The State of the Servers

[1Trace1]

So this is something I think a few of us are noticing. As our community has changed, so has the quality and quantity of people here.  I personally feel that a lot of the quality has been lost as the quantity grew.  There's the random people in the server who like to antagonize others, there's the group of people causing problems on server #2, and if you ever play a couple rounds on a full server where your the only regular then it feels like a whole different server. 
With the recent e-drama with Zoso we almost lost one of our own. It wasn't like this before and we still had full servers. Granted most of the people who find us are decent. I also acknowledge the fact that there will always be asshats on the servers.  All I'm asking is what can we do retain the integrity of our community as it continues to grow? Anyone else have any opinions on this?



(I wasn't sure whether to put this in General Discussion or Here)

[Dave]

All I'm asking is what can we do retain the integrity of our community as it continues to grow?
(I wasn't sure whether to put this in General Discussion or Here)

WHat would you suggest?

[CaffeinePowered]

[quote author=1Trace1 link=topic=966.msg24850#msg24850 date=1217032400]
All I'm asking is what can we do retain the integrity of our community as it continues to grow?
(I wasn't sure whether to put this in General Discussion or Here)

WHat would you suggest?
[/quote]

Server #1 and #3 are fine, its just #2 that attracts scrubs, just come down hard with the admin hammer and it will be fine. If you are not an admin please report any mic spamming, ass hattery, racism, ect to an admin on steam, Im more than willing to snuff out any problems remotely at a moments notice.

If I need to make more people admin on #2 I will. To those of you that do have admin on #2, enforce the rules, if someone bitches about it tough. Theres 1000 other servers they can go play on that run a huge gambit of rules, from no swearing, no porn christian servers, to 24/7 mariokarts with no administration at all.

[Versus]

me me me

[Yomanz]

I agree with caff. Just admin the servers properly and don't allow any exceptions for brbu members. Personally i think Zoso got away with too much. He had been warned several times to stop being an asshat on the servers but he never stopped. In cases like that i think the admins should feel a little more welcome to exercise the gag and mute commands. Anywho that's all i have to say about the zoso drama.

As for the problem with server #2. I'd say either have an admin split up the members of the clan (I don't know if admins can do but if they can), or send the clan a request to stop taking advantage of the server like that. If they refuse, then boot them every time they try to stack the teams. If it gets bad then drop the ban-hammer on them.

Personally i think that the current amount of admins can handle this. People just need to remember that even if an admin isn't on the server at the time, that they can still contact one through their friends list on steam to handle the situation. However, if at any point we do need more admins, i'd gladly do it. Im not on TF2 as often as i used to be, but im usually online late into the night and could be contacted in case there's a problem.

[cbre88x]

We need to let these clanfags know these servers are not their own. Make them pay yo.

[rumsfald]

Personally i think Zoso got away with too much. He had been warned several times to stop being an asshat on the servers but he never stopped. In cases like that i think the admins should feel a little more welcome to exercise the gag and mute commands. Anywho that's all i have to say about the zoso drama.

Research has shown time and time again that it is hardest to police your own. Zoso posted here, posted his pictures, joked around in forums (or tried to). I bet that myself, or Vandam, or Eschatos could get away with saying/spraying/doing MUCH MORE than any of the admins would permit from a random/unknown. Once you know someone as a person, people tend to forgive or overlook a lot more than they would normally.

It takes balls and bravery as an admin to ask your friend, or a friend of a friend, to quit the micspam/civ heavy/crab spy/off-color comments.

[Squishy3]

[quote author=Yomanz link=topic=966.msg24861#msg24861 date=1217037121]
Personally i think Zoso got away with too much. He had been warned several times to stop being an asshat on the servers but he never stopped. In cases like that i think the admins should feel a little more welcome to exercise the gag and mute commands. Anywho that's all i have to say about the zoso drama.

Research has shown time and time again that it is hardest to police your own. Zoso posted here, posted his pictures, joked around in forums (or tried to). I bet that myself, or Vandam, or Eschatos could get away with saying/spraying/doing MUCH MORE than any of the admins would permit from a random/unknown. Once you know someone as a person, people tend to forgive or overlook a lot more than they would normally.

It takes balls and bravery as an admin to ask your friend, or a friend of a friend, to quit the micspam/civ heavy/crab spy/off-color comments.
[/quote]I'm a gentlemen and only crab spy before the match starts. and then switch to a useful class.

