(no subject)
i can say with all sincerity that it's been the people playing this game that has kept me here for so long. there are some incredible, talented and wonderful people. i know this is long overdue. the cloning attack on myself and alice was difficult but it's not what's kept me away. leonardo dicaprio in his own life has deviated from who he was when i picked him up years ago. back then he'd been dating bar for many years and prior to that he dated giselle for years. ya he dated gorgeous women and he had his own wild youth but he'd proven at the time to be able to commit. since my picking him up he's dated a slew of models and actresses, none of them for long, and most looking like publicity stunts. at this point i'm half convinced by the idea of him and lucas haas bearding all these models. either way it's not very commendable. he's either sleeping around pretending he's still twenty or he's lost in the closet. i thought marriage might not be right for the man unless he found someone stellar (which in my honest opinion is how alice and i wrote the storyline, mine did actually have a problem owning up to settling down at first, but alice was that special to him) but he's slid into douche territory over the last couple years and really made coming back to him feel odd. i couldn't marry mine with who he is currently. i guess that happens to most of us around here if we stick around long enough.
i want to thank anyone who interacted with me, who storylined with me, who commented me, and who forever gave their support to me. there's way too many to name names and at this point i don't really want to bring anyone unneeded attention. my friends are good people who just want to be left alone to do their storylines and interact with other wonderful people here. i can never thank those who commented my ooc post after the harassment. you all are at the top of the heap in my heart.
i was told by the moderators that i am violating the rules by 'harassing' them with my comments and if i pull such behavior again i'll be banned. i may not hold my temper well any more after their admitted fuck up with taking over the bubbles, i may not be a ray of sunshine or keep my sarcasm at bay, but i have legitimate questions and concerns and they cannot even pretend to consider them. i'm a vocal minority to them and should be silenced. i've received multiple private messages from people supporting my concerns and wishing there was some way to speak up without being harassed themselves. from this warning issued to me, i don't see what anyone can do through their journal/character email. clearly they won't tolerate dissent. be that a warning to anyone else who wants to question them. bring a lot of back up or continue to stay quiet. it's a sad situation.
re: the bubbles. they claim there were concerns from people about my running the awards for years. i'd say anyone would get shit for running them and clearly banks and levine would not have continued with us until last year if they thought it was awfully done. after last year's bubbles they told myself and daria that they were tired of people not interacting and participating with the event, that it was like pulling teeth to get people to vote and write blurbs and so on. it's a legitimate gripe and i told them i was sorry to see them leave but understood the annoyance of it all. it's more work than you might imagine. i did not consult with swift this last december because a) all she did was help us count and help levine organize blurbs and b) she was a moderator now so i'd assumed she didn't want to be involved in a popularity contest. i contacted many people from what i thought of as wide cliques, being thoughtful to grab an actor, actress, musician and athlete. i was to have a background organizational role and help out with html and planning while the new four found their feet. i told them all i planned to close after the awards. swift immediately wondered what i was up to and why i didn't contact her. i told her why i hadn't and we seemed to understand each other. she offered that the moderators take on the brunt of the bullshit by being involved as overseers that could see everything but weren't really involved unless someone wondered about it being rigged. it seemed odd to me that the mods would want to sanction the bubbles as being 'official' but the idea itself sounded just fine. we planned a bit and we left fassbender to post. we didn't beta his post and valo found it offensive and all the shit happened. i'm still sorry to everyone involved for the headaches simply wanting to help out has brought you. it's been later revealed to me that banks and levine claim they left because of last minute votes and new journals voting. as upright as they feel they are as citizens of this community, i don't see why they couldn't have either a) talked to me about it and their concerns or b) had the moderators talk to me about it. if someone had come to me at any point and gone 'look it seems like new journals are voting and causing an issue' i'd have heard them out on ideas to counter it. or hell, they could have broadly told me people had concerns over my running the bubbles and could i hand it off to someone(s) new, which was basically my plan anyway, but if they'd aired such concerns i could have left full stop. instead they assumed the last minute votes were my doing, which still doesn't make any sense to me, as they still could have confronted me. they claim to be open and transparent but didn't once bring any of these concerns to me in my years of running the awards. what happens instead is a big upheaval of the community and a moderator controlled awards. moderators who won't take any negative criticism or feedback. good luck ever getting anything changed beyond what they and their friends want done. i'd rather see the awards in anyone else's hands who are not the moderators and not those who have worked on it before. new eyes watching over things. but well, if you don't agree with the bubbles, don't participate, like a lot of my friends, simple as that. or voice your concerns in emails to the mods. though this might mark you as one of the 'minority' of journals not 100% adoring them. ya it's a silly awards thing but it's symptomatic of the rest of the problems with the mods here at mbp.
