Best posts made by Sheeo

Yesterday the 20th of March, 2021 we held the inaugural meeting for the FAF Association to be registered in Denmark.

The statutes as they were agreed can be found here.

I was picked for president of the board and will perform these administrative tasks during the term, and ideally near future:

• Register the FAF Association with the Danish authorities
• Setup bank accounts and coordinate with the elected Treasurer to setup continuous, transparent accounting.
• Facilitate the migration of our servers to a new account registered under the association and paid directly by its accounts.
• Facilitate the formal transfer of the IP to the association.

With this in place the structural framework for FAF as an organisation should be in place in a manner that is future-proof.

/Sheeo

Per the last update on the association as well as by request from community members to make this list public; here is the list of the current board members of the association:

• Brutus5000
• Swkoll
• furyritchie
• Nostalgic Futurist
• IceDreamer
• Giebmasse
• Rowey
• Dragun101
• Sheeo

Brutus5000 is the elected treasurer.

As the elected president I represent the board and any questions, issues or other concerns should be directed at me.

If the concerns are regarding myself or otherwise warrants asking another board member; please with priority ask Brutus5000 and avoid directly contacting other board members.

Hey everyone, since the last update here a few things have happened regarding the association.

On the 30th of May we had a board meeting where we started out by making ground rules for how the board itself can function efficiently, while still respecting the time constraints of the voluntary members.

Practically this means the board can always make a decision within at most 2 weeks, without requiring a call.

On request from multiple community members, we also decided to publish the list of board members.

I updated the board internally on the status of our funding and new bank setup. The treasurer and a few volunteer board members are working on a budget proposal for 2021. More to come on this as soon as that's ready.

When the association was formed, it was the intention that the Council of Setons would keep functioning as it has been throughout and changing the structure of it was not a part of the plan.

We did however decide to dissolve the position of the Administrative Councilor, given that the Board now oversees these responsibilities.

A further rethink of the rest of the Council is in progress, and we would like to hear thoughts from the community about it.

As for the recent resignation of the promotional councilor, we're sad to see him go and I'd like to extend a huge thank you to Nine2 for all his contributions and work on FAF.

@furyritchie will undertake the responsibilities in the meantime while a long term solution is worked out.

If you haven't already joined the association and would like to know more about it, here's the post summarizing the general assembly.

Anyone sympathetic to the objectives of FAF can join and we encourage you to do so if you have an interest in the future of FAF. There's a channel on our discord where you can ask for the required approval.

A few people have requested an update of me even though our next board meeting isn't until Thursday, so I thought I'd take some time to give a quick summary:

Since last update the following has happened:

• Our bank accounts are fully up and running
• We have paid out the on-hold funds from Patreon and are starting to use them
• Brutus is working on accounting and a way to make them transparent
• Swkoll has prepared a first draft of the budget
• Rowey is working on updating the patreon and setting up tiers to let supporters pick where their money goes
• The new code of conduct was finalized and approved.
• Due to the recent server issues we are considering moving to a more expensive Hetzner server; this is being discussed as I write this update and Brutus will post about it when we do

And finally some less positive news:

IceDreamer has resigned as a board member due to time constraints.

Not only was he board member however, he was also assistant auditor. So we are seeking a replacement auditor to be picked as a special agenda item at the next general election, who can assist Ceneraii our normal auditor with review of the accounts.

We do not expect any difference in the capacity of the board to function through the term due to this event.

On a personal note I would like to remind everyone that you do not need to be on the board or even in the association to contribute to FAF. Nor is being a member any kind of reward; it's simply more work. It's important work, however, and someone has to do it. So if you want to help out please do not hesitate to apply for the association

It is a group of people who have the community's best interest at heart and wish to see it thrive and grow, which is why we adopted the new code of conduct. It is important that everyone on FAF strives to follow the ideals it presents, but even more so, it is important that contributors hold it in high regard and try to follow it.

Sheeo,
On behalf of the board

Hey everyone,

It's the end of 2021 and so I'll take a moment to update you all about the status of the association.

Rowey resigned from the board due to time constraints. We thank him for all his contributions and he remains in the association and is continuing to make general contributions to FAF.

As per the 19th of December, the full rights to FAF have been transferred to the association. This means the transition of FAF to be a fully democratized and user-owned organization is formally complete. I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to Visionik for his commitment to FAF throughout the years.