[cannedpeahes]

I noticed what Trace is noticing a few weeks ago. I loathe playing in the #2 now, and it's not because it's a scrub server, it's just got a different character now than it did then.

It's not that they do stuff that you can kick/ban them for. It's just they're different people than us with really annoying senses of humor, and I'll grant that some people think what they do is tres funny, but I just think it shows the decline of the Intertubes. I wish there were something I could do to get the feel of the server in line with the feel of our community, but without gratuitous boots and banhammers, there's nothing I can do.

[cannedpeahes]

[quote author=Yomanz link=topic=966.msg24861#msg24861 date=1217037121]
Personally i think Zoso got away with too much. He had been warned several times to stop being an asshat on the servers but he never stopped. In cases like that i think the admins should feel a little more welcome to exercise the gag and mute commands. Anywho that's all i have to say about the zoso drama.

Research has shown time and time again that it is hardest to police your own. Zoso posted here, posted his pictures, joked around in forums (or tried to). I bet that myself, or Vandam, or Eschatos could get away with saying/spraying/doing MUCH MORE than any of the admins would permit from a random/unknown. Once you know someone as a person, people tend to forgive or overlook a lot more than they would normally.

It takes balls and bravery as an admin to ask your friend, or a friend of a friend, to quit the micspam/civ heavy/crab spy/off-color comments.
[/quote]I'm a gentlemen and only crab spy before the match starts. and then switch to a useful class.


[/quote]

Also, this may be the first time I've +1'ed rummy without him giving me lulz.

[Squishy3]

[quote author=rumsfald link=topic=966.msg24891#msg24891 date=1217044620]
[quote author=Yomanz link=topic=966.msg24861#msg24861 date=1217037121]
Personally i think Zoso got away with too much. He had been warned several times to stop being an asshat on the servers but he never stopped. In cases like that i think the admins should feel a little more welcome to exercise the gag and mute commands. Anywho that's all i have to say about the zoso drama.

Research has shown time and time again that it is hardest to police your own. Zoso posted here, posted his pictures, joked around in forums (or tried to). I bet that myself, or Vandam, or Eschatos could get away with saying/spraying/doing MUCH MORE than any of the admins would permit from a random/unknown. Once you know someone as a person, people tend to forgive or overlook a lot more than they would normally.

It takes balls and bravery as an admin to ask your friend, or a friend of a friend, to quit the micspam/civ heavy/crab spy/off-color comments.
[/quote]I'm a gentlemen and only crab spy before the match starts. and then switch to a useful class.


[/quote]

Also, this may be the first time I've +1'ed rummy without him giving me lulz.
[/quote]fail quote is fail peaches. -1 for you. goddammit my quote failed too. feel free to -1 me too.

[Luinbariel]

I haven't been here too long or played all that much on #2 but from the first few times I have to the recent ones, i've noticed the same changes as well, for what it's worth.

[Loqutus]

Server #2 is everything the above posters have described. But an extra dose of vigilance coupled with swift action silence the ne'er-do-wells, in my experience.

As the server and the community here grow, we're going to acquire people of all kinds... And those who have the responsibility (myself included) need to faithfully and consistently silence and remove all who negatively contribute to the community as a whole.

[CaffeinePowered]

I wish there were something I could do to get the feel of the server in line with the feel of our community, but without gratuitous boots and banhammers, there's nothing I can do.

One custom in rotation + banhammers

Server #2 is everything the above posters have described. But an extra dose of vigilance coupled with swift action silence the ne'er-do-wells, in my experience.

As the server and the community here grow, we're going to acquire people of all kinds... And those who have the responsibility (myself included) need to faithfully and consistently silence and remove all who negatively contribute to the community as a whole.

+1 dude, +1

[cannedpeahes]

[quote author=cannedpeaches link=topic=966.msg24900#msg24900 date=1217045413]
I wish there were something I could do to get the feel of the server in line with the feel of our community, but without gratuitous boots and banhammers, there's nothing I can do.

One custom in rotation + banhammers
[/quote]

Not really my province (Ontario, btw), you may wanna run it by FuckDuck. It sounds like it would do the trick, but then it wouldn't be Goldrush/Dbowl/Gpit, would it?