it's "nice" to see the nominations/winners are mostly filled with moderators/their friends. emma stone and jennifer lawerence have posted visibly to their friends list something like three times in the last year. how do you make up a new award and only have three nominees (aka the porn star subcategory)? how rude is it for those running the awards to give themselves a fake lesbian award? way to cheapen everything even further. at least with alienating most of the game, the moderators and their friends got to push through whoever they wanted for nearly every category. the winners are the same old rotation of people, only shifted toward the mods. still unfair to the smaller cliques. and what stellar graphics. comic sans and arial are making a comeback, along with no nominee badges and the badges all being the same background. ah yes, what stunning artists you have happily working for you. at least ten minutes of google image searching and putting on default text. the whole thing has been very timely too. it only took half the year in this dragged out mess.
changes i'd like to see:
-we need more moderators. they can say no over and over again but i do think it's necessary. harris cannot counterbalance two mods that have already driven valo from his post. it might make things slow but it's needed to reassure the community.
-we need moderators from different circles. harris and zegers were fine enough options but where were the rest? they're best friends and as much as the moderators will say otherwise they still share the same circle of friends. not to call people out but where are the suggestions from jonstewart's friends or chordoverstreet's friends or plenty of other sub-groups that honestly don't interact with me. i was hoping to see far more variety in their offering and instead it was more or less flipping a coin over two people who are from the same circle of friends. it was no different in my opinion than when they asked a straight yes or no vote on swift herself. there was no real choice to make.
-there needs to be a firm time limit for moderators to hold the position. i honestly don't think it should be held for life. with valo on the team it lent some credibility to the whole team but with him gone i believe a limit should be put into place. it could be long, maybe three to five years, but it should be in place so no journal(s) sit in power forever. it's obviously tiring and pat sharp in particular seems to have a short fuse that he doesn't see when he interacts with anyone who doesn't 100% agree with the moderators. understandable if you've dealt with people bitching at you for years and years, but yet another reason why we need more/different moderators. mods should be calm and neutral with each comment.
-we should be advertising our existence to attract new blood. most mainstream agencies know of our existence and most celebrities know about the fake twitters pretending to be them. for fuck's sake jeremy renner had to use the handle renner4real because everything else was taken. it's not the same internet it was over a decade ago and livejournal is not the same hot spot for fandom as it once was. it feels like this place has become quiet or filled with the same people making new journals.
-every rule change should be voted upon. the last moderator post on pregnancy was really ridiculous but i cannot comment as any comment from me is deemed harassment. whether i agree that random civilian baby pictures should be used or not is besides the point. it was once again a unilateral decision on their part without the community involved. banning friends and family members from the game was voted upon and current journals/storylines grandfathered in. why was this treated differently?
-return to mbp's roots. this game is unique because of the freedom allowed to the journals. so long as you don't harass others, don't do fake rape or incest or death storylines, and update once every six weeks, everything is a-okay. the last mod post and comments therein was filled with storyline shaming. don't like someone having a fake baby after a two month pregnancy? unfriend them. easy as that. even coworkers. there is no requirement that you must have someone added and if someone's out there storyline freaks out their friends page that's their own fault. it's your right to unfriend and ignore them. allow the community to decide who they choose to interact with.
-community vote on these new bubble categories and rules. many are redundant or unnecessary. i pointed out the lack of possible people to be nominated to the porn star category and was shot down that it was a needed addition. sure. i can see that by the number of nominees. why are some categories like funniest journal a one time win but others aren't? i don't understand how those categories are picked out. why not make everything a one win only rule. why does being funny or any of the others fall into that category? it seems random. allow there to be feedback from the community.
