Put on your safety goggles, kids. She’s gonna blow.
Cats: miscellanea|If you’re a guest reader, you won’t understand any of what is to follow here, so just mind your own business and go away. The rest of you… Hate me if you like…but I have to weigh in with opinion here.
Camelot.
It has been pointed out to me… I have no dogs in this fight. I’ve been MIA, only to show up, and then go MIA again.
Well, yeah. It’s hard to play fantasy when you’re trying to play real life, with a marriage that keeps trying to fail, a child to raise, and a personal path to find that is doggedly obscure. I have a hard enough time trying to focus on the important things. Life on the home front is not something I divulge a lot about, even to the people who know me best. It’s worse than I let on. And I don’t let on, because I know it’s my own fault, and talking about it ain’t gonna fix it. But it does put me in a testy mood. The things I have to say are probably not going to please some people.
Still…there are people involved here that I have come to care about very greatly over the years; people whose wisdom and opinions I value very, very highly.
And I find they’re at odds. I don’t like that. STRRRROOONG dislike.
Difference of opinion is ok. It’s what makes us unique. But we all need to be looking at the same picture. I think, right now, people aren’t seeing the same picture.
As well, the ideal of the subject at hand is still close to my heart, even if I don’t spend time on it these days. It’s still important to me. And I will always have an opinion about it, because it became as much a part of me as it did others. I don’t care about ‘reputation’. I don’t give a RAT’S ASS if anyone thinks I’m ‘important’ in the hierarchy… but I am DAMNED WELL entitled to have an opinion about it. I care about the ideal as much as anyone else.
Brass tacks:
Camelot isn’t dying. It’s still around. People still value it… just not the same people who were there for so long. It evolves, it changes. It is NOT being ground into the dirt.
Let’s look at the history, shall we? Dalnet… Lancelot… that Camelot was a COMPLETELY different place than the one that moved to Starchat. I was there, for longer than people realize. Fly on the wall. Quiet little newbie amidst the silliness and chaos. I remember all the old guard VERY well, even if though don’t remember me being there. Then the move to Starchat came. Then Lance left and left it to BH and Wenn… Wenn stepped aside (because being an IRC rp channel founder is a thankless, tedious thing)… BH held the reigns. Things moved along… but Camelot continued to evolve and change. Oldtimers got busy, went to school, got married, had families, got jobs, moved on… Newer people came in, with different ideas, a different focus…More evolution. With that evolution was the shift of focus from silliness to more story-driven interaction… And that goes in fits and starts, depending on the availability of the people involved.
It’s ever-changing, this thing.
Recently, it happened again. BH decided to step down. Nobody asked him to. A lot of people asked him NOT to do it… Did some of us think he’s rigid? Yes. Did anyone think he should hit the bricks because of it? No. No, no, no. Not ONE person demanded that he leave. The choice was his own. The fantasy that somehow he was muscled out is so much bullshit. And to say so is a disservice to those of us who were more than willing to abide by his decisions. And it is an outright, OUTRIGHT, insult to the people who agreed to step up and take over when he ABANDONED things because he was feeling uncomfortable and put-upon.
So, when he left, we had to abide by THAT decision as well… But dude…once you leave, you can’t take it back.
It’s histrionic to keep ‘leaving’ then coming back. He’s had a history of it…writing characters out of the story only to change his mind and have them come on back… but this time he wrote himself out completely.
It’s like the five year old that’s going to ‘run away’. “That’s it! I don’t like this! I’m LEAVING! Mom…I’m going.” And he packs his little bag, flings the sack over his shoulder and tromps to the door. “I’m going…don’t try to stop me. No…I am. I’m going…” He opens the door and steps out, still protesting. “Nope…I’m out of here. I don’t want to live here anymore…I don’t like it here…” And he trots down the walk, looking over his shoulder… Then starts down the street, still glancing back every so often.
