Airmax1227 For DART

Author: airmax1227

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@zedvictor4
@Airmax who.

Never heard of them before 2022.
Me neither, Vic .But he's got a giant chunk of the pie .


Probably why some have thrown in the towel?
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@Athias
It's as though your campaign is entirely based on reinvigorating some nostalgic remnant of the DDO site.
To some degree that is accurate. There are those here, which now includes two of my former opponents in this election, that believe I can make a positive improvement to this site, and that's based on what they know about me from DDO.
And that begs the question: why haven't you done everything you stated in your platform for DDO?
I did with regard to moderation policy, but for everything else, it was literally impossible. I did everything that I could to try, trying to sell the plan in my platform, but the ownership of that website no longer considered it an asset worth investing in. That is what is so appealing to me here, and why I came back. This site has a great foundation - even better than DDO - it just needs a kick in the direction, and the mere blessing of its owner, something I didn't have on DDO. It's why I used the intentionally melodramatic military analogy you mention following this. I knew probably up even up to a year before it was over, that I was fighting a losing battle on DDO. I had given 5 years of my time to that site, but there was an inevitable end looming for a site that no longer had the interest of its ownership. I mean, go over to DDO and look at it, you can see that it's just a graveyard, abandoned and untended to.
You boast this military-like relationship with Whiteflame (i.e your knowing how he thinks, and his knowing how you think) yet you haven't used much of this curried favor to influence these changes you seek as member of DEBATEART, especially since Whiteflame has been a moderator for some time.
I needed a break from the whole thing. Without, again, being too melodramatic, doing what I did for DDO was rather exhausting when considering its tragic ending. It was naturally going to take some time for me return, and some sort of incentive. A few days ago that incentive, the ability to invest my time in a productive and beneficial hobby resurfaced, and so here I am.

I'd just like to point out here that this should assuage those that think I'm just here for "power". Firstly, this position isn't about power, it's about site development, and secondly, if that's what I was seeking I could have come over to the site immediately and I believe become the site's mod from the get-go (not that I would even consider that "power"). There were those asking me to come over right away and continue the work I had been doing, but as I said, I needed a break. I kept in touch with some members, so I don't believe I have been entirely absent from this community, but it is fair to say that I am just swooping in here when the opportunity arose for me to pick back up a hobby I enjoy, and since I'm excited about the prospect of the endeavor, here I am.

In fact, you haven't done much at all as far as contributing or even participating as a member of DEBATEART.
That's true, aside from a handful of posts like 2 years ago, I have done literally nothing here. I think the best analogy here would be a business one. A struggling company decides that rather than promoting from within, they find a CEO with a proven record of success, outside of the company. There is an understandable level of concern in that company from its employees, especially at the higher levels, and perhaps even from its customers. Does this person understand our values and goals? Is this someone that's going to make positive changes? Is this someone that understands the culture? I believe those are all fair concerns, but even if I haven't been actively involved with the community, though again, I have kept in touch to some degree, the answer to all those questions, is yes. And the members of this community, including two of my former opponents, wouldn't have asked me to do this, or endorsed me, if they didn't think it was true as well. They clearly believe I have the ability to achieve these goals.
Your platform is entirely predicated on your touting your experience as a moderator to what's now a relic (i.e. Debate.org) which saw a mass exodus to DEBATEART, as well as this alleged friendship you have with the chief moderator. What of your experience, here? What have you contributed, here?
Again, I have no experience specifically on this website, but its a direct offshoot of a platform that I have more experience on than anyone. It's not about what I have contributed here, but what I have contributed to communities like these, and really it is essentially the same community. Furthermore, it's not simply about touting my experience, but about touting my ability to make a commitment and see it through, and I stuck to my commitment to DDO to the unfortunate absolute bitter end.

How has this alleged friendship with Whiteflame benefited this site? To your own admission, you haven't really given much attention to your membership, here, yet you think it's reasonable to assume that confidence should be placed in what you will do, when you haven't done anything?
The members who sought me out, and two of my initial opponents, know the type of person that I am. I have a certain set of skills, I am reliable, and when I make a commitment, I see it through to the end. So it's not about what I have done for this site, it's about what I can do for this site.

To be fair, I understand your concern. I can certainly be viewed as some sort of outsider that hasn't done anything here, and to some degree that's true. But I'm not really an outsider, I know this community, and to this point I haven't been motivated to do much here, but now that there's a chance to do good for the community, I have been motivated to make my return. If you and others want to therefore view me as some kind of outsider mercenary, then all I can say is that I plan to help the community, and I have a proven record of doing that.
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@Athias
With that said, your place in this race is entirely predicated on the friends you've had come out of the woodwork. Friends who support you, not necessarily anything that has to do with this site
While you weren't necessarily implying this, I didn't have anyone do anything. I got a text message one day asking me if would be willing to do this. My supporters did this on their own, and probably figured convincing me to do this was impossible. But you are correct that it isn't specifically about my experience on this website, though I don't believe that's entirely fair. I have experience with this community, and with the website with which this site is based on.

