Open message to the LearnNaviyä Soiai (LearnNavi Family)

[Toruk Makto]

Ma Oeyä eylan,

Something happened yesterday. Something that is very unfortunate and the result of a rare, but bad case of miscommunication.

There was a topic on the CosPlay board that LN founder Payoang posted that was supposed to derisively point out how another website was using pictures of our members with rude captions. The problem is that Payoang's post wasn't very clear on how he was disapproving of that and it came out sounding like he was somehow supporting it. I have talked to Payoang and for the record, he was not.

Yesterday evening I received several emails from members and moderators about this posting and after looking at it, I just deleted the whole thread. It should have ended there, but it didn't and that is my fault. I wanted to take this opportunity to let everyone know what happened next and why.

I spend most of my time with the Na'vi Language and the Ecology and Indigenous Cultures boards and rarely venture into the realm of the cosplay board. Because of this, I am not as familiar with our eylan on those boards as I should be - including Kxeyey. After I deleted the thread with the photos, I did a quick search to see if it was referenced anywhere else so I could make a note there to avoid confusion. What I found was half a dozen posts from Kxeyey pointing out the thread to lots of people and using terminology that in my mind was damaging to LearnNavi (example quote: "....since no one else seems to be working on informing anyone their photos are in this damn website ... ill do it  check this s*** out ...."). After reflection, I am now pretty sure she didn't mean "this damned LearnNavi website", but I didn't get that at the time. I was not sure how many other posts she may have made that didn't show in the search. Kxeyey had already stated she was voluntarily deleting her own account and since one of the options in the SMF Admin tools is to delete an account and include deleting posts from the account at the same time, I went ahead and clicked that box and deleted the account. The temporary ban on her IP and email address I placed is something I always do when deleting an account since I have had bad experiences in the past (on other forums that I run) of people coming back under new accounts to continue a campaign of posting negative messages. I assumed that LN was at risk of this.

Here is where the perfect storm dropped a load of thunder and lightning strikes. Kxeyey is a very popular member of the fan forums. I should have known this, but I didn't: Strike one. She had stated she was deleting her account anyway, so I went ahead and deleted it for her: Strike two. The temporary safety ban looked like I was slamming the door after her: Strike three.

Damn, but I feel like an ogre. Nothing I did was intended to be vindictive or hostile, instead I was protecting LearnNavi the best way I knew with the information I had. The situation was communicated to me as rapidly getting out of hand, so I acted rapidly.

I want people to know my mindset here. Avatar and the Na'vi language has had a profound impact on my life. So profound that when Sebastian created the LearnNavi world we love so much, I jumped in to help. When the old virtual server starting failing under the load of visitors back in March, I rented a dedicated server at a high-end data center in Los Angeles for the site at a cost of over a thousand dollars a year that mostly comes out of my own pocket - and that I am happy to provide. So you can understand that my overly-protective mindset comes from my love of Avatar, Na'vi and this community. Among any resource you can name on the internet, LearnNavi stands at the top in terms of the dedication and enthusiasm of it's membership. And it's civility and maturity.

Keeping that firmly in mind, the staff of LearnNavi.org is in the process of creating some internal guidelines to make sure that our membership is held in the high regard it deserves and that incidents such as this are handled in a more thoughtful and deliberate way, moving forward. I personally want to apologize to Kxeyey and to all those who were angered and disappointed by this event. LearnNavi is all about connectedness, friendship and family. It is about meoauniaea, Eywa'eveng, the Na'vi and their language. That is why we're here. To my knowledge, this is the first seriously negative event in the history of this site. I intend it to be the last.

Ngaytxoa ma oeyä smuk, ulte seiyi irayo nìtxan fpi ngeyä tìtslam. Ewya ngahu frapo nìwotx.


-  Markì (Mark Miller)
   LearnNavi.org Admin

[Yayo]

Marki,
My knowledge on the topic is limited, as I have only heard a short version of this from others. I believe that you did what you felt was right (I am not saying that it was the right thing to do) in order to ensure the safety of LN. Don't feel terrible, everyone makes some mistakes..

[Txur Niftxavang]

Well, this is unfortunate, but we are all learning from it. I hope the internal guidelines really stick, and we do deserve the respect that we give.  Some how there are still people out there who do not "Accept" our ways just because, they always have to make a big deal out of it, and not in a good way.     


