Regarding Survey

Aidan Kincaid

07-02-2005 01:01:01

Kir finally decided to stop taking surveys and compiled the results for the leaders to see. I've looked through all the information at length and feel the need to address some of the key issues and ideas that were listed. First off, though, I would like to make it clear that the send feedback function is completely untraceable by Kir. Those surveys were anonymous and so is anything else sent. If you have feedback but don't want to be singled out - use it. Tal site just generates an email and sends it to Kir. So it comes from "taldryansiteg0d or whatever" Though I don't really see the worry over being anonymous. Despite the sexual humor and crude jokes we're all big boys. If you do have problems with one of us let us know, it makes things much easier in the long run. Anyways, enough of the rambling info. Now to delve into some of the finer points relating to the overall clan and Dinaari.

So this first thing is going to be about me, Shadow, the Quaestor guy. You know it's hard some times to remember that we have new people joining all the time and most won't have a clue who I am and I don't just mean new apprentices. Some people have come to us from other clans; some don't use IRC enough, which is basically where I'm most alive/active, and others I just haven't met yet. So I'm going to clarify a few things about who I am and why I do what I do.

Basically, I’m your average 19 year old male for the most part. I like porn, thrusting and boobies. I play guitar in a band and we’re about to record soon. I’m a fan of the SW movies (yes, all of them) and the games – but I don’t pride myself on reading every bit of SW fiction and being able to recite the Hutt alphabet or anything like that. I’m the kind of fan you won’t see standing in line for opening night :P Er.. ya. So, some people call me “weird but honest” and that’s basically who I am. If you ever happen to catch me on a good day on IRC, well – the feint at heart will definitely be frightened but it’s all in good fun. To me, almost everything I do or say on IRC is part of one big running joke. I laugh off insults about me so anyone can do the same with my insults. Cuz you see, some people in let’s say #db are true assholes. They insult to hurt people. I, on the other hand, am a good asshole. I say and do stupid things but only to make others laugh – either at me or someone who is of the same nature.

Anyways (I ramble a lot by the way) jokes and thrusting aside I find I have a lot in common with most of the people in Taldryan. I like to win GJWs, MP matches, etc but I’m not a huge fan of flaunting such wins over people, unless they’re really asking for it. And the only thing that really sets me off are idiots and injustices. Example: Kir losing 600 points in the GJW for not following a rule no one else was following. So, I guess that’s enough about me. Wanna learn more? Talk to me on IRC :P

Okay, so, second thing is regarding promotions in Dinaari and Taldryan as a whole. Undoubtedly, if you've checked out the new message boards you'll have noticed my bitch-fest post about promotions in the General Discussion forum. See, when I first joined promotions were hard to come by. We worked *hard* for our promotions. Hell, I think I was ACO Shadow for about 8 months before getting Protector. Was I angry about that? No. You know why? Because a promotion from Dinaari was worth so much more than a promotion anywhere else. We are quite literally the best of the best in the DB and we have proven it over and over again. When you're the best you got to expect more, always more from your members - that's what makes us the best. We go the distance; we strive to win to dominate the competition. When you join Taldryan, whether by choice or through the SA this is what you're joining into. If you want the easy life of free, meaningless promotions the door is opened for you to leave.

Now, that being said (as I obviously don't want you to leave), if you feel as though you deserve a promotion you got to let me know. I won't punish you for emailing me or messaging me and explaining why you feel like you have earned the next rank. It's when people bitch about not getting a promotion or just demand or beg or whine about it constantly - that sort of puts me off. For the most part I can keep track of everyone’s activity. I know when you submit to a competition that I've run and to one that Kir has run. And I get the constant stream of medals for activity in the MP nights and Sunday Tourney. But of course, those aren't the only forms of competition run in the DB. Some of you may participate in the monthly topics run by the KHP - I don't get informed about that sort of stuff. And despite my best efforts I haven't been able to read minds yet. For me to reward your works I usually have to know it exists and view it for myself. That's where the CC’ing comes in, and if not CC’ing then just send me your graphics, fiction, etc, etc then we'll both be happy as I will know you're doing stuff and you will get rewarded for doing the stuff.

Onto thing number three. Unity. Now from what I got from the survey and from what I see day-to-day Dinaari has unity owned like no other. That's why we always do so well in large competitions and team MP matches and is why we get along with each other. The only problem I see is that Dinaari is more or less separated from Ektrosis for reasons unknown. We're all part of Taldryan but for some reason we've never really socialized with the Krath counter-part and I think this should change. Not when we hang out on IRC I talk to the Krath that frequent the channel. DS, Nexus, Chaos, and the rest are good guys. Just like us. There's no reason we can't be more united at the clan level so I'll ask you - when Ben or I write reports would you rather us email the tal group so all can see the happenings of Dinaari? And by that token DS and Nexus would send their house stuff over the Taldryan group too... knowing how each other operates will make it easier to unify. But I'll await responses from you guys for that.

One of the most repeated suggestions and something I’ve been messing up a lot lately is competitions. See, when I have an idea it’s usually very long and complicated and only I can understand it. That’s basically how most of my past competitions were. It seems everyone would rather leave the “big” competitions to the DC and the House can run some smaller, more easy-going stuff. Understandable really, especially with the GJW-RoS-IG-RoS-RoS thing we have going on. So I’ll definitely be easing back on the huge competitions and just come up with some nice and easy ways for you guys to get medals and be active :P

And finally… gah Goat-like writing. One thing someone mentioned, and I have an idea of who it is as they’ve already gone to join CEK, is that I’m too dismissive of other peoples ideas. That is far from the case. I love to hear other people’s ideas and suggestions because, if nothing else, I usually formulate more ideas based on someone else’s input. But with that being said, I can’t take into consideration every idea that’s thrown my way. Some I know won’t work, others I know won’t work due to time constraints, lack of people, etc and some I just don’t have the motivation. The problem there is that I’m kind of brutally honest. For example: Horus emailed me a list of some godawful roleplaying-esque ideas to revive the Sith in Dinaari that he came up with 4-5 years ago – when the Sith were solely flight sim people and were at the height of activity. So of course I was honest, “Ya again, those ideas won’t work because the DB has changed in the last 5 years. There are no order restrictions and AWOLing people weekly won’t make them more active” Did I hurt his feelings? Most likely. Wasn’t it asshole intentional? Maybe a bit with him as he was a weird little man :P But for the most part I’ll give my honest opinion about any ideas and suggestions I get from you guys. I won’t punish you for telling me something that you don’t like about me or how I run things, I’ll just take it into consideration.