Peaceful times.

[ianianmense]

After spending about two years in this community and having been here in ups and downs I have gathered enough information and courage to speak out my view on the situations running or finished in this community.

First of all,
This is a point of view, not a list of facts. I am a human being, i make mistakes. I have emotions, through these emotions i sometimes tended to see only one side of an argument and last of all, i have been the one defending an argument. I will try to make this point of view as unbiased as possible and not offend anyone in the prosses. I cannot guarantee a full unbiased opinion because of my defect of being what i am, a human.

With that said, let's begin.
As the title suggested, we live in peacefull times. Relatively few hackers and more important, no "wars" between players and staff. But this is not something that will endure. As the only real consistent thing is change, a time will come when the arguments will rise. The forums will be heated and people will get banned solely for their opinions. Nobody, member or staff, would want this to happen but sooner or later it will. As some people do not want to find joy by giving it. Some men seek joy in watching the world burn and drown in drama.

And this thought is what started my jourey to seek for a solution prolong this time of peace and tranquility
Asking people from both sides about their opinions on this subject gave me no clues as, as stated earlier, opinions are mostly biased. I decided to sterted looking at things that have been here since the beginning. Things that even the biggest protests have not changed. My answer, the rules. I looked through the rules and they seem quite well. I was about the close the page and look further when i was this one little sentence.

15. These rules are subject to change at any time

This set me thinking, a staff member could ban one unfairly, change the rules and be the judge on their ban appeal. In my opinion this is way too much power to lay in two hands. It is in the very nature of a human being to try and have power over his neighbors. Some men are hungry for power and the benefits it gives.

I am not saying that anyone thus far has misused his or her power. I am just saying that, as change is the only thing persistent, it is going to happen. Regardless of what might have happened in the past.

A good solution to this problem, regardless of when it will be happening, is a system called the Trias Politica. I am almost certain everyone knows this sytem inside out, but for those of you that do not. I will explain it briefly.

As the name my reveal, there are three powers in this system:
-Legislative
-Executive
-Judicial

The first of which is a community elected group of people whose job it is to be the voice of the community. They give advice to the second group. So every now and then they must be re-elected and can be fired.

The second one is a persistent group of people that know how to run a community. They decide whether the advices of the first are to be accepted.

The last set consist of the people of the court. They take care of the rules and are to maintain them. They can be persistent. However if one of these people is suspected of maintaining his power badly. He MUST BE put out of power.

One of the most important aspects of this system is the seperation. One group is to never create a network containing members from another group. This would basically put all the power in two hands again.

I think seperating power into these ranks would prolong the time of peace in this community.

Before anyone claims i want to overtrow the staff by slowly taking their power away. I must honestly say this could happen. It is a small risk that has to be taken in order to get a high reward. The staff, as it is now, will not "lose" as much power as it seems. The only change they will feel is their ability to act as a judge in the appealing of bans.

Sorry for my poor English and sincerely
-Ian

 

[Kezzer]

Regarding the rules being able to be changed at any given time: This is handled by Sr. Staff alone therefore there will be no changes to the rules that are not deemed necessary to maintain order within the community. They will not for example ban and player from using a sword for example as this is part of the game however they can allow a new type of mod to be used by the community without it being classed as hacking (optifine as an example.)

Regarding the triad system: The 3 tiers are actually sort of in place within the Sr. Staff. There is a little bit of overlap but bare with me on that. The staff as a whole can make suggestion, hell even the community can but the majority of suggestions occur at mod meeting where staff feedback things they have seen within the community or have thought of themselves. The Sr. Staff will listen to these and will weed out the less important or weaker ideas. If a Sr. Staff member suggests an idea for example they won't vote on their own idea due to bias so in a way they move between the ranks dependent on the situation. Chad in most cases is in the judicial role and decides what goes through and what doesn't.

 

[ianianmense]

Regarding the triad system: The 3 tiers are actually sort of in place within the Sr. Staff. There is a little bit of overlap but bare with me on that. The staff as a whole can make suggestion, hell even the community can but the majority of suggestions occur at mod meeting where staff feedback things they have seen within the community or have thought of themselves. The Sr. Staff will listen to these and will weed out the less important or weaker ideas. If a Sr. Staff member suggests an idea for example they won't vote on their own idea due to bias so in a way they move between the ranks dependent on the situation. Chad in most cases is in the judicial role and decides what goes through and what doesn't.