(you and many of them are grossly overestimating the capacity of this office.)
I don't believe I am. I am actually quite enthusiastic about the limitations of the office. I don't want to do what I did for DDO, I want my work to be mostly focused on site development, and that's something I can do within the capacity of the office.
Do I believe you can carry out the functions of the presidential office better than 3RU7AL can? For RationalMadman, I stated, "not by a mile." For you, I state, "not by a light year."
That's fair. I don't know 3RU7AL that well, but I'm sure he's a capable and well intended individual. All I can say is that I have experience with this type of thing, and that some of the members believe I can do a good job, and that includes two of my former opponents. I'm sure 3RU7AL is a good guy though, so my presence shouldn't be viewed at all that I think anything negatively about him.
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@airmax1227
To some degree that is accurate. There are those here, which now includes two of my former opponents in this election, that believe I can make a positive improvement to this site, and that's based on what they know about me from DDO.
Two candidates who were grossly unqualified--one who thought that he could shake things up and boasted nonsense, and the other while having, I suppose the term for it would be "better" intentions was essentially the sugar to the other's salt.

I did with regard to moderation policy, but for everything else, it was literally impossible. I did everything that I could to try, trying to sell the plan in my platform, but the ownership of that website no longer considered it an asset worth investing in. That is what is so appealing to me here, and why I came back. This site has a great foundation - even better than DDO - it just needs a kick in the direction, and the mere blessing of its owner, something I didn't have on DDO.
I suppose DDO had a great foundation when it first started as well. And I wouldn't deny any of your accounts about the ownership, having been informed of something similar back when I was at DDO. But what led to DDO's downfall was not just the lack of interest from the ownership, but the lack of interest from the moderators as well. And while it would be unfair to have you shoulder that alone, it is fair to state that you were one of the moderators who gave up.

I mean, go over to DDO and look at it, you can see that it's just a graveyard, abandoned and untended to.
Oh believe me--I know what that place looks like: a bee-hive where Harikrish is queen.

I needed a break from the whole thing. Without, again, being too melodramatic, doing what I did for DDO was rather exhausting when considering its tragic ending. It was naturally going to take some time for me return, and some sort of incentive. A few days ago that incentive, the ability to invest my time in a productive and beneficial hobby resurfaced, and so here I am.
Understandable, but that ought not to have precluded you from investing your time as a member.

I'd just like to point out here that this should assuage those that think I'm just here for "power". Firstly, this position isn't about power, it's about site development, and secondly, if that's what I was seeking I could have come over to the site immediately and I believe become the site's mod from the get-go (not that I would even consider that "power"). There were those asking me to come over right away and continue the work I had been doing, but as I said, I needed a break. I kept in touch with some members, so I don't believe I have been entirely absent from this community, but it is fair to say that I am just swooping in here when the opportunity arose for me to pick back up a hobby I enjoy, and since I'm excited about the prospect of the endeavor, here I am.
I mean some of it is about power, right? I mean you need some power to pick back up with your hobby, right? Hence, your "swooping in" as you put it? And if that's not the case, then it begs the question: why haven't you made any of your suggestions on this site some time in the past? Like with the MEEP referendums? If you've cultivated this relationship with a few of the moderators, so much so that you were asked to be a moderator at this site's inception, not to mention your maintaining contact with members of the DART community, then how is the capacity of DART President any different from that which you could have done over your prolonged absence?

That's true, aside from a handful of posts like 2 years ago, I have done literally nothing here. I think the best analogy here would be a business one. A struggling company decides that rather than promoting from within, they find a CEO with a proven record of success, outside of the company. There is an understandable level of concern in that company from its employees, especially at the higher levels, and perhaps even from its customers. Does this person understand our values and goals? Is this someone that's going to make positive changes? Is this someone that understands the culture? I believe those are all fair concerns, but even if I haven't been actively involved with the community, though again, I have kept in touch to some degree, the answer to all those questions, is yes. And the members of this community, including two of my former opponents, wouldn't have asked me to do this, or endorsed me, if they didn't think it was true as well. They clearly believe I have the ability to achieve these goals.
If we're going to use that business analogy, then it would be fair to state that electing you would be like hiring a CEO, who's been out of work for years, who in part managed a company that eventually went bankrupt (or at the very least, hemorrhaging and holding on for dear life.) On the other hand, electing 3RU7AL would be like a struggling company hiring the CEO of a successful company (once again, 3RU7AL has administrative experience)--who has patroned your company for years and knows it quite well--as a consultant (once again, many especially including your supporters are overestimating the capacity of this presidential office.)

It's not about what I have contributed here, but what I have contributed to communities like these, and really it is essentially the same community. Furthermore, it's not simply about touting my experience, but about touting my ability to make a commitment and see it through, and I stuck to my commitment to DDO to the unfortunate absolute bitter end.
But it is about what you've contributed here. Because you're attempting to presume the office of DART president. Granted many of those who participate in this site migrated from DDO, no doubt (I'd be included among them.) But this is not DDO, in spite of its remnants. This is DART, consisting of both remnants and new debaters--and you've made no such commitments to this site before, and you only allege you can make one now.

