Pardon my intrusion in this thread, but a similar thread (
https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/...t-Next-Island-quot-or-quot-Next-Neverdie-quot ) was closed by it's starter before I had a chance to respond to questions asked and statements made in response to a post I made. Those on that thread were directed here to this thread to continue the discussion, so I can only copy over the bits from there I am addressing.
From our mod JohnCapitol:
"Guess you missed Pioneer answering numerous questions about Mayhem, or Hanne writing articles about the recent fashion contests."
More than likely I did John, simply because those two subjects held no interest for me so I don't believe I read them. My comments were not about such subjects, but about the heated debates that have been going on since Next Island opened. I believe Hanne did post and you have clarified more than once that the discussions were allowed as long as they stuck to the issues and did not devolve into personal attacks. I was commenting on the overall feeling that those threads were and still are leaning more towards personal attacks than calm and sensible discussion, and that it is actually pretty insulting that there really has been no serious response from any of 'officialdom' in that situation, and yes it does feel like it has been allowed to run a bit rampant to say the least. Please know that I did not intend any negative remark about you or you modding efforts, I understand that you are trying to do your volunteer job as best as you can in a difficult time and are following the lead given by the forum admin Hanne.
From MS9:
"Lee ... it has nothing to do with his rock star lifestyle, and I really resent that you went there, and that you couldn't see what the real issues are that I and many others are concerned about. Posting a media article from back in 2006 is absolutely pointless, and I don't understand why you can't see that ... things have changed, ND is in a whole different ball park right now, and his decisions do have impact not only on this community, but the universe as well.
I worked for and supported ND and his vision, but he was a land owner then, and all was right with the universe. It is different now, and there are serious issues that need to be addressed, but you now seem to be making a personal attack on me for voicing my opinion. We can agree to disagree, but you have now stooped rather low in what you just posted. I have not personally attacked you, so unless you're going to just add constructive content to this thread, please refrain from responding further. "
Well, I will start with your closing sentence and say that whether or not anything I have ever posted is constructive content is a matter of perspective I guess, and unless the moderators or admins of this forum feel I have crossed some boundaries or broken some rules and tell me that I need to stop responding/posting I will continue to do so if I feel it is appropriate. I did notice on another post somewhere in all this debate a poster who suggested it was a risky thing to disagree with a mod (meaning you), but as far as I'm aware you are not a mod or admin on PCF, please correct me if I am mistaken.
I believe from all of the postings of yours that I have read in the recent furor about NI and ND, it has been very heavily about the personal lifestyle and business style of ND and how disapproving you are of those. I do see and understand what you call the 'real' issues as well, and agree with some and disagree with others, and have no issue at all with those issues being discussed and answers being asked for. My referring to your earlier work with ND and CND was exactly what I said it was, confusion about why his lifestyle etc seems to now be news and shocking to you. It just seemed illogical. I am sorry that you resent that I 'went there' in saying this was confusing, sorry that you feel I 'stooped rather low' in posting my thoughts, and sorry that you interpreted it all as a 'personal attack'.
I simply disagree with you about some issues, such as inviting heated and insulting commentary on anyone's personal lifestyle, and I do take issue with how often, how widespread, and (in my opinion) how personal some of your recent postings have been towards one man and everyone involved with him in his personal and professional life. In other words I disagree with you for that, and I felt it was contradictory to how much none of that bothered you in the past, and I feel I had every right to state that.
The newspaper article I linked related directly to how radically your relationship with and opinion of ND and his brand has changed, and it related to my confusion over how you could be surprised now about his lifestyle, his ego, and his style overall as if it was not already known to you long ago when you worked for and with him. I admit that it was also confusing as I always thought you had been a volunteer in that work yet the article said he hired you, though it also quoted you as not wanting to think of it as a job. So after reading it I still don't know if you were a paid employee or not. Since there is so much discussion about who works for ND now, and their avatars ingame etc, I also thought that was relevant, as it sounded like you have direct experience of working with/for him and so might know about how much 'inside info' etc he is likely to share with his employees and friends.
In response to another poster you said :
"I appreciate your support of Lee's post, but ... I have sent Lee a PM with my personal thoughts, and she most definitely will understand what it's all about, but then she knew that from the get go. Let's now drop it since it has gone to PM, and keep it out of the thread."
I don't really appreciate the suggestion that I knew what your issue was with the article 'from the get go', and no, I didn't know what your issue was until I read your pm.That article was in a public newspaper, is now available on the internet, and is public record, so I would think it is as legitimate a thing of interest to the 'community' as any other article/interview about Entropia, ND and yourself. I have read your pm and understand that you have reasons to prefer that link be removed, and I went to honor your request and remove it, but you had closed the thread so I can't. Perhaps a mod can do that for you if you ask them, but please don't be naive that others won't read it elsewhere. I suggest you may want to contact the newspaper and discuss the issues you have with the story, as it is really between you and them. I do not believe I have violated any forum rules in posting that link, but if I have I would hope a mod will tell me so and tell me how I can avoid that mistake in future.
Sorry for the long post everyone, please free to continue your discussion without my input, as I understand now that I would rather be a part of the 'community' that has a much wider definition than the one MS9 has proposed:
"Community = the members of this forum who participate in discussions."
(and yeah, obviously I wasn't the only one that got shut down there)
