Popular Post Horsecock Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 (edited) This one is a first, and hopefully a last, for me. I've never written a political wall of text, and don't intend to ever do it again after this. In fact, I usually try to avoid political flamewars altogether, even in the more extreme cases of scummy behaviour that need to be addressed for the health of the game. But I do care about this game. And this situation right now, I cannot in good conscience ignore. Anyway, here goes the first ever Horsecock political wall of text. This is an open letter to the Syndicate. First of all, the simple fact that I never did this kind of post probably means that many people (barring Alliance leaders I've worked with in the past) might not know my mentality and moral stances. So let me start this by giving you some more context. For the first time in the history of this game, we actually have a political landscape comprised of a set of (5 before Oasis disbanded, now 4) roughly equally-sized minispheres. That's obviously a good thing for healthy political dynamics. In this climate, I actually don't want Clock (or any sphere, for that matter) to ever team up with a second sphere against a single one (take notes, Tyrion), as that would be a despicable dogpile. These spheres are very much able to pick fair 1-on-1 fights, wars that are certainly more even than ever before. And yes, I did oppose the Clock+BW vs MysOasis war, that was very much not a war I consider fun. The war we had planned was Cata+HoF vs Mystery, a bloc far larger than our 2 alliances. As far as I can tell, there also aren't any "secret treaties" between any spheres at this moment. Sure, Steve (rest in piss) pretended Clockwater was one sphere, but we both know there was no love lost there. I also hope no one takes this post as evidence of any Clock-EMC cooperation. Until the extremely recent Oasis break-up, our 2 spheres actually considered each other obvious rivals. And at the risk of painting a target on my back for revealing this, I personally suggested that EMC should be the target of Clock's first global (instead of Rose). Why? Because at the time, they were the largest (certainly in the mid and upper tiers) and considered the most competent sphere. I place the utmost priority in striving for unconditional competence and in pursuing war as a means of testing and proving my group's skill at the actual game. Proving something to myself, most of all. I am a proud man with a straight shaft back, and taking on EMC would've been a challenge worthy of the Horsecock. That's why I play this game. I do not ever pursue war for political motivations, and I believe my track record very much shows that. And it's quite possible that I have personally started more wars than any other alliance leader in the history of this game. I know that many people don't share this mentality, and that some major alliances enjoy a playstyle more focussed on public grandstanding, finger-pointing and moralising, especially in times of war. I respect that, and I don't want to discourage it in general. In fact, these things do add spice to the political landscape and can make the game more interesting. A good number of alliances do also try to take political advantage in order to dogpile, instead of relying on ingame skill. But you, t$, take it way too far these days. The only other major alliance in my PnW history to act in a comparable manner was NPO, and I would've thought the overwhelming community opinion on NPO would be a useful pointer for shaping your own behaviour. It came as no surprise to me that, when I made a throwaway comment during the last global war about the surprising lack of political drama from either side - a comment responding to TKR and not mentioning any spheres or alliances - the only one who even noticed and got salty was a t$ gov member. Here's the problem: You habitually and aggressively dispatch your keyboard warriors (most of which are current or former high gov members) to every public "forum", be it this one or any major Discord server, in an effort to control the public conversation, spread your own spin and propaganda, and drown out the spectrum of nuanced opinions from all the other people. Both they and your FA leader's public announcements make use of the full arsenal of all the most toxic and disingenuous methods of political drama: Gaslighting, blatant hypocrisy, bare-faced lies and misrepresentation, malicious accusations, paranoia, conspiracy theories, self-entitled boasting, and of course simple flaming and insults. In fact, they do little else. That is the most common behaviour I and many others have seen from t$ over the past year or so. I could compile a long list of public shitstorms that t$ has sometimes caused, always amplified, and often taken centre stage in. At the same time, you act disproportionally insulted and outraged any time someone makes a negative remark about your own alliance. Unlike the vast majority of even small alliances, you seem to conduct yourself with a complete disregard for moral integrity, I'd go so far as to say even a complete disregard for personal honour and honour of your alliance. Of course this shapes the way your alliance is perceived and judged by others, and to pretend otherwise would be evidence of profound social ineptitude. While these