Open Invitation from the SuperFriends

[dalstrs]

[quote name='Hiro Nakara' timestamp='1312474529' post='2771836']
Do they use Coldfront to chat to us? Because when I'm on syn I have never once seen a CSN dude chatting in the public room.

Also your questions are pretty good, I attempted to ask similar questions in their embassy, but not as articulate as you
[/quote]

Everyone in gov knows that Sard has a permanent query open with Liz where they constantly cyber with each other.

[Diabloz]

[quote name='Farnsworth' timestamp='1312477208' post='2771872']
As if anyone doubted this thread was Xiph's idea. I mean, SF created this thread, right?
[/quote]

I chuckled on this one.

[DemonSpawn]

Just to let everyone know where the R&R Reps have been. Ego is usually on in the later afternoon and evenings EST time, and Simms has had spotty internet connection the last few days. One of both of them should be on later today.

[Leet Guy]

[quote name='DemonSpawn' timestamp='1312479146' post='2771893']
Just to let everyone know where the R&R Reps have been. Ego is usually on in the later afternoon and evenings EST time, and Simms has had spotty internet connection the last few days. One of both of them should be on later today.
[/quote]

Seems they got held up fielding questions at the XX Q&A session.

[Azaghul]

Are RIA's attempts at "humor" as bad internally as they are externally?

[Leet Guy]

[quote name='Azaghul' timestamp='1312479862' post='2771900']
Are RIA's attempts at "humor" as bad internally as they are externally?
[/quote]

bj already asked this

[quote name='Xiphosis' timestamp='1312451029' post='2771710']
No, not in private. They're normal. And I don't think they're trying to be funny, tbh.
[/quote]

[Liz Girard]

[quote name='WarriorConcept' timestamp='1312461086' post='2771737']
To CSN:

How do you feel about your relationship with GOONS?

Do you think they would drop you to follow through with NG's apparent obsession with members of SF?
[/quote]

I like our relationship with GOONS. It's honest and I have never had to sugar coat things to them. It is what it is all day, everyday.
Doubtful.

[quote name='Joe Stupid' timestamp='1312465748' post='2771767']
On a scale of 1/10, what do you think of Rok now?
[/quote]
I don't talk to them, so I don't particularly have an opinion.

[quote name='ChairmanHal' timestamp='1312466790' post='2771780']
Will you be smoking a Marlboro, Camel, or a Kool Filter King at your firing squad?

I already figure you for no blindfold....
[/quote]
Camel Menthol actually.

[quote name='sir pwnage' timestamp='1312467957' post='2771788']
Here's what you do: Wait for war to break out, then make a joint declaration of neutrality with C&G. Then, the two of you (PB and C&G) have a fun, non-nuclear war to stave off boredom, keep from getting rusty, make new friends, and keep your respective casualty counts up.



Thinking of calling dibs?

Now, on to my questions:

Why haven't R&R answered any questions?

Pick one bloc to marry, one to kill, and one to... well you know.

Would a CSN-GOD merger be possible?
[/quote]
1. Ego runs off a different time zone than the rest of us/simms is away iirc
2. Marry - PB for allied reasons
Kill - MJ easily enough
you know... i'll get back to you on that one

3. No. Xiph and I would kill each other.


[quote name='kriekfreak' timestamp='1312472421' post='2771820']
@ CSN.

Is it true that CSN has the policy that states no outside alliance is allowed to techdeal with CSN techsellers?
[/quote]

Sure is.

[quote name='Hiro Nakara' timestamp='1312474529' post='2771836']
Do they use Coldfront to chat to us? Because when I'm on syn I have never once seen a CSN dude chatting in the public room.

Also your questions are pretty good, I attempted to ask similar questions in their embassy, but not as articulate as you
[/quote]

I'm on coldfront and syn. We also share 4 or 5 government channels together at least. I'm in the process of moving and getting things settled, but i'm generally always in your public channel, you should say hello sometime. We also have an embassy on CSN forums you're more than welcome to come say hello at and maybe meet some of our membership.