The members who sought me out, and two of my initial opponents, know the type of person that I am.
3RU7AL didn't ask to be nominated. I nominated him. And there were members who pledged to change their votes once realizing that 3RU7AL was a viable candidate. And that's because we know the type of member he is. He's not "swooping in." He's been here from the very start. He has set a good example from the very start. He didn't abandon the site in instances where he didn't get his way. He's actively tried to make this site a better environment for debates not just at the community level, but also the individual level as well. He's the only member I know to have willfully lost a debate to promote a new voting system and the idea of not dismissing one's opponent and giving them credit where they make valid points.

I have a certain set of skills, I am reliable, and when I make a commitment, I see it through to the end. So it's not about what I have done for this site, it's about what I can do for this site.
The best ability is availability. Why should anyone have confidence in what you can do for this site, when you have done nothing for this site?

To be fair, I understand your concern. I can certainly be viewed as some sort of outsider that hasn't done anything here, and to some degree that's true.
Not just some degree.

But I'm not really an outsider, I know this community, and to this point I haven't been motivated to do much here, but now that there's a chance to do good for the community, I have been motivated to make my return. If you and others want to therefore view me as some kind of outsider mercenary, then all I can say is that I plan to help the community, and I have a proven record of doing that.
You know the people, but you don't know the community. Because, you haven't taken an interest in being part of it until this year, which spans only 10 days.

It is not my intention to antagonize you, and if you believe my contentions are unfair, please let me know.
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@airmax1227
While you weren't necessarily implying this, I didn't have anyone do anything. I got a text message one day asking me if would be willing to do this
I saw that.

I don't believe I am. I am actually quite enthusiastic about the limitations of the office. I don't want to do what I did for DDO, I want my work to be mostly focused on site development, and that's something I can do within the capacity of the office.
So then that begs the question once again :what role or liberty do you believe the presidency offers you in juxtaposition to what you can do now, or could have then, as a member of DART?

That's fair. I don't know 3RU7AL that well, but I'm sure he's a capable and well intended individual. All I can say is that I have experience with this type of thing, and that some of the members believe I can do a good job, and that includes two of my former opponents. I'm sure 3RU7AL is a good guy though, so my presence shouldn't be viewed at all that I think anything negatively about him.
Which makes you far better in my opinion then the two former opponents. My criticisms of you are not personal. My criticisms are targeted only toward your tenure here and the perception of your capacity to function in this office.


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@Athias
Two candidates who were grossly unqualified--one who thought that he could shake things up and boasted nonsense, and the other while having, I suppose the term for it would be "better" intentions was essentially the sugar to the other's salt.
That's fair, even if I don't know if I'd agree/disagree with the characterization, I realize that it's not relevant to your contention, so I'll stop referencing it.

I suppose DDO had a great foundation when it first started as well.
That's probably debatable. I mean it did enough to be a debate platform, but it was already on shaky ground quickly with the need for changes and updates. This site has the benefit of 20 years of hindsight to build itself a quality product, in terms of its functionality and preparation for the future, from the beginning.
And while it would be unfair to have you shoulder that alone, it is fair to state that you were one of the moderators who gave up.
I mean, yeah, at some point there really wasn't any choice. I'm willing to, and it's part of my style of discourse, to be as charitable as I can, and cede things in good faith, but to frame me as someone who just gave up, I don't believe is fair, even if it is literally true. I believe I stuck it out longer than is actually reasonable, or anyone else would have.
I mean some of it is about power, right? I mean you need some power to pick back up with your hobby, right? Hence, your "swooping in" as you put it? And if that's not the case, then it begs the question: why haven't you made any of your suggestions on this site some time in the past?
I suppose it might be a linguistic or semantic distinction that doesn't really matter in the end. I don't think of it internally as power, but as something like the communities blessing, or permission. But ultimately you are probably right and that might be a distinction without a difference. I don't want to get bogged down in that distinction though, but I will say that until a few days ago it wasn't something I considered, then the idea was suggested to me, I thought it over (and talked it over with the relevant people) and considered it would be something I'd enjoy doing again. I didn't make any of my suggestions up to this point because it wasn't something I was involved in anymore, but now I am, and so I am.

Let me be clear here. You are not wrong on this point, and I don't want to come off as disingenuous about this issue. There's no way I can defend the fact that I wasn't invested in the site, it was suggested to me that I become invested in the site, and so now I am. Some will see this as a problem, some wont. There's no reason to go 10 rounds on this issue. I'm not gona lawyer/politic/semantic my way around it. I'm aware of it, you have a good point, and me saying anything else would just be dishonest. I maintain that a concession to this point doesn't mean I can't be a good DART president, and it certainly shouldn't mean that the community can't trust me to have their interests in mind.

then how is the capacity of DART President any different from that which you could have done over your prolonged absence?
It provides a level of credibility at a time that I am again willing to pursue this type of project again. Both of these aspects are important here. I hadn't given it a lot of thought during my hiatus, and as a result of this presidential election the idea of me working on this type of project was something I hadn't considered in awhile, and was finally given a reason to.

