Tirin for Mayor 2018: The Tirinny Party

Tirin

God-Emperor of Tealkind
Moderator
Good ladies and gentlemen of Mach Entertainment, I would like to announce my candidacy for mayor of this good forum from 2018 until whatever inconsistent date our next one will fall upon.

The crux of the most prominent issues regarding our great forum appear to lie in its constitution; however, there are some things that I feel it necessary to address, being a major enforcer of said constitution.

The Mach Constitution is largely fine except for an inconsistency regarding point values applied; it is noted in the Constitution that limitations are to be applied on the assigning of points in Section 3. However this is not mentioned in any part of Section 3 regarding offences such as disrespect to the forum, staff, or individuals, and thus is left largely up to moderator discretion in these cases. A more transparent system may be worth investing into, so that everyone is aware why they were warned and abuse of the system by admins or moderators can be investigated.

A more systematic way for addressing grievances (via Forum Court) could also be edited into Section X of the Constitution, as well as a manner to actually determine how edits are done. This should allow for more flexibility regarding the Constitution and what is and is not considered acceptable by forumers.

The thing is that (aside from, shockingly, Walrus Man), most of the other candidates do not have enforceable or realistic goals for an edited Constitution, and even Walrus Man's is sorely lacking in content. I sincerely hope that each and everyone one of you will make the correct choice and vote for me as your new/old mayor. I will bring peace, freedom, justice, and security to our forum - as I always have.
 

Dunsparce

Well-Known Member
Member
That's Mayor Tirin for you. He doesn't actually care about fixing any of the problems in this community until somebody challenges his authority. He's had many years to amend the constitution, but he's only just now looking into it. Maybe you don't like me. Maybe you think I'm an asshole. But hey, at least I believe in something.
 

Tirin

God-Emperor of Tealkind
Moderator
Unlike (not-mayor) Dunsparce, I didn't start to see the Constitution as some major or urgent issue because I was fairly punished beneath it - I acknowledge that it has minor faults, but the community lacked the initiative to look into and fix them. And, unlike you, my fixes are both unbiased and work towards the actual good of this community. And how many other problems came up with me as mayor that weren't fixed? None? Yeah, I thought so too.
 

Dunsparce

Well-Known Member
Member
Unlike (not-mayor) Dunsparce, I didn't start to see the Constitution as some major or urgent issue because I was fairly punished beneath it - I acknowledge that it has minor faults, but the community lacked the initiative to look into and fix them. And, unlike you, my fixes are both unbiased and work towards the actual good of this community. And how many other problems came up with me as mayor that weren't fixed? None? Yeah, I thought so too.
Horseshit. I was not "fairly punished." I made a post making fun of trannies in response to another post making fun of trannies. The content of both posts was more or less the same, but only I was punished. This is naked hypocrisy no matter how you look at it, and it's totally got nothing to do with me being a significantly bigger asshole than anyone else on the forum. Honestly, I would rather vote for literally anybody over you for mayor. I'd even prefer a mayor Andy because, even though he's a massive swollen red vagina, I'm confident that the rules he establishes will be at least consistent. Under mayor Tirin, there's no way to predict what could get me punished.

I'm starting a grassroots movement. I may not win this election, but the many followers I accrue will only grow over time. I will make this forum a haven for absolute unconditional free speech, or I will die trying.
 

Tirin

God-Emperor of Tealkind
Moderator
Ah, of course. A debatably clever joke that some people liked and which poked a little fun at trans people and the topic while not going over board is precisely the same as a video openly mocking and insulting the way that people feel and identify. I guess it was pretty out of nowhere that first time I punished you, too.

You won't accrue many, if any, followers by doing this; frankly, it's a dumb hill to die on. Nobody here wants "absolute [and] unconditional" free speech other than you, especially since you're acting like it's a free speech issue when you break the rules of a private platform in obnoxious fashion.
 

