I suppose while I'm not necessarily staff in Pokepride, I should still share my two cents, being the next closest thing.
First of all, as someone who's only really stuck to 1v1 and a bit to OMs, before 1v1 became its own thing, I have little to no clue about people's history with one another external to the server, as well as prior to when I first joined the server in late 2019. In my time spent in Pokepride, I have come to learn that different people holding personal grudges against one another is an inevitability. Such grudges naturally lead to infighting and drama, which can be pretty harmful for the intended safe space/hangout that Pokepride is meant to be. Considering that it's impossible to control how people feel about each oher, the best I can do is ask that people don't air their dirty laundry out in public, staff included. I know that I, for one, wasn't really on the best terms with Chloe prior to joining the server, but it was that opportunity to talk with people in a safe space that led to us becoming friends, rather than enemies. I believe giving people a chance, like I was given, should be the idea behind the server (within reason), where people can very well bury the hatchet and become friends, despite their negative history.
Second, I'm all for staff scrutiny. Questioning authority almost always serves to lead to a healthier environment, where the general public and staff actively communicate and understand one another, creating a more unified server. This also works in reverse, where people should thoroughly examine arguments made against staff, as the greater picture is almost never going to be as necessarily black and white as either side tries to paint it. For example, one of the biggest arguments used in this fallout is how Asheviere supposedly broke her own rules by posting this:
Bear in mind that this was indeed pertinent to the conversation at the time, as people were talking about the Paul brothers and their controversies. On the other side of this, we have a user being banned for posting Guts, by Chuck Palahniuk, with absolutely no conversational context whatsoever. I won't be linking the document itself, as its contents are simply heinous shock porn akin to the likes of 2 girls 1 cup. As far as the debate of "how nsfw is too nsfw" goes, I leave no comment. You can decide for yourselves if the statement made by Asheviere shouldn't have been said, but it would simply be lying to yourselves to try and equate what she said to this "gay literature" that was posted. If there are other instances of Asheviere supposedly not following her own rules that anyone would like to shine light upon (preferably with proof this time), I'd be glad to delve deeper.
Third, as far as debate goes, I'm not necessarily opposed, though I do have some preferences. Debate, itself, is an inherent good thing; people get to become more informed about a given subject, agreements can be reached, and, in general, people get a better understanding of one another. These notions, however, can be tarnished by how people may carry out debate; namely semantics and aggression. All too often, I've seen good discussion points turn into petty disputes because one or more parties got stuck on a particular thing that was said and are too miffed to carry on discussion once the topic is redirected back to what was actually being discussed. Similarly, I've seen other parties try to stir up debate by calling out a typically inocuous post or action with a lengthy response when nobody was trying to engage in debate in the first place, which is a clear disruption to an otherwise peaceful environment. These people, who either don't know how, or outright refuse to simply say something is in poor taste and explain how without effectively flaming others, have no business in what is meant to be a safe space/hangout like Pokepride. For proper discussion, to avoid the former notion of semantics I mentioned, I believe it would be best to make an opt-in channel for the discord that is dedicated to solely debate, such that the other channels don't become cluttered with dozens of messages resulting from a back-and-forth between multiple parties, in addition so that people have the choice for themselves if they want to be involved. An added caveat would be that the server staff team can reserve the right to revoke someone's access to the channel if they've demonstrated that they have no place being involved in civil debate.
Lastly, the community should absolutely be more involved in how the server is run. As a community formed by the people, for the people, the people should definitely have a say in what the intended vision of the server should be, as well as to what extent rules be enforced. I, personally, would prefer that we retain the idea that the server be a safe space that reasonable people are welcome in, rather than what most Congregation of the Masses environments end up becoming, though if the greater community feels otherwise, then who are we to say no? In general, we plan to do a lot of community surveying within the server, moving forward, to gather people's opinions and do our best to accomodate them as much as possible.
I suppose this became a bit more than my two cents and more like two dollars- I just really like the server and feel like it's become a home for me where I can be a marginally less filtered version of myself. I hate to see it collapsing like this, and hope that the pending reforms will help to continue making it a great place where others can feel the same way about it as I do!
First of all, as someone who's only really stuck to 1v1 and a bit to OMs, before 1v1 became its own thing, I have little to no clue about people's history with one another external to the server, as well as prior to when I first joined the server in late 2019. In my time spent in Pokepride, I have come to learn that different people holding personal grudges against one another is an inevitability. Such grudges naturally lead to infighting and drama, which can be pretty harmful for the intended safe space/hangout that Pokepride is meant to be. Considering that it's impossible to control how people feel about each oher, the best I can do is ask that people don't air their dirty laundry out in public, staff included. I know that I, for one, wasn't really on the best terms with Chloe prior to joining the server, but it was that opportunity to talk with people in a safe space that led to us becoming friends, rather than enemies. I believe giving people a chance, like I was given, should be the idea behind the server (within reason), where people can very well bury the hatchet and become friends, despite their negative history.
Second, I'm all for staff scrutiny. Questioning authority almost always serves to lead to a healthier environment, where the general public and staff actively communicate and understand one another, creating a more unified server. This also works in reverse, where people should thoroughly examine arguments made against staff, as the greater picture is almost never going to be as necessarily black and white as either side tries to paint it. For example, one of the biggest arguments used in this fallout is how Asheviere supposedly broke her own rules by posting this:
Third, as far as debate goes, I'm not necessarily opposed, though I do have some preferences. Debate, itself, is an inherent good thing; people get to become more informed about a given subject, agreements can be reached, and, in general, people get a better understanding of one another. These notions, however, can be tarnished by how people may carry out debate; namely semantics and aggression. All too often, I've seen good discussion points turn into petty disputes because one or more parties got stuck on a particular thing that was said and are too miffed to carry on discussion once the topic is redirected back to what was actually being discussed. Similarly, I've seen other parties try to stir up debate by calling out a typically inocuous post or action with a lengthy response when nobody was trying to engage in debate in the first place, which is a clear disruption to an otherwise peaceful environment. These people, who either don't know how, or outright refuse to simply say something is in poor taste and explain how without effectively flaming others, have no business in what is meant to be a safe space/hangout like Pokepride. For proper discussion, to avoid the former notion of semantics I mentioned, I believe it would be best to make an opt-in channel for the discord that is dedicated to solely debate, such that the other channels don't become cluttered with dozens of messages resulting from a back-and-forth between multiple parties, in addition so that people have the choice for themselves if they want to be involved. An added caveat would be that the server staff team can reserve the right to revoke someone's access to the channel if they've demonstrated that they have no place being involved in civil debate.
Lastly, the community should absolutely be more involved in how the server is run. As a community formed by the people, for the people, the people should definitely have a say in what the intended vision of the server should be, as well as to what extent rules be enforced. I, personally, would prefer that we retain the idea that the server be a safe space that reasonable people are welcome in, rather than what most Congregation of the Masses environments end up becoming, though if the greater community feels otherwise, then who are we to say no? In general, we plan to do a lot of community surveying within the server, moving forward, to gather people's opinions and do our best to accomodate them as much as possible.
I suppose this became a bit more than my two cents and more like two dollars- I just really like the server and feel like it's become a home for me where I can be a marginally less filtered version of myself. I hate to see it collapsing like this, and hope that the pending reforms will help to continue making it a great place where others can feel the same way about it as I do!
