AWTeen Reborn

With the deadline for candidate registration having passed, today I'll start by writing one of a series of articles reviewing each of the candidates' platforms. I've chosen Matthew first because he recently entered the race to replace Jaguar Hahn, who effectively had been running a campaign in absentia.

It is a good move that Matthew became the head of his own campaign, because his commitment to Jaguar Hahn's campaign shows that he definitely has the motivation to succeed at the AWTeen Governor position, and that motivation is sorely needed. However, his stances on several key issues leave one wondering whether he would be able to maintain strong leadership throughout his tenure as Governor.

Continue reading "Matthew: Covers the basic issues, but what about leadership?"

Over the past few days, I have been working on a proposal to change AWTeen. I had figured that it would be better to actually do something about the things I'm criticizing instead of simply commenting on them. Before I was able to finalize the proposal, however, it was leaked to the Activeworlds forums. Now that it's already publicly available, I figure there's no reason to take it down from the website, so instead I'll comment on its seemed reception.

I should point out that the leaking of the proposal does not state my intent to run for an AWTeen position. If I had wanted to declare my candidacy, you would have known about it in no uncertain terms, and I did not send a telegram to AWTeen Elections with my name (so don't telegram mine either). The proposal was and still is a living document, with about 10 versions being created over the past two days. In fact, those who knew about the proposal can tell you that AlexTheMartian was the Governor candidate just yesterday, and I was trying to convince Eric to take the top spot before I noticed the thread. The proposal was not about me, but about the idea.

Continue reading "A comment about optimism"

Every time I talk with people in-world and on the AW forums, I am shocked at how many turn a blind eye to the actions of JerMe, Tony M, and digigurl. Apparently, the three citizens still have quite a few supporters, and I'm writing this article to question why. It is time for members of the AWTeen community to show themselves some self-respect and stop defending the actions of these former Caretakers in any way.

There have been many Caretakers of AWTeen - some good, and some bad. However, before those to whom I have referred above, none of the Caretakers has so hatefully harmed the world on purpose. There were Caretakers who didn't have enough time, and there were Caretakers who were inept, but they certainly had the best interests of the world in mind. These three, however, have demonstrated a complete lack of respect for the community that has worked hard to make the world what it is today - and they should not be a part of it in the future.

Continue reading "Stop defending those who got us into this situation"

It's interesting how often references to the former global chat network in AWTeen are appearing in recent flame wars. Often, one side has a beef with the other because that person made a disparaging remark against the other across global chat. Many of the alleged abuses of powers also involve the global chat network: for example, digigurl was recently accused of muting people for little cause, and Tony M has been accused of monitoring the chat over the bot even when people wanted logs to remain private.

Whether these accusations are true or not, they highlight the potential for abuse of the global chat network. In recent months, use of the network has become almost a right, and those who are denied access for whatever reason take up arms against the Caretakers. I propose that the global chat network is partially responsible for many of the problems that led to the recent shakeup, and I suggest that reducing the scope of the chat network is the best path forward for the continued development of AWTeen.

Continue reading "Why global chat relay is a bad idea"

Recently, Matthew asked me a hypothetical question: if there were only the resources to enact one change to AWTeen without any remaining for anything else, what would that one change be? I answered the query without hesitation: AWTeen needs to host a major event, and needs to do it in a well-organized fashion within a reasonable timeframe.

GC has said many times that he liked AWTeen's Inauguration and Generations Days and considers them to be the best events the world has ever seen. While I agree that those were great events, they happened half a decade ago! What has (or has not) happened since that people are still talking about events that happened five years ago? AWTeen should be talking about how last month's event was a success, not those that occurred five years ago.

Continue reading "Major events: the lifeblood of AWTeen"

On the Activeworlds newsgroups, there is currently a debate raging over whether AWTeen's upcoming election should be strongly organized, or whether the election should be a loose affair. The "strongly organized" system involves slowing down the election process so that it takes place over the course of several weeks to a month, publicizing the election, setting up a timetable, and making sure that all candidates are on the same page at all times. Proponents of the "loosely organized" solution argue that all the candidates are already known, and that no additional controls are needed, adding that Flagg should set up a bot in AWVote soon and accept candidates by E-Mail.

I vehemently support the "strongly organized" method of elections. I have posted in the AW forums how such an election could be held, and will repeat it here first, and then provide a story supporting this reasoning. First the original suggestion:

Continue reading "Why a strongly defined elections system is important"

This post has been moved to this blog where it is more relevant. It was previously posted at www.gamesareforchildren.com.

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The resignation of JerMe from the AWTeen Caretaker position earlier this month caused a number debates among those active within the world's community. While somewhat (but not entirely) off-topic for this blog, I thought here a better place than an HTML page to post this article because of the ability for users to leave comments.

Some of the discussions over JerMe's resignation involved the world's community and how to improve it, but others were more focused on determining who was at fault in the series of events that led up to the change in leadership. I believe we should ignore the immediate issues of fault, take a step back, and seriously review the issue of AWTeen's government.


Introduction

For those who don't know me, my name is Stephen Sokolowski. In Activeworlds, I go by the name of Brant. I first discovered AW on July 28, 1998 and have been following it ever since. Between July 1999 and February 2005, I held a citizenship, visiting Activeworlds for thousands of hours. More recently, I have stopped in to AWTeen from time to time to catch up on what is going on and to socialize with both new friends and those from years ago.

Continue reading "A workable system of government for AWTeen"

Hi. My name is Brant, and I've been involved with the AWTeen community for nine years. Over that time, I've participated in as well as followed AWTeen closely and watched how its community has grown and changed. Now, AWTeen is being reborn with a new system of elections that will define Caretakers of future generations.

I should make it immediately clear that I have no intention to run for the position of Governor in this election, and that I have no affiliations with any of the individuals or groups running in this election. While I will share my opinions about the process and comment on each of the groups' campaigns, I will weigh the facts and wait until the day before the election to decide who I will support. My last post before the election will be an editorial stating my reasons for reaching that decision. In the meantime, I'll comment on the good, the bad, and the downright foolish - at everyone's expense.

This blog is enabled for everyone to post comments, and your views are welcome. May the most qualified person win!