An open letter to Chalex4

[Marshy]

Over the past few weeks, a significant proportion of the community have become unhappy with way the community is run. For the most part, the inactivity of Chalex and the major leadership of the community, regardless of if it was caused by real life situations or not, has been the main issue. This has led to a stalling of growth in the community, as well as leading to the existing community to wilter and come down to approximately 12 core members. Whilst some new members have been brought in, it has been due to the recruitment efforts of the main figures in Helix Gaming for the League of Legends team and the restart of the Show No Mercy corporation in EVE Online.

It's is now the opinion of the majority of main community members that for the continued success of the community as it stands, a substantial leadership change must take place, much more radical and drastic than those proposed by Oricalcos a year ago, which led to the formation of the entity now known as Helix Gaming.

Therefore, the people mentioned below have sanctioned this letter in order to request that Chalex shares full admin of the website with a person or persons, to be selected by a community vote of members who stand for selection, in order for the active members vision for taking ATK forward can be made possible. To make plain, this does not mean moderators of the forum or access to view server statistics – what we are requesting is full access to all aspects of the ATK website, servers and all associated entities.

It is also the opinion of the people mentioned below that if a suitable solution for this can be found, and no resolution is given for our issues, then we would be prepared to explore options outside of ATK such as founding a new community entity to be run by ourselves, again selected by a forum vote for people wishing to stand, or to find a new, suitable community. Whilst we sincerely hope that it does not come to this, we have discussed these options at length to be prepared for any outcome of future discussion, if and when they occur.

We look forward to hearing your response,

Signed,