At the risk of reiterating your point (not that its a risk, I'm going to intentionally do it haha), I wasn't interested, and then by the election being a thing it encouraged some to make me consider something I hadn't considered in awhile. So yeah, I wasn't here at all, and as a result of the election now I am. if the owner contacted me tomorrow, and asked if I'd like to volunteer as a consultant and have specific parameters to sway the development of the site in a similar way to which the community president does, then I'd probably take him up on that offer since I could just avoid the politics of it all. But the election does create a public legitimacy dynamic that I also think is important. I'm going to suggest things during the course of the election, and based on the reaction, and ultimately how well I do in the election, I can gauge how palatable some of my ideas are.

You know the people, but you don't know the community. Because, you haven't taken an interest in being part of it until this year, which spans only 10 days.
I think you underestimate my awareness of the concerns of the community and the challenges this community faces. I may not have been here directly posting on the site, but I've kept in touch with people, and heard about the various issues of the site. Again, I think your criticism is entirely fair, I haven't been an active member, but I'm also not a complete outsider.

It is not my intention to antagonize you, and if you believe my contentions are unfair, please let me know.
You have been a complete gentleman during this entire exchange and I appreciate that you have engaged in this in good faith and not just some political gotcha game. I believe your contention, that my sudden appearance raises an important question about my intentions for the site and my ability to achieve its goals, is a fair one. The voters will ultimately weigh the pros and cons of that truth, with the other aspects of what I bring to the table.

To summarize this I will just say that you are correct about this point about me, to some extent being outsider coming in and asking for "power" from a community that some will view me as foreign to. My only contention here is that I'm not completely foreign to this community, and that to whatever extent that is true, voters will weigh that to the benefits I bring. Furthermore, if there wasn't an election, and my supporters had found some other reason to hassle me into considering working on benefiting the website, the owner looking for someone of my experience, for example, to just work behind these scenes and do what I'd do if elected, then I probably could have been convinced of that instead. This election thing, the power pursuit thing I'm being associated with, isn't my motivation, it just happens to be the catalyst for what convinced some people to put the consideration in my mind. Ultimately I'm looking forward to the work, I'm not enthusiastic about the politics because it takes away from my time to do that work, and I just wana continue drawing up my road map and ideas and focus on relating that to the community.
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So I want to suggest a few of the simpler things that I had in mind:

Debate Tournaments: This is an easy one, we all know what these are. It'd be nice ot make them regular and integrated into the site with something like platinum awards for winning, and a leaderboard. Lots of cool ideas can go along with tournaments, and we are all familiar with the basic idea, but it's naturally something I have in mind.

DART Champions League: This is something I worked hard on on DDO, but it came to fruition a bit too late in its lifespan. This is essentially a team-based debate league that does debates in a sports league format. Teams debate a schedule of other teams, and the teams with the most wins go to the playoffs and then the championship etc. New debaters and potentially teams are added each season, and it has a very long-term intention to it that makes it a really great addition over time. This does require a larger community and more activity though, so this is more of a long term goal.

Mafia: I realize that some don't care about this, but mafia really is a natural extension of a debate website, since the game provides an outlet to argumentation and persuasion in a gamified environment. The problem is that it's a really niche thing, and that bringing in people that aren't already aware of it is difficult. it's further a tough endeavor since the game can be rather complicated to the uninitiated, and understanding it, and then engaging in it, takes a fair amount of time commitment.

I'd like to see if that has to be true. Our live mafia games, which will be, and essentially already are, a Friday night custom for the Dart community, have the potential to bridge the gap of the mafia experts, and those who have never heard of it. I'd like us to arrange small games, record them, and with clever editing and production value, really show what is going on. I believe that featuring these dozen or so, easy to follow, and well-explained, live beginner games, on the Dart Youtube channel, will create some level of additional interest and enthusiasm. I believe that as well as being initially educational about the game, that these games have the potential to be very entertaining. In this format, I believe we can create a brand new niche of live mafia on youtube, and really bring in new people that have an interest for this. I have a very detailed plan about the way these vids would be made, but suffice it to say that there is a way they can be easily digestible, entertaining, and create enthusiasm.

After that, more advanced style games could create even greater interest, to the point where all those people who were streaming "Among Us" (the 2nd rate nerf version of mafia) and enjoyed that concept, might consider putting up their argumentation and persuasion skills, to the ultimate test against the DART mafia Pros.

....

Just a few of my thoughts tonight. Have a great evening :)
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@airmax1227
DDO became a hopeless site.

Is that what we can expect on Dart?
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@zedvictor4
DDO became a hopeless site.

