The Energon Pub

So sorry to hear about the resignation of Caelus. It's a shame that a few flamers basically ruined it for the hundreds of good players and posters on this board and in this game. But that is the nature of the internet.

I for one am not a huge fan of forum message boards. I find them to be just grounds for gossip and hatred by abusive little people. But I feel this needs to be said before HMW is taken offline completly. I think all the cliques and flamers need to just do us a favor and leave the game. Email or PM Ryan and tell him "Please remove or ban me from the site."

I am a loner. A loner that loves Transformers and fell in love with this simple yet addictive game. Please lets not have it ruined for the many by the so few.

Respond if you'd like.

I hate to say it, but I don't think any of the flamers are going to come forward and say, "Ban me, please."

However, having read your post, I'm pretty sure we all have the same thought in our mind. Do everything possible to save Heavy Metal War

I know some of these unpleasant posters have caused some members to disappear, but we can't blame them entirely. Some members have gone walk abouts until the arrival of V2 (I'm sorry I used that word, guys; please don't hurt me!), which obviously isn't/wasn't a great idea.

I seriously think the version we have now will have to do. Trying to upgrade HMW, let alone keep it runing consistently, is pretty hard.

Perhaps the next version will be a thing of the distant future, I don't know. All I know is that we need to get it on its feet again, which is difficult.

I hope HMW stays. And I hope more 'Bot players come back, too... For a pounding!

Not saying that i've never made a social fopaue on the boards. But when i did i took some self responsibilty and edited my post as some could have took it as offensive. I won't make any examples of this as i would only be adding to the problem. That said lets give the guys sometime to work stuff out be it game or personal issues. Things will work out no one is saying that HMW is done so be patient and enjoy some of the other parts of the site. Or the things in RL that you enjoy

Why do these things always happen when I'm asleep?

I'm sorry that you feel the need to resign Caelus.

I really thought you were an awesome mod.



On another note, I can't believe how much drama 6 inch plastic robots has caused on a website containing at least (if not more) 50% adults.

i for one hope that Caelus does not leave, i have always thought he was a great MOD,and brought good ideas to the game for everyone to enjoy,i for one will miss him a lot if he does leave. and i wish him luck in whatever he decides. I am a MOD in 2 sites so i know the stress it has on some,but my rule is when in doubt on a issue,ask yourself this,if i got to ask myself is this breaking the rules,than it is at some degree, and inforce. keeping a family type forum orderly is hard at times and requires a impartial view point. there is no getting around the blind eye of the law,heads always roll in internet forums,MODs need not worry about iffy rule guidelines, its the members whom need to worry if they break the rules at any degree.

Heavy Metal War is down until further notice

so i guess this could not have happened at a better time for me,so i dont fall to far behind the power curve. but i am interested in what Mkall is working on,and having it down for the last week or so was a plus for me anyways.
i have not been very active lately,my son got hurt on the 4th and have been at his side every waking hour,and will be until he gets better,as some of you on MSN already know some basic details. RL bites at times but Family comes first. I was going to goto Botcon this year to try and complete my HMW Team of canon cons,and find a few good TFs to kitbash for my forum name and 2 or 3 others that i used to have before the canons. I am a awarded WW2 model maker/builder,and i think i can due a great job on TFs,being with the overall total size of the TFs i have alot of room for small details,and modifications that i am limited with in historical WW2 battlefield models,other than non paint camo,and battle damage/ effects,or detail not found on the base model i start with,which is alot at times. a TF should be a fun change for me to customize out,and add extra detail too,but that will wait until i get the free time again and the extra cash needed for my hobbies.

Sigh. This was inevetable I suppose.
Please note, I have spoken to Caelus in depth about this issue and have been attempting to sort this out wiht various members of staff for over a year now.


An open leter to the administration of Sieberton.com, its members and all players of HMW.

Dear Sir,
'The RDD' (henceforth referred to as 'The Clan') is a group of adult Decepticon gamers who began as 3 members and has since evolved into group of dedicated HMW players with an active membership of roughly 30-50 players.
I joined the clan 3 years ago, and became active as one of the leaders early last year. I have since stepped down, but I am proud of some of the achievements the clan has made and feel we are judged unduly harshly based on a very small minorities actions.

Before I continue I wish to clarify these 3 important details.
1. WE DO NOT, AND NEVER WILL, CHEAT.
Find us a single example of a clan member who has ever deliberately broken the game rules and they will be expelled immediately. We do not, and never will, tolerate cheating.

