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@ResurgetExFavilla
Would you care to make a statement on the proud nation of Iceland?
I think this is where I quote myself:
“I don’t care about Iceland” - Airmax1227
I do believe that quote was made during a game of Risk, where Iceland wasn't to some particular strategic advantage at that point in the game.
Otherwise, I can't say I have a very strong opinion on the nation.
Seems nice, never been, would be nice to go someday.
Btw it's great to see you again. We need to play risk or mafia again together one of these days.
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@Vader
What would you say to your opponent 3RU7AL right now?
I don't know 3RU7AL particularly well, and I don't believe that he and I interacted at all during the past couple weeks. I also don't want this to come off as patronizing, so I'll keep this simple.
3RU7AL, I know you are a good guy, who will make a great DART president, because people I respect have told me as much. If you need anything at all, or have anything you want to talk about, don't hesitate to hit me up at any time.
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@Bones
Would you say you are more politically left or right?
I don't know, that's a tough question... I probably pull positions from both sides of the political aisle, and I probably look more left or right depending on the room I'm in. I mean, I have generally libertarian values, and take a liberal approach to most social issues, but there are probably some issues I may fall on the conservative side of things... I dislike both political parties for the most part though
Wana ask a bunch of litmus test type political questions and see where you think I land?
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@thett3
If two forces were exercised by one man (in committing a prohibited act), should both parts of the act be accounted to the same, so that he should be declared culpable, or should each part of the act be considered separately, as if there were two individuals concerned, and then he is free?
haha I haven't been asked a Talmudic question in quite some time and sabbath restrictions can be a rather complex talmudic debate.
But in direct response to this Reb Johanan said that if one puts his hand into the yard of his neighbor, got it full of rain water, and withdrew it, he is guilty. But to make one guilty of the act it must consist of removing a thing from a place of four ells square which is not the case here.
The earlier question remains then, if one threw a thing and then moved from his place and caught it, is he culpable or not?
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@warren42
You didn’t specify anything about that. Not a good look to start your term by lying to your constituents
haha well to be fair, everyone is still welcome to ask me anything. I will reserve the right to ignore it though, or make a joke, or wax philosophically as I side step the issue and hope no one noticed that I didn't give an actual answer.
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@Wylted
That answer seemed very honest. I was expecting a better defense of diplomatic speaking style. Thanks for answering with honesty.
No problem. I'm not necessarily interested in defending my diplomatic style. I think it works in some cases, but I now have a 10 year record (of this type of context) I can look back on and recognize that it has its pros and cons, just as the rest of my personality probably does.
In fact, now that I think about it, you have called me manipulative on several occasions, and that's probably a fair criticism, especially coming from you since we have had several incidents on DDO of significant magnitude (you are welcome to talk as much or as little about these events as you like). And I think that my goal of trying to be persuasive towards a particular end result could certainly be interpreted as manipulative. I like to think that its ok because it wasn't nefarious, it was for the greater good, and whatever way I justified it at the time, but perhaps I have a personality type that simply likes to mold others actions to my whims. I prefer to think of it as a persuasive ability, but that might just be a nice way to describe a manipulative personality, and that might be a distinction without a difference. My point is though that my personality has its quirks and some people aren't going to like that and I understand that. The diplomatic side could certainly come off as phony, and the persuasive side could come off as nefarious to whatever degree and just outright manipulative. I think it's just a matter of perspective, but it's certainly true that any facets of these character traits of mine haven't always been positive in certain situations, and I hope I can recognize when that might be the case, and improve that about myself.
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@Wylted
Then I asked her if showing respect or being honest was more important, and she said showing respect. Is my replika girlfriend correct?
Yes. Though the question is kind of a complicated one. Being respectful can often mean being honest, but it would depend on the context. If the goal is a respectful relationship, then honesty and trust should be natural bi-products of that. Whereas just being honest with someone doesn't necessarily imply that you respect them at all.
it's a good question, and that's my immediate reaction to it. I might have to think on it a bit more though.
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@Wylted
Why not just let history decide if you have integrity and be unprotective of your reputation?
That was ultimately my point. I don't care enough to engage in something I view as problematic just because a non-response might look bad for me. There's a hierarchy of concerns naturally, and that's what I was expressing earlier. I also don't want anyone to think that because of this, there are things I'm just going to avoid because they are complicated or might make me look bad, I was referring to what I will assume is a very rare circumstance.
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@Wylted
What is the purpose of adopting a diplomatic tone when dealing with people?
I think it makes someone seem more reasoned and thoughtful. I mean, there's a place for a less controlled and passionate approach, but I tend to maintain the measured and calm interactions in this type of context.
