I interrupt my regularly scheduled update to deal with an unpleasant bit of intarweb!serious business.
Dear R_____,
Congratulations on forcing me to utter the last three words I ever wanted to say: "L_____ was right."
Congratulations on also suckering me into believing you were any more mature than petulant, tantrum-throwing child you use for an avatar at AHS.
Odds are you don't remember me, but I've encountered you twice before, each time under different SNs. I went into detail about this at NC, but I'll cover it once more just in case.
I joined AHS in late December 2003, just as the ODEMH Satan Fe storyline was kicking off--how couldn't I, with so compelling a plot? Sure, the staff tended to throw its collective weight around a bit more than I liked, were a bit more curt than I I'd normally be comfortable with, but I just chalked it up to the stress of running a game of AHS's size. The Invasion thread started, and I eagerly signed on: my char wasn't much of a fighter (his stats are in my AHS sig; they're basically unchanged from the original), but I hoped to make my mark nonetheless. I still have the links to that thread if you care to see it (posting under my old PresTseng SN); some of it was a bit melodramatic, but I thought I was doing pretty well.
Then there was the confusion, where someone took the "Upstairs" order too literally, and people foolishly followed until L____ had an NPC close off that route in dramatic fashion. (And before you ask: no, my char was NOT one of the fools on the staircase; he was one of the fools in the tank being used as a hockey puck. He did attempt to rescue someone buried in the collapse afterward, though. :))
I had no issue with how L____ handled that. YOUR post, however, was another story. I'd run a game of my own for years before I discovered AHS; I know how frustrating it is trying to ramrod a thread where everyone's posting. Snafus like that are inevitable. It's much like the fog of war: Details get missed, wires get crossed, and at some point someone needs to set everyone else straight.
Your CUSRING OUT NEARLY EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE DAMNED THREAD, HOWEVER, WAS COMPLETELY UNCALLED FOR. Greeting people who made a mistake in an environment where such mistakes are inevitable with encouraging words like "you're lost nearly all of whatever respect I ever had for any of you!" was, quite frankly, beyond the pale. Frankly, a person who wigs out to that degree over something that trivial needs to seriously reconsider their choice of hobbies, because guess what? It's not going to get any better. Your reaction to a couple of people who pointed out that the error was, as I said, natural (if somewhat foolish; 70 floors is quite a climb) was even worse.
And if you're about to say "It wasn't aimed at you, dumbass; why do you even care!?", consider this: That sham death of yours wasn't aimed directly at me either, and it still cut me to the bone. And to borrow an Ann Landers quote: "The true measure of a person's character is how they treat those who can't do them any good, and how they treat those who cannot fight back." By either standard, you were pondscum.
However, I was not in a position to do or say much at AHS; you and others made it clear exactly how much a newbie's words were worth. So I held my tongue, and instead voted with my feet: I quit.
About a year later, you quit AHS and join NC--THE VERY RPG I JOINED TO ESCAPE FROM YOU. I'd been admin'ed by then, and as I said in the NC thread, I'd have confronted you the same way the RAF "confronted" Dredsen had Star not stopped me. Indeed, she persuaded me to give you a second chance...and at the time, it appeared she'd called it right. You were kind, polite, giving off the air of someone who'd been grievously hurt and on the mend; perhaps my earlier impression was unfair, based on your being stressed out from your first boardwide SL. And--idiot that I am--I fell for the act.
I don't really do the whole OOC/chat/AIM buddy thing, so I never brought this up--a mistake, in hindsight. Instead I set up an SL with the hopes you might join. And even though your char and mine (Emmaline and Petra, respectively) soon found themselves at odds, I was enjoying the thread immensely. When you "died" (the word at NC came from d___________, whose reliability I consider beyond doubt; the possibility that she, too, may have been fooled never occurred to me) I spent a very long time kicking myself for writing you and AHS off so quickly: had I stayed, gotten to know you better, what other fun RP moments may he have had? I can't help but respect your skills, even now.
And as the anniversary approached, and I was kicking myself yet again....you drop this bomb. It was like turning a flock of gulls loose to use our grief, our memories, all of it for target practice. Worse, you watched the whole thing from a pair of sockpuppet accounts, fully aware what effect it would have--I won't believe otherwise of a person of your intelligence--and you did it anyway. And let those wounds fester for an entire year.
And now you have the gall to wonder why so many now revile you?
The worst part, for me? I could have prevented it--some of it, at any rate. I'd thought I'd been too harsh before; in fact I hadn't been harsh enough. What I thought had been a one-time incident was, in fact, indicative of a pattern; this stunt only proves it. Had I blocked your joining NC...had I explained how I found you so unsettling and lobbied against your joining....had I given in to my lower impulses JUST THAT FUCKING ONCE, I might've saved both NC and myself a world of grief and pain. But nooo, I just HAD to give you a second chance.
I believe everyone is owed at least one chance; a second chance is given only with care; a third, asinine. Everyone else can deal with you as they wish. But this is the second time you've shaken me, R_____; rest assured there won't be a third.
I wish you the best of luck in your current and future endeavors. You'll need it.
Regards,
-![[info]](https://www.scribbld.com/img/userinfo.gif)
logicalmob, a.k.a. Tseng
EDIT: Re: your "Simple and succinct message":
While I'm happy to see you go, I'll have to refuse your offer, R_____. You've already spent the last year and more fucking us. Now it's our turn.