behaviours were present in t$ gov for some time before that, they only became intolerable after the most recent resignation of Partisan. I had a lot of respect for Partisan's style and mentality, even if I did not share it. But he did actually try to talk and act with the purpose of making the game more enjoyable, and he put a very presentable public face onto your alliance. When he left, that veneer of moral integrity dropped, and t$ seems to have lost any temperance in controlling, and self-awareness of, how you conduct yourselves in public. You're not the only alliance that likes to dogpile, and you're not the only alliance that is afraid of getting rolled. But you ARE the only alliance that doesn't really even try to hide just how fragile your egos and just how petty your methods and motives really are. The events of the past year, leading up to this war, made it painfully obvious to anyone with even a shred of public awareness where your behaviour would lead you, and we all knew that you would reap your just rewards for it. In fact, I never even bothered to consider your sphere as a target for a Clock global war - not just because I never use political drama as a reason for war, but because I knew that other spheres do and would give you this war, without any actions from Clock. And honestly, this is a rather evenly-matched war, much unlike the 3 dogpiles you did in 2021. And once again, you act publicly outraged and resort to all the same PR behaviours that got you to this point in the first place. And yet you still made the decision to immediately give up and not even try to fight back militarily, despite being in a good position to put up a meaningful fight with real strategy. Do you really just want your wars to be as cheap as possible and never to even cause meaningful damage to your enemies, other than by dogpiling them when it's easy? You don't even want to be taken seriously anymore, in terms of competence, military might or even honour? Barring actual cheating, this is quite possibly the most pathetic display I've seen from any major alliance, ever. Please, t$, if you have any modicum of self-respect or concern for the health of the game left, I urge you to rethink your entire mindset. Reverse this escalating course of childish behaviour, and try to become the great alliance you once were. The whole game would thank you for it. If you continue on your current trajectory, then I strongly suspect that this game's community will increasingly respect or even tolerate you less and less. People are judged on their actions, and no one else ever cares about what you personally feel you are entitled to. Edited January 25, 2022 by Horsecock 11 2 2 115 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Krampus Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 TLDR? 6 3 50 Quote Inform Zigbir I have forgotten how to edit the signature field Please remind me how to do it post haste! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post namukara Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 2 minutes ago, Krampus said: TLDR? T$ bad 13 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post hidude45454 Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 2 minutes ago, Krampus said: TLDR? tl;dr read the damn thing and if you don't care enough to take it seriously I don't care enough to take you seriously 69 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post namukara Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 Would it not be possible to take T$ on as a prot, to try to teach them how to git gud when it comes to milcom and FA? I feel like they could learn from the experience. 25 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Miller Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 5 minutes ago, Krampus said: TLDR? It takes less time to read than for you to sell all your infra. 53 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JadenStar10 Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 8 minutes ago, Horsecock said: I know that many people don't share this mentality, and that some major alliances enjoy a playstyle more focussed on public grandstanding, finger-pointing and moralising, especially in times of war. I respect that, and I don't want to discourage it in general. In fact, these things do add spice to the political landscape and can make the game more interesting. A good number of alliances do also try to take political advantage in order to dogpile, instead of relying on ingame skill. But you, t$, take it way too far these days. The only other major alliance in my PnW history to act in a comparable manner was NPO, and I would've thought the overwhelming community opinion on NPO would be a useful pointer for shaping your own behaviour. It came as no surprise to me that, when I made a throwaway comment during the last global war about the surprising lack of political drama from either side - a comment responding to TKR and not mentioning any spheres or alliances - the only one who even noticed and got salty was a t$ gov member. And... we've hit Godwin's NPO Law 11 Quote Hammer Councillor of The Lost Mines Diety Emeritus of The Immortals, Patres Conscripti (President Emeritus) of the Independent Republic of Orange Nations, Lieutenant Emeritus of Black Skies, Imperator Emeritus of the Valyrian Freehold, Imperator