Rath's Resignation Post

You're all pulling at straws at this point. Let's get the facts straight... and mimic zo's last post...

Did Hellfang do something stupid? Yes.
Was Hellfang making a nuisance of himself more and more over time? Yes.
Was it right for Dave to punish him? Yes.
Did Dave go about punishing Hellfang in the right way? No.
Will Dave ever admit that his decisions are wrong (most of the time)? No.
Does Dave ever think outside of his own opinion or the opinion of his crownies? No.
Will Dave ever listen to the playerbase? No.

With me so far? Good. So, with that in mind... why even argue anymore? You're all arguing just for the sake of arguing. We already all agree upon most of these things. It's fairly obvious.

Now, let's be honest... why should Dave listen to any of us? He owns the server. It's his community. It's his rules. It doesn't matter if his rules don't make sense or they are stupid or he doesn't follow them (which they are). He can do whatever he wants not because he wishes to, but because he can. It's like trying to argue with a deity, such as God.

You can say that your deity says that murder is bad, therefore it is bad and you shouldn't do it. Since he knows what's best (which is assumed of when talking of deities), it is only natural that the title and authority of law-maker/ruler is bestowed upon him. Let's just assume this is right. Cool. You cannot expect that deity to follow his rules for he is the rule-maker and what he says is law. He is law, therefore he can decide when that law is in effect and who it affects. In doing so, he is the only real law that is irrefutable and unchangeable. Therefore, your deity is the law. So, it is perfectly within his right to say that it is bad for humans to murder and mandate that no human may murder another human. It is also perfectly within his right to say that while murder is bad and shouldn't be done by anyone, it is okay for him to murder because he knows what's best. He can murder, not only because he says so, but because he can. He is "the one, true law" so he does not have to listen to the laws he bestowed upon his flock for he is not of the flock, but the law of the flock.

So how does this have to do with anything, you might ask. Think of it this way: Dave is the deity, TnB is his domain, and we are his flock. Dave has ultimate authority over his domain for he is the law-maker, thus making him the law, and so what he says goes, regardless of his hypocrisy. Now what about us, his flock? We are here by choice. We are here because we acknowledge that Dave is the ultimate authority and that TnB is his domain. We can disillusion ourselves that we have any control but in the end, it is up to Dave to decide what goes and what stays. He may decide what is allowed and what isn't. He is the deity, thus the law, of TnB. This is, in theory, how TnB works and how Dave probably thinks of himself.

Still, you're within your right to argue with him, but in the end, how will it change anything? Why would a deity dare deign to acknowledge that he is wrong and that his flock is right? Why would he admit that he has led the flock astray? To do so would be to acknowledge that his way was wrong and that he is subject to being wrong. If he can be wrong, what is to stop him from being wrong again? Why not all the time? This line of logic goes completely against the deity-flock relationship. The deity is always right, regardless of what the flock says, for being part of his flock is acknowledging that he knows what's best. So... what do you do when you believe your deity, your leader, is wrong? You leave the flock. You find another that suits you better. You make your own.

You are all here because you've agreed to abide by Dave's rules in his domain. To try and argue with him is to go against him and his domain. Therefore, you are always wrong, for he is the law-maker of his domain and, he decides what to do with the more troublesome members of his flock. The flock may bicker and moan about how the deity, Dave, was wrong or cruel or too quick to judge or a hypocrite, but just by the sheer nature of the deity-flock relationship, the deity will ignore his flock (for the most part).

Dave will always ignore the playerbase for his domain is subject only to him. He may listen to those he trusts most on decisions of importance. He may even partition power to certain members of his flock to reduce the amount of work he needs to do; he may do it to fool the flock into thinking the deity cares about them by tricking them into thinking they have power over the decisions of the domain. But ultimately, he decides what's best for his domain, not the flock.

So if this true and Dave truly sees this as a deity-flock relationship, this arguing is pointless. We cannot convince the deity, for by his very nature his word is irrefutable, unchangeable, nonnegotiable law. We can only try to convince the rest of the flock that the deity is wrong and that we do not have to follow him or a specific command he sets. He may punish the flock but if the whole flock rebels, he is powerless for his power comes not from his existence but the acknowledgment of the flock that he is the sole authority.

In order to break this cycle, you all need to stop getting on TnB. By refusing to get on TnB, you leave his domain; by leaving his domain, you leave the realm of his power; by leaving the realm of his power, you are no longer his subject; by refusing to be his subject, you are no longer bound by his laws; by no longer being bound by his laws, you accept that deity is not a deity but just a strong-willed person forcing a set of rules upon you. You end the deity-flock relationship. Why? Because you refuse to partake in the institution that enforces this very relationship. You take the flock out of the equation and the system fails.

Only when the deity sees that his domain is empty and that his laws affect no one, will he begin to see the wickedness of his ways. Only then will the deity acknowledge that he was wrong and that the flock was right. Only then will the deity realize that he is no longer a deity and that what he says is no longer law. Only then will Dave understand that no one wants to listen to him and partake in his community. And if Dave, even after everyone has left, still refuses to acknowledge the wickedness of his ways... it won't matter. He is no longer deity but another prophet spewing incoherent nonsense that no one cares to listen to or follow. He is just a man with an empty community, paying money for empty servers that no one gets on.

Stop arguing with Dave. He will never listen. Instead, show him you are willing to leave his domain, thus disowning his power over you. Find another community with a healthier relationship between the authorities and the playerbase. And if none exist? Make one.

Plenty of people hate Dave and would love to see him gone. Use that mutual dislike for him, a common grounds for almost everyone, to fuel a change. Don't talk about it behind the jail cells of Dave's domain. Communicate and network with one another. Be the change.

And if that fails? Well, at least we /all/ tried instead a select few. Do not make the mistake of GGL (who we would call rebels instead of those who dared defy the deity for what they believed in) - taking a group of the flock, but not all of it, to create another flock with different rules and different authorities. The few will not prevail against the many. Only when the many rise up against the few, will the few be defeated.

I hope you all hear this with open-minds but if you don't, I won't hold it against any of you. You will all make your own decisions based upon your own experiences in this world. It's up to you, all of you, to act. I know I am.

I apologize if I de-railed the thread and turned it into something that hinges all around me. It was not my intentions. I hope, instead, that this is instead a beacon that helps others realize the folly of TnB and act upon it, rather than talk about it. With that all said and done, I'm only as good as my own word... so this is my official resignation from TnB. This is me saying I will no longer be apart of Dave's flock. This is me saying "I will no longer follow Dave's rules." This is me saying, "enough is enough." This is me saying, "Fuck you Dave, you're an incompetent idiot and I refuse to pay any attention to you."

TnB was a fun experience and I wish you all had the same sort of enjoyment I had from it. I truly do because I've experienced some truly amazing things here but that time is long gone. A system, generally created to solve fundamental problems, can only last for so long before it becomes the problem. It's time for me, and probably others, to hang up the towel.

I leave you all with the words of Padmé in the Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith (a horrible movie, by the way), "What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists, and the Republic has become the very evil we have been fighting to destroy?"