-friends and family of the moderators need to watch their tone in community posts. many were very rude and act as if they themselves are moderators. please let the moderators moderate and keep yourself to defending these friends when personally attacked and not acting as if you yourselves are mods, even if we all know they let you get away with anything.
good luck to anyone who is staying and dealing with this insanity. hopefully one day the people who have come to me in support will themselves speak up and change the community for those who are staying.
feel free to message me instead of commenting here if you'd rather not be judged by the mods and their friends. i reserve the right to ban anyone in comments.
this has been in my drafts for a while but seeing how the mods think any of my interacting in posts is a ban-able offense, i'm leaving now after commenting on the bubbles finale shitstorm.
i want to thank anyone who interacted with me, who storylined with me, who commented me, and who forever gave their support to me. there's way too many to name names and at this point i don't really want to bring anyone unneeded attention. my friends are good people who just want to be left alone to do their storylines and interact with other wonderful people here. i can never thank those who commented my ooc post after the harassment. you all are at the top of the heap in my heart.
i was told by the moderators that i am violating the rules by 'harassing' them with my comments and if i pull such behavior again i'll be banned. i may not hold my temper well any more after their admitted fuck up with taking over the bubbles, i may not be a ray of sunshine or keep my sarcasm at bay, but i have legitimate questions and concerns and they cannot even pretend to consider them. i'm a vocal minority to them and should be silenced. i've received multiple private messages from people supporting my concerns and wishing there was some way to speak up without being harassed themselves. from this warning issued to me, i don't see what anyone can do through their journal/character email. clearly they won't tolerate dissent. be that a warning to anyone else who wants to question them. bring a lot of back up or continue to stay quiet. it's a sad situation.
re: the bubbles. they claim there were concerns from people about my running the awards for years. i'd say anyone would get shit for running them and clearly banks and levine would not have continued with us until last year if they thought it was awfully done. after last year's bubbles they told myself and daria that they were tired of people not interacting and participating with the event, that it was like pulling teeth to get people to vote and write blurbs and so on. it's a legitimate gripe and i told them i was sorry to see them leave but understood the annoyance of it all. it's more work than you might imagine. i did not consult with swift this last december because a) all she did was help us count and help levine organize blurbs and b) she was a moderator now so i'd assumed she didn't want to be involved in a popularity contest. i contacted many people from what i thought of as wide cliques, being thoughtful to grab an actor, actress, musician and athlete. i was to have a background organizational role and help out with html and planning while the new four found their feet. i told them all i planned to close after the awards. swift immediately wondered what i was up to and why i didn't contact her. i told her why i hadn't and we seemed to understand each other. she offered that the moderators take on the brunt of the bullshit by being involved as overseers that could see everything but weren't really involved unless someone wondered about it being rigged. it seemed odd to me that the mods would want to sanction the bubbles as being 'official' but the idea itself sounded just fine. we planned a bit and we left fassbender to post. we didn't beta his post and valo found it offensive and all the shit happened. i'm still sorry to everyone involved for the headaches simply wanting to help out has brought you. it's been later revealed to me that banks and levine claim they left because of last minute votes and new journals voting. as upright as they feel they are as citizens of this community, i don't see why they couldn't have either a) talked to me about it and their concerns or b) had the moderators talk to me about it. if someone had come to me at any point and gone 'look it seems like new journals are voting and causing an issue' i'd have heard them out on ideas to counter it. or hell, they could have broadly told me people had concerns over my running the bubbles and could i hand it off to someone(s) new, which was basically my plan anyway, but if they'd aired such concerns i could have left full stop. instead they assumed the last minute votes were my doing, which still doesn't make any sense to me, as they still could have confronted me. they claim to be open and transparent but didn't once bring any of these concerns to me in my years of running the awards. what happens instead is a big upheaval of the community and a moderator controlled awards. moderators who won't take any negative criticism or feedback. good luck ever getting anything changed beyond what they and their friends want done. i'd rather see the awards in anyone else's hands who are not the moderators and not those who have worked on it before. new eyes watching over things. but well, if you don't agree with the bubbles, don't participate, like a lot of my friends, simple as that. or voice your concerns in emails to the mods. though this might mark you as one of the 'minority' of journals not 100% adoring them. ya it's a silly awards thing but it's symptomatic of the rest of the problems with the mods here at mbp.
