/qa/ - Questions and Answers

I too would also like a peak behind the curtain at this moment and the 4 days of silence is making me somewhat apprehensive. Please reply?

>>5488
Nice dubs.
I been away for long but if i recall, mlpol has around 4 moderators and only one admin with access to the mainframe.
Moderators can do a lot, even edit the code of the site if allowed.
I don't think there's much else to add

>>5490
I think /mlpol/ has a lot more than 4 mods. I think there's at least two admins by now.
I don't really know though. I kind of feel like it should be semi-public info.

>>5491
Without going into details that arent mine to divulge, there were 3 admins, however one was removed from his position for 'targeting Nigel', and he has subsequently quit.

>>5492
So that leaves Atlas, Pupper as admins, and Ninja and John Elway (aka Football) as mods?

Also would be interested to see some of the other info requested in the OP.

>>5493
No, I'm the one who quit. Who's who beyond that isnt for me to say

>>5494
Okay.

>>5493
Anon28 left his server some time last year (or was it 2019? Idk). He supposedly left the site as well.

Well, it seems as though there can't be that many active mods here, because it's well-passed the rule #2 day marker, and nopony has addressed thread.
What's going on up there?

>>5497
>>5488
Pupperwoff is the site owner (with Atlas having more or less stepped back for personal reasons), and myself, John Elway, Stixfggt, Angrymob, and Equus are members of staff who are relatively active. I believe Pupperwoff and Equus have server access.

It should be noted that the very existence of this thread is in contradiction to statements made by (presumably) you to staff in Discord.

>>5498
>statements
What statements are you referring to?
Also, when did Pupper become the site owner? I knew Atlas has been less-than-active for a while now, but I thought he was still the owner of the site.
>who are relatively active
So then, who else is there?

>>5499
Something to the effect of "I'm not going to make a thread" and then you made one anyways. Those statements were to Pupperwoff, not myself.

Pupperwoff became owner sometime last year, with Atlas having announced the change to us sometime after it actually happened. he had been speaking about doing that for a while.

Also on staff are Kerning, who speaks and contributes on occasion, FallenPineapple, who speaks rarely, and The MareDoWell, who pops in a couple times a year and is not an active part of the staff. Atlas speaks on discord on occasion, but has stepped away from making decisions. Ninjas was on staff and was fairly active until three weeks ago, when he left the server and blocked us on discord without comment or statement.

>>5500
That's not what happened, but okay

>>5500
I made no such statement. You must be thinking of something else.
>Atlas having announced the change to us sometime after it actually happened.
When? I have been checking this site every day for the past 4 years (minus 3 weeks), and I never even once saw an announcement related to this. How could I have missed that?Isn't that kind of a big deal?
The policy page says Atlas is the owner of the site. Is that not up to date? What else has changed without us knowing?
This might warrant its own thread.

>>5501
Frankly I don't really know what happened. You were in the server on the 27th, not in there on March 1st, and I tried to message you but I got an error message that only occurs when blocked, or when the security settings on DMs are set to "friends only" and you're not a friend. I asked Lenos, he told me he didn't know, then Elway told us you sent him a message stating you quit. And that is the extent of my knowledge on the subject.

>>5502
We don't wish to start unnecessary drama.

>>5503
Bruh, this is a fucking pivotal transfer of power we're talking about. It was bound to be dramatic, but it's kind of really important for tranparency's sake. It's feeling even more dramatic now that this is the way we're learning about it.
If this happened "sometime last year" that should have been plenty of time by now. When were we supposed to know about this? Why wasn't the policy page updated?

>>5500
>Ninjas
F
I miss him.

So my two cents as a new fag. As a string of happenstances I would be inclined to suspect hostile occult influences as a broad social attack upon the everyone that is against their global conquest.

>>5506
As in we're caught in the splash zone of magic psychic warfare.

>>5505
I'm still here, and I moonlight as staff by reporting posts and shit, but fuck what they got going on. Not gonna aire anyone's dirty laundry, but um,... yeah theres a dozen reasons I left

>>5507
I'm lowkey freaking out about this.

>>5508
>I'm still here
Glad to have you around Mr.

>>5506
I agree. Even if I'm an outsider in this internal matter, I could and I feel the roadblocks for me personally.

