Thesilentjackofalltrade
Unregistered
Spacebattles.com, Betryal and Exodus
04-21-2014, 05:50 AM
On April 19th, 2014, Admin The Observer of the Website "Spacebattles.com", with the approval of the only other two active Admins, RJB and Reaperman, fired Athene, previously known as Thantos, from her SuperMod position with vague reasons that did not make any sense. (Keir, the owner, not being active for long periods of time was not personally involved.),
There was no reason stated for the sudden firing of Athene, who was a Mod for 10+ years and actively donated money to Spacebattles for upkeep.
Most of the time, we would not have much of an issue with this. But The Observer attempted to lie to the entire website by calling it a willing retirement.
And posting the retirement thread one minute after telling Athene that she was fired, effectively making it official before she could even ask why she was fired.
http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/ ... ng.295647/Where the Observer Lies, Athene reveals the lie, and Reaperman digs the hole even deeper.
http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/ ... an.295763/Where the discussion continues, flying in the face of Reaperman's decisions to close the first thread.
http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/ ... ne.295822/Where people try to get Athene back her job.
http://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/th ... es-com.97/A new website (Name in the works.) was made, as Athene's firing and the epic lie were the last straw for Lord Squishy, who bought and paid for a better website then what Spacebattles is run off of. In a single say almost 450 users signed up.Spacebattles has been suffering from Lag and stiff rules, with everything that was piling up this was bound to happen.
This website has the ability to out perform Spacebattles due to being more updated, and can be upgraded if need be, and will perform better even if it gets as many users as Spacebattles.
So, what do you all think? In a single day The Observer destroyed the majority of the trust people had in Spacebattles, and the users that commonly donate money to website upkeep are saying that they are no longer going to donate.
I think that Keir will notice the lack of funding, and The Observer, Reaperman, and to a certain extent RJB will have to pay for their betrayal.
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Veni, vidi, vici. [ I came, I saw, I conquered
Quote from Julius Caesar
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I haven't spent significant time on spacebattles.com, but the times I did visit, the site was super slow with random downtimes. At the risk of the pot calling the kettle black, I think I can support a community fork on technical reasons alone.
-- ∇×V
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Honestly, I don't think it costs all that much to run SB. Kier may very well have been just pocketing that money anyhow... in which case he will definitely notice that the shit has hit the fan. 450 Users is a huge hit for that forum. And I can honestly say that I'll be migrating my own membership as soon as I get caught up on a few things.
EDIT: ...Aaaaaaannnnnd DONE! Tsjoat, you will probably get a kick out of my new avatar and title over on Sufficient Velocity. 
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Richardson needs their many faces of Scootaloo avatars, it's just not the same without the orange chicken 
And BA, why am I thinking that a certain non-Lockheed prototype USN seaplane is you over there?
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It's actually a raven giving a camera lens an extreme close up in an effort to figure out what the mysterious and (more importantly) shiny object is. The expression in its eyes is comically "Oh? What be this? It nifty?" But the extreme close-up of that honkin' huge beak and those beedy eyes would provoke a "GYYAAAAH!" reaction if you ever saw it over your shoulder.
This choice was prompted because A) I happen to like ravens for being absurdly clever bastards (more so than most other birds out there - they actually make tools!), and B) I have gotten that reaction from people due to my naturally quiet nature - I've had to start wearing jangly things so I don't accidentally scare someone.
The maraschino cherry on top is the custom title: "Scaring people witless since 1980."
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Got to say I'm not really whelmed at how SB has been run lately. The first reflex to lie about it makes me extremely unhappy.
I wish the new site luck.
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
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Quote:Spacebattles has been suffering from Lag and stiff rules, with everything that was piling up this was bound to happen.
In all honesty, I've never had an issue with the rules on SpaceBattles. The moderati rule with an iron fist in a velvet glove and keep the board (for all it's derpiness) fairly honest and easy to read. Strong moderation is a good thing when it comes to high-volume boards like SB, otherwise they devolve into pits of channers, racists, pedophiles and other assorted dipshits. Hopefully SV will continue the tradition if push comes to shove.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
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Give me a link and I'll be over there this evening. I'm not necessarily tired of SB but am willing to check things out, and that was a shite way of doing that regardless of a three mod agreement.
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Quote:M Fnord wrote:
Quote:Spacebattles has been suffering from Lag and stiff rules, with everything that was piling up this was bound to happen.
In all honesty, I've never had an issue with the rules on SpaceBattles. The moderati rule with an iron fist in a velvet glove and keep the board (for all it's derpiness) fairly honest and easy to read. Strong moderation is a good thing when it comes to high-volume boards like SB, otherwise they devolve into pits of channers, racists, pedophiles and other assorted dipshits. Hopefully SV will continue the tradition if push comes to shove.
