[Citizen]askthepizzaguy (patron: Last Roman)INVALID

[Legio]

askthepizzaguy

I've been a member of this site since March 2008. I became a local moderator in short order, and I seem to be the only active moderator who is watching the "Mafia" section of the site. Other moderators respond when there is a problem, but it is I who is archiving the old games, keeping a hosting queue going, giving advice for how to start new games and how to balance them, recruiting new people to play down at the "Mafia" section, and establishing rules and guidelines for the section. Any problems there are brought to my immediate attention. Before I stepped up to loosely govern that section, it had dwindled to about 8 people and there were rarely any games being played. Now there are roughly 30 or 40 people there, and everything is running quite smoothly, and several games are running at once.

I've also hosted a number of games there.

My adherence to forum guidelines has always been exemplary, I don't believe I've ever gotten warning points, and I am one who might have accidentally done so in my years of occasionally debating in the politics, religion, and philosophy sections of this site.

I am aggressive with my ideas but I insist that they have substance behind them and they are always phrased in such a way that it demonstrates why I advocate the way I advocate, and why I perceive the opposition as being incorrect. I do not assume that I am smarter than my opposition and I listen to what they have to say and I respond to their points. If they are respectful, so am I. If they are sarcastic, so am I. But that's usually how it goes. Even when the debate gets heated I avoid violating the ToS. I do not abuse the report button, I am loathe to bother moderators unless I see something egregious going on.

With a record of over two years of faithful moderating, leadership and stewardship of an entire section of the site, lots of thoughtful and according to Last Roman and others, well-constructed dialogue, I have been approached for the honor of becoming a Civitate.

I have accepted this honor and will continue to abide by forum policy and guidelines, continue to be long-winded and ferocious in my idealism, and attempt at all times to show respect and understanding to those who do the same, and not cross any lines or become an embarrassment to the community when others do not.

Thank you for your time.

Last Roman

Since he so eloquently gave reasons much better than I could, I will keep my paragraph short and sweet. In the short time I've noticed this member, he impressed me right away. His posts in the mud pit are a breath of fresh air, rather than just the quick sarcastic rebuttals we've come used to, he gives well thought out posts, addressing each point in a polite manner.

Also, as he stated before, we can count on him for being a proactive member to this board, and has been for two years already.

In short, I think he would make an excellent addition to our ranks.

Thank you,

Last Roman

[Legio]

Addendum from patron:


Here is the specific post that caught my attention

another example

[Empress Meg]

Addendum from patron:


Here is the specific post that caught my attention

another example

The two top links are the same Legio. :S

This feller has been a local mod in that there mafia game or whatever that is yes? I'm always a fan of the under appreciated local mods and this guy has been in the list for a while (two years!).

But a few of the posts I've seen are simply a link to a news story and not much text, could someone with more experience in the D&D add to these?

Devoirs The Empress

[Legio]

Yeah, I messed up the hyperlinks. There are only 2 links. I like the looks of the user so far. I'll let Mega go ahead and delve deep into the mines of Moria D&D. But I agree with you over the local moderation. It's a nice contribution.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

Yeah, I messed up the hyperlinks. There are only 2 links. I like the looks of the user so far. I'll let Mega go ahead and delve deep into the mines of Moria D&D. But I agree with you over the local moderation. It's a nice contribution.

Oh sure.... throw the lesson plan in my lap. Ite, lets run base assessment and see where we're at.....

Edit: Okay...I'll invest in this. Lemmie go put this together and I'll be back... To my understanding we don't have any Citizens that paved their way with role play. Role playing/Impromptu Community theatre is a hard sell... Further I would seek council from veteran CdeCer's who invest time in this activity, but I was reminded that these proceedings are currently closed. Another reason why I advocate the full exposure of finished cases so as to allow for situations such as this...

**Scratches head** Right then I'll be back as soon as I figure how to market this....

[Hesus de bodemloze]

I am not really convinced about this member jet. I am going to look a bit deeper in to his posts and posting style.

[Viking Prince]

First -- being a local moderator is usually a means to an end. Mod developers are local mods because of the need to keep their work area tidy. Role Playing Gamers are local mods to assist in the administration of the games. In both of these examples being a local modereator is not a contribution. The focus need to be on the contribution. In the case of the applicant -- what games do you run? What is the nature of the work to run the games? How many members participate in the games. Are these games created by the applicant? These and related bits of information would be quite useful. Though I do not work with the applicant and the mafia games, I do like the applicant. He has a reputation that has been built over time and not from being a bad boy with moderation.

I am looking for something to hang my hat on with this application. I want to have a reason to vote yes. I cannot though. Rather than vote on this application, I wold actually prefer the patron and applicant do a rewrite. Seeing that this is not an open application not even that possability is open to use here. Sigh.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

I am looking for something to hang my hat on with this application. I want to have a reason to vote yes. I cannot though. Rather than vote on this application, I wold actually prefer the patron and applicant do a rewrite. Seeing that this is not an open application not even that possibility is open to use here. Sigh.

Tis my understanding that direction communication with the applicant during this review is not possible, hopefully the applicant will choose to have this review publically posted. Although I concur that there is not sufficient substance here, at the moment to convey citizenship at this time, I think this review can be utilized to build a solid foundation and parameters for not only this applicant but others that invest in the Role play opportunities here at TWC...

Although my presentation is not composed yet I felt obligated to stand by my protégé in his oration regarding these .....circumstances...

