We're sorry, We screwed up.

[Steb]

I would like to start off by apologizing to the community on behalf of myself, and the TGN team. We came in with the best intentions for Stratics. But were much too over-zealous. We didn't consult the current staff and acted on our own. We are in agreeance that OT was a problem and something had to be done about it. But the way we went about it was wrong.

We are now in the process of talking it over with the Stratics staff on the best thing to do right now for Stratics. And we will be giving periodic updates in the coming days / weeks of our progress.

Lastly, We apologize for the hastily taking down the OT forum with no prior warning. I hope that we can get off on the right foot from here on out.

I leave you with a video depicting our fail and the events that took place, With Steb as Carl

[YOUTUBE]ZpjyH-LkEAg[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Taylor]

As you probably know, before healing can take place, the substance of this post must be demonstrated through tangible reparations. The apology is appreciated, but is unlikely to be well-received by the Stratics community until they believe that your words are supported by significant and timely changes. This goes for Stratics staff just as much as for Stratics members.

For starters, divested staff members must be re-badged, long-time posters must have their post counts (and, in some cases, their access) restored, and some form of general OT thread must return. That's my opinion, anyway.

 

[CrazyJoe]

I honestly thought of something to write you, but my fear is youwould ask "who are you?" would come to mind and it would be all for nothing, tossing it aside through the plethora of hatemail you may have in your inbox or email box.

So I'll give you the summary.

Think of Stratics as a lovely little home; Your home will need a toilet, otherwise folks will dump in your living room.

If you want the long version I guess I could crack my knuckles and have at it......

 

[Forestal]

Be careful Steb. About 10 posts down, Kelmo said he would ban anyone who brought this battle here.

And you went and made it sticky.

Anyway, if I were you, I would remove about 80% of the "we's" you used and replace them with "I's"

Own it bub. It was you. Not "we"

 

[Dani]

When this apology is complete, I might care. However, until you admit to and apologize for removing staff members without reason or notice, banning long-time posters without reason or notice, editing the posts of members for no reason other than your own amusement, lying about content allowed on OT-NHB in order to serve your own purpose and blaming others for your hissy fit and the fallout from it, then it's nothing but an empty gesture. Even if you do add a little video at the end and try to be cutesy about it.

Also, you could put it back in the News forum, where everyone can see it, instead of hiding it here on a forum dedicated to one single game, instead of the community as a whole.

 

[Vivian]

and why is this tucked away in this forum? why isn't it on the general discussion forums, or better yet in the news forums? don't have balls big enough to admit you screwed up to that much of the stratics community?

 

[Steb]

Be careful Steb. About 10 posts down, Kelmo said he would ban anyone who brought this battle here.

And you went and made it sticky.

Anyway, if I were you, I would remove about 80% of the "we's" you used and replace them with "I's"

Own it bub. It was you. Not "we"

Hi there Forestal. I was told by Petra and a few other staff to post it in this section.

And of course, Yes I did screw up. I am simply stating that I'm not alone in the fault, there were many of us at work here.

 

[Experimental]

I would like to start off by apologizing to the community on behalf of myself, and the TGN team. We came in with the best intentions for Stratics. But were much too over-zealous. We didn't consult the current staff and acted on our own. We are in agreeance that OT was a problem and something had to be done about it. But the way we went about it was wrong.

We are now in the process of talking it over with the Stratics staff on the best thing to do right now for Stratics. And we will be giving periodic updates in the coming days / weeks of our progress.

Lastly, We apologize for the hastily taking down the OT forum with no prior warning. I hope that we can get off on the right foot from here on out.

I leave you with a video depicting our fail and the events that took place, With Steb as Carl

[YOUTUBE]ZpjyH-LkEAg[/YOUTUBE]

Yea, no ****, sherlock.
You guys have blown any credibility you could possibly ever have with the OT people.
I never posted there, but read it many many times and it was an excellent place to vent and oftentimes quite funny.
Now, enter TGN:
People who appear to HAVE NO CLUE about UO and know even less about the community here at Stratics and instead of watching and checking things out, you guys turn into a Gestapo-type dictatorship with ideas that are so PC (god forbid an investor might read this and get even mildly offended!!!) you make Obama look like a severe right winger, wipe out an entire forum, use the ban hammer with wild abandon then come back with an "Oops".
Seriously...
Oops?
"Oops" doesn't even begin to describe your total and epic fail.
I'd be surprised, if your attitude keeps up like this, if Stratics doesn't become a wasteland in a short amount of time.
I'm betting at least some of the people who were banned won't set through the Stratics door again for all the tea in China and I KNOW some people here have to be considering whether to ever visit this site again. I know I am in doubt as to whether I ever want to come here again.