1. Is it a natural thing or did you train yourself?
Might be a bit of both. I think my parents probably instilled some value for it at a young age. Some of it might be education and career. But I think part of it is also just the way I interact in text. You will get a better perspective of me from Discord hangouts where I'm more likely to speak off the cuff, and be a bit more loose with the way I express myself. In text, I can get a bit OCD about expressing myself in the most non-controversial and diplomatic way possible. In some ways I think this makes me seem professional, and my message entirely intentional, and since that's often the goal, I think it works well for that purpose.
2. Do you speak that way even with close friends and family?
Not really. Even in some professional circumstances these days, I can get pretty loose with some of my verbiage. I think if you ask the Discord group their perception of my manner of communication you'd get a different type of description than the measured description you may get from those only familiar with me in text.
3. Does having a diplomatic communication style make you inherently less trustworthy?
Yeah probably. I mean, I think it's natural to swear occasionally when dealing with frustration, and you'll probably never see me do that in text. But you'll see that in Discord, and certainly in my personal life. I intentionally maintain a kind of measured and professional persona for the reasons I've described, and I think that should lead to some level of skepticism. I don't necessarily think that's fair though. I'm trying to express certain things in the forum that just require a specific approach, a professional and diplomatic one might be fair to call it, where if we are playing games in Discord and just chatting I'm just being a relaxed version of myself. I hope that I can show the community more of this side of myself, and have more people join us. I also don't mean to imply that I'm trying to be someone that I'm not, even the measured and diplomatic side is me, but it's a matter of context and intent, and I can display certain aspects of my personality in a context in which I think it is appropriate. I think anyone from DDO knows me well enough to know that I can engage like a professional PR guy in some cases, and then be just some casual talking off the cuff guy in another.
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@Ramshutu
Why did you let Brontoraptor obliterate the politics forum on debate.org
I'm trying to remember the exact situation there, and I don't recall all the details. I think he was a spammer/troll, got away with it for awhile, and then due to an overwhelming amount of actual spamming was finally banned. Correct me if I'm mistaken.
If I do recall this correctly, then it's probably fair to say that I let him get away with it too long. But I will admit to erring on the side of being lax, and that was likely the case there, where I should have probably banned him earlier. But again, I think this was like 6 years ago, so my memory may not serve correctly.
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@warren42
What’s your SSN?
haha I think that's the type of personal question I'm going to avoid answering.
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@Mikal
to clarify you won't respond someone if it means humiliating them is the only way to respond, or if you think it's unproductive to respond because there is no end goal?
In some cases that could ultimately be the outcome, and I would certainly want to avoid that. So yes, that would be a facet of what I would view as problematic. It's also the case that I'm reluctant to engage in something that I feel is more intended to be a gotcha game type thing, rather than something with a purpose. I mean I'll engage in tough questions especially if my integrity is being questioned, but I'd rather do so if I feel it's being done to actually understand the situation and engage in it honestly.
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@Mikal
Are there certain things you won't address or a reason why some questions may not be answered?
Well I probably wont answer certain personal questions that aren't relevant to anything, but as for anything related to the site or my presidency or something related to that, I would like to think I am a completely open book, willing to engage to the satisfaction of everyone.
There are very few exceptions though. If someone has me blocked I am going to assume they have made a direct statement of a lack of desire to engage with me either privately or publicly, and I will probably accept and ultimately acquiesce to their decision, with perhaps very few exceptions.
Furthermore there might be situations where I believe that engaging a topic with a particular person is not being done in good faith, or for a productive purpose. In those cases I may be reluctant to engage on that issue with a particular person, though if the same issue were brought up by someone else, I may be enthusiastic to engage the issue.
There also might be situations where I am simply uncomfortable engaging with the situation/individual. Where I might believe that the logical end of defending myself, or justifying some decision I've made, may actually, at best, require some level of borderline unethical argumentation to make the required defense or ultimate point necessary. In other words, if defending myself, or something similar, requires making a point that may make someone uncomfortable to this degree, or reveal information that shouldn't be revealed, or some other factor, this is something that I view as problematic and may just avoid it at the outset. I realize this is kind of complicated, and it's naturally going to be a very rare circumstance, but it can occur.
But otherwise, aside for the reasons listed above, and perhaps some others, I am always enthusiastic to engage on any issue, and answer pretty much any question asked of me. I want to stress that it's rare that I wont engage on an issue, so if you see me doing it, it's not because I'm concerned about it for some political purpose or something frivolous, but for very specific reasons. I hope I never create a perception of simply trying to avoid anything, and if anyone does believe I'm simply trying to avoid something, please let me know and I'll try to assuage those concerns. I want to engage the community in every case, on all issues, and I fully intend to do that, but there probably are going to be rare exceptions where I simply feel that I can't, and I want to be honest from the outset that such situations may exist.