[quote name='dalstrs' timestamp='1312478549' post='2771885']
Everyone in gov knows that Sard has a permanent query open with Liz where they constantly cyber with each other.
[/quote]

The benefits of an MDoAP partner, they never cease to amaze me. You should see what Delta, Ego and Xiph do.

[im317]

[quote name='Exige' timestamp='1312463854' post='2771750']
you guys missed this question:

who is the weakest link in SF military wise?
[/quote]

i would say it probably is RIA

[Hiro Nakara]

[quote name='Liz Girard' timestamp='1312480340' post='2771906']
I like our relationship with GOONS. It's honest and I have never had to sugar coat things to them. It is what it is all day, everyday.
Doubtful.


I don't talk to them, so I don't particularly have an opinion.


Camel Menthol actually.


1. Ego runs off a different time zone than the rest of us/simms is away iirc
2. Marry - PB for allied reasons
Kill - MJ easily enough
you know... i'll get back to you on that one

3. No. Xiph and I would kill each other.




Sure is.



I'm on coldfront and syn. We also share 4 or 5 government channels together at least. I'm in the process of moving and getting things settled, but i'm generally always in your public channel, you should say hello sometime. We also have an embassy on CSN forums you're more than welcome to come say hello at and maybe meet some of our membership.




The benefits of an MDoAP partner, they never cease to amaze me. You should see what Delta, Ego and Xiph do.
[/quote]

I only missionary our protectorate. I don't play well with others, sorry.

I was just wondering why nobody has posted in your embassy for a while, It began good with your missionaries coming over and chatting to the general membership of GOONS, then suddenly nothing.

[kriekfreak]

[quote name='Liz Girard' timestamp='1312480340' post='2771906']
Sure is.
[/quote]

Woh. Do you understand how hypocritical you are now?

[Nigro Nigronious]

[quote name='Liz Girard' timestamp='1312480340' post='2771906']

I don't talk to them, so I don't particularly have an opinion.

[/quote]

Is that because you have to follow every little thing Xiph does? He closed our embassy and cut off all ties, then you did the same. Except he did it himself, you sent gibs over to do it.

[janax]

[quote name='Liz Girard' timestamp='1312480340' post='2771906']
2. Marry - PB for allied reasons
Kill - MJ easily enough
you know... i'll get back to you on that one
[/quote]

PF for the last one obviously...we are the most "above average" of all. If you know what I'm saying...

[Leet Guy]

[quote name='Liz Girard' timestamp='1312480340' post='2771906']
The benefits of an MDoAP partner, they never cease to amaze me.
[/quote]

Singular though, much like the relationship binding this treaty.

[magicninja]

[quote name='im317' timestamp='1312480607' post='2771907']
i would say it probably is RIA
[/quote]

Heeeeey! Long time no nuke. Yeah when GATO beats you up a little even with a few alliances on their back you know you have some things to look at. Were you guys really considering bringing R&R in too? I know CSN was busy doing whatever they were doing with DT but still 3/4 of SF on GATO? We almost felt special for a sec. Still, no one could ever do as bad as OFS and actually surrender to GATO when GATO is getting destroyed by one of the largest powerblocs the game had ever seen to that point. GATO isn't known for military prowess yet we did well against RIA from what I saw. So I wouldn't be surprised to learn this was true.

[im317]

[quote name='magicninja' timestamp='1312481076' post='2771917']
Heeeeey! Long time no nuke. Yeah when GATO beats you up a little even with a few alliances on their back you know you have some things to look at. Were you guys really considering bringing R&R in too? I know CSN was busy doing whatever they were doing with DT but still 3/4 of SF on GATO? We almost felt special for a sec. Still, no one could ever do as bad as OFS and actually surrender to GATO when GATO is getting destroyed by one of the largest powerblocs the game had ever seen to that point. GATO isn't known for military prowess yet we did well against RIA from what I saw. So I wouldn't be surprised to learn this was true.
[/quote]

we were also fighting SLCB, IAA and Exodus. additionally our problems that war were limited to out top tier so even if we had brought other people in it would have been on a limited basis.