 

[Mordan]

Now now folks...
Lets not kick a man while hes down. We should show how mature and understanding we are. Take the high road. Be gracious. Turn the other cheek. Offer an olive branch. Not rise to pettiness. Play nice. Hold hands. Sing kumbaya....
*chuckles*

 

[Thorstein]

When this apology is complete, I might care. However, until you admit to and apologize for removing staff members without reason or notice, banning long-time posters without reason or notice, editing the posts of members for no reason other than your own amusement, lying about content allowed on OT-NHB in order to serve your own purpose and blaming others for your hissy fit and the fallout from it, then it's nothing but an empty gesture. Even if you do add a little video at the end and try to be cutesy about it.

Also, you could put it back in the News forum, where everyone can see it, instead of hiding it here on a forum dedicated to one single game, instead of the community as a whole.

Well said Dani.

 

[Forestal]

Be careful Steb. About 10 posts down, Kelmo said he would ban anyone who brought this battle here.

And you went and made it sticky.

Anyway, if I were you, I would remove about 80% of the "we's" you used and replace them with "I's"

Own it bub. It was you. Not "we"

Hi there Forestal. I was told by Petra and a few other staff to post it in this section.

And of course, Yes I did screw up. I am simply stating that I'm not alone in the fault, there were many of us at work here.

Sorry. For an "expert" writer and a group that has a CEO, that was seriously one of the worst crafted apologies ever. Maybe your PR dept should take a crack at it.

Hell. 5 minutes on an Alphasmart and I could do better.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Unmoderated, unfiltered, UO OT posting available at www.classicuo.com

 

[Dani]

my opinion: don't bring back OT:NHB

why?

you guys are ****ing pricks. they probably closed you down because of your racism and hate speech. get a grip on reality and join the human race and maybe someone will give a **** about your opinion.

when Rico came to UHall calling all of us "f*gs" I'm sorry but that pissed me off. get a life, please.

I have a video for you stupid *******s right here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQYDvQ1HH-E

Interesting.

I have been a very active member of OT for years, and I've never created a post that even approaches the cussing you've used here, nor have I called people names as you have here.

Guess not all OT posters are as offensive as you seem to think, just like I'd never assume that all UO posters are as abrasive and rude as you are, and punish the entire forum because of it.

 

[Thorstein]

Thanks Morgana, but we have a new home already

 

[Experimental]

Unmoderated, unfiltered, UO OT posting available at www.classicuo.com

Nice!!!

 

[Forestal]

So did I make it in 5 minutes?

Even used an Alphasmart. lol

Over the past few days, many things have transpired on this site. Things that were regrettable, and fully preventable had I not let my emotions get in the way of my judgment. My excuse, yeah, I have one, but it doesn’t really matter. In the long run, I was given a position of authority and I misused it. I guess I still have a bit of growing up to do.

I just wanted to say, I’m sorry. I’ve been a gamer for a long time, and I understand what community is, what it brings to the table for gaming and other aspects of a person’s life. Some people see it as a passing hobby, other’s see it as a form of recreation, while still others feel a sense of belonging. I took that away from you with the press of a button. And I regret it.

I want you to know that what has happened here has made a profound impact on me, and I feel that I am more equipped to handle what gets thrown at me down the road. I still have a lot to learn about Stratics, and the people I’ve affected by this, but I’m talking with everyone at TGN about how I can make it right again.

Look for more in the near future, and again, I’m sorry.

 

[Aran]

This is the sort of apology an abusive husband gives his battered wife.

 

[Faerunner]

Thank you for posting something in the way of an apology. The video was cute, but the llama ought to have been tossed out of the lifeboat at the end.

Good luck with the forums. You guys will need it.

 

[Forestal]

This is the sort of apology an abusive husband gives his battered wife.

lol

Pretty much. But it's an abusive husband the REALLY wants to change!

 

[LadyNico]

When this apology is complete, I might care. However, until you admit to and apologize for removing staff members without reason or notice, banning long-time posters without reason or notice, editing the posts of members for no reason other than your own amusement, lying about content allowed on OT-NHB in order to serve your own purpose and blaming others for your hissy fit and the fallout from it, then it's nothing but an empty gesture. Even if you do add a little video at the end and try to be cutesy about it.

Also, you could put it back in the News forum, where everyone can see it, instead of hiding it here on a forum dedicated to one single game, instead of the community as a whole.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

This is the sort of apology an abusive husband gives his battered wife.

Exactly.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Thanks Morgana, but we have a new home already

Home, visiting, whatever...