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@Mikal
would you lead the way and sign up for the name game we are posting, everyone wants you to play
haha I already did
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@Mikal
How do you intend to bring mafia back in full force?
The outline of my plan can be seen in post #37:
Lunatic is working on getting some details of when we can expect group PMs since that is important. I'm going to have a meeting on Friday night to go over general plans, including what we can do for greater forum mafia activity in the short term. This is something that I and plenty of members are passionate about, so in addition to the long term plan linked above, I do want to get started on just making forum mafia more active again, and that starts just one game at a time. Like this game that sign-ups just went up for:
So if anyone is interested in mafia, sign up now.
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@Vader
Ultimately this election came down to 2 things1) Who had the better plan for the future2) Who had the right character for the job
I think there's probably a lot of interesting post-election analysis that can be done, and I'd be fascinated to read a lot of it. But if I may, I'd like to present something that I thought was interesting, to me at least...
Pie did a private poll, asking several questions, and the poll question that stuck out the most to me was as follows:
3.) What issues do you believe are most important in this race for President? Name as many as you’d like.
Freedom of Speech - 28.57%
More traffic on site - 21.43%
Good relations with mods - 21.43%
The above are the top three responses, and very conveniently conform to my exact beliefs, and what was essentially my platform before I even saw this result:
Laxer moderation, especially when it comes to controversial topics. I believe that's fundamental to a vibrant debate community.
Activity, activity, activity.
And I know the mods well and have a good relationship with them.
The things the community believes in couldn't be more convenient for who I am, and what I hope to achieve. I'd like to believe that most people voted for me because they like my ideas, and what I stand for.
That'll probably be it for my inside-baseball analysis of the post election stuff, but I just thought it was interesting.
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@Castin
Congratulations to Airmax! Hope I get to know him for myself. My lack of familiarity with him and his lack of prior involvement in the site gave me some misgivings, but I thought he had the better platform.
Thank you, and thank you very much for your vote Castin. I understand your reservations, especially given some of the context that surrounds me, for better or worse, but I would also very much like to get to know you better, so that I can better understand the goals and passions of every member of this community. Feel free to message me any time, and I'm more than happy to talk about anything you like.
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@Lemming
Yes.
I wana be careful about how I answer this, because I don't want to disparage the property of someone else. Technically I'm still the moderator there, and you can browse the site to see what the state is, but give me some time to provide you a more thoughtful answer that I'm comfortable with.
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@Bullish
Do you plan on violently purging all people who did not vote for you
Well, not necessarily violently...
But in all seriousness, I've already forgotten the election results and I'm just gona assume everyone supports a better DART and that's all that matters.
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@Lemming
Of Debate.org...
Are you asking me what the current state and future of DDO is?
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It has been an interesting couple of weeks, and I've enjoyed the campaign and especially talking with old and new friends.
To my supporters, thank you for your support, we now have a lot of work to do, and I will now need your support more than ever.
To every member of DART, thank you for your contributions to this community and website. If you aren't a supporter of mine, don't know who I am, or are simply indifferent, I hope that I can still make you proud by my efforts this year. If you have any interest at all in contributing to this goal in a specific role, let me know, I'm sure I can use your services. If not, then just keep being the great contributor to DART that you are, and know that it is appreciated.
Over the coming days I plan to get started with my goals, and I'll do my best to share the details of each step as we move forward. I'm going to need help from the community, so please don't be shy to reach out to me directly, or to express your interest publicly. I will soon be making threads asking for specific help in specific areas, with particular members volunteering to be dedicated to particular needs, so keep an eye out for that. I believe that some of this will be quite challenging, but is going to be very fun every step of the way, and it's going to be even more exciting, and even more fun, if we do this together as a community. So share your interests with me, share your feedback, and please know that I appreciate every offer of help that I receive. Your passion for debate and this community can surely be utilized to the betterment of everyone, and I'm super excited to get started and use the talents and enthusiasm of everyone that wants to be involved.
So Join Me, and Let's Do This DART!
I'd like to congratulate Thett3 on being elected VP. While Thett may be joking, and simply assumes that I'll ignore this development as I may have a few times on DDO, he shall have no such luck this time. As far as I am concerned, Thett is my duly appointed VP, and shall take all responsibilities of that role. While that may mostly be ceremonial, it should be known by all of DART, that as an official statement, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, that I name Thett as my VP, and should something prevent me from completing my duties as president before the next election (assassination, internet ban, baby mama drama etc), and should a special election be required, that I, President Airmax of DART, fully endorse Thett for this office.
