If a moderator ever tells you that they are not without bias, it is a complete and utter lie. Instead, we
TRY to be without bias. That's the difference. However, a great deal of time we fail. A great many of us have a lot of hiccups and things that give us in general indigestion. It's just something you learn about as you interact with a moderator and get to know their individual preferences, likes and dislikes. Some mods LOVE LOVE LOVE combat, some mods hate romance, other mods love a good old fashioned dungeons crawl. They'd give their eyeteeth to be able to run threads like that. And then they hate other things with a passion. I've commonly seen mods hate politics or religion, but love murder mysteries or intrigue.
And we all know how the playerbase as a whole feels about assassins. I bet you didn't come here loathing them, but a sign of a true Mizaharian is someone who has a reality grip on what an actual assassin is.
So today I wanted to talk about my personal bias. I had to compose a PM to a very nice player who asked me very politely if it would be okay to join the Falyndar Expedition to investigate the lost city of Syka. I have several PCs that are going to meet up with the Syka Expedition after it hits the shores of Falyndar just because they are based in Falyndar and it makes no sense for them to travel to RF, join the Quest, then come back to Falyndar when they can join up over there. This request was ultra polite, very well spoken, and this player has no problem roleplaying and is stellar in all ways... however...
I'm going to repost my response to you. I'm not trying to embarrass the player, nor anything like that. I just wanted the player - and now you the pbase who reads my scraps - to understand where I'm coming from.
I've been doing this for years. I both ran a mud for seventeen years before this and have been doing PBP sites since 2006. So you get a firm idea of where this is coming from...
Here's my response.
(the previous bits of the PM don't pertain to this scrapbook so was edited out).
I would have no problem with you joining our Syka expedition with the others in Falyndar when the crew gets there... but...
There's one little problem, and I'm going to be totally honest here.
I don't do crazy. I HATE crazy pcs. I really do. Multiple personality disorder, insane, anything along that bent. I have a real prejudiced against it and I don't treat them right as a moderator or as a pc in threads with them. I honestly feel like its an easy lazy a cop-out, and poorly often overdone in lue of actually creating a character concept where the average person gets to be extra ordinary due to scenarios.
This Syka quest is a reward for all those plain jane pc's out there that want to make a difference or are slightly handicapped due to the way their pc's were designed. Syka folks aren't heroes. They are just average folks with a curiosity to do and see something different. If you can't see this, go read their mustering thread where everyone is painfully awkward trying to get to know one another. I feel the quest is realistic because folks are scared, uncertain, have a million questions, and fears... yet are doing it anyhow. It's like that person that wants to see other countries so they join the peace corps. Probably not the smartest thing to do (its dangerous, people die - 292 to date - but its rewarding as hell), but its a way for them to change their life and change their perspectives.
I have no problem with the crazies irl. It's not a self hatred or anything. I just.... get really tired, really bored, and eye-roll at them all the time because I've been bombarded with crazy to the point I feel completely and utterly abused as a mod by crazy and I don't deal with them at all. I won't even really grade for them or do anything at all related to them. I'm just telling you this because you have a right to know. And your PC has crazy written all over its CS. So for your own sake and mine, we probably shouldn't cross paths because I'll just put your PC out of his crazy misery and call it good. And honestly? I won't feel guilty about doing that.
I'm sure your a fine RPer... I'm sure your a perfectly normal person IRL. It's just my personal bias... and that's that. I hope you understand. I don't want to deal with your PC as he is. I just really can't. It wouldn't be fair to you or me.
Sincerely,
Jen
This is just my personal take on things. I'm sure crazy can be done right, if there is even such a critter as 'right' and 'crazy' used in the same sentence. But its a personal bias. We all have them. Most of us just don't like to admit it. I have a ton of them. I dislike people who openly bash kelvics. What's with that? I hate cars that swerve to hit animals that are crossing the roads. I want to swerve and hit them. It's kinda like those people that stay invis on AIM and message you and think you want to message them back when they are hiding or show their status offline - I feel that's rude. And it's not my cup of tea. I love the sound of chalk squealing or fingernails on the blackboard, most people don't. I hate driving my freshly washed car because then I get tar on and I can never get it off, without fail. Utterly without fail.
And finally probably my biggest pet peeve bias of them all is the people that get called on things here on Mizahar - for doing the wrong thing or something rude - and are asked to apologize to folks for doing so. Then, instead of being sorry and apologizing, they sorta burst into anger, rage at you for calling them on their BS, and then claim they are offended by YOU (you meaning me - get it?) and refuse to do the right thing because they refuse to admit they were wrong. All these things are who we are, part of our complexity, and its not easy to change even if we want to change them. In most cases we don't want to change. I know my biases are there for a reason.
And it always makes me smile when the occasional twit in chat will speak up and say 'But your an ADMIN... a FOUNDER... you are supposed to be without bias!" Really? In what world? Where does it say anywhere on the net that a site person has to be free of prejudice and bias? What planet are you from? If someone starts a site, it is usually because they feel the need for a site due to experiencing things they don't like or understand because of their own bias. Think about it. Mizahar would have never happened unless someone somewhere hadn't unholy hell offended me due to their own pigheadedness and caused me to think I could do it better... take the other founders, who had the same thoughts, and you get a stellar team to build a world with. It happens.
And if you don't' like the biases here, that's more than cool with me and you can go find another site. I won't be mad. You aren't obligated to stay here. You don't pay for the right to play here. Mizahar certainly isn't a business you are buying goods and services from. We are a site you get to play on if you agree to play on it within our terms. That means, dealing with all of us, good or bad, and taking it to heart when you interact with the community..... that you must look to the communities best interest.
But.. if you do stay here, you do have to keep all this in mind. People so easily forget we didn't build this site for them. We built it for US. It is our site, and the rest of you came here, liked what we did, and claimed it for yourselves too. That's fine. That's great. The more the merrier! But don't come here, behave badly, and expect for us to ignore it because you have some kind of right to do so. You don't.
Wow, how did this blog go from talking about my dislike of crazies to the ToU and Main Purpose of Mizahar? I don't think the Crazies are wrong or anything, they are just not my cup of tea. Those people, however, who have wronged other people, really should step up. If they don't, they don't deserve to be here. That's the cold hard reality of the situation.
by Annalisa Marin on June 18th, 2013, 9:24 pm 