[Nigro Nigronious]

[quote name='magicninja' timestamp='1312481076' post='2771917']
Heeeeey! Long time no nuke. Yeah when GATO beats you up a little even with a few alliances on their back you know you have some things to look at. Were you guys really considering bringing R&R in too? I know CSN was busy doing whatever they were doing with DT but still 3/4 of SF on GATO? We almost felt special for a sec. Still, no one could ever do as bad as OFS and actually surrender to GATO when GATO is getting destroyed by one of the largest powerblocs the game had ever seen to that point. GATO isn't known for military prowess yet we did well against RIA from what I saw. So I wouldn't be surprised to learn this was true.
[/quote]

Don't get cocky. Rok will never forget the sacrifices RIA made for us, if we did the same for them, you'd probably be in the ground.

[Delta1212]

[quote name='Farnsworth' timestamp='1312477208' post='2771872']
As if anyone doubted this thread was Xiph's idea. I mean, SF created this thread, right?
[/quote]
Ok, once again, there's a widespread attempt to portray Xiph as a giant puppet master for everything, especially things that go wrong or are evil. He isn't. He's a normal person that rubs people the wrong way. This makes him a convenient effigy for people to lump the sins of the world onto and then burn to absolve themselves. It happens a lot around here, because people like being able to focus all of their issues onto a single point as much as possible.

There are some very real problems with the way a lot of things in CN are run. I dropped out of sight, comparatively speaking, this past year because it is quite frankly not enjoyable to deal with the culture we've all built for ourselves. I also wound up being very short with a lot of friends and snapping at them out of misplaced anger, which I regret. (Incidentally, I think I answered your question about the Mjolnir DoE, SCY, in my previous long post). I don't really mind being in a weaker political position, because power stopped being any kind of motivator for me in Cyber Nations a long, long time ago. Seriously, I think people have two reactions to their first taste of power. They either get hooked and want more, or they realize it isn't really what they wanted after all and find other things more important. Of course, I haven't been completely successful with all of my other things, but it's close enough that I can live without the power and influence.

The thing of it is, a lot of people think the OWF is vitriolic, and it is, but the world's backchannels are generally worse, especially at the high levels. That's not to say that that people are spiteful to each other's faces. In [I]general[/I] face to face proceedings are relatively cordial, especially in comparison to how things go in public. That said, being polite to someone's face while sharpening a knife behind your back is unfortunately common. Not everyone does it, and not all of the time, but it's enough to make it unpleasant to participate in the political game. I know a lot of people who say things like this get branded as paranoid, so I should state clearly that this isn't a case where I think people are sharpening knives against me (well, not usually; suppose they may be at the moment, haha). I've seen enough people from behind to know where knives are when they aren't directed at me. I'll even cop to wielding a few myself, though in general any enjoyment I get from it is short-lived and giving opinions I don't believe to be accurate representations of what I think tends to make me uncomfortable. I know people who are a lot better at it than I am. Some of them are friends and some aren't. Some of them popularly have absolutely sterling reputations and some of them are thought to be gutter trash by most people. Point is, those knives, and whoever decides to pick them up at any given moment, tend to be the main drivers of the background political movements.

When you are only talking to one or two people in a backchannel, you can get away with saying things you couldn't on the open forum. This isn't to say that people lie, although that happens. No, the best strategy is to dole out little bits of partial information and put the spin on that you want. People pick up impressions from information they find out, and weaving the right implications into information that is technically factually correct can be devastating, because "well, it's not a lie but it's being spun really hard" is considered by most people to be a horribly weak defense which makes it difficult to counter. I'm sure enough people have been on the receiving end of this by now that'll know what I'm talking about.

If you can pick up one or two things that people have legitimate reasons to dislike and then pepper in a few actions spun properly, you can amplify negative impressions a great deal. Even if context is provided to counter the spin, the negative impression latches onto the thing or things that are true. If you get enough people working on it, you can pretty much trash someone's reputation out of thin air. People all make statements that can be cherry picked to make it look like they're idiots or asses and this happens constantly. It's not even a conspiratorial thing. If you get one or two people pushing it, and they make it [i]funny[/I] it'll get picked up by the general OWF population, and then it will be said from so many disparate angles that tracing it back to the source is next to impossible and it sounds like it's so obviously true that everyone picked up on it naturally.

