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Explanation of my resignation as an Admin
17 years ago
x-posted from the forums:
http://forums.furaffinity.net/showt.....435#post607435
I love the community of this site and I want to see it prosper and develop further. The community of this site, considering the circumstances keeps things rolling along very well. Because of my love for the community, I sought to serve and help it by being an administrator of this site. For a few days over a year, I was an administrator.
In this time, I have come to realise that, as people have been saying for a long long time, the community and site have prospered and grown, despite the leadership of the staff of it and many staff members. The long-term plans and ground-up structure of Furaffinity is confused and in disarray. The administration drifts rudderless in the current of whatever Dragoneer's current whims are and his consistent and relentless egotism and control freakery.
This may not be immediately apparent, most people enjoy the site without ever noticing or getting involved, but it is there in the background.
Preyfar/Dragoneer is the site owner and a lead administrator, Damaratus is nominally a lead administrator. They bear the responsibility on their shoulders for running this site and managing the community effectively, especially in light of the recent generosity of the community, in your $16,000 worth of donations.
However, instead of providing effective leadership: Preyfar acts without thinking, Damaratus thinks without acting.
How does Preyfar act without thinking?
He takes unilateral actions, without consulting the rest of the staff or anyone who uses the site. An example of this would be earlier this year when he saw a photograph of a shirtless fat man. He deleted this image and then changed the acceptable upload policy afterwards, to forbid photographs of "any visible portion of the body which would otherwise normally be required to be clothed in public exposure". Naturally this caused much grief & confusion for people using the site and the administrators who enforce the rules. Policy is confused and inconsistent to this day.
As a joke, he changed someone's user group on the forums to make their name appear in pink. He did not notify any other member of staff before or after this about what he done. Turns out, when he did that, he broke the usergroups so that everyone appeared to be a moderator. Another member of staff fixed it. He never apologised, never explained, never acknowledged it. That is symptomatic of how he works.
He has an overwhelming desire to control, yet paradoxically neglects the big picture. Furaffinity is too big for one person to control: there are more than a million submissions, more than 20,000 regularly active people on the site. This is beyond any one person.
How does Damaratus think without acting?
Damaratus knows there are terrible problems with how Furaffinity is currently run, he has been frustrated with Preyfars behaviour and actions. But what does he do to ensure that the community receives the best service it can get?
In January 2008, he stated to me on Instant messenger that Wolfblade (a now ex-admin) was having a "corrosive effect" on the administration with his political games. Wolfblade had a certain idea of how the site should be and was prepared to play politics and use unethical and sneaky methods to push that: reading PMs, creating "conspiracies" when there were none, power-basing, seeking to remove a key technical member of staff once they were "no longer of use" etc. If someone does that, it's a detriment to the community so you remove them. A nesc. part of being a lead admin.
Preyfar told Damaratus to send an e-mail or some other form of communication to Wolfblade to explain he was being let go and make it so. Damaratus never did. He simply made excuse after excuse and in the end, after having further "corrosive effect", Wolfblade jumped before he was pushed, in March. Damaratus completely failed the elemental test of a leader which is hiring and firing. He knows he failed, he has said to me on IM that he realises he has failed, that he has made mistakes etc etc, but does he ever learn? nope. He never changes.
Preyfar and Damaratus wanted to keep it all hush-hush, even to other members of the administration. They never fully clarified all that, even on the admin forum. They just wanted to sweep him under the carpet.
At the moment, he occasionally bestirs himself to handle a minor issue, a submission violation, a troll, but he exhibits no leadership or tries to make sure Furaffinity has long-term plans in place or tries to moderate Preyfar. He just goes with the flow, enjoying his sinecure and security (Preyfar is mostly too weak to deal with dead-weight staff) and the little plastic badge which says: "Lead admin".
He has no presence. He is a cipher.
