The Tech Admin Position (a historical perspective)

[AcadiusLost]

Forgive me if this goes longwinded.

As some of you may know, I have been ALFA's Tech admin since a while before we went Live under the NWN2 platform. For many of you, this may represent the duration of your experience with ALFA. For the duration of this span, the Tech department (such as it was) has worked quietly and consistently to keep the server(s) up and working, through game patches that broke or changed key elements, loss of hosting hardware or connections, new servers coming live, etc. We have thankfully not seen much in the way of disputes between Admin, controversy regarding changes to game content, or the like.

ALFA has not always been this way. During much of ALFA's NWN1 time, the tech admin was Murky Majere. There may have been a time (prior to Oct 2004, when I joined ALFA), in which Murky was an excellent Tech Admin. By that time, though, the server he was HDM for (Shadowdale) was already quite neglected. Murky did not trust most of his own DMs with copies of the module, for fear they would exploit it, so bugs could not be fixed, for the most part. Players (like myself) who tried to work around the bugs in-game were essentially called out as cheaters and exploiters. He was by turns outwardly friendly, or furiously angry. His server included many features and systems he had developed that were never shared with the other Live servers, apparently at least in part so he could claim his server was better than all others. When he did release new core content for ALFA, the specifics and ramifications of that new content tended to be a mystery to players, DMs, and builders alike until they were already in circulation (and often, for a while afterward). At times this caused a great deal of frustration for those active HDMs and build teams trying to keep their servers functional and working on the current haks.

Eventually, it essentially took a mutiny of the entire DM staff to allow Shadowdale to receive a new HDM, and for a new Tech Admin to stand for election. Murky had been the angry dictator of ALFA's tech for so long, that no one had really dared to run against him in recent memory. People just assumed that putting up with this difficult situation was necessary, lest ALFA grind to a halt.

Ronan was that candidate, who stood against Murky for Tech Admin, and won. It is hard to convey what a profound change it was to have the basic core scripts and systems governed by a reasonable, level-headed, and active Admin. Major bugs got fixed, new versions of haks were released, and we moved rapidly towards the NWN2 transition.

Ronan and Cipher were the two visionaries who tried to build a solid platform to start from scratch for NWN2, entirely rewriting systems that gave us continual headaches in NWN1, implementing open-source techniques and sensible documentation and organizational schemes for hak content. The scope of their plans for NWN2 was both staggering, and inspiring. Although I was one of those who viewed the NWN2 transition quite warily, I found myself wanting to help with the project mostly out of respect for Ronan and what he was trying to accomplish with it.

Eventually, burnout and RL caught up with Ronan, and the mantle of Tech Admin passed to Cipher. Cipher, too, became very busy outside of the game, so more and more was delegated to me. By the time the NWN2-Live push was ready, Cipher had retired from ALFA, and I had somewhat reluctantly stepped up in his place.

All through the span of NWN2-ALFA, I had quietly hoped to see the return of a Cipher or a Ronan, to whom I felt I could pass the reins without worrying about the future of the ALFA. Cipher has checked back a few times subsequently, but he is now happily developing a PW based on George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones series, and finding it more personally satisfying than his time in ALFA. I wish him the best.

The recent reappearance and re-engagement of Ronan with ALFA has been the single most encouraging thing I have seen in recent memory. I was thrilled to see him collaborating smoothly with Zelknolf, Paazin, and Basilica. In those four, I believe we have a very strong Tech department, which can bring many needed improvements to ALFA. I have confidence in Ronan's judgement and ability to discuss and compromise where necessary, and I feel he can responsibly manage full access to all our central resources (Live servers, character vault, persistency databases, all private forums), as the Tech Admin is at times called upon to do.

This is why I will be voting for Ronan, for the Tech Admin position.

[Zelknolf]

I cannot help but answer this particular post, as it leaves out incredibly pertinent information.

I do believe that it is worth noting that Cipher did not show himself to be a fair or effective technical administrator-- indeed, he demanded that we cut all support for Neverwinter Nights 1 while we still had three live and active servers, and quit the post not to pursue another project, but because he was challenged for his gross mismanagement of the position by NWN1's player base. Frankly, Acadius' decision to invoke him as an example of a good administrator has me questioning his judgment-- wondering whether his opinion has to do with who would be good at the job or if it has to do with who his friends are.

I also believe that it is worth noting that Acadius had a conversation with me before the start of this election cycle, specifically to say that he would not vote for me. There was no other candidate at the time, and we did not know if there would be. Ronan was saying that he did not want to run against me, but Acadius threatened to take another term as TA with similar levels of activity (successfully, it seems) if Ronan did not run against me. I suppose he can claim here that this is about supporting Ronan, but his own words speak the opposite-- ironically after condemning Murky for conflating his personal feelings with the wellbeing of ALFA.

Acadius has, historically been quick to condemn the work of contributors and found ways to block the content we put forth, most commonly by asking that it be "put before Standards" (which, as any who has been active in ALFA for more than a month knows, is a death sentence for any change-- let alone an enhancement). He has-- again in great irony-- scolded me for believing that others are misusing the game, claiming it necessary to give people the benefit of the doubt, while accusing me of the very same. He has directly told me that an opponent in a dispute was clearly in the wrong, but would not support me, while claiming the value of an impartial TA who is above "acrimony" whenever possible.



In my Q&A thread, Rotku asked me how I "get on" with the current admin, and how that will affect my ability to work with them. I wanted to be a decent person and just portray it all as my artistic temperament-- and note that I've gotten a lot better at coping with it; for most people, that's exactly true. But now that this post exists, I'll be more direct. There is a person in ALFA who wounds me repeatedly, who destroys my projects and spurns me for creativity, who makes illustration time and again that he is willing to resort to incredibly unsavory tactics to see me fail.

Acadius is my example. From 2005 to the Spring of 2009 and from Autumn 2010 to the present I have successfully worked with the single person in ALFA who has hurt me the most.

That is why I believe him wrong on every count presented, in public and private, and why I put forward my candidacy against his insistence.

[maxcell]

Well that was fucking petty Zelknof.

[NESchampion]

I don't particularly view it as petty. The insinuation that underlines AL's OP is that Zelknolf is not what Ronan is (in ALs view).

When he states that "All through the span of NWN2-ALFA, I had quietly hoped to see the return of a Cipher or a Ronan, to whom I felt I could pass the reins without worrying about the future of the ALFA" it seems fairly apparent that he does not feel he can pass the reins to Zerknolf without worrying about the future of ALFA. After all, he ran in opposition to her last May, a fairly close election, and he could've passed the reins then if he felt differently.

When he states that "I have confidence in Ronan's judgement and ability to discuss and compromise where necessary, and I feel he can responsibly manage full access to all our central resources (Live servers, character vault, persistency databases, all private forums), as the Tech Admin is at times called upon to do" it is almost implied that he does not have the same confidence in Zelknolf's judgement or in her to responsibly manage ALFAs resources.

[Audark]

When in an election campaign a candidate has every reason to respond to a post such as this. How others view the initial post, as well as Zelknolf's response will inform the voting when the time comes.

As for openly judging both the initial post and response right now, I would see that as unnecessary and disruptive. It will be judged by the vote that is to come and for folks to comment further and turn this thread into a fight aids no one.

AL and Zelk have spoken their minds, I suggest we leave it there

[Rotku]

AL and Zelk have spoken their minds, I suggest we leave it there

Well spoken, Audark.