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| − | ==A Notice from Professor420== | + | ===A Notice from Professor420=== |
| − | <big>UPDATE</big>: New sections have been added.
| + | You can now find my complete article at [[Of the Exile]]. That will be all from me, I wish this wiki good luck. |
| − | | |
| − | I have hijacked the front page for the time being, and for this, I apologize. But as the Wiki was my pet project, and now I have been unfairly banned from TWC, I would like to post this here for maximum exposure. I request that you do not edit it out... in a couple days I will remove it. Otherwise, the Wiki is functioning as normal.
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| − | | |
| − | You can also reach this page from [[Of the Exile]]. | |
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| − | I will be taking this down tonight and just adding a link to my article.
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| − | | |
| − | ===The Return of Besim===
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| − | This story begins 4 days ago, when Besim returned to TWC. Since the October crisis, things had been running mostly swimmingly. Despite the unfortunate resignations of Garbarsarbar, Mimirswell, and imb39, things were relatively stable. Simetrical had been doing a load of forum work and upgrades with was desperately needed, the Curia had gained some independence and there were murmurs from some circles above democracy.
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| − | | |
| − | Besim's return changed all of this. Things were immediately silenced in the Curia, I was explicitly asked to keep things on the backburner until Besim had left. I obliged, and focused on the Total War Center Wiki and some other projects. Besim said he was there to upgrade the forums and site. The truth was far from that, as I will explain.
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| − | | |
| − | ===The Sale of ON===
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| − | Two days ago, some members contacted me about pooling funds to purchase TWC from Ogre's Networks. Ogre had openly declared his intent to sell ON, on his blog, [www.fromthecookpot.com]. We found great potential and inspiration in the idea of a community owned board, and when we found out the price was a measly $1500. ZBoard (a company that makes keyboards [http://www.ideazon.com/modules/changecountry.asp?from=global Link]) was Ogre's bidder he had lined up. But the great and generous imb39 stepped forward and offered Ogre £1000, or almost $2000.
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| − | | |
| − | Myself and the people who were in on the situation were overjoyed at such an act of selflessness. Feeling confident in our future, we waited.
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| − | | |
| − | The next day, Ogre updated his blog.
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| − | | |
| − | <hr>
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| − | ''Things have been long and drawn out in the process of Ogre relinquishing his interests in Ogre’s Network. There have been many hurdles. Some, he admits, have been caused by him, others have been caused by others involved. It all started about five months ago, now.
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| − | | |
| − | ''Two guys from Zboard approached me about buying the network. I won’t say who they are, because that’d be a breech of trust, but let’s just say at the time they had a good offer. So, what did Ogre do?
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| − | | |
| − | ''Well, Ogre was so busy with work and life–so he had somebody else handle it. And, truly, it doesn’t matter who tried to handle it, it was a big task. But, Ogre should have helped more than he did. He gave the deal to Besim. Umm, hmm, a mistake?
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| − | | |
| − | ''I’ll give Besim one thing, he’s a good web designer. We all know that. Yet, I’ll be honest, he tends to be selfish and greedy. That’s just his nature. Otherwise a good guy, don’t get me wrong. Herein lies the problem, though. Everytime I just want to let things go–no matter who’d it be to–Besim gets in the way. Why?
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| − | | |
| − | ''Even though the copyright on the bottom of each site says “copyright 2006 Ogre’s Network”, he claims the site designs are his. What the hell? Yeah. He might have designed them, but they belong to the network as a whole. I mean talk about selfish. I have no problem with him wanting to sell them to others later on, or what not. But, to say right now that he’ll take them away–I mean he’s pretty much talking about defacing the network. That’s troubling.
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| − | | |
| − | ''Of course, I’m trying to be the nice guy, like I usually am. And Besim thinks he’s getting the shaft, but I think I am to be perfectly honest. And I’m fed up with it. I am. This is getting neither of us anywhere.
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| − | | |
| − | ''It’s all giving me a headache. I’m wanting out of Ogre’s Network, just like Mithras is. And he is, now. So, I’m just trying to get things together to sell. That way things can at least go on without us three. Besim is wanting to get onboard with the new guys, which is understandable, but he has to understand that they have their own initiative as well. Also, now, I’ve got some fans from the sites wanting to buy the network as well. It’s getting extremely messy.