Don't let the door hit you where this attention-whoring stunt bit you,
-logicalmob XD
Dear R_____,
Congratulations on forcing me to utter the last three words I ever wanted to say: "L_____ was right."
Congratulations on also suckering me into believing you were any more mature than petulant, tantrum-throwing child you use for an avatar at AHS.
Odds are you don't remember me, but I've encountered you twice before, each time under different SNs. I went into detail about this at NC, but I'll cover it once more just in case.
I joined AHS in late December 2003, just as the ODEMH Satan Fe storyline was kicking off--how couldn't I, with so compelling a plot? Sure, the staff tended to throw its collective weight around a bit more than I liked, were a bit more curt than I I'd normally be comfortable with, but I just chalked it up to the stress of running a game of AHS's size. The Invasion thread started, and I eagerly signed on: my char wasn't much of a fighter (his stats are in my AHS sig; they're basically unchanged from the original), but I hoped to make my mark nonetheless. I still have the links to that thread if you care to see it (posting under my old PresTseng SN); some of it was a bit melodramatic, but I thought I was doing pretty well.
Then there was the confusion, where someone took the "Upstairs" order too literally, and people foolishly followed until L____ had an NPC close off that route in dramatic fashion. (And before you ask: no, my char was NOT one of the fools on the staircase; he was one of the fools in the tank being used as a hockey puck. He did attempt to rescue someone buried in the collapse afterward, though. :))
I had no issue with how L____ handled that. YOUR post, however, was another story. I'd run a game of my own for years before I discovered AHS; I know how frustrating it is trying to ramrod a thread where everyone's posting. Snafus like that are inevitable. It's much like the fog of war: Details get missed, wires get crossed, and at some point someone needs to set everyone else straight.
Your CUSRING OUT NEARLY EVERYONE IN THE ENTIRE DAMNED THREAD, HOWEVER, WAS COMPLETELY UNCALLED FOR. Greeting people who made a mistake in an environment where such mistakes are inevitable with encouraging words like "you're lost nearly all of whatever respect I ever had for any of you!" was, quite frankly, beyond the pale. Frankly, a person who wigs out to that degree over something that trivial needs to seriously reconsider their choice of hobbies, because guess what? It's not going to get any better. Your reaction to a couple of people who pointed out that the error was, as I said, natural (if somewhat foolish; 70 floors is quite a climb) was even worse.
And if you're about to say "It wasn't aimed at you, dumbass; why do you even care!?", consider this: That sham death of yours wasn't aimed directly at me either, and it still cut me to the bone. And to borrow an Ann Landers quote: "The true measure of a person's character is how they treat those who can't do them any good, and how they treat those who cannot fight back." By either standard, you were pondscum.
However, I was not in a position to do or say much at AHS; you and others made it clear exactly how much a newbie's words were worth. So I held my tongue, and instead voted with my feet: I quit.
About a year later, you quit AHS and join NC--THE VERY RPG I JOINED TO ESCAPE FROM YOU. I'd been admin'ed by then, and as I said in the NC thread, I'd have confronted you the same way the RAF "confronted" Dredsen had Star not stopped me. Indeed, she persuaded me to give you a second chance...and at the time, it appeared she'd called it right. You were kind, polite, giving off the air of someone who'd been grievously hurt and on the mend; perhaps my earlier impression was unfair, based on your being stressed out from your first boardwide SL. And--idiot that I am--I fell for the act.
I don't really do the whole OOC/chat/AIM buddy thing, so I never brought this up--a mistake, in hindsight. Instead I set up an SL with the hopes you might join. And even though your char and mine (Emmaline and Petra, respectively) soon found themselves at odds, I was enjoying the thread immensely. When you "died" (the word at NC came from d___________, whose reliability I consider beyond doubt; the possibility that she, too, may have been fooled never occurred to me) I spent a very long time kicking myself for writing you and AHS off so quickly: had I stayed, gotten to know you better, what other fun RP moments may he have had? I can't help but respect your skills, even now.
And as the anniversary approached, and I was kicking myself yet again....you drop this bomb. It was like turning a flock of gulls loose to use our grief, our memories, all of it for target practice. Worse, you watched the whole thing from a pair of sockpuppet accounts, fully aware what effect it would have--I won't believe otherwise of a person of your intelligence--and you did it anyway. And let those wounds fester for an entire year.
And now you have the gall to wonder why so many now revile you?
The worst part, for me? I could have prevented it--some of it, at any rate. I'd thought I'd been too harsh before; in fact I hadn't been harsh enough. What I thought had been a one-time incident was, in fact, indicative of a pattern; this stunt only proves it. Had I blocked your joining NC...had I explained how I found you so unsettling and lobbied against your joining....had I given in to my lower impulses JUST THAT FUCKING ONCE, I might've saved both NC and myself a world of grief and pain. But nooo, I just HAD to give you a second chance.
I believe everyone is owed at least one chance; a second chance is given only with care; a third, asinine. Everyone else can deal with you as they wish. But this is the second time you've shaken me, R_____; rest assured there won't be a third.
I wish you the best of luck in your current and future endeavors. You'll need it.
Regards,
-
logicalmob, a.k.a. TsengEDIT: Re: your "Simple and succinct message":
While I'm happy to see you go, I'll have to refuse your offer, R_____. You've already spent the last year and more fucking us. Now it's our turn.
Don't let the door hit you where this attention-whoring stunt bit you,
-
logicalmob XD