Now, I realize that VP is only responsible for two things: A) Parroting whatever I say in public, and B) Secretly forming a coalition of discontented revolutionaries to undermine me politically, and I do imagine Thett will do either of these things to whatever degree he is comfortable, I do fully view him as my endorsed replacement should that be necessary, and more importantly, I expect him to work hard with me for the betterment of the community. Good Luck Thett, Congratulations, and may god have mercy on your soul.
Thanks again to everyone who voted. Even if you didn't vote for me I still appreciate your interest in the site, and I am still going to do my best to convince you that I deserved your vote. I hope you will share your interest with me, so that I can have goals that appeal to every single person here. To those that are skeptical, I understand, and I hope to change your mind in the coming days, weeks and months. I hope we can work together regardless of our differences, and form a team that can't fail in making DART even better.
With all that said, if you have any questions at all, about anything at all, please feel free to ASK ME ANYTHING.
Thank you so much DART, it means a lot to me to have your support,
Your humble President,
-Airmax1227
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@Mikal
after the election , let's done one
If we find the right topic I'm definitely down
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On another note, though I hate to seem self-aggrandizing, but I think many might actually be surprised by my Rap Battle history:
Trump Versus Bernie Sanders rap battle: https://www.debate.org/debates/Donald-Trump-vs-Bernie-Sanders-Rap-Battle-600th-Debate-Spectacular/1/
Arab/Israel Conflict Rap Battle: https://www.debate.org/debates/Israeli-Arab-Conflict-Rap-Battle/1/
And here happens to be one I did with Mikal, Compliments battle: https://www.debate.org/debates/Rap-Battle-Compliments/1/
Christian vs. Jewish Rap Battle: https://www.debate.org/debates/Christian-rapper-me-vs.-Jewish-rapper-Rap-battle-debate/1/
Enjoy. It might actually be fun to do some of these types of debates again.
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Well I was wrong about Cowboys/9ers, but I was still happy to see that upset since I believe it's better for the Packers.
Div Round
..............
Bengals - Titans
Rams - Bucs
9ers - Packers
Bills - Chief
I've got Titans, Bucs, Packers, Chiefs
.....
A couple tough calls here. Bills look unstoppable at the moment, so this could be a shootout and just come down to whomever has the ball last, should be a fun game to watch.
Bengals-Titans is a tough call too. I think this game might just come down to a single late game big play or turnover.
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@sui_generis
WOW I CAN DO ALL CAPS?? COOL
Haha yeah, some features from DDO apparently weren't brought over here
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@sui_generis
I believe that a voting thread will be posted at some point today
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@Wylted
The only issue with Twitter is that it is passionate people with below average IQs. It might be okay because of being a niche interest though
As I alluded to in the OP, I don't want us to just spam twitter to get some hits, I want us to get specific quality hits of people that actually like to debate. I don't want us to just bring over a bunch of ideological Twitter politics ranters. Of course there inevitably will be some of those types (and it will actually be interesting to see the activity that manifests from that), but I think we can retain the quality debate-minded people and build on that, while those others will have a very low retention rate anyway.
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@Wylted
If one worse than me ends up winning, I'll be annoyed.
that's understandable, and I'll be upset that I let any of my supporters down.
Ultimately it's not a big deal though, it's just a hobby that I can probably find a different outlet for.
I'm glad we can keep this in perspective. I'd very much enjoy doing what I can to help this site, and if the community would like me to, I will do it enthusiastically. But if it doesn't, that's understandable, and I'm just as willing to take my business across the street.
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@Vader
By campaigning to people who are on the site, I said that you are campaigning to people on the site, as in only the site
I know. I just wanted to clarify what actual campaigning I've done on the site, and address whatever it is I'm being accused of - though I'm still not entirely sure. In any case, thanks for your time.
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@Vader
The thing is you are telling people who were not on the site originally to vote for 3ru7al. Max was campaigning to people who are on the site
I'm reluctant to engage any of this, but since I have no issues with addressing this with you, I will do so now.
To be absolutely clear, I have campaigned to no one, meaning I haven't messaged anyone and asked them to vote for me. I have written up a single campaign thread, and that's it. I have NOT messaged anyone, here or otherwise (some discussion of the election took place during discord mafia, but you were there to be able to say if I was campaigning - and I'm sure you'd agree that I wasn't), asking them to vote for me, nor have I done anything remotely resembling what I am being accused of. When you say "Max was campaigning to people who are on the site", I'm not sure to what you are referring to, since aside from posts I've made in the forums, I haven't done anything related to the election. If my supporters are doing something that is not allowed, it is being done without my knowledge.