>>5506
The site is well bolstered against metaphysical attack, no need to be alarmed
>>5511
Luv u 2 Fren, they cant get rid of me even with a permaban

>>5504
Not really. Atlas delegated almost all power way back in August of 2017 (which was announced. Very publicly) and had only been less involved since, with there being many months of his making no appearance at all. Frankly this has been the de facto situation for years now, even if it wasn't official. You might recall a thread a few months ago where Atlas announced he had been locked out of discord for several months. We haven't made big announcements because /mlp/ is half "OH MY GOD THE FANDOM IS ALREADY DEAD STOP LIKING PONY RAAAAAA" and we don't really need hyperbolic reactions here. Atlas still comes around occasionally even if Pupperwoff owns the domain name and the server. All it really means is that we don't have to worry about the server going down for lack of payment.

The public policy page needs update, yes, but if we are going to update it we may as well rewrite the rules, which is a huge undertaking in itself, and it's hardly surprising it hasn't been touched much in several years.

>>5513
Glad to have you too. I was worried you left completely. Hope you keep up with the audiobook.

>>5513
>The site is well bolstered against metaphysical attack, no need to be alarmed
Everyponer get ready your incantations to help, just in case.

>>5514
This is not okay.

>>5517
Ahem.
If it's working fine, why to fix it?

>>5518
>working fine
The point of the sight is supposed to be transparency with the community. If stuff this big goes on unannounced, it's not serving that purpose, and it is therefore not "working fine"
This is quite frankly a separeate topic from this mod thread that deserves its own discussion, so continue discussion in >>5516 → to avoid derailing this one.

>>5514
>Atlas announced he had been locked out of discord for several months
Pretty sure I would have remembered that thread. Care to cite it?
>>5514
Reiterating, go fuck yourself

>>5519
Drama queen.

>>5521
Call it what you like, I am downright pissed. This is an outrage.

>>5522
I call you a good psyop player. But not for long faggot.

>>5523
What psyop? Am I not right to be concerned when the freaking site ownership changes without my knowledge?

>>5524
You are making a hurricane in a teapot.
Relax and enjoy yourself. You SJW behavior is not proper of a horsefucker.
Put yourself together, for Celestia' sake please.

>>5525
>calm down, goy, you're overreacting
>No "true" horsefucker would spend three weeks reeeing at /qa/ over a mongolian horsewhispering forum
Nigger, I have been on this site almost every day since day one. I helped build this community, and it's more important to me than any other website. You can go and call me whatever names, but I am not about to let this slide, because I consider it a betrayal of my trust as a user.

>>5527
At this point, I'm without words.

>>5513
Yes, /mlpol/ is a bastion and strong hold.
>>5509
>>5512
However other places are not as protected*. That being said /mlpol/ and the community here is pretty damned well protected. As such the most the 'splash' is can do is by moving things and people in its thrall (aka SJW and various pathocrats).
>>5524
Everything is okay Anon. The situation is as it has to be as the circumstances are for everyone.
>>5527
Some things happen that occupy the mind more so than others. This haven continually becomes stronger. Thank you, and everyone for all you've done this is the Interesting Times prelude.
Good news is that poners are coming, bad news lots of asshole aliens.

>>5528
Same.

>>5520
I tried to look for the thread in the archive, but could not find it. We probably deleted it. It happened recently, around January, when Atlas lost his discord login.

>>5532
Uh huh. Its couldnt be that it never happened, by express insistence. No, it 'must have gotten deleted gosh'.

>>5533
>gosh
GOD.

>>5529
>Everything is okay Anon. The situation is as it has to be as the circumstances are for everyone.
I disagree.
Transparency is the most important policy of /mlpol/. It is the reason why we, the community, choose to do our horsefucking here instead of anywhere else. It's the promise that was made to the community upon the founding of the site; the social contract. The community designates mlpol.net as it's grazing space not because of the name, but because we trust that the staff will be transparent with us and let us know when they change shit around.
So no, everything is not okay. By the looks of it, it hasn't been okay for a while now.

>>5534
Would you prefer "oopsie poopsie, we forgot accidentally may have sorta declined to post the thread, but tots planned to (cuz muh transparency matters, and horsefuckers cant be relied on to actually appreciate and respect change, no we gotta keep it a secret)"

Cuz THATS what happened

>>5533
It's this thread, https://mlpol.net/mlpol/296151 and it was indeed deleted. This happened on January 2.

