TacticalHammer

I will finally give my 2 cents for this whole thing - I feel like the change will only better the league and help members feel better. The fact that VHL takes this stance makes me happy as it shows that we value change and member involvement more than anything else. Let's leave this stuff behind and show why VHL is such a great place to be a part of!

Warnings will generally be a first step except for very severe infractions. We are not aiming to ban members over this but will if we have to.
 
As a general rule the advice is rather simple: don’t use terms that are derogatory towards certain groups. It’s pretty simple advice ultimately.

VHL Code of Conduct Policy
 
@Members
 
Recent events within the league have made it clear that the VHL, both historically and currently, has been running far too much of a "Laissez faire" approach in regards to policing the use of insensitive slurs and other language. Not everyone in the league will obviously agree with how these events went down but the point remains that our approach has simply been too relaxed and things have gone too far without the administration necessarily realizing it. This is not simply in relation to the board, or the discord, or any members in particular but is a wide spread problem across multiple areas of the site and it's due time something is done about it.
 
Ultimately the VHL was founded in an interesting time for the internet, 2007. It was a different place back then, a rather toxic place if we are being honest. However it is not 2007 anymore. The kind of words we have seen weren't acceptable (but perhaps more tolerated) back then and they certainly aren't now. To give a few examples, though they should hardly be necessary, using words like gay or retarded as synonyms of stupid is ridiculous and long past its expiration point. This isn't about censoring your posts, being Social justice warriors, or arguing about meaning of words changing over time but rather about the league being inclusive to all its members and potential members.
 
With that in mind, moving forward, the league shall be more proactive in avoiding these types of slurs. Staff using them will be treated more severely for obviously reasons but from the top down we expect to see uses reduced and will be punishing those who do not wish to comply or clearly skirt the rules when looked at in context. Punishment will be determined by the blue team on a case by case basis but can include:
 
• Warnings
• Removal of job positions on the site
• Temporary or permanent suspensions from discord, the forum, or both
• PT Bans, both full and partial
 
Punishment will depend on how severe and how frequent the offences occur and will be made more severe for repeat offenders. It is not a matter of wanting to ban members for this sort of thing but we will if we have to. Quite frankly it's an easy thing to avoid and isn't something that should be a problem in 2019. We will be leaning on our mod team as well as the BOG and general member base to make sure that people who are using insensitive language towards others or groups; whether intentionally targeted or otherwise, are punished accordingly for it. In addition we will be subdividing the Discord better to hopefully spread discussion from general and make it easier to watch for things. In this vein we will also be doing a search at the end of the week of discord and the forums for key words and phrases to keep an eye on things.
 
In general things will fall under the guise of our already in place rules regarding Drama, Fighting, and trolling but with special attention paid to people making claims in general instead of specifically targeted. Our aim, as I said, is not to censor but to make the VHL a welcoming place for everyone.
 
Obviously this did all stem from an event as I alluded to and there are certain members who shall be receiving punishments for their involvement in that event. The league recognizes that, while these rules were not in place at the time, members were warned to not provoke any further action and to stand down. Instead of doing so several members took matters in their own hands and made an already complex situation far worse for themselves and for the league. For their part in all this the following members shall receive the following punishments:
 
@Josh: 1 week PT ban (as in max cap is 6/12)
@Banackock: 1 week Update ban
@DilIsPickle: 1 week Update ban
@Nykonax: 1 week Update ban
@jRuutu: 1 week PT ban (as in max cap is 6/12)
@Matt_O: 1 week PT ban (as in max cap is 6/12)
 
I know you guys likely won’t be happy about these but it’s what we deem fair given the situation that was either caused or exacerbated by your behaviour. It is our hope that these punishments are the only ones we require in the subject. Given that it’s Thursday and the cap has already likely been hit for you guys the punishments will be served next week.
 
It is our sincere hope that the VHL can move on past our old behaviour and into a brighter, more welcoming era. We hope you can all understand that this is not an attack on your rights as members but simply a policy to make sure that your right to speech does not infringe upon the rights over others to enjoy the league.
 
 
Re: SBA Affiliation
 
In addition to the above code of conduct the league would like to make a mention of the SBA affiliation which was recently dropped because of the above mentioned issues. The league has been in talks with the BoD of the SBA but is not making this code of conduct simply to appease them or to get back the affiliation. If things improve and those discussions do continue on the right path it may happen some day but that is not our main goal and is out of our hands.
 