There are at least three admins now, who are dead-weights: Bijoux, Kyoujin & Glaide. They have all been completely inactive or inactive for long periods. In one case (Glaide), they were removed as an admin for not doing anything, allowed to return on condition that they be active and communicate, they promptly resumed that behavior and Preyfar/Damaratus are completely acquiescent in this.
Glaide and Kyoujin are both personal friends of Preyfar.
I raised the issue about the lack of activity on the part of the administrators to Preyfar, in May (having done so many times previously). He told me: Send me an e-mail with suggestions for new admins. I sent him the e-mail.
He never replied.
Furaffinity has in the past staggered from crisis to crisis, with ineffective and reactionary management who flail hopelessly, the strength of the community keeps it going. Will this change? maybe, maybe not. However, if Preyfar/Damaratus continue to manage Furaffinity as they have done up till this point, Furaffinity will be trapped as a personal fief of Lord Preyfar. A vehicle for his control freakery and vanity, hostage to his whims and the neglect of the administration team.
Perhaps the biggest failure, what has been promised for years, but is still nowhere near realisation is Ferrox. The long promised new software for Furaffinity.
Features like Search, clubs and various other networking tools like calenders, as noted since 2005, will add to the community of the site.
Alkora/Jheryn, the original founder of Furaffinity was working on that, despite the fact he was not competent to do so. Preyfar (acting without thinking) blindly encouraged him to do this, until other members of staff managed to prise it out of his hands and into what was thought to be more comptent ones. These new hands, Crypto, unfortunately turned out to be more interested in powerbasing on the site (once, hijacking hte administration and forcing his own choices in as administrators), as opposed to getting things done. In more than a year, they made absolutely zero progress on the site. Preyfar acquiesced in this situation, when I raised my concerns on IRC with crypto, about the lack of progress, he had no excuses for it, and Preyfar promptly rebuked me for a "low blow" in mentioning this complete lack of progress.
Later, Crypto overplayed his hand with a bit of blackmail and departed under murky circumstances (& again, like Wolfblade, swept under the carpet) and Preyfar took to denouncing him to the other staff, never mentioning his own lack of action over Crypto. After an extremely opaque process, we ended up with Eevee and Net-cat (just two people) to work on Ferrox now.
As you can see:
http://forums.furaffinity.net/showt.....307&page=7
The last posted in the Ferrox status thread was two months ago. A suggestion by a member of staff:
http://forums.furaffinity.net/showt.....ad.php?t=26585
is ignored. The Staff only forums for technical discussion were shelved months ago because they were simply not being used. The coders are not communicating. At one point, there was more information about Ferrox on livejournal than on the admin forums.
As far as I know, Preyfar/Damaratus act without thinking and think without acting in that they cannot ensure that an effective and mature team who can deliver ferrox in a timely manner are in place.
If you wish a further explanation of the points raised here or to discuss any related matters, please feel free to contact me:
davehyenafa[at]googlemail.com
Farewell & all the best in your personal lives, all of you.
http://forums.furaffinity.net/showt.....435#post607435
I love the community of this site and I want to see it prosper and develop further. The community of this site, considering the circumstances keeps things rolling along very well. Because of my love for the community, I sought to serve and help it by being an administrator of this site. For a few days over a year, I was an administrator.
In this time, I have come to realise that, as people have been saying for a long long time, the community and site have prospered and grown, despite the leadership of the staff of it and many staff members. The long-term plans and ground-up structure of Furaffinity is confused and in disarray. The administration drifts rudderless in the current of whatever Dragoneer's current whims are and his consistent and relentless egotism and control freakery.
This may not be immediately apparent, most people enjoy the site without ever noticing or getting involved, but it is there in the background.
Preyfar/Dragoneer is the site owner and a lead administrator, Damaratus is nominally a lead administrator. They bear the responsibility on their shoulders for running this site and managing the community effectively, especially in light of the recent generosity of the community, in your $16,000 worth of donations.
