I had a minor discussion with BEG last night in the IRC, in which I was irritated about the outcome of things. Not just on YC's behalf - I think there are issues here that tie in to YC's banning and issues that need to be discussed with the staff and the members to find a good route the works for everyone, because I feel like it's become pretty apparent at this point that sweeping gestures on the part of the staff just anger people and cause more drama. Not that they should, but it happens.
Part of my irritation in the IRC last night was with the fact that while I think, for the most part, I maintained a calm and level head and tried to make my point in a calm manner, we had someone like Athena bitching and berating everyone for just not agreeing with her. After the fact, I sat back and looked at some of the things she said and realized I was baited into an argument that I should've had the good sense to stay out of, which is my bad entirely. And not only that, but she gets pats on the back for 'protecting her friend' [which I don't doubt was her intention, but at the same time I feel like that was just a guise used to be rude to everyone who didn't automatically jump on the 'WE LOVE BUFFY' train], and people are saying things to the effect of, "If you mess with Athena's friends, you get put on blast blahblahblah." Someone like Athena is rude and obnoxious and no one on the staff did a thing about shutting her up while that mess was going on. That irritated the hell out of me because after that, it's just like - why the hell would I want to be bigger person in a situation where someone is acting half their age? What's the incentive here? Buffy's friends get to do it, so why can't I?
Mostly, I'm irritated because I felt like I was doing a good thing by airing these issues and putting them up for discussion but no one wanted to listen, and on top of that, no one cared. I feel like the whole mindset of the board at this point is, "Shut up, don't cause problems, just side with Buffy and everything will be FINE." And while everyone has their own individual reasons for thinking so, and while a lot of those reasons have merit, I didn't think it was part of the plan here to sit down and shut up when I felt like there was something wrong with not only the way the board was being run, but the way the membership was acting on top of it. We all have issues here, not just the staff, and if I come off like I'm singling them out I don't mean to. But if I'm wrong in thinking that I shouldn't just sit down, shut up and deal with it then please let me know.
It's a point of pride for me not to have left that thread when I did yesterday because I was being told to by some troll who's, as I look back on it now, sole purpose was to be rude and start shit with people. Not because of simple pride, but because I believe strongly in the issues I was trying to raise and I wanted at least some kind of recognition as to the fact that they're being discussed or thought over. And I didn't want to leave the board because of it, but I'm at the point now where I feel like these issues aren't going to get resolved in any way and there are still going to be problems here because of it, no matter whatever sweeping gesture on part of the staff comes next. This place either alternately pisses me off or depresses me everytime I come here now, and that in and of itself saddens me. It wasn't too long ago that I was happy to be here, happy to be in the IRC and posting and goofing off and having fun. But, y'know, Athena was right - if I don't like it, I can just leave. And it's really shitty to me that someone like Athena can be the victor of the situation and get her way - getting me out of here - but that's a sidenote to the fact that I don't think this place is going to get any better going in the direction we're going.