2. We do not exploit the game.
In fact, certain members among us have been key figures in identifying and helping the admin to fix various loopholes of the game for the good of all players, not just ourselves. However, please note that we do feel quite strongly that information learned by hard work and evaluation of mission results should be kept within our faction. Everything we have discovered has been done legally and is known by all the decepticons (and the now predacons) who care to read it. It was our hard work that gave us this advantage and we have every right to wish to keep it to ourselves.

3. We give up our own time to try and make this game fun for all.
In the last 2 years, 8/10 of the games and tournaments run in GD has been organised and scored by our clan members. We never ask for reward or thanks and we do this becuse we love the game. We know we are not the only people to do this task, (Burn especially also works incredibly hard and is not one of our members), but we discuss these games amongst outselves beforehand to make them the best we possibly can, this would not be possible without the rest of the guys to bounce ideas off. Please also see the point above about tactical advantages. Almost all of them were discovered, and then shared, by us.

So, whats the problem then?
Pereodically there is a call for us to be 'banned' or we are accused of subverting the game for our own purposes, with an increasing number of non-hmw staff joining in even though they know nothing about us apart from the 2 or 3 'infamous' names.
I could point out that this is descrimination at its very worst, but I wont as that word has a different meaning depending on where in the world you are and would only be removed from context.

Bluntly put: We are a group of adult gamers.
We are addicted to an amazing game on a website that, whilst designed for kids, has a history of conflicting moderation standards and different converational guidelines depending on what forum we post in. For this reason large part of us do not post elsewhere on Sieberton.con. There are of course, other reasons; some of us, like myself, are not all that interested in transformers. They were great when I was 9 years old, but im 32 now and have otherthings to spend all my money and time on on; Some of us prefer sites with less restrictive content than a pg13 site and so visit there instead and some of us just dont get on with the rest of the overly expressive TF fandom as a whole. So, i put this question to you; why should we feel obliged to post where we have no interest?

This is where the RDD site had its advantages. The site we used to use had no censorship, no alternate agenda or desire to generate pagehits, and was simply a site where we could let off steam and relax with whatever colourful language we chose to use and in whatever way we wished, without fear of judgement or reprisal.
That was taken away from us without warning due to a member of staff (who we trusted to be honest with us)'s 'infiltration' and misunderstanding of its purpose followed by an extremely agressive statement where the entire group was threatened by one who had no idea of what the site was about, and no idea of how to address people publicly. It was an action bourne of rumour and, had we been consulted, could have been resolved easily without any of the ensuing 'drama' and bannings.

We have been hounded, harassed and marginalised over percieved infraction after percieved infraction. Most of the time we do not even know what we have done wrong.
Many of our members are free thinkers who like to debate, but when we do so we are disciplined or threatened. I went to great lengths to try and explain this to the previous games administration only to be completely ignored, yet we still try to prove otherwise to you.

Wake up Siebertron.com! The clan is not here to cause you trouble. We are not a bunch of crusaders trying to subvert the site. We are just a bunch of mature gamers and we are guilty of nothing more than trying to have fun. You have spent so long beliving the rumours that now you all you can now see is supposition and lies. We are adults, why is it so hard for you to treat us like that and not like hyperactive kindergarteners? TALK TO US!

If you have issues with certain members then approach them directly and be honest with them, if thye do not listen then they are the only person responsible for their actions, there is no great clan conspracy again this website. Please cease dragging the clans name thorught the mud for every minor offence and heavy handed retributal.


This letter is a personal plea to try and stop the rediciulous blame culture that has led to any problem with HMW, and by extention the rest of the site, automatically being regarded as our fault by the restb of the site and I urge the site/game admin to contact me if they wish to solve this problem, so we can finally bury this issue and return to enjoying the game when it is fixed.

(Sorry about the length of the post.)
Yours Sincerely,
Psychout.


RDD Members. I strongly urge you to keep your thoughts to yourselves on this issue or to bring them up with the groups leadership privately. Enough damage has been done already.