Is that what we can expect on Dart?

There is no correlation. The owners of DDO abandoned it. The Owner of DART is still around to prevent spam bots.
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@airmax1227
Debate Tournaments: This is an easy one, we all know what these are. It'd be nice ot make them regular and integrated into the site with something like platinum awards for winning, and a leaderboard. Lots of cool ideas can go along with tournaments, and we are all familiar with the basic idea, but it's naturally something I have in mind.
It would be fun to get back into tournaments. I believe I won the first tournament you hosted on DDO lol.

DART Champions League: This is something I worked hard on on DDO, but it came to fruition a bit too late in its lifespan. This is essentially a team-based debate league that does debates in a sports league format. Teams debate a schedule of other teams, and the teams with the most wins go to the playoffs and then the championship etc. New debaters and potentially teams are added each season, and it has a very long-term intention to it that makes it a really great addition over time. This does require a larger community and more activity though, so this is more of a long term goal.
I would like to see this. We have tried variations of this in the past but it fell through. I can't remember why. I was on a team debate with classicrobert a while back though, and I remember it being pretty fun for the round it lasted lol.

Mafia: I realize that some don't care about this, but mafia really is a natural extension of a debate website, since the game provides an outlet to argumentation and persuasion in a gamified environment. The problem is that it's a really niche thing, and that bringing in people that aren't already aware of it is difficult. it's further a tough endeavor since the game can be rather complicated to the uninitiated, and understanding it, and then engaging in it, takes a fair amount of time commitment.

I'd like to see if that has to be true. Our live mafia games, which will be, and essentially already are, a Friday night custom for the Dart community, have the potential to bridge the gap of the mafia experts, and those who have never heard of it. I'd like us to arrange small games, record them, and with clever editing and production value, really show what is going on. I believe that featuring these dozen or so, easy to follow, and well-explained, live beginner games, on the Dart Youtube channel, will create some level of additional interest and enthusiasm. I believe that as well as being initially educational about the game, that these games have the potential to be very entertaining. In this format, I believe we can create a brand new niche of live mafia on youtube, and really bring in new people that have an interest for this. I have a very detailed plan about the way these vids would be made, but suffice it to say that there is a way they can be easily digestible, entertaining, and create enthusiasm.

After that, more advanced style games could create even greater interest, to the point where all those people who were streaming "Among Us" (the 2nd rate nerf version of mafia) and enjoyed that concept, might consider putting up their argumentation and persuasion skills, to the ultimate test against the DART mafia Pros.
This is something I would be most interested in helping out with. DDO and debateart have always held appeal to me for the debate stuff, but if I am being honest, mafia is what keeps me around. As you can see from the Forum Games section, mafia is currently dead. Any attempt at reviving this would incentivize me and others to put a lot more time on the website. If you would like help with this endeavor, editing videos, advertising, anything, I will do my best to assist you.

You are currently the only candidate who is pro mafia and that makes you not only unique, but shows that your interests are multi faceted. A candidate should realize how important mafia is to the community. It is one of the more popular forums, behind religion. 
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@Lunatic
You are currently the only candidate who is pro mafia and that makes you not only unique, but shows that your interests are multi faceted.
I certainly like mafia, but it's mostly important as another method for marketing the site. Unfortunately marketing mafia as the typical text based thing is a hard sell, if not impossible. Making mafia this watchable argumentation-persuasion kinda sporting event, in an easy to understand package, I believe is doable, and can make it very marketable. It's a difficult and ambitious project to be sure, but I'm extremely excited for it, it's gona be fun wherever it takes us and I hope it's something a lot of Dart members will want to take part in.
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@Lunatic
Good.

Nonetheless, this Presidential thing has become a farcical parody.

So I will be abstaining.
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@airmax1227
I certainly like mafia, but it's mostly important as another method for marketing the site. Unfortunately marketing mafia as the typical text based thing is a hard sell, if not impossible. Making mafia this watchable argumentation-persuasion kinda sporting event, in an easy to understand package, I believe is doable, and can make it very marketable. It's a difficult and ambitious project to be sure, but I'm extremely excited for it, it's gona be fun wherever it takes us and I hope it's something a lot of Dart members will want to take part in.
Actually, by proxy of gaining traction in live mafia, we may accrue more interest in forum mafia. I am hopeful for this. Forum mafia isn't really as much your cup of tea but I see this being mutally beneficial to live and forum mafia. 
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@zedvictor4
k buddy...
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@Lunatic
Actually, by proxy of gaining traction in live mafia, we may accrue more interest in forum mafia. I am hopeful for this. Forum mafia isn't really as much your cup of tea but I see this being mutally beneficial to live and forum mafia. 
Right, that's exactly the goal. I believing that trying to market forum mafia is difficult, but introducing it in the live mafia format, something far easier (in terms of reach/interest/digestibility, not necessarily the amount of work involved) should make those that find it interesting enough, consider the forum version as well. There should be some crossover interest and inherently lead to an increase in forum activity. In fact I would imagine that some percentage of those that learned about it from the live version, will even end up preferring the forum version.
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@airmax1227
Right, that's exactly the goal. I believing that trying to market forum mafia is difficult, but introducing it in the live mafia format, something far easier (in terms of reach/interest/digestibility, not necessarily the amount of work involved) should make those that find it interesting enough, consider the forum version as well. There should be some crossover interest and inherently lead to an increase in forum activity. In fact I would imagine that some percentage of those that learned about it from the live version, will even end up preferring the forum version.
Very good plan! Lets do it. 
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@airmax1227
Can you release an official, direct statement about whether you support or condemn Lunatic's conduct in how he's campaigned against your opposition and behaved throughout this phase of pre-election?
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@airmax1227
He is intentionally trying to paint me as more villainous than I actually am lol. Ignore the narrative he is trying to paint, and read what I've wrote yourself. He is the primary person continuously attacking you, all I've done is respond logically to his arguments. He has gotten offended to the point where he has yet again blocked me lol. 
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@airmax1227
The site really has to gain the ability to have group messages before mafia will take off here, I think.
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@Wylted
The site really has to gain the ability to have group messages before mafia will take off here, I think.


