Pirates Ahoy! Sold Down the River
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Well I guess I can’t say I am too surprised especially after hearing about the private message play by play – which I am certain I only know half of the whole story.
It’s interesting that Mr. Boelen would take the stance he has, but in my mind he has kind of been backed into a corner.
He is a victim of himself – his own personality. You told me he considered your comments (novels), which shows a lack of both reading ability and attention span(ADHD perhaps?). His comments over the years about people not reading long posts, not having the time to read things, and then his own dealings with me where he failed to even read or process my own explanations of my behavior hoping he would see my side of things and prevail as a fair moderator to give me a second chance, a chance to apologize, or a “time-out” temporary banning for a period of time – reflect his lack of attention to detail and care about others or their opinions.This really comes down to a couple of simple facts which I have stated before in my threads on our previous dealings with him: https://buccaneersreef.com/forums/topic/full-correspondence-between-pa-and-mk/
Those two simple facts are:
1. This is all about HIS ego and other’s perceptions of him – he cannot be made to seem wrong about things ever. He cannot admit he is (or has ever been) wrong about anything EVER. That’s just the way he rolls. His pride is possibly at the egomaniac level I think – and this has cost him and our greater community markedly in both the past and present. So even though the incredible break-throughs that that Jeffrey has achieved with the new completely rebuilt engine have been offered up to PA!, he would deny all members and non-member enthusiasts of pirate games everywhere the experience of playing New Horizons and other STORM mods in the new engine. That is a simple demonstration of just how huge his ego is and illustrates his hatred of ERAS and me and his worries that it would be openly and legitimately promoted in the future on that thread. Why? This leads to point 2.
2. Mr. Boelen has erected a fantasy that he has wanted others to believe for sometime now. I am painfully aware of this fantasy, because it directly deals with yours truly – ME. He (and anyone on his staff who would side with him and believe him) have attributed nearly everything that has gone wrong on Pirates Ahoy! and their efforts for the last four years as being MY FAULT. Me – MK is responsible for the great schism on PA!, the fragmentation of PA! and the exodus of contributing members leaving or going quiet on PA! – and last the failure of the Hearts of Oak effort. I have been blamed for all of the spamming and attacks that have occurred on PA! for the last several years.
Folks, this is all a fantasy. I am not responsible for any of this – NOT ONE BIT OF IT! What pitiful pathetic stuff! What poor MR. Boelen cannot seem to fathom in that dim witted little mind of his, is that many of these horrible things that have happened to PA! COULD POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN because of his own complete lack of compassion, consideration of others, and HIS thoughtless shallow actions in dealing with both me and other members in 2013 – and in addition, how that particular staff dealt with people during that same time-frame in question when I was thrown out of the boat. This is like blaming the horse for going lame, instead of the bad rider for riding him ragged.
Mr. Boelen cannot consider even for a second that it might not be me that hurt the community, but that instead it might be HIMSELF and his actions/lack of action – that has hurt and fragmented the PA!/pirate gaming community so terrible badly.
If he made that one concession of good will and opened up that ERAS2 thread that Jeffrey asked for, it would be like admitting that ERAS and its creator (and anyone associated with us) are not the nefarious “Boogey Men” that he has made us out to be all of this time. He cannot admit this because it is an open admition of his own failings.I hate that this is even occurring because I am having a really rough time in my own life right now. My nephew who was a veteran took his own life recently and I have REALLY been struggling with this. Jeffrey can tell you that I have been depressed and shiftless for weeks. As soon as I returned from the burial, I began to try forgetting about everything bad in my life and jumped back into the game and porting in the ships Orazio converted for us.
I say again that without Orazio and Jeffrey, I would have given up this website and this mod. If not for them right now, I would pull ALL OF THIS down right now like it had never even existed in the first place! Thank you gentlemen for your contributions. They mean the world to me. THEY REALLY DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So this recent drama on PA! brings me absolutely no pleasure whatsoever – however I sort of see it as the KARMA I foresaw way back when Boelen refused to – or couldn’t be bothered with reading my explanations (“novels”) of my behavior or my attempts to negotiate for a better outcome and continuing relationship with PA! – I even offered to apologize – but he wouldn’t consider it at all and refused to allow me to retrieve my own PMs or contacts from the site – something I still am unhappy about because I was working deals with people for more stuff and contributions which would have been shared with everyone in the greater community when I was banned. I lost contact with those people forever. He backed me into a corner and now he has backed himself into a corner. Prophetic.
For humor sake I nearly posted a video clip from the first star wars movie of Princess Amidala proposing a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum’s leadership. However, I am not in a humorous mood, nor do I believe this is a humorous topic.
Last I would offer this up for anyone who is interested to consider. In any kind of IT development endeavor – be it analytical, simulations, games, etc… experts are going to surface. People are going to look to those experts and listen and depend on them to get things done. In addition, anytime a poll is taken to ascertain the desires of a given population, it is assumed that the desires of that target population are important and that this will help drive future efforts to bring about those desires.
A TRUE program manager wants everyone to get along, but not at the expense of second guessing the experts or the consumer population’s known desires. You can’t please everyone – nor should you ever try to. However, NEVER insert yourself into an argument without a FULL knowledge of what is at stake. By placating one group or another, you will inevitably insult experts and hurt the feelings of important contributors – and lose the trust of your target audience. THIS is where real LEADERSHIP is required. A LEADER trusts the experts to make the right call and does not compromise their expertise by relegating it and involving oneself in arguments better left to them to decide – without meddling or unnecessary commentary which does not contribute to the effort at all and is nothing more really than hot air. ….Hot air which is injected in an attempt to make the injector seem like he knows what he is talking about and is in some way contributing to the effort. Sometimes the best way to contribute is – TO STAY OUT OF IT and let stuff happen on its own. Make a course correction only when needed. All throughout my military career I saw men fail disastrously who micro-managed and tried to appear like they were driving the train – even through the train’s speed was pretty much set and the tracks were already set down in the direction they were moving.
The only exception to this IS IF – you yourself – are already a known expert and your own vision will be (THE)/a driving force behind the final product. This means you take the time to know in painful detail everything about the subject of development – IN FULL!
If however, you cannot be bothered to know intimate technical, historical, environment details yourself from reading books, manuals, visual media, etc… and/or “novels” – then do not play in the same sandbox with the experts who have bothered to take the time to read the books, manuals, and “novels” germane to the subject being pursued to become the experts. The devil IS ALWAYS in the details and the actual details CANNOT be ignored if one wishes to be successful in any endeavor of importance.
This all comes down to a simple matter of vainglorious pride (not the good kind) – the greatest of all the seven deadly sins and the one to which all the others derive from. I have spent a lot of time during my life looking in the mirror. Not to admire myself, but to despise and second guess myself. One of the reasons I no longer wear a military uniform or have stars on my collar now is because of that self assessment and always attempting to keep a good conscience. Sleeping well at night is very important to me.
MK
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by Jeffrey