Halo An Open Invitation

[Psychoduck]

To whom it may concern,

Today, a video in a long chain of community drama was released. I can hardly encourage anyone to watch this video, as the stance taken by its creator is woefully misinformed and fueled by a personal vendetta. The reason I share this with you is to extend an open invitation for criticism to each and every one of you.

As you can see, there are members of this community who currently harbor deep resentment towards me and what I have done for this community over the years. Some of these individuals are merely scapegoating and participating in a slanderous smear campaign, but others surely have good intentions and genuine concerns. I have said in the past and will say again that I hold myself accountable to this community.

So, this is my invitation to any of you who have concerns about my character, my intentions, or my process as it pertains to my involvement in this community. Please do not hesitate to contact me and voice these concerns. I always appreciate constructive and actionable criticism.

I'm always willing to learn and to change. I am incredibly devoted to this community and am always open to having a conversation with anyone if it means a better outcome. I'll also take this opportunity to apologize that, in doing what I believe to be right for this community I have done what some individuals within it believe to be wrong.

Thank you to anyone who does decide to reach out and voice their concerns, and thank you for doing so in a respectful and constructive fashion.

Sincerely,

Dana

 

[Madirate]

"lets jump in this bandwagon and see where it takes us!"

 

[Squally DaBeanz]

Just to get an honest conversation going: Are there any specific instances that you feel you or the CCs as a group could have handled better?

 

[SOLIDSNAKEee]

I find it funny that the majority of this drama is specifically aimed at Duck or at least it appears that way. As far as I'm aware the CC's are a team, the irony of the favoritism that these individuals show is quite painful.

On to a question then. Seeing as there has been a lot of backlash regarding how yo..I mean the CC's, look through and suggest maps for the matchmaking rotation. Has the team decided on how to rework how maps are submitted for CC testing (you'll likely not be able to answer that one due to an NDA) or is there any plans (that you're able to disclose) that recent events will "encourage" some form of change in the current system?

 

[BRUSKY0086]

To whom it may concern,

Today, a video in a long chain of community drama was released. I can hardly encourage anyone to watch this video, as the stance taken by its creator is woefully misinformed and fueled by a personal vendetta. The reason I share this with you is to extend an open invitation for criticism to each and every one of you.

As you can see, there are members of this community who currently harbor deep resentment towards me and what I have done for this community over the years. Some of these individuals are merely scapegoating and participating in a slanderous smear campaign, but others surely have good intentions and genuine concerns. I have said in the past and will say again that I hold myself accountable to this community.

So, this is my invitation to any of you who have concerns about my character, my intentions, or my process as it pertains to my involvement in this community. Please do not hesitate to contact me and voice these concerns. I always appreciate constructive and actionable criticism.

I'm always willing to learn and to change. I am incredibly devoted to this community and am always open to having a conversation with anyone if it means a better outcome. I'll also take this opportunity to apologize that, in doing what I believe to be right for this community I have done what some individuals within it believe to be wrong.

Thank you to anyone who does decide to reach out and voice their concerns, and thank you for doing so in a respectful and constructive fashion.

Sincerely,

Dana

 

[Psychoduck]

Just to get an honest conversation going: Are there any specific instances that you feel you or the CCs as a group could have handled better?

Absolutely. The Breakout task from a few months ago did not go as well as we would have liked. There simply wasn't enough good content in circulation to satisfy our goal of providing a quality matchmaking experience for the target playlist. Our solution was to contact a group of individuals who we were confident could deliver such an experience and encourage them to develop some maps. I think that the quality of the maps was great, and I think we achieved our goal of creating a good matchmaking experience, but it was hardly fair to forgers. With the BTB and Grifball tasks, we were thankfully able to be much more public and pull content from a much wider pool.

I find it funny that the majority of this drama is specifically aimed at Duck or at least it appears that way. As far as I'm aware the CC's are a team, the irony of the favoritism that these individuals show is quite painful.

On to a question then. Seeing as there has been a lot of backlash regarding how yo..I mean the CC's, look through and suggest maps for the matchmaking rotation. Has the team decided on how to rework how maps are submitted for CC testing (you'll likely not be able to answer that one due to an NDA) or is there any plans (that you're able to disclose) that recent events will "encourage" some form of change in the current system?

"Hey everyone,

We've been keeping an eye on feedback on maps process for quite some time, including stuff dating back many years. The Forge, Multiplayer, and Community teams are working together to determine the best ways to heavily adjust processes and restructure moving forward, beginning with the next upcoming community map submission period, which will focus on grabbing some new Infection maps for consideration. Look forward to a Waypoint submission thread next week. Thanks for all of the feedback and thoughts thusfar."

