Posted: Thu May 06, 2004 2:07 am
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
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