 

[Beer_Cayse]

Well put ... I stopped frequent use of OT after Leandra passed, but still came thru once in a while.

Bad form all around.

 

[Beer_Cayse]

Er, as one who watched UHall and other spots get trashed the other day, ya gotta admit it was pretty rotten of OT'ers (some, not all).

There are good points here from those who got kicked around. I hope the new folks up top do a LOT of good things right smart.

One "aw, ****!" wipes alot of brownie points from the slate.

 

[Thorstein]

Er, as one who watched UHall and other spots get trashed the other day, ya gotta admit it was pretty rotten of OT'ers (some, not all).

There are good points here from those who got kicked around. I hope the new folks up top do a LOT of good things right smart.

One "aw, ****!" wipes alot of brownie points from the slate.

How would you react if your new landlord walked into your home, took a dump on your kitchen table then burned down your house when you took offense? Yeah, a lot of our posters crossed the line, but I totally understand the anger.

 

[Kiminality]

I had to do a little clean-up of the thread.
Outright attacks are a no-no.

This is probably going to sound a bit patronising, even though I don't mean it to be, so I apologise in advance, but I want to make a few things clear without dithering around over wording, trying to make it sound "just so".

I didn't issue any warnings or infractions for the posts I've removed, and as long as you keep it within the region of the RoC, I don't plan to.
The same goes for those who are banned, but here on alt accounts. I don't want to chase you down, because:
1.) You'll just make new ones.
2.) This apology is for you. There is absolutely no point in an apology, if it's not received by the people it's for.

I know it's not my place to make decisions like this, but I ask any roaming mods or admins to respect this thread, the same as I ask the posters to. Please don't come in, guns blazing, unless anyone really steps out of line.

 

[Aran]

I have a request: Mods get out.

 

[Dani]

I have a request: Mods get out.

Yay! Since they stripped me of my badge without notice or explanation, I get to stay! \o/

 

[Storm]

I am roaming, ;-) but after the last day or so, looking for more to mod is fore sure not on my list lol!

 

[Thorstein]

2.) This apology is for you. There is absolutely no point in an apology, if it's not received by the people it's for.

And it's here in this dead forum because y'all used to hang out here, not because it doesn't deserve the prominence of the posts explaining why we got shut down.

 

[Kiminality]

I have a request: Mods get out.

Denied.
You me too much

2.) This apology is for you. There is absolutely no point in an apology, if it's not received by the people it's for.

And it's here in this dead forum because y'all used to hang out here, not because it doesn't deserve the prominence of the posts explaining why we got shut down.

There's a ton of possible responses to that...
1.) Some apology is better than no apology.
2.) It's a start.
3.) At least he's trying.
You can take your pick and accept/reject.
I'd personally go with #2, but this isn't about me, so I'll take a step back.

 

[Dani]

1.) Some apology is better than no apology.
2.) It's a start.
3.) At least he's trying.
You can take your pick and accept/reject.
I'd personally go with #2, but this isn't about me, so I'll take a step back.

I can't agree with any of that.

1.) Not when it glosses over everything, is hidden in an unused forum, and fails to address several issues that have been repeatedly ignored.

2.) Only if it's followed up with more. Otherwise, it's just an attempt at damage control.

3.) Sure he's trying. He's trying to do a lot of things with this apology. Actually doing what is needed to make a real difference isn't one of them, though.

 

[XLaCeDX]

rtlfc

Ok someone explain who is TGN who is Steb and who was the porn of that Petra mentioned she saw, I guess in the OT forum?

I gather some Mods got the boot and see? I am being nice and not asking who they were or why Dani has a pic of that redheaded girl from Charmed in her sig and why the redheaded girl is massaging her own boob in an weird contorted kind of way.

I am exercising self control here because I have lots more questions about this hubbub.

I personally vote no to porn on Stratics in any forum. If that's the route Stratics is headed in I will have to find another UO website to visit, or maybe even create my own.

 

[Dani]

rtlfc

Ok someone explain who is TGN who is Steb and who was the porn of that Petra mentioned she saw, I guess in the OT forum?

I gather some Mods got the boot and see? I am being nice and not asking who they were or why Dani has a pic of that redheaded girl from Charmed in her sig and why the redheaded girl is massaging her own boob in an weird contorted kind of way.

I am exercising self control here because I have lots more questions about this hubbub.

I personally vote no to porn on Stratics in any forum. If that's the route Stratics is headed in I will have to find another UO website to visit, or maybe even create my own.

TGN is the company that bought Stratics. Steb is one of the people from TGN.

I don't know what porn Petra has seen, but there has never been porn allowed on OT. If it was ever there, it was pulled quickly and the poster banned. I can only recall two incidents of this ever happening, at least while I was on staff.