>>5514
>Not really. Atlas delegated almost all power way back in August of 2017 (which was announced. Very publicly
Oh no, he did not do that. He absolutely did not. He was very involved with the site up until maybe one-two years ago or so. In other words, you are full of shit. Also, where's the transparency, you double nigger? Aren't staff changes supposed to be publicly broadcast? Or is /mlpol/ staff full of ignorant newfags who never were around in 2017?

>>5538
>He was very involved with the site up until maybe one-two years ago or so
Well yes. He created the two admins back in August of 2017 to do most site managing, and he continued to intervene in a few things for some time after that. Around two years ago he mostly stopped intervening, and completely stopped around a year ago.

>>5539
Because it was deleted.

>>5540
So, the thread you claim was to provide transparency was deleted? When was it deleted?

To get this thread back on topic...

How exactly does the /mlpol/ staff make decisions? Is there some kind of vote or purality that needs to be met?
How do the /mlpol/ staff decide when and when not to disclose (((sensitive information))) to the community?
How are the standards of transparency, integrity and community input kept up? How are they enforced? How is accountability maintained?
How did the current members of the staff get where they are? What's their vetting process, and what standards do they need to meet?

>>5542
It was not created to provide transparency. It was created by Atlas to try to speak to us in staff, because he lost his login to discord. We deleted it because it's a thread where Atlas stated he was the victim of a burglary, and that kind of private information doesn't need to stay up.

>>5544
So what you're claiming was 'notice' was in fact Atlas trying to deal with his situation, and once notice had been deleted the site was to be aware of changes how?

>>5543
Ahem.
As an semi outsider, I would bring to everyponer's attention that to talk about the the inner workings of /mlpol/ is against OpSec.
Just saying.

>>5540
>it was deleted
That's not much of an announcement then.

>>5548
Yes, that argument has been raised. But where does one draw the line? Which is of primary importance? Better question, why cant there be a compromise in which anons get their info AND infosec is tended to?

>>5548
>(((OpSec)))
Glow niggers can get clapped. This is supposed to be a site run by the community for the community.

>>5548
>OpSec
This sounds like a lame excuse used to not follow staff rules.

>>5550
>But where does one draw the line?
Right here and right now.
OP has been way pushy to say the least and he is abusing /mlpol/'s good will.

>>5553
OP is doing the right thing, unlike staff and people like you. Important stuff like this absolutely must not stay private.

>>5553
Horse shit
As former staff, I can testify (though I havent, yet, at least not tangibly) that staff has taken liberties well beyond the professed intent of the site, per the policy that Atlas initially developed.

>>5553
What do you mean abusing /mlpol/'s good will? Aren't the questions in the OP things that any site community should know? Is it not to the sites's benefit that the basic workings of the site be transparent. Isn't the reason this board exists for the sake of the community having the questions answered, and having their input taken into account?
/mlpol/ is not 4chins: /qa/ is supposed to be more than a bunch of autists screaming at a wall and posting pictures of corndogs. This board is supposed to be where policy is made.

>>5554
>>5555
In the current times OpSec has the utmost priority.
What you propose is to open a huge vulnerability in the name of to please some butthurts.
To hell with your narrow ego.

>>5558
What fucking """current times""" call for staff rule #2 to be broken? What happened recently to warrant this?
We're not under constant attack by /jp/sies or GETsball faggots from /sp/ like we were a couple years ago. Nothing in the current climate warrants this level of secrecy.
And if there were some horrific, imminent threat that's so terrible it required the staff to throw its own standards of transparency out the window, I would very much like to know what that thing is.

>>5547
I'm claiming that Atlas posted about how he lost his discord login and had been gone for around two months.

>>5549
It wasn't an announcement

>>5558
>in current year
Nothing is lost by offering pseudonyms. Nothing is lost by exchanging pseudonyms. Nothing that wasnt already at threat from (((whoever))) has been made so by revealing that the site has been operating in conflict to its professed intent and the desires of the site owner who, by the way, surprise, has changed. As a user, this is unacceptable. As former staff, this is unconscionable. But go on, attempt to whitewash it under whatever guise.

>>5560
>Nothing in the current climate warrants this level of secrecy.
>it required the staff to throw its own standards of transparency out the window
I have nothing to do with /mlpol/ staff, but the fact that you are looking for a pseudo "legal" ground to step on, says volumes about your future intentions and steps.
Troublemaker spotted.

>>5564
I didn't say anything legal.
Also, what intentions?

