Flinn

Flinn
His Dudeness of TWC
Badges/Roles:	Citizen , Civitate , Administrator Emeritus , Gaming Emeritus , Content Emeritus , Patrician , Moderator
Patron:	Finlander
House:	The Imperial House of Hader
Patron of:	Lugotorix , Lifthrasir , Socrates1984 , Joerock22 , Kilo11 , Vladyvid , Dick Cheney , phazer , Jake Armitage , Webba84

Flinn is obsessed with Italian politician Silvio Berlusconi and many of his closest friends suspect that they were one and the same. Flinn is also TWC's resident Dudeist and is responsible for drinking more white russians (and wine!) than all other TWC members combined. He's got an insane appetite (aka Bunga Bunga) for avatars, having changed hundreds of them over the years! For the full story, just check below!

The real history!

The Beginning Flinn arrived at TWC sometime around mid 2012, but only joined during December of the same year. Like many others, he has been attracted at TWC because of Third Age: Total War mod, the glorious overhaul modification for Medieval 2: Total war, set in the Middle Earth. Flinn spent the first few months of activity at TWC at the TATW fora, making himself comfortable in that corner of the site. While there he wrote a strategy guide and mostly supported other members with gameplay and strategy suggestions, while also doing some mod testing. Every once in a while he goes back to visit his first home at TWC, and it's always exciting.

The Personal Help & Advice and the Eagle Standard It was not long before Flinn discovered his second home at TWC, the Personal Help & Advice (aka PH&A) fora; this place is dedicated to ask, and give, personal support and advice with the many struggles of real life. Flinn became active around mid June 2013, and after that he spent a huge amount of time there; for the first part of his TWC life the PH&A was his main area of contribution, where he both posted about his own struggles and helped many fellow members with their own. As of today the PH&A is still a very important part of Flinn's activity and he's a recognized authority there, also acting as the Local Moderator since 2015. During mid 2014 he joined the Content Staff, and became a writer for the Eagle Standard, the publication primarily dedicated to review and preview TW Games and modifications. It was a quick start, as early as August that very year he had his first article published and also earned himself his first Scribe's Quill (the Bronze one); by the end of 2014 he was promoted as the Director of the Eagle Standard, aided by the fact that the former Director had to suddenly resign. He served as a writer and Director until mid 2018. As a writer he wrote a total of fifteen articles himself, as a Director he over-viewed, edited and published a total of twenty four articles. During his tenure "interview with modders" were introduced, a brand new field of articles that was largely appreciated by the audience. Finally, he also managed the transition from the old forum publication to the most recent Content Management System (aka CMS) publication.

Moderation Flinn was hired as a Global Moderator on March 2016 and served as in the TW section of the Forum up to January 2017, when he was promoted into Hex. As a TW Moderator he had to deal with the launch of the first Warhammer and the following heated period, among the other things. Upon exiting the official Global Moderation team, he remained as a Local moderator in various areas, mainly the PH&A and the Questions and Suggestions and, from early 2020, he was assigned as a Local moderator at the Thema Devia forum. He also acted as a de facto moderator in the Coliseum and in all the threads involved in the TGC. As an Admin he usually took care of spambots and blasted them on sight. Since his retirement from Staff in September 2021, Flinn has resigned all his official duties as a Moderator. Rejoining Moderation By October 2023 Flinn rejoined the Moderation team, in an attempt to help with their needs.

Site Awards Committees Another one of the main areas of contributions. Flinn joined the Member Awards Committee during 2014 and has been part of it during a total of 10 editions. He started as a regular member, but as soon as 2015 he took the helm of the manager and started to transform the competition by reviewing the rules, this both to prevent the usual rigging of the past and also to keep them updated with the current site activity. He also created a framework for the organization and running of the Awards that has become the standard, as well as working on updating the categories. During 2015 he also joined the Modding Awards Committee, and became the main manager as early as 2016; so far he has participated in 6 different editions. As a regular member he focused mostly in the promotion of the awards (via the Eagle Standard publication); as a manager he worked mostly in creating framework for the organization and running of the same, together with keeping them updated with the latest TW games released. New categories were also created (Tools & Resources, New/Classical modder, etc). Serious efforts were made in order to ask the community both about how to renew the Awards and if it was or not the case to open them to mods not posted at TWC. Recruiting new committee members every edition was another important part of the job.

