might take me a little bit of time to get through that, for a quick overview.

 

Demote inactive mods

 

Absolutely. This is something the mod team has acknowledged and is being talked about right now. Aix has already been demoted after stepping down, they're currently in the process of trimming the team down. It's a slow process, because like you said, no one likes to feel like they've messed up, but it's one of those things that has to be done.

 

I don't have the most room to talk, considering I'm a brand new arrival, but this is a point the mod team knows very well now and continues to be a prominent topic.

 

I'll throw in the fact that I like your idea for steps down in the future, for inactivity issues. That is absolutely something to consider.

 

Mods Need to Lead by Example

 

Again, I agree with this. Black talked to me a lot about things he wanted to do to help improve the site, he has a ton of passion and wants to see this place grow and mature. Dad has been nothing but hardworking and sincere during his time as a moderator, and he's done a way better job with Debates than I ever thought was possible on this site. This is something that can certainly be improved on.

 

Unban Previous (Certain) Banned Users Depending on Specific Circumstances

 

This is a controversial one. I've never agreed with YCM's policy on the way ban appeals go. It's always seemed too... Under the radar and fishy and at the same time, overly clunky. One of the ideas I wanted to promote after a while was a way for these appeals to be streamlined, and I kinda like the base you've set down here.

 

There are some banned members I don't agree should return, but I don't think having this really... Sketchy system for their return works either. This is one of those cases that needs time and discussion to figure out the best way for it to work, and it's one of those things I wanted to find a better solution to, for sure. Sometimes, mistakes happen. I don't think every ban should be overturned, but there should at least be a system for this sort of thing.

 

---

 

There's obviously more I can say about this, and I need to say more once I'm able to, but I have to run off for now. It's late for me and I need to head to bed at any minute now. Apologies for the kinda brief post this time around. ^^''

[Maeriberii Haan]

We're still looking to sort out the actual guidelines for unbans. If you check the site rules, there is a guideline there, but it's quite controversial and I'd say poorly done, and we'll be fixing it.

 

The entire process for unbans so far were quite messy and shady, not to mention inconsistent, so moving on we hope that the new guideline would allow for a better system. And the Appeals subforum too - it's a thing now, so we will properly incorporate it with the guidelines too.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

I'll go ahead and talk about two members in particular that've been brought up in this thread: Nyx and Garland. Please note that these do not reflect the opinions of the mod team as a whole, and they may very well see these two in a different light. 

 

Nyx: While I commend him for being active in AGM and posting stuff in Custom Cards to keep the section alive, one of the issues concerning him is that he tends to stay in Miscellaneous (or post in it very often) and as a result, his posts outside that section end up as such. In the past, we've gotten reports from members that he (along with some others) posted in a "Captain Obvious" style in both TCG and Custom Cards; not as bad as ragnarok1945, but similarly. 

 

(They have some merit, but otherwise is a rehash of the card's functions at times.)

 

On a personal level, the majority of posts I see from him are indeed from CC and the lower two areas in General (Misc and C&O). He is in other areas, yes, but predominantly those areas. I've mentioned this point to him in the past. 

 

Garland: He has been more active recently, yes, but there has been a few times where he's been gone for extended periods, which does not help with the inactivity problem that we currently face. I am also uncertain on how he would respond to conflicts that would arise in TCG, or really elsewhere on this site.

 

[i have nothing personal against these two, but some things to be considered for future moderators.]

 

====

Quick notes on the first three points concerning mods:

 

1. As you guys already found out, Night and Aix are demoted and Koko is in the process of such. We're currently vetting ourselves, but at the same time, trying to determine if we need fresh mods to replace them right away. 

 

More mods are good so that we can integrate fresh blood, yes (to be fair, outside Nai, rest of the remaining mods hail from 2010 and earlier)

 

There is another who will be resigning on their own accord at a later date, however I will let them explain it to you when the time comes.

 

2. I'm going to mention that while I haven't exactly been vocal on changes to the site in-person (as in speaking to the rest of you), I have been in all of the mod discussions concerning said changes that need to be made. (Also realize that I've been giving slight updates on forum affairs in recent days)

 

There are some changes that I will need to make in CC (my other two sections, Q/A and Intros don't need much); one thing will include actually announcing when major rule updates are made, as opposed to expecting you to be checking on your own. (You should be checking it from time to time though even if things aren't announced, much in college [it is up to you to find out if something has been changed or needs to be done, not expect the instructor to verbally tell you.])

 

3. This is something we're looking into right now. While we would like certain members to come back (i.e. Thar), we also can't undermine the severity of what they've done. Some of us would've liked Thar to come back after a period of time, but the zero tolerance policy was a factor in what ultimately decided his fate (in which even he admitted that he deserved it, albeit on an alt). 

 

Going on to the Appeals subforum as mentioned above, once we work out a definitive plan, it will be put into use. Basically will be used for banned members to state their cases for reinstatement (it will only be visible to the banned members and us; least those are its settings right now).  

[Halubaris Maphotika]

Good job mods on making Night JM. At least give him his full 365 days to see if he can commit before letting him go.

[Flash Flyer - Sakura]

Good job mods on making Night JM. At least give him his full 365 days to see if he can commit before letting him go.

 

Was a simple misunderstanding on evilfusion's part given supposed inactivity and such while cleaning out Aix from mod status. He and Night supposedly had a talk about it over PM a while ago, and his powers were reinstated (in the meantime, he was given temporary Junior powers to at least speak his case in the mod forum). 

 

I will say that he has been inactive for a while and not really talking in recent conversations, yes, but I didn't advocate for his demotion. We know full well he has a graphics job outside this site, which requires more attention.