think you're trying to reduce a complex situation too far -- trying to simplify it to a point wherein it no longer resembles the original situation enough to be instructive.

For example, sure, I create drama by posting to the forums.

(Of course, I can also see that I create drama by NOT posting to the forums, such as during the about previous two weeks before tonight in which I wasn't reading and posting and it looks like Torak bumped a post you made demanding a response again and again and again. Can I win there? I submit to you that I can't.)

Does posting to the forums mean that I'm drama-seeking? I don't think it does. I view it as something I do that yields other benefits that I think are important enough that I'm willing to accept the unwanted consequence of drama to get them. Clearly you see that calculus differently.


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(I hate the reply to functionality on this dcboard so I pasted your comment):

I don't really think you are. You're one of the guys I cite as someone who really does well representing the staff generally. People doth love the Daevryn and Zulg for that matter. That's why I know its not like what I'm saying is a concept you guys don't get.

On the other hand, other Imms do things that generally inflame people and start drama where there are no real benefits and lots of unnecessary crap that follows up (like re-bumping of this stupid party thread).

I don't think there was much drama about the Torak thing. Or at least, the thread he linked wasn't dramatic to me. Not in the same sense as the Jindicho/Orcfest/Recent Guy with cut movement stuff.

The torak thing was just a discussion about whether or not we should rethink how the rules are structured, those other three boil down to "X char got punished, it looked unfair, there was a nasty dialog following and its inconsistent with history and the enforcement of the rules".

They happened, logs were posted, other players didn't like it and posted threads here (not I) and the end result is a re-bumping of a thread that basically says "we don't need to justify punishing you."

That's a net negative for no real reason. It's not like any of those three were done to stop some larger scale persistent problem or had any net gain. It's also not like any one of those three things had to do with cheating. It's also not like dropping the ban hammer on the players involved either in being punished or posting about it would prevent things like this from happening in the future or retain players.

The simplest way to handle it really is to be positive, not negative, be consistent in applying the rules and then try not to fan the flames if something makes it to the forums.

Edited to add: And on a personal level, the reason I seem so annoyed by all of this really boils down to the fact that this stuff is avoidable or within the realm of control just using normal damage control strategy. I see some posts from the staff and I just want to bonk the guy on the head for posting it and fanning the flames when he could've and should've just not posted anything at all and left it for you or Twist or Kasty or someone else to reign things in.