by Hello dear members. I must start by saying this is by far the saddest announcement I've had to make during my stay here at Gladius. But it's important. Very important. So I'd like you to read carefully, to the very end.
Gladius was born out of a will to stop role-playing under oppressive staff who completely disregarded member input and who blatantly bended the rules and systems in their favour. Sick and tired of that sort of behaviour, a group of people went out of their way to lay the foundations for what we have built here today.
Within those foundations, perhaps the single most important one was the implementation of a democratic system within staff. Simply put, the concept of Webmaster was abolished and the system was designed so that no single person could hold absolute power. After all, these people had learned from past experiences that if one held absolute power, it would eventually lead to corruption, frustration of members and ultimately the death of the site.
The system was quite simple, but effective:
And thus, we governed Gladius like this for over 2 years and were quite successful at it if I may add.
This system was in place, until two days ago. Two days ago, Nyg completely disregarded a decision of the majority of staff and forced his own will upon the site. This broke a principle which had been the secret to justice and fairness within Gladius for over 2 years since the site was born.
Nyg now holds absolute control over the Founder account and thus, this forum. Since votes became irrelevant, the site has turned into a dictatorship with Nyg in charge.
As a result of this decision, Nozomi and Chigetsu immediately quit the staff team as neither of them wanted to work for a dictator. As for myself, I have remained in staff in the hopes that Nyg could be persuaded to change his mind and that this could be fixed. Unfortunately, all efforts to persuade him have produced zero results. Even after Ryuko (an ex-admin who is also an old friend of most of the staff team and older members) pleaded with him and repeatedly demonstrated that what he was doing was wrong, Nyg did not budge.
Folks, our selling point was that we were different from other sites. We had a democratic and fair process to make all staff decisions. We had measures put in place against corruption.
And folks, that ended two days ago. This post is here to announce this.
There is however, one last thing I would like to try. Nyg has said time and time again that he loves Gladius and its members, and I do believe he does. So I'm bringing this to you, members. The staff team has asked him to step down and relinquish control of the site, but he has refused to do so.
So I'm leaving this in your hands. I have my opinion and I have stated it, I will not role-play in a site ran by a dictator. I just won't. That's my conviction, and now it's time for you to state yours. He does love Gladius, and he does love its members. I ask that you all state your opinion below, in hopes that the community that he loves so much will have the power to make him see he's wrong.
Below I leave an album of screenshots from staff chat on that day, which prove my claims. I leave it here so you can understand the gravity of the situation we're in. Make what you will of this.
https://imgur.com/a/d9ysoca
Gladius was born out of a will to stop role-playing under oppressive staff who completely disregarded member input and who blatantly bended the rules and systems in their favour. Sick and tired of that sort of behaviour, a group of people went out of their way to lay the foundations for what we have built here today.
Within those foundations, perhaps the single most important one was the implementation of a democratic system within staff. Simply put, the concept of Webmaster was abolished and the system was designed so that no single person could hold absolute power. After all, these people had learned from past experiences that if one held absolute power, it would eventually lead to corruption, frustration of members and ultimately the death of the site.
The system was quite simple, but effective:
- Every Administrator has a single vote.
- Issues are discussed for a while, and then voted upon.
- The decision of the majority stands.
- If there's a tie, the staff tiers below Admin vote as well.
And thus, we governed Gladius like this for over 2 years and were quite successful at it if I may add.
This system was in place, until two days ago. Two days ago, Nyg completely disregarded a decision of the majority of staff and forced his own will upon the site. This broke a principle which had been the secret to justice and fairness within Gladius for over 2 years since the site was born.
Nyg now holds absolute control over the Founder account and thus, this forum. Since votes became irrelevant, the site has turned into a dictatorship with Nyg in charge.
As a result of this decision, Nozomi and Chigetsu immediately quit the staff team as neither of them wanted to work for a dictator. As for myself, I have remained in staff in the hopes that Nyg could be persuaded to change his mind and that this could be fixed. Unfortunately, all efforts to persuade him have produced zero results. Even after Ryuko (an ex-admin who is also an old friend of most of the staff team and older members) pleaded with him and repeatedly demonstrated that what he was doing was wrong, Nyg did not budge.
Folks, our selling point was that we were different from other sites. We had a democratic and fair process to make all staff decisions. We had measures put in place against corruption.
And folks, that ended two days ago. This post is here to announce this.
There is however, one last thing I would like to try. Nyg has said time and time again that he loves Gladius and its members, and I do believe he does. So I'm bringing this to you, members. The staff team has asked him to step down and relinquish control of the site, but he has refused to do so.
So I'm leaving this in your hands. I have my opinion and I have stated it, I will not role-play in a site ran by a dictator. I just won't. That's my conviction, and now it's time for you to state yours. He does love Gladius, and he does love its members. I ask that you all state your opinion below, in hopes that the community that he loves so much will have the power to make him see he's wrong.
Below I leave an album of screenshots from staff chat on that day, which prove my claims. I leave it here so you can understand the gravity of the situation we're in. Make what you will of this.
https://imgur.com/a/d9ysoca