I would like to second every sentiment in Psychout's post. We love this site, we love this community - evidenced by the fact that I have kept coming back here almost daily since I joined in late 2003 - nearly five years ago. If I had any ill sentiment towards this website or its community, why would I throw away my time like that?
But I would just like to ask, please, that people, both staff and civillians alike, stop making the common assumption that any time a member of a clan does anything, any post or action or sentiment expressed, that this is something to do with the entire clan. If Member X of the RDD hates puppies, it doesn't mean there's an organised plot by the RDD to hate puppies. And if Member G of the RDD decides to argue what they see to be a fair point to argue, it does not mean that every member of the RDD is out to cause grief to the staff of this website.
I've made a point of ordering all of the RDD to refrain from posting on the matter of Caelus' resignation. This is not a reflection on our attitude towards the man (for one, because 'we' don't have an attitude towards anyone, and for two, if there is a general consensus between RDD members, it's that we like him and respect what he's done for everyone) but simply to ensure that there can be no grounds for an argument to break out over anything.
I would also like to personally ask Caelus to reconsider his resignation. I know it's his decision to make, and I don't claim to speak for anyone else, but I have really appreciated every advancement he has made in HMW and in player-staff relations. He doesn't use MSN so I don't have the same contact with him as I would with Mkall, so I doubt he realises how thankful many of us are that he has been able to fix elements of the game that have been troublesome for years. That kind of talent and the dedication I assume it took to achieve it will be sorely missed if he were to follow through on his expressed desire to stand down.

-Stefano

*Disclaimer* This is a statment by REDIMUS, not THE RDD.*Disclaimer*

I will not comment at the issue at hand, becuase I will say what we are all thinking and a shitstorm will ensue. What I will say is this.

I have run a few games for the entire HMW population, and they have been pretty well recived. If this constant RDD bashing continues, I will no longer do this. I can run games for the RDD only if that is what you all wish. I would also emplore the rest of the game runners we have in this clan to do the same.

Enough is enough.

One thing I have learned from being the commander of the AWC and going through the Dark Tidings Tournament, of the the low points in HMW and AWC history, is that the actions and attitudes of a few will stereotype the rest as the same. I know there are good RDDers out there, but it just that the "bad apples" that get weeded out first. Its our nature to exploit the negatives of situations. Do not let the actions of a few define you as a clan.

As for off site HQ, what is stopping your from restarting one back up or using the one that you had previously. This isn't HMW v2.0, which what was agreed on when we gave up the sites to be integrated. Yeah we have out own forums here, but I have very limited control on what I can do on mine. Heck, half of the AWC members can't even get to the forums because I can't approve them for membership. I say again what is stopping you from doing that again. I know it wouldn't stop me.

Evolution Prime wrote:I know there are god RDDers out there.

Do we really need to fuel the Decepticons' egos?

Yes, you do.

Evolution Prime wrote:I say again what is stopping you from doing that again. I know it wouldn't stop me.

That is somehting we have been asking ourselves for a long time.

Chances are it will be opened again soon, if for nothing else than so we can actually talk to our exiled members.

Caelus wrote:

Evolution Prime wrote:I know there are god RDDers out there.

Do we really need to fuel the Decepticons' egos?

I'm sure they already think of themselves like that anyways.

WTF?

Evolution Prime wrote:WTF?

Did I miss something?

One thing you all need to know. The staff does NOT hold the RDD as a whole responsible for the current events. We KNOW its the actions of a few that have made this debacle arise. The fact that they happen to be RDD, well, thats you not policing your own. You don't want the bad rap, then tell your fellow clansmen to unfunct themselves.

You think we mods are here just to trash the RDD? Get over yourselves. We have a whole website to worry about, and when HMW mods are leaving because certain individuals don't know how to act like responsible ADULTS, then measures must be taken.

I love HMW just as much as the next player, and its a shame that the game has to suffer because newcomers don't want to join since current HMW'ers won't let them in their clique.

Hell Im TRYING to give HMW more exposure. Im waiting for Burn to release the next HMW mag so I can FC & P it. And anyone can ask Burn, he and I aren't exactly drinking buddies. But I respect him and I respect what he's doing for the game.

You want Predacons and Maximals, you want MORE Autobots to battle with, then make HMW a friendly, welcoming place.

I agree with all above. Let it be known I left RDD out of my original post because I'm NOT placing the blame on them, only a select few. If anything is true, its that the posters and players that are the most offensive have no clan letters at all; simply Level 1's and 2's that think they can take over. But thats just my opinion, moderators may find offense in different areas than myself.

***DISCLAIMER*** This post is my own view, and not that of any of my fellow clanmates. ***DISCLAIMER***


I am just curious as to what this debacle is?

People will always come and go, for their own reasons. It is unjust to 'blame' the leaving of members on a group of other members.