Content Hex and Site Administration Flinn was allowed into the Hexagon Council around the end of 2016, and he finally wore the bold red mantle publicly early 2017. Since then he has been sitting in the Site Administration, covering various roles, the first being Site Content Administrator (responsible for the publications and the other activities carried out by the Content Artist, Content Staffers and Librarians). He has been serving in the role until early 2019, when he eventually moved to fully dedicate himself to other administrative roles. Publications as Content Hex As Content Hex he worked both by himself and in team with another Site Content Administrator. During his tenure more than 50 articles were published, of which approx one third from the Eagle Standard. He also cooperated with the Scriptorium to help them promote and develop their Writing Competitions. As a rule he provided plenty of guidance, took care of editing, and worked continuously to keep up with the tight agenda of publications. The CMS Guide and the Rep and Quills Guide for Directors; other activities The Content Management System aka CMS, was introduced starting from end of 2016 and Flinn created and posted a guide on how to use the CMS (including a simple pic editing guide) which is still used as a reference as of today. He also made a Guide specifically aimed at helping Content Directors with managing the rewards (reputation points and Scribe's Quills) of their Staffers. Furthermore, he underwent a cleanup of the oldest threads as well as putting up some new stuff, such as the Communal Activity thread or the Content Support thread

Competitions and Awards Hex, Pro-tempore Gaming Hex Having taken care of managing the Site Awards since 2016, Flinn eventually moved in full to their management around end of 2018, few months before quitting the position of Content Hex. At the same time he created the brand new position of Competition Hex, something he was tailoring with since long. In this position he not only manages the Site Award, but also takes care of some of the Community Competitions, and also gives his support and help to other existing competitions whenever needed and requested to (i.e. Picture of the Year 2018!). During the first weeks he also underwent a reorganization of the Competition fora, to make them consistent with the actual structure. Medals and rep for RPG and Hotseats From early 2020 until his retirement from Staff in September 2021, Flinn acted as a Pro-Tempore Gaming Hex, mostly taking care of basic Admin activities, including giving support with the annual Hotseat Awards, as well as assigning reputations and medals (both the Gaming Staff Chess Piece and the Gaming Service Shield), for the Hoteseat and RPG (now inactive) Staff and community. The Total Guess Competition (TGC) Upon stepping in the new position, Flinn started to work immediately on ideas for new competitions, which eventually led to the creation of the Total Guess Competition. The TGC celebrated 2 years at February 2021 and at that date more than 20 members have been awarded with a TGC medal. On mid 2019 the TGC was further expanded with the addition of a new set of awards and related medals. Since his retirement from the Staff, Flinn is acting as an advisor, when requested to. The Post of the Fortnight Competition (PotF) During mid 2018, the Curia proposed the creation of a new competition, the Post of the Fortnight Competition. After few weeks of discussion, Flinn stepped in and eased the creation of a dedicated committee; in particular he worked, together with other volunteers, to create a set of rules and all the templates needed to smoothly run it, as well as setting up and creating the PotF Medal. He also created the forum dedicated to the PotF Competition. First round was launched on December 2018, and as of early 2021 the PotF has reached round 44! Since his retirement from the Staff, Flinn is acting as an advisor, when requested to. Lottery Early 2019 Flinn launched a Happy new year lottery. The main purpose of the lottery was to stimulate people to post suggestions for a name for a new game (which later became known as the TGC), but also to give out some rewards in reputation, and most important, in game keys. The prices were assigned after the ballot took place on January the 22nd. CMS Blogs and the CMS Blogger Award With the introduction of the CMS BlogsFlinn actively worked to crete a specific Award dedicated to active CMS Bloggers; after discussing about it he later created a new award. Furthermore, seeing the need for a new community dedicated to blogging, he created the Blogging Thread, both as a repository of all the necessary info and as a place to discuss and make requests related to the CMS Blogs. Later on he also created a Blogging Hub housed on the CMS itself, as well as a WIKI page. Graphic competitions In collaboration with the Content Art Staff: Post of the Fortnight Medal and Banner; Three Kingdoms Badges. As a Competition Hex: Modding Staff Medals; Legio 5001st Award Medal; Modding Service Award Medal; CMS Bloggers Award Medal; Troy Badges. Other reviewed awards (with no competition involved): New WIKI Medals, in cooperation with the Content Hex and WIKI Director. Milestone Award Being the Award Hex, Flinn has dedicated himself more than anyone else to look for and then award with, all the possible eligible recipients for the original TWC Milestone Award. When noticing that many other members could be worthy of this award, and in the spirit of the award itself, he proposed an amendment to expand said award; as a result, 100 more members received it. Furthermore, with the help of a friendly member, he created a dedicated thread in the Symposium, both as a repository of info about this award and to be used as a celebration spot for any new recipient.

Supporting Modding Hex Upon creation of the Modding Staff at the end of 2018, and after the subsequent resignations of the first two assigned Hex, on June 2019 Flinn joined another Hex as a temporary Modding Hex, with the idea of giving support and temporarily lead the Modding Staff as long as another assigned Hex could be found. Unfortunately, due to lack of general activity and interest, the Modding Staff was eventually disbanded on March 2020, and its duties reassigned to Moderation and Content.

