Things need to change, and one of them is ProjectMagma's public relations effort. Yes, you people think of yourselves as fans, doing this in your free time (or at least you seem to).
You can't afford to do that anymore. The current firestorm is a clear indication of that.
Therefore, I suggest some guidelines. Some are more important than others.
1) Pick a spokesperson. Task that person with posting news about ProjectMagma and its various projects. It's ok for a single person to do only this, or for a few people to do this (two, three MAYBE. No more.) as long as they keep in close touch with each other.
Everyone else, shut up about the projects. No "XYZ is almost done" or such; refer any questions to the spokesperson. This is of less importance for maps or similar, but for something the scale of a point release, the information should be coming from one source and one alone.
2) Learn how to take abuse. Let's demonstrate this.
OMFG YOU F00KING BUGMA JUMBO BASTARDS YOU FUCKING BROKE MYTH AND DROVE ALL THE PLAYERS AWAY FUCK YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN TO THE NINTH GENERATION NOW GO DIE
If you're drifting towards the "reply" button, slap yourself.
Wait. Don't reply.
Wait.
Keep waiting.
Are you cool? I need you cool. Are you cool?
Good. You're cool. Now hit the reply button.
This is the point at which you ignore the flame and pretend that that post said "please, sir, my copy of Myth is broken. Can you help?" Ask what's wrong. Be cordial. In no way acknowledge the flame. If they give you more information, help them like you would anyone else. Don't be patronizing; don't even admit that their abusiveness exists.
3) Qualify statements. If someone comes to you and says OMFG YOU CHANGED XYZZY, don't say "no we didn't" unless you personally checked this problem specifically in the latest build. Instead, say something like "I don't think we did, I'll check." Then rule it out and get back to them, or find out it did change and say "Hm, so we did, I don't know why. Lemme check and let you know if it'll be changed back in the next version."
4) (Closely related to #2): Don't rise to flamebait.
Don't.
No.
Not even a little. Don't post. Don't respond. Correct misinformation if you can do it without being offensive, patronizing, or adversarial in the least.
5) Don't pull things like what was done to Acheron. Don't be that guy.
6) Keep your cool above all. Never show anger as a representative of Project Magma. Never. Ever.
7) Don't respond to flames. Don't rise to flamebait. Some variation on this appears four times in this seven-item list. I'll let you figure out why.
~J
Speaking of timeouts - Another proposal
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Orlando the Axe
- Posts: 629
- Joined: Sat Mar 06, 2004 9:01 pm
- Location: CA
- Contact:
good post, archer. all obvious stuff, but good nonetheless. 
as a magma member i assume everything i write reflects magma (or at least reflects on it). there are a good number of responses to acheron's behaviour that i've simply scrapped and not gone back to.
unless i specify otherwise i don't consider myself speaking for magma. every now and then i will state (and repeat as much and as often as necessary) that i am writing as myself and not as a magma member. obviously what i do still reflects (it always does, no matter who you are or what you're posting about), but the direct implication is that if i were speaking as magma i would say something different (or at least in a different manner) if i were to say anything at all. (in short, i'm not official unless i say i am and others back me up :p )
thanks for being a level head in all this, archer. i can respect a guy like you.
as a magma member i assume everything i write reflects magma (or at least reflects on it). there are a good number of responses to acheron's behaviour that i've simply scrapped and not gone back to.
unless i specify otherwise i don't consider myself speaking for magma. every now and then i will state (and repeat as much and as often as necessary) that i am writing as myself and not as a magma member. obviously what i do still reflects (it always does, no matter who you are or what you're posting about), but the direct implication is that if i were speaking as magma i would say something different (or at least in a different manner) if i were to say anything at all. (in short, i'm not official unless i say i am and others back me up :p )
thanks for being a level head in all this, archer. i can respect a guy like you.
*toot*
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Spond!Max
sweet. Blades, Bloo and I were discussing the same things almost line by line this morning. If Clem and I can keep ourselves in check, and Ghost, Graydon and ChrisP can do the same, it could be a good thing. If not, it's back to hitting on the stump with the splitting maul some more. Sorry to the city folk because I can't think of an approprite analogy, but in plain english, it's back to the continued division and erosion.
[color=DFC99B]
Make it so vikk. ;o)[/color]
I Like!! I Like !!haravikk wrote:Forums shouldn't have a reply button, there should be a "Flame" and an "I'm cool now" button, one lets you post, one takes you to porn till you're ready to click the other, simple =)
Make it so vikk. ;o)[/color]
"Do you want to be healed now? Or would you prefer to bleed to death so I can try my hand at resurrection?"
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Orlando the Axe
- Posts: 629
- Joined: Sat Mar 06, 2004 9:01 pm
- Location: CA
- Contact:
Orlando the Axe wrote:good advice, but how are you supposed to know when we're being official and when we arent. For the record I am never official.
Unfortunately, as a well-known member of ProjectMagma, you are always official.
Less than some (GHOST, CIK, PBucher, Iron, ChrisP), but you're always associated with Magma. There's nothing you can really do about this except the rather extreme example of getting a second account (and getting Playmyth to give you one for the forums) much like the difference between a PMA account and a personal account for the PMAs.
~J
Failure: when your best just isn't good enough.