[Viking Prince]

I decided to ask for a bit more from the applicant. I have not read this yet, but I think this will help with the application:

I am reviewing you application for citizen and I did post this in the discussion thread:

First -- being a local moderator is usually a means to an end. Mod developers are local mods because of the need to keep their work area tidy. Role Playing Gamers are local mods to assist in the administration of the games. In both of these examples being a local modereator is not a contribution. The focus need to be on the contribution. In the case of the applicant -- what games do you run? What is the nature of the work to run the games? How many members participate in the games. Are these games created by the applicant? These and related bits of information would be quite useful. Though I do not work with the applicant and the mafia games, I do like the applicant. He has a reputation that has been built over time and not from being a bad boy with moderation.

I am looking for something to hang my hat on with this application. I want to have a reason to vote yes. I cannot though. Rather than vote on this application, I wold actually prefer the patron and applicant do a rewrite. Seeing that this is not an open application not even that possability is open to use here. Sigh.

Since the appliation was not posted in the tranparancy trial forum (which is your option), I thought that I should relay this to you. I am not oing to reveal the other CdeC posts or positions. Consider this a heads up though. If you have anything that you may wish to add to assist me in making my decision -- please help me out.

Regards,

VP

• In the case of the applicant -- what games do you run?

This is the Mafia subforum:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=463

I run Mafia-style forum-hosted games. I have run several and substitute hosted several, and roughly half of the current players are people URL="http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=375626"]I've personally recruited to play from other forums.[/URL]

• What is the nature of the work to run the games?

Host needs to create the game structure from scratch or borrow a design from someone else, write the roles for each player, recruit players, write the opening rules, the story, and set reasonable deadlines for each phase. Games can take between one and three+ months to host on average, with the host contributing roughly 10-100 hours of his time doing write-ups at the end of each daily and nightly action phase.

It's actually quite labor-intensive for a simple forum game.

• How many members participate in the games.

Between 7 and 100+, average being 20-30.

• Are these games created by the applicant?

Very much so. I've personally created and hosted some 40 games, usually with original themes I made myself, or themes like space or adventure or wild west or cartoons.

• These and related bits of information would be quite useful. Though I do not work with the applicant and the mafia games, I do like the applicant.

I am the only actively involved moderator of that section. There are other, more official moderators but I never see them around, and they never post or play in the games. The other local mod went inactive. I also run the game hosting queue, I have established the rules for that section that pertain to how the games are generally run.

I have also archived ALL of the games that have ever been hosted in that section, as a personal project.

If you were to ask around, the folks I've recruited and hosted games for, they would tell you that reviving that section of this website has been largely due to my support, reorganization, recruiting, friendly/helpfulness, example-setting, and game hosting, without being immodest.

• He has a reputation that has been built over time and not from being a bad boy with moderation.

My take on moderation is hands-off unless someone actually complains or there is an egregious violation of the site rules. Because my local moderator powers were granted specifically to keep that section running and to run my games and delete rule-breaking posts, I do not overstep my boundaries and play "Moderator" 99.9% of the time. Any post I have deleted so far has been due to the person in question not being able to edit or delete their own posts, and they requested my assistance. I also sticky and close threads and so forth, keeping everything neat.

If there's a serious problem that needs the judgment of a full moderator, I would use the report button. Given my involvement with the section, and given that any serious problem would probably be because a member in question has not respected my wishes for the section and/or has a disagreement with me personally, I'd be better with a neutral third party with full official mod powers stepping in.

Due to the tone of the section, but with the rules I've established, it has only been on very rare occasions that the report button is ever used. These games are by their very nature competitive, contentious, and involve clashes in personalities, not unlike a political debate. Only this time, the debate ends and someone wins the game at the expense of someone else. Someone is bound to get passionate. Yet, the section is full of respectful, rule-abiding, and overwhelmingly kind people, and I work to ensure it stays that way, in whatever capacity I can.

If you need more, or need me to post something publicly, please let me know what and where. Discussion thread link?

[Pontifex Maximus]

I don't know if this is in itself worthy of citizenship. A single contribution which is dubiously defined as such and not much else.

[Legio]

Tied the vote.

[Viking Prince]

I am going to vote yea on the application. I am convinced that the applicant does indeed contribute to the site significantly with the RPG aspects. He has been here for about 1.5 years and I cannot see any reason why he will not continue to contribute to the success of the RPG games hosted here.

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

The applicant's recent frenetic activity is commendable but to stand as a solid contribution needs to be maintained over time. Also if the applicant establishes a system that will endure beyond the efforts of it's maker. Energy levels spike and decline and having a system in place that can withstand energy ebbs and flows is important.

The applicant is a dynamo, and with sustained effort will get there. Contributions in other areas would be nice to see as long as they are something that the applicant would enjoy.

A no for now but yes if the effort is maintained over time...

[Pontifex Maximus]

I'd like to change my vote to yes, if that's possible. I recently became mixed up in the Mafia forum moderation and I was very pleased with what I saw.

[Empress Meg]

I'd like to change my vote to yes, if that's possible. I recently became mixed up in the Mafia forum moderation and I was very pleased with what I saw.

Hmm. I'm not sure that would be acceptable unless, the CdeC agrees to a re-vote on this candidate. I'll let you guys decide on the validity of this.

Devoirs The Empress

[Viking Prince]

We were missing two (MCM and Asty) and a very close split decision. I think the chaos of the VONC thread shows that this should be given another chance. Let's get the staff replacement on board for MCM and give the replacement a day or so and the rerun the poll. If you agree Meg, probably a pm to give the patron and applicant a heads up.

[Empress Meg]

^A PM is a given for tomorrow. I want to see what everyone thinks before moving forward with anything however.

Devoirs The Empress

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

^A PM is a given for tomorrow. I want to see what everyone thinks before moving forward with anything however.

Devoirs The Empress

Fair is fair, please see if we can find the missing votes...

[Empress Meg]

Are there any objections to having a re-vote?

Devoirs The Empress

[Mega Tortas de Bodemloze]

No objections.