>>5565
>legal
/mlpol/ rules.
>>5565
>what intentions?
Looking for troubles and stirring the nest.

>>5564
>>5566
What gain do you have from allowing staff to get away with blatantly breaking the policy?

>>5561
Are you gonna be honest, or are you gonna keep moving the goalposts?
> You might recall a thread a few months ago where Atlas announced he had been locked out of discord for several months. We haven't made big announcements because /mlp/ is half "OH MY GOD THE FANDOM IS
>I'm claiming that Atlas posted about how he lost his discord login

Which one pertained to giving the site part and parcel?

>>5566
The /mlpol/ rules are why the site is worth using. They are important.
>stirring the nest
Sometimes nests need to be stirred. This community is plenty resilient after everything it's been through.

>>5568
>What gain do you have from allowing staff to get away with blatantly breaking the policy?
Okay, glad you state clearly the purpose of this thread.
It is an attempt to corner some staff for some past behavior you don't agree.

>>5571
>purpose of this thread
You don't know what the fuck you're talking about. He's not even the OP, I am.
I made the thread. I asked some very basic and obvious questions about moderation. In the thread, I discovered something I deemed to be unacceptable, and now I'm pissed off.

>>5571
>moving goalposts
Again, what do you have to gain from this? Shouldn't you be busy shilling on 4/pol/?

>>5573
Different anon, anon, though I'll namefag for clarity

>>5574
>now he moved on stealing (ex-)staff member names
Either that, or just a victim of particularly bad timing

>>5578
U want me to start dropping staff names irl, or will you accede that I am who I claim?

>>5578
>self-addmitted newfag thinks he knows what qualifies as OpSec
Get dabbed-on, faggot.

>>5579
Or I will just call you a faggot who's OK with staff breaking the policy.

>>5582
Didn't just just say it's okay for staff to break rule #2 for (((OpSec)))?

>>5582
Staff breaking policy is one of many unresolved grievances I have. Having said, I am not OP and that's not what this thread is about.
Do try to stick to topic k?

>>5584
That's what certain fags in this thread believe. These very same fags seem to be holding nothing sacred too and are not above impersonating staff, if they find it necessary.

>>5587
Transparency is important.
And this discussion is really better off in >>5516 →

So, how exactly does the /mlpol/ staff make its decisions. As far as i've gathered, there are active mods and less active mods, a couple admins and an owner.
What's the decision-making process?

>>5488
OP, if you are wondering why we aren't taking you more seriously, I will explain it to you.

You come off as extremely entitled, like you and you alone are the appointed savior of the site, and should have been Atlas's handpicked successor.

I am well aware that you have been trying to get on staff for more than a year now, having messaged every individual associated with staff except myself and my friend - you choosing to avoid me, I have to assume, because of some three year old grudge.

You told pupperwoff you "didn't want to [make a thread]" on why we haven't approved you to join staff, and then you made a thread about it anyways, as if our refusal to let you join staff were some kind of grievous injustice committed against the whole community that the community needs to be riled into revolt against. You've made three threads now.

Yes, I know you have put a lot of time into the site. Yes, I know you have been here since day 1. Yes, I know you have been here almost continuously since the beginning. But so have I. So has Pupper. In fact, Pupperwoff has written 32,400 lines of code not counting 15,565 lines of comments. And I'm certain that other posters in this thread besides you and I have also been here since the beginning, and put much time in it. Yet you act like you believe you are a specially appointed savior of the website to save the community from the evil, evil staff.

From where I am sitting, it looks like you are trying to find any justification to try to start a revolt against staff because you were not, yourself, made an admin. It's like you are upset that Atlas did not leave the site to you.

Obviously none of the above means that you haven't raised good points, as even motivated reasoning can sometimes lead to good conclusions. And of course you won't agree with any of the above. But please forgive us if it's hard to take your indignation seriously.

>>5626
>implying this is about me
Nice ad homenim, faggot.
>you told pupperwoff you "didn't want to [make a thread]"
I indeed did say something similar to that on discord, but it was concerned with another topic entirely that I considered to be sensitive. This thread is unrelated to that. This thread is about public knowledge.
>it looks like you are trying to find any justification to try to start a revolt against staff
That's bullshit. I think the community deserves to know about these things. The questions I asked in the OP are quite frankly very basic questions that I thought should be public knowledge, but wasn't able to find out about through any other means. Tell me, where else am I, as a user, supposed to find this information?
Transparency is the reason why I've used this site for all these years, so when I hear about big things going on behind closed door, I get a little bit pissed.

