Spartan

I think that Discord just emulates genuine conversations. Any in-person debate or live conversation doesn't necessarily provide the opportunity to take a step back and think for a while before offering a response. That's just not how discussions work. That's also why the channel should be limited to people who have displayed the ability to handle fast-paced/real-time conversations without becoming reactionary, and are still able to provide insight based on primarily logic. This isn't purely to have deep, philosophical conversations - casual political fans are welcome as well. I'm not a very hardcore politics fan, more of the casual person. But commenting on current events and the potential effects of such events doesn't require deep, thoughtful responses. A lot of it will be knee-jerk and speculation - all that is required is civility and we have moderators for that purpose.

I think it's widely accepted at this point that Discord offers more convenience and ease of conversation than a forum thread. We have moderators who can lock the channel if it gets out of hand or archive it/move it to a private category so it's hidden, both of which provides a solution to your ease of moderation comment from earlier. More and more people check discord frequently than forums, but overall this shouldn't turn into a major issue, especially with the suggested limits in place to prevent political discussions from getting out of hand

It was a really difficult decision to have to make, as you were a great part of the team during your few seasons with us. One of the best backup goalies in the league, but having a younger prospect coming up meant that we had to sacrifice someone, and unfortunately you were the guy. I know for a fact that another team or two will look to sign you, so keep an eye out! Best of luck my friend, stay awesome

The first part is why I asked for it to be limited to all, then people have to request to be in it. Prevents a massive crowd of folks just unloading on each other, especially folks who would just hop in once a month or after some major political event to pitch in vocally. Small groups can establish civility and etiquette, then you slowly expand. Gen chat should be a NHL discussion channel but some people apparently don't like it lol.

Perhaps gatekeeping was a poor suggestion - I'm fine with anyone being part of it as long as they can maintain civility in it. Folks who are known to explicitly troll or don't have anything serious to say shouldn't be part of it, just like the finance channel. Similar standards to entry

I've seen it being handled, therefore I have some faith.

I don't think it's unfamiliar to many that the VHL general server has a "no politics" rule that was instituted due to past discussions where political stances and people's feelings clashed, leading to hurt feelings and general chaos. However, I think it's also somewhat apparent that there is a general subsection of the VHL population that does enjoy participating in political/politically-related discussion, and can maintain a level of civility and courtesy, without taking political into personal. Therefore, I'd like to suggest adding a politics channel to the VHL general server with some clauses in effect. Similarly to the #finance-and-stonks channel, I'd advise for the politics channel to be by invite only, therefore somewhat gatekeeping the people who can participate in said discussion. Sure, this excludes people, but primarily along the same standards as the finance channel, where only folks who participate in serious, civil discussion are allowed in. Folks who break that standard are removed, and the general population is not allowed in without a personal request. The finance channel sets a precedent for this type of channel to exist, so I'd hope that the mods are more willing and able to assign that permission based on the user's history in the server, barring folks who are unable to participate in political discussions without making it personal. I don't know what pushback I'll get from this, but I suppose a few counter-arguments to this will be: Q: "Why not just use the thunderdome?" A: Well, I'd assume that the majority of people in the server keep the thunderdome muted because it's not a place anyone expects to have a serious discussion in. It's for muted folks, spammers and counters, activity that most of the population doesn't want to see. Q: "Too much work, why should we even bother?" (from staff) A: I think that it's quite clear that it's a topic that people like discussing, but there aren't really any great platforms on discord for the VHL population to partake in it. Creating a whole new server would be significantly more work, and it's relatively easier to have a discord channel than starting a mega-thread in the general discussions section of the forum. With the kind of "demand" that exists in the league and mods being paid more for their job, as well as the standards already set by the finance channel, it doesn't seem like a massive step in a different direction, to me at least . Feel free to ask more questions, argue against it, or whatever. Just my two cents about something I'd like to see

