A message from your CP

Hello, citizens and friends,
I know I need to publish an update in Belgium.info for all the world to see, and there are some good things to report about the month this far, but first I think we need to talk, and that is going to work best on this forum. I am going to tell you some truths, and they will not please you. In fact, I expect to say some things that will displease just about everybody here. So be it. Here is what is happening.

I agreed to run for CP against my own better judgment in the hope of helping you achieve more peace in our community. I also told you I would have to be more or less a figurehead and that you would all have to help. I was totally honest about this. I have a more than full-time job, a house, a husband, 3 kids, 5 step-kids, an 89-year-old mother in a nursing home, and, if you can believe it, some actual interests and activities that do not involve the internet. I also have been trying to fill a cabinet with as broad a political base as possible. Unfortunately, there are positions that are still going begging, and today I was asked who is going to be MoI, a position that isn't even in the plan. Guess what? I don't know! The most active of my existing ministers (and he is doing a great job) is Nohjis, who is also married, has young children and works full-time. If I could clone him, I could fill every position in eBelgium, but otherwise, we need some other people to sacrifice a bit and pitch in.

Next, I proceed to other threads on the forum, where I am asked to weigh in on the battle between forum admins and forum users. Well, here it is. You are both right and you are both wrong, imho. On the one hand, we have had some of the same complaints about forum administration for a very long time. Certainly some of them are personally motivated, but there are clear indications that there is a broad base of concern about forum rules and whether they are fairly applied. I have personally witnessed instances where people were given warnings or bans abruptly, sometimes on the basis of several warnings in rapid succession with no opportunity for a change of behavior, or they were given to one person and would not be given to another who behaved in the same way. I know human error is going to be a factor here, but surely some improvements could be made in this regard. In addition, when forum users group together and ask for changes, they are either ignored or treated in a contemptuous manner that seems designed to provoke a negative response. A little less in your face behavior could go a long way to cooling the atmosphere on the forum.

On the other hand, it is futile to keep bringing up the same questions and expect to get different answers. In simple terms 1 + 1 is always going to equal 2 in a decimal system. If you receive a warning and do not change behavior, you can expect to be banned. If you put up a particular issue for vote and you know the admins are not going to accept it, you should not act surprised when they don't. In that case, you have 3 choices: accept the situation quietly, leave, or keep beating the dead horse while making everyone including yourself unhappy about it. Please note that if you choose the third, you may cause other people to leave, some of whom you might actually wish to keep here. Please also note that if I see any more posts that I consider offensive in a really broad sense (I will tolerate language, for instance, though not always happily, but will not tolerate xenophobia) or a personal attack, I will report it. Please be on your best behavior about this.

A third issue we are facing is the request for a training war. It has been explained at length and multiple times by multiple people why this is not feasible at this time. Since we were elected to serve the citizens, nothing would make us happier than to be able to give them what they want, but you can't create a favorable atmosphere where it does not exist and in the midst of a major war. Sorry, but repeated requests will not change this. Let's move on.

Please understand that I am doing my best to be fair and not to take sides, and to address your concerns as much as possible, but that does not mean what I say or do is always going to be what you want. Sometimes it will be what the other guys want, sometimes it could possibly please everybody, and just as likely, it could please nobody. Give yourselves a break. Stop complaining, stop blaming, and help to find solutions.
Honestly, with love,
MQ

I wish I could show to be less one sided in this discussion. I regret it had to come to two bans tonight because some could not take some cool down time on their own initiative. I'm far over my nerves with things that are more important to me then this forum, but I'll take the same time to post here because I prefer to get these things out rather then keep them in and take the same decision many before me have taken. It's by far easier to change citizenship and find a community where debates that matter are being held then trying to find a solution for the childish behavior on both sides here.

There are some things in life that can't be solved the way you're trying to solve them. You can't give yourself a power you don't have and you shouldn't take advantage of a power you do have to place yourself above others or to annoy them. In essence I agree with the analysis MaryamQ made above.

The admins, on one side, should, if they take this position at heart, completely step out of the active moderating. It's a service and as much as I would like to continue to benefit from NLSP's activity, some people continue to prove the activities of moderating and administrating are not compatible. Innos may believe he's right but shouldn't feel the need to rub it in the face of others. I won't go into the different other admins and moderators since they've all taken a step aside from this community to better serve it. Much to my dismay, it has been the only possibility that certain forum users let our administrators.

The forum users, on the other side, should, if they take this forum and its community at heart, not pick fights that will only prove to further escalate negative behavior. Spamming isn't going to do anything but further annoy others. It's not because you have a possibility to do something that it's the right course of action. As a rule of thumb, I don't act on the internet in a way that would earn me a fist in the face in the real world. That will probably take you a long way in having other people listen to your ideas as well. I don't know why the moderating team didn't step in sooner, I feel the same way as Procuste, I would be much more restrictive then the current ones.

I'm not interested in hearing "but the others this or that", it's not going to help, take a look at the mistakes you're making yourself. If you want to make the world a better place, it begins with yourself.

After all these words I can only say lets pick it up TOGETHER.

Thanks Maryam for your words hope this is a good wake up call couldn't say it better by myself.

Amen to that.

Nohjis was tl;dr but from what I read I do agree with him.
Both sides are on the wrong, both sides are doing things I should and both sides are stubborn.

yes I that very helpful I hope our dear friends will understand and fix their problems on both sides.

Great speech MaryamQ! I am really starting to admire you - how is possible to have that much obligations IRL, and still manage to play this game, and not just to play, but also to be a (good) country president in it !?!?!?!?

Even if I'm only one month (or less) eBelgian, want you to know that whatever you need, I'm always there for you (for all eBelgians). I am working full time too, and have many responsibilities IRL, but the time I'm spending in eRepublik, want to be completely spent in eBe, and for eBelgian community. That's why I'm offering my help!

And for that "Civil War" that's happening on our forum and in eBelgium, want to say that it is the same everywhere. In large communities it's even worse than here. I do not expect that the problems will be completely solved, but I hope the two sides can find some solutions and chill out a bit. Do that for eBelgium, please! eBelgium needs it, we all need it!!!

o7