Requiem

Well-Known Member
Member
Stupid shitposting aside Dunsparce, the stuff you post might get you a like or two, sure, but I know I personally don't want to see the stuff you post that gets you punished at all. There's plenty of places on the internet for you to go be whoever you're choosing to be, but really you're just posting stuff that people aren't even really interested in. It's stuff that doesn't even really get a rise out of people. It's just being shitty towards other people/groups of people for the sake of... I dunno, just a laugh, I guess?

I don't have anything else to say on this really. The election is fun and interesting, doing stupid shit like this is cool, but if you're taking part in this in order to kind of challenge having your bad post deleted, I just don't think that's worth your time.
 

Tirin

God-Emperor of Tealkind
Moderator
I'd like to discuss a few of my opponent @Colonel Thunder's talking points here, though I'd like to point out that despite some of my reservations, many of them are great ideas that we should look into or start organizing where at all possible. I've been moonlighting as an admin for a fairly large Discord server, and I feel that some of the lessons I've learned from that could be relevant to Mach Entertainment - though for various reasons, I feel that it would be inappropriate to invite members of said community here.

Years later, many of us are reading the Constitution in-depth for the first time. As of now, I see no inherent flaws within the Constitution, and I believe it is the sole honor and duty of the Forum Owner to update the Constitution as they see fit.

That being said, I would encourage the Forum Owner to thoughtfully consider the advice of Forum Officials (such as the Mayor and Court Justice) and other trusted advisers regarding updates.
I agree that the primary power regarding the Constitution should lie with RECON; however, it is important to ensure that the public has the option to draft a resolution - spearheaded by the mayor or another person of similar merit. I would also like to voice some disagreement with certain sections of the Constitution as-is, in particular Article 2, Section 4: "[The Forum Owner] may... remove [any] amendment at any time", as it stands at odds with the previous phrase "The Forum Owner may not change any amendment without proposing changes as described in Section 1", and clearly an outright removal is a form of change. While I trust RECON, the executive branch has been the cause of many problems in the history of this mixed community and I intend to limit that if at all possible.

I believe it is necessary to document the Mayor's official duties, limitation of power, and acceptable code of conduct. This documentation may or may not echo the documentation currently outlined in the Constitution regarding Moderators and their jurisdiction. This documentation should be created in conjunction with public deliberation and an established committee.

Similarly, I believe the position of Court Justice should become an official one. The official duties, limitations of power, and acceptable code of conduct need to be outlined and agreed upon in a process similar to the one mentioned in the above paragraph.

Our Court Justice @Easy has done an incredible job fairly overseeing civil suits for nearly two years now. I recently witnessed him spend an entire Saturday moderating a complicated trial involving four separate parties, a great sacrifice of personal time in the pursuit of justice. He deserves to be recognized for his dedication, and it would be my honor to help officially appoint him as our Justice.
It is my opinion that neither the Mayor nor any Justice(s) should be required to keep themselves beholden to any code of conduct beyond that common to members of Mach Entertainment and, in the case of the Justice(s) to ensure that our civil court works in a fair and balanced manner. I similarly do not agree with any maximum term limits (or even term timeframes) put upon mayors; making forum elections regular necessitates a great deal of paperwork and planning that we have routinely proven incapable of (or, rather, unwilling to do). Instead I would put into place a minimum time before which a new election cannot be called unless the incumbent mayor is put to a vote of no confidence. Adding official duties, however, is of paramount importance and is one area in which every mayor to date (myself included, er... thrice) has slacked.

I would agree wholeheartedly with Easy's appointment to the position of Chief Justice, however - and think that if any code of conduct should be put into place for any Justice(s), he should be the first forumer consulted.


Our financial state of affairs has not traditionally been a point of discussion. However, I believe it is our duty to assist the Forum Owner in funding this community with the level of involvement he approves of. Aside from funding the core functioning of the site itself, we may want to consider what donated funds could be put towards in regards to the betterment of this community.

