[Discussion]Horsemen of the Apocalypse

[fgalkin]

Inspired by a post in the Board thread, and by the input of plebes.

The Horsemen of the Apocalypse are pretty much obsolete by now. There's only three, and they don't do much, since the HoS is dead.

Originally, they used to be big bad flamers to fry the trolls to a crisp (creative flaming was a must back then), then they got promoted to junior mods, with access to the Mod forum. Then, as HoS died down, they started to become a mod tryout position, sort of a proving ground like the Senate is now.

Then, the Senate came along and made them obsolete.

However, I don't think they should be done away with, on the contrary, they are a colorful SDN tradition, and should be given a ceremonial position on the board.

As the official keeper of SDN tradition (as Loremaster General), I believe we can revitalize the position in a new, purely ceremonial role. Here is my proposal:

1) The Horsemen of the Apocalypse are to be stripped of access to the Moderator forum and relegated to their original status of Minimod

2) The current Horsemen are to be disbanded, and 4 new members shall take their place

3) The role of these new members will be to keep the old flamewarrior traditions alive in the new, less flamey SDN (if we decide to go that way).

4) We will HoS a pure troll from time to time to be Horsemanized, as decided by the Senate.

5) Since there seems to be a scarcity of those, we will also hold re-enactments and demonstrations of flaming, to teach the new members the sacred Art of the Flame, should they chose to (hence, ceremonial role. Think of it as a Changing of the Guard ceremony in the HoS).

6) The positions shall be filled after a boad-wide competition for the spots. The way we can hold it, as I see it is

a) select a number of real troll posts from the Hall of Shame, from the different periods of board history

b) the competitors shall proceed to horsemanize the posts to the best of their ability

c) a panel of jurors or a board-wide poll shall select the 4 winners.

7) The positions may be made temporary for a period of 6 months, or a year, and a new competition to be held at the end of this time to select their replacements. That way, we'll have our own SDN spectator bloodsport!

What say you, my fellow Senators?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[fgalkin]

And, it seems like we already have a volunteer:

[EDIT: Make that 4, now]

5) Since there seems to be a scarcity of those, we will also hold re-enactments and demonstrations of flaming, to teach the new members the sacred Art of the Flame, should they chose to (hence, ceremonial role. Think of it as a Changing of the Guard ceremony in the HoS).

This particular idea caught my eye. If it becomes of interest, I would be willing to volunteer as a 'troll' actor for one of these re-enactments, given it would be understood any and all posts for that purpose aren't held against the actor and guidelines are layed out so the player doesn't get too carried away.

Feel free to add this to the Senate with my name if you desire to.

I volunteer. I've never been properly roasted.

I would like to volunteer also for the position of Troll Actor, with the stipulation that any posts made for the "enactment" will not count towards my general board standing (with the understanding that those posts are crafted purely for the Troll Position, and not apart of my general attitude on the board or it's residents.).

Throwing myself in as a volunteer for troll acting. I'm not too far off the truth anyway!

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[fgalkin]

Another suggestion from a plebe

4) We will HoS a pure troll from time to time to be Horsemanized, as decided by the Senate.

Suggestion, instead of doing that, allow said Horsemen to jump into a thread that has clearly gone off the tracks and just flame the person responsible.

The recent prop 8 threads and such are a good example where horsemen should be able to just jump into a thread and flame. The thread is effectively worthless by that point, so why not make it entertaining? Obviously, we should trust Horsemen not to jump in too soon and ruin the point.

Personally, I don't like this suggestion, but I think it merits debate. What say you?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Knife]

I find myself being ambivalent about it, but it would be preferable to more rules and regulations in either the Senate or board wides in general so I'm game. Might even provide a pressure relief valve for the Test-ees and their rage at the Senate and/or 'good old boys club'.

[Coyote]

My immense, titanic schlong throbs with delight at the very thought of carrying this out. I say we do it forthwith.

[Simplicius]

The flame-off is a great idea. I'm all for it.

I don't really care for the idea of jumping into trainwreck threads, though. Where tempers are already running high, Horsemanization would only seem to stir things up more. Better to stick to re-enactments, tournaments, and the denigration of demonstrated trolls.

[Coyote]

Horsemen might be good at policing contentious threads and riding herd on dogpilers, and sorting out which combatants need to go to the Coliseum to work it off.

