Hopes for the CSM7 (BB34)

Blog Banter 34: The Rise of the Spaceship Politicians

The polls have just opened for the election of candidates to occupy the 14 seats on the 7th Council of Stellar Management. To kick-start a topical CSM-themed banter, CCP Xhagen – fierce champion of freedom of speech and in his words, “the guy that gets yelled at when the CSM dudes do booboos” – has offered this question:

“How would you like to see the CSM grow, both in terms of player interaction and CCP interaction?

“Results are in.”

Mike sighed.  “I saw them.  Impressive win for Mittens.”

“How you doing?”  The POS manager pulled up a chair slowly then watched it for a few minutes to make sure it would stay where it was put.

“hmm?  A shade disappointed, me.  More in myself than in anybody else.  I had such hopes this time, still do.”

“Hopes?  You lost . . . most folks kinda lose hope at that point.  Or have the common sense to drop it.”

“Common sense ain’t big in my family.  No, I mean hopes for the CSM and what I would like to see of them.”

“Aside from the forlorn hope of you being a part of them?”

“Yeah.  I STILL want to see them use a common media to communicate with the electorate.  Either a common channel, comms, print, whatever.  Searching through forums of different organizations is not a valid method of information dissemination.  Saying in one breath that they are ‘talking to the people whop voted for them’ and in the next breath claiming a ‘mandate from a group far larger than their own alliance’ is bullshit, plain and simple.”

“Yer thinking of one person there, aren’t you?”

“If you mean the Mittani, yes and no.  A lot of stuff ascribed to him is actually more from his own personal echo chamber of loyal henchlings.  Though he can open his mouth wide enough to accommodate both feet when he puts his mind to it.”

“You been following the news, have you?”

“Hard not to.  Half the universe seems to be baying for his blood and the other half are defending him to the death.”

‘Where do you fall in that division?”

Mike paused.  “He screwed up and prepared the information to be able to do the screwup right proper.  You do not remember the name and exact spelling of a person you got an comm from months earlier unless you have reminded yourself of that name.  You do not accidentally prep an image for the same story.  He may have been drunk when he made the faux pas but I have trouble thinking that he was also drunk while making the preparations to do so.”

“So you are baying for his head, eh?”

“Let me finish.  That being said he has acknowledged his error publicly and in more than one forum.  It is said he has sent reparations to the person he targeted.  He has stepped up and shouldered the blame.”

“So you think it should just be dropped and is all water under the bridge?”

“Man, you are as bad as a troll, you know that?  Jump on an idea and then gnaw its bones for some marrow of the truth you want to hear.  I think a middle ground is called for, in a few ways and for a few reasons.  Sadly, I don’t think he can stay on as chair of the CSM.  I do NOT think that they should pull his pilots license.  The thing is hard to judge because of all the outside factors involved.  He is a celebrity and so what he says carries more weight and more responsibility.  He has, in the past traded on that status, even scamming folks with fake sales, trading on his rep as a CSM Chair.”

Mike looked down at his coffee.  “That was . . . questionable but hey, let the buyer beware, eh?  But he knows that he has a pack ready to leap to do his bidding.  It is like carrying  a loaded gun with a hair trigger.  If you point it and it fires but doesn’t hit the target does that mean ‘no harm no foul’?”

“The gun still went off.”  The POS manager nodded.

“Exactly.  Look, you asked me what I hope for CSM7 and this is it.  I hope that we can get the hell past this and move on.  That there are better lines of communication both up and down and that they are FASTER.  Minutes should not take months.  Some good folks got elected and I hope to be in communication with a lot of them.”

“Why?”

“To keep in touch, to help them talk to the players, even if it is through me.  I don’t have the ear of the people higher up but after all this time I do know that most of the ‘Eve Celebrities’ are just folks.  Same goes for Mittani.  He is a guy, not a demi-god.  He made a mistake.  We need to deal with it and move on.”  Mike sipped his now cool coffee and grimaced.  “When stuff gets old and cold it gets more bitter.”

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Lessons

My eyes are bleeding from following the threadnaughts.

I had this partially written and then the Alliance Council fiasco blew up.

I went back to the CSM White paper, the original document that outlines the whys and whats of the CSM

any behavior or actions considered being a material breach of the eula or tos by a CSM representative is grounds for immediate dismissal and permanent exclusion from all pending and future participation in the council. there are no
exceptions, regardless of the infraction. representatives are not only expected to uphold the social contract that all society members are held accountable to, but should also set a behavior standard for everyone else to follow.

We all make mistakes but, as I tell my daughters, sometimes ‘sorry’ is needed but it is not the end of it.

I’ll draw a command ship for someone later today. (seems appropriate)

fly it like you won it

m