Well, at this point...

>>5626
>motivated reasoning
Solid argument you've got there. Real mature of you.
In all this, I just want my questions answered. Tat's what /qa/ is for. I don't think anybody should have to be on the staff just to know who owns the site or how its decisions are made, considering that the site policy is the reason why we trust this place with our freaking data. I've been patient. I've been formal. I've waited plenty long just to find out what the hell has been going on with this site that I care about so dearly, so please do forgive me if asking basic questions on the designated site issues board is even slightly more disruptive than trying to scrounge for bits of information by trying to ping dead accounts found in a dead server and praying for a potential reply.
I barely even knew what had happened to Atlas until now. The best hint I got was some weird posts on the (dead) public server that implied he'd lost his password. Oh do forgive me for being concerned what was going on with the site, and taking measures that you deem drastic just to find out how it's run, because it might damage the imagage of le sekrit OpSec cabal. It's not like I've got 4 years of doxxable info on this place.
The last two questions in the OP haven't even been answered yet.

Truth be told, there really is no formal method of communication with the mods for mods for mlpol.net except for /qa/. Any question about the site needs to be asked here, in public, if it's to ever be addressed.
Pinging the discord accounts in the "official" (dead) server doesn't work, and it doesn't do anything for Anons who don't use discord.
The emails stopped working years ago. I don't know if they ever worked.

>>5626
>You've made three threads now.
You of all people should be able to see that at least one of those threads was started by a different person, come on.

>>5632
>trying to ping dead accounts
Or you could have, you know, messaged me, since you knew I was on staff, rather than testing Anon28, AngryMob, and whoever else.

>I barely even knew what had happened to Atlas until now
What happened to Atlas isn't your business. He told us in staff quite a few details because he considers us friends, but I don't think those details need to be posted in a location where they can be forever read by anyone who types the right words into Google.

>he last two questions in the OP haven't even been answered yet.
I was answering the questions going down the list, and then someone didn't like the answers and flipped out, trying to start site wide drama. Forgive me if the final two haven't been answered yet.

I'm not even sure what to say to "powers and privileges" besides pointing out who has server access. The new code doesn't really let us change much at all with an Admin account. There's not really much to say.

As for how staff is vetted, that is also hard to answer because of how few new staff have been added. The most recent hire was AngryMob last August (I think). He was recommended by Anon28 as his personal replacement. I knew that AngryMob had managed the /mlpol/ discord server for years. There was an "interview" with everyone on staff allowed to ask him questions, and his appointment to staff was unanimously consented to.

>>5633
Well yeah. /qa/, the official server (yes, it still exists, and it's only 'dead' if you don't use it for its intended purpose). You can also DM members of staff on Discord.

>>5634
My bad...

>>5639
I haven't barely to Anon28 in two years since he left his /mlpol/ server to AngryMob. He ghosted nearly every /mlpol/ adjacent server since then.

>>5639
>There was an "interview" with everyone on staff allowed to ask him questions, and his appointment to staff was unanimously consented to.
Huh, I guess that's the way it works then.

>>5639
>You can also DM members of staff on Discord.
This is insufficient because it doesn't do anything for board users who do not use discord.

>>5786
Discord's pretty gay but what alternative is there? An email service?

>>5788
The site should be a sufficient alternative

>>5789
Simple enough to say, but all this was potentiate largely by staff ghosting OP for several years, under false pretenses of 'scheduling'. His salient argument is that staff has as little regard for users who don't suck their dicks as they do for inconvenient rules that are moot anyway because there is no one holding staff accountable for refusing to abide.

>>5639
>There's not really much to say.
I think there's a lot to talk about.
What does the /mlpol/ staff even do? Deleting cheese pizza as it comes up is a given, but everything else from thereon out is really vague.
What internal policies/standards does the staff have for itself pertaining to how it handles the site? Are there rules for what constitutes as ethical use of staffing position? Any rules for what kinds of posts should be deleted? What kind of posters should be banned Aand when? When it's appropriate to edit someone's post to make it look like they're saying something else? Are rules 3-13 exhaustive when it comes to users free reign of content they can and cannot post? It appears as though staff rules #1-4 are open to interpretation, so I can only assume the same goes for user rules.