Ok gang, crab your coffee or soda and get comfy because this is a long post.
From: Myrrh Massiel
Al, take a look at
this announcement. Saturday's SLSF meeting is an excellent opportunity for the community to nominate replacements for recently-vacated Summer 2006 SLSF Cup Committee slots, and finish out the SLSF's obligations for this season. While I personally am finished tilting at windmills for a while, I'll gladly support anyone else who wants to make a go of it - my working materials and advice are always at the Committee's disposal.
Myrrh. I do not think the SLSF meeting on Saturday is the right place to discuss the SL Cup. While we race under the banner of the SLSF, the series is a stand alone event and the two should be kept separate. Besides, we have plenty of things to talk about on Saturday that is the responsibility of the SLSF.
From: MarkTwian White
I must however ask one very important question. Do you intend to release the results of your investigation as to gross misconduct regarding the Cup? Anyone who knows you at all realizes that for YOU of all people to announce publicly that there is reason to suspect gross misconduct, there must be something very very wrong. Hopefully your departure from the committee will not also mean the end of your attempt to deal with the gross misconduct you have found.
Mark. I have been privy to all the results of the investigation inniated by Myrrh. Some very strong allocations were made. However no definitive proof was found. For me definitive proof is the testimony of two separate individuals and/or something in writing. So far, this has not been found. A person's reputation is a precious thing and should not be damaged with out due consideration and definitive proof. There is at least one more person to be talked to which I will do in the next few days. I will also get with Myrrh and get a final briefing. Then to be fair and as above board as possible I will compile the results and present it to someone outside of the SLSF for evaluation. I am thinking of someone in the Law Society of Second Life.
From: Pacifen Massiel
One of the benefits of not being a part of any committee and being completely untrustworthy to keep my mouth shut...
Now for Paci. Love you dearly but please do not talk about things unless you have all the facts.
From: Pacifen Massiel
There. That's how the SLSF Committee was formed.
Wrong! In the early attempts to organize the cup series it became apparent that the ongoing feud between SYC and VYC was going to make it difficult. However they were the dominant clubs at the time so their support and facilities were needed. With this thinking in mind the committee was formed. It was common knowledge at the time that I was a very active, involved member of SYC. So I was selected as a token representative. To balance me, we asked Oli to join due to his close association with VYC. So now the 2 major clubs were represented by people that could actually talk to each other. For the third person, we needed Myrrh with her outstanding diplomatic skills. So the SL Cup committee was formed.
Since the very inception of the idea for the SL Cup the thought of modelling it after the America's Cup race was paramount. From that concept flowed everything that has today become the SL Cup.
The format was a compromise to take into account all the clubs wishes. The original proposal was for a two weekend event. This did not go over well. So a joint decision was made to incorporate something akin to the Vitton Cup. As we all know the Vitton Cup spans many years and races. In SL it spans many weekends.
From: Pacifen Massiel
1. The dates for each portion of the series.
I remember Myrrh saying that by requiring four members to a team, she had hoped to circumvent any real life obligations that would keep any one member from attending on any given weekend. It was supposed to be okay to be missing part of a team. It was supposed to be okay for any member of that team to be able to race in the name of their yacht club, not just rally behind their one supreme racer.
Yet some weren't happy with the dates chosen because... some members of the team might not be available on particular weekends. So much for four-member teams.
Yes the four member teams were decided on to circumvent RL obligations. No matter what date we choose there would be controversy - such is life.
From: Pacifen Massiel
In the beginning, I was supposed to be a supportive friend for Myrrh and help with the Cup. That died about thirty minutes before the first Challenger Act when I discovered that spectators were not allowed near the course. Not hovering in a balloon right over the start line, not even on the ANWR rig nearby. I think it was nixing on spectators on the rig that did it for me. In a way, I had a similar view as the griefers so-called stance on the issue (from the SL Herald article on the event) -- ANWR was public land and you couldn't really stop me from sitting on the rig if I wanted to.
I decided at that moment that if spectators were considered a hindrance in the SLSF Cup, it really wasn't a fun event for me.