As for the first marked text: Here are the exact two reasons things could be better. One, the only way to make this system work is to remove the network between the powers. I am pretty sure, correct me if i am wrong, that the Sr. staff is the very definition of a network. Secondly, the Sr. staff is not community chosen like the legislative power should be and is also not renewed so every once in a while.

For the Second part: I have seen numerous treads with an opinion from one or multiple members of the community. These tread, who i will not qoute or mention any longer, were simply removed. So it is a fact that during dertain events of crisis the voice of the community has been silenced. I do understand the reason behind this. On the other hand, these were well argumented opinions and some people who have liked to see them.

Onto the third: If what you said is true, the Sr. staff should not be the one decing what the less important ideas are. Otherwise they could misuse their power and call a sublime idea "weak".

Lastly: I have had to appeal a ban once and Chad was not my judge. It could have been just coincedence though

Thank you very much for your reply. Sincerely
-Ian

 

[Kezzer]

As for the first marked text: Here are the exact two reasons things could be better. One, the only way to make this system work is to remove the network between the powers. I am pretty sure, correct me if i am wrong, that the Sr. staff is the very definition of a network. Secondly, the Sr. staff is not community chosen like the legislative power should be and is also not renewed so every once in a while.

For the Second part: I have seen numerous treads with an opinion from one or multiple members of the community. These tread, who i will not qoute or mention any longer, were simply removed. So it is a fact that during dertain events of crisis the voice of the community has been silenced. I do understand the reason behind this. On the other hand, these were well argumented opinions and some people who have liked to see them.

Onto the third: If what you said is true, the Sr. staff should not be the one decing what the less important ideas are. Otherwise they could misuse their power and call a sublime idea "weak".

Lastly: I have had to appeal a ban once and Chad was not my judge. It could have been just coincedence though

Thank you very much for your reply. Sincerely
-Ian

Yes the Sr. Staff is a system but the way our community works is that the staff are chosen because of their maturity and aptitude. They may communicate however as I said they will communicate ideas but they will remain impartial on anything they suggest themselves. Sr. Staff do ban disputes, this is important for the community as if Chad alone had to do all ban disputes this would all be mayhem. It is not really going to work at all if staff are not allowed to do multiple things throughout the community between the tiers. There would need to be a lot more staff to enforce all the tiers as well as the way our staff ranking works would not allow a very efficient way for this to be implemented. This is very clear no on my front.

 

[Lively]

While I understand where you're coming from, you have to remember that this is a privately owned community. It can't and won't work like how many governments work.

 

[ianianmense]

Yes the Sr. Staff is a system but the way our community works is that the staff are chosen because of their maturity and aptitude. They may communicate however as I said they will communicate ideas but they will remain impartial on anything they suggest themselves. Sr. Staff do ban disputes, this is important for the community as if Chad alone had to do all ban disputes this would all be mayhem. It is not really going to work at all if staff are not allowed to do multiple things throughout the community between the tiers. There would need to be a lot more staff to enforce all the tiers as well as the way our staff ranking works would not allow a very efficient way for this to be implemented. This is very clear no on my front.

So Chad is not the judicial role? Just as i expected. He cannot do all the disputes on his own.
Also, you really focus on the fact Sr. staff cannot vote on their own decisions. I admire this rule, it is a very efficient way to keep power out of two hands. However I am talking about opinions and ideas from the community.
And lastly, as i mentioned earlier the staff won't change as much as everyone might think. The community will have to change a bit to make this system work and some of the staff will have to specialize in judicial work. Efficiency increases as you split tasks, you let your staff members do the jobs they are best at.

 

[Kezzer]

While I understand where you're coming from, you have to remember that this is a privately owned community. It can't and won't work like how many governments work.

exactly the sr staff are needed to take on multiple roles which will cross multiple of the 3 layers. Moderators also take on multiple layers.

 

[ianianmense]

While I understand where you're coming from, you have to remember that this is a privately owned community. It can't and won't work like how many governments work.

This is no government, i agree with you on that. But i see numerous people leave the community because of the way you run it. This makes me and multiple others consider if it is the best way to run it. This system is not a government however. It would need alot more layers and groups. This is quite a small change that would increase both the efficiency and the community input.
Sincerely
-Ian