Thanks Marki! 

[Ftiafpi]

As a late-comer to the whole event debacle it seems that this is a huge misunderstanding and if we can all put it aside we will be able to make a positive thing out of it.

Also, something I want to note about the account deletion is that it erases all the posts from that member and all related details. However, (I believe) we are working to restore Kxeyey's account as best we can. I also want to personally express that this was a mistake that we want to make sure we avoid in the future, if anyone feels the need to share constructive advice on this matter, please do so here.

[C'tri Atan'itan]

I'd just like to add that its good to see the admins being open and honest with everything, not just what happened, but the thinking behind it.
Really helpful for building trust in a community :-)

[Lisa]

As a network/server admin, I fully understand that sometimes stuff happens and you have to make quick decisions without the luxury of time to fully analyze the circumstances.   You make the best decision you can based on the data at hand and have to go with it.   And then if mistakes are made, you learn from them and try not to make them again.  I've been down that road myself.

Server admin can sometimes be a thankless task, so....thanks for all the work you do, Markì!  I truly appreciate it.

[Kì'eyawn]

I missed most of this as it was happening, as i've been really busy lately; but it looks to me like there was misunderstanding all around.  I hope that we can all work together to patch things up with our fellow members of the soaia. 

It's all about meoauniaea.

[Skxawng]

Its also prudent to remember that humans communicate both with language and also with gesture, expression, tone and subtlety that is simply not translated through text alone.  Heck, even talking on the phone isn't nearly as informative and descriptive as face-to-face.  So in the future, I think we'd all do well to take a deep breath, and try to read whatever seems inflammatory from their perspective, or in a different manner before responding with more fire.

Keep it classy, LN

[Toruk Makto]

I'd just like to add that its good to see the admins being open and honest with everything, not just what happened, but the thinking behind it.
Really helpful for building trust in a community :-)

I am glad to hear that, because that is precisely what I want. I have inadvertently damaged the trust many people have in LearnNavi and I hope to repair that.


ta Markì

[Toruk Makto]

Its also prudent to remember that humans communicate both with language and also with gesture, expression, tone and subtlety that is simply not translated through text alone.  Heck, even talking on the phone isn't nearly as informative and descriptive as face-to-face.  So in the future, I think we'd all do well to take a deep breath, and try to read whatever seems inflammatory from their perspective, or in a different manner before responding with more fire.

Keep it classy, LN

We need expressive ears and tails. Kxetse sì mikyun kop plltxe!  

[Niwantaw]

I lost many posts ... I was sooo close...
Let's all hope this all gets fixed PDQ with no hard feelings ya?

[Ekirä]

It's good to see a full explanation of this.......I did see it play out and I also took Payoang's post the wrong way. I'm glad everything (mostly) worked out.

[archaic]

I have already made my feelings clear on this matter, I will not go there again.

[omängum fra'uti]

When I first saw the thread in question, I didn't even realize Payoang was referencing another article TBH, with the whole thing quoted inline.  Then again, by the time I saw it, it was already storming, and so I looked at it expecting something bad.  Either way I can certainly understand how someone could take it the wrong way.

(The original article in question was from http://unrealitymag.com/index.php/2010/10/25/a-gallery-of-good-and-bad-avatar-navi-costumes/)

[Kaltxì Palulukan!]

And that is the apology I was looking to see.

I consider this issue closed and Radio Avatar and our 10,000 fans will not be involved in this matter. Nicci will also be re-informed of this in case she has any doubts.

Let us never see a storm like this again.

[Toruk Makto]

You can count on that, Dusty.

[Robert Nantangä Tirea]

Cheers, wishes, and get-wells all around - It has been a sad time but now it is the start of a happy time!

[Yayo]

"When I'm sad I stop being sad and start being awesome" - that guy from How I Met Your Mother

[`Eylan Ayfalulukanä]

Thank you for being open and honest, Marki. (And I know nothing of what happened-- I rarely venture outside the language areas.) I have always sensed you were a man of great integrity. I hope everything can be fixed.

Perfect storms happen in life. It is unavoidable sometimes.  I have been there, done that too, except it involved equipment, clients and money. This sounds like it can be fixed with some effort.

[überdoodlet]

I hope everything gets back as close to normal as possible...