Well, the issue people are taking up with the The Observer and his cronies is the way Athene was handled. And then when the forums at large asked for evidence of Athene's wrongdoing people will volunteer and say they have evidence, but refuse to post it because they claim it's inflammatory. Real evidence of Athene abusing her modly powers is yet to come forth. And on top of it all, it just flies in the face how other mods have abused their power and yet are still around, still doing their job.
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Yes, I'm well aware of what the situation is and why people are ticked. What I was saying was that "stiff rules" are one of the main reasons SB remains readable even mid-drama, and that I hoped SV wouldn't relax the moderation just to be different.
...and as I say this a broadcast message goes up on SV saying the shit that'd get you banned on SB will get you banned there as well. A positive sign, that.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
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I do agree on the "stiff" rules thing. I also agree that a board, regardless of stiffness, does need the rules to be clear and consistently enforced within that.
Also, yeah, I also agree that the situation was radically mishandled by Space Battles, from what little I've managed to read. If you're gonna fire someone, don't expect them to sit down and take it as "an opportunity to save face" when you try to spin a different reason for them leaving other than "we didn't want them here anymore". You either do it quietly, or if you have to say something publicly, just say it outright that you got rid of them, because while that might not make you friends, lying makes enemies faster, and can in this day and age, leave your reputation a smoking ruin.
--
"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
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..I like the new board on its own merits.
It isn't being spammed into insensibility and errors by BROB-threads, for a start.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
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Quote:Dartz wrote:
..I like the new board on its own merits.
It isn't being spammed into insensibility and errors by BROB-threads, for a start.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
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Quote:Dartz wrote:
..I like the new board on its own merits.
It isn't being spammed into insensibility and errors by BROB-threads, for a start.
That won't be an issue for some time to come. While SB is being run off some old desktop computer, SV is being run off an actual server, which is orders of magnitude better. Also, if there ever actually needs to be a hardware upgrade, the Admins have physical access to it.
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So stuff continues to get real over at space battles.
So evidently after reviewing the evidence, 5 of the other admins decided it was entirely insufficient and were so disgusted with the backstab they just resigned in solidarity.
After that, the admin who posted the "retiring" weasel-thread has fallen on his sword.
For me, I'm utterly disgusted by a lot of the unabashed knob-polishing that went on in support of the rather blatant back-stab.
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Quote:VladimirTherin wrote:
So stuff continues to get real over at space battles.
So evidently after reviewing the evidence, 5 of the other admins decided it was entirely insufficient and were so disgusted with the backstab they just resigned in solidarity.
After that, the admin who posted the "retiring" weasel-thread has fallen on his sword.
For me, I'm utterly disgusted by a lot of the unabashed knob-polishing that went on in support of the rather blatant back-stab.
Minor point of order: The five who resigned were mods, not admins. The Observer, who, as you mention, is the one who posted the "retiring" thread, was actually an admin.
This thread has a running summary of everything that has happened on the SB forum in relation to this.
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Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
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This whole thing's been like a train wreck in a fuel depot in slow motion.
Oh, and The Observer has decided to throw in the towel... Though a lot of people are calling BS on it because he's still retaining admin privileges to do site maintenance. He claims that he'll have no mod abilities at all. We'll see...
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How can one have admin privileges without mod privileges?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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BEHOLD!
SV's first Disciplinary Review Panel... It's a thing of beauty, folks! http://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/th ... aber.1150/
EDIT: to fix the link so it goes to the first page.
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Ahh, I love the smell of reasoned debate in the morning. It smells like... justice.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
yes nice to see IRL politics i.e. the biggest/loudest noise wins NOT applying here
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Not yet, anyway.
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blackaeronaut Wrote:BEHOLD!
SV's first Disciplinary Review Panel... It's a thing of beauty, folks!http://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/th ... aber.1150/
EDIT: to fix the link so it goes to the first page. "This couldn't be more clear-cut if you hired a hundred lumberjacks."
Somebody with an account there might want to quietly PM a few folks and mention I pointed out that misuse of an appeals process is yet another troll tactic.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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Well, one crisis ended, but two more have begun:
First, a couple of weeks or so ago, some guy decided to use SB's private messaging system to spam disgusting photos. The mods banned him, repeatedly, but as he was using proxies to get around the bans the admins had to remove the registration ability. Nobody knows when it'll be reinstated.
Second, just last night it was announced that the server's running dangerously low on hard drive space. Members are being told to limit their posts or even stop posting in the meantime. The admins are trying their best to put temporary fixes to the problem, but a truly permanent solution would require access to the actual hardware; only the owner of the site has that access, and he's rarely available.
I can only hope that these crises do not lead to the downfall of such a wonderful site as SB. 
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... Wow, it looks like the lifeboat may have been built just in time... It'll still be a shame to lose the massive history in Creative Writing and the good quests, though.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows
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