SYSOPS: Where do they come from?

Thanks for the post Tulla,

It is good to hear some history of game from those who have been here longest !

if you all reamber the old 1.5 days??? no think back WAY back.....

those sysops where totaly hidden even from their squads and they still are ...we know Moria but NO one knows who he/she flies for ......

i wish our sysops where "hidden" as well.... think about it this would slove alot of problems and they wouldnt get bugged as much and mybe just maybe they could enjoy flying just one night with out being harrassed with the whole "he took my cookie" crap.

i dont mind the group we have now and i feel they are doing a good job.....

but hey if you want to be or think you have the right stuff..... voulenter ref be a guide help with leagues and contrubite to the game ...... then if you handle yourself well the club captns might look at ya and say hey when i have a sysop opening i want this guy....

just my thoughts

crap Guest 45 was me i forgot to log in bah

The first thing we look for in a sysop candidate is the ability to login to forums properly....



Nice post Tulla.

Thank you Tulla for your excellent synopsis which, I am sure, will be of great interest to those who are fairly new to the game.

I did compose a lengthy reply rationalizing why I chose to raise this topic in the first place but thought better of it. Suffice it to say I have no argument with how the present structure came into being. In the main most of us are happy with what we have and we certainly have no objection to the latest US sysop appointment. It was an excellent choice and one that most of us would have voted for anyway.

If you know the history of the United States you will see some justification for the suspicion that Americans have of rulers being thrust upon them. King George tried imposing his will on the British colonists and we all know what happened. From then on most Americans have had an aversion to tea. To date Temper who, I believe, is very fond of tea, has proven to be a benevolent representative of King George and has, therefore, been tolerated by us colonials. Should he abuse his authority, however, we will know what to do with him.

On a more serious note I will conclude with the thought that, if a sysop is appointed as a representative of his/her country, I would expect that person to be supportive of that community. I will say no more about that but hope it will be noted in some quarters.

[...]To date Temper who, I believe, is very fond of tea, has proven to be a benevolent representative of King George and has, therefore, been tolerated by us colonials. Should he abuse his authority, however, we will know what to do with him.

I like tea too but drink coffee alot because it isn?t so much time consuming to brew a good coffee. The northern parts of Germany having a great ?tea-tradition? too.

What you wrote above - though in a funny wise - sounds to me as if you?re not that happy with Temper being the US-admin because he is too close with the brits ? Please clarify....

Also I don?t think Temper is such a personality who would abuse the given power and even if, it would be noticed immediately. As stated already, everything is recorded and supervized.

On a more serious note I will conclude with the thought that, if a sysop is appointed as a representative of his/her country, I would expect that person to be supportive of that community. I will say no more about that but hope it will be noted in some quarters.

I would expect that too but not in the first place. Now ?supportive? is a ?gum-word? which means, one can interpret alot in such a word. What exactly do you mean and who do you think is ?unsupportive? to his/her community, if at all ?

A sysop is not appointed of being a representative of his/ her country. Who told you that ? A sysop is being appointed of being a representative of the game administration in the very first place. No matter where a sysop does come from, misbehaviour falls back on the game administration. This is still a game and has nothing to do with the different nations playing it. Though we have to deal with most different characters and personalities and some different mentalities, it appears that being ?bad? or ?good?, being level - minded or not, being neutral or biased is a pure human character trait, regardless of nationality. No german is better than a brit or an american and vice versa.

It would be really a grace for the game and for all of us, if we could finally get rid of these GE/UK/US/KR separations and becoming rather a global community, which doesn?t exclude single national community sites. After all you know best how to deal with american players and how to recruit new american users and it?s surely easier on a pure US AA-related website than on a global website. At least this is the case for the germans. But apart from that I look at it, as being a global game with a global player base under a global administration team. If everybody gets to grip of the written above, we can put the politics aside and start playing a game, like mature humans do.

I am sorry, Tulla. Sometimes my humor is so obscure that even my own countrymen find it confusing.

What you wrote above - though in a funny wise - sounds to me as if you?re not that happy with Temper being the US-admin because he is too close with the brits ? Please clarify....

Not at all. I do not think of Temper as being too close with the British. I was being satirical about your statement that admins were appointed by the two European communities and relating it to the historical situation of the American colonies being ruled by representatives of Britain.

In the very early days we decided on having 1 admin and 5 sysops per community. We decided also to let the americans have a part in it, since they probably send the biggest userbase....

There wasn?t an american admin back in the days, so we had to find one. Yes, WE had to find one and not you. Why is it ? This was because of different reasons:

The third paragraph of my post was entirely satire It was not meant, in any way to suggest that Temper abuses his power We have a tradition of poking fun at him. In a contradictory sort of way it is an indication of our affection for him. Of course, although it is satire, it does make the underlying point that, because of their colonial past, Americans tend to be fanatical about democratic processes.

When I talked about sysops supporting the community they came from I had in mind your statement about the division of sysops per community :

In the very early days we decided on having 1 admin and 5 sysops per community. We decided also to let the americans have a part in it, since they probably send the biggest userbase....

Although I felt it was sufficiently important that it merited my observation I did not want to make it seem like a personal attack on an individual. Suffice it to say that, if any US player, including a sysop, feels alienated from their own community they should feel free to discuss it in our forums and not simply to dismiss us in derogatory terms. I am sorry if this seems somewhat obscure but, as I said, I do not want to start a war of personal attacks. I think the point will be clear to those involved.

When I post in general I tend to not only express my own view but also to throw light on what I think others are trying to say. I believe I am able to understand the european as well as the american way of thinking as I am a product of several different cultures.

I'm not sure whether this is a curse or a blessing. Above all I enjoy a good debate and I think this topic has gone a long way to improve everyone's understanding of why AA is structured the way it is. I happen to believe that communication between people can only strengthen their relationships.

The first thing we look for in a sysop candidate is the ability to login to forums properly....

You lie Temper!

First thing you look for is: Does the guy make posts j/k Temper!

[insert background sound: chuckles, laughs, snickers, jeers, applause ]