The Rise and Fall of the Last Emperor of TWC

[Simetrical]

Sim... I wonder if it would be possible to "declassify" some of the relevant archived posts in staff?

I would be reluctant to do so without consent of all participants, which is probably not practical in most cases.

[God]

Finish the thread Archer. I've just discovered it, it's interesting

[vizi]

Things titled the Rise and Fall that are autobiographies often go unfinished God. The author tends to get ummm killed.

[Portuguese Rebel]

Crandar was Siblesz's fault. And maybe Mithras', later, since Spartan once said Crandar was given shell access during the hacker attacks (above Sulla's and Spartan's heads).

This is unfair. Crandar was a collective fault. Siblez suggested his name for some minor moderating and it was accepted by the leadership (which was fully democratic) and that went ok for a while since the guy apparently had no life, was on 24/7 and worked hard. Eventually he started to go ape on posters for minor things and was really getting off the spirit of the board and had to be removed.

That's when the problems started...
Many people talk about "the hacker" and who could he be. I personally have my beliefs and if i told i guess i would surprise many. Anyway, after that "hacker" suff (i'm using brackets with a point) the whole stuff went african... Spartan was placed in charge by the people at ogrenet. Which was in fact a very funny decision and a very suspicious one since that guy spartan was just an upstart moderator and there was multiple people above him that could have served has emergency admins due to Siblez's absence.

You see, this board TWCENTER.net is not the original board at all and there was a very tight leadership and group of core users who were here basically from the begining. This included Siblez, Boris, The Black Prince and some others with yours trully here included.

This group became known as the "Old Guard" when Spartan got the almighty position of board admin. When that happened the older users complained about the BS it was that Spartan was given such power over a community we basically had seen grow and in part had created with Siblez's great effort after Paul left for good.

Well, Spartan went all african dictator and basically banned everyone that said he did not diserve the position (basically proving our point). I was personally banned for speaking out against Spartan and the return of Crandar. Yes, because one of the very first things Spartan did was to place a hated by everyone person back in charge.

When they reativated my account i did exactly one post saying goodbye to the board i had been in for years. At the time of my departure i was with almost 4000 posts (as you can see i have recently returned after landing here in a google accident and seeing that the idiots were gone).

I went on to the closed club of Annagenese, a funny social experience that i was in until professional issues robbed me of the time i had to post there much.

All the stuff about HA was after all this. I remember HA being given mod power. I believe i was a praetor at the time and so i even probably aproved his position, although i can't be sure because it has been all these years and when i was banned i had resigned my position due to lack of time.

[Simetrical]

This is unfair. Crandar was a collective fault. Siblez suggested his name for some minor moderating and it was accepted by the leadership (which was fully democratic) and that went ok for a while since the guy apparently had no life, was on 24/7 and worked hard. Eventually he started to go ape on posters for minor things and was really getting off the spirit of the board and had to be removed.

That's when the problems started...

But Hex would have removed him much sooner if not for Siblesz's refusal to allow that. He threatened to resign if Crandar was removed. So it was his fault Crandar wasn't booted when he became a problem.

Anyway, after that "hacker" suff (i'm using brackets with a point) the whole stuff went african... Spartan was placed in charge by the people at ogrenet. Which was in fact a very funny decision and a very suspicious one since that guy spartan was just an upstart moderator and there was multiple people above him that could have served has emergency admins due to Siblez's absence.

It was Siblesz who put Sulla in charge, in his edict from China. Although that was after Mithras announced that "Sulla and Spartan" (that order, quote) would be in charge, it's true, but Siblesz agreed, anyway. Then Sulla had to step out and Spartan was the sole person in charge for a while.

Spartan was promoted to Praetor on May 15, before the hacker attacks. I'm looking at his first post in Hex right now. He and Sulla were both Praetors when they were promoted. The admins were Siblesz (away) and GEN (who didn't end up in charge, I think because he wasn't very active). The only people above Spartan in actual rank were those two. Above him in seniority there was Sulla, and maybe a couple others: I think Profler and Necrobrit were the Praetors before the attack?

I don't know why those two were chosen specifically. I'm guessing it was to do with activity. Sulla was an obvious choice, as the one who had spotted the hackers to begin with, and he might have spoken up for Spartan or something like that. I'm not sure. But that part doesn't seem very suspicious to me.

