Droid Engineer Archive
Thread: Our DE Correspondent
See this is not entirely correct, he argues his opinions with us, but does not present his sole opinions to the devs. In fact there isthe example of the pirated thread between Drashk and THWhy would you want the most knowledgable DE to be a yes man for us. Where do you think that would lead us?
Tacoman667 wrote:
I just read that post and what a crock of gurreck poo. He should NOT be chosing questions based on what HE thinks will get answers, he is supposed to be the voice of US! That post just shows you that he is running the shots, for the most part, and not us.
Did it occur to you that he has been on these boards long enough to know what the questions that need asking are? That he knows the community?
And the bottom line is that he did throw open the discussion on what the questions are in any case.
I ask again - would you rather have an active, energetic corrorspondant who adds his own ideas to the discussion, and then takes the communities ideas to the devs, or a quiet corrorspondant who has his own adjenda, and hides it from the community?
Drashk has made it plain when he is speaking as a DE with his own interests, and when he is in the corrorspondant roll.
I have a feeling that TH said to him on the corrorspondant forums some thing like this - There is no way in hell you will ever get a cert system without expenditure of exp and skill points. Furthermore, we resuse to change every single profession tree in the game to allow for certs. Work with your community to find another solution, but don't tell them that this is the official SOE position or we yank your account. We can't have people knowing that we don't have the resources to do it right.
Tacoman667 wrote:
I have to agree with him to a point. Every time I see our correspondent post about the new changes, he says that HE feels the same as the devs about the certs being an non-functional choise and that HE agrees with the Devs that they should implement a DH profession. It seems to me that yes, he voices the words of the community yet still fights for his own opinions. And in being a correspondent for the DE's, the Devs will listen to him 95% more then reading all the thousands of posts made by us. He is supposed to be representing OUR views, not stating them and then fighting for what HE thinks the changes should be. I have seen too many posts recently with him fighting some of US over the DH position and saying HE thinks it's a better choice.
Just my 2 cents.
Sorry if I offend.
Tacoman, MDE Gorath
I hope Drashk has a really thick skin.I think he is doing as good or better of a job as anyone can expect.
You have to ask yourselves the question if is more constructive to continue to converse with the devs about what they are ALREADY PLANNING TO DO or just come to the forums and say "we don't like it and we're gonna quit!" one hundred times over.
How much better off willwe be with no correspondant for another month or more or to have no meaningful conversation with the devs at all because we don't like their plan.
If you start the cold war, we are all gonna find ourselves on the east Berlin side of the wall.
If any post deserved a one star, this is it. How ludicrous you sound. Drashk is doing a fine job and has a lot more information than the rest of us do over what the Devs will accept and what they won't.
I certainly hope Drashk can see past these obvious troll posts and can keep his cool.
Tacoman667 wrote:Sorry to offend.
No use saying sorry if you do it (offending) repeatly.
If you want to use the "majority" arguement, just look up. The majority of the posts here supports Drashk as the DE correspondent (although maybe not all his ideas). He's has proven that he can be counted to push the majority opinion and not just his own.
I think you are reading too much into his comments about question selection. Just trust him to be fair.
Good Job Drashk!
Since I'm pretty much persona non grata with Drashk (and all the other correspondents) anyway, I might as well respond to this. The issue at the root of this ethics. Not necessarily the actual behavior, but the appearance as well.
In my line of work, I deal with both vendors and customers on a daily basis. As a result of this, I have been given a list of rules to follow in my behavior with both. Some of these rules seem strange on the face of them, but the underlying goal is to prevent the appearance of bias.
Do I think that Drashk is honest and ethical? Yes. Do I think he has avoided the appearance of bias? No, or else this post and others like it wouldn't be here. As the DE correspondent he is certainly entitled to his opinion. As the DE correspondent, he should not be voicing it here. Especially at this time and on an issue that is so universally unpopular.
