Of the Exile

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.

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.

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 was Ogre's bidder he had lined up. But the great and generous imb stepped forward and offered Ogre £1000, or almost $2000.

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.

The next day, Ogre updated his blog.

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.

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?

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

We were not completely deflated, however. We were all still confident TWC would end up in our hands, owned and run by the community.

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?

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.

Conspiracy Theories

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:

• Besim and Ogre are in conflict over ownership of the network and who will get paid what from the sale of the network
• Besim would like to remain a part of the administration with the new owners
• If imb39 bought TWC it is very unlikely Besim would remain in any capacity
• Ogre is learning towards ZBoard as the buyers of ON

Besim's plan was simple.

• 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.

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.

PLACEHOLDER

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11/30/2006 8:16:33 PM Besim Rob/Professor Hello Rob

11/30/2006 8:16:50 PM Besim Rob/Professor You obviously know who I am, so I don't think I need to introduce myself.

11/30/2006 8:17:11 PM Besim Rob/Professor I was going to send you a private message, but decided against it. I figured talking in person is best.

11/30/2006 8:17:24 PM Rob/Professor Besim well given that the last 15 hours or so from TWC have disappeared perhaps you should remind me... but perhaps not

11/30/2006 8:17:34 PM Besim Rob/Professor hush pleas

11/30/2006 8:17:45 PM Rob/Professor Besim righty-o

11/30/2006 8:18:09 PM Besim Rob/Professor 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

11/30/2006 8:18:28 PM Besim Rob/Professor 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

11/30/2006 8:18:44 PM Besim Rob/Professor if you do not cool off, I will ban your account simple as that

11/30/2006 8:19:25 PM Besim Rob/Professor 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.

11/30/2006 8:19:58 PM Besim Rob/Professor 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

11/30/2006 8:20:17 PM Besim Rob/Professor there will be no curia influence in choosing the staff for the site or admin or in this case moderators

11/30/2006 8:20:39 PM Rob/Professor Besim why are you meddling in TWC suddenly? what gives you any moral authority to dictate how things will be done?

11/30/2006 8:20:50 PM Besim Rob/Professor 50% if not more of the people who have been chosen by the curia are lazy and have done nothing....just rank hungrt

11/30/2006 8:20:57 PM Besim Rob/Professor because this is my network, my site

11/30/2006 8:21:07 PM Besim Rob/Professor I maintain the design and they were asking for a design for the longest time

11/30/2006 8:21:18 PM Besim Rob/Professor the network is due for an update, and I started with the site in need of it the most

11/30/2006 8:21:42 PM Rob/Professor Besim that doesn't explain why you have suddenly commandeered TWC

11/30/2006 8:21:49 PM Besim Rob/Professor and dictate? Ogre, Mithras, myself Archer and past admins have not liked the democracy that has been running

11/30/2006 8:22:03 PM Besim Rob/Professor why do I need to explain myself....TWC need an update....I am here to work on it

11/30/2006 8:22:15 PM Rob/Professor Besim 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

11/30/2006 8:22:32 PM Rob/Professor Besim an update is different from a fundamental restructure on a whim

11/30/2006 8:22:39 PM Besim Rob/Professor look

11/30/2006 8:22:57 PM Rob/Professor Besim you haven't been part of the community, you have no idea what has made it successful, what has made it unique

11/30/2006 8:23:01 PM Besim Rob/Professor The curia and the democracy is a broken system, you guys want your people in power and want to manage our sites

11/30/2006 8:23:04 PM Besim Rob/Professor that will not be happening

11/30/2006 8:23:17 PM Besim Rob/Professor Rob I suggest you leave the site alone and move on

11/30/2006 8:23:22 PM Rob/Professor Besim now YOU want to come in and say how things should be and create an image as if TWC was broken and needed fixing

11/30/2006 8:24:05 PM Rob/Professor Besim 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

11/30/2006 8:24:06 PM Besim Rob/Professor 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

11/30/2006 8:24:32 PM Rob/Professor Besim and here I thought you wanted to talk, when you just wanted to threaten

11/30/2006 8:24:33 PM Besim Rob/Professor 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

11/30/2006 8:24:58 PM Rob/Professor Besim 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

11/30/2006 8:25:01 PM Besim Rob/Professor 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

11/30/2006 8:25:32 PM Besim Rob/Professor Rob find a new website to visit

11/30/2006 8:25:35 PM Rob/Professor Besim causing issues that didn't need to be done? are you listening to yourself?

11/30/2006 8:26:02 PM Besim Rob/Professor you were making posts and making an uprising

11/30/2006 8:26:04 PM Rob/Professor Besim you disbanded the curia and syntagma only to be force dto reform it hours later

11/30/2006 8:26:19 PM Rob/Professor Besim talk abotu things that didn't need to be done... jeez

11/30/2006 8:26:52 PM Besim Rob/Professor the curia needed to be rid off

11/30/2006 8:27:00 PM Rob/Professor Besim according to whom?

11/30/2006 8:27:01 PM Besim Rob/Professor wether you like it or not, it is not my problem

11/30/2006 8:27:15 PM Besim Rob/Professor according to the admins who run the site and the issues it has caused

11/30/2006 8:27:17 PM Rob/Professor Besim the administrators that neglected the site? you, sulla, archer?

11/30/2006 8:27:23 PM Rob/Professor Besim YOU have caused the issues

11/30/2006 8:27:27 PM Rob/Professor Besim ARCHER caused the issues

11/30/2006 8:27:30 PM Besim Rob/Professor you are banned

11/30/2006 8:27:34 PM Rob/Professor Besim the curia has done nothing wrong

11/30/2006 8:27:34 PM Besim Rob/Professor good day