My Perspective
Lately I've just had a urge to write so I figured why not write an article about all the stuff that I've seen and been through in the community. I doubt this will be read by many people because I'm sure a lot of people don't really care what I have to say, but that's ok. I did this mostly for me. What I wanted to talk about in this article anyway is why I did what I did and to try to let people know that I'm not Satan as most people like to think.
First of all, I don't hate everyone in the community. In fact, I only really dislike about 3 people in the community and I'm sure by the end of this article it'll be pretty clear who those people are. When I first came to the community way back in the summer of 1998 I think it was, I came into #earthbound having no idea how much time I'd spend there. I got into some trouble my first month of #earthbound but back then getting banned once didn't mean you'd have ops watching you every time you went in the channel. During my many months as a regular in the channel I became friends with a lot of people. That was when #eb was the most fun I think. Back during the end of 1998 and the first half of 1999. That's when lots of the people who have moved on or don't go to the chat much were still around. I'd make a pretty big name for myself after the summer of 98 and after getting diospadre to recommend me for ops, I was voted in to become one. At the time it was a big thing for me, I just had no idea that in a few months I'd regret it ever happened.
A lot of people don't know what being an op in #eb was like. Being a chatter there was great, and you never knew just how much stress the ops were under, because most of the time they kept their cool. As a chatter I wanted to be an op so badly because it looked like they were the ones who got to have all the fun. But when I became one I slowly started to realize that it wasn't as great as it seemed. It doesn't matter how popular you are as a chatter, when you become an op people WILL start to dislike you. Maybe not everyone, maybe not even a lot of people, but at least 1 or 2 people that liked you before will start to think you're a big power monger or you kick too much or whatever. But I was still having fun with being an op. I liked hanging out in #tomato with guys like Dan, dios, Falcon, Poo and the rest of the ops. It was fun, and having power in #eb was a big thing for me at the time.
Up until now I haven't mentioned guru. But now I'm gonna go through some things that really stand out in my mind about him that I remember from when I was an op. Guru never tried to make being an op a fun thing, and I still to this day disagree with him about that. He once told me that no one ever said being an op was supposed to be fun. But why shouldn't it? One of the main reasons being an op in #earthbound could never be as much fun as being a chatter is because the rules were so strict. You had to enforce rules that 95% of the channel disagreed with. Even as an op, I disagreed with the strictness of the rules, but every time I tried to get guru to loosen them up he wouldn't even discuss it. It didn't bother me that much at first, but slowly I started to wonder why I was enforcing rules that I didn't even agree with.
Back in, I guess it would be around April of 1999 guru's computer went down. This left #earthbound with no real leader. Falcon and I, being the two ops who were around the most and cared about the channel the most, tried to take control but it was tough to do without being able to make new rules or change any of them. I remember getting the email from guru that said he was going to hold an election to see who would take his place as the owner of #earthbound. His computer troubles were too much and he said he was ready to let go of the channel, so he held an op election process. We were to send him our votes for who he thought should be the new owner of #earthbound. I thought "this is great, I finally have a FAIR chance at becoming the owner of the channel." Who else was around as much as me and showed they cared as much. I would soon realize that when it came to the politics of #earthbound, really caring didn't matter. I spent a week talking to the rest of the ops and trying to get them to vote for me, and my campaigning paid off. In the election I beat out EBounding by one vote. After talking to the rest of the ops I was confident that I would be the one to win the election until I talked to my old friend Dan. Dan told me that it didn't matter how many votes I got, guru would never put anyone besides a big staff member of sm.net in charge of the channnel. I didn't think that was true, I figured it would be best for the channel if someone who had the best interests of the chat itself in mind was the owner. I was proven wrong. Guru sent out another email saying that the new owner of #earthbound would be EBounding. I was in shock, I couldn't belive it. EBounding was a guy who wasn't around #eb much at all, and despite being a big member of the staff, I knew he wasn't right for the job. After speaking with guru he told me that he was suprised by the votes I got and that if I kept working hard for the channel that I might one day become the owner.
