So I heard about what went down yesterday/this morning/whenever.
And frankly, I'm really disappointed. So, I'll point a few things out, whether the charges are serious or not.
1. Lyrai has lost her ops officially an amazing
one time, before the Wipe. Any other time she has been deprived of power, she requested it herself due to extreme duress or other issues, without being asked. It takes a lot of guts to agree to step down like that, let alone do it on your own.
2. Maybe it's just me, but isn't constantly questioning one's credentials on the grounds of immaturity AFTER you've been given a satisfactory reason for them to be in power kind of immature in and of itself?
3. Lyrai does not give blow jobs to the other ops. At least, I can't say she gives me any. I can't speak for the rest of the staff. Buncha horndogs. (When prompted, Sye would not confirm or deny, Capn declared it maximum hypocrisy, and Are-X zipped up. Six, surprisingly or unsurprisingly, could not be located for questioning.)
In closing, I pretty much view you all equally when it comes to having to deal with you on a disciplinary basis. I don't like having to punish people even when they make me angry. And every time we have to pointedly add another redundant guideline (first one is really all we should need) to the list, my brain cells cry out in agony. Please, guys, grow up a bit and stop killing poor Uncle Striker's brain cells.
That said, I find out about any more of this sort of thing going on, about
any of the staff, action will be taken.
(If anyone actually wants to discuss this seriously without getting personal about it, I'm game. But it's got to happen calmly, or it will get stamped out. Venting can go on in other channels, not in #mb.)
Alex posted so I could put this up, albeit in the form of a comment. He's approved it too, for the record :P
So...
For those of you who have blinked and missed it, there have been quite a few comments laid against Lyrai. Okay, so Lyrai... isn't exactly the best op, at times. She's done quite a lot of stuff in the past that would lead to other people (especially people with penises, if you believe some of the complaints) being deopped forever. We know. They know. Striker might be black but he's not stupid.
But here's the thing, put in an uncharacteristically blunt and vivid way. Did you know it's possible to relieve the annoying symptoms of athlete's foot with urine? Well, you can. But if someone has athlete's foot, and it's a problem, is urinating on them really going to help? Because that's what most of the people with complaints are doing! It's like urinating with internet text! And urinating on people is Not Cool (TM). More to the point, urinating on people generally produces a negative reaction. So does directing borderline insults at them in a chat room all day. Okay, so you're right to an extent, but there's no need to go on about it.
That just pisses people off, and they react in the normal way people do when they're pissed on/off, and not only does that not help but it sort of lessens any legitimate concerns you have in the eyes of the people who aren't stupid, like Striker (and Alex because he's checking this before I get to put it anywhere).
And if you do think Lyrai is a sub-par op in some respects, look at the op list. There's Striker, who's pretty level-headed, and Alex, who's good if you can tear him away from his D&D werewolf erotic fanfiction, and The_Capn, whose addition to the op list (if you've ever watched him play D&D wtih Lyrai) (to continue the anaology) is like a man with a large canister of athlete's foot powder.
And that's the point, really. The ops think they made a good decision, they think they can take the necessary steps to make sure it's a good decision, and most of them CAN. I know most of you haven't watched us play Dungeons & Dragons but I have, and it's taught me that the people who can curb Lyrai's behaviour far outnumber (and are far more vocal) than the people who pamper her because she has boobs or whatever.
Admittedly, Lyrai does create an astonishing number of complaints for someone who's supposedly been approved to handle the responsibilities of being an op, and your point might be "doesn't that say something by itself?", but most of them are negative ones. They provoke negative reacitons in her (from rage to patronising masked as maturity), which annoy the complainers in turn, and the other ops feel their decision is being mocked, so things just get worse. That's not what voicing concerns is supposed to be about.
It's urinating away the medicine the other people apply and pissing them off, then the person you peed on punches you, then you get into a fight, and that annoys everyone else because you're ruining their medicine and getting pee everywhere. Or something.
If you're going to take anything from this (apart from the pee thing), let it be that there are other ops and they can handle it, and that your concerns, whether they're right or wrong, are never regarded better with constant insults and "you can't silence the truth!" tacked on. Seriously, being a jackass doesn't help.
December 08, 2005 4:35 AM