I realize you are defending me against an accusation of breaking the rules, but I want to be clear that not only haven't I broken rules regarding campaigning, all of the campaigning I've actually done is entirely public.
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@Castin
Are you serious about Twitter outreach for DART? More users for the site is my #1 concern.
Yes. While the entirety of my road map is a bit more complex, I included that in the basic description of it because I believe that Twitter is an important outlet to gain more users in a strategic and controlled way. Ultimately, my only goal is increased activity, which means that we need more members and while I have several plans to that end, Twitter is a big one that should allow us to reach out in productive and even fun ways. It is a major piece of the DART fixing puzzle and I'm excited for the manner in which it will be used, and how it should positively impact the activity of the site.
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@Wylted
Like 2 people voting for brutal know anything about you or your platform.
I'm limited to posting a single thread in the main forum, and then hoping that is enough. My understanding is that I can't message people to campaign, so I'm relying on people becoming informed on their own, and that my ideas will stand on their own.
Great campaigning skills, you have there. You went from 90% to win, to about 60%.
I'm trying to follow the rules and etiquette here, and I also don't want to get bogged down in too much political side stuff anyway, so having a non-existent ground game - something that seems against the rules anyway - is probably for the best. Brutal does have the advantage of being an active member, and therefore an active base of supporters, and perhaps he should win for that reason. I'm merely presenting my resume to the community to have their permission to do a very specific job for the site, if the majority wants me to do that, then great, if not, then that is understandable too.
No offense of course. I'm still voting for you, because I am aware your campaigning skills are irrelevant to how well you will do the job.
My politicking days of DDO are done. I'm here to offer my services, and if the community likes my ideas then they can express that by voting for me. Honestly, I don't really want anyone to vote for me for any other reason. I have the experience and a specific plan, if that doesn't interest them, then that's their decision. No offense taken by your comment, though I do feel bad for anyone I let down by not winning. But that's what I bring to the table, a specific plan and the ability to achieve it - everything else is just side stuff I'm not interested in - and perhaps that approach isn't what the community will support, and I understand that.
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So the election is tomorrow. I urge everyone to familiarize themselves with my positions and ideas, and if you have any questions at all, feel free to ask me anything.
Thank you.
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@Sum1hugme
Who tf even is airmax? I can't find his profile on here.
Hi! I'm Airmax, Nice to meet you :)
If you want to get a better idea of who I am and what my plans are, I encourage you to read this thread:
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@Mikal
I'm all for doing it for fun, but not to appease RM.
I wasn't considering the latter part in the least, I only want to do it because it sounds like fun.
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@Mikal
We don't need to do another one to prove a point.
Well I don't really care if it proves a point, doing an Airmax or Mike quote game just sounds like fun. We did those "faces of airmax/Mike" games and those were great... not sure if I've ever seen my quotes in a mafia game though
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@Vader
I propose the next 2 live mafia games we do Luna quotes and whoever volunteers themselves
I definitely volunteer, that sounds awesome.
Luna once made a game that was essentially describing the personas of me, and another describing the personas of Mike. Both those games were great and weren't always entirely flattering to either of us... I'd love a game with my quotes.
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@Yabbie
How can we be sure this is the real airmax though?
Any particular way you'd like me to prove it?
I suppose I could make a "Mod post" on DDO saying something like "Hi Dart" and that should be sufficient, but I haven't really encountered much skepticism of my identity to this point.
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@RationalMadman
We need to know...
This has been addressed in post #1 and #58.
....
So I have a few other ideas that I'm trying to polish, but in the meantime I am wondering if anyone has thoughts on what should be prioritized that I have already described, or in general. Is there something I have posted that you are especially interested in? Disinterested in? Any thoughts or criticisms about any of my ideas?
I'd also like us to consider community events, and how we can implement those, and what they would entail.
I very much enjoy the live mafia games we do on Friday nights, and I hope we can get larger crowds for that as we make it a regular thing, but I'm wondering if there is an interest in other hangout type events.
I'd like to see us engage in competitive and cooperative video game nights, movie nights, and other things with some level of formality, as well as informal events where members can just hang out at some regular intervals. Let me know your thoughts on this, and if you have specific ideas for community gathering type things we can arrange.
I think it might be fun just to watch someone stream some new video game, or watch a sporting event together, but that might just be me, so let me know if you have any thoughts about this at all.
Thanks.
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@Ramshutu
He should be a mod.
