The New HaloMods -- Official Q&A

[WaeV]

Which icon?

[Tural]

[nintendo9713]

Do we have a tutorial index accessible from the homepage? I used it a lot, not really the ones in the forums. Just curious.

[DrXThirst]

Has the logout by visiting the homepage thing been fixed?

[FleetAdmiralBacon]

Has the logout by visiting the homepage thing been fixed?

No.

Cleared HM-related cookies. Seems fine now.

[Tural]

I don't have the problem anymore after I cleared my cookies and SG said he changed something.

[JK-47]

The forum layout is a little weird, but it's bearable.

I just spent the last while reading every post in this forum, and most if not all of you are being little bitches about it. Look at you with your clever little "HALOMODS ?????? signatures.
If you don't like it, then get out. This isn't the old halomods anymore, this is exactly what happened after the forum merge. Each member of either forum were being bitter about having to share a forum with the other, a lot of people left, but we gained a lot of others in the process, and we moved on.
I hated the merge, but I got over it because I like this website, as I will with this change. I don't like the forum layout, it's confusing, I have to search for a little orange icon if I want to tell if there's a new post at all, and if it's permanent, so be it. If not, then that's cool too.

I respect the old staff, but the fact that you all resigned and decided to bitch about all the changes is a little fucked up to me. You were the ones who could help do something about what you felt was wrong and you quit. That's your fault, not SourceGuy's. Also, the fact that most of you decided to turn around and call SourceGuy and his new staff "unable to do their jobs because they aren't qualified, etc. etc." is a little fucked up as well. If you think they are so unqualified, maybe you should have stayed and qualified them?
Really, if you care so much, you would have stayed in your staff position and done your best to help this website out, but the fact that you resigned because you all got butthurt about the changes says something about how much you actually care.

Once again, if you don't like it, then get out. No one's making you stay.

[Tural]

How many times do we have to go through this? We didn't leave because we don't like change or blah blah whatever you said. I left because I was treated like shit by the admin, and I'm not up to representing a site where I have to lie about my opinions and lie about the other staff in order to be staff. I had a lot of feedback on SG's ideas long before he changed the site, and he didn't listen to anything I said. Every time I suggest anything, it gets shot down. Yes, I did try, don't get on my case about how I just quit and didn't try to help, because that's not the case. Direct quotes I got when I suggested something different than SG: "I'm the boss," "my word is final," and "I'm done with this." He did not accept, or even consider anything I ever suggested to him, so your claims are complete unfounded. Would I like to be staff? Sure I would. I'd like to be staff if my input mattered to anyone, if anyone cared enough about the community to ask them about things, or even tell them before they happen. Staff were left out in the dark, and then told to shut up or quit staff. We were put in a corner, we had to lie to the users, or we had to quit. Again, we have a person who does not understand the situation trying to provide input. Have you made any attempt to contact any former staff member to get their reasons for quitting? No, you haven't. Please stop berating them when you obviously have no idea whatsoever what you're talking about. We did try to do something about what we felt was wrong, but nobody listened. I said I didn't like what was happening, SG told me he didn't care what I thought about it and that I was not allowed to post that I disagreed if I was staff. A great way to treat your staff, yes? I'm about fed up with you people babbling about how we're wrong when you don't know jack shit about what happened, and you refuse to make any attempt, at all, to find out. You're ignorant and know it, and still choose to harass us. Good game.

[JunkfoodMan]

And finally we get a clear explanation.
For once, thanks Tural.

[SourceGuy]

How many times do we have to go through this? We didn't leave because we don't like change or blah blah whatever you said. I left because I was treated like *** by the admin, and I'm not up to representing a site where I have to lie about my opinions and lie about the other staff in order to be staff. I had a lot of feedback on SG's ideas long before he changed the site, and he didn't listen to anything I said. Every time I suggest anything, it gets shot down. Yes, I did try, don't get on my case about how I just quit and didn't try to help, because that's not the case. Direct quotes I got when I suggested something different than SG: "I'm the boss," "my word is final," and "I'm done with this." He did not accept, or even consider anything I ever suggested to him, so your claims are complete unfounded. Would I like to be staff? Sure I would. I'd like to be staff if my input mattered to anyone, if anyone cared enough about the community to ask them about things, or even tell them before they happen. Staff were left out in the dark, and then told to shut up or quit staff. We were put in a corner, we had to lie to the users, or we had to quit. Again, we have a person who does not understand the situation trying to provide input. Have you made any attempt to contact any former staff member to get their reasons for quitting? No, you haven't. Please stop berating them when you obviously have no idea whatsoever what you're talking about. We did try to do something about what we felt was wrong, but nobody listened. I said I didn't like what was happening, SG told me he didn't care what I thought about it and that I was not allowed to post that I disagreed if I was staff. A great way to treat your staff, yes?