[1Trace1]

Locking the server and displaying the password only on the forums would probably be a little much, and I know we wanna keep this an open community. There probably isn't any fool proof solution to the problem.  I guess these are all the sort of things that are out of our hands. We can only react to situations since there really isn't a way to prevent them. All we can do is be diligent and enforce the rules. +1 to all for making the community a better place  ;D

[A. Crow]

All I'm asking is what can we do retain the integrity of our community as it continues to grow?

This is a really tough question.  I seen alot of clans/guilds/whatnot struggle to deal with growing pains like most of us are becoming cognizant that brbu is in store for.  Someone gets the bright idea that we need more rules, and that they should be enforced better, some other people get butt hurt and leave/get thrown out, and the community changes in a profound way.  I wouldn't actually be too scared of this happening, because I'm not sure there is really anything you can do to stop it.  Relish the time when things where simple, and everyone got along.  You can't police the populace more than you have been, the soft handed administrative approach is one of the things that makes the brbu communities what they are, but if you don't police the populace, it will destroy itself, so you have a fairly classic problem here. Enjoy, (goes best with popcorn).

[copulatingduck]

[quote author=CaffeinePowered link=topic=966.msg24930#msg24930 date=1217050917]
[quote author=cannedpeaches link=topic=966.msg24900#msg24900 date=1217045413]
I wish there were something I could do to get the feel of the server in line with the feel of our community, but without gratuitous boots and banhammers, there's nothing I can do.

One custom in rotation + banhammers
[/quote]

Not really my province (Ontario, btw), you may wanna run it by FuckDuck. It sounds like it would do the trick, but then it wouldn't be Goldrush/Dbowl/Gpit, would it?
[/quote]

I hate Dustbowl/Goldrush/GravelPit. Of those, I enjoy GravelPit because it gives me a chance to work on my scouting. That's pretty much it. If people want to suggest alterations to the rotation, by all means, feel free.

[cannedpeahes]

[quote author=cannedpeaches link=topic=966.msg24932#msg24932 date=1217051266]
[quote author=CaffeinePowered link=topic=966.msg24930#msg24930 date=1217050917]
[quote author=cannedpeaches link=topic=966.msg24900#msg24900 date=1217045413]
I wish there were something I could do to get the feel of the server in line with the feel of our community, but without gratuitous boots and banhammers, there's nothing I can do.

One custom in rotation + banhammers
[/quote]

Not really my province (Ontario, btw), you may wanna run it by FuckDuck. It sounds like it would do the trick, but then it wouldn't be Goldrush/Dbowl/Gpit, would it?
[/quote]

I hate Dustbowl/Goldrush/GravelPit. Of those, I enjoy GravelPit because it gives me a chance to work on my scouting. That's pretty much it. If people want to suggest alterations to the rotation, by all means, feel free.
[/quote]

Who knew? I'd toss Goldrush (tiresome) and make Dustbowl a little rarer in the rotation, maybe throw in 2Fort, Mach4, Labor, Aqua, Steel, or Science. Any combination

[fyre]

[quote author=cannedpeaches link=topic=966.msg24932#msg24932 date=1217051266]
[quote author=CaffeinePowered link=topic=966.msg24930#msg24930 date=1217050917]
[quote author=cannedpeaches link=topic=966.msg24900#msg24900 date=1217045413]
I wish there were something I could do to get the feel of the server in line with the feel of our community, but without gratuitous boots and banhammers, there's nothing I can do.

One custom in rotation + banhammers
[/quote]

Not really my province (Ontario, btw), you may wanna run it by FuckDuck. It sounds like it would do the trick, but then it wouldn't be Goldrush/Dbowl/Gpit, would it?
[/quote]

I hate Dustbowl/Goldrush/GravelPit. Of those, I enjoy GravelPit because it gives me a chance to work on my scouting. That's pretty much it. If people want to suggest alterations to the rotation, by all means, feel free.
[/quote]

Maybe, instead of running the most popular maps, you could switch it to an all custom server for a bit. That would tend to keep out a lot of the randoms. But it all depends on what you want #2 to be. I think DB and GR were originally put on there to attract randoms.

I bet that myself, or Vandam, or Eschatos could get away with saying/spraying/doing MUCH MORE than any of the admins would permit from a random/unknown.

That's the way it is in real life too. My friends can get away with a lot more than a stranger could. I don't really think there's anything wrong with that.  But obviously there still has to be a line, because people can easily get carried away with stuff. That's where admins, or even non-admins, have to say, "your being a dick, you really need to stop." It's just the way life works.