Other important activities Not content with the many duties he's already carrying out, Flinn has involved himself in various other activities around the site. Blogs Flinn is the most active CMS Blogger, having posted more than 30 different blog posts since the very first one on July 2019. his blogs range from typical Italian things like wine-making or cooking, to more general stuff about being a public administrator or a wild camping nerd (aka bushcraft), and of course one about his own Dudeistic view of life. Wiki Flinn has been working on updating and improving various pages of the TWC wiki; first of all he has created and is maintaining the CMS Blogs page. In his Competition and Awards Hex (as well as pro tempore Gaming Hex) he reworked and updated the Staff page as well as the Medals and Awards page and all its subpages (Curia Awards, Hex Awards, etc). He took care of updating the Member awards and the Modding Awards pages until his retirement from Staff. Starting from early 2021 he also embarked in a full review of the Curia pages, including all the subcategories and subpages. Content Emeritus & other Content activities Upon quitting the Content Staff at the beginning of 2019, he was allowed into the ranks of the Content Emeriti. In this position he acts as an advisor, usually sharing his experience, in particular about managing staffers and other related issues. Helios Writer Flinn has been involved in the Helios publication, as a guest writer, since mid 2017. As a writer he produced 4 different articles, all of them with his typical light-hearted writing style. A 'modern Roman' view of how Ancient Rome influences us We are what we trade, and trade is what we are On how scientific development changes our perceptions Marcus Aurelius, the ante-litteram Dudeist emperor! Thema Devia Flinn has been one of the prominent members of the Thema Devia, the house of gags of TWC. He's not only one of the most active Devians in the YLYL and the Say Cheese Thread, but he also made his own various threads, such as the It's about time you know the truth one, aka the Bunga Bunga thread, a tribute to the glory of the Cavaliere. He also devised and created the Thema Devia Constitution, a monument for the undying memory of the Devians. University The University is another of the peculiarity of TWC. Flinn joined in around end of 2018, with the intent of trying to revive what once was very active. He tried with the helps of others, but as of today no new courses have been set up, despite certain interest has been showed with regards to various arguments. The University is still active though, and new courses are always possible. Basic Italian Course As of October 2021, Flinn started to run the Basic Italian Class. The class is aimed at introducing the students to the basics of Italian grammar and language and to have them become capable of basic communication about themselves and their needs, at the least. Course has ended in July 2022, with two students graduating. Creative Writing By the end of 2020 Flinn started his very first Creative Writing novel, Honor and Bravery, a fictional story set on the acclaimed Forgotten Realms background for Dungeons and Dragons. The story is still in development and will be so for long still!

Curia A troubled love. Flinn always valued the Curia as an awarded committee, but did have issues with almost any other aspect of it ... Citizenship & Large Awards Flinn was patronized by Finlander on October 2014. Flinn was awarded with the Phalera on December 2015, primarily for his contributions in the Personal Help & Advice fora. Flinn was awarded with the Novus on February 2017, for his distinguished service in different roles in the Staff. Flinn was awarded wit the Asterix's Loincloth on June 2019, mostly for his contributions in the Thema Devia and for his continuous efforts to spread humor around the site. Flinn was awarded wit the Divus on April 2022, for his overall service in the role of an Administrator. Patronizations Flinn has patronized so far a total of 10 worthy members Lugotorix Lifthrasir joerock22 Socrates1984 Kilo11 Vladyvid Dick Cheney. phazer Jake Armitage webba84 ♔Greek Strategos♔ (adopted) Sponsored Curial Awards Flinn have sponsored a plethora of many great members for various Large Curial Awards: Steph for Opifex Lifthrasir for Novus Alwyn for Novus Abdulmecid I for Phalera chriscase for Phalera Lord Oda Nobunaga for Phalera Roma_Victrix for Phalera Basileos Leandros I for Phalera Bran Mac Born for Opifex Abdülmecid I for Novus Lordsith for Opifex Lordsith for Modding Service Award Sara Temer for Opifex BagaturSasha for Phalera Gyrosmeister for Opifex Narf for Asterix's Loincloth Curial offices Starting from mid 2020, Flinn has decided to be more involved into the Curia. So far he served as: Praefect: from July 2020 until September 2020, when the position was removed due to an Amendment. Censor 1st Term: from January 2021 to May 2021 Censor 2nd Term: from September 2021 to January 2022 Censor 3rd Term: from January 2022 to May 2022 Censor 4th Term: from June 2022 to September 2022 Consul 1st Term: from October 2022 to January 2023 Consul 2nd Term: from February 2023 to May 2023 Consul 3rd Term: from June 2023 to September 2023 Perpetual Consul As of April 2024 the Administration (Hexagon Council) decided to restructure the Curia and the Tribunal due largely to inactivity and also lack of voluntaries. Flinn has been appointed as perpetual Consul, with the duty of running the Curia reduced activity and provide local moderation.

