Beaviss

Before I begin my actual comment, I would like to apologize in advance for my inadequate level of English proficiency. I am not a native speaker of the world's current lingua franca which unfortunately leads to me making numerous embarrassing mistakes being made whenever I attempt to communicate using this language. Whenever I am reminded of how I lack the ability to convey my thoughts in an eloquent manner, I feel as though I have committed a cardinal sin, as though every English teacher in the world is simultaneously shaking their head and sighing due to how utterly disappointed they are at me.
 
Although I know that saying sorry to those of you who are reading my comment will not change the fact that I fail miserably to write and speak perfect English, I am writing this as a way to deter a certain type of people who cannot stand poor English (Also known informally as Grammar Nazis) from mocking me by posting unwanted and unnecessary comments detailing my every blunder. In my humble opinion, making grammatical errors should be perfectly acceptable as native speakers should not expect non-native speakers to be able to communicate in their second or third languages eloquently. If you are able to completely understand what the other person wrote, is there really a problem with what they've written? No, because the entire concept of communication is the exchange of information between other intelligent beings, which means that no matter how the exchange of information is made, as long as the information is accurately shared there is not a fundamental issue with their ability to communicate. To see it in another way, remember that someone who isn't fluent in English is fluent in another language. When you think about it this way, isn't it impressive for someone to speak a second language in any capacity? Having empathy and respect are qualities that are sorely missing for far too many people these days, especially on the internet.
 
That being said, I am aware that not all netizens who correct others are doing it to ridicule and shame. There are some who do so with the intent to help others improve and grow. However, displaying the failures of other people publicly will cause the person who is criticized to feel negative emotions such as shame and sadness due to the fact that their mistake has been made obvious which severely undermines the point they were trying to make in spite of their unfamiliarity with the English language. In most circumstances people are not looking for language help when they post anything online. Most people just want to enjoy themselves and have a good time on the internet which is why I would not encourage correcting other people regardless of your intentions. If you really do want to help others with their spelling or grammar, I would highly recommend you to help via messaging privately because not only will you not embarrass anyone, you can also go more in-depth with your explanation which I'm sure the other person will greatly appreciate if they want help, but I digress. I know that I've written a bit of an essay, but I hope I've made my points clear.
 
Anyways, here is the comment I wanted to make:
 
no u

VHL started as a community where brilliant minds from all over the world came together to create meaning. The people creatively used language to entertain each other. Discussions flowed from one topic to another, from serious to not so serious. Pictures and GIF's were used to enhance the interactions. Despite thousands of miles between the users, they were still able to understand each other. How nice, how beautiful. At the heart of it all was a performance. The people came together knowing very well that anything could happen.  A conversation could start with something and then lead to something different. What seemed to be a decent conversation about ice cream could then be railed into new paths by clever use of a GIF. Users were there for it. People could jump in the middle of a conversation and talk about something else. Users were there for it. Idiotic behavior that seemed to have no point took attention away from the league itself. Users were there for it. The users were not interested in the conventional structures of conversation. The users wanted to be free and use unconventional methods and techniques.
 
At one point things changed. The BOG and the suits in blue noticed the good people of VHL were having too much fun. There was no place for a clever and nuanced discussion about books and favorite ice creams. VHL general looked like a place of chaos. VHL general intimidated those who never dared to color outside the lines. The BOG and the suits in blue decided it was time for a change. There is no way VHL general can be a place of chaos. VHL general must be a place for peaceful discussion, where users are polite to the extreme and apologize for doing something that would be considered rude in real-life conversation. So the BOG and suits in blue hired moderators. Experts in fun. Experts in conversation. Experts in performance.
 
These moderators were ordered to bring peace and calm to the VHL general. To show the good people of VHL that moderators know what they are doing they created rules that allowed them to judge each situation differently. What sounded like a fair idea quickly turned out to be everything but fair as decision-making was affected by the time of the day and whether the moderators themselves had just done swearing 84 times in a podcast. If enough time had gone by since the latest podcast episode, the good people of VHL knew it was only a matter of time before the moderators rode into VHL general with their high horses. The conversation in VHL general is stifled by the moderators and the rules. Future is not as bright as the past. The good people of VHL still fight back, one post at a time.

Yes but he’s earned it.

I think this is something a lot of "stop complaining about moderation" arguments will twist these discussions around to, and that really isn't the point. Yes, I've complained about moderation. But do I want there to be less moderation so I can feel free to be hateful on Discord? No, because I don't open Discord to be hateful. 
 
