Moderating in Moderation

There is a divide in the community, this much is blatantly clear. I have never been one to buy into the grandiose conspiracy theories. However, after much thought, I have come to a newly founded conclusion which I will attempt to demonstrate in this thread.

What is the importance of a coalition? If you naively believe they exist for competitive play then you are sadly mistaken as serious CWs rarely occur, and tournaments die nearly as quickly as they are created. The real essence of a coalition is a community within the greater community of Afterwind. These are the people you will be spending disproportionate amount of time playing, chatting, and socializing with.

Since I first started participating in the Afterwind society, I had no chance of avoiding the chorus of "mod bias" chats. While most of this can be disregarded as disgruntled players complaining about punishment - as I wrote a long post about this previously - I have recently seen the merit of their accusation somewhat. The bias does not exist in the decision making of the mods, but rather what has been engrained in their subconscious. They spend so much time existing within the brotherhood of a coalition that it cripples their ability to be objective towards the broader community as a whole.

I cannot sit here and claim elaborate scheming done on the behalf of certain members, however, I do have an argument to make. There exists an appalling schism between the moderating staff in the premier coalitions, and much of the old-guard community that resides outside these coalitions. New mods are chosen by admins of course, but they are not involved enough in the community to make such decisions. Therefore, they rely on the recommendations of the moderating staff. There is an inherent flaw in this system that arises here - these proposals are based on personal reference… thus automatically giving players who are in the current inner circles (most notably, coalitions) of the mods an automatic advantage.

I know the moderating staff personally, I am your friends, but I still feel the need to say my peace. It is impossible to remain unbiased while still conforming to the system of coalitions in the game. The reason being is that while in a coalition, groups of members work towards the superordinate goal of bettering the coalition. This is the reason clan mates are viewed more positively than those outside the clan. That, coupled with the prior mentioned disproportionate amount of time you spend together, causes these 'inner circle' players to be viewed as more viable options to join the moderating staff.

I wrote this hoping it would enlighten your views towards the angst many long time members feel. In my opinion members like Barry, Tophats, Pulse… who have been pillars of this community for well over a year, would make much more loyal and active moderators who would contribute more efficiently to the continued success of the game than someone who has only recently started playing afterwind a few months ago. This 'old guard' of players has stuck by this game through many changes, yet are simply not included in the 'in-group' that has developed. It makes clear sense to me that players like this would be much more committed to the success of our community and game, and those are the type of people I would want moderating.

Obviously there has been clashes with the coalition SRB. I am not here to defend them, obviously because they have been in the wrong, but I have at least grown a empathy for their plight. They are condemned for who they associate with, while other are celebrated for who they chose to correlate with.

I am not ranting about the recent choices, I am sure they will do fine and are good people. I am talking about the situation in general. They come from the same group of people with unwavering connection. In my mind, there can only be one solution to this entire problem:

As long as the conditions exist, this cycle will continue and the community will splinter even further. There is only one way to end the sequence, and it is done in many other communities. Moderators should not be associated with the coalition feature. Either they should refrain from being in any coalition, or join one together such as Squirrels. Guest14502 is considered by many to be the mod with the most objective based mindset. The obvious reasoning behind this is that he doesn't have a coalition clouding his judgment. The second you chose to accept the job of moderating a community, you must in some way make the sacrifice of separating your self from it so intimately. It is the only true way to remain unbiased.

Trust me, I understand this would be hard for many of you, but it seems like a necessary step to me. I am attempting to present my argument in a cohesive manner. Others have suggested eliminating moderators, or having player based election. I do not agree with either of these at all. The community needs a sense of order separate from mob rule, not some radical solution. A moderator free from the encompassing confines of a coalition would be an unbiased judge of the entirety of the community.

This is my full opinion on the matter.