Open letter to the IFM

[moD]

 

[Shanks]

  

34 minutes ago, Copa Cabana said:

I joined this server not that long ago and ever since I stepped foot in, I got amazed at the great systems, staff and players in this server on a daily basis. The amount of opportunity is surreal. GTA World is truly one of a kind server, yet it has one of the most dysfunctional Illegal Faction Management teams I've seen in a long while.

That's a very bold comment based on your time spent here and the knowledge you seemingly sit on, but sure - you're free to have an opinion. I just believe this is a very ill-informed and quite insulting one to have regarding a team that works so hard to provide decent illegal RP and opportunities for the server.

 

The IFM team works tirelessly day in and day out with requests and reports, as well as these pending factions to assure the server works, and that statement is quite insulting to throw out there when you seem to have little idea what you're talking about. But I'll address your points.

 

37 minutes ago, Copa Cabana said:

I should note that what I'm about to say covers the team in general and not specific persons in it. So, back to where I was, I heard MANY horror stories about the IFM but I never paid much attention to it. From ignoring some faction leaders on purpose to giving a little "extra" to the leaders you like. From influence of OOC friendships to removal of comments you didn't like. I've ignored that. But recently you've done something so brazen and open, something that shows what cess-pit you really are. I am talking about The Violi Crew and Agani Car-Theft Ring. Two LCN factions. Both of them applied for official status. One of them had just a few members, barely any RP screenshots and 1 month of existance. Another one had many high-quality roleplayers, screenshots that read like a good book, a lot of effort and time put into their game. Yet you picked the one with the few members and 3 pages of RP excluding non-screenshot comments.

Hearing stories and rumors doesn't mean something is true, and carrying these on with no evidence is a little over the top to me. Did you get evidence of these things? Feel free to report it to me and Notbond and it'll be looked at like any other staff report. We are not blind to the fact things happen - but it has to be reported. Rumors regarding some supposed 'horror story' don't sit right with me, but feel free to report it.

Calling IFM a cess-pit is again rather silly, but I'll let it be. Regarding these two factions, you can complain internally to us if you got specific concerns regarding a faction. I don't think you were part of the PMs I had with Agani as well as recent discussions after their original denial. So sitting here complaining on their behalf makes little sense to me. You do not know the details, you do not know the agreements we came to. They did the right thing, came to me with their reasoning and their concerns after a denial - we had a conversation about it and reached an agreement.

If you feel a faction is not up to par with what the standards should be in your eyes - feel free to report them instead of posting supposed satire or what can be deemed toxic comments on their thread. Admins will receive these forum reports and deal with them, whether it's an IFM admin or a regular admin means little to nothing, your comments should not be on a thread like that, it's not the place to complain or make fun of. You're not the first and will not be the last that has this happen to them. I can understand the frustration and opinionated statements, but put them in the right place, please.

 

Also as I see it's mentioned quite a few times or at least insinuated in places. Factions do NOT need to be an unofficial group before they apply to be a faction. You can apply without a group thread, this is stated many places.

 

[maramizo]

Just now, Copa Cabana said:

As per your first point, if I would be part of Agani, I'd be accused of crying that my faction didn't get official. If I am not part of Agani, I'm accused of not knowing the details and that I should just leave.

 

Secondly, the official status is a recognition that you are a quality faction that creates RP, that creates value to the server and is active. What I see in Violi is posting every now and then just so people don't think they died. There are many reasons why to deny them, but they never were denied.

 

It depends what posts you refer to. If I post something that's clearly against forum rules, any admin is well within their right to remove it. However, if I post criticism/genuine questions then it's just muting a member for no reason pretty much.

first point is fair, but i'm not saying that as an ad hominem. it's just the underlying issue that you don't have enough information to judge.

 

also — just looked at their faction thread, saw this:

 

 

then i remembered running into them

[18:17:43] Avondré Roberson says: Anyone ever tell yall you look like the Sopranos?

 

so, nevermind, i take it back. i don't know how they made it to official, but i'm not even sure where we could discuss this. i remember when i personally came out to start a black ocg and @Bospy quite literally said "should be ok so long as your names aren’t like Deonte Barksdale and Tommy Little"...

 

well..

[Beholder]

Honestly, I think people put too much prestige around the title "official". There really aren't aren't crazy amount of perks behind it, and working for the sole purpose of becoming "official" is..kinda...dumb. Faction threads are a place for screenshots and positive comments, etc. Basically a positive environment. Criticisms should be spoken to who you have criticisms about, and not to put a faction on blast in their home. Ive seen staff remove plenty of toxic, unhelpful posts on multiple faction threads before.

 

This thread is honestly snowballing into a toxic mess though. But this post just seems kinda....whiney. The "official" status doesn't matter and if you're going to talk about issues with IFM, there's probably much bigger ones at hand than which factions do and don't get a title that people worship too much.

[Yoak]

2 minutes ago, Shanks said:

  

That's a very bold comment based on your time spent here and the knowledge you seemingly sit on, but sure - you're free to have an opinion. I just believe this is a very ill-informed and quite insulting one to have regarding a team that works so hard to provide decent illegal RP and opportunities for the server.

 

The IFM team works tirelessly day in and day out with requests and reports, as well as these pending factions to assure the server works, and that statement is quite insulting to throw out there when you seem to have little idea what you're talking about. But I'll address your points.

 

Hearing stories and rumors doesn't mean something is true, and carrying these on with no evidence is a little over the top to me. Did you get evidence of these things? Feel free to report it to me and Notbond and it'll be looked at like any other staff report. We are not blind to the fact things happen - but it has to be reported. Rumors regarding some supposed 'horror story' don't sit right with me, but feel free to report it.

Calling IFM a cess-pit is again rather silly, but I'll let it be. Regarding these two factions, you can complain internally to us if you got specific concerns regarding a faction. I don't think you were part of the PMs I had with Agani as well as recent discussions after their original denial. So sitting here complaining on their behalf makes little sense to me. You do not know the details, you do not know the agreements we came to. They did the right thing, came to me with their reasoning and their concerns after a denial - we had a conversation about it and reached an agreement.

If you feel a faction is not up to par with what the standards should be in your eyes - feel free to report them instead of posting supposed satire or what can be deemed toxic comments on their thread. Admins will receive these forum reports and deal with them, whether it's an IFM admin or a regular admin means little to nothing, your comments should not be on a thread like that, it's not the place to complain or make fun of. You're not the first and will not be the last that has this happen to them. I can understand the frustration and opinionated statements, but put them in the right place, please.

 

Also as I see it's mentioned quite a few times or at least insinuated in places. Factions do NOT need to be an unofficial group before they apply to be a faction. You can apply without a group thread, this is stated many places.

 

 

 

[Copa Cabana]

Just now, Beholder said:

Honestly, I think people put too much prestige around the title "official". There really aren't aren't crazy amount of perks behind it, and working for the sole purpose of becoming "official" is..kinda...dumb. Faction threads are a place for screenshots and positive comments, etc. Basically a positive environment. Criticisms should be spoken to who you have criticisms about, and not to put a faction on blast in their home. Ive seen staff remove plenty of toxic, unhelpful posts on multiple faction threads before.

 

This thread is honestly snowballing into a toxic mess though. But this post just seems kinda....whiney. The "official" status doesn't matter and if you're going to talk about issues with IFM, there's probably much bigger ones at hand than which factions do and don't get a title that people worship too much.

 

No, the status isn't a huge thing but it behaves as a seal of approval from the IFM that the said faction is good and adds value, therefore it is a faction. Again, everything depends on the context and the posts. I agree that there are plenty posts that were just simply toxic and needed to be removed.

[maramizo]

1 minute ago, Beholder said:

Honestly, I think people put too much prestige around the title "official". There really aren't aren't crazy amount of perks behind it, and working for the sole purpose of becoming "official" is..kinda...dumb. Faction threads are a place for screenshots and positive comments, etc. Basically a positive environment. Criticisms should be spoken to who you have criticisms about, and not to put a faction on blast in their home. Ive seen staff remove plenty of toxic, unhelpful posts on multiple faction threads before.

 

This thread is honestly snowballing into a toxic mess though. But this post just seems kinda....whiney. The "official" status doesn't matter and if you're going to talk about issues with IFM, there's probably much bigger ones at hand than which factions do and don't get a title that people worship too much.

that's true but not really. many perks are hidden behind the official status. easier leeway of getting access to suppliers, avoiding literally being given CK perms on your entire faction, et cetera.

 

on the other hand, the real issue here was simply that i don't think it's clear what you could do if you disagree with ifm's decisions when you feel they've been unfair (i.e: someone making official but you or your friends not making it). not that i'd use a system like that because — again — from experience ifm's been very clear and to the point.

 

had there been a known channel, which shanks clarified a few posts above, then this thread would have been just shut down "bring it up to X".

[Y3]

include me in the screenshot

[DLimit]

14 minutes ago, maramizo said:

okay from what i'm seeing here the tl;dr is 
"agani car theft good. violi crew bad. violi crew get official, ifm bad."

 

my genuine take is, if you're not involved in that faction, and you don't know the details as to why they weren't accepted (assuming they even applied in the first place), then you simply don't have enough information to make a decision. ifm provide detailed information and are actually very descriptive for the most part when it comes to denials (this is from experience).

 

while there are still ways to go and improve (i have a very "unique" view on how ifm should operate — lore creation, special RP systems releases & integrations, that sort of vibe is what i think it would excel at) — i don't think their choice of who gets official is... tainted (except for the one time shanks literally posted his own faction as an official faction).

 

p.s: ifm have nothing to do with post deletion, that's forum staff.

"my genuine take is, if you're not involved in that faction, and you don't know the details as to why they weren't accepted (assuming they even applied in the first place), then you simply don't have enough information to make a decision. ifm provide detailed information and are actually very descriptive for the most part when it comes to denials (this is from experience)."

I generally don't have any major issues with IFM? But, around 1.5 years ago, their response to my thread was simply "Closed & Denied" with no reason behind it, alongside with refusing to provide me with an explanation.

I've had other factions accepted, afterwards, but there's been cases where zero detailed explanations were made.

It's probably more than likely changed, since then, but just putting my experience in there.

Edited April 28, 2021 by DLimit

[BINGBONGBALONEY]

Topic for another day but I wish staff had the decency to tell you why your post was removed instead of brushing it under the carpet like it never existed, how the hell am I supposed to know what not to post if you Thanos snap my shit? ✋👀✋