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| − | | |
| − | ''I’m wanting the quickest way out, that doesn’t destroy the network. And I believe the guy from Zboard is the best bet. He just seems the right fit for the financing. It takes a lot to run a game network. That’s why so many have fallen into the dust. Only a handful have survived because they took the right actions at the right times.
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| − | <hr>
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| − | | |
| − | We were not completely deflated, however. We were all still confident TWC would end up in our hands, owned and run by the community.
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| − | | |
| − | So that's where things stood this morning. I returned from breakfast and found a couple very angry and urgent IMs flashing. It turned out Besim has consolidated control of TWC under his fist. Besim's first act as Dictator was to remove the Curia, Symposium, and all Curial ranks (except Artifex). It became clear from his initial plans that Besim was completely out of touch... what can one expect when being gone for a couple years, though?
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| − | | |
| − | In true form, I threw aside the archaeological journal I was supposed to be reading, and got to the bottom of things. I proposed a theory, in a thread ignored by Besim and since lost with the forum database restore, that I will re-propose here.
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| − | | |
| − | ===Conspiracy Theories and Besim's Greed===
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| − | It is my thesis that Besim has undertaken the actions of the last few days in order to drive the sale of Ogre's Network to ZBoard and gain him his proper share of the cash from the sale. First, let us establish the evidence:
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| − | | |
| − | *Besim and Ogre are in conflict over ownership of the network and who will get paid what from the sale of the network
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| − | *Besim would like to remain a part of the administration with the new owners
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| − | *If imb39 bought TWC it is very unlikely Besim would remain in any capacity
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| − | *Ogre is learning towards ZBoard as the buyers of ON
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| − | | |
| − | Besim's plan was simple.
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| − | *First, he would upgrade the TWC skin and software and design, in order to make himself appear more valuable (as opposed to MIA for a year or two). This recent upgrade would also make him, and the network, appear more attractive to Zboard.
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| − | | |
| − | I feel that this is as far as his plan had originally gone. That is, until imb39 placed his bid, and Besim found out. Things rapidly spiraled.
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| − | *Besim, feeling threatened by a sale to a TWC community leader, decided to create a crisis, in true TWC fashion. He struck where even he, in his detachment and isolation from the community, knew would cause problems: he removed the Curia and Symposium.
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| − | *Besim anticipated a flood of dissent towards Ogre, about Besim's actions.
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| − | *Such dissent would drive Ogre to sell the network at any cost. Any further holdout or debate would just be cost-inefficient for Ogre, it just wouldn't be worth it to keep up and resolve the problems with Besim.
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| − | *Ogre would turn towards ZBoard to sell to. With the instability, caused by Besim, and Ogre's current favour of Zboard, this would be the logical conclusion, and far more desirable for Besim.
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| − | | |
| − | ===Morning===
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| − | I had done some minor trolling, according to Staff, referring to Besim's job at Walgreen's/Kohl's as a 'burger-flipper' instead of cashier. Silly me. Anyway, I digress.
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| − | | |
| − | With this revelation of motives in hand, I posted it. It was barely even contested by Besim! I continued to press the issue, culminating in a thread asking for donations to pay off Besim to leave TWC alone. Besim didn't like it, and perma-banned me. Anyway, I made for class.
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| − | | |
| − | ===Afternoon===
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| − | It seems that while I was away, staff had been trying to speak to Besim. He quickly realized that his plan could backfire if he caused too many problems. He slowly made pseudo-concessions, restoring the Curia first to the Common Community, then to the Administrative forums. Besim, though incompetent, is surely crafty. He didn't want to make the same mistake Archer had made when he tried to consolidate the power to himself, and unite the citizens against him. Besim slowly restored the Curia, then the ranks. But privately, in Staff, he was silencing all dissent.
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| − | | |
| − | Besim has made up his mind that Ogre will choose Zboards, and Besim will head the administration while control is transferred. He is recreating TWC into his vision. This is a point of tremendous import that I will elaborate on in a bit.
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| − | | |
| − | ===Evening===
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| − | I returned home from class and found TWC was down, but soon came back up. It seems Besim had decided to restore the database from before his changes this morning. Which means he effectively knocked out all dissent that went on, permanently. Soon after I arrived home, and Besim saw that ugly yellow lightbulb under my name, he contacted me via MSN. Normally, I would never make MSN conversations public, but as I have been banned from TWC for the following exchange, I feel it is only fair. I give only my word about its unaltered genuineness. It has only been cleaned up for slight formatting issues.