Secondly, the value of the Like is strong right now - but it could be stronger. The social-economic value of the Like is very subjective. We may want to investigate systems that leverage the Like in ways that benefit our community as a whole.
It's true that donations have been slack as of late to the best of my knowledge, and I agree that the onus is on us to do better. As much as we appreciate RECON doing this for us, we can't expect him to host us indefinitely, and excess money could be used to further develop community resources.

One major problem with the value of the like is the stigma attached to it, and I believe that this links into an important economic problem re: the Roleplaying forums. Post-by-post roleplaying is traditionally a time-consuming and intellectually demanding pastime of this community due to our high standards of quality; despite this, the Roleplaying section is among the most like-barren per-post of any subforum. I believe that this is due for a change; whether they were not applied due to a stigma of being for the lowest common denominator or some other factor, I intend to change that as mayor or otherwise. From this day forward, I will be applying likes to good roleplaying posts, damn it - and I'm half tempted to go back to old ones and do the same.

Some of you may have concerns that this will artificially inflate the like; however, the economic grwoth generated by increased roleplaying will, I'm certain, pay off in the long run for the community - and in any case, roleplaying posts are valuable goods, ranging in objective worth from good memes to outright CYOA updates at the highest end.

I don't believe it is within the jurisdiction of this community to decide whether or not traps are gay. If our community must have a ruling on whether or not traps are gay, I believe that how that choice is made is up to the Forum Owner.

Personally, I do not believe that traps are gay. Also, being gay is not gay (with the first use of "gay" meaning homosexual, and the second use of "gay" meaning the more typical internet slang for something that is not desirable).
My position on this issue is already known, but I feel that it is irrelevant as far as forum law is concerned and would challenge any stance that suggests otherwise to provide reasons otherwise.

The core of my platform is the continuous improvement of our community rooted in active engagement and personal ownership. We need a strengthened community, and that starts with becoming a forum that strangers want to come to.

As Mayor, I will work towards improving the quality of this community so that we can better attract and retain new members, while also improving the quality of participation for existing community members. I believe that this can be done by leveraging our already existing resources through community projects possibly including but not limited to:
  • supporting low buy-in, low commitment activities
  • bolstering larger activities such as RPing, Mafia, and game events
  • incentivizing good behavior
  • getting a head start on planning/engaging in the 2018 Forum Awards
  • reaching out to inactive/potential new members in a positive way
  • intentionally including inactive/potential new members to create a welcoming environment
These are lofty goals that will take the coordination of the entire community to accomplish. As Mayor, I hope to appoint Commissioners to oversee some of the projects that arise from these initiatives.
This is the meat and potatoes, and to be honest... I flatly agree with all of these ideas. The problem is that it isn't that simple. TC as a candidate presents plenty of good concepts, but without nestling them in any kind of framework that can actively support them.

I'm glad that he took the initiative to write these out, because with some of them (especially my areas of expertise) I'll be able to start implementing ways to make them work. It's plain to see now that despite our ups and downs, I haven't been the mayor that Mach Entertainment needs. I hope to change that, starting with the areas that I know best.

If anyone has any questions for me at this time, feel free to ask me here or privately and I'll be happy to get back to you.
 

Tirin

God-Emperor of Tealkind
Moderator
I would just like to acknowledge a major campaign breakthrough with regard to my likeonomics program. The Tirinomics school of thought promotes that giving more likes is actually crucial to the health of the like economy and provides incentive for more posts, and I have begun to put it into place not only with regards to campaign materials and content creation, but also more generally - and particularly in the Roleplaying section. Fantasy Nations, a legendary RP which ran for countless words and more than two and a half years of real time, was barren of likes: there is not a single post in it with a like across 206 posts.

