Norse_Harold is taking a break from moderation

[Norse_Harold]

I'm taking a break from moderation for a while.

Dunedan is about to apply some policy decisions for the lobby that I consider poorly planned. Examples of policy that he has proposed are muting of users for, in my opinion, excessive durations of more than 24 hours, and perma-banning users where temporary banning would be more appropriate and more effective. I have tried discussing this with him many times, and he has refused to acknowledge key facts, such as the history of attempting to enforce bans in the lobby, and instead insists on ending debate and applying arbitrary policy decisions.

These proposed policy decisions would in my opinion cause a setback in progress enforcing the rules. I feel like the manual monitoring of lobby chat that I have done has been taken for granted by Dunedan.

I don't want that done in my name. I've been out in front appearing to be in control of the lobby, the only one with an @ symbol next to my name. I've been the only one mentioned in the message of the day greeting. Yet I'm not actually in control. So I'll take a break from moderation and let Dunedan take responsibility and control instead of just control.

I've been doing the heavy lifting and have saddled the emotional burden of the lobby without getting the credit. I have been helping new users with troubleshooting installing and networking 0ad. I have been stepping in to stop people from fighting with each other. I have been basically the only one monitoring chat manually for the past year and issuing mutes as appropriate. I have been hosting games with rules regularly to create a space for people who want to get along and treat each other with respect.

The Outcast affiliation still doesn't work, even after I completed testing of the update that would fix it, and Dunedan said that no further testing was necessary. This means that it is not being fixed for political reasons, not technical reasons. Unless Outcast affiliation works then I do not have the ability to ban lobby users. In my opinion, I have been demoted. What kind of Administrator doesn't have the ability to ban a user?

Dunedan at one point said that if there is a complaint about his "authority" then he is the only one who can be consulted about it, that no one else can be consulted. What ethical organization has a policy where there is no transparency or oversight for an administrator? Fortunately, I did not let this deter me from getting sunlight on the situation. I shared chat logs with Stan after obtaining reluctant permission to do so from Dunedan.

Unfortunately, after I talked to "upper management" of Wildfire Games by sharing examples with Stan and Itms of what I consider bad behavior by Dunedan, it was met with inaction. Dunedan's choices have been effectively rubber stamped by Stan and Itms.

I will take a break until better decisions are made.

Realize that without people helping new users install the game and get it working, there will probably be a decrease in player count over the long term. I don't like this fact, but it is the reality of things.

In the meantime I will use the name Skyforger_Harold for off-duty lobby purposes. Please direct all lobby moderation and administration requests to Dunedan for the time being.

Edited 11 hours ago by Norse_Harold

[Norse_Harold]

I am taking a temporary break from lobby moderation.

I will use the name Skyforger_Harold for off-duty lobby purposes. Yes, it is an officially authorized duplicate lobby account.

Please direct questions and requests regarding the lobby to Dunedan for the time being.

What I have written about why I am taking a break is hidden by Dunedan for a reason, which I dispute.

Okay, now the post is unhidden.

Edited 11 hours ago by Norse_Harold

[Gurken Khan]

I can't really say much about moderation, the people, the processes, the policies.

But it seems obvious to me that policies shouldn't be decided by a single person. And it also seems obvious to me that the single address for a complaint about a person mustn't be that person themself.

Regarding leadership and inaction: maybe it's time that the people who can decide something decide something. It's been over a year now that @Stan` stepped down as project lead? As far as I'm aware there hasn't been a word since regarding leadership or the general structure of the project.

Let's hope we can sort out this situation and the way forward amicably.

[Atrik]

2 hours ago, Norse_Harold said:

about to apply some policy decisions for the lobby that I consider poorly planned. Examples of policy that he has proposed are muting of users for, in my opinion, excessive durations of more than 24 hours, and perma-banning users where temporary banning would be more appropriate and more effective. I have tried discussing this with him many times, and he has refused to acknowledge key facts, such as the history of attempting to enforce bans in the lobby, and instead insists on ending debate and applying arbitrary policy decisions.

Weird but reassuring to read you explain that. Thanks @Norse_Harold.