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| − | | |
| − | ====MSN Convo====
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:16:33 PM Besim: Hello Rob
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| − | | |
| − | 11/30/2006 8:16:50 PM Besim: You obviously know who I am, so I don't think I need to introduce myself.
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:17:11 PM Besim: I was going to send you a private message, but decided against it. I figured talking in person is best.
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:17:24 PM Rob/Professor: well given that the last 15 hours or so from TWC have disappeared perhaps you should remind me... but perhaps not
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:17:34 PM Besim : hush pleas
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:17:45 PM Rob/Professor: righty-o
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:18:09 PM Besim: None of that would have happened if all went to plan, I know what you have done on other sites (strat commander) and that will not be coming here
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:18:28 PM Besim: I am asking you to cool off, this is an admin issue and there is a small minority of you who feel the need to start an uproar
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| − | | |
| − | 11/30/2006 8:18:44 PM Besim: if you do not cool off, I will ban your account simple as that
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:19:25 PM Besim: YOU have no idea what is going on and I have talked to Ogre today, he apologized to me and from what I know selling the network to TWC will not be an option.
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| − | | |
| − | 11/30/2006 8:19:58 PM Besim: This site will function on a pyramid system, if you do not like how it is run...please leave and find a new place to annoy its member base
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| − | | |
| − | 11/30/2006 8:20:17 PM Besim: there will be no curia influence in choosing the staff for the site or admin or in this case moderators
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:20:39 PM Rob/Professor: why are you meddling in TWC suddenly? what gives you any moral authority to dictate how things will be done?
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:20:50 PM Besim: 50% if not more of the people who have been chosen by the curia are lazy and have done nothing....just rank hungrt
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:20:57 PM Besim: because this is my network, my site
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:21:07 PM Besim: I maintain the design and they were asking for a design for the longest time
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:21:18 PM Besim: the network is due for an update, and I started with the site in need of it the most
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:21:42 PM Rob/Professor: that doesn't explain why you have suddenly commandeered TWC
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:21:49 PM Besim: and dictate? Ogre, Mithras, myself Archer and past admins have not liked the democracy that has been running
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:22:03 PM Besim: why do I need to explain myself....TWC need an update....I am here to work on it
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:22:15 PM Rob/Professor: if I were going to accuse anyone of being power hungry, it would not be the curia, it would be the administrators that boot TWC around at a whim
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:22:32 PM Rob/Professor: an update is different from a fundamental restructure on a whim
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:22:39 PM Besim: look
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:22:57 PM Rob/Professor: you haven't been part of the community, you have no idea what has made it successful, what has made it unique
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:23:01 PM Besim: The curia and the democracy is a broken system, you guys want your people in power and want to manage our sites
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:23:04 PM Besim: that will not be happening
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:23:17 PM Besim: Rob I suggest you leave the site alone and move on
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:23:22 PM Rob/Professor: now YOU want to come in and say how things should be and create an image as if TWC was broken and needed fixing
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:24:05 PM Rob/Professor: I have done far more for the community than you have, I've been a far stronger link to it than you have, and you want me to move on because you've suddenly decided to roost
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:24:06 PM Besim: We are done, this is a staff issue now. I am just warning you to cool off and that the network is not interested in selling the network to you or TWC
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:24:32 PM Rob/Professor: and here I thought you wanted to talk, when you just wanted to threaten
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:24:33 PM Besim: I know I am not part of the community, but I am the one who keeps the site running and have in the past...not recently though
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:24:58 PM Rob/Professor: no, you haven't kept it running in the past... its realy easy to blame the curia for administrative clashes with it, instead of the admins themselves
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:25:01 PM Besim: You were causing issues earlier on that did not need to be done....I am just saying to cool off or I will ban you
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:25:32 PM Besim: Rob find a new website to visit
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:25:35 PM Rob/Professor: causing issues that didn't need to be done? are you listening to yourself?
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:26:02 PM Besim: you were making posts and making an uprising
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:26:04 PM Rob/Professor: you disbanded the curia and syntagma only to be force dto reform it hours later
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:26:19 PM Rob/Professor: talk abotu things that didn't need to be done... jeez
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:26:52 PM Besim: the curia needed to be rid off
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:27:00 PM Rob/Professor: according to whom?
