[Dildo Shwaggins]

I made a post on a specific thread about a specific event regarding this topic, but I thought I would put some thoughts here in a broader term related to how many things have gone down. I don't want to see this community go the way of an old community I was upper staff on, and if things don't change I can see it heading down that path. This is all my opinion and my perspective, so don't take this as any sort of official decree. I (mostly) say this separate from anything related to my own staff position.

This server needs to communicate way better. Let's start from the top down. Upper staff needs to communicate better with the rest of the community, particularly when something directly involving them is happening or a major criticism is brought up in a civil manner. At the bare minimum, lending an ear to the concerns of the community and giving them some sort of response to a legitimate grievance is going to make everything easier for all parties. Maybe, just maybe, communicating with the server better will result in the community using less than civil tactics (which result in bans and potentially legitimate grievances being unheard). More community polls, perhaps, when something needs to be changed is also a potential option I believe would be a good thing. It's an easy way to get a consensus. And as a lower level staff member myself, the most active staff members seem to be the TMods and Trusteds, so they might have something good to say too.

Speaking of civil tactics, the only way this server and this community is going to be better is if everyone works together. Community members, I understand- you want to be heard and you want staff to listen. However, using channels like "memes," accusations of abuse, and provoking shitposts is only contributing the current vicious cycle of bans and accusations of upper staff being dictatorial/unwilling to listen. I for one see a lot more credibility in someone who takes the time to write out a constructive criticism of something than someone that takes a few minutes to throw together a picture with inflammatory captions or makes serious accusations against someone over something that shouldn't be a big deal.

This place is gonna keep losing members and cause more drama and rifts if nobody is willing to work together as a COMMUNITY. Maybe I'm expecting too much out of what is a somewhat anonymous gathering of people on the internet. But, the community won't survive unless people are willing to work together to reach a common goal- a fun place to play GMod and chill with some cool people.