I think the deeper question is how did we end up with a correspondent that has such a divergent opinion from the majority of the people he represents. In my time as a member of this community, I don't think I've ever seen us united this strongly against one issue. Almost to a one, we all disagree with the DH/DC/DM concept. With one glaring exception. How is it that the person chosen to represent so out of step with our feelings on such an important issue? As a correspondent, you have to walk a fine line with the devs and especially with TH. He has shown in the past that correspondents who don't toe the line get put on the back burner. That's not to say that you have to be a "yes man", but you have to be careful how you express yourself.
I think again it all comes down to ethics and personalities. I don't think Drashk is doing a bad job. I think he's in a bad position. I certainly don't think he is not representing our feelings to the devs. Given the same circumstances with me as the correspondent, I would have probably gone out in a blaze of glory, but that, even though it would have been satisfying, would not have helped the DE community.
Tacoman667 wrote:
I just read that post and what a crock of gurreck poo. He should NOT be chosing questions based on what HE thinks will get answers, he is supposed to be the voice of US! That post just shows you that he is running the shots, for the most part, and not us.
Ok troll...how woulod you do it? The Dev's want 10 questions...with a forum full of users who have a lot more than 10 questions each...how would YOUreduces the hundreds of questions down to 10?
have everyone 'vote' on all the questions submitted??? That would be almost as stupid as your post. Its HIs job to communicate to the Devs the wants. desires, and needs of the DE community. Its also his job to ensure that communication is the most effective. That means he makes jugement calls on things like this. Since he has a LOT more experience talking to TH and the devs than you do..why don't you stick you head back up where it just was and shut the hell up.
GnomeAd wrote:
Do I think that Drashk is honest and ethical? Yes.
Agree.
Do I think he has avoided the appearance of bias? No, or else this post and others like it wouldn't be here. As the DE correspondent he is certainly entitled to his opinion. As the DE correspondent, he should not be voicing it here. Especially at this time and on an issue that is so universally unpopular.
Disagree. He has stated at all times which hat he is wearing - DE or
Many of Drashk's ideas are good ones - and even those that I don't agree with or like are at least well thought out. It was part of the reasons that he was chosen. He also has more information than he does.
Do I agree with all of his ideas? No. Do I think that they lead to productive discussion? Yes.
I think the deeper question is how did we end up with a correspondent that has such a divergent opinion from the majority of the people he represents. In my time as a member of this community, I don't think I've ever seen us united this strongly against one issue. Almost to a one, we all disagree with the DH/DC/DM concept. With one glaring exception. How is it that the person chosen to represent so out of step with our feelings on such an important issue? As a correspondent, you have to walk a fine line with the devs and especially with TH. He has shown in the past that correspondents who don't toe the line get put on the back burner. That's not to say that you have to be a "yes man", but you have to be careful how you express yourself.
Once again, I think that DH is not so out of sync as you think he is. I think that he just has more information - and given that information he formulates ideas that come as close to both meeting what I am petty sure the devs are telling him on the corrorspondant boards, and what we DE's want.
One of the fundamental problems here is that SOE treats us as users to be managed, and not customoers to be pleased. Along those lines comes the secrecy of the corrorspondant forums. So, I have a feeling that Drashk can't just come out and say, "The devs have said that there will be an easter egg hunt in hell before you get this - work with your community to come up with something else". Rather, he has to be circumspect about it, and say, well, I thought of this - what do you think?
Keep in mind - he has to pass the information from the devs along, but in many cases, he cannot. The only way for him to get around this is to propose solutions that he knows are closer to what the devs will accept, without giving that one so important reason - he already knows what the devs are plotting, but he can't come out and say it.
I think again it all comes down to ethics and personalities. I don't think Drashk is doing a bad job. I think he's in a bad position. I certainly don't think he is not representing our feelings to the devs. Given the same circumstances with me as the correspondent, I would have probably gone out in a blaze of glory, but that, even though it would have been satisfying, would not have helped the DE community.
If there is a lack of ethics, it is on the part of the devs for putting him in this position. The lack of trust on the part of the devs about discussion of in-concept ideas with the player base on the whole puts Drashk in the position where you beleive him to have aquired an unethical appearance.