I used recolor ccbs Grievious as an example that should be shut down by the staff as it clearly crosses the line
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I’m twiddling my thumbs about it.* Considering that one Google Doc that was floating around in the main topic seemed to cover just about everything, I don’t think I could substantially add anything that either isn’t there or that other people applying to be assistants couldn’t. But if Eljay and Meso feel they still need more assistants for potential contests after the Hagah, then I’ll consider it more heavily then. Or alternatively, if Eljay and Meso still think they need more assistants for the Hagah after a certain amount of time (let’s arbitrarily say a week), then I probably would apply in that “second wave.”
*I in no way profess to necessarily be a qualified or a “reputably” “chill” member of the community (that’s largely for other people to decide). But making these contests run smoothly benefits everyone, and if I can aid in that process then I will. Plus, I’m recently unemployed, so it’s not like I’ve got anything better going on 
Also, something I’ve been thinking about recently for Eljay and Meso’s consideration: maybe do take off-site behavior into consideration when thinking of banning/suspending someone from either these contests or this site. I know that was something that was advised against by “The Council” during the Helryx contest with the situations of UnderscoredDouble and Giratina, and this line
implies you still follow that guideline to some extent. Which is fair! But, I’d argue that as a community as a whole, it’s a responsibility and a duty to ensure that people who are acting scummy be punished or otherwise reprimanded, be it here or elsewhere. And to be clear, I’m not suggesting that you two actively patrol places like Reddit or Instagram or wherever looking for trouble, that’d be insane. But, if someone’s off-site behavior is brought to your attention that is particularly atrocious or otherwise falls within the purview outlined here, then it might be worthwhile to suspend or ban them, either from just the contests or the site as a whole.
Not saying you have to do this or anything, and if you think it falls outside your purview I completely understand (in fairness, I could also see it as becoming a witch hunt perpetrated by bad actors). But if the only thing stopping you guys from doing it or something similar is solely because you’d think it’d be unpopular, well here’s one Joe Schmoe who supports it. 
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how would this even get voted? There’s bound to many much more creative entries.
But I see your point.
Seconded lol we all have our preferences on design choices, and even if Greg’s lore declarations contradict themselves at times, it’s still his word these Contests hang on.
At the end of the day, tis by Greg’s specific statements do we execute our visions for Entries. We build, we share, and take it from there. Unless it’s hardbound and specified to the last detail according to continuity, there isn’t much use arguing about what “should” be what, regardless of how much sense it might make to assume such. It shouldn’t be that hard to disagree and move on, fellas!
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This is a good thing to put into practice
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I’ve been refraining from commenting here on a matter of principle, but this is something really important to address.
There was another member banned a while ago that deliberately hunted another member, sought to have him banned from every site he was on, and that included TTV. It was immediately relevant and so the pains to which staff went to to ensure this could not happen anywhere (and that justice here on TTV was done) were justified.
However, TTV rules apply first and foremost to actions that occur on TTV, meaning unless it directly relates, it really shouldn’t matter how awful someone else is anywhere else as long as they keep on the straight and narrow here. Other social media platforms have taken to that path to a light degree, and it emulates authoritarian overreach.
During the time that I was heading a mocing collab on discord it was brought to my attention that one of the members had committed a literal crime and was charged and convicted as a matter of public record. It was a felony which given the nature of, would have enabled this individual to perpetrate a similar act on a digital space, and it was a serious enough offense that people could very well be hurt by its occurring. I was then force-fed evidence to the legitimacy of the charge which went so far as identification of furniture, and decided to remove this individual from the collab for the safety of the members involved. He was later removed from TTV as well, not due to any action on my part.
If actions which are directly relevant to the safety of members on this site occur off-site, it is TTV’s responsibility to ensure the protection and safety of its own members, and they have demonstrated they do just that. But outside of that I don’t think it would be anything short of overly controlling to include in that scope less than dangerous charges, like getting banned from LEGO Cuusoo (which I was).
Maybe that’s what you already said but in greater detail; I’m not entirely sure.
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wait what
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Seriously why do people have to be like that. There is just no reason for it.
I mean it’s Lego for goodness sakes, can we not even have a community about Lego without people being toxic and mean to eachother for absolutely no reason…
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Just think about all the times you’ve ever been toxic. That might give you some idea.
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I dislike toxicity but I like toxic (it’s a great Britney Spears song)
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No, but you like Toxic reapa
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never had the set
Okay, here goes nothing.
First off I would like to congratulate the both of you on finally making a well overdue statement and being honest about some things. However, we all know what a PR statement looks like at this point and I’d like to point out a few…. Shall we say, inconsistencies?
First off, well done on taking a stance w/ regard to the vitriol that has been spilled throughout this process. I do hope that, in addition to concerns issued by others in this topic, you also intend to hold yourselves to the same standards. I have seen and heard plenty of comments on both sides that I would be hard pressed to say I agree with or support.
Second off, I want to address the fact that you “need help.”
You had help. I ran myself ragged for over a year “helping” while working 4 jobs, going to school full time, opening (and then closing, and then opening again) my own business, and working on my relationship with my partner. In fact, I suggested that help was necessary over a year ago, well prior to the conversation in December/January. I point this out because what you’re attempting to do now was completely shut down then, and ultimately not even considered. I even had a whole plan drawn up that, ultimately, I didn’t bother to share because it was evident at the time that it was unwelcome.