As we're nearing the next General Meeting, and since I will not be running for President in 2022, we've been trying to find the best candidates for the position. We hope to include them in the process early on in order to have a recommendation for the General Meeting and a smooth transition overall. If you're interested, please do not hesitate to contact me.

An invitation to the General Meeting will be sent out soon detailing the date and procedure.

Thank you all for 2021 and happy new year

Sheeo,
On behalf of the board

To be frank this is just unacceptable way of managing an organization.

I also entirely agree with this point. I've not acted strongly enough in time and instead tried avoiding dealing properly with this for too long, which has left us here.

@thomashiatt no it's not pretty clear that what FAF is doing is against the law, otherwise I would not be a representative of this organization.

GPG encouraged modding and FAF when it shut down. They helped build this community.

So long as we don't break the spirit of that covenant and start encouraging piracy, or go against the original intentions -- say by cross-modding and taking SupCom 2 content and putting it into FAF, I'm fine with representing FAF in official capacity, talking with Square Enix/THQ Nordic should they send a C&D and defending our case in court should it be needed.

But only so long as we verify ownership of the game and actually do operate with good intentions.

Anyone who wants steam link gone and argues that it's OK should also be ready to sign up for the board and put their personal name on the paperwork behind the organization that runs FAF.

We've had a few intermittent server issues recently, last one 3 days ago and one today.

Technically one of the RAID drives appears to have become unresponsive, causing a lockup of our system.

We're looking into the issue and we may have to order a replacement drive which could cause some planned downtime in the near future.

Thank you for your understanding

@ftxcommando said in Council of Setons EXPOSED - Part 1:

Sheeo was driven out of the council chat because:

A) He says his role is obsolete and so he has no reason to be there, Admin Councillor = President of the Board for all intended purposes.

B) There were rules made for a code of conduct in the Council chat. It said Sheeo could remove anyone that breaks the rules. These rules included things like making disparaging remarks and lying. Sheeo did both and I don't mind having the conversation about how he did both.

So I said I would accept the code so long as we have a way to also apply it to Sheeo. But since Sheeo said he was leaving the Council chambers it was fine. Then he said I crossed the "intentionally trolling" part of the code as far as he was concerned by he didn't take action and isntead just left.

This is so incredibly misleading. Let's get the facts straight here.

There's no point in the admin councillor position any more indeed; that doesn't mean the board shouldn't have representation or be present in the council chat. But you have, almost single-handedly, made that impossible with your constant toxicity throughout the year.

I introduced those rules more or less only because of your behavior. What you're doing right now is very much the same; misrepresenting facts and lying to make your perspective seem better; and constantly disparaging and attacking others personally.

The very moment you were added back in the council chat you immediately continued your behavior and broke the rules. Instead of enforcing them unilaterally I left it up to the rest of the councillors.

I also do agree with Thomas - I highly doubt FTX’s periodic bouts of toxicity has much if any relevancy when it comes to player retention for newbs. The game’s steep learning curve and the lack of friendliness to newbs getting games and just getting kicked from lobbies are a much bigger issue for newbs, both of which there are initiatives to address.

I'm inclined to agree with this; I don't think players are scared off from playing the game because of toxicity.

The people who go on to contribute, and spend their time discussing with others, making content, writing code etc.; they are driven away. It's a lot to task of people to voluntarily help out with a project; it's an even taller order to expect them to keep on going while they're being treated like shit for helping out.

Some of the best people we've had around in this community left because of toxicity in the past.

@blackheart said in Council of Setons EXPOSED - Part 1:

@Sheeo Nobody is interested in the 2021 patreon data (that one will obviously be "correct"). We are talking about the years roughly 2017-2020, and you know perfectly well that we are, no need to play dumb or divert attention to "ill release 2021 data". Since you have surely separated faf patreon and private money and therefore directed the patreon to not-your-main bank account (...surely?), this shouldnt take you more than a couple minutes in the balance history of that account.

The tax authorities don't care what account i put money into.

Before 2020 the income was negligible and post-tax barely accounted for the server costs. In 2020 that changed and we now have $2800 in the patreon awaiting payout tax-free because we have a legal structure to support it.