Many mods logged in to find that they were no longer staff, without being given a reason, and without any notice.

The sig was made for me by someone awesome, so I use it. It's one of many. They all suit me in one way or another.

 

[Taylor]

rtlfc

Ok someone explain who is TGN who is Steb and who was the porn of that Petra mentioned she saw, I guess in the OT forum?

I gather some Mods got the boot and see? I am being nice and not asking who they were or why Dani has a pic of that redheaded girl from Charmed in her sig and why the redheaded girl is massaging her own boob in an weird contorted kind of way.

I am exercising self control here because I have lots more questions about this hubbub.

I personally vote no to porn on Stratics in any forum. If that's the route Stratics is headed in I will have to find another UO website to visit, or maybe even create my own.

TGN is the company that acquired Stratics.

Steb is a full-time TGN employee who was given admin privileges, but had no training or familiarity with administrating forums.

Steb and his counterpart, matthewjames, ventured into OT/NHB. A fight ensued. Steb, et. al., pulled the forum. As a result, Trillian lost her admin badge, Dani and some other mods were de-staffed entirely, and a lot of OT/NHB folks were banned and had their post counts slashed.

The OT/NHB folks started bombarding Stratics forums with a variety of threads, one or two of which contained pornography. Petra, who had nothing to do with TNG's decisions, had to put UO Stratics forums on lockdown for a while.

Steb said he did nothing wrong. George, Steb's boss, said that he did. Steb and matthewjames had their admin badges downgraded to moderator badges. Steb subsequently issued the apology above.

Presently, a lot of people are still upset. George and TGN is trying to figure out how to clean up this mess, Stratics staff are trying to deal with confusion - their own and Stratics posters, and a bunch of OT/NHB posters are still homeless.

 

[Zin]

There's a ton of possible responses to that...
1.) Some apology is better than no apology.
2.) It's a start.
3.) At least he's trying.
You can take your pick and accept/reject.
I'd personally go with #2, but this isn't about me, so I'll take a step back.

It's all three. I think Thor is more or less right in his interpretation... But I'm satisfied.

Thank you Stebs. I honestly hope we never meet again when you have a position of power over what I can or cannot do... But a step forward is noted and appreciated.

 

[Forestal]

TGN is the company that acquired Stratics.

Steb is a full-time TGN employee who was given admin privileges, but had no training or familiarity with administrating forums.

Steb and his counterpart, matthewjames, ventured into OT/NHB. A fight ensued. Steb, et. al., pulled the forum. As a result, Trillian lost her admin badge, Dani and some other mods were de-staffed entirely, and a lot of OT/NHB folks were banned and had their post counts slashed.

The OT/NHB folks started bombarding Stratics forums with a variety of threads, one or two of which contained pornography. Petra, who had nothing to do with TNG's decisions, had to put UO Stratics forums on lockdown for a while.

Steb said he did nothing wrong. George, Steb's boss, said that he did. Steb and matthewjames had their admin badges downgraded to moderator badges. Steb subsequently issued the apology above.

Presently, a lot of people are still upset. George and TGN is trying to figure out how to clean up this mess, Stratics staff are trying to deal with confusion - their own and Stratics posters, and a bunch of OT/NHB posters are still homeless.

*claps*

Well done! Nice summation!

 

[Dani]

The OT/NHB folks started bombarding Stratics forums with a variety of threads, one or two of which contained pornography.

D'oh. I'm a little slow...I didn't think of that, since I wasn't a part of it. You're right, this is probably the porn she's talking about. My mind went to the repeated accusation that OT allowed porn (since that was one of the excuses given for yanking the forum).

 

[Ultima_Dork]

TGN is the company that acquired Stratics.

Steb is a full-time TGN employee who was given admin privileges, but had no training or familiarity with administrating forums.

Steb and his counterpart, matthewjames, ventured into OT/NHB. A fight ensued. Steb, et. al., pulled the forum. As a result, Trillian lost her admin badge, Dani and some other mods were de-staffed entirely, and a lot of OT/NHB folks were banned and had their post counts slashed.

The OT/NHB folks started bombarding Stratics forums with a variety of threads, one or two of which contained pornography. Petra, who had nothing to do with TNG's decisions, had to put UO Stratics forums on lockdown for a while.

Steb said he did nothing wrong. George, Steb's boss, said that he did. Steb and matthewjames had their admin badges downgraded to moderator badges. Steb subsequently issued the apology above.