Now Tural, this is a little one sided, don't you think. We had many very long chat sessions and I most definately considered your words. However, our views on certain issues, such as how to address user violations and behavior, differed so much that our opinions couldn't be unified. While I was pleading for more leniency towards the users, you disagreed with me and thought that was pointless. At a certain point, after having talked with you on several occasions, for quite a long time, I decided that our views were incompatible and that your view on things wouldn't be changed. When you kept pushing your case, I finally told you that I was the new administrator and that you'd have to accept my decisions. Now, I went out of my way alot by not doing this after an hour or so of chatting. I also stressed many times that I wanted to keep you as staff, but that I couldn't accept your not being behind me. After I presented my decision, you kept pushing your case. You simply wouldn't accept it. That's when I might have gotten a bit agited, but I think that's understandable considering i'd been talking to you about this for hours.
After the relaunch, you spoke to other staff. You kept presenting names to me in an AIM chat session: "Hey SourceGuy, gametag wants to quit." "Hey, this and this guy resign". I really really disliked how you handled that. It almost seemed like each resignation was a little victory for you. You guys didn't even talk to me. It seemed all these resignations were coordinated by you, Tural. I am always open to discussion, and the people that know me well know what I'm like. I never treat people like shit. That is not who I am. I go out of my way to accomodate people. But Tural, sometimes you have to accept things that someone above you tells you - even when you disagree.

[GametagAeonFlux]

After the relaunch, you spoke to other staff. You kept presenting names to me in an AIM chat session: "Hey sourceguy, gametag wants to quit." "Hey, this and this guy resign". I really really disliked how you handled that. You guys didn't even talk to me. It seemed all these resignations were coordinated by you, Tural.

I talk to Tural on a daily basis. We have been discussing resigning for quite some time. Other staff members who resigned did not like the changes that had been made (and before any user says it, for the millionth time, no we are not talking about the look of the site), and they chose to resign on their own free will. We did not egg them on, nor did they just do it to jump on the bandwagon. Tural did not "coordinate" anything, he just told you they wanted to be removed from the staff usergroup because there is no way we can remove ourselves, and no form of contact with you other than PM is readily available.

[Tural]

I had given you that. I gave you my word that I'd stay for the time being, to give your approach a shot. I had no intention of leaving as I did. Then, I posted a rather simple message, that I disliked the forum change. You told me that I could not be staff and say that. If being staff means I can't have an opinion, I think that's rather shitty. What's your stance on that? I can be staff and not like some change, and if having unchallenged devotion is what it takes to be staff, I don't think you're going to get very far. With nobody to challenge you, there would be no change, without an opposition, anyone can do whatever they want. I disagreed with some things, and I felt it necessary to voice that. You treated me like shit because I disagreed with you, and you had no intention of keeping me on staff if I didn't lie and say I agreed with everything you did, is how it came off on the night of the switch.

[SourceGuy]

After the relaunch, you spoke to other staff. You kept presenting names to me in an AIM chat session: "Hey sourceguy, gametag wants to quit." "Hey, this and this guy resign". I really really disliked how you handled that. You guys didn't even talk to me. It seemed all these resignations were coordinated by you, Tural.

I talk to Tural on a daily basis. We have been discussing resigning for quite some time. Other staff members who resigned did not like the changes that had been made (and before any user says it, for the millionth time, no we are not talking about the look of the site), and they chose to resign on their own free will. We did not egg them on, nor did they just do it to jump on the bandwagon. Tural did not "coordinate" anything, he just told you they wanted to be removed from the staff usergroup because there is no way we can remove ourselves.

Tural just said that you quit because you were treated badly, and that the changes had nothing to do with it. Please gametag, this is not a battle. I'm trying to help this website. I'm sorry I didn't keep you in the loop, but this is overreacting.

[Tural]

Tural just said that you quit because you were treated badly, and that the changes had nothing to do with it.

I spoke that for myself, not for any other staff member. That's why I left, they have their own reasons.

[SourceGuy]

I had given you that. I gave you my word that I'd stay for the time being, to give your approach a shot. I had no intention of leaving as I did. Then, I posted a rather simple message, that I disliked the forum change. You told me that I could not be staff and say that. If being staff means I can't have an opinion, I think that's rather ***. What's your stance on that? I can be staff and not like some change, and if having unchallenged devotion is what it takes to be staff, I don't think you're going to get very far. With nobody to challenge you, there would be no change, without an opposition, anyone can do whatever they want. I disagreed with some things, and I felt it necessary to voice that. You treated me like *** because I disagreed with you, and you had no intention of keeping me on staff if I didn't lie and say I agreed with everything you did, is how it came off on the night of the switch.

Ofcourse you can disagree on some things as my staff. But right after the relaunch, the first thing you posted on my new boards after I put hours of work in it was: "What do you think of the changes? I really, really dislike them."
That was the last straw for me. I think you should understand that I would not want you to respond like that as my staff member, and I knew that you wouldn't understand why. When I told you I did not want you to post that, you offered your resignation, and I finally accepted it.
Don't tell me I did not want to keep you on as staff. I have mentioned many times that I wanted to. I even refused your resignation at some point, asking you to think about it for another week.