There are rules and (in general) I don't have a problem with them. But completely inoffensive topics being arbitrarily shut down in the general channel, that's supposed to be for talking about just about anything? And regular members basically being told to shut up and comply if they dare to disagree with that? That crosses a line IMO. 
 
I'm not even going to get deep into the whole yam thing because I wasn't a part of it, but keep in mind as a general statement that the mods are supposed to represent the community. If the entire chat, apart from the mods, is against posting a GIF being a punishable offense, then posting said GIF should not be a punishable offense. When we start seeing clear differences between what we want and what the mods want, the mods are no longer representing us.
 
Personally, I find the social situation in the league server weird as hell. I'm on good terms with just about all of the mods and don't have issues with any of them as individuals. But there are times when I feel that the team as a collective has developed a sort of "I was hired to moderate chat, therefore I need to actively moderate this chat" mindset that I don't remember being there before. We don't need to be told to change the topic of our conversation when all members of said conversation are there voluntarily, the conversation is not hateful, and it is proceeding respectfully. That hurts absolutely no one, and not rushing to get involved with something harmless does not translate to not deserving job pay.
 
And aren't we all supposed to treat each other equally? In general, I find that I am able to see virtually all members of the community, mods included, as equals, and this has given me many positive experiences. But I've seen power trips, I've seen personal grudges, and I've seen rude responses to completely fair questions--all of which go completely unaddressed because the mod team is not held in check. The only way to hold overmoderation in check, really, is for the community to talk about it--which isn't the best because there's no enforcement attached to that. I guess I see it as an unfair power dynamic.
 
I think a lot of what I complained about a few months ago largely pertained to some of the more significant punishments, the ones that make it to the ban thread. And to the mod team's credit, some of those issues have been addressed well. We no longer see "so-and-so has been banned because Code of Conduct and that's it". But the smaller, pettier stuff that happens on Discord never changed, and it remains perfectly valid to speak against that. 
 
 
 
One thing I don't like is that genchat is a bit cliquish and there have been times when new members have joined and been basically ignored because everyone else just keeps talking about whatever else. In that situation, I'm fine with people being told to take their convo somewhere else while the new person is welcomed. But, to use an example of something that happened to me, if I start talking about music, and nobody new joins, and nobody takes exception to it (not that anybody should), I don't need to be told I can't talk about that in genchat or that I'm getting in the way of other people (who aren't attempting to talk about anything else). And if I ask why, I don't need to be told that I should just shut up and do it. That's the kind of thing I don't appreciate.
 
So yeah, I'm sure there will be some agreement/disagreement here, but that's fine. I believe in anyone's right to express an opinion, even if your opinion is that you hate my opinion.

The vhl is amazingly moderated they caught every single bad thing ive ever done

1. How are you feeling about your players performance so far this season?

2. What is the main goal of your player this season? want to hit 20 goals?

3. Do you use the VHL's Discord? If so why and if not why not?
 

TLDR: Hardest thing about retention is how niche the community is to start. A lot of people think its cool so they join but realize how much it is and the fact that forums are now "outdated" tech eliminates some of the newbies. Then they have to write or do a point task every week and they see the monumental task that is and eliminates some more. By the time you get through all the hurdles you end up with 5-10% of the sign ups just because of the steps above. 

In my idea the Mentor idea is cool in theory but without an automated system it will fall apart very quickly. Giving VHLM AGMs 1 tpe as an incentive to engage their players and to help teach them would be a good boost to retention most likely. 

A new and updated welcome message would most likely to do wonders for retention because I know a lot of that auto message is super wordy and out of date. I remember when I was the sender of the email out of every 20 sent I might get one reply but if I added onto the message id almost always get a response which greatly helped retention from the small sample size. 

You will never improve retention to the point that everyone wants to get it too just because of the nicheness of the community. If we could get them more engaged quickly (better VHLM GM's) we would have a much higher chance of retaining a few more. This is why I think the mentorship idea is great in theory but will never be effective and I can speak to this as someone that has done the job most likely the longest on this site. 

TLDR: Hardest thing about retention is how niche the community is to start. A lot of people think its cool so they join but realize how much it is and the fact that forums are now "outdated" tech eliminates some of the newbies. Then they have to write or do a point task every week and they see the monumental task that is and eliminates some more. By the time you get through all the hurdles you end up with 5-10% of the sign ups just because of the steps above. 

In my idea the Mentor idea is cool in theory but without an automated system it will fall apart very quickly. Giving VHLM AGMs 1 tpe as an incentive to engage their players and to help teach them would be a good boost to retention most likely. 

A new and updated welcome message would most likely to do wonders for retention because I know a lot of that auto message is super wordy and out of date. I remember when I was the sender of the email out of every 20 sent I might get one reply but if I added onto the message id almost always get a response which greatly helped retention from the small sample size. 