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:27:01 PM Besim: wether you like it or not, it is not my problem
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:27:15 PM Besim: according to the admins who run the site and the issues it has caused
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:27:17 PM Rob/Professor: the administrators that neglected the site? you, sulla, archer?
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:27:23 PM Rob/Professor: YOU have caused the issues
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:27:27 PM Rob/Professor: ARCHER caused the issues
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:27:30 PM Besim: you are banned
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:27:34 PM Rob/Professor: the curia has done nothing wrong
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| − | 11/30/2006 8:27:34 PM Besim: good day
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| − | | |
| − | ===What does this mean?===
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| − | What does all this mean? Well for me, it means I'm banned. So that is why I tell you here, on the Wiki, my last contribution to Total War Center, and the last part of the Total War Community where I can still speak. TWC will go on with or without me, that much I am sure of. One thing I am equally sure of, however, is the Curia as the single most important factor to TWC's success. Even if it hasn't had any real power since 2003/2004, there has always been the prospect of influence. The Curia has acted marvelously in member retention. The shelf life of a TWC citizen is far longer, and far more robust, than most other forums, exactly because of the Curia. It allows members who haven't even been in modding or the Commons for many months to stick around, it provides an attachment to the site, it provides a somewhat lower commitment to the site than being on Staff. It is from these members, these citizens, these Curial contributors, that you get much of your great content. This is how you get your Wiki, modding videos, your TW Academy, ideas for forum restructures, council policies, etc. The Curia's great draw is not its roleplaying aspect. It is its democratic potential.
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| − | | |
| − | Without the Curia, you'd have a far more bare TWC. It is not the administrators that are responsible for TWC's success, it is its unbelievably devoted member base. The 'crises' that have supposedly threatened TWC are not the Curia's doing, while I have been here at least. The reforms, the October Crisis, and now, the Thanksgiving Crisis (I would say Christmas Crisis but odds are there'll be another one within the next 25 days). They have been instigated by Staff, and taken out on the Curia. Its unfortunate, because most of us want what is best for TWC. But the administrators forget that without the tremendous contribution of the Curial ranks and members, they'd have far less to administrate.
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| − | | |
| − | To paraphrase a former admin, "For the general members, TWC will continue on relatively unchanged. But then again, those members could care less where they go for fansite info." It is the unique members who make TWC great, who, though the people in The Basement and Mod Threads may not know them, contribute to the forum as a whole. Their rank has acted as a reward, and their responsibilities have tied them to this site and have spurred continuous contribution. Your M2TW General Discussion is never going to be so different, or much better, than the dotcom's, than the org's, than heavengame's. The same way the Org has its bwains, its Epistolary Richards, its Myddrraals, who are responsible for its popularity and sustainability, you have tenfold that number who contribute to TWC in similar ways. Getting rid of the Curia, and by turning it solely into an RPG you ARE getting rid of it, you take away the hub of these members, their commonality, their ability to find common ground and involvement.
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| − | | |
| − | Its no secret that I want to see a true democracy on this "web 2.0" we are experiencing. But at this point, I want things just back how they were. I want the network out, I want the Curia back, I want our hard-working admins back and their fair and functional administrative structure back. What we've been presented with is an alternative from someone who has never been part of the community. He doesn't understand the dynamics, the way the community works, who the faces (or avatars) are, the history, or what has made it popular. Besim returns purely out of selfishness, out of his desire to control his own future with the new owners of TWC. And this is who leads TWC now. If you want to see where the rest of ON's sites have gone, you can check out their links from [http://www.ogresnet.com/html/sites.php]. But be warned, most of them are dead, or sold. ON has had nothing to do with TWC's success, you have, we all have. Now don't let anyone tell you otherwise, and don't let your contributions, responsibility, and commitment to Total War Center be taken from you, not like this.
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| − | | |
| − | ===UPDATE 12/1/06: New Developments===
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| − | Besim's takeover continues to be rocky for everyone involved. Staff, both senior and junior, have been dropping, the site has been broken for most of the day. There have, however, been some interesting disclosures made to me from various sources.
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| − | *Archer had initially attempted to purchase TWC in March 2006.
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| − | *The sale fell through when two technical administrators from ZBoard contacted Ogre about purchasing the site.