The reason this is even demanded is that the patreon has been chilling at a solid 300-500 bucks a month (as of writing, 588) for a long time, while the server + tourneys should not remotely use it all up (if it does, sad, but we would like to see the facts). From what I have heard about server costs & the tourney contributions from official FAF, it appears that there should be thousands saved up.

Responded above.

Full accounts again to be made up by the elected treasurer. You could do well by showing up and engaging yourself as well, you're more than welcome.

@turinturambar said in Council of Setons EXPOSED - Part 1:

Yet in the statutes it sais: "The Board is responsible for managing day to day business."

Yeah wow, this is an good question and I fully understand the confusion.

In the statutes "day to day" means something different from what I've been arguing in this thread.

It means anything not related to the legal structure of the association and how it conducts itself formally. That is; anything that isn't expected by it from authorities.

Not what is expected from it by players or somebody wanting aurora to shoot further.

I hope this is clear.

Since I didnt follow all discussions regarding the board closely I likely missed information regarding this, but currently these two statements are contradicting.
If the board is not responsible for managing daily affairs who is (in the association)?

The board is. Just not by the definition of the how things currently "operate" in FAF.

If the board is responsible for managing daily affairs I would like to know what these "daily affirs" entail. neither the faf statutes, nor the fewforum posts regarding the faf assiciation give me any clear idea about it. The only thing I found was this https://forum.faforever.com/topic/1228/faf-association-preliminary-meeting , where it was stated that "Being a Board member gives you no additional privileges regarding moderation, deciding FAF operations, making balance changes, or anything of the sort. The central role of the Board and the association in turn is meant to provide a system of accountability for the financial aspects of FAF."

Yes, the notion here is correct. You do not get to decide the aurora shooting distance by being a member of the association.

You get a part of the overall responsibility of deciding who represents FAF; and if you're a part of the board, a say in some particular high level issues. No aurora shooting distance will ever come up here.

It would help me a lot if you could provide a clear overview of what tasks and responsibilities the association/board is currently supposed to get/have (or allready has) and how they are supposed to interact/cooperate (even if not explicitly stated in the statutes) with the current faf management (especially details regarding deciding what events will happen on faf, how they are organised etc.) to get a proper idea of what the current situation is (which ideally could also get added to the faf association forum topic).

Axel made a response above and he's entirely correct.

Until such time that the IP of FAF has been formally transferred to the association; it carries no further weight or responsibility than that which I'm capable of giving it.

But ultimately think of it as the point where the buck stops. If there's any disagreement or if there are any important things to be discussed in FAF; this is the body that now decides it.

Previous it was a set of private individuals.

If you want steamlink gone you can lobby the board to undertake the associated responsibility.

It's not something I'm going to support without another mechanism of verifying ownership of the game. I'll resign from the association if we start supporting/encouraging piracy.

The time has come for the association to have its next General Meeting, which will be held on the 6th of March, 2022 at 20:00 CET.

I'd like to encourage those who want to have influence on the future of FAF to attend and participate, by first joining the association.

You can find the invitation here which has a more detailed description of the meeting.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to reach out to me, or to ask on the forums, in discord or IRC

Regards,
Sheeo, on behalf of the board

I'm generally passive for the time being, just staying in the background making sure things don't run far off course.

What sort of announcements or signs of life from me were you looking for?

@blackheart said in Council of Setons EXPOSED - Part 1:

Ok, FtX is mean. Do you have any other points as well, or is this some last ditch attempt to bad PR him?

Wonder why he is mean?

Maybe because:

• There is a guy running the show here who is perma-afk and who has failed to supply what he demands of FtX for the FAFlive channel, which FtX already supplied (financial overview and a sheet detailing where the FAF patreon money goes, for the past years). If you do the math, there should be a lot of money, and in best case it has been mismanaged, in worst case - draw your own conclusions.

I assume you’re referring to me here? FtX has yet to supply the intended payout list for the FAFlive channel.

I have supplied the information I can give about the patreon funds to those who have asked including those who attended the association meeting.

Sometime later this year, as promised in the announcement, the full accounts and details are to be posted for the 2021 year and going forward.

I suggest you draw conclusions based on facts Instead of hearsay.

• There is in general complete apathy and 0 will from your end to move matters forward, its natural to get annoyed when your attempts to do something get locked by afk people who arent willing to do more than set up 1 meeting per 6 months

Again, are you referring to me?