It was only a few weeks after EBounding became owner of #earthbound that I left the community. I said it was because I needed the time for homework. But I think everyone knew the real reason. I left because I was bitter that I never became the owner of #earthbound. I never admitted it until now, but I was bitter. And I still think I have a right to be. While EBounding was in charge of #earthbound it went through one of it's worst times ever, and not to knock EBounding himself, I think he's a pretty cool guy actually. I'm a big fan of his fanfics and he was a good staffer, but he was never the right guy to maintain the channel. So I left #eb and was planning to stay away until a few weeks later I got an IM from Falcon24. He told me that the channel had gotten horrible and the rules were worse than ever. He told me that since guru had gotten back he had gone on a big friendly kick to try to make all the chatters be more friendly toward each other. So I came back to #eb and got my ops back. I had a few discussions with guru about loosening up the rules but he still wouldn't budge. And even tho EBounding was still the owner access wise, guru was once again calling the shots.
It was only a matter of time before something bad happened. I was still extremely bitter towards both EBounding and guru and the realization came to me one day that I no longer wanted to have anything to do with being an op in #earthbound. But because I always wanted to be different, I didn't want to be like the other ops who resigned. I wanted to be the op who had to have his ops taken from him. So I went on an all day kicking and banning spree and that night I got my wish. After a big argument with guru in front of the rest of #tomato I lost my ops. I had no idea that the events of that day would have a snowball effect for months.
After my day of fun, most of the rest of the ops had a grudge against me. Especially EBounding and guru. It didn't take long for me to realize that they were going to do everything in their power to keep me out of #earthbound. I was kicked for the smallest offenses and after trying to talk to them about it, I was banned. After being unbanned I came back and started the infamous Free Saboten campaign which is probably the closest #eb has ever come to collapsing. It was never my purpose to actually bring the channel down, it just started as a joke. But the ops were extremely oversensitive about it so it became a fun thing to do, to see how mad they would get over it. After Free Saboten, I was a marked man and it didn't take long for me to get rebanned by EBounding. That same night I did my first flood attack. Little did I know what kind of major changes this would bring to #earthbound. After I began to flood #earthbound, the j0hndeere voice system was set up. That didn't last for long after I kept coming up with ways around it. Then there was the great idea of #moonside. They decided to set up an access only channel designed to keep me out for good. For a few weeks I thought it was over, but then I realized a way around the #moonside system. If I could make a fake name up and get it access in #moonside, then all I had to do was be identified on that nick and then I could go in #moonside under my normal one. It was a perfect plan, and it gave way to one of the most infamous raids of all time. After that plan was figured out and stopped by Matrix, I just started going in with clones and flooding the channel with ChanOP ban messages. It didn't take long for #moonside to move back to #earthbound. After that I'm not quite sure what happened next, whether it went back to normal for a little while, or went straight to the inviteonly system, but it doesn't really matter. I continued attacking #earthbound and seeing what they would come up with next to try to stop me. This went on for a long time with guru, and after him `Frieza.
The thing is, after about the first month it was nolonger about my bitterness over not becoming channel owner, or my hatred for guru, it was just a fun thing to do. Guru would set up a big obstacle and everyone would make a big stink about how it was "goc-proof" and they were rid of me for good. Then I'd find a way around it and they'd whine and complain and talk about how impossible it was to get rid of me. It was just a game to me, I was never really about taking down the community or trying to kill #earthbound.
I don't really have much to say about #eb/#sm over the past few months. It's been a place for me to cause trouble when I got really bored, but I never really put much effort into it. Which is why I was so suprised that guru decided to go and move servers and pull such a drastic move just to keep me out. But it doesn't really matter that much to me anymore, I'm happy with what channels I hang out in now. But I will admit that I miss some of the old times in #eb. I miss being a guest host on Dan's radio, and the time I even managed to take it over. I miss the friendly flood war I had with Natechan. But I don't go on like other people who wish for the old days to come back. I know they are long gone and they aren't going to come back.
Once in a while, I wonder how different would the chat be now if guru had made me the owner after I won the election. I'm sure there are some people who would tell you that it would have gone to hell because I would have made it a lamer's paradise. But that's not true at all. At that time I cared deeply about #earthbound and it wasn't until I got my first real taste of politics and being screwed out of something I thought I deserved until I turned against it. Honestly, I think that I would have done much better than EBounding did. But right now I wouldn't want to be in charge of #earthbound. It's not the same as it used to be, and I've changed a lot since the summer of 1998. I don't really know what the purpose of this article was, other than to finally let everyone know once and for all what went through my mind. I'm sure there are things that I've left out that should go in here, but this is fine for me.