A good recent example of this is CsN. It insults CSN by implying that they aren't a sovereign alliance. People who don't like CSN (and there are a lot of them) find this funny for obvious reasons. Implying Xiph has control of them adds all the people who don't like Xiph. It spreads around and helps cement the idea that Xiphosis is in control of CSN and the rest of SF, despite this having [I]literally no basis in reality[/I]. The entire idea started with speculation that because the terms were harsh, and people didn't think CSN was a harsh alliance, they must have been secretly forced by Xiph. Now enough people legitimately dislike CSN that I doubt this would have any traction as an idea, but it persists because people thought it was funny at the time, and once it's out there, the source becomes irrelevant.

[Van Hoo III]

While GATO shockingly got out of their own way enough to mount a decent war effort, I have to guffaw at them getting cocky at all.

Also, if we're taking a poll, I would choose CSN as the weakest link militarily.

Lastly, I miss the SF backchannels.

[Krack]

[quote name='magicninja' timestamp='1312481076' post='2771917']
Heeeeey! Long time no nuke. Yeah when GATO beats you up a little even with a few alliances on their back you know you have some things to look at. Were you guys really considering bringing R&R in too? I know CSN was busy doing whatever they were doing with DT but still 3/4 of SF on GATO? We almost felt special for a sec. Still, no one could ever do as bad as OFS and actually surrender to GATO when GATO is getting destroyed by one of the largest powerblocs the game had ever seen to that point. GATO isn't known for military prowess yet we did well against RIA from what I saw. So I wouldn't be surprised to learn this was true.
[/quote]

Give me a break. I've been around approximately 4 years and I can count GATO's military accomplishments on zero fingers. You're not honestly trying to denigrate someone else's war efforts, are you?

[Delta1212]

[quote name='Azaghul' timestamp='1312479862' post='2771900']
Are RIA's attempts at "humor" as bad internally as they are externally?
[/quote]
They're worse.

[magicninja]

[quote name='Nigro Nigronious' timestamp='1312481380' post='2771924']
Don't get cocky. Rok will never forget the sacrifices RIA made for us, if we did the same for them, you'd probably be in the ground.
[/quote]

Don't get it twisted bud. I have respect for RIA out of all of SF (I don't know R&R that well and any respect I had for GOD and CSN went out the door during the DT thing) and we fought a nice fun war. I was just surprised we did so well considering SF's reputation and well ours. I'm sure they could say they were surprised at how well we did too.

Also we're GATO and nobody and I mean nobody will ever put us in the ground. Better alliances than Rok have tried and failed my friend. Knocked us to the ground maybe but we got up and dusted ourselves each and every time and have always come back better than before.

[Kzoppistan]

[quote name='Xiphosis' timestamp='1312445055' post='2771675']
And there's the strong-arming.
[/quote]

Personally, I'm a fan of strong-arming others to get what I want. Especially in the defense of a great ally.

But then, they don't let me out of the box very often.


@Delta

Hi, I'm crazy. Can you make me an honorary member of RIA?

Edited August 4, 2011 by Kzoppistan

[magicninja]

[quote name='Krack' timestamp='1312481707' post='2771929']
Give me a break. I've been around approximately 4 years and I can count GATO's military accomplishments on zero fingers. You're not honestly trying to denigrate someone else's war efforts, are you?
[/quote]

Nope. Trying to build up my own. We lost the war but did way better than we thought we would against RIA and GOD. Maybe they were overbooked and we lucked out. Still look at your post and how great a reputation we have and then think what kind of rep SF had, would you not be surprised that they did not simply roll over us?

[FeaR_LeSs]

@ GOD

Is it true that Xiph went to Fark to try rolling NG or did Crymson make that up?

[Delta1212]

[quote name='FeaR_LeSs' timestamp='1312482359' post='2771939']
@ GOD

Is it true that Xiph went to Fark to try rolling NG or did Crymson make that up?
[/quote]
That doesn't even make sense. How in the world would going to Fark help get NG rolled? You're a member of PB. It would make more sense if the story was that he went to VE, but that would be easier for you to check out.