This quote from Bravo should give you an idea of how things are changing; transparency and an official place to receive map submissions.

 

[SIERRA420]

Its been a while Duck. I kinda have sat back from the Halo community thing due to MCC's lack of support. That and my lack of computer. But I've gotta say the air in the community has changed. Things were pretty open ended back when I was kind of involved with PA1NTS and the CC's with getting Last Stand into MM for Halo 4.
I did watch the video and I took it with a grain of salt, trying to interpret my own views on the matter. I can't really deny it, you have changed quite a bit from our first encounter testing out PA1NTS' first attempts back in Reach (Encaged or something like that). You were supportive of basically every aspect of the forging/halo community, including the little up and comers at the time. You took PA1NTS in and he broke out becoming a bigtime forgenut for years after that encounter in a test lobby.
Don't get me wrong you've contributed a lot to getting the community rallied together. But it seems more recently especially since the THFE controversy and you guys breaking off to make Forgehub that you're more focused on rallying the community to look at you.
Fair enough you're forced to get back your former subscriber and view numbers, but you're letting it effect your guys' integrity.
Let it be about the gametypes and maps again. Enough with pointing fingers and burning bridges within the community. You guys on FH channel are great at features, I was more engaged during your time in charge of THFE because of that not simply because I favor you. You don't need stunts like this thread or how you reacted to the THFE breakup to stay relevant.
Let your experience do the talking for you. Your reputation being a prominent part of the Halo Comminity is good enough, isn't it? Just remember how you used to do things in Reach, testing lobbies and giving the lesser known guys a shot to improve. Sure there is always going to be tasty talented forgers out there with gorgeous maps but the aspect of the community that I love the most is our ability to help each other grow.

Hopefully my words aren't hurtful, I'm not trying to slander you and I don't 100% agree with the videos views based on my personal experiences with you. But you do need to understand you seem to have a different tone from dat OG Phizcoduk I bugged to take a look at Parts Unknown because I knew that it was a step in the right direction for our good buddy PA1NTS.

TLDR You're the warthog driver and the community is your gunner. The two can't do too well separately but together you can control the map and win.
S1ERRA420

 

[Psychoduck]

Its been a while Duck. I kinda have sat back from the Halo community thing due to MCC's lack of support. That and my lack of computer. But I've gotta say the air in the community has changed. Things were pretty open ended back when I was kind of involved with PA1NTS and the CC's with getting Last Stand into MM for Halo 4.
I did watch the video and I took it with a grain of salt, trying to interpret my own views on the matter. I can't really deny it, you have changed quite a bit from our first encounter testing out PA1NTS' first attempts back in Reach (Encaged or something like that). You were supportive of basically every aspect of the forging/halo community, including the little up and comers at the time. You took PA1NTS in and he broke out becoming a bigtime forgenut for years after that encounter in a test lobby.
Don't get me wrong you've contributed a lot to getting the community rallied together. But it seems more recently especially since the THFE controversy and you guys breaking off to make Forgehub that you're more focused on rallying the community to look at you.
Fair enough you're forced to get back your former subscriber and view numbers, but you're letting it effect your guys' integrity.
Let it be about the gametypes and maps again. Enough with pointing fingers and burning bridges within the community. You guys on FH channel are great at features, I was more engaged during your time in charge of THFE because of that not simply because I favor you. You don't need stunts like this thread or how you reacted to the THFE breakup to stay relevant.
Let your experience do the talking for you. Your reputation being a prominent part of the Halo Comminity is good enough, isn't it? Just remember how you used to do things in Reach, testing lobbies and giving the lesser known guys a shot to improve. Sure there is always going to be tasty talented forgers out there with gorgeous maps but the aspect of the community that I love the most is our ability to help each other grow.

Hopefully my words aren't hurtful, I'm not trying to slander you and I don't 100% agree with the videos views based on my personal experiences with you. But you do need to understand you seem to have a different tone from dat OG Phizcoduk I bugged to take a look at Parts Unknown because I knew that it was a step in the right direction for our good buddy PA1NTS.

TLDR You're the warthog driver and the community is your gunner. The two can't do too well separately but together you can control the map and win.
S1ERRA420

I have to say, it's really disappointing to see people who actually know me on a personal level have their opinions skewed by what is clearly an attempt to paint a false image of me. With that said, I appreciate your openness and honesty.