Now that you mention it, I recall the developer saying we should have that in 2-3 months... That was 6 months ago. Hmmm....
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@airmax1227
I mean, yeah, at some point there really wasn't any choice. I'm willing to, and it's part of my style of discourse, to be as charitable as I can, and cede things in good faith, but to frame me as someone who just gave up, I don't believe is fair, even if it is literally true. I believe I stuck it out longer than is actually reasonable, or anyone else would have.
The suggestion isn't intended to measure you, at least in your capacity as a moderator, against anyone else there. But your mentions about your capacity as moderator there would be like one's mentioning one's management of Enron right up until its bankruptcy, to continue the business analogy.

It provides a level of credibility at a time that I am again willing to pursue this type of project again. Both of these aspects are important here. I hadn't given it a lot of thought during my hiatus, and as a result of this presidential election the idea of me working on this type of project was something I hadn't considered in awhile, and was finally given a reason to.

At the risk of reiterating your point (not that its a risk, I'm going to intentionally do it haha), I wasn't interested, and then by the election being a thing it encouraged some to make me consider something I hadn't considered in awhile. So yeah, I wasn't here at all, and as a result of the election now I am. if the owner contacted me tomorrow, and asked if I'd like to volunteer as a consultant and have specific parameters to sway the development of the site in a similar way to which the community president does, then I'd probably take him up on that offer since I could just avoid the politics of it all. But the election does create a public legitimacy dynamic that I also think is important. I'm going to suggest things during the course of the election, and based on the reaction, and ultimately how well I do in the election, I can gauge how palatable some of my ideas are.
Credibility with whom? As I understand it, the capacity of the presidential office as delineated by SupaDudz (in conjunction with the moderation team) is as follows:

1. To communicate within the moderation team chat and give input on all forms of daily decision making.

- If the boasts about you are to be believed, then you would already have an in with a couple of members of the moderation team (i.e. Whiteflame, SupaDudz, Ragnar.)

2. To veto permanent ban propositions.

- As 3RU7AL already pointed out, this is more cosmetic than effective given that the veto is determined and regulated by the consensus on which the permanent ban proposition is based.

3. The ability to envision and execute community events, subject to regulation and assistance of the moderation team.

Again, if you already have an in, then you could've suggested these community based events to them. Even suggesting them in the forums would've given you a platform which garnered the moderators' attention.

I think you underestimate my awareness of the concerns of the community and the challenges this community faces. I may not have been here directly posting on the site, but I've kept in touch with people, and heard about the various issues of the site. Again, I think your criticism is entirely fair, I haven't been an active member, but I'm also not a complete outsider.
I'm only underestimating your awareness of the concerns of this community in comparison to someone who has been here the whole time.

You have been a complete gentleman during this entire exchange and I appreciate that you have engaged in this in good faith and not just some political gotcha game. I believe your contention, that my sudden appearance raises an important question about my intentions for the site and my ability to achieve its goals, is a fair one. The voters will ultimately weigh the pros and cons of that truth, with the other aspects of what I bring to the table.

To summarize this I will just say that you are correct about this point about me, to some extent being outsider coming in and asking for "power" from a community that some will view me as foreign to. My only contention here is that I'm not completely foreign to this community, and that to whatever extent that is true, voters will weigh that to the benefits I bring. Furthermore, if there wasn't an election, and my supporters had found some other reason to hassle me into considering working on benefiting the website, the owner looking for someone of my experience, for example, to just work behind these scenes and do what I'd do if elected, then I probably could have been convinced of that instead. This election thing, the power pursuit thing I'm being associated with, isn't my motivation, it just happens to be the catalyst for what convinced some people to put the consideration in my mind. Ultimately I'm looking forward to the work, I'm not enthusiastic about the politics because it takes away from my time to do that work, and I just wana continue drawing up my road map and ideas and focus on relating that to the community.
I respect your being candid.
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@airmax1227



Do you endorse how Lunatic is carrying himself and treating those that even support you let alone those that oppose you during this election?
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Do you endorse how Lunatic is carrying himself and treating those that even support you let alone those that oppose you during this election?
My reputation is not at stake here. I am not running a campaign. I've been the same since DDO, do you really think he is gonna dis-own me as a friend and supporter because I stood up to you? Stop trying to twist the narrative here. Why not bring up all the times you said nasty things about airmax while your at it since you claim to "support" airmax lol.
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@Lunatic
@airmax1227
I don't recall asking you but as per usual you insert yourself and try to speak for Airmax.