And this is where I fail lmfao

It's finally draft day!!!!!! Maybe this time I'll keep my word count under 500 lol. But it's a very exciting day for 16 teams in the VHL and all the prospects eligible to be selected. I remember my draft day in S72, pretty sure I was moving out of my apartment at the end of my junior year in college. Now a full year forward, I've graduated college and it's the dawn on the S78 draft. Exciting times. Moscow has reached out to a number of players, and so far almost all the interviews have gone very well. There are a lot of excellent users in this draft, regardless of their TPE or earning, and I wish I had more picks and roster space to be able to take them all. Difficult decisions are going to have to be made tonight, but I'm grateful for the advisors in my corner who have helped through the process. It's been a tough but fun process, and the future of Moscow has never looked brighter. Funny what can happen when you actually trade for picks, and don't trade them away, eh? It's also been pretty odd to know basically how the top 5/6 picks will shake out well in advance of the draft, I've noticed a lot more communication and transparency between GM's in similar pick ranges in the VHL than in other leagues. Not a complaint at all, rather knowledge that's nice to have on hand. Benefits multiple parties in that sense, so I have a lot of respect for Gus, Ricer and McWolf for their willingness to be open and transparent. Lastly, life has just been chaotic so I wasn't able to work on VSN's S78 Mock Draft (check it out here!), but I'm planning on putting together an S79 "Way Too Early Mock Draft" sometime next week to get some hype started for the next draft. Will be a fun project to work on with the Scouting department! Word Count: 329 (success!)

Congrats McW!!!!

Thrilled to lock up my man, @IHateBobNutting, for the immediate future. Moscow Moscow Moscow!

as someone who has taken multiple statistics classes, the first few sentences hurt me to my core to read lmao, but you somewhat saved it with the explanation of what you could theoretically do to figure it out. P. a. i. n. But, does make a good point that I was thinking about earlier today while reading an article about how the pens and islanders are both phenomenal at home, garbage away. Might actually look into it for a specific team over the seasons, overall league stats would likely be too much effort for me. Nice concept, execution has....room to improve

Can take whichever player @OrbitingDeath doesn't select, I don't mind doing either one

Claim 2/2

shit, ok. you will be missed riley

in and down to GM

the irony of this in conjunction with your sig is fucking hilarious

Ya I'd use the profile field for render so I can display my everlasting love for John Marino

New PC Q's (Week ending 5/9) 1. The Draft Lottery Tournament is over, and we came last. After the last game, a reporter comes up to you and stupidly asks, "why did you guys suck?" What's your response? 2. If you answer before the lottery, which picks do you think we'll get? (We can get any combination of 2 picks between 1st and 3rd overall). If you're answering after the lottery, did we do well? Or did we get shafted? 3. There's been mild chatter in the LR about not having an official AGM for Moscow. Do you think I should hire one? Why? 4. Now that we're in the offseason, what's your training routine like? 5. If you could play a prank on any player, prospect or staff member on Moscow, who would it be and what would you do? 6. Say you quit your job as a VHL player and decided to be a Youtuber/Streamer/Etc. What would you stream or post videos about?

Is this a challenge?

Check out the "standings" tab on the portal, in the "pro league" dropdown.

As some of you may have seen, I accidentally turned a VHL.com article into a 1k word media spot for the 2nd time in a row. It has had a costly effect on me, as I have lost 1 uncapped TPE for the month of April in both the EFL and the SBA. Therefore, I will make sure to write no more than 300 words here to ensure I can use this for an affiliate check, at the risk of writing incomplete statements and ideas. Mainly, I'd like to chat about the Moscow LR. I believe I had stated in a VHL.com article towards the beginning of the season that I wanted to open up the Moscow LR on Discord to more people, aka make it a bit more public. Up until that point, the LR was basically only home to players on the team and alumni. That's not a knock on the LR, as having a small LR is intimate and a great way to exclusively chat with people you may not have interacted with in the past. It's how I met and built a friendship with folks like @Telkster, @fever95, @UnkemptCL4PTP and others that I simply never crossed paths with otherwise. However, opening it up to some outsiders/guests has had a net positive impact on the team. Folks like @Renomitsu , @Brewins15, @McWolf and @Vkobe-vhave absolutely no roots in Moscow, but are welcome visitors to the LR and foster some great discussions and interactions. While there are times that folks need to be sent to the gulag (@Wolverine), I feel like opening up the LR has been a net positive gain for the LR. It's still relatively intimate, without the general clutter and chaos of the VHL general server, but just enough chaos and unpredictability to keep it fun and lively. Fostering an active and engaging LR was something I really wanted to do in Vegas, and was lucky to be able to have one of the more active LR's during my time there. I just hope to be able to continue the trend, and for that, I'd like to keep adding friendly faces to the LR to just hang out in a chill environment. If you're interested in joining and hanging out, DM me! I wrote more than 300 words. Fuck.

#ShareTheAward

It's a problem man, I just can't shut up and press send once I hit the word count. If it comes to mind, it has to be written down lol.