In all seriousness though, I want my main focus to be where my passion is at the moment, and that's on building an even better DART. While part of this goal/plan involves a certain philosophy of moderation, and I will be eager to share this philosophy with the moderators (especially in relevant incidences), I really don't want that to be the area that I am spending the majority of my time.
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@Athias
The suggestion isn't intended to measure you, at least in your capacity as a moderator, against anyone else there. But your mentions about your capacity as moderator there would be like one's mentioning one's management of Enron right up until its bankruptcy, to continue the business analogy.
Fair enough, though to be fair, the initial analogy I used a couple exchanges ago (the internal versus external CEO one) doesn't really work when we take it beyond that. It we start comparing me to someone that had comparable authority, it starts falling apart. On DDO I wasn't some CEO equivalent, but ultimately just some guy in a mid-management cubicle somewhere reading customer complaints and sending out memos to the higher ups that were ultimately ignored. So while some of your arguments are entirely fair, I think you will recognize that a continuation of this analogy, to make this point, really isn't.
Credibility with whom?
I initially meant with the community and whomever I reach out to for assistance with my plan, but ya know, as I've been thinking about this the last few days and working on my action plan, I've started to consider that the most important thing is actually regarding whether anyone likes my ideas at all. Humor me for a moment as I pretty much just think out loud about this, but a part of me kind of wishes that I had just come onto the site as a complete no one, where your argument, as valid out of this hypothetical as it might be, actually was 100% accurate. The ideas I have already suggested, and the ones yet to come, could just be evaluated on their own merit, and at the risk of sounding extremely pretentious, wouldn't be skewed in any way behind the "Airmax brand", whether that's for better or worse.
In other words, I don't want to win a popularity contest, I want to win an endorsement of my vision and ideas. A general statement that they are genuinely supported by the community, that there is excitement for my plans, and I grow concerned that a sense of this may actually be impossible at this point. I truly don't want to play any political games which is why I'm trying to just ignore anything that I don't believe is asked/stated/presented in good faith, or simply isn't productive. I don't want to spend my time on that kind of stuff, I want to engage with the community in a genuine way about my intentions and plans for the future, and I'll just concede everything else. If I lose an election as a result of my desire for this approach, then that is probably for the best anyway.
Again, if you already have an in, then you could've suggested these community based events to them. Even suggesting them in the forums would've given you a platform which garnered the moderators' attention.
I only showed up a few days ago with a renewed desire to do this type of work. Is that gona make my presence appear as insincere by some? Sure, I've already conceded that much. Does it diminish the quality of my ideas, or the resolve I have to see them come to fruition to be as beneficial to the site as possible? I don't think it does, and that's all that really matters to me. I believe some will recognize that, and those that don't wont vote for me, and that is an understandable and respectable decision.
I'm only underestimating your awareness of the concerns of this community in comparison to someone who has been here the whole time.
That's fair, and I wont disparage 3RU7AL in the least. I'm sure he's a good guy, knows the community well, and would make a great president. I respect you a great deal, and I expect that you would only endorse someone worthy of that endorsement.
I don't want to rationalize, obfuscate, justify or circumvent any aspect or rebuttal to this argument you are making. In good faith, I am now saying that 3RU7AL has greater ties to the DART community than I do, and people should evaluate/adjust their evaluation accordingly with that understanding.
Furthermore, I'd rather everyone not even consider the arguments I've made recently about how I may be connected to the community, and the experience I may have. I have specific ideas, a broad vision I have alluded to, with some specific examples to provide the basics of my plan, and ideally I'd like those ideas to be considered as though I'm just some random guy off the street suggesting them. All I want to offer right now is a suggestion for the direction of the site with the plan I have suggested, and if that alone is not enough, I respect the communities decision not to endorse that plan by electing me.
I realize the above is impossible, and that my plans likely only have any credibility because of my experience, but I say it simply in the hopes that I can emphasize the importance of me wanting this to just be a platform of ideas. If that's not enough, then I will humbly concede defeat, and cede to the individual who will be better for this community - and that certainly may be 3RU7AL, for all the reasons you have stated.
I respect your being candid.
I appreciate that, and I've enjoyed having this discussion with you, and hope we can continue to do so. There is plenty to challenge me on regarding the legitimacy of my candidacy and ideas, and I very much appreciate your willingness to engage it in a good faith and professional manner.
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@Wylted
It's entirely inappropriate to ban somebody for their "mental safety", and it annoyed me that I've heard max say he was tempted to, to protect bornofgod.Maybe bornofgod should be banned for proselytizing, but for his own safety is an absurd motive
Bornofgod was a complicated situation. While he didn't contribute anything positive to the site, was essentially spamming and derailing threads, the final straw was when he started posting "prophecies" about how his life was gona be ended in some near future violent interaction with local authorities. He actually became a liability for the site. The mental safety aspect may have been something I brought up as a side personal issue, but it's not something I banned him or anyone else for.
