webdiplomacy.net

Hello all,

In light of some interesting recent events, numerous players throughout the mafia community have expressed a desire to see the return of the mafia council. As such, dargorygel and Tom Bombadil have graciously agreed to head the new mafia council, which will begin acting as the primary body of appeal and advisement for GMs in all matters beginning with M47.

The primary responsibilities of this new council will be limited to ensuring that prospective GMs have a suitable setup and plan for their game prior to the need for sign ups and perhaps have some sort of plan for reducing the game if it becomes necessary, connecting all GMs with a willing co-GM that can support them during their game, and tracking the lineup of future GMs so that we all know who is up next and those with upcoming games can start planning at their leisure. Additionally, the mafia council will hold the power to adjudicate over the mafia community at large in issues regarding a player or GM's immediate status (i.e. game bans), a rule in a game that has not begun player confirmations yet, or other issues of urgent importance to the community. They are not tasked with setting strict instructions for game management nor is their approval necessarily required to run a game, though it is expected that all GMs will at least have a brief conversation with the members of the council prior to opening their sign ups to make sure that everything will go according to plan and that the GM is comfortable handling it if some things don't.

Both members of the council are available by PM (and both can be reached simultaneously through messaging on the new forum). As was always the case, any game related issues should always go through the GMs, not the council, and if necessary only a GM should escalate game related issues to the council. If a GM does not wish for the council's advisement, their decision may be final so long as it is justifiable under the rules of their game.

In the event that a concern must be elevated above the council, a site administrator will handle it. That should rarely if ever occur.

Feel free to post here with any comments or concerns, and thank you to Tom and darg for stepping up.

The right men for the job for sure

Will silly hats be involved? Secret handshakes and rituals?

haaaah, gaaaaaaiii

I support the re-introduction of this panel in general.

However I oppose the selection of Tom Bombadil. He has openly stated that he wishes Mafia to become an invite-only game, in a manner which I consider unfriendly and unwelcoming to new players.

I would like to know how these tin-pot dictators were selected, and how demoncratic that process was, please??

Thank you for voicing your concerns. I am happy to have this conversation. However, abusing the report system on the forum in order to have a better chance at getting my attention is not okay. Please don't do it again.

To answer your question, these tin-pot dictators were selected by me, and the process for doing so was entirely undemocratic. As a matter of fact, it was just as undemocratic as other widely unpopular measures that have been taken by the site administration in the past, such as removing the scourge that was once known as points-per-supply-center scoring from the site, refusing to accommodate fat fingers and make ample space between the save and ready buttons, and making bo_sox48 a moderator. Twice. The site administration will continue to act in this massively tyrannical, undemocratic manner so long as it sees fit because, frankly, we're despots and lust for nothing more than total power over the masses but also losers that can't guide ourselves into positions of power anywhere in the world other than on the internet.

Tom Bombadil is a well respected veteran within the mafia community, a former site moderator in good standing, and a rational, thoughtful, and approachable figure who might even be characterized as friendly. More importantly, he has been a secret agent for the webDiplomacy moderator team for many years and is a valued asset in our ever growing list of spies that seek to remove the democratic process from the few places it still exists such as, for example, the draw, cancel, and pause vote options. His mission success rate is among the best of any of webDiplomacy's numerous assets that blend themselves into the community and we expect nothing less from him in this newest venture.

While all of our agents like Tom work behind the scenes to make webDiplomacy the least hospitable and most soul sucking place to call home since Mordor, I assure you that the mafia council and site administration have no intention of making mafia an invite-only venture. Yet.

If you have any further concerns about his new leadership role, as always do let me know.

My 2 cents:
To clarify when bo says "me", myself and peterwiggin were given plenty of advance notice on this and had every opportunity to oppose or override those choices had we been concerned by them. But since darg is one of the longer standing moderators on the team who has helped advise and solve various mafia and complex site problems in the past, he seems unquestionably qualified. Tom Bombadil was a well respected moderator with an open invitation to return to the team, we were more then happy to have him step up so darg did not have to shoulder this himself. And I have never witnessed Tom being anything other then levelheaded and fair on the site when interacting with others.

I would have thought everyone would be thrilled I (who make no mistake is far more a tin-pot dictator in regards to mafia then tom or darg) will in all likelihood have close to or no further involvement in mafia decisions? That said just like with any group delegated power on the site, be it a TD, Game Director, or Mafia Council member, should they make completely unacceptable choices like banning new members entirely, the site admins would obviously override them.

I have full confidence in both of these members ability to represent the site interests well and thank them for volunteering their game to helping mafia games run smoothly in a way that allows myself and the moderator team to focus fully on other aspects of keeping the site running smoothly.

I’m guessing my application was ‘lost in the post’. You wait until I master email.

For the councils perusal:

Hydras be allowed if individual GMs wish to allow it. provided hydras announce their existence, and only 1 player accesses account to stay within site rules. This would not be webdip account sharing.

Why not two accounts counted as one player?

Also I do not wish Mafia to become "invite-only", but I do support the idea of reinstating the Council. The Council and GMs for individual games should uphold the rules of the game and make sure players behaviour are within those rules. The power to disallow a player to take part one or more games due to his/her bad behaviour is not easy to execute, but this is needed once in a while. But yes, I like the idea to keep open signup threads where also new players have the chance to join and discuss upcoming games.

brainbomb wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 22, 2019 3:16 pm

For the councils perusal:

Hydras be allowed if individual GMs wish to allow it. provided hydras announce their existence, and only 1 player accesses account to stay within site rules. This would not be webdip account sharing.

fuck that shit, hydras are an abomination that should never be allowed here

I'm not against allowing hydras - if you can fill a game you should be able to play anything you want. But still, I see hydra mafia really annoying to play.