So what’s changed?
Surely the passage of time from June to now didn’t come with such world-shattering changes that the need for some actual assistance makes sense now when it didn’t after Artakha? And more importantly, what are the criteria you’re looking for? Because I’m going to be perfectly, brutally honest: If you want people that you trust implicitly, you’re never going to get the help you want. You don’t even trust your own moderation team.
More to the point, these contests have been plagued with issues both internal and external. Forgive me if I have little sympathy for two people who refused to get help when it was offered up on a silver platter and then complain that they’re too busy to do it alone. You specifically asked for this, and while I am thankful that you’ve at least recognized the damage to your mental health that it’s caused, I am leery of relieving you of the responsibility that you took on.
This contest should’ve been done months ago. This contest was supposed to be done before the end of summer. The ONLY reason this contest isn’t done now, is because the two of you either consciously or unconsciously decided to ignore it completely. You decided that the bare minimum was too difficult. And you can’t say on one hand that “all the vitriol and negativity” came from ~10 people, and then also claim that there was so much of it it took a toll on your mental health. There’s always 10 people who will make you angry on a given day. Today I’m one of them.
Lastly, let’s address the elephant in the room – the future of the contests.
I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t support these contests. I never have. But I also recognized the importance of doing them right if they were going to happen. I recall a refrain of “Once we have a baseline for how these can go” being used repeatedly to justify continuing to the next context with the bare minimum introspection and review. I’d also argue that given the current state of this, what was supposed to be the “easy” contest where “all the kinks” were “worked out,” Hagah Contest, the baseline has been set.
And it’s not good.
There’s no amount of help that you can get that will suddenly make fundamental issues with how you’ve approached these contests go away. You want to host community contests you’d best be ready to be heavily involved not just with posting polls but with interacting with the community. The fact that an hour or two couldn’t be set aside for a whole month multiple times means that you’re not even mentally ready to run the contests in the first place. Sure, we got a cool Artakha, but at the end of the day these contests, on the basis of “we’ll try 3 and then decide if they’re worth continuing,” are a resounding failure.
Make no mistake, I respect losing your drive because of people being loud and angry and vitriolic, but if that were the case then take action. You’re the administrators of the Boards, if there are people specifically treating you like crap, take action. It’s not that hard to enforce your own rules, especially when the boards come with a built-in dictatorship clause. These problems could’ve been solved well over a year ago.
Let me just be abundantly clear. I want these contests to continue but only if they’re done right. Unfortunately, I have very little faith that they can be done right at this point without a complete change in management style. If you’re willing to do more than just arbitrate rules and eventually make polls, then maybe. But if you’re waiting for a whitelist of people you specifically trust, who tick all your boxes, to come in and run the contests for you, do us all a favour and admit defeat. They’re a cool Idea that maybe you’re just not equipped to handle. Either let the greater community help run them of abandon the idea until life has stabilized enough that you can devote the time required.
I’ll end by saying that I do genuinely hope everything works out and that these statements are genuine rather than PR drivel ultimately intended to justify failing to administrate these contests. I do hope things get better moving forward and I hope that if there are future contests to be had they are run with the requisite care and attention. But I do also hope that the option of stepping back and recognizing that, for one reason or another, continuing them isn’t tenable is on the table. Because if it’s not a legitimate consideration, all that says is you’re willing to drag the entire fandom down with you because “the next one will be better.”
If the first three were objectively poorly run, then the common denominator is the two of you. Not the amount of help you had. And whether that means getting more help solves the problem, or that the problem is simple that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, I don’t know. But I do genuinely hope that there has been enough introspection to identify which, for all our sakes.
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he won… but at what cost? (subsequent banning and the destruction of the black Metru torso stock market)
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my stance on the banning of members from the contest is the same it’s been from the start. I don’t think anyone should be.
I think TTV should ban whoever they like from their website, but I don’t think anyone should be barred from entry to the contests. If someone really is toxic and the community doesn’t like them the results will speak for themselves. Which is why I’m personally in favor of allowing banned members to join by proxy.
Their toxicity is kept off of ttv’s website, but everyone is still allowed to participate in this community contest
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Based StudentScissors
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Banning a previous winner from the contests for simply winning too hard is gonna be a big lol from me
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Everyone has their moments, we are only human but it doesent excuse people being bullies or throwing a tantrum over something that’s supposed to be a bit of fun.
Especially taking it out on the people who are just trying to arrange that fun and keep it fair for everyone.
Not saying that the staff are perfect, again they are only human but there is no need for people to go off on them the way that some people have.
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Edited for clarity.
No, he got banned for actively baiting the mods to pull him up on relatively minor rule violations. The things he did wrong were, by themselves, not really banworthy, true. They’re not even really worth paying attention to. But he was basically going “HEY, ELJAY! LOOK AT MEEEEE! I’M DISREGARDING THE RULES, ELJAY! LOOK!” And that gets the boot, IMO.
Besides. They’re letting his victory stand. If they didn’t want him to win, they could easily use his ban to justify DQ’ing the MOC now, and passing the win off to Kodiak (whose MOC was better IMO anyway), but they’re not. He gets to keep his “trophy”, and the one he got for Helryx. He just gets told to not bother again.
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Never said anything about excusing behavior. My comment was towards your lack of understanding on why people were toxic.
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