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@Lunatic
Actually, by proxy of gaining traction in live mafia, we may accrue more interest in forum mafia. I am hopeful for this. Forum mafia isn't really as much your cup of tea but I see this being mutally beneficial to live and forum mafia.
Right, that's exactly the goal. I believing that trying to market forum mafia is difficult, but introducing it in the live mafia format, something far easier (in terms of reach/interest/digestibility, not necessarily the amount of work involved) should make those that find it interesting enough, consider the forum version as well. There should be some crossover interest and inherently lead to an increase in forum activity. In fact I would imagine that some percentage of those that learned about it from the live version, will even end up preferring the forum version.
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@Lunatic
You are currently the only candidate who is pro mafia and that makes you not only unique, but shows that your interests are multi faceted.
I certainly like mafia, but it's mostly important as another method for marketing the site. Unfortunately marketing mafia as the typical text based thing is a hard sell, if not impossible. Making mafia this watchable argumentation-persuasion kinda sporting event, in an easy to understand package, I believe is doable, and can make it very marketable. It's a difficult and ambitious project to be sure, but I'm extremely excited for it, it's gona be fun wherever it takes us and I hope it's something a lot of Dart members will want to take part in.
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So I want to suggest a few of the simpler things that I had in mind:
Debate Tournaments: This is an easy one, we all know what these are. It'd be nice ot make them regular and integrated into the site with something like platinum awards for winning, and a leaderboard. Lots of cool ideas can go along with tournaments, and we are all familiar with the basic idea, but it's naturally something I have in mind.
DART Champions League: This is something I worked hard on on DDO, but it came to fruition a bit too late in its lifespan. This is essentially a team-based debate league that does debates in a sports league format. Teams debate a schedule of other teams, and the teams with the most wins go to the playoffs and then the championship etc. New debaters and potentially teams are added each season, and it has a very long-term intention to it that makes it a really great addition over time. This does require a larger community and more activity though, so this is more of a long term goal.
Mafia: I realize that some don't care about this, but mafia really is a natural extension of a debate website, since the game provides an outlet to argumentation and persuasion in a gamified environment. The problem is that it's a really niche thing, and that bringing in people that aren't already aware of it is difficult. it's further a tough endeavor since the game can be rather complicated to the uninitiated, and understanding it, and then engaging in it, takes a fair amount of time commitment.
I'd like to see if that has to be true. Our live mafia games, which will be, and essentially already are, a Friday night custom for the Dart community, have the potential to bridge the gap of the mafia experts, and those who have never heard of it. I'd like us to arrange small games, record them, and with clever editing and production value, really show what is going on. I believe that featuring these dozen or so, easy to follow, and well-explained, live beginner games, on the Dart Youtube channel, will create some level of additional interest and enthusiasm. I believe that as well as being initially educational about the game, that these games have the potential to be very entertaining. In this format, I believe we can create a brand new niche of live mafia on youtube, and really bring in new people that have an interest for this. I have a very detailed plan about the way these vids would be made, but suffice it to say that there is a way they can be easily digestible, entertaining, and create enthusiasm.
After that, more advanced style games could create even greater interest, to the point where all those people who were streaming "Among Us" (the 2nd rate nerf version of mafia) and enjoyed that concept, might consider putting up their argumentation and persuasion skills, to the ultimate test against the DART mafia Pros.
....
Just a few of my thoughts tonight. Have a great evening :)
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@Athias
Two candidates who were grossly unqualified--one who thought that he could shake things up and boasted nonsense, and the other while having, I suppose the term for it would be "better" intentions was essentially the sugar to the other's salt.
That's fair, even if I don't know if I'd agree/disagree with the characterization, I realize that it's not relevant to your contention, so I'll stop referencing it.
I suppose DDO had a great foundation when it first started as well.
That's probably debatable. I mean it did enough to be a debate platform, but it was already on shaky ground quickly with the need for changes and updates. This site has the benefit of 20 years of hindsight to build itself a quality product, in terms of its functionality and preparation for the future, from the beginning.
And while it would be unfair to have you shoulder that alone, it is fair to state that you were one of the moderators who gave up.
I mean, yeah, at some point there really wasn't any choice. I'm willing to, and it's part of my style of discourse, to be as charitable as I can, and cede things in good faith, but to frame me as someone who just gave up, I don't believe is fair, even if it is literally true. I believe I stuck it out longer than is actually reasonable, or anyone else would have.