However, instead of providing effective leadership: Preyfar acts without thinking, Damaratus thinks without acting.
How does Preyfar act without thinking?
He takes unilateral actions, without consulting the rest of the staff or anyone who uses the site. An example of this would be earlier this year when he saw a photograph of a shirtless fat man. He deleted this image and then changed the acceptable upload policy afterwards, to forbid photographs of "any visible portion of the body which would otherwise normally be required to be clothed in public exposure". Naturally this caused much grief & confusion for people using the site and the administrators who enforce the rules. Policy is confused and inconsistent to this day.
As a joke, he changed someone's user group on the forums to make their name appear in pink. He did not notify any other member of staff before or after this about what he done. Turns out, when he did that, he broke the usergroups so that everyone appeared to be a moderator. Another member of staff fixed it. He never apologised, never explained, never acknowledged it. That is symptomatic of how he works.
He has an overwhelming desire to control, yet paradoxically neglects the big picture. Furaffinity is too big for one person to control: there are more than a million submissions, more than 20,000 regularly active people on the site. This is beyond any one person.
How does Damaratus think without acting?
Damaratus knows there are terrible problems with how Furaffinity is currently run, he has been frustrated with Preyfars behaviour and actions. But what does he do to ensure that the community receives the best service it can get?
In January 2008, he stated to me on Instant messenger that Wolfblade (a now ex-admin) was having a "corrosive effect" on the administration with his political games. Wolfblade had a certain idea of how the site should be and was prepared to play politics and use unethical and sneaky methods to push that: reading PMs, creating "conspiracies" when there were none, power-basing, seeking to remove a key technical member of staff once they were "no longer of use" etc. If someone does that, it's a detriment to the community so you remove them. A nesc. part of being a lead admin.
Preyfar told Damaratus to send an e-mail or some other form of communication to Wolfblade to explain he was being let go and make it so. Damaratus never did. He simply made excuse after excuse and in the end, after having further "corrosive effect", Wolfblade jumped before he was pushed, in March. Damaratus completely failed the elemental test of a leader which is hiring and firing. He knows he failed, he has said to me on IM that he realises he has failed, that he has made mistakes etc etc, but does he ever learn? nope. He never changes.
Preyfar and Damaratus wanted to keep it all hush-hush, even to other members of the administration. They never fully clarified all that, even on the admin forum. They just wanted to sweep him under the carpet.
At the moment, he occasionally bestirs himself to handle a minor issue, a submission violation, a troll, but he exhibits no leadership or tries to make sure Furaffinity has long-term plans in place or tries to moderate Preyfar. He just goes with the flow, enjoying his sinecure and security (Preyfar is mostly too weak to deal with dead-weight staff) and the little plastic badge which says: "Lead admin".
He has no presence. He is a cipher.
There are at least three admins now, who are dead-weights: Bijoux, Kyoujin & Glaide. They have all been completely inactive or inactive for long periods. In one case (Glaide), they were removed as an admin for not doing anything, allowed to return on condition that they be active and communicate, they promptly resumed that behavior and Preyfar/Damaratus are completely acquiescent in this.
Glaide and Kyoujin are both personal friends of Preyfar.
I raised the issue about the lack of activity on the part of the administrators to Preyfar, in May (having done so many times previously). He told me: Send me an e-mail with suggestions for new admins. I sent him the e-mail.
He never replied.
Furaffinity has in the past staggered from crisis to crisis, with ineffective and reactionary management who flail hopelessly, the strength of the community keeps it going. Will this change? maybe, maybe not. However, if Preyfar/Damaratus continue to manage Furaffinity as they have done up till this point, Furaffinity will be trapped as a personal fief of Lord Preyfar. A vehicle for his control freakery and vanity, hostage to his whims and the neglect of the administration team.
Perhaps the biggest failure, what has been promised for years, but is still nowhere near realisation is Ferrox. The long promised new software for Furaffinity.
