Friction
As most of those who frequent the member forums of starmen.net (fanfics, articles, UBB, #starmen, etc.) know, starmen.net/earthbound.net has a long and colored history of friction between staff/mods and regular visitors, often over issues of power and the abuse thereof. This includes staff ignoring, stifling the free speech of, and, overall, "repressing" the regular visitors.
Though the intent of this essay is not to explore a discussion of who is right and who is wrong when it comes to these issues, the intent is to provide some (perhaps insightful, probably not) commentary on why these sorts of things happen and what can be done so that arguments surface less frequently.
It is probably indisputable that at least a few staff members have abused their power in the past, and at least a couple staffers (who will be unnamed in this article) have admitted it is so. Staff members would appear to think they are above the law, and incidents have been recorded where staffers blatantly ignore the rules that have been placed on various forums, especially the message board and #starmen. Many would say it hardly seems right.
Yes, some staffers do abuse their power. That much is clear. Is it wrong? But of course. Is it going to change? No way. Does it do any good to whine about it? Not at all.
That's my bit of advice to the peons, whom the author gladly includes himself as a member. Don't whine about it. You just waste your virtual breath and nothing changes anyway. Remember, it's just a website. You're not always going to be treated fairly here, nor are you going to be treated fairly in the "real world". Besides that, if you don't work yourself up into a snit over your freshly trampled rights, it probably won't happen as often, and if it does, at least you can take it in stride.
Speaking of rights, you have none on starmen.net. It's a private organization, so nobody can force the staffers to subscribe to the United States Bill of Rights. Don't whine that your First Amendment rights have been squashed when you're banned from #starmen for expressing your opinion--you didn't have any to begin with.
To the credit of the staffers, however, many of them do an excellent job, and as I have said, at least one has cleaned up his act in recent months. Most of the staffers at this website are excellent leaders and hard workers and deserve more gratitude than they get. They don't get paid--they do this for free. Working at starmen.net is not even something you can put on a r�sum�.
For those staffers who are notorious for abusing their power: Clean up your act. One day you won't have any power whatsoever and you will not know how to handle difficulties without squashing the source. Peons aren't as smelly as you want to think, and I'm sure you would hate to be stifled just as much as the peons do. Though our civil rights are not legally defensible when we're on starmen.net or #starmen, our rights are supposedly "inalienable". That means that we have the right to express a fair opinion, no matter where we are or what the situation is. You're nothing special, you're just as imperfect as the rest of us.
Peons, remember that too. We're all imperfect. If a power-that-be lets power get to his or her head, remember that you are not immune to that either. And sometimes, they're just doing their job. Also remember that if you are asked to be quiet, it's probably in your best interest. If you feel your rights are being squashed, also remember that the guarantee of "free speech" is NOT the same as the guarantee that you can be rude or intentionally offensive or harassing.
If you would like to respond to this, e-mail [email protected]. If I get enough responses, I may follow up on this--I may even post a response on the forums.
As most of those who frequent the member forums of starmen.net (fanfics, articles, UBB, #starmen, etc.) know, starmen.net/earthbound.net has a long and colored history of friction between staff/mods and regular visitors, often over issues of power and the abuse thereof. This includes staff ignoring, stifling the free speech of, and, overall, "repressing" the regular visitors.
Though the intent of this essay is not to explore a discussion of who is right and who is wrong when it comes to these issues, the intent is to provide some (perhaps insightful, probably not) commentary on why these sorts of things happen and what can be done so that arguments surface less frequently.
It is probably indisputable that at least a few staff members have abused their power in the past, and at least a couple staffers (who will be unnamed in this article) have admitted it is so. Staff members would appear to think they are above the law, and incidents have been recorded where staffers blatantly ignore the rules that have been placed on various forums, especially the message board and #starmen. Many would say it hardly seems right.
Yes, some staffers do abuse their power. That much is clear. Is it wrong? But of course. Is it going to change? No way. Does it do any good to whine about it? Not at all.
That's my bit of advice to the peons, whom the author gladly includes himself as a member. Don't whine about it. You just waste your virtual breath and nothing changes anyway. Remember, it's just a website. You're not always going to be treated fairly here, nor are you going to be treated fairly in the "real world". Besides that, if you don't work yourself up into a snit over your freshly trampled rights, it probably won't happen as often, and if it does, at least you can take it in stride.
Speaking of rights, you have none on starmen.net. It's a private organization, so nobody can force the staffers to subscribe to the United States Bill of Rights. Don't whine that your First Amendment rights have been squashed when you're banned from #starmen for expressing your opinion--you didn't have any to begin with.
To the credit of the staffers, however, many of them do an excellent job, and as I have said, at least one has cleaned up his act in recent months. Most of the staffers at this website are excellent leaders and hard workers and deserve more gratitude than they get. They don't get paid--they do this for free. Working at starmen.net is not even something you can put on a r�sum�.
For those staffers who are notorious for abusing their power: Clean up your act. One day you won't have any power whatsoever and you will not know how to handle difficulties without squashing the source. Peons aren't as smelly as you want to think, and I'm sure you would hate to be stifled just as much as the peons do. Though our civil rights are not legally defensible when we're on starmen.net or #starmen, our rights are supposedly "inalienable". That means that we have the right to express a fair opinion, no matter where we are or what the situation is. You're nothing special, you're just as imperfect as the rest of us.
Peons, remember that too. We're all imperfect. If a power-that-be lets power get to his or her head, remember that you are not immune to that either. And sometimes, they're just doing their job. Also remember that if you are asked to be quiet, it's probably in your best interest. If you feel your rights are being squashed, also remember that the guarantee of "free speech" is NOT the same as the guarantee that you can be rude or intentionally offensive or harassing.
If you would like to respond to this, e-mail [email protected]. If I get enough responses, I may follow up on this--I may even post a response on the forums.