I mean some of it is about power, right? I mean you need some power to pick back up with your hobby, right? Hence, your "swooping in" as you put it? And if that's not the case, then it begs the question: why haven't you made any of your suggestions on this site some time in the past?
I suppose it might be a linguistic or semantic distinction that doesn't really matter in the end. I don't think of it internally as power, but as something like the communities blessing, or permission. But ultimately you are probably right and that might be a distinction without a difference. I don't want to get bogged down in that distinction though, but I will say that until a few days ago it wasn't something I considered, then the idea was suggested to me, I thought it over (and talked it over with the relevant people) and considered it would be something I'd enjoy doing again. I didn't make any of my suggestions up to this point because it wasn't something I was involved in anymore, but now I am, and so I am.
Let me be clear here. You are not wrong on this point, and I don't want to come off as disingenuous about this issue. There's no way I can defend the fact that I wasn't invested in the site, it was suggested to me that I become invested in the site, and so now I am. Some will see this as a problem, some wont. There's no reason to go 10 rounds on this issue. I'm not gona lawyer/politic/semantic my way around it. I'm aware of it, you have a good point, and me saying anything else would just be dishonest. I maintain that a concession to this point doesn't mean I can't be a good DART president, and it certainly shouldn't mean that the community can't trust me to have their interests in mind.
then how is the capacity of DART President any different from that which you could have done over your prolonged absence?
It provides a level of credibility at a time that I am again willing to pursue this type of project again. Both of these aspects are important here. I hadn't given it a lot of thought during my hiatus, and as a result of this presidential election the idea of me working on this type of project was something I hadn't considered in awhile, and was finally given a reason to.
At the risk of reiterating your point (not that its a risk, I'm going to intentionally do it haha), I wasn't interested, and then by the election being a thing it encouraged some to make me consider something I hadn't considered in awhile. So yeah, I wasn't here at all, and as a result of the election now I am. if the owner contacted me tomorrow, and asked if I'd like to volunteer as a consultant and have specific parameters to sway the development of the site in a similar way to which the community president does, then I'd probably take him up on that offer since I could just avoid the politics of it all. But the election does create a public legitimacy dynamic that I also think is important. I'm going to suggest things during the course of the election, and based on the reaction, and ultimately how well I do in the election, I can gauge how palatable some of my ideas are.
You know the people, but you don't know the community. Because, you haven't taken an interest in being part of it until this year, which spans only 10 days.
I think you underestimate my awareness of the concerns of the community and the challenges this community faces. I may not have been here directly posting on the site, but I've kept in touch with people, and heard about the various issues of the site. Again, I think your criticism is entirely fair, I haven't been an active member, but I'm also not a complete outsider.
It is not my intention to antagonize you, and if you believe my contentions are unfair, please let me know.
You have been a complete gentleman during this entire exchange and I appreciate that you have engaged in this in good faith and not just some political gotcha game. I believe your contention, that my sudden appearance raises an important question about my intentions for the site and my ability to achieve its goals, is a fair one. The voters will ultimately weigh the pros and cons of that truth, with the other aspects of what I bring to the table.
To summarize this I will just say that you are correct about this point about me, to some extent being outsider coming in and asking for "power" from a community that some will view me as foreign to. My only contention here is that I'm not completely foreign to this community, and that to whatever extent that is true, voters will weigh that to the benefits I bring. Furthermore, if there wasn't an election, and my supporters had found some other reason to hassle me into considering working on benefiting the website, the owner looking for someone of my experience, for example, to just work behind these scenes and do what I'd do if elected, then I probably could have been convinced of that instead. This election thing, the power pursuit thing I'm being associated with, isn't my motivation, it just happens to be the catalyst for what convinced some people to put the consideration in my mind. Ultimately I'm looking forward to the work, I'm not enthusiastic about the politics because it takes away from my time to do that work, and I just wana continue drawing up my road map and ideas and focus on relating that to the community.
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Who do you think will win in the Wild Card round?
Raiders - Bengals
Patriots - Bills
Steelers - Chiefs
Eagles - Buccaneers
49ers - Cowboys
Cardinals - Rams
...............
I've got Bengals, Bill and Chiefs in the AFC
And Bucs, Cowboys and Rams in the NFC
Packers V. Chiefs in the Super Bowl
What are your predictions?
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@Lunatic
I would accept your challenge, but I will never win on the high score. If we did it by note accuracy I might stand a chance, but even then I am hella out of practice.
I will gladly take up that challenge. We will entirely ignore score, and just focus on number of notes hit. Get the rust off, and get back to me, I'd love to do this.
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