[fgalkin]

Reposted from the Dogpile thread:

I disagree with the Horsemen being used as debate mods- that is not their purpose, and would only conflict with their original purpose (which is to start flames, not douse them). Instead, we should have actual mods doing their job.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I'd throw my hat into the ring to be a Horseman, but only if they have an actual job--which is to flame the hell out of people (again) who get their threads sent to HOS. In short what I'm proposing, Fima, is that the Horsemen lead the mediated flaming to a crisp of people who truly fuck up and get their threads sent to HOS, whereas we crack down on flaming elsewhere on the board. In short, we make people keep it somewhat civil elsewhere, and if it's clear that we're dealing with an utter retard or stubborn idiot, we (the collective we, here referring specifically to the mod staff) send them to HOS and let the Horsemen go to town on them.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

In fact, I'd argue that the lack of such a system is part of our problem. Back in the day, threads used to stay open in HOS forever while the Horsemen tore the shit out of the offenders. Now, we don't have that--because it happens everywhere on the board. If we, to some extent, force the flaming into HOS, re-empower the horsemen in their original role as minimods to beat the crap out of trolls and idiots, and leave the threads open until the offender runs off crying and screaming, we'll be able to focus a lot of the board's excess tension, for lack of a better term, into HOS and keep it out of the other forums.

[fgalkin]

I'd throw my hat into the ring to be a Horseman, but only if they have an actual job--which is to flame the hell out of people (again) who get their threads sent to HOS. In short what I'm proposing, Fima, is that the Horsemen lead the mediated flaming to a crisp of people who truly fuck up and get their threads sent to HOS, whereas we crack down on flaming elsewhere on the board. In short, we make people keep it somewhat civil elsewhere, and if it's clear that we're dealing with an utter retard or stubborn idiot, we (the collective we, here referring specifically to the mod staff) send them to HOS and let the Horsemen go to town on them.

I'm all for that. What I'm opposed to is making the Horsemen the kind of mobile police force Coyote is suggesting. We have (or SHOULD have) on-duty supermods for that.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I'd throw my hat into the ring to be a Horseman, but only if they have an actual job--which is to flame the hell out of people (again) who get their threads sent to HOS. In short what I'm proposing, Fima, is that the Horsemen lead the mediated flaming to a crisp of people who truly fuck up and get their threads sent to HOS, whereas we crack down on flaming elsewhere on the board. In short, we make people keep it somewhat civil elsewhere, and if it's clear that we're dealing with an utter retard or stubborn idiot, we (the collective we, here referring specifically to the mod staff) send them to HOS and let the Horsemen go to town on them.

I'm all for that. What I'm opposed to is making the Horsemen the kind of mobile police force Coyote is suggesting. We have (or SHOULD have) on-duty supermods for that.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

Then we're in complete agreement.

[Knife]

Mod staff are...well human. A rotating job of Horseman, which is what I thought was being considered, would revitalize the post for 'roving policeman'.

[Hotfoot]

Let's just name some horsemen, let them get the fun of flaming the shit out of people, and try to keep things a little more civil elsewhere on the board. If people want to get to flaming more often, let the Horsemen have a thread in the HoS where users can get into flame-wars with the horsemen or something.

You know what wouldn't be awesome? Spending weeks or months on "tryouts". Super lame, no matter how fun you thought it was back in the day. Let's just get this taken care of, shall we?

[fgalkin]

Weeks or months? I was hoping we would get the new Horsemen appointed by Monday.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Hotfoot]

Hopes and dreams are nice, but look at what you're suggesting. It's not really that reasonable to set up contest like that in a day or two and expect people to respond in a timely fashion. We have nominees, let's clear it with them and set up a vote, boom done end.

[fgalkin]

Well, I was hoping to simply post the challenge in HoS over the weekend, have anyone willing to come in and horsemanize away, and then judge the results on Monday. If they won't get appointed on Monday, sometime next week, for certain.

Edit: I am not certain about the abilities of some of the nominees, to be honest, and I would like to make sure the people we appoint are qualified for the job.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Coyote]

Wouldn't Nitram make a good Horseman? He's always got the flamethrower on 'simmer'.

[fgalkin]

Well, it looks like there are no serious objections, and the plebes seem eager, so, voting time?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[CmdrWilkens]

Well, it looks like there are no serious objections, and the plebes seem eager, so, voting time?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

What specifically do we want to sign off on now? My thought would be that we just vote on all 7 proposals at once but leave the specific contest to be used and the names of the winners, obviously, until later. If that okay by you (since its your baby) let me know, get a second and I will post the vote.

[LadyTevar]

Wouldn't Nitram make a good Horseman? He's always got the flamethrower on 'simmer'.

He's a SuperMod already, he doesn't need to be a Horseman.

However, his flamethrower has gotten a hair-trigger since he's gotten badly ill. He's got less tolerance for BS than ever.

[Coyote]

Ahh, true-- he pretty much has the power already.

I know Marina has put in for modship, but I actually think she'd kick better ass as a Horseman.