Lately I've just had a urge to write so I figured why not write an article about all the stuff that I've seen and been through in the community. I doubt this will be read by many people because I'm sure a lot of people don't really care what I have to say, but that's ok. I did this mostly for me. What I wanted to talk about in this article anyway is why I did what I did and to try to let people know that I'm not Satan as most people like to think.
First of all, I don't hate everyone in the community. In fact, I only really dislike about 3 people in the community and I'm sure by the end of this article it'll be pretty clear who those people are. When I first came to the community way back in the summer of 1998 I think it was, I came into #earthbound having no idea how much time I'd spend there. I got into some trouble my first month of #earthbound but back then getting banned once didn't mean you'd have ops watching you every time you went in the channel. During my many months as a regular in the channel I became friends with a lot of people. That was when #eb was the most fun I think. Back during the end of 1998 and the first half of 1999. That's when lots of the people who have moved on or don't go to the chat much were still around. I'd make a pretty big name for myself after the summer of 98 and after getting diospadre to recommend me for ops, I was voted in to become one. At the time it was a big thing for me, I just had no idea that in a few months I'd regret it ever happened.
A lot of people don't know what being an op in #eb was like. Being a chatter there was great, and you never knew just how much stress the ops were under, because most of the time they kept their cool. As a chatter I wanted to be an op so badly because it looked like they were the ones who got to have all the fun. But when I became one I slowly started to realize that it wasn't as great as it seemed. It doesn't matter how popular you are as a chatter, when you become an op people WILL start to dislike you. Maybe not everyone, maybe not even a lot of people, but at least 1 or 2 people that liked you before will start to think you're a big power monger or you kick too much or whatever. But I was still having fun with being an op. I liked hanging out in #tomato with guys like Dan, dios, Falcon, Poo and the rest of the ops. It was fun, and having power in #eb was a big thing for me at the time.
Up until now I haven't mentioned guru. But now I'm gonna go through some things that really stand out in my mind about him that I remember from when I was an op. Guru never tried to make being an op a fun thing, and I still to this day disagree with him about that. He once told me that no one ever said being an op was supposed to be fun. But why shouldn't it? One of the main reasons being an op in #earthbound could never be as much fun as being a chatter is because the rules were so strict. You had to enforce rules that 95% of the channel disagreed with. Even as an op, I disagreed with the strictness of the rules, but every time I tried to get guru to loosen them up he wouldn't even discuss it. It didn't bother me that much at first, but slowly I started to wonder why I was enforcing rules that I didn't even agree with.
Back in, I guess it would be around April of 1999 guru's computer went down. This left #earthbound with no real leader. Falcon and I, being the two ops who were around the most and cared about the channel the most, tried to take control but it was tough to do without being able to make new rules or change any of them. I remember getting the email from guru that said he was going to hold an election to see who would take his place as the owner of #earthbound. His computer troubles were too much and he said he was ready to let go of the channel, so he held an op election process. We were to send him our votes for who he thought should be the new owner of #earthbound. I thought "this is great, I finally have a FAIR chance at becoming the owner of the channel." Who else was around as much as me and showed they cared as much. I would soon realize that when it came to the politics of #earthbound, really caring didn't matter. I spent a week talking to the rest of the ops and trying to get them to vote for me, and my campaigning paid off. In the election I beat out EBounding by one vote. After talking to the rest of the ops I was confident that I would be the one to win the election until I talked to my old friend Dan. Dan told me that it didn't matter how many votes I got, guru would never put anyone besides a big staff member of sm.net in charge of the channnel. I didn't think that was true, I figured it would be best for the channel if someone who had the best interests of the chat itself in mind was the owner. I was proven wrong. Guru sent out another email saying that the new owner of #earthbound would be EBounding. I was in shock, I couldn't belive it. EBounding was a guy who wasn't around #eb much at all, and despite being a big member of the staff, I knew he wasn't right for the job. After speaking with guru he told me that he was suprised by the votes I got and that if I kept working hard for the channel that I might one day become the owner.