Much of what you say about 'how I used to be' is more true of my actions now than it ever was in the past. There was a time when I desired personal fame, recognition, attention- whatever you want to call it. That time is long since passed, and I certainly have no desire to take center stage. I leave that to the personalities of the Forge community: people like Ducain and Pokephile. I respect these individuals, but take a very different stance on my own interaction with the community. I stay largely out of the limelight and work behind the scenes to shed said light on others. The thought of this thread being a publicity stunt to 'stay relevant' is silly. If I wanted to do that, I would make a video of my own going over the actual facts behind all of this drama. But, I have no interest in doing that because I know that my time would be much better spent continuing to contribute positively to this community rather than defending my own reputation.

On the other hand, I can retrospectively see where you're coming from regarding my post about the dissolution of THFE. I won't pretend I handled the situation as well as I should have. Being free from three-and-a-half years of extortion and giving up something I had poured so much into over the years was bittersweet in a matter of extremes and I presented the situation poorly. It was understandably misconstrued by some as a 'stunt'. Ultimately, though, my intentions were exactly what I proclaimed them to be: to shed light on what had been a serious community issue and to share the reason that such a staple of the community was coming to an end. Did our intentions change when we transitioned from THFE to ForgeHub? No. It was a natural point to reevaluate several aspects of what we'd been doing and make some improvements, but the underlying intentions behind what we do were and still are identical to what they were years ago when I took charge of THFE. Regaining our old viewerbase was never something I viewed as particularly feasible or desirable and was never a goal of mine. It was a fresh start and an opportunity to begin producing content of an even higher quality than we'd done in the past and our viewership would rise and fall based on that notion alone.

At the end of the day, I'm still hosting testing lobbies just like I was six years ago. I love sharing and partaking in unique experiences, helping the authors of those experiences refine and improve their work wherever possible, and sharing the best of those efforts with a wider audience. That process has taken on many forms, but it is and has been the reason I'm a part of this community in the first place.

 

[SIERRA420]

Don't get me wrong Duck, I'm disappointed like a parent is when you hear their kid is getting in trouble at school. You're still a cool dude in my book, just surprised by how you react to negative situations and the fact someone would go out of their way to voice their frustration about the CC's that are supposed to be the middlemen.
It isn't easy to keep cool when being attacked and I'm impressed you didn't totally lose it because I do agree that the video does target you. However thats not what is influencing my opinion, more that I see THFE is still a sore spot for you. Your response to that is also more the stunt I'm talking about.
I lived with PA1NTS up until a couple months ago and was aware of what was going on, so I have slightly more of a personal experience than you might think I do about the matter. You have been more vocal about that issue than the rest of the FH channel team has, which I feel is justified seeing as you spearheaded THFE in that time. However its happened and you cannot change that. I want to get across that I'm really sorry something you and many others contributed to was swept out from under your feet. But it isn't your fault for what happened and the best thing you can do at this is move forward. We'll gladly follow. I'm not jumping ship on you guys. Don't let this set you back, it hasn't so far but being sore about it isn't going to make things better.

Now to elaborate my stance on the video. I disagree with completely ousting you, however you need to look at the issue objectively instead of how it attacks you.
There has to be a root reason this dude is salty. Not everything is true that he says, but that isn't what matters. Everything happens for a reason.
The point he makes that does sound accurate with what I know has been going on is how 343's objectives or current plans that involve forgers are disclosed.
I am not forging at all in Halo 5 yet I was aware the CC's were looking for maps for infection and btb before the rest of the community got a chance to know. This doesn't solely weigh on you or the CC's though more 343 wanting non disclosure.
I do appreciate that you're there as the middleman. You're an integral part of the community and I understand you're at the mercy of 343.
I must reiterate what I said previously, I'm not trying to be hurtful, my stance is more confusion about the whole matter than anything.
I guess I want what everyone else does which is for you guys to stay integral and as honest/supportive as you have always been. Seeing someone upset enough to make a video about it does mean something though. Don't dismiss it all as slander. I want to hear you be more open about the issues he brought up than feel hurt about the matter. Its never easy to figure out why someones being a jerk but there is almost always a rational reason behind said jerkiness.

I do trust you to understand what I mean as my opinion isn't that huge in terms of Halo or the bigger picture. I haven't contributed half as much as you have to this community or been around as of late.
I just want you to stay true to character and this thread very much shows your positive character. Keep up the good work and don't let something like this or a channel fallout slow you down because we both know you're better than that.