Emeritus of the Divine Phoenix, Prefect Emeritus of Carthago, Regent Emeritus of the New Polar Order, Coal Duke (Imperator Emeritus) of The Coal Mines Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Alastor Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 7 minutes ago, Krampus said: TLDR? Just now, JadenStar10 said: And... we've hit Godwin's NPO Law Pretty ironic in a post that explicitly calls out t$'s shittier FA practices such as dispatching keyboard warriors to decry everything against them in a public forum... The first posts are dismissive rather than any attempt to engage or dispute the post. 1 4 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krampus Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 Just now, Justinian the Great said: Pretty ironic in a post that explicitly calls out t$'s shittier FA practices such as dispatching keyboard warriors to decry everything against them in a public forum... The first posts are dismissive rather than any attempt to engage or dispute the post. I'm not going to entertain anything that calls any alliance NPO-like lmao >NPO would be a useful pointer for shaping your own behaviour 2 18 Quote Inform Zigbir I have forgotten how to edit the signature field Please remind me how to do it post haste! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post WarriorSoul Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 1 minute ago, Krampus said: NPO would be a useful pointer for shaping your own behaviour it's honestly pathetic how you've taken this line out of context, and your fixation on this line in particular literally goes to prove his point 3 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post zigbigadorlou Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 (edited) Alright krampus isn't allowed to ask tl;dr, but as someone that can't read, this wall of text rant is nearly impenetrable. Edited January 25, 2022 by zigbigadorlou 1 13 1 Quote Hey Krampus, the signature edit is under account settings. Actually, here's the link. https://forum.politicsandwar.com/index.php?/settings/signature/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post namukara Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 Just now, zigbigadorlou said: Alright krampus isn't allowed to ask to;dt, but as someone that can't read, this wall of text rant is nearly impenetrable. I'm literally blind and I got through it fine. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigbigadorlou Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 7 minutes ago, namukara said: I'm literally blind and I got through it fine. You use a tts program? That honestly might help with something like this. 3 3 1 Quote Hey Krampus, the signature edit is under account settings. Actually, here's the link. https://forum.politicsandwar.com/index.php?/settings/signature/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post namukara Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 2 minutes ago, zigbigadorlou said: You use a tts program? That honestly might help with something like this. Yes it's called a screen reader, it reads the screen. I hear that sighted people have one built in though. 4 44 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Mayor Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 tS sadly won't take this to heart, imho they have long since passed the point of no return. But I pray someday they will see the light. Horsecock speaks the truth and sometimes that is hard to hear. Also... Join #DNN for based news and exclusive high-tier access to secret intelligence the biggest spheres don't want you to know! 1 22 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indger Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 47 minutes ago, Krampus said: TLDR? Well WoTs don't have a TLDR imo, that's why they are called WoT 53 minutes ago, Horsecock said: This one is a first, and hopefully a last, for me. I've never written a political wall of text, and don't intend to ever do it again after this. In fact, I usually try to avoid political flamewars altogether, even in the more extreme cases of scummy behaviour that need to be addressed for the health of the game. But I do care about this game. And this situation right now, I cannot in good conscience ignore. Anyway, here goes the first ever Horsecock political wall of text. This is an open letter to the Syndicate. First of all, the simple fact that I never did this kind of post probably means that many people (barring Alliance leaders I've worked with in the past) might not know my mentality and moral stances. So let me start this by giving you some more context. For the first time in the history of this game, we actually have a political landscape comprised of a set of (5 before Oasis disbanded, now 4) roughly equally-sized minispheres. That's obviously a good thing for healthy political dynamics. In this climate, I actually don't want Clock (or any sphere, for that matter) to ever team up with a second sphere against a single one (take notes, Tyrion), as that would be a despicable dogpile. These spheres are very much able to pick fair 1-on-1 fights, wars that are certainly more even than ever before. And yes, I did oppose the Clock+BW vs MysOasis war, that was very much not a war I consider fun. The war we had planned was Cata+HoF vs Mystery, a bloc far larger than our 2 