Precedent and Prejudice

[Reptyler]

Talking with you guys recently reminded me of an old girlfriend of mine. Her eyes reminded me of a sunset over the beach, her personality was adventurous and irresistible, and she was a damn good kisser. But one thing that always aggravated me about her was going out to eat. Everywhere we dined, she found the closest thing to chicken fingers on the menu and ordered it. Every single time, she ate nothing but chicken fingers and French fries. That’s a silly thing to be bothered by, I know, but I was amazed at how little variety she had in her life. I like cooking, but cooking for her wasn’t fun because she was so picky.

In the past few months, I’ve seen hundreds of pages of discourse devoted to one topic: stagnation. The world has changed, that much is sure, but the players haven’t. People in this world tend to hold on to everything; like the beautiful girl I told you about, you cling to tradition and the comfort it brings. You do things the way you’ve always done them because that’s the way it’s always been done. You know what you like, and you stick with it.

But right now, that approach isn’t working. CyberNations has lost its appeal, and we are trying to fix the problem by changing nothing. When membership numbers are down, we spam more recruitment messages. When growth slows down, we yell more about buying tech. We bring the same attitudes to the negotiating table that we did in the past, and let years’ worth of accumulated bias color our views. Whatever we do in this world, it seems like the only solution to any problem is to find the traditional cure, and simply do more of it. [i]The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.[/i]

My fellow leaders, if Planet Bob is growing stale, it is because you still cling to the ideas and traditions of years ago and refuse to move on. I have seen it happen over and over again where the powers in charge will say to the ones not in power that they are incapable of success because of past failures. [b]That is a lie.[/b] Learn from your mistakes, and boldly go forth to prove that you will not make the same mistakes again. In life, we fall so that we can learn to pick ourselves back up again. The only unforgivable failure is the failure to try.

I have also seen alliance leaders make honest efforts at improving their alliance policies and fixing the mistakes of the past, but our callousness as a group has made us unable to accept that they will be anything but failures. Failure to forgive is hypocritical, for we are all in need of forgiveness at one point or another. We should all be willing to accept that better decisions can be made, problems can be fixed, and people can indeed change for the better.

In short, fellow leaders, you shouldn’t make every decision based solely on years of precedent, but rather on logical and rational judgments of what you can observe. If CyberNations is losing its flavor, try doing something different, because variety is the spice is life. We don’t have to live in the same redundant paradigm day after day, year after year. Be the change you wish to see in the world. The only person keeping you from rising up and making a better reality is yourself.

Edited October 2, 2010 by Reptyler

[Mathias]

Chicken fingers and french fries happen to be very delicious. [img]http://thecastlehall.com/boards/Smileys/kickass/colbert.gif[/img]

[Choson]

[quote name='Mathias' timestamp='1285984057' post='2471767']
Chicken fingers and french fries happen to be very delicious. [img]http://thecastlehall.com/boards/Smileys/kickass/colbert.gif[/img]
[/quote]
Especially with malt vinegar.

[Haquertal]

Excellent read as always Schattenman.









[sub]Oh wait, this is a topic that actually makes sense. Also, I very much agree.[/sub]

[Choson]

Funny thing is, that people react so negatively to attempts to end the stagnation, but then complain about how stagnant things are.

[Felix von Agnu]

I fully agree Rep. I kinda tried to allude to it before.

Giving other Alliances a chance would really lead to less stagnation. All that we would need is to get rid of reps that couldn't be payed off in a month. (Keeping alliances under terms for long periods of time just aggravates. the stagnation issue)

[Reptyler]

Maybe this thread would have attracted more attention if it was titled [i]Pull your heads out of your nether regions: it's 2010, start acting like it.[/i].

Subtitle would list all the people I don't like, and instruct them to go die in a fire for being hypocritical and neo-hegemonist. (;

[Schattenmann]

The sentiment here is good. Reptyler, as a member in an alliance steeped in tradition, what changes are you making at home?

[Comrade Craig]

Revolution always comes from below, never from above. Authority is conservative: it's primary goal is always to protect itself -- therefore an appeal for change to the powers-that-be will always fail, because they have no vested interest in modification of the status quo.

And be real -- by the time an individual achieves power, he has much to do: power needs to be consolidated, old scores need to be settled. Changing the culture becomes a distant priority.

-Craig

[Dochartaigh]

[quote name='Choson' timestamp='1285984803' post='2471777']
Funny thing is, that people react so negatively to attempts to end the stagnation, but then complain about how stagnant things are.
[/quote]

if this is some sort of slight against those who shout down GOONS actions, ya'll don't do !@#$ to end stagnation. for that matter, you could say Ninja's, FnKa, and Methrage are all attempting to end stagnation and GOONS/Co are squashing that as quick as possible.

[quote name='Felix von Agnu' timestamp='1285985857' post='2471794']
I fully agree Rep. I kinda tried to allude to it before.

Giving other Alliances a chance would really lead to less stagnation. All that we would need is to get rid of reps that couldn't be payed off in a month. (Keeping alliances under terms for long periods of time just aggravates. the stagnation issue)
[/quote]

yarly. unfortunately this won't happen. it seems that terms are only going to get longer as they are somehow less "harsh" and "terrible" under the new management than under the old. i mean many terms are gone now such as viceroy and whatnot, so in its place we have seen record high reparations meant solely to cripple an alliance for the long term and ensure that said alliance would be incapable of doing anything for a long while.