Features like Search, clubs and various other networking tools like calenders, as noted since 2005, will add to the community of the site.
Alkora/Jheryn, the original founder of Furaffinity was working on that, despite the fact he was not competent to do so. Preyfar (acting without thinking) blindly encouraged him to do this, until other members of staff managed to prise it out of his hands and into what was thought to be more comptent ones. These new hands, Crypto, unfortunately turned out to be more interested in powerbasing on the site (once, hijacking hte administration and forcing his own choices in as administrators), as opposed to getting things done. In more than a year, they made absolutely zero progress on the site. Preyfar acquiesced in this situation, when I raised my concerns on IRC with crypto, about the lack of progress, he had no excuses for it, and Preyfar promptly rebuked me for a "low blow" in mentioning this complete lack of progress.
Later, Crypto overplayed his hand with a bit of blackmail and departed under murky circumstances (& again, like Wolfblade, swept under the carpet) and Preyfar took to denouncing him to the other staff, never mentioning his own lack of action over Crypto. After an extremely opaque process, we ended up with Eevee and Net-cat (just two people) to work on Ferrox now.
As you can see:
http://forums.furaffinity.net/showt.....307&page=7
The last posted in the Ferrox status thread was two months ago. A suggestion by a member of staff:
http://forums.furaffinity.net/showt.....ad.php?t=26585
is ignored. The Staff only forums for technical discussion were shelved months ago because they were simply not being used. The coders are not communicating. At one point, there was more information about Ferrox on livejournal than on the admin forums.
As far as I know, Preyfar/Damaratus act without thinking and think without acting in that they cannot ensure that an effective and mature team who can deliver ferrox in a timely manner are in place.
If you wish a further explanation of the points raised here or to discuss any related matters, please feel free to contact me:
davehyenafa[at]googlemail.com
Farewell & all the best in your personal lives, all of you.
Unfortunately, I'd have to agree with you on a lot of things. Too bad there wasn't a way to mesh Preyfar and Damaratus into one being. Ah well, perhaps one day they will get their act together (unlikely, but one can hope).
Removal of 'dead-weight' (as you so aptly termed it) and promotion of effective Moderators would also be very helpful.
It's too bad that you felt you had to resign :(
As much as I know mant will miss you, I do wonder why are you reasigning? Just a thought.
good choice.
you won't be missed
Chamberlain would be proud of you.
For example, my parents have a couple old cars in a shed. If they repaired them, they'd be worth something. Trouble is, the cost of repairs would surpass their potential value. So it makes more sense for them to take no action. This is probably what FA is kind of like for Dave.
i think it's a bit too easy to bail out the staff suddenly and then criticize the staff.
i smell drama
http://forums.furaffinity.net/showt.....435#post607435 is deleted or we don't have permissions.
Best of luck.
I think I'll criticize the administration for refusing to listen to my manipulative BS! OH HO DAVEHYENA, YOU ARE ONE SMOOTH OPERATOR.
Also, Bijoux is the best admin ever.
I love you. May I bear your dragoncougar children?
Also kinda sad to see the comments to this are about 50/50 in respect and goodbye/bashing. You wrote a long journal, almost kept it totally mature (just that one little 'lord preyfar' remark). I think people should respond with equal maturity, if they disagree, don't put it in an asshole way. But that's just my view on things.
Anyways i'm one of the ones that's sad to see ya go, hopefully the admins and owners can get stuff sorted out, especially with ferrox.
ANYWAYS I'M GLAD YOU REALIZED HOW MUCH THIS SITE SUCKS, HOW MUCH NOONE CARES ABOUT YOU OR ANYONE ELSE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A GALLERY FILLED OF COCKS, AND HOW NOW YOU SHARE THE POINT OF VIEW OF ANYONE AWAY FROM THIS SHITHOLE OF THE INTERNETS.
GOOD DAY SIR.