You will never improve retention to the point that everyone wants to get it too just because of the nicheness of the community. If we could get them more engaged quickly (better VHLM GM's) we would have a much higher chance of retaining a few more. This is why I think the mentorship idea is great in theory but will never be effective and I can speak to this as someone that has done the job most likely the longest on this site. 

I think we still got it

It's the second time I'm on the VHL website, I was there last year but stopped because I kind of start forgetting about it.  I had a flash this week and start a new player name Artem Zub!  Now, what I understand by now is that if I want the best player possible, I have to focus on specific assets and put them to the max.  Artem Zub is a defensemen and I chose to start by putting PH, PA, SC, DF and SK to 70.  I hope this is a good strategy, let me know!  Each season is ~8 weeks and my player started at 66, so if I want to be 70 in all 5 categories by the end of the season (216 TPE overall), I have to do almost 20 TPE each week wich seems way to much for me but 10 TPE a week seems better.  So if I do 10 TPE each week, I will play two years for (the best VHLM team) Halifax, and after that I will do 2-3 years in VHLE and after that (hopefully) play in the VHL for the remaining of my career.  That's the plan for Artem Zub but we don't know what's gonna happen...   For now I enjoy playing with Halifax!

Scurvy recruited @Thunder for season 82 (2022).  

you get laughed at because your spade

discord meme of a discord meme

I think its the MGM and MAGM's jobs to help teach them the league. If we had an updated welcome message with a follow up message from the original sender a day after they start I feel it could close up the gap that people are starting to see. 

Vancouver is cooler 

#SETTINGSAIL

I will say that the post was written very confusingly if harassment is what started the conversation (and presumably was the main contributor to the punishment). I didn't even really realize that until I asked in this thread because I opened up the initial announcement to read a giant list of minor rule-breaking on Discord. I also get why someone might think everything possible was dug up to pull it off--I've posted memes in genchat before and I never once expected to see it in the ban thread. Whether it was done to smear Hogan or not, and whether or not it was necessary, someone clearly sat down and thought of every single thing he's ever done on Discord for further justification when apparently there was a primary issue and that might not be clear to everyone.
 
I don't know the details of the harassment case(s), won't comment on them, and don't think I can have a fair opinion of this punishment because of it. So I'm not writing this to protest it, but I do take some exception to the way it was reported.

Unfortunately we don't have someone thats on it as much as the other accounts so shoot me a dm with some suggestions.

What's that? Someone just brought up race, sexuality, and gender, that is what I want to read.
What's that? Someone just posted a thread about pronouns, that is what I want to read.
What's that? Someone just posted about their battle with mental health, that is what I want to read.
 
Hey I got an idea, what if we all go to Dailymail and find the most horrific story of the day, link it here. Lets discuss how the story makes us feel? And don't forget the pictures of those involved.
 
At least we can forget what goes on in real life for a moment. At least we can forget our own problems for a moment. Oh no, wait a minute, no we can't. It's exactly the same. Let's turn something ''fun'' into ''sad'', after all it's year 2022 already.

I saw a dead bird yesterday. What are we going to do about that? I'm not too happy about it. I could talk about my player. I could talk about something related to some of the teams in VHL. I could talk about the sport. I could joke around and act a fool with few other members. No, I will much rather talk about the dead bird.  I will spend every hour thinking about the bird and then I will go online and roll on my misery. If someone is not playing by the ''rules'', I have the right to ruin their efforts of having fun. If I can't have fun - nobody can. I'm miserable. Others must be miserable as well.
 
 
 
1. Soft
3. That could be anything with the current moderation team.
4. Soft
6. God forbid if someone is fooling around, if the moderators want to discuss their favorite ice creams and Disney movies, why don't you start your own channel for that?
7.  Soft
9. What are these messages? Vulgar, and/or derogatory terms and slurs, way to go experts of communication. You could at least edit the message. Now outsiders get the idea Hogan posted who knows what when most likely option is something most consider mild.
10. Written approval from the moderation team................ lets all read that one aloud. S_O_F_T
11. Soft
 
Long list of items suggests very little actually happened. You had to reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeach. One week ban also, which further shows not much happened.  Most likely option is that Hogan managed to piss off few members of the moderation team. Are users like that suitable to be moderators? How can someone that gets annoyed by tags, bot commands, ''questionable'' images, and general tomfoolery is able to moderate anything fairly? Granted, they can use the search function when looking at list of bad words, but other than that?
 
Everything doesn't have to be so serious all the time.
 
 

Let's go!! #releasethehounds