However we do recognize that stopping SBA affiliation claims on our end, which was done while we sorted things out, is unnecessary and does negatively impact some of our players. For this reason, regardless of our affiliation coming back or not, and to alleviate the concerns of 90% of the population about how their dual membership of the VHL and SBA will be affected, we will continue recognizing SBA PTs as valid VHL PTs in line with previous affiliation agreements. Our updaters were told to put a hold on, not deny, any claims made while the affiliation welfare was down and they have also been instructed to approve back claimed ones for this past week if the PT week was missed by dual membership members.
 
Sincerely,
@Commissioner
@BOG

Fizz not getting any votes for Most Improved is BS.
 
Jk congrats to the winners. 

So where was Mr. Gunnar during the draft week. He was fairly hyped up, and some had him going Top 8. He definetely didn’t live up to that as he fell to,the top 20. This doesn’t mean he’s a bad player, and a couple of those players in that specific draft became busts (though it’s quiet early to say so.) the players that look like they’re going to be busts. Thorny Underyew, Frans Eller, Teemu Lehtinen Jr., Samuel Ross, Kaspar Claude, Bruce Grimaldi, and even Aamon Grim just to name a few. Sigard Gunnar had a lackluster rookie season, and you could say he had lack of ice time, and you would be 50% correct. Honestly I think the fact he was picked 20th can let the man sleep at night; with lower expectations of course. To sum up his rookie season he had 5 goals, 3 assists, and 8 Points. That’s only the scoring categories to see the rest you can head over to vhl.com @ Sigard Gunnar Player Page you can see he definetely took a step backwards from his previous projections. His skating showed good signs, and while he didn’t look like a skilled defensive players in juniors; he’s most likely improving his 2-way game this off-season. He’s hoping to score at least 20 Points this year, and prove why the Wranglers drafted him, and while that’s a low point total it is of course just a start. This is only Part 1 of his chapter in the VHL. 

As decided upon by the coalition (myself, @Banackock and @Rayzor_7) this is going to be the team that kills all other teams...and wins gold.
 
F - John Madden @Thranduil
F - Ryuu Crimson @SlapshotDragon
F - Maxim Kovalchuk @Banackock
F - Tyler Barabash Jr @Bushito
F -  Dan Baillie @wcats
F - Roll Fizzlebeef @TacticalHammer
 
D - Jesse Wilson @monkeywrench15
D - Charlie Paddywagon @DMaximus
D - Jagger Philliefan @Philliefan
D - Hulk Hogan @HulkHogan
 
G - Greg Eagles @Greg_Di
G - Raymond Bernard @Mr_Hatter
 
congrats to all selected and welcome to the future of International Hockey

Add garbage can emoji calld Trifecta. thanks

The VHL is not a place free of drama and it never will be. We are a diverse community that will often not see eye to eye on things. In situations with people of diverse experience, I think it would be helpful to have more clearly defined expectations. I want to use two recent examples to make this case and then give a couple ideas for improvement.

In @Tate's recent "How to Fix Retention" thread. There was a clear mismatch between Tate's expectations of what staff should be doing to retain players and what certain staff members understand as the expectation. And here's the thing, they were both right. Since there are no clearly and publicly stated expectations of the conduct or responsibilities of staff, everyone was just working off of their own internal guess at what those expectations were.
 
Similarly, in @GustavMattias's recent thread about the VSN, there was much debate about who was doing a good job and who wasn't over at the VSN. But once again, here's the thing, there is no clear and public record of what the expectations are of VSN staffers. So everyone is operating under a different expectation of what those staffers should be doing. Consequently, whether or not a person thought the current VSN staff was doing a good job was directly tied to their interpretation of what that job entailed.
 
Finally, in a recent game thread, @Josh and @Banackock were called out for some offensive language/slurs, and the ensuing hubbub revealed again that there was no consensus on expectations. Some members thought what they did was clearly wrong, while others took it to even further depths in discord. All of this could have been solved if there were clear and public expectations of community conduct.
 
So here are my suggestions to make this a more enjoyable place for everyone!

Detailed Job Responsibilities for All Roles
What does a GM do? Is it the same in the VHL as in the M? How about the Head of Recruitment? What are the expectations places on a Commissioner? I don't have any clue and I can't find it explained anywhere on the forum. Having a stickied thread with each job role detailed would be extremely helpful. It would let everyone know exactly what realms each job oversees and what those staffers are expected to accomplish. That way, no staff member will be expected to do more than they are required to do and the community can clearly recognize when someone isn't fulfilling their responsibilities and the leadership can make appropriate adjustments.
 