alliances. As far as I can tell, there also aren't any "secret treaties" between any spheres at this moment. Sure, Steve (rest in piss) pretended Clockwater was one sphere, but we both know there was no love lost there. I also hope no one takes this post as evidence of any Clock-EMC cooperation. Until the extremely recent Oasis break-up, our 2 spheres actually considered each other obvious rivals. And at the risk of painting a target on my back for revealing this, I personally suggested that EMC should be the target of Clock's first global (instead of Rose). Why? Because at the time, they were the largest (certainly in the mid and upper tiers) and considered the most competent sphere. I place the utmost priority in striving for unconditional competence and in pursuing war as a means of testing and proving my group's skill at the actual game. Proving something to myself, most of all. I am a proud man with a straight shaft back, and taking on EMC would've been a challenge worthy of the Horsecock. That's why I play this game. I do not ever pursue war for political motivations, and I believe my track record very much shows that. And it's quite possible that I have personally started more wars than any other alliance leader in the history of this game. I know that many people don't share this mentality, and that some major alliances enjoy a playstyle more focussed on public grandstanding, finger-pointing and moralising, especially in times of war. I respect that, and I don't want to discourage it in general. In fact, these things do add spice to the political landscape and can make the game more interesting. A good number of alliances do also try to take political advantage in order to dogpile, instead of relying on ingame skill. But you, t$, take it way too far these days. The only other major alliance in my PnW history to act in a comparable manner was NPO, and I would've thought the overwhelming community opinion on NPO would be a useful pointer for shaping your own behaviour. It came as no surprise to me that, when I made a throwaway comment during the last global war about the surprising lack of political drama from either side - a comment responding to TKR and not mentioning any spheres or alliances - the only one who even noticed and got salty was a t$ gov member. Here's the problem: You habitually and aggressively dispatch your keyboard warriors (most of which are current or former high gov members) to every public "forum", be it this one or any major Discord server, in an effort to control the public conversation, spread your own spin and propaganda, and drown out the spectrum of nuanced opinions from all the other people. Both they and your FA leader's public announcements make use of the full arsenal of all the most toxic and disingenuous methods of political drama: Gaslighting, blatant hypocrisy, bare-faced lies and misrepresentation, malicious accusations, paranoia, conspiracy theories, self-entitled boasting, and of course simple flaming and insults. In fact, they do little else. That is the most common behaviour I and many others have seen from t$ over the past year or so. I could compile a long list of public shitstorms that t$ has sometimes caused, always amplified, and often taken centre stage in. At the same time, you act disproportionally insulted and outraged any time someone makes a negative remark about your own alliance. Unlike the vast majority of even small alliances, you seem to conduct yourself with a complete disregard for moral integrity, I'd go so far as to say even a complete disregard for personal honour and honour of your alliance. Of course this shapes the way your alliance is perceived and judged by others, and to pretend otherwise would be evidence of profound social ineptitude. While these behaviours were present in t$ gov for some time before that, they only became intolerable after the most recent resignation of Partisan. I had a lot of respect for Partisan's style and mentality, even if I did not share it. But he did actually try to talk and act with the purpose of making the game more enjoyable, and he put a very presentable public face onto your alliance. When he left, that veneer of moral integrity dropped, and t$ seems to have lost any temperance in controlling, and self-awareness of, how you conduct yourselves in public. You're not the only alliance that likes to dogpile, and you're not the only alliance that is afraid of getting rolled. But you ARE the only alliance that doesn't really even try to hide just how fragile your egos and just how petty your methods and motives really are. The events of the past year, leading up to this war, made it painfully obvious to anyone with even a shred of public awareness where your behaviour would lead you, and we all knew that you would reap your just rewards for it. In fact, I never even bothered to consider your sphere as a target for a Clock global war - not just because I never use political drama as a reason for war, but because I knew that other spheres do and would give you this war, without any actions from Clock. And honestly, this is a rather evenly-matched war, much unlike the 3 dogpiles you did in 2021. And once again, you act publicly outraged and resort to all the same PR behaviours that got you to this point in the first place. And yet you still made the decision to immediately