[Reptyler]

[quote name='Schattenmann' timestamp='1286033155' post='2472203']
The sentiment here is good. Reptyler, as a member in an alliance steeped in tradition, what changes are you making at home?
[/quote]
Funny you should ask, actually. I wrote [url="http://www.viridianentente.com/showthread.php?25980-How-to-encourage-activity-and-involvement-my-ramble"]a couple thousand words[/url] on how we're treating our membership on the VE boards, but because of its comprehensive and verbose nature, very few people have gotten around to reading it. I am hoping that the interior affairs staff, parliament, and ministers of awesome will take the time to read, digest, and chime in on my thoughts in the near future.

[Mathias]

[quote name='Dochartaigh' timestamp='1286035267' post='2472235']
if this is some sort of slight against those who shout down GOONS actions, ya'll don't do !@#$ to end stagnation. for that matter, you could say Ninja's, FnKa, and Methrage are all attempting to end stagnation and GOONS/Co are squashing that as quick as possible.
[/quote]

I'm going to call !@#$%^&* on that Doch. A couple of alliances essentially going rogue on GOONS because crying about their raiding practices didn't work isn't ending this stagnation. They started a conflict that won't expand, so all that's going to come of it is a loss of NS for all involved. A change in Planet wide politics isn't going to occur because a couple people are "doing something about it," because by the time they're done, no noticeable change will have taken place.

[White Chocolate]

[quote name='Reptyler' timestamp='1285982426' post='2471747']
In short, fellow leaders, you shouldn’t make every decision based solely on years of precedent, but rather on logical and rational judgments of what you can observe.
[/quote]

I agree with the above statement generally. Precedent isn't always the answer, mostly because as we move forward there is no situation that is exactly the same as one previous. To treat it as such is simply bad policy. One should consult history, but not be a slave to the past because every situation is different. However, change takes both work and risk. It's far easier to dismiss new ideas or old ideas tried in a new time and fall back onto what is familiar than not. Thus - the same old way of doing things remains - for good or ill.

[Duke Nukem]

Reptyler I was particularly interested in the part where you said that we should learn from our past mistakes and how leaders shouldn't be such ***** to people who have made mistakes and their past. I would be further interested in talking to you about this. You shall recieve a PM shortly.

[Cornelius]

[quote name='Mathias' timestamp='1285984057' post='2471767']
Chicken fingers and french fries happen to be very delicious. [img]http://thecastlehall.com/boards/Smileys/kickass/colbert.gif[/img]
[/quote]
I agree, sounds like my kind of girl.

Rep, I'm sorry that I haven't gotten around to your post on our boards yet. I will when I get the chance.

[Dochartaigh]

[quote name='Mathias' timestamp='1286043300' post='2472345']
I'm going to call !@#$%^&* on that Doch. A couple of alliances essentially going rogue on GOONS because crying about their raiding practices didn't work isn't ending this stagnation. They started a conflict that won't expand, so all that's going to come of it is a loss of NS for all involved. A change in Planet wide politics isn't going to occur because a couple people are "doing something about it," because by the time they're done, no noticeable change will have taken place.
[/quote]

you obviously missed the sarcasm that was dripping from my post. the reason i stated what i stated was simply to show that GOONS have not really done anything to end stagnation either. the closest they came was when Polaris attacked them and even then it was mostly Polaris doing something and not GOONS. but good job calling me out on something that was not even truly stated.

[Feanor Noldorin]

Amen. Well said.

[DonVox]

Very well said. Our insistence at looking at alliances through the lens of history clouds judgement

[Qaianna]

[quote name='Comrade Craig' timestamp='1286034672' post='2472226']
Revolution always comes from below, never from above. Authority is conservative: it's primary goal is always to protect itself -- therefore an appeal for change to the powers-that-be will always fail, because they have no vested interest in modification of the status quo.

And be real -- by the time an individual achieves power, he has much to do: power needs to be consolidated, old scores need to be settled. Changing the culture becomes a distant priority.

-Craig
[/quote]
Minor disagreement there; sometimes the powers that be do see that change is needed for them to remain there. At least, the smart ones do. The others wander off to other alliances and muck about in lower offices

I think a specific example of the whole 'changing the culture' bit might be in line with 'old scores need to be settled', as you put it. Must they? If so, who should I be bitter against?

[Solaris]

[quote name='Comrade Craig' timestamp='1286034672' post='2472226']
Revolution always comes from below, never from above. Authority is conservative: it's primary goal is always to protect itself -- therefore an appeal for change to the powers-that-be will always fail, because they have no vested interest in modification of the status quo.

And be real -- by the time an individual achieves power, he has much to do: power needs to be consolidated, old scores need to be settled. Changing the culture becomes a distant priority.

-Craig
[/quote]
Sometimes revolutions come from enlightenment, from within, from thorough, and in those cases, improving the culture becomes an unevitability. Reform is easy, if you got the ropes.

Edited October 3, 2010 by Solaris