Community Standards of Conduct
I don't think we need a comprehensive list of approved words and unapproved words. But I do think we need some clear and specific lines that shouldn't be crossed. This is a sports league, we want trash talk and good-natured fun, but it is important that we prevent that from turning into trolling and harassment. I don't claim to have all the answers on this one, but I think it is a necessity for allowing members, especially newer ones, to know what to expect and what is permitted.
 
I believe that these would be helpful to people on both sides of these types of conflicts. If there are clear expectations, no one will have excuse to be surprised when something they do is considered wrong by others or when something someone else does is permitted. Sometimes conflict is necessary, but it is rarely fun. I believe that these changes would help everyone to understand their place here and appropriate ways to interact with each other.

Considering this a "generic comment" is exactly the problem. Using slurs adds nothing to a conversation and only serves to be hurtful to others. It is immature, plain and simple.

Wow I got tagged and thought I was rne new commish, feels bad man

Calgary was actually better, they just didn't look like it or perform like it.

You have to be fucking kidding me

I'm glad you are experiencing new things.

Yeah. He’s the one who’s team is winning

Close game!
 
Gotta just move on and hope the next one goes in our favor! GG boys!!
 

So the GM will have the opportunity, prior to their draft year, to declare that they're claiming their player with a draft pick - specific requirements of that aren't set in stone yet but basically the GM player can still bypass the draft and go right to the GMs team if they have a sufficiently good pick. The team will lose that pick and get their GM player before the draft ever happens.
 
Otherwise they'll take their chances in the draft as a regular player and would have to trade for their player if they were drafted by someone else and wanted acquire themselves later on.

My thought is that the 1st pick required to secure your GM player should be your team's 1st round pick or better. That rule would be easy to follow and it prevents situations of a team needing to trade up in the first round to secure their player if they did well in the previous season. Plus it would encourage teams not to tank because it's more value to lock in a higher pick to secure your GM player. If you're angry about having to give up the 4th overall for your player while another team got to use their 10th overall for their player, then you shouldn't have sucked as much last season.

Most TPA definitely doesn’t = best player. TPE doesn’t automatically mean success.
 
In any case that all was just one member’s opinion as well. Every GM is different and we allow them the freedom to build their lines and rosters as they choose. Obviously in the VHLM we enforced activity over TPE because it’s about bringing people in and keeping them active above all else but GMing in the VHL is different.
 
Obviously Motza also said there are exceptions. You can’t really simplify lines down that far and not have any exceptions.

Career Point Task Change
 
Hello,  @Members
 
With the trade deadline imminent and S70 players being created staring today I wanted to inform you all of a change to be taking place with how career point tasks (currently rookie profile and bio) are to be handled in the VHL. Several months back we asked about things our sister leagues do that you'd like to see in the VHL and several of you mentioned the way they handle career tasks to be superior to our own in that they are more spread out over a career instead of being done at the beginning before a career has really had time to take shape. With that in mind the BOG has come up with a new set of tasks which will replace our old RP and Bio set. Those 2 have now been split into 5:
 
Junior Review (Can be written at any point, but preferably when you're in the VHLM) - A review of your players career up to the point they join the VHLM/declare for their VHL draft  Prospect Scouting Report (To be written during a Player's VHL Draft Season, up until the start of the following season) - Short review of VHLM career,  focus on pros/cons, or other method of scouting report Rookie Experience (To be written during your VHL Rookie Season) - Talk about graduating to the VHL, expectations, reservations, etc. Veteran Presence (to be written during your third or fourth post-draft season) - Talk specifically about what it means to become a veteran on a team and how it's different than being a rookie. This is more of a roleplaying PT than a career summary Biography (to be written during your 8th season, 800 Words, 8 TPE) - Career recap  
These changes will take effect for all players in the S70 draft and above. Players previous to S70 will be grandfathered in to the previous model of RP and Bio since they have, in all likelihood, already written them and received points for them. Exact rubrics for these career PT's will be written up shortly but we wanted to get them announced before players start creating for S70 and working on the old tasks.

@DilIsPickle has decided to unretire. He will be receiving a 1 week update ban next week.

Your Safety in the EFL was completely shown up two seasons later by @Nykonax's player, of all people. 

@Bushito
Thought we could use a banner to show that Calgary pride! Plus I made us a slogan lol
#TheBestOfTheWest

Y'all welcome. 

Just like in the EFL, everyone copies @TacticalHammer, everyone gets tpe

Roll having a career season out of nowhere!