Hello

[Nodoka Hanamura]

To be brutally honest, my time back when I was most active before my departure (2017-2018) was after the Heavy Decisions incident. That being said, the admin team has done, at least at face value, a wonderful job of cleaning shit up around here, and the attitudes that caused me to abandon Discovery years ago have seemed to at least, subsided. People like Ice Princess, Omicron and others, who I disliked due to my opinions of their ooRP (and even yes, bleeding inRP and OORP actions and statements, I will admit) actions and opinions. Time and even hardships that some of them have endured - again, my deepest condolences for Vitoniz - have softened my hostility, And it seems they too, from second-hand accounts from many of my friends who I left behind or even those who followed in my footsteps out the door back then, they have improved, at least somewhat. It is my hope that this time around, if I decide to stay, that We can leave the inRP hostilities at the door, and at least respect each other's decisions both in and outside of the roleplay environment.

That being said, as someone with community administration experience, the moderator's dilemma applies here - in a video script I have yet to actualize into a video on SL, I spoke the following:

The Moderator’s dilemma is twofold - If you govern too little, your platform becomes unruly, your authority easily questionable and puts question into the faith of the platform’s viability. If you govern too much.. The community becomes distrustful of you - speaks ill of you behind your back and questions the legitimacy of your actions, and looks to you with fear, rather than respect. They may even leave for sunnier shores - even if they aren’t shown the door.

In SL, we're dealing with our own little mess, which has brought about similar questions that are being raised here. Is what the DiscoveryGC Administration Team doing in our best interests? Are they acting too harshly, doling out nuclear-grade punishments for things that are at worst, worth only Bastilling or a week ban for? Are they not taking into account behavior that can be seen as abusive, harassing, that could prey on the less emotionally fortitudinous of our userbase, letting such things fly under the radar?

Back in my day, I could probably say that, with all due respect to the administration team - again, I have been in your shoes before - the admins were not as hard-assed as they are now. And that was a bad thing. We had people who saught to only make trouble for others, to see the community as not an outlet for creativity and exploring a vast universe that some of us grew up enjoying like yours truly with the original Freelancer - but as a way to get their kicks by trolling or annoying others in ways that were not easily caught by the administration team.

But now? They are more strict, but it's not without good reason. I left Discovery due to toxicity, me and Jadon both. Yes, this community brought us together as partners, but in the end we were both done with dealing with the drama and fighting that came from various members of illrepute. Whilst I hope in the intervening 6 years they have matured like I have and that a state of ooRP amicability can be ascertained, I know some amongst their ranks have decided that they want to push buttons, leading to the administrators doling out 'HEAVY DECISIONS' as the old meme goes.

Is the DiscoveryGC admin team's decision to start monitoring and reprimanding for actions in the discord servers of Official Factions a bit far-reaching? At face value, yes - but again, these are OFFICIAL factions. They, whether Auxesia's Nyx, or Order's Omicron likes it or not, are representatives of the best the community has to offer in terms of community-run organizations and they should be expected to be moderated and managed in such a way that it does not invite or promote the same toxicity and hostility that caused me to leave in the first place. They are expected to be held to a higher standard than some small UF you make with your friends for shits and giggles.

I will admit that were this rule implemented back then, I definitely would have been subject to sanctions. I have said some quite.. disgusting things in the past that I am not proud of now - quite the opposite. I think all of you in one fashion or another have done the same. Zephyranthes' character, Foulke, put it best.

Auxesia was made on fuck-ups. It's all about wanting to get better. Wanting to improve.

We need to do better. This is just the consequences of not doing so staring us in the face.

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