It’s cute when he’s five. And when he makes his trip around the block and appears back on the doorstep, Mom is happy to see him home…
But when a grown man does that, it’s ridiculous, and the only thing other adults can do is hope that he doesn’t let the door slam his ass too hard on the way out. And hey…come back if you want, but don’t expect to have your old room back. Dude…you left. That’s that.
“What to do about Camelot…” Um… it’s not your problem anymore. Not mine, really, either. I’m MIA, for the most part. But really… you hand it to someone, then you need to trust them to do their best with it and move on. So there’s NOTHING for you to do about. Except stop in and enjoy it if you want.
Do I have a personal beef with this man? No way. In fact, I respect a lot of his decisions over the years. I think he’s done his best. But it’s time separate himself from something that, in the grander scheme of things, really ISN’T terribly important.
You can’t rewrite history. Done is done. Let it gooooo…
Nobody is driving Camelot into the ground. Except…maybe… the people who think that by grabbing it out of the hands of the people it was GIVEN to, who have been trying to make it work, is somehow a positive move.
Jinxi was right about a few things… people need to grow up and realize it’s ONLY IRC. IRC Real Estate…that and 50 cents will get you a cup of coffee at the diner.
I’m not saying close the channel… or pack it up and forget it… I love the idea that it will always be there for people to go to, to give that ideal of a better time/place to people looking to step out of their lives for a while.
Thing is…it WILL always be there. So what if there may not be hundreds of people in it? SO…WHAT? It’s still there.
Nobody was kicked out. People made the choice not to try to get along.
And so… I’m perplexed as to why, when the channel was ‘closed’, someone had to step in and ask for ownership of it to ‘hold’ it for BH. What the hell? It’s not his anymore. He gave it up, of his own volition. Not to mention…”it” moved.
The Camelot on Starchat was already being handed to someone perfectly capable of keeping an eye on it.
Ultimately, if Camelot dies…it dies. To everything there is a season. Do I think it’s dying? No. It seems to be doing pretty well over on Sorcery. Hm. Funny. It’s a move that’s been contemplated in the past and never quite happened. This recent bot issue… whomEVER it was that complained about the bots (and yeah, I’ll still call that person a cocksucker, whomever they are) to jinxi and got her to effectively shut the channel so no new visitors would stop in… was just the push that was needed to move.
It’s not a bad move. And if everyone would get behind it, it could be a very GOOD thing…
I get the impression, though, that the big issue here is ‘control’. People, for some reaon, seem to think they need to control the path the channel takes. And they aren’t realizing that it’s not something that can be controlled…it can just be monitored to make sure it doesn’t go in a bad direction. Guide, yes…control, no. Police the playground, make sure things are safe and clean… but don’t tell people what to play or how. Support the people who are policing it, whomever they may be. Or get the hell out. Period. QUIT the grab for control. It’s asinine.
Can we not pull ourselves out of the mire of loyalties to people we care about… step back, take a deep breath… and realize…
It’s ONLY IRC! You can still love the people you love, value the friendships you have, play, shape the direction of things…whether you’re ‘in charge’ or not.
Quit scheming… Quit talking about one another to one another. Quit complaining about each other… Nobody has driven anything into the ground. Nobody has ground anything into the dust. Nobody has kicked anyone out. Let go of the goddamned drama.
LET IT GO!
Get your heads out of your asses, collectively. And I mean that for ALL y’all.
I don’t want to hear any more about people having their guts twisted in knots because they’re at odds with people who mean so much to them.
It’s FUCKING WORDS ON A SCREEN and THE FIGHT OVER WHO CONTROLS THEM.
Think about that for minute. Then make a value judgement. What’s more important? Hm? Is it who controls an imaginary seat of power? Or is it the bonds of friendship that have grown and flourished from mutual respect and understanding?
Lighten up. Have some ice cream. Go outside and look a the clouds, or the stars. And figure out what’s important.
It ain’t IRC real estate.