give up and not even try to fight back militarily, despite being in a good position to put up a meaningful fight with real strategy. Do you really just want your wars to be as cheap as possible and never to even cause meaningful damage to your enemies, other than by dogpiling them when it's easy? You don't even want to be taken seriously anymore, in terms of competence, military might or even honour? Barring actual cheating, this is quite possibly the most pathetic display I've seen from any major alliance, ever. Please, t$, if you have any modicum of self-respect or concern for the health of the game left, I urge you to rethink your entire mindset. Reverse this escalating course of childish behaviour, and try to become the great alliance you once were. The whole game would thank you for it. If you continue on your current trajectory, then I strongly suspect that this game's community will increasingly respect or even tolerate you less and less. People are judged on their actions, and no one else ever cares about what you personally feel you are entitled to. And i agree with all you say abt T$ FA etc. Well written. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Thalmor Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 The Syndicate is insolvent, folks! The Judge already said 'no' to a Chapter 7, and a Chapter 13 might not even be enough to bail them out! Will the local DA press federal charges????? 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palps Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 14 minutes ago, Thalmor said: The Syndicate is insolvent, folks! The Judge already said 'no' to a Chapter 7, and a Chapter 13 might not even be enough to bail them out! Will the local DA press federal charges????? Morally bankrupt as well. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post His Holy Decagon Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 If this isn't the most accurate and well written post we've had in ages, nothing is. 1 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kurdanak Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 It'd be neat if you posted like this more often, HC - but I don't blame you for avoiding it. Whether one agrees with it or not, well said, indeed. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Artifex Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 I agree with a lot that was typed, and I'm glad someone typed it T$ does all they can to control the narrative, the best t$ leader was Partisan, and t$ throwing the current global is possibly the most childish alliance wide action taken in PnW history T$ plz, you used to have an air of prestige about you lot, something to aspire to, but now it seems you've rested on your laurels and even decided to take a dump 19 Quote Love you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Cooper_ Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 1 hour ago, Horsecock said: ** (enter wall of text here) ** I will say that I am a major fan of walls of text. We need more of these. Well done sir. Just one point I'd like to add though is that I think there's more culpability than just T$ itself. We as a community have enabled the kind of behavior that they've done for roughly 2 years now. That includes myself when I've hid in backchannels lamenting some poor folks getting some nasty responses and the "RON treatment," but allowing it to happen because it was more politically beneficial to keep a straight face. That isn't also to say I haven't received my fair share of nastiness directly to me, and I've called folks out on it when I was FA. But there's a lot more to be done. To me, the call to action is more than just T$ improving on its FA style but also reengaging as a community in a healthier way. One way that starts is bringing most of politics back to the forums where people (like you just did) can have time to type out reasonable and logical arguments instead of the who-can-type-faster battles you've got on discord with little substance. I think the OWF serves as a much better grand stage, and we should utilize it more effectively. RON and radio shows are great additions to our community, but everything has its limits. Personally, I would love to see a return to elaborative and constructive debates on political issues and the state of the game. tl;dr: Bring Back the OWF Walls of Text! 7 2 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Kosta Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 Regardless of your opinion on this post, Horsecock has written an articulate and well thought out piece. It deserves a good response. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Uncle Iroh Posted January 25, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted January 25, 2022 2 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramona Posted January 25, 2022 Share Posted January 25, 2022 I'll add my 2 cents here ig as thof FA head, I would add more but Horsecock has hit every point as far as I recall. Anyways yeah, talking to Syndi/about Syndi has felt like walking on eggshells for these past few months, though I doubt I needed to say that here if you've ever said something slightly negative about Syndi in a public channel lately. tldr; i hate reading and im guessing if youre reading this you do too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.