KALLISTI: The Mr Influence Final!
Aug 6, 2017 17:16:31 GMT -5
Muhlakai, Ron Gaul, and 9 more like this
Post by Dredd77 on Aug 6, 2017 17:16:31 GMT -5
Greek mythology gives us the story of the Apple of Discord. There was a great banquet of the gods, and Eris, the goddess of discord and disharmony, had not been invited. In revenge for the slight, she conjured up an apple made of pure, radiant gold, and on the side of it was engraved, "for the fairest."
As the banquet- and wine- was in full flow, she tossed the apple into the middle of the proceedings. Three goddesses- Aphrodite (love), Athena (wisdom, who really should have known better), and Hera (women and marriage) all vied for the trophy, and Zeus deferred judgment to a mortal named Paris.
To help sway his favor, the goddesses each made Paris an offer. Give the apple to Athena, and he would become wise and skilled in the arts of war. Hera promised him earthly power, dominion over all the world. And Aphrodite, well, she offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in all the world, Helen of Sparta. Perhaps unbeknownst to Paris, Helen was the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus, and when he took his newly beloved away from Greece and into his home of Troy, well, let's just say there weren't a lot of happy endings.
In considering the events of the past few week on this board, I've been reminded of this story more than once. Unlike the mythical Eris, the very mortal shaolinrogue and I had the very best of intentions when we started this. I'd assumed that the Forum would respond respectfully and maturely and take it as a fun activity, much in the same vein as the "Poster of the Year" awards we did back at the start of the year (which were a blast).
In doing that, I missed something that in hindsight should have been obvious.
This was less pronounced in the early rounds, but finally came to a boil in the semifinals.
The intent was simply to let people recognize those that contributed the most to making this place the Forum we want to see. Instead, we got people rallying clanmates whose participation in the Forum was otherwise entirely modest to come and help pack the ballot box. We got "direct marketing" PM's trying to capitalize on clan enmity to help pack the ballot box. And we even got a mass campaign of dummy "sockpuppet" accounts registered to fraudulently stuff the ballot box. To say nothing of the feuds and bickering that went on behind the scenes.
This literally mattered to someone so much that they stooped to creating a gaggle of fake accounts to pack the tally. An authentic human invertebrate, that one.
Dignity and- dare I say it in 2017- honor were sold for the price of "Influence points" for intangible goods. What a world.
Ultimately, I accept full responsibility for this. I should have known better. After all, think of how many posts and threads stink this place up with attempts to "game the system" of War Robots through tanking, fake Facebook accounts for IP, and more.
Going forward, there are lessons learned, and some very useful takeaways. And to end on a high note, there are also some really wonderful positives! For one thing, the board is back to being as helpful and welcoming as it's ever been. That's not to say that this contest is the sole reason for that- we also weeded out a lot of bad apples and some other things- but since this contest was announced we've seen even more "useful" content being posted. Reported posts- long my barometer for the health of the board- are at an all-time low. At its worst we'd often get multiple reports in a day (not kidding). Now, it's down to one a week or less. Pat yourselves on the back, folks!
And second, WE HAVE 25,000 INFLUENCE POINTS TO GIVE AWAY!
Now here's the twist. Please read carefully. There are two finalists contending for the prize.
ⓣⓡⓘⓒⓚⓨ48 is the third seed, and he's squaring off with eighth seed VivaLaResistance . I think you'll probably agree with me that both of these fellas are absolutely worthy winners and add a tremendous amount to the War Robots community.
*********************HOW TO VOTE*********************
Send me a PM with the subject VOTE and your choice of winner. That's it. Only votes from accounts with 100+ posts will be counted. Sorry, I know it's not as convenient as clicking a radio button but given the sorry extent of the ballot box manipulation, that's how it's going to be. Only DM's sent prior to Tuesday, 08 August at 9PM EST will be valid. I'll count 'em all up and announce the winner.
To the 98% of you who acted in good faith on this, I thank you sincerely. This was a lot of fun, for the most part. I definitely don't want to stop being able to have contests here, we just need to find a way to make them slimeproof.
Good luck to our worthy contenders!
As the banquet- and wine- was in full flow, she tossed the apple into the middle of the proceedings. Three goddesses- Aphrodite (love), Athena (wisdom, who really should have known better), and Hera (women and marriage) all vied for the trophy, and Zeus deferred judgment to a mortal named Paris.
To help sway his favor, the goddesses each made Paris an offer. Give the apple to Athena, and he would become wise and skilled in the arts of war. Hera promised him earthly power, dominion over all the world. And Aphrodite, well, she offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in all the world, Helen of Sparta. Perhaps unbeknownst to Paris, Helen was the wife of the Spartan king Menelaus, and when he took his newly beloved away from Greece and into his home of Troy, well, let's just say there weren't a lot of happy endings.
In considering the events of the past few week on this board, I've been reminded of this story more than once. Unlike the mythical Eris, the very mortal shaolinrogue and I had the very best of intentions when we started this. I'd assumed that the Forum would respond respectfully and maturely and take it as a fun activity, much in the same vein as the "Poster of the Year" awards we did back at the start of the year (which were a blast).
In doing that, I missed something that in hindsight should have been obvious.
This was less pronounced in the early rounds, but finally came to a boil in the semifinals.
The intent was simply to let people recognize those that contributed the most to making this place the Forum we want to see. Instead, we got people rallying clanmates whose participation in the Forum was otherwise entirely modest to come and help pack the ballot box. We got "direct marketing" PM's trying to capitalize on clan enmity to help pack the ballot box. And we even got a mass campaign of dummy "sockpuppet" accounts registered to fraudulently stuff the ballot box. To say nothing of the feuds and bickering that went on behind the scenes.
This literally mattered to someone so much that they stooped to creating a gaggle of fake accounts to pack the tally. An authentic human invertebrate, that one.
Dignity and- dare I say it in 2017- honor were sold for the price of "Influence points" for intangible goods. What a world.
Ultimately, I accept full responsibility for this. I should have known better. After all, think of how many posts and threads stink this place up with attempts to "game the system" of War Robots through tanking, fake Facebook accounts for IP, and more.
Going forward, there are lessons learned, and some very useful takeaways. And to end on a high note, there are also some really wonderful positives! For one thing, the board is back to being as helpful and welcoming as it's ever been. That's not to say that this contest is the sole reason for that- we also weeded out a lot of bad apples and some other things- but since this contest was announced we've seen even more "useful" content being posted. Reported posts- long my barometer for the health of the board- are at an all-time low. At its worst we'd often get multiple reports in a day (not kidding). Now, it's down to one a week or less. Pat yourselves on the back, folks!
And second, WE HAVE 25,000 INFLUENCE POINTS TO GIVE AWAY!
Now here's the twist. Please read carefully. There are two finalists contending for the prize.
ⓣⓡⓘⓒⓚⓨ48 is the third seed, and he's squaring off with eighth seed VivaLaResistance . I think you'll probably agree with me that both of these fellas are absolutely worthy winners and add a tremendous amount to the War Robots community.
*********************HOW TO VOTE*********************
Send me a PM with the subject VOTE and your choice of winner. That's it. Only votes from accounts with 100+ posts will be counted. Sorry, I know it's not as convenient as clicking a radio button but given the sorry extent of the ballot box manipulation, that's how it's going to be. Only DM's sent prior to Tuesday, 08 August at 9PM EST will be valid. I'll count 'em all up and announce the winner.
To the 98% of you who acted in good faith on this, I thank you sincerely. This was a lot of fun, for the most part. I definitely don't want to stop being able to have contests here, we just need to find a way to make them slimeproof.
Good luck to our worthy contenders!