Former and current ranks

Former Ranks

Rank	Description
	Content Staff Content Staff is responsible for writing articles and producing valuable content for the site in general.
	The bosses of the Content Staff's respective branches. They supervise the Content Staff (Writers and Wiki Staff), Librarians and Content Artists.
	Praefectus was one of the new roles introduced with the Curial Overhaul 66, and was responsible for moderating the Curia and administering Citizen referrals
	The Censor position has gone through large changes and the present function is very different from the past, but the name and usergroup lives on.
	Modding staff was responsible for various activities related to modding (Downloads, indexes, permissions, etc)
	The bosses of the Gaming Staff's respective branches. They supervise the Gaming Staff
	The Hexagon Council or ‘Hex’ are the main body which performs the day-to-day administration of Total War Center and its forums.

Current Ranks

Rank	Description
	Citizenship is the fundamental award given by the Curia for contributions to the site and community of the Total War Center.
	Members who choose to be recognized as having strongest ties to the Common Community can select the Civitate badge.
	Patrician is an honorary title and user group reserved for those who hold one of the large Awards, and also for former Administrators.
	The Consul position has gone through large changes and the present function is very different from the past, but the name and usergroup lives on.
	Moderators form the body which performs the vast majority of day-to-day front-line site moderation.
	Divus is the definitive award for former Administrators. It comes with a medal but any Divus holder can also decide to join a unique Usergroup and to show a unique badge.

List of Awards

Awards Achieved

Award	Type	Reason
	Divus	Awarded for distinguished contributions to the community and exceptional service to TWC as an administrator.
	Novus	Awarded for exceptional contributions to the site in the capacity of a staff member.
	Phalera	Awarded for exceptional input or other significant contributions to non-TW sections of the boards.
	Asterix's Loincloth	Awarded for demonstrating purity of mind and spirit on TWC, in the pursuit of humour and good times for all members.
	Curia Service Award	Awarded for serving the Curia with distinction for a period exceeding six months, as voted upon by the Curia.
	TWC Milestone Award	Awarded to those who have been on TWC for 5 years and have accumulated 20,000 posts or to those who have been on TWC for 10 years and have accumulated 10,000 posts or to those who have been on TWC for 15 years regardless of how many posts they have accumulated, and have posted at the least once after becoming eligible as per one of the listed conditions.
	Gaming Chess Piece	Gold - Awarded for merit and time served in Gaming Staff.
	Scribe's Quill	Amethyst - Awarded for merit and time served in Content Staff.
	Moderator's Mace	Silver - Awarded for merit and time served in Moderation Staff.
	The CMS Blogger award	Gold - Awarded for having posted at the least 30 blogs of minimum 500 words each via the Content Management System (CMS).
	Scriptorium Contributor's Medal	Awarded to the utmost contributors to the Scriptorium archives and for exceptional contributions to the Scriptorium as determined by the Chief Librarian.
	TWC University Professor	Awarded for teaching at least one class at the TWC University.
	TWC Wiki Editor Award	Awarded for merit and time served as a non-staffer Wiki Editor.
	TWC University Degrees	Bachelor - to receive a Bachelor's degree a member must have completed at least one course.
	2015 Winners	Awarded for winning Friendliest Member and the TWC Content Award in the 2015 Site Awards.
	2016 Winners	Awarded for winning the TWC Content Award in the 2016 Site Awards.
	2017 Winners	Awarded for winning Funniest Member & Friendliest Member in the 2017 Site Awards
	2018 Winners	Awarded for winning the Funniest Member in the 2018 Site Awards.
	2019 Winners	Awarded for winning the TWC Staff Award in the 2019 Site Awards.
	2020 Winners	Awarded for winning the Funniest Member & the Best Avatar & the TWC Staff Award in the 2020 Member Awards.
	2021 Winners	Awarded for winning the Funniest Member & the Friendliest Member & Best Curialist & the TWC Staff Award in the 2021 Member Awards.
	2022 Winners	Awarded for winning the Funniest Member & the Best Curialist & in the 2022 Member Awards.
	2023 Winners	Awarded for winning the Outstanding Silvio Spirit Award in the 2023 Member Awards.
	The Total Guess Competition Medal	Gold - awarded for earning sixty points in the TGC.

This article is about a member of TWC. Members are usually responsible for updating their own pages as they wish, therefore the information shown may not be up-to-date. For current staff list see here. For current citizens list see here.