Presently, a lot of people are still upset. George and TGN is trying to figure out how to clean up this mess, Stratics staff are trying to deal with confusion - their own and Stratics posters, and a bunch of OT/NHB posters are still homeless.

wow, are you an alt in OT?

nicely put

*golf clap*

 

[Tazar]

It is exactly what Petra was talking about. I think she is still washing her eyeballs with soap and water.

 

[Taylor]

wow, are you an alt in OT?

nicely put

*golf clap*

No, I am one of the confused staff members. I appreciate the apology, but my Stratics friends are hurting - both staff and members. People were affected by this mistake in tangible ways, to include Petra and the other UOSS staff who had to deal with the fallout. At minimum, staff members need to be reinstated, NHB folks need to be unbanned, and some semblance of OT needs to be restored before I can accept this apologize and move on.

Not trying to be a contrarian here. I just want to see these wrongs made right.

 

[Aran]

It is exactly what Petra was talking about. I think she is still washing her eyeballs with soap and water.

Petra's seen that gorge before.

 

[Thorstein]

Denied.
You me too much

There's a ton of possible responses to that...
1.) Some apology is better than no apology.
2.) It's a start.
3.) At least he's trying.
You can take your pick and accept/reject.
I'd personally go with #2, but this isn't about me, so I'll take a step back.

It's not a start when Mathew is still spinning the other BS that this apology is supposed to be for in News. Why isn't this apology next to that? When you hide the apology and prominently display the spin, it really shows the true character of new management.

 

[jtw1984]

fffffffffffffff you

 

[baraka66]

I apologize for posting Steb's picture with "Pole smoker" on top of it.

Also for posting the picture of him with the sword on his back and his underwear sticking out, much like a prison punk. The underwear that is, I don't think they allow big swords like that in prison.

That wasn't a nice thing to do.

 

[Petra Fyde]

That the apology is in here is my fault. Why is it in here? Because here is where the people he was apologizing to were hanging out. It seemed logical to me. You don't stand at the front door apologising to people who are gathered on the back porch.
On the other hand it was 11pm, I'd been up since 6am so maybe my thought processes were a little woolly. I'm sorry.

 

[Jermosh]

Oh the OT drama never ends. Its always something or someone going at it.

 

[Jango]

I just wanted to explain something:

Over the years, Ot'ers have developed kind of a strange way of welcoming people who ventured there: they haze them a little (yes, it's true!) And yeah, a few haze a little more harshly than others, but every group has a couple red-headed step children. So although it may seem less-than-friendly, it was established at some point that it was a good way to weed out those who 'get it' and those who do not.

What's to 'get' is that if you're mature enough to keep your head about you, you'll eventually find yourself engaging in discourse amongst highly intelligent and decent people that have been friends with each other for ages.

Not trying to justify here, OT doesn't need one. They've been thriving for years and years; I just don't think anyone thought someone would waltz in, call it 'crap' and hit the delete button on their way out without examining it further.

Here's what you should do:
Replace OT back to exactly where it was: mods, admins, etc and leave it alone until you understand what it really is.

Personally, I'm on the fence as to exactly how good this move was for OTNHB, but I think that they should have a place in Stratics if they'd want it.

And yeah, I think the apology is a good start and a good sign, but hopefully it's realized that it needs to be more than that.

/my two cents

 

[Jango]

Oh the OT drama never ends. Its always something or someone going at it.

Nobody asked you, bible-humper!
...sorry...haven't given you crap in a long time =D

 

[Kiminality]

http://www.stratics.com/stories/our-first-big-mistake

---

When we first announced that Stratics and TGN merged, I wrote a letter to the community where I stated our goal was not to change Stratics, only to improve it. While the merger moved quickly, the merging of personalities, backgrounds and opinions always takes more time and effort, and we made a big mistake.
During the delicate first week before everyone had been properly introduced and included, the TGN staff made a decision too hastily and deleted the Off-Topic forum that had been a special type of outlet for content that was more explicit than anything TGN had worked with previously.
In our haste to bring about a solution that reflected our values, we failed to reach out to the existing staff and community for feedback. I sincerely apologize to all the members and moderators at Stratics for not involving them in this decision.
We realize it is in the wrong order, but we are now reaching out and organizing Skype meetings and asking the community for their thoughts and suggestions.
Today it was brought to our attention that information of significant sentimental value rested in the Off-Topic forum. Unfortunately, the latest backup we could find was from February, three months ago. We will restore all posts and content from then and give the community a chance to collect that data, but the forum itself will be locked. We are open to suggestions on where to go from there.
The primary goal of Stratics is to provide a healthy environment for all communities to grow. We can become the #1 gaming site again, like Stratics was in 2000, if we are a welcoming community to all new users.