Well, now that I've spent the last hour reading through this, I think I can gather some opening and closing remarks from my experience. And yes, I am staff. That does not make my opinion worthless on the topic of staff. I have been a player far longer than a helper and I became a helper because I like the staff and the community we used to be and I want to keep it alive. First off, a common thing I read here has to do with staff being rude. I personally don't understand why so many people can't understand sarcasm. Some staff are direct with their reasoning and responses, some are sarcastic. That doesn't make them wrong or unjustified, it just means they have a different approach. And with my time on the server, I've noticed that the players who often get themselves banned after a few months(or even a few minutes) because they subtly push the boundaries every once in a while are usually the ones that get the most heated about sarcastic staff. Sarcasm given to a troll can easily be twisted into claiming staff abuse. I've been on the server many times when a staff member responds sarcastically to a player. Would I have said that? No. Are they wrong? No. Every instance I can remember, the staff member is completely in the right. They may not be a model of customer service, but typically the person they're responding to is some form of trouble maker or otherwise shows signs that they won't be hanging around much longer. Sometimes people just need to learn to take a joke. We don't always want to put "lol" at the end of our sentences to show we're not serious or being rude. This more or less feels like The Big Bang Theory episode where Leonard has to make a "sarcasm" sign because Sheldon simply cannot process when Leonard is being sarcastic. That's pretty much what "lol" is, a sign that we're joking. We don't always put "lol", people. It doesn't mean we're serious. Granted, I don't know every situation, I could be wrong, this is purely from what I've seen over a few years.
And going back to an earlier, smaller topic about the views here, now at almost 700. It really doesn't show opinion, guys. You want to know why it's so high? It's drama. It's juicy gossip that almost no one can resist. It's like turning on the tv and finding out two big celebrities are calling each other out. Most people are gonna stay tuned and watch the crap out of that news channel. A lot of the views are from people that honestly couldn't care less. If they did care, they'd post something or otherwise make their opinion known. Yes, some people just are too afraid to post and get barked at for speaking, but a lot is just drama watching with no intention of making their opinions known. I know, I've been that person many a time.
I'd also like to point out that staff do care about what you guys suggest. We do read your posts, even if we don't comment on them. We do think about them. I love reading suggestions, sometimes putting my two cents in, sometimes storing it in memory for a later date when that topic becomes important again. The players of this community are what make us necessary, for better and for worse. Without the community, Craftymynes is just an empty server. So we do care and we want to make you happy. That's why we spend so much time making fun stuff for the server and trying to keep it as clean as we can.
And if there is anything here that I feel should be stressed, it's that staff are human too. It was mentioned a few times, but not enough. We're just people. We have lives, we have friends, we have closer-than-friends. We date, we live, we get upset, we make mistakes, we learn, we do better. That's what human is. Don't expect us to be perfect. This isn't a job for us, it's willingly sacrificing our time to allow you guys to have fun. We do make mistakes, and I have seen many times when staff have apologized and resolved a situation because they knew they were wrong. I'm not saying that we should be absolved of our mistakes, but understand that we have a right to defend ourselves if we think we don't deserve this kind of complaint against us. In some situations, it can be a complete grey area, which makes for a very difficult justification on either end and the only resolution is that staff get final say.
In Vene's case, if someone knew my real name and said it in open chat, I would be upset too, especially when I never said they could. This isn't real life. This is the internet. We chose our names here and expect to be addressed by them. Vene wants to be addressed by the name he chose for you to see, not the one someone said and you picked up on. Whether for the sake of his choice in name, or for the sake of respecting staff, you should never call someone by any name other than what they have approved of. Just because someone can say something doesn't mean everyone can. And it has nothing to do with staff. If someone learns you're name and is calling you out in open chat with it and you told them not to, that's disrespectful and feel free to talk to staff about it. This shouldn't be blown out of proportion just because they are both staff, because anyone has a right to keep their name private, or at least have it not be used. I think the ban was justified, for many mini reasons that added up to be a big reason. Maybe that's why some people are arguing over technicality of the ban. The reason chosen was not the entirety of it, but a small part of a bigger whole. But like I said, it's a lot of grey area between personal info, respect, and previous issues. None of us are going to learn exactly what was going through their heads when it went down or afterwards. I don't know the full story, but from what I've seen, this is my best opinion of it and until visual proof is given to show otherwise, this will remain my opinion.
Edit: Also, may I point out how because we are human, we are far less likely to take into consideration your opinions when put into a thread full of insults towards staff. Some complaints are legitimate, but a few of them are just jabs at staff for no reason other than annoyed kids who got in trouble for breaking rules. If you want your opinion heard without backlash, please, please, PLEASE, do a pm to staff and not create another witchhunt. What this is is a few upset people standing on a soap box in a public place and shouting complaints to the general public instead of taking it up with the people in charge themselves. Much like a public group of upset people, these threads always turn more into a riot than a resolution. You know how riots end? With those in charge suppressing the riot and no change is made. If you want change, get off your soap box and talk to the staff personally, not to the itching crowd waiting for a bite of action.
Please don't take any of this with ill will. This is my opinion and what I believe. If you have a rational reasoning for otherwise, feel free to think otherwise. We're all just human here.