@Jeroth's Tales of Driftmoore, however, has attracted a massive number of likes per post, and while I cannot take the credit for that myself (in fact, I would like to thank the other players and Riyant himself), I feel that it serves as validation for my theory. In 35 posts, Driftmoore has accumulated fifty likes, a marked improvement on our forum average - indeed, a like-to-post ratio of more than 1.4, which surpasses that of even the best forumers; for the sake of transparency, I will note that I provided 20 of these likes and have been the recipient of 8. Clearly, this program has a great deal of potential - and I would further like to point out that Driftmoore's posts have all been made since March 18th. I would like to hear the thoughts of my opponents on this program, though Riyant in particular, as he has greatly benefited from it but thus far not partaken in the program re: liking his players' posts.
 

Lumpy

Well-Known Member
Member
Anyone else getting deja vu? I feel like we've dealt with Dunsparce feeling like he's unfairly punished before, only that was like 2 forums ago.
I don't really pay attention to things so correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Dunsparce named Dunsparce because some admin changed it to that?
 

Tirin

God-Emperor of Tealkind
Moderator
His name was changed to Dunsparce by KK like, two and a half forums ago. He very well could have changed it if he so chose.
 

Tirin

God-Emperor of Tealkind
Moderator
That's entirely fair, though I believe he was also punished not-so-unfairly for other things following the mass exodus to Geek² and possibly before then. In any case, I do not think that this constituted an unfair punishment.
 

Dunsparce

Well-Known Member
Member
I don't really pay attention to things so correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Dunsparce named Dunsparce because some admin changed it to that?
I didn’t actually piece that story together completely until years later, but I guess I’ll explain it as I understand it now.

There was a list thread for Pokémon, where I was labeled as a dunsparce. I angrily rebuked this labeling with a degree of irony that, in retrospect, might have gone over everybody’s heads at the time. That night, Ciflit/Loligagging asked Sugar/Killer Kitten to change my username to “dunsparce.” I woke up the next day and for some reason I can’t log in. I had my username and password saved on my browser so I literally can’t fuck it up. I figure it’s some kind of glitch or something, but then I get this stupid idea: “wouldn’t it be something if my username got changed to that Pokémon thing?” I typed in “dunsparce” and hit enter. It fucking worked. At that moment, every last shred of irony was erased from my soul, and replaced with anger. My ego was under vicious assault. Never mind that it’s dumb shit on the internet that doesn’t matter at all.

I don’t really remember exactly what I said in the Forumer Chat Thread. I remember I tried to make it all caps, but that didn’t work because they had it set up so you couldn’t do that, so I made it bold instead. Whatever rants I ended up posting eventually got me banned. I remember that towards the end of the arguing I started to realize how ridiculous I must’ve looked, so being the fuckwit fourteen year old that I was, I tried to pass it off as trolling.

One of the most embarrassing parts of that escapade that I’m going to reveal for the first time ever is that I actually tried to PM Sugar about it, completely unaware that she was the one who did it. I told her that somebody hacked my account, and I asked her to change my name back. Never got a response.

Since that day I’ve resolved to be as insincere, ironic and antagonistic to you guys as I can possibly be. What, did you think I’m like this for no reason? All the best villains are created by the hero.

His name was changed to Dunsparce by KK like, two and a half forums ago. He very well could have changed it if he so chose.
I actually did change my name. I used to go by "Xander" on this forum, and I occasionally log on to that old account to stir some shit up. But it felt kinda weird having you guys call me by the name I go by in real life, and I don't think I'm alone in feeling that way. I have a real problem with sticking to internet names. Dunsparce is, funnily enough, the only one I've use for a considerable amount of time.

I kinda do want to change it sometimes, but of all the names I could think of, this is the only one that has any deep sentimental significance to me, even if it's a reference to an event I'd rather forget. My name is suitably ironic for the persona I've chosen. But maybe someday I'll ask you to change it for me.

That's entirely fair, though I believe he was also punished not-so-unfairly for other things following the mass exodus to Geek² and possibly before then. In any case, I do not think that this constituted an unfair punishment.
Actually, believe it or not, I'm like the only person who never got banned on Geek^2.
 

The Hound

Just Monika
Member
Funny enough I remember making that list and being part of the brain trust that decided you were Dunsparce.
 
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