[GametagAeonFlux]

Tural just said that you quit because you were treated badly, and that the changes had nothing to do with it. Please gametag, this is not a battle. I'm trying to help this website. I'm sorry I didn't keep you in the loop, but this is overreacting.

If this was a battle we'd have spears and swords and shit which would be fucking sweet, but I do agree, it's not a battle. This is an argument.

I quit because WE as a staff were treated wrongly, and the changes were handled incredibly poorly, namely the lack of communication beyond your group of developers. When the forums were merged a long time ago, Gren made a topic in the staff board detailing exactly what would happen and how to go about doing it. And you know what? The merge worked out fine. There's no problem with letting everyone know change is coming, and I can not find any discernible reason why you chose to handle things the way you did.

[Tural]

When I told you I did not want you to post that, you offered your resignation.

Because you basically gave me an ultimatum. You said that I couldn't post that, I asked why, you said "You represent Halomods." I could not post my opinion as long as I was staff. You didn't tell me to wait on saying it, you didn't tell me that it was because it was too soon, you said I couldn't post it because I was staff. So tell me, do you want the staff that left back, or are you glad they're gone if they don't see eye-to-eye with you?

Another note:
Did I, or did I not, tell you that I would wait and see how things went? I did. I said it directly. I told you I would wait. However, the above statement you made to me made that impossible. I had every intention of giving your approach a chance, until you determined that I was not allowed to speak my mind anymore.

[SourceGuy]

When I told you I did not want you to post that, you offered your resignation.

Because you basically gave me an ultimatum. You said that I couldn't post that, I asked why, you said "You represent Halomods." I could not post my opinion as long as I was staff. You didn't tell me to wait on saying it, you didn't tell me that it was because it was too soon, you said I couldn't post it because I was staff. So tell me, do you want the staff that left back, or are you glad they're gone if they don't see eye-to-eye with you?

Indeed, that was my ultimatum. You'd used up all my leniency by then. I think I have made it clear that I hated it that my staff left. I can't fathom why you would think I like to see the staff go. As for your last question - It is clear to me that the ex-staff wanted to make the point that they are very discontent with me when they left, and they made that point in a way that could leave not a single doubt in people's minds. That does not really seem like a healthy starting point for a relation between me and my staff. I appreciate your services to HaloMods in the past, but I know many people that I know I can count on 100%, and I think you can understand that I prefer to choose them to be part of the staff team.

Did I, or did I not, tell you that I would wait and see how things went? I did. I said it directly. I told you I would wait. However, the above statement you made to me made that impossible. I had every intention of giving your approach a chance, until you determined that I was not allowed to speak my mind anymore.

If you wanted to wait to see how it went, you should not have posted anything and taken on a passive attitude.

[Tural]

Maybe I should have, you're right. However, if we take my posting as a mistake, then I'm going to have to take your reaction to it as a mistake as well. The reaction was a big "Fuck you" to me, and I couldn't stay staff if that's how you're going to treat the people you take on. (It's also worth noting that my 'wait-and-see' approach was about the staff changes, and you had still not told me, or any staff member, about the site changes, which is another big issue here) Someone who agrees with you 100% has nothing to contribute. You talk about wanting our input, but now you're saying you don't. If they agree with you, no change will come about.

I'm curious. Do you think you made any mistake in how you handled the transition?

More editing! A member of your dev team contacted me and other staff members yesterday about wanting to discuss this elsewhere and work something out, what happened to that? You're going behind their back and sort of ruining any chance of diplomacy.

[SourceGuy]

Maybe I should have, you're right. However, if we take my posting as a mistake, then I'm going to have to take your reaction to it as a mistake as well. The reaction was a big "*** you" to me, and I couldn't stay staff if that's how you're going to treat the people you take on. Someone who agrees with you 100% has nothing to contribute. You talk about wanting our input, but now you're saying you don't. If they agree with you, no change will come about.

Tural, I take input from my staff all the time. Everyone I worked with will attest to that. You give me input as well, but you don't accept it when it's dismissed. You keep pressing your case. I put up with that for a very long time - in my opinion -. Once again, I had been working 7 hours straight on the site, it was 7am at the time, and I was completely through with my leniency. I decided there and then that it was enough. That was not a big fuck you. I saw no other option. You could have removed your post, but you offered your resignation.
Edit: Backing someone 100% does not mean you agree with them 100%. This seems like the one thing you don't understand about these working relations.

I'm curious. Do you think you made any mistake in how you handled the transition?

If I were to do this all over, then yes, I would inform the community beforehand, and I would not have created a dev team that was higher in rank. I have already merged the dev team with the rest of the staff. That does not change the fact that many people are grossly overreacting to this.

More editing! A member of your dev team contacted me and other staff members yesterday about wanting to discuss this elsewhere and work something out, what happened to that? You're going behind their back and sort of ruining any chance of diplomacy.

I did not sanction any such action, and I am therefore not going 'behind their back' at all. If you wanted diplomacy, you should not have been criticising me in almost each and every post you made for the past two days. That does not help in that department.