The spectator problem is an unfortunate fact due to SL not any desire of the Committee to keep the races from the public. The Tako's with all the physics involved already put a load on a sim. Add more physics and/or people and the lag, specially on the Open Space Sims, becomes unacceptable. Where possible, we tried to set up spectator areas in adjacent sims. If you have a better solution to this problem please state it. Till SL can handle fully loaded sim efficiently, I do not see a solution to this problem.
From: Pacifen Massiel
Because of this, I wasn't around for the talk that was passed back and forth about the griefing situation, .......
Oh, but I am aware of the debate on use of force by security. I know Myrrh was absolutely reluctant to allow any force, ............
There were decisions made that in hind sight were wrong. Of course hind sight is always 20/20. We did not expect the griefing that we got in Act 1. Subsequent to Act 1 I made arrangements to have Loki and his team watch the boats and a separate security force that would supply 2 people for every sims that we sailed through. It was the expert opinion of Loki that a larger security force was needed to provide proper protection. This idea was rejected by the committee. Another plan that we had that fell by the wayside was to have a referee at every mark, again following the new procedures of the Vitton Cup.
From: Pacifen Massiel
1. Some racers only want to know the windsetting so they can fine-tune their gestures for optimum sailing for that specific venue. In fact, gesture users are just cheaters. In fact, there might even be modified boats among the supposedly unmodifyable boats.
I, for one, deeply resent your statement that gesture users are cheaters. Older computers can not update often enough to control a Tako in a competitive event. For many months, I resisted going to gestures because I enjoyed using the key presses - gave me more of a feeling of sailing a RL boat. However I do like being competitive and not being frustrated, in the end sailing is supposed to be fun. I have a set standard gestures that I use in every event. By using gestures I can sail competitively and enjoy it. Now if I could stop getting lost on the courses and hitting land I would be really good.
From: Pacifen Massiel
The big controversy behind the scenes for the Fifth Challenger Act started with something I saw............
Since i was not at Act 5, my knowledge of the events is all here say and I will not comment.
From: MarkTwain White
The problem occured when a simple error in executing the ban took place which anyone who owns a sim will recognize. As sim owners Nber and I have the power to ban unverifieds. We do that by clicking a radio button to select one of three states: all avatars accepted; Those will payment records on file but not billed are excluded; and those with no payment record on file or billed are excluded. The group that SHOULD be banned was the third group. Unfortunately the second group got banned in one of the sims in the heat and stress of the moment. THIS is what caused the unfortunte banning. Which was corrected as soon as we discovered the error. I for one would have liked to see the committee NOT rule as the did on this. But this had nothing to do with SYC trying to target anyone which some innuendo has suggested. We apologized at the time and have explained this more than once. Yet snipping continues.
I know how easy it is to select the wrong radio button. I was messing around with the setting awhile ago and landed up ejecting a friend. Oops! Yes that happens and let's just laugh and forget it.
From: Myrrh Massiel
Heck, I take responsibility for that call. It was a bad call, we all realised that immediately and rectified the situation posthaste, but in the end I'm the one who was asked for final consent and, given that none of the other SLSF Cup Committee members were responsive to IMs requesting discussion at the time, I took the initiative of saying "Do it.", despite my own apprehension, in light of overwhelming and uncontroverted support amongst participants, staff, security, and Lindens present to ban unverified accounts.
We learned. We fixed it. We moved on. That's part of the process, and I don't think anyone's pointing fingers regarding the incident. But if anyone wants to point and laugh, if anyone still harbours a grudge, the buck stops here, on my shoulders and nobody else's.
Myrrh regarding your decision to ban unverified. I am sorry that I was not around but had I been I would have supported the decision 100%. So anyone who wants to take shots at that decision better shot at me too. I still support that decision and have every intention of bringing it up again at the next committee meeting.
From: Tasha Kostolany
1) The greifing (and a source of most of our problems) is never going away. Greifing needs to be Managed as a chronic condition. A wholly separate sub committee should be in place with chat channel to coordinate a defense during race days. Griefing should be handled by a chairperson other than the one trying to run the race- a person who has authority to make decisions and give orders to hired security. The ad-hock method of concerned observers and the over busy race committee administrator is not working. To successfully “manage” the greifing problem will go a long way in solving a big portion of the SLSF Cup problems. Without greifers, I would venture to say Myrrh would not have resigned and the inevitable tension between clubs would be manageable.