It was only a few weeks after EBounding became owner of #earthbound that I left the community. I said it was because I needed the time for homework. But I think everyone knew the real reason. I left because I was bitter that I never became the owner of #earthbound. I never admitted it until now, but I was bitter. And I still think I have a right to be. While EBounding was in charge of #earthbound it went through one of it's worst times ever, and not to knock EBounding himself, I think he's a pretty cool guy actually. I'm a big fan of his fanfics and he was a good staffer, but he was never the right guy to maintain the channel. So I left #eb and was planning to stay away until a few weeks later I got an IM from Falcon24. He told me that the channel had gotten horrible and the rules were worse than ever. He told me that since guru had gotten back he had gone on a big friendly kick to try to make all the chatters be more friendly toward each other. So I came back to #eb and got my ops back. I had a few discussions with guru about loosening up the rules but he still wouldn't budge. And even tho EBounding was still the owner access wise, guru was once again calling the shots.
It was only a matter of time before something bad happened. I was still extremely bitter towards both EBounding and guru and the realization came to me one day that I no longer wanted to have anything to do with being an op in #earthbound. But because I always wanted to be different, I didn't want to be like the other ops who resigned. I wanted to be the op who had to have his ops taken from him. So I went on an all day kicking and banning spree and that night I got my wish. After a big argument with guru in front of the rest of #tomato I lost my ops. I had no idea that the events of that day would have a snowball effect for months.
After my day of fun, most of the rest of the ops had a grudge against me. Especially EBounding and guru. It didn't take long for me to realize that they were going to do everything in their power to keep me out of #earthbound. I was kicked for the smallest offenses and after trying to talk to them about it, I was banned. After being unbanned I came back and started the infamous Free Saboten campaign which is probably the closest #eb has ever come to collapsing. It was never my purpose to actually bring the channel down, it just started as a joke. But the ops were extremely oversensitive about it so it became a fun thing to do, to see how mad they would get over it. After Free Saboten, I was a marked man and it didn't take long for me to get rebanned by EBounding. That same night I did my first flood attack. Little did I know what kind of major changes this would bring to #earthbound. After I began to flood #earthbound, the j0hndeere voice system was set up. That didn't last for long after I kept coming up with ways around it. Then there was the great idea of #moonside. They decided to set up an access only channel designed to keep me out for good. For a few weeks I thought it was over, but then I realized a way around the #moonside system. If I could make a fake name up and get it access in #moonside, then all I had to do was be identified on that nick and then I could go in #moonside under my normal one. It was a perfect plan, and it gave way to one of the most infamous raids of all time. After that plan was figured out and stopped by Matrix, I just started going in with clones and flooding the channel with ChanOP ban messages. It didn't take long for #moonside to move back to #earthbound. After that I'm not quite sure what happened next, whether it went back to normal for a little while, or went straight to the inviteonly system, but it doesn't really matter. I continued attacking #earthbound and seeing what they would come up with next to try to stop me. This went on for a long time with guru, and after him `Frieza.
The thing is, after about the first month it was nolonger about my bitterness over not becoming channel owner, or my hatred for guru, it was just a fun thing to do. Guru would set up a big obstacle and everyone would make a big stink about how it was "goc-proof" and they were rid of me for good. Then I'd find a way around it and they'd whine and complain and talk about how impossible it was to get rid of me. It was just a game to me, I was never really about taking down the community or trying to kill #earthbound.
I don't really have much to say about #eb/#sm over the past few months. It's been a place for me to cause trouble when I got really bored, but I never really put much effort into it. Which is why I was so suprised that guru decided to go and move servers and pull such a drastic move just to keep me out. But it doesn't really matter that much to me anymore, I'm happy with what channels I hang out in now. But I will admit that I miss some of the old times in #eb. I miss being a guest host on Dan's radio, and the time I even managed to take it over. I miss the friendly flood war I had with Natechan. But I don't go on like other people who wish for the old days to come back. I know they are long gone and they aren't going to come back.
Once in a while, I wonder how different would the chat be now if guru had made me the owner after I won the election. I'm sure there are some people who would tell you that it would have gone to hell because I would have made it a lamer's paradise. But that's not true at all. At that time I cared deeply about #earthbound and it wasn't until I got my first real taste of politics and being screwed out of something I thought I deserved until I turned against it. Honestly, I think that I would have done much better than EBounding did. But right now I wouldn't want to be in charge of #earthbound. It's not the same as it used to be, and I've changed a lot since the summer of 1998. I don't really know what the purpose of this article was, other than to finally let everyone know once and for all what went through my mind. I'm sure there are things that I've left out that should go in here, but this is fine for me.