I asked Airmax and only Airmax, don't be to Airmax what Athias is to 3RU7AL if you hypocritically condemn it at the same time.

I want Airmax himself to speak on whether he does or does not endorse your behaviour and treatment of myself and Pie in particular, during this election. It is important to voters sitting on the fence to use his replies to things like this to ascertain where he stands morally on matters that divide and destroy the community, which I firmly believe you have been doing throughout this election campaign process.

I have 0 care in the world what you reply to this, Lunatic. I will await Airmax to reply.
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I don't recall asking you but as per usual you insert yourself and try to speak for Airmax.

I asked Airmax and only Airmax, don't be to Airmax what Athias is to 3RU7AL if you hypocritically condemn it at the same time.

I want Airmax himself to speak on whether he does or does not endorse your behaviour and treatment of myself and Pie in particular, during this election. It is important to voters sitting on the fence to use his replies to things like this to ascertain where he stands morally on matters that divide and destroy the community, which I firmly believe you have been doing throughout this election campaign process.

I have 0 care in the world what you reply to this, Lunatic. I will await Airmax to reply.

As long as you continue to be a hypocritical POS and keep my name in your mouth, I will reply as frequently as I wish to. If you are going to hold others accountable for behavior that you think is damaging to the campaign they support, you should do so for yourself as well. You instigated everything. 
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@Athias
The suggestion isn't intended to measure you, at least in your capacity as a moderator, against anyone else there. But your mentions about your capacity as moderator there would be like one's mentioning one's management of Enron right up until its bankruptcy, to continue the business analogy.
A lot of Enron employees did a fantastic job, some of them even managers. Why should they be ashamed of something where they proved their skill in whatever department they were working? 

I have been in positions where I did a lot of hiring, and I assure you if I were hiring somebody for management, I'd pick an Enron manager who kept his nose clean, faster than a random cynic who happens to be witty. 
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Airmax shouldn’t be president.

He should be a mod.
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@Athias
The suggestion isn't intended to measure you, at least in your capacity as a moderator, against anyone else there. But your mentions about your capacity as moderator there would be like one's mentioning one's management of Enron right up until its bankruptcy, to continue the business analogy.
Fair enough, though to be fair, the initial analogy I used a couple exchanges ago (the internal versus external CEO one) doesn't really work when we take it beyond that. It we start comparing me to someone that had comparable authority, it starts falling apart. On DDO I wasn't some CEO equivalent, but ultimately just some guy in a mid-management cubicle somewhere reading customer complaints and sending out memos to the higher ups that were ultimately ignored. So while some of your arguments are entirely fair, I think you will recognize that a continuation of this analogy, to make this point, really isn't.

Credibility with whom?
I initially meant with the community and whomever I reach out to for assistance with my plan, but ya know, as I've been thinking about this the last few days and working on my action plan, I've started to consider that the most important thing is actually regarding whether anyone likes my ideas at all. Humor me for a moment as I pretty much just think out loud about this, but a part of me kind of wishes that I had just come onto the site as a complete no one, where your argument, as valid out of this hypothetical as it might be, actually was 100% accurate. The ideas I have already suggested, and the ones yet to come, could just be evaluated on their own merit, and at the risk of sounding extremely pretentious, wouldn't be skewed in any way behind the "Airmax brand", whether that's for better or worse.

In other words, I don't want to win a popularity contest, I want to win an endorsement of my vision and ideas. A general statement that they are genuinely supported by the community, that there is excitement for my plans, and I grow concerned that a sense of this may actually be impossible at this point. I truly don't want to play any political games which is why I'm trying to just ignore anything that I don't believe is asked/stated/presented in good faith, or simply isn't productive. I don't want to spend my time on that kind of stuff, I want to engage with the community in a genuine way about my intentions and plans for the future, and I'll just concede everything else. If I lose an election as a result of my desire for this approach, then that is probably for the best anyway.

Again, if you already have an in, then you could've suggested these community based events to them. Even suggesting them in the forums would've given you a platform which garnered the moderators' attention.
I only showed up a few days ago with a renewed desire to do this type of work. Is that gona make my presence appear as insincere by some? Sure, I've already conceded that much. Does it diminish the quality of my ideas, or the resolve I have to see them come to fruition to be as beneficial to the site as possible? I don't think it does, and that's all that really matters to me. I believe some will recognize that, and those that don't wont vote for me, and that is an understandable and respectable decision.