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| − | *These bidders are under the assumption that '''everything stored on the Network servers is the property of the network. This would includes all mods hosted on TWC.''' Fortunately, this is not the case, as I will explain later, but what is important is to understand what ZBoard thinks.
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| − | *I urge you to read the above point again.
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| − | *Besim is seeking a paid position with the new owners.
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| − | *Besim has been openly hostile to all dissent, and threatened to ban anyone who disagrees or dissents.
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| − | | |
| − | If the plot hasn't become clear to you, I elaborate from where I left off in "Conspiracy Theories."
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| − | *Besim has increased incentive to make sure zBoard, and not imb39, purchases ON and TWC.
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| − | *Besim is pulling out all the stops to silence TWC opposition, no matter how it damages the community. Because ''he doesn't care about the community.'' Mark my words, the day the sale is finished, Besim will move on.
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| − | *When Besim moves on, guess who will take over TWC? '''Archer.''' Besim's only defender, Besim's only ally, the only voice Besim will listen to. And we've seen what Archer will do when he's given hegemony over the site.
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| − | *Besim will move on, Archer will take over TWC, and he will likely allow all the banned members back, appease them by giving their citizen ranks back, but mark my words, the fundamental change of having, for the first time in TWC history that I know, a sustained and recognized autocrat, with no checks to his powers (as weak as the checks of the Triumvirate and Hex provided), will strip TWC of its culture. A hamstrung Curia that is part of the Common Community instead of the Administrative forums in all except forum location will be little better than what we have now.
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| − | | |
| − | And then the community, once again, will be left to pick up the pieces from the meddling of administrators. After they molest us, rape us, it is on our shoulders to fix things. Besim will have ravaged TWC, Archer will have fundamentally changed it, and it will be up to us to 'accept it or get out.'
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| − | | |
| − | One more thing, as if anyone needed more evidence of Besim's pettiness, and dangerousness. Last year, when the Half-Life2 forums Omnipotent-Q ran wanted to leave Ogre's Networks, Besim logged into the Admin Control Panel, and ''''deleted'''' a particularly dissenting member. Wiped him out, all his posts, all his work for the time he was a part of the board. Just because he spoke out against network interference, and advocated leaving the network. I'm going to get some more details about this to fill you all in. That's who you're dealing with, here. And now he is threatening permabans left and right.
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| − | <blockquote>Besim: at this point I am willing to ban anyone if you guys are trying to come across our way and making accusations</blockquote>
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| − | You've been warned.
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| − | | |
| − | I for one will not accept this. If there were ANY questions, ANY reservations, about the selfishness of Besim, of ZBoard, of Archer, they've been laid bare now. ZBoard gets its supposed ownership of the mods, Besim gets his job as a webdesigner, and Archer gets his absolute control of TWC. And what does the community get? Hurt members, changed structure, banned patrons.
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| − | | |
| − | ===The Folly of ZBoard===
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| − | ZBoard is making a big mistake, legally and socially.
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| − | | |
| − | Legally, ZBoard will NEVER get ownership of the mods, even if they were entirely developed on ZBoard's servers and space and bandwidth. When someone creates something, whether an asset, a line of code, or even a written idea, it is the property ''of the creator.'' For it not to be, requires one of two things:
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| − | *''An assignment of rights:'' Every modder would have to sign/agree to a contract that states he assigns the rights of all of his mod work over to ZBoard. Otherwise, the creators retain the rights, no matter where they're stored.
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| − | *''A Work for Hire contract:'' Work for Hire essentially states that a certain individual is not an employee, but all the work produced by that person in a certain arena (for example, the mod they are working on) belongs to the contractor. Every member would need to agree to a work for hire contract in order for ZBoard to own their work, no matter where they are stored.
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| − | | |
| − | Neither of these things matter, however. ''The TWC community is multinational, and the laws of the US may not apply to many countries, meaning the contract may be nullified.'' In addition, ''many members are under legal age and cannot legally enter into any contract.''
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| − | | |
| − | Are these the new owners you want? By staying silent, by letting Besim have his way, these are the new owners you are going to get! Owners who think they own your mod work, who will create a EULA or ToS to subversively try and gain control of that work. The amount of selfishness here is sickening, the damage it is doing to the community is sickening. And goddamn it, don't sit by and not do anything about it.
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