Has anyone ever thought that maybe, just maybe, these people have grown out of tfs, and/or just want to get away from the computer for a long while and embrace their real lives?

Mods and such don't live solely to run the boards; they're human beings and, dare I say it, have better things to spend their precious lives doing than policing the internet.



It has nothing to do with the above post (but still my own opinion), but I'd like to make it known how much it sickens me that a bunch of adults from all over the planet can't play nicely together.

You get more cooperation between two kids that hate each other on an online game.


PM me if you wanna discuss any of the above, as I am never coming in this sad little forum again. It's all tears and drama, and it is taking the enjoyment out of HMW for me.

And this post is saved, in case there is any funny business. I swear my last post was edited.

I don't know what I can say that First Gen hasn't already said, though props to him for saying it.

This isn't an RDD thing. It's too easy for people to stereotype a whole group based on the actions of a few. I love HMW, I love the players here, despite many of their eccentricities (wow, can't believe that word got past spell check). I intend to see this through despite what's going on in the community, and hopefully when I'm done, the community can improve along with the game.

It's never an easy choice to come down harsh on a poster, and when we do there is usually a good cause to do so. Most of the time we don't make those reasons public either, even though at times they can be pretty self apparent.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the actions of a few won't impact the appearance of a whole group anymore. I'm going to do my best to make sure that these generalizations stop and hopefully this will make us all stronger because of it.

Jeep! wrote:

Evolution Prime wrote:WTF?

Did I miss something?

Sure did, but I thought I should keep the secret to cold fusion to myself.

Evolution Prime wrote:

Jeep! wrote:

Evolution Prime wrote:WTF?

Did I miss something?

Sure did, but I thought I should keep the secret to cold fusion to myself.

I'll give you weapon recharge times for it.

Mkall wrote:I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the actions of a few won't impact the appearance of a whole group anymore. I'm going to do my best to make sure that these generalizations stop and hopefully this will make us all stronger because of it.

Mkall, I have offered my support to you in running the game and asked you to come to me with any issues you have with the clan so it never got to this, you even thanked me for the offer, but then we see this:

Caelus wrote:Even now, you try to dig up a new moderator for the HMW boards, but it’s damn near impossible. Frankly, some of the best candidates are RDD members, but the aforementioned jerks have attached such a strong negative stigma to the group, they’re more-or-less eliminated from the running right off the bat.

What are expected to think?
We know the staff dont like us.
What we have always wanted to know is WHY.

I truly hope you are able to change that opinon Mkall.

This is a computer game, not the secret service. Just be honest with us and maybe we will trust you guys a bit more.

Psychout wrote:What are expected to think?
We know the staff dont like us.
What we have always wanted to know is WHY.

I truly hope you are able to change that opinon Mkall.

This is a computer game, not the secret service. Just be honest with us and maybe we will trust you guys a bit more.

By this response I can conclude that you either did not read, or just completely ignored my post on page 1. If you missed it, I'd suggest going back and reading it, if you ignored it, then you're part of the problem.

FG, you misunderstand my point.

You say its not a staff v clan issue, yet Caelus' statement infers otherwise. (Im sorry to drag you into this Caelus.)

In just trying to get my head around the confusion. You obviosuly do not know how much work and time I have put in over the last 6 months to try and settle this problem, and considering I have at times been the only member of the clan command who has persistently given the staff here the benefit of the doubt when so many have just left, im a little insulted at how little you have learned about this community in your 6 months as a member.

First off I'm not RDD, but I really can't fathom why they get so much flak. It seems to me like the staff seems to have a problem with them, and I've even seen what appears to be the staff actively flame baiting them.Ok, so this isn't an anti RDD thing. It's about the problem members of the site then. Ok gotcha.

How exactly is a PG13 theme of 2 lesbians kissing inappropriate for a PG13 site then? It sounds to me like a case of homophobia. And for me I'd rather not mix small mindedness and the internet. To be blunt this is the only reason I can think of that High Command was banned. Unless of course it was just an excuse to get rid of him. But the staff would never do such a thing. They're flawless and upstanding people. Mod's the word after all.

*braces for B&*

Jeep! wrote:

Evolution Prime wrote:

Jeep! wrote:
Did I miss something?

Sure did, but I thought I should keep the secret to cold fusion to myself.

I'll give you weapon recharge times for it.

I sent it to you in the form of Asian hookers and coke. I thought you would be able to piece it together from there. Now where are my recharge times.