I have spent more than 40 hours this year just responding to toxic spam. I have done several voice calls and invited those who want.

I might appear AFK to you because you don’t see my communications (you’re not in zulip and most communication here goes on in private).

But it’s also exactly the kind of the toxic narrative invented by the persons referred to here.

If you and your buddy big S wouldnt hide behind closed doors and also try to work on stuff more than 1 talk per half year FtX toxcity would disappear (yes yes, Ftx is impossible to work with, etc. - because he actually works).

I’m not hiding anywhere. FtX was invited to participate and work things out and has on countless occasions caused the conversation to utterly derode into toxicity.

@dragun101 said in Council of Setons EXPOSED - Part 1:

Disagree Brink, if you don't name names, it becomes a generalistic 'community' problem. If its same 3-4 people in Aeolus doing this? Why shouldn't we call them out. I can say "I feel Aeolus is generally toxic as everytime I log in I see the promotion of assault and murder of people in my hometown". But in doing so gives those people cover and makes it a generalist "avoid Aeolus solution" and in doing so avoid the problems and doesn't solve it.

Like I don't think there is toxicity Brink. But I feel there are individuals within Aeolus, Silly_Noob and others that are toxic. Them promoting the views that caused the death of 5 people where I live, whom do make it Toxic.

I agree with Brink; and others have— as I mentioned earlier— also left the community on this basis.

Nine is the latest in a long list of persons who have told me about this.

It is very much a community problem and it serves no purpose to call out individuals right here and have it derive into personal attacks. We have to discuss the root of the problem which quite clearly lies elsewhere.

@jaggedappliance said in Council of Setons EXPOSED - Part 1:

@sheeo said in Council of Setons EXPOSED - Part 1:

@jaggedappliance said in Council of Setons EXPOSED - Part 1:

What do people define as toxic? I've seen this word so often that it is losing its meaning. In many cases people seem to see it as simply saying swear words. If this is the metric then I am as toxic as the next.

Trolling, lying, derogative behavior, being argumentative just for the sake of it. I don't think this is so hard to come to an agreement about.

Just using swear-words is clearly too low of a bar, though.

Trolling is not an easily agreed upon judgement, nor is arguing just for the sake of it in many cases.

No; I didn't mean say it was easily agreed upon. Just that it isn't "that hard"-- the scale is wide.

At some point it becomes abundantly clear that a person has no interest in productive conversation and has other motives for continuing discussion.

Lying is of course extremely negative behaviour. Derogative behaviour I assume means insults which is not always toxic in my opinion, it depends on the insults and where they are directed e.g. are they personal or aimed towards an idea or towards some very negative behaviour.

Agreed. These things go hand in hand, though.

In reality all this thread has done has put out the serious disagreements from within the council into the public. It doesn't look good and I don't see where this is heading at the moment.

I agree. These problems should've been dealt with internally in the council a long time ago.

If I'd stepped up and kicked the offending councilors there would've likely been a lot of this anyway, however.

With people complaining about the lack of transparency I think they now have it, at least. The council has devolved entirely into dysfunction due to these issues, so I think that's important to shed some light on and make it clear to those who are interested.

The board and the association decides where this goes and I hope sensible people are able to make their own judgements. It has been possible to reach consensus amongst people with disagreements in the past.

@ftxcommando said in Council of Setons EXPOSED - Part 1:

"No aurora shooting distance will ever come up here"

Wrong. You cannot guarantee that whatsoever. The only restriction on Board activity is gross and deliberate negligence.

So, hypothetically, because somebody could bring up aurora firing distance in a board meeting; you're going to halt this entire process that I've been working on for the whole year.

Lead me to believe for one second this has nothing to do with your personal motives once again.

What you mean is "I will try to the best of my ability as President to stop these things from happening"

Yeah that's what I mean.

I also mean I did my best to write the statutes to prevent that kind of hypothetical evil from happening in the future.

Your suggestion is still, as far as I understand, to keep the "powers" with me because somehow I'm permanently AFK and therefore that's OK.

Do you have a better suggestion outside of the board and the association binding themselves to responding to your personal wishes?

The most recent ones will have been due to a drive failure we've just had -- the server is back up and running and we are doing diagnostics on the failed drive.