it's "nice" to see the nominations/winners are mostly filled with moderators/their friends. emma stone and jennifer lawerence have posted visibly to their friends list something like three times in the last year. how do you make up a new award and only have three nominees (aka the porn star subcategory)? how rude is it for those running the awards to give themselves a fake lesbian award? way to cheapen everything even further. at least with alienating most of the game, the moderators and their friends got to push through whoever they wanted for nearly every category. the winners are the same old rotation of people, only shifted toward the mods. still unfair to the smaller cliques. and what stellar graphics. comic sans and arial are making a comeback, along with no nominee badges and the badges all being the same background. ah yes, what stunning artists you have happily working for you. at least ten minutes of google image searching and putting on default text. the whole thing has been very timely too. it only took half the year in this dragged out mess.
changes i'd like to see:
-we need more moderators. they can say no over and over again but i do think it's necessary. harris cannot counterbalance two mods that have already driven valo from his post. it might make things slow but it's needed to reassure the community.
-we need moderators from different circles. harris and zegers were fine enough options but where were the rest? they're best friends and as much as the moderators will say otherwise they still share the same circle of friends. not to call people out but where are the suggestions from jonstewart's friends or chordoverstreet's friends or plenty of other sub-groups that honestly don't interact with me. i was hoping to see far more variety in their offering and instead it was more or less flipping a coin over two people who are from the same circle of friends. it was no different in my opinion than when they asked a straight yes or no vote on swift herself. there was no real choice to make.
-there needs to be a firm time limit for moderators to hold the position. i honestly don't think it should be held for life. with valo on the team it lent some credibility to the whole team but with him gone i believe a limit should be put into place. it could be long, maybe three to five years, but it should be in place so no journal(s) sit in power forever. it's obviously tiring and pat sharp in particular seems to have a short fuse that he doesn't see when he interacts with anyone who doesn't 100% agree with the moderators. understandable if you've dealt with people bitching at you for years and years, but yet another reason why we need more/different moderators. mods should be calm and neutral with each comment.
-we should be advertising our existence to attract new blood. most mainstream agencies know of our existence and most celebrities know about the fake twitters pretending to be them. for fuck's sake jeremy renner had to use the handle renner4real because everything else was taken. it's not the same internet it was over a decade ago and livejournal is not the same hot spot for fandom as it once was. it feels like this place has become quiet or filled with the same people making new journals.
-every rule change should be voted upon. the last moderator post on pregnancy was really ridiculous but i cannot comment as any comment from me is deemed harassment. whether i agree that random civilian baby pictures should be used or not is besides the point. it was once again a unilateral decision on their part without the community involved. banning friends and family members from the game was voted upon and current journals/storylines grandfathered in. why was this treated differently?
-return to mbp's roots. this game is unique because of the freedom allowed to the journals. so long as you don't harass others, don't do fake rape or incest or death storylines, and update once every six weeks, everything is a-okay. the last mod post and comments therein was filled with storyline shaming. don't like someone having a fake baby after a two month pregnancy? unfriend them. easy as that. even coworkers. there is no requirement that you must have someone added and if someone's out there storyline freaks out their friends page that's their own fault. it's your right to unfriend and ignore them. allow the community to decide who they choose to interact with.
-community vote on these new bubble categories and rules. many are redundant or unnecessary. i pointed out the lack of possible people to be nominated to the porn star category and was shot down that it was a needed addition. sure. i can see that by the number of nominees. why are some categories like funniest journal a one time win but others aren't? i don't understand how those categories are picked out. why not make everything a one win only rule. why does being funny or any of the others fall into that category? it seems random. allow there to be feedback from the community.
-friends and family of the moderators need to watch their tone in community posts. many were very rude and act as if they themselves are moderators. please let the moderators moderate and keep yourself to defending these friends when personally attacked and not acting as if you yourselves are mods, even if we all know they let you get away with anything.
good luck to anyone who is staying and dealing with this insanity. hopefully one day the people who have come to me in support will themselves speak up and change the community for those who are staying.
feel free to message me instead of commenting here if you'd rather not be judged by the mods and their friends. i reserve the right to ban anyone in comments.
this has been in my drafts for a while but seeing how the mods think any of my interacting in posts is a ban-able offense, i'm leaving now after commenting on the bubbles finale shitstorm.