Commentary

I had hoped that, by now, I would be able to write about Strike Rapier in a positive light. After all, he did get AWTeen's world services restored quickly and world population has increased significant week-over-week. However, I can't help but think that either DaBean or Matthew would have done an equal job in restoring world services. However, Matthew and DaBean would both have been superior Governors because both would have been considerably more helpful and forthcoming to AWTeen's Citizens than Strike Rapier has been.

Why is it that the AWTeen Caretaker position seems lately to always end up in the hands of those with excessive hubris and arrogance? While one could argue that JerMe and Dr. S developed their arrogance towards the world's population during their tenures, Strike Raper hit the ground running, chewing people out within hours of taking the position. In fact, over the past five days, the following statements are a fraction of what has been posted in the Activeworlds forums alone. First, DaBean offered a suggestion to Strike in regards to his testing a bot that constantly changed the world's attributes:

Continue reading "On Strike Rapier's lack of respect for AWTeen and its Citizens"

I have a lot of respect for how Activeworlds, Inc. handled the last election, but actions this morning have caused me to question that respect. The voting was fair and honest, the results were announced publicly, and the schedule was followed as prescribed. Flagg definitely knows what he's doing, communicates well with Citizens, and he is a great asset to the community. However, one of AWI's other employees, Martin, has not been as understanding.

After the election concluded, there was some discussion in the AW forums about how to improve the political process after Strike's term concludes. Nobody was inciting "revolution" or even stating the current results should be changed. Instead, there was what many considered a simple debate of process and procedure on how to improve the elections system in the future. Several citizens even posted real-world examples of different types of voting systems, comparing and contrasting the advantages and disadvantages of each. There wasn't any hint that anyone considered the results to be illegitimate.

Then Martin inappropriately decided to end all discussion by locking threads of which he (personally) disapproved.

Continue reading "Martin: unprofessionally representing Activeworlds, Inc."

Flagg has announced that the AWTeen election results will be published tomorrow, November 14. We're not completely in the dark about how the race might turn out, though, as exit polls have shown a close call. However, some interesting interviews have shown that additional forces are at work that I believe will lead to a startling upset in this race. After analyzing data from several sources, I predict that DaBean will be AWTeen's first Governor.

I recently labeled DaBean the "Ron Paul of Activeworlds." Just as Paul is experiencing a late surge in the presidential race, DaBean surged late in this campaign. Before the official list of candidates was announced, DaBean was polling with near-zero support in the straw polls. His campaign, with Kapara as co-Governor, seemed loosely defined and even more loosely organized. It looked as if he wouldn't have the slightest chance of even getting onto the ballot.

Continue reading "Why DaBean will take AWTeen"

Eric (XelNaga) recently made a post in the Activeworlds forums regarding the age of AWTeen election candidates. The topic has stirred up quite a bit of controversy in recent days. Some believe that the world should be For Teens, by Teens, while others believe that older people will have more experience and be more suited to the job.

I subscribe to neither. Nobody should care how old someone is if the person does a good job.

To illustrate, imagine that someone is chosen for AWTeen Governor and has been in the position for six months. She has done an excellent job, earning the respect and admiration of everyone who visits the world. World visitors double under her Governorship, and the world sees events the like of which Activeworlds has never seen before. AWTeen's petty bickering and squabbling dies away, forgotten in the sands of time.

Continue reading "The age of AWTeen's Caretakers"

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"