I totally agree with you about griefing being a fact in SL and we need to be better at dealing with it. I will get with our security force and work on that.
From: Tasha Kostolany
2) The idea that the various yacht Clubs should be left out of the process because of the SYC vs. VYC problems doesn’t seem to work. Representatives from each club should comprise the Committee as this should be a representative democracy not a benevolent dictatorship. Communication to the clubs would become much more fluid and instant with representatives present. The problems of bickering is a failure of TIGHT parliamentary procedure on how decisions will be made and a time limit on discussion before a vote.
After reading all the posts here I'm beginning to think that we need to develop a history of sailing in SL. At the time the SL Cup was started SYV and VYC were the only clubs active. BYC and FYC were just starting up. If memory serves me right, I don't think either had even run a race yet. One of the goals of the Cup was to foster new clubs and that has happened. The role of an organization is to recognize change and embrace it to grow. That is why i proposed a meeting of the Cup committee with representatives form each participating club to improve, adapt and grow.
From: Al Kaiser
In order to make these changes and any other the community wish to see. I would like to have a meeting with the remaining committee members and representatives for each team. By the way, I do not abide with "bitch sessions" so leave them home. The past only serves as a teacher for the future. The meeting will be aimed at taking what we have experienced up till now and making improvements to move it into the future. I would like to suggest Sunday August 27 at 3:00PM SLT at the Nantucket Yacht Club. If the date and time are not convenient , please list some alternatives and I will see if I can get a consensus. I would really prefer everyone in attendance.
From: Tasha Kostolany
3) Communications on the course at race day needs to be improved. We should take tools from RL and have a physical Committee Boat on site during the races from which signals flags can be flown to announce important developments (the committee boat could be nothing more than a 1 prim platform elevated over the starting line with signal flags flying – or even pre-made billboards - Alternately the committee boat could be nothing more than the starting judge attaching a flagpole to his/her hand from which they fly various, pre-made flags from their inventory) If a racer has been griefed the race should have a flag flown so that all participants know the race is in question. If a Race is dismissed a flag should be flown. In Real Life if a racer is protesting they fly a red flag from their boat – this can’t be done in SL as attachments to the boats can’t be made, but the committee boat can be informed that a team is protesting and the committee boat should fly a flag to that affect.
Again, I agree with your suggestion to improve communications. I too thought of a race committee boat and a flag system. However, I ruled it out for one reason - lag. With the new groups functions I propose that we form a group of all the participants and officials of the SL Cup. The group notice function will serve very well to notify people. Also we can have up to 10 functions so we could have subgroups. This is something that I will bring up at the meeting.
From: Tasha Kostolany
4) Team Protests - The committee boat should have at least 1 judge to follow the lead boats and watch for problems. The judge should have an open empty notecard ready and upon hearing a team protest make a mental judgment, NOT UNLIKE A BASEBALL UMPIRE, as to what his/her call is regarding the protest, then make a note of such in the notecard. The decision of the judge on the scene at the time, should be given preferential weight at the protest committee meeting and baring any complications should be final. The committee should only be used as a veto (2/3 vote) if needed or as a backup if the judge did not see the protested event. Frivolous protests would therefore be slapped down hard and fast and keep the process rolling. Huge amounts of time would be saved.
While your suggestion regarding team protest has some merit I am reluctant to add to the already established rule from the ISF and the Vitton/America's Cup. I would prefer if we review those rules and see how to better implement them in SL.
From: Pacifen Massiel
Of course a Linden would recommend the use of the payment information as a means to combat the griefing, but for reasons entirely unrelated to the SLSF Cup, I think being able to ban by payment information completely misses the mark on griefing problems in general. It is a joke to me, I still laugh, the reason I do is unrelated to the SLSF Cup.
I totally agree with the ban on unverified. I even do it on my land. Yes, I would like to see LL take a more aggressive stand on griefers and I think they are heading that. In my personal experience with griefers they are always unverified. Even with some of the information that has come to light in the investigation proves this even more. Why LL does things is not our concern. What is our concern is running a good race and banning unverified would be a help.
Well, I think I have made up for being silent for the last 2 months in one post.
I have one very simple goal. Make sailing fun. I will continue to do everything in my power to achieve this. Any and every thing that distracts from this, I will fight.
The Dragon is back! See you on the water.