I'm only underestimating your awareness of the concerns of this community in comparison to someone who has been here the whole time.
That's fair, and I wont disparage 3RU7AL in the least. I'm sure he's a good guy, knows the community well, and would make a great president. I respect you a great deal, and I expect that you would only endorse someone worthy of that endorsement.

I don't want to rationalize, obfuscate, justify or circumvent any aspect or rebuttal to this argument you are making. In good faith, I am now saying that 3RU7AL has greater ties to the DART community than I do, and people should evaluate/adjust their evaluation accordingly with that understanding.

Furthermore, I'd rather everyone not even consider the arguments I've made recently about how I may be connected to the community, and the experience I may have. I have specific ideas, a broad vision I have alluded to, with some specific examples to provide the basics of my plan, and ideally I'd like those ideas to be considered as though I'm just some random guy off the street suggesting them. All I want to offer right now is a suggestion for the direction of the site with the plan I have suggested, and if that alone is not enough, I respect the communities decision not to endorse that plan by electing me.

I realize the above is impossible, and that my plans likely only have any credibility because of my experience, but I say it simply in the hopes that I can emphasize the importance of me wanting this to just be a platform of ideas. If that's not enough, then I will humbly concede defeat, and cede to the individual who will be better for this community - and that certainly may be 3RU7AL, for all the reasons you have stated.

I respect your being candid.
I appreciate that, and I've enjoyed having this discussion with you, and hope we can continue to do so. There is plenty to challenge me on regarding the legitimacy of my candidacy and ideas, and I very much appreciate your willingness to engage it in a good faith and professional manner.
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@Ramshutu
He should be a mod.

In all seriousness though, I want my main focus to be where my passion is at the moment, and that's on building an even better DART. While part of this goal/plan involves a certain philosophy of moderation, and I will be eager to share this philosophy with the moderators (especially in relevant incidences), I really don't want that to be the area that I am spending the majority of my time.
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@airmax1227
I truly don't want to play any political games which is why I'm trying to just ignore anything that I don't believe is asked/stated/presented in good faith, or simply isn't productive. I don't want to spend my time on that kind of stuff, I want to engage with the community in a genuine way about my intentions and plans for the future, and I'll just concede everything else. If I lose an election as a result of my desire for this approach, then that is probably for the best anyway.
You have it backwards. The things you are dodging are specifics, what you specialise in is vagueness such as here:

 While part of this goal/plan involves a certain philosophy of moderation, and I will be eager to share this philosophy with the moderators (especially in relevant incidences),
This was a whole lot of saying nothing about your approach to moderation. You and I both know your approach is as simple as:

Target outcasts that get too annoying and appease the popular people, letting them get away with repeated ad hominem to the point of harassment and bullying.

I have seen you moderate before, it's a shambles and killed off all outcast personalities on DDO one by one. As things progressed, the only people left on DDO (I mean really left, not guys like me who showed up on on its death wanting an active debate crowd to go to, curious where the community would move) were the people who either were in a clique that all had one thing in common ~ they admired and complimented you or alternatively they were stuck in the modless wasteless of the Religion Forums of DDO.

Ramshutu has it backwards, you should only be the community organiser we'd be very wise to keep your hands off of the mod-side of things but the Presidency has both and regardless you have power to persuade whiteflame so what good will stopping it being official do?

If we were able to rank everybody on the website in who should or shouldn't be a mod, I'd rank you the near the bottom. I don't respect your moderating style, your style is as 'establishment' oriented as it gets. What I respect is your ability to lead a website even while it's technically dying to an impeccable level of resisting that 'death'. I respect that enough to drop out and endorse you and respect that enough to not care that you probably won't wield the ban-veto power in ways I'll entirely agree with.

When I ask you questions like what you think of Lunatic's behaviour, it's to give you a chance to win over voters that are alienated by how he's carrying himself. He's even made anti-semitic remarks about you in Mikal's thread by fake-quoting me regarding you being a 'Jewish bully' when you being Jewish is never ever something I have fixated on or in any shape or form mentioned really. I don't even get the joke and am disgusted he fake-quoted it. The question is if you endorse this kind of humour, Mikal called you a Holocaust survivor and said he has seen your massive dick in the OP of your 'official' campaign thread before this one. This is not funny to many and really is beyond cringe to the point of directly insulting for others.

We need to know if you do or do not condone vs condemn how your campaigners have carried themselves so that we, the voters, can decide where to place our vote on election day. If you keep dodging everything because you fancy doing so, it tells voters you will ignore them as bad-faith if/when they come to you with a problem later on.

You have quite literally answered nothing I've asked in this thread, at all. My question to you is why, when that will actually help voters know where you stand. There really are voters here who can't support someone too afraid to take a stand of any kind.


Observe the behaviour of your avid supporter and tell us if you condone or condemn it.