Well, Spartan went all african dictator and basically banned everyone that said he did not diserve the position (basically proving our point). I was personally banned for speaking out against Spartan and the return of Crandar. Yes, because one of the very first things Spartan did was to place a hated by everyone person back in charge.

Spartan has already said (and I believe him) that it was ON who reinstated Crandar, due to his knowledge of networks or something. Spartan was on the record as being in favor of Crandar's return, though.

Regardless, as I have elsewhere said, I agree that Spartan mishandled the situation terribly. There is no reason people have to shut up just because the site is in danger. If admins have better things to do than read people's pointless chattering, they can ignore them. Sulla was a lot better, but he was also too fond of closing threads for no good reason, then and later, IMO.

[HorseArcher]

All the stuff about HA was after all this. I remember HA being given mod power. I believe i was a praetor at the time and so i even probably aproved his position, although i can't be sure because it has been all these years and when i was banned i had resigned my position due to lack of time.

Yeah, I was given a Praetor power (global mod) , since (IMO) after the exodus off the TWC of the 'old guard', the place was running short on moderators. Anyway, I just noticed I still haven't finished this story, I have been stuck in the mudpit too long lately.

[Portuguese Rebel]

Yeah, I was given a Praetor power (global mod) , since (IMO) after the exodus off the TWC of the 'old guard', the place was running short on moderators. Anyway, I just noticed I still haven't finished this story, I have been stuck in the mudpit too long lately.

Please do finish it, i'm trying to update myself on all the stuff that went to past after i left.

[Scar Face]

Please do finish it, i'm trying to update myself on all the stuff that went to past after i left.

It's only a start, its not complete or incredibly detailed, but you could check out the history section on the TWC wiki, it has some relevant information.

[Portuguese Rebel]

The admins were Siblesz (away) and GEN (who didn't end up in charge, I think because he wasn't very active).

At the time GEN went on and asked to be given control. I would have been on until the crisis was gone. He was denied this and the threads were simply erased. It's no wonder people think he wasn't very active at the time. Spartan erased every thread in which his rule was questioned. I was banned for doing it, so was boris and some two handfulls of other guys. Guys that were here before spartan. There was actually no reason for that guy to be given admin status and that was a major screw up by the guys of ogres net. Every thread GEN did was erased and he was banned. It wasn't that he wasn't active, he wasn't allowed to communicate with the community and could only do it with a bunch of us who had his MSN email. The full story became clear in conversations offsite in Annagenese.

Spartan has already said (and I believe him) that it was ON who reinstated Crandar, due to his knowledge of networks or something. Spartan was on the record as being in favor of Crandar's return, though.

It was not that linear... But i'll let that rest... But let us just say that his knowlage of networks didn't mean he should have returned has a moderator.

Sulla was a lot better, but he was also too fond of closing threads for no good reason, then and later, IMO.

Absolutely...

[Wild Bill Kelso]

It would be great if all relevant posts stored in HEX were to be made public in the living history section. I would like to comment on these events as well, but will not as memory is truly fallible.

[jimkatalanos]

It would be great if all relevant posts stored in HEX were to be made public in the living history section.
.

Yes, that would be nice.

[Mímirswell]

It would be great if all relevant posts stored in HEX were to be made public in the living history section. I would like to comment on these events as well, but will not as memory is truly fallible.

Virtually all the relevant posts were purged long ago (pre-Ian purchase) though I think a few still remain.

[Simetrical]

I see tons of relevant posts . . . which ones were purged? Some, but I think most remain.

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

This is a stirring read, Archer, will you continue?

[Legio]

Ditto. I just discovered this, and it reads better than several history books I own.

[HorseArcher]

Ok, don't have a lot of time, but I'll continue....

So ok, we're back at the point, (i'm cutting out some very stale months) before the first rebellion happened on TWC.

So here I am finally getting root-admin access (c-panel ec) after finally convince Mithras (Network Admin and co-owner of TWC) that I won't mess around with it, but I need it if I want to implement new banners to the front page etc..

So I befriened Belisarius , who is actually a very swell guy here (known as "GENERAL MAXIMUS") an "old guard" - from the stone-age TWC times. We talked a lot about the forums and chicks and drinking on the chat and lot's of forum politics, many nonesense, so anyway I have told my plans and concerns also talked to Siblesz time to time asking advice etc.

Then I have met Honor&Glory, who is - one hell of a controversial figure- to say the least about him , but trust me guys, on chat he is just a common kid with a lot of ambition, but on the forums....well, many of you know the story if not, I'm sure there is someone who can help to update you with more info about him.

I remember I got into some conflicts over the staff about HG and his staff position on TWC, since even Mimirswell wanted to fire him a couple of times IIRC...and he was put on trial. I think he was brewing a revenge from that point on, and since I protected him despite mistakes he has made while moderating the forums, he felt that I could help him even more.

Meanwhile Ferrets was perma-banned for almost a year (?) by then, from this furious flaming and trolling around TWC and this came to the table, he actually asked me a few times to release him from his chains IIRC.

Upon his release at one point, he was being the subject of the Curia , where the citizens were debating about his faith and somehow (since my ever opposing opinion of the Curia) I felt that it's just not fair to talk about someone and throw around accusations without the presence of the person of the subject.
so I came up with the Curia-Passport, bypassing all discussion or opinion of the Staff at the time, which was one of the cataclyst to the demise of the Staff to the point , where the rebellion has begun on TWC.

The other problem was, when I -bypassed the Staff meeting again- made some Drakonian new laws in the Mudpit, which was about getting a much harder punishment to those Mudpit debaters, who held a TWC title (citizen/opifex etc) who would act against the ToS, because my belief was that "they should know better" and should be the leading members who show example to new members, how to debate without flames and trolling.

This also added oil to the fire, which was already brewing in the Staff forums, I was bypassing my promises of sharing and discussing decisions with the staff members. My main complaint was, that any time anyone in staff brought up an issue it stalled for weeks before reaching agreement, or just stalled until eternity, never coming to an agreement and release. I was frustrated about this , since any time someone brought up a subject, it basically meant, that it won't be solved for at least weeks, especially if staff members were missing or didn't log on for days.

So the balance of power, wasn't a balance of power at all and I guess staff viewed me someone who just held the rest of the staff as some sort of formality status, but otherwise I would use my "veto power" quite frequently or simply just being a dictator.

So I guess, after the letter I have received (from secret passages) that was handled around to selected staff members, the TWC staff was brewing a coupe against me. Couple of members were not invited, I guess they felt, they were closely assosiated with me or perhaps favored my type of administration.

One day I log on and I see a thread about "Archer, please resign"- which was first shocking, and at the time I was taking to Belisarus on msn, he was equally shocked by it.
First I thought it was a joke, but further reading and chatting with "lynching mob" , proved that they were quite serious. After a little thinking and some backing of my followers, I decided that I'm gonna dump my entire staff, who conspired against me.
It was quick and professional, since I mastered the admin-cp after spending hours upon hours for years, and the next move was to hire previous staff members, who would help me out until things normalize again.

The reason I felt betrayed was, more had to do, that I hired these guys and while I wasn't part of the ownership of ON, I was placed in power by the owners of TWC, so I felt my spot here is something undebatable and I could only be replaced by the owners of the place if they wish so, but not by regular forum members.

I had the "old guards" coming back on TWC staff, including Spartan and Wild Bill Kelso, who although helped me out while in the transitional staff, he didn't favor my move of dumping my disgrunteld staff members.

Then the riots begun. The disgruntled and removed staff begun to create a havoc on TWC, starting in the Curia and spreading the riots to the Questions/Suggestions area and who knows where else..wearing a blacked out avatar and attacking me and the new staff relentlessly. No hard feelings now..., well organized raids on the forums and turning those against me who had no idea what exatcly happened and why..


...to be continued to the final chapter, when the forum meltdown was imminent and I was called back to administer the forum , while the removed staff (not by me) was rioting again..

[imb39]

One day I log on and I see a thread about "Archer, please resign"- which was first shocking, and at the time I was taking to Belisarus on msn, he was equally shocked by it.

First I thought it was a joke, but further reading and chatting with "lynching mob" , proved that they were quite serious. After a little thinking and some backing of my followers, I decided that I'm gonna dump my entire staff, who conspired against me.

Was it an act any of us were proud of? No, probably not. We all recognised that you put a lot into the site. Burt you have alluded to the problems within Staff and the lack of communication was a fatal flaw within the organisation. Also, there was so much politiking - not necessarily your fault (being owned by ON meant it was inevitable) but you most certainly doing it as much as anyone else, at least you listened to a select few. I don't think, ofr example we chatted much on MSN. Compare that with the amount you chatted with others. Of course I am not terribly charismatic, so that didn't help, I suppose.

It was quick and professional, since I mastered the admin-cp after spending hours upon hours for years, and the next move was to hire previous staff members, who would help me out until things normalize again.

It was an excellent move. I thought we'd lost once I saw the names crop up.

The reason I felt betrayed was, more had to do, that I hired these guys and while I wasn't part of the ownership of ON, I was placed in power by the owners of TWC, so I felt my spot here is something undebatable and I could only be replaced by the owners of the place if they wish so, but not by regular forum members.

I have sympathy - but I don't think you helped the situation with the way you listened to people.

I had the "old guards" coming back on TWC staff, including Spartan and Wild Bill Kelso, who although helped me out while in the transitional staff, he didn't favor my move of dumping my disgrunteld staff members.

If so many were disgruntled, did you ask yourself, 'why?' for example, I ended up being the primary named person to the resignation thread but I had no history or desire to replace you (no ability, either). Having said that, it was just a matter of time before the aforementioned H&G acted before the situation resolved itself.

Then the riots begun. The disgruntled and removed staff begun to create a havoc on TWC, starting in the Curia and spreading the riots to the Questions/Suggestions area and who knows where else..wearing a blacked out avatar and attacking me and the new staff relentlessly. No hard feelings now..., well organized raids on the forums and turning those against me who had no idea what exatcly happened and why..

Not true. I don't recall creating havoc. Maybe one or two did, but the fired staff did not orchestrate any riots save arguing our points through as best we could. I had, at one point, decided to leave the site. Would have saved me a lot of money too!!!

...to be continued to the final chapter, when the forum meltdown was imminent and I was called back to administer the forum , while the removed staff (not by me) was rioting again..

My recollections are slightly different.

[Wild Bill Kelso]

Sorry but I need to add my thoughts on this issue:

My name was on the original list of people who wanted Archer to resign. The fact that I was brought into staff was a little bit more complicated than described by Archer. I can't remember how many hours I spent on MSN being involved in convos between the "Archer clique" and the "rebels" (95%many of whom where not even part of the original dispute). I think I lost a substantial part of my remiaining hair that night. I do remember the sheer shock of the "rebels" when I went into the rebel MSN convo and told them that there was a power sharing agreement in effect (How I wish I had that MSN convo saved!). Silverguard in particular couldn't believe how this old timer who ran the RPG he was playing had somehow helped bring about an end to the conflict. I remember Archer was to take the Modding side and I was to take the General discussion/curial side of things. This was the only time my name got to be RED. Also, Sulla had come back briefly to assist in things. Thankfully my plan worked, which was only to take control of things briefly while everyone cooled down over the next few days, so I never had to live up to my grand promises. That is until Besim came along which I am sure Archer will comment on.

Some Relevant Links:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=64902
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=64953

[Perikles]

Then the riots begun. The disgruntled and removed staff begun to create a havoc on TWC, starting in the Curia and spreading the riots to the Questions/Suggestions area and who knows where else..wearing a blacked out avatar and attacking me and the new staff relentlessly. No hard feelings now..., well organized raids on the forums and turning those against me who had no idea what exatcly happened and why..

October 2006 (Staff Rebellion) was quite civilised really and confined mainly to msn, staff and a bit in the curia (I couldn't find any in the Q&S), I don't think there were any 'riots', lots of disgruntled ex-staff perhaps though...

I got bored and started looking through some examples ( ):

Recent Events and the Aftermath (WBK)
Discussion of Staff Appointments (Prof)
A proposal to WBK for the initiation of a public dialogue (Garb)
Wouldn't you agree (Soren)

The Besim episode and then the HG episode however...

...to be continued to the final chapter, when the forum meltdown was imminent and I was called back to administer the forum , while the removed staff (not by me) was rioting again..

Looking forward to it...

[gigagaia]

October 2006 (Staff Rebellion) was quite civilised really and confined mainly to msn, staff and a bit in the curia (I couldn't find any in the Q&S), I don't think there were any 'riots', lots of disgruntled ex-staff perhaps though...

I got bored and started looking through some examples ( ):

Recent Events and the Aftermath (WBK)
Discussion of Staff Appointments (Prof)
A proposal to WBK for the initiation of a public dialogue (Garb)
Wouldn't you agree (Soren)

The Besim episode and then the HG episode however...



Looking forward to it...

you know that proposal thread was initially my thread JP...
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=64953