An open letter to... everyone, really

"You don't play this class, your opinion doesn't matter here"
"You can't discuss this now, you'll just use it as an excuse to run something through later and pretend a bunch of people looked over it"
"You're not a dev, what do you know"
"You're the only one with this problem so clearly it's just you"
"Seriously, I play this class I'm an expert here you need to do this"
"It's minor, it doesn't really matter"
"I don't want to discuss this right now, so shut up"
"But I'm not a dev, you guys aren't gonna listen to me anyway so I won't bother"
"Stop whining about it and do something"
"Stop acting like you're the only one that matters"
"Oh hey it's forum stuff, whatever, automatically ignored"
"You're new here, stop pretending you know shit"
"Oh well this doesn't matter because it's a stupid example"
"Here's a stupid extension of your logic because I don't like it"
"You're thinking like this and that makes you an idiot"
"You're a fucking moron"

Do you see all this?

This.
Has.
To.
Stop.

This is not addressed to anyone in particular.
It is addressed to EVERYONE.

If you think any of these things sounds like a specific individual, none of it is.  These are not even things exclusively that devs have said, nor are they exclusively things that non-devs have said.  Neither are the targets of these kind of comments solely devs or nondevs.  I'm not even going to pretend that I am immune to this, or that I haven't said some of these things.

If you're getting angry because you think this is addressed to you, or you think "Hey I have an excuse to say these things", no.  Stop.  NOBODY, dev or non dev, is doing ANYONE any good when they say these things.  All you're doing is shooting down someone's opinion, and none of those things are valid.  In shooting someone down, you're prompting people to explode.  When you say stuff like that, the end result is that you're fostering resentment and discouraging people from putting things forward in the future.

There are a lot of people - even some of the ones who shoot down others' opinions - who feel constantly like they're being attacked, because of shit like the above.

This should not be happening.

It should NEVER be happening.

It should never have STARTED happening.

P:TTA is not a single person project, it has never really been, and it has come about into its current form because of the efforts of countless numbers of people.  That is how it is going to continue, into the future.  Yes, there is Stark at the top, and the devteam casts final vote on all major changes, but this does not mean that they are the only people who have ever contributed.  If you are reading this, then chances are, you've had something to do with making P:TTA into what it is today.  Thank you.

What I'm getting at, is this:

The line has to be drawn somewhere, and it is perhaps overdue to be drawn, because people are blowing up all over the place and it is ALWAYS because of idiotic statements that amount to "I'm ignoring you, lalala".  I am asking the line to be drawn now - for regulars, for ops, for devteam members, for IRC novices, and certainly not excluding myself - that we, as a whole, put our foot down on this.

Because people should not be feeling like they are being ignored or their opinions are being shot down without thought.  And nobody should be feeling like they have the right to do so.

Alright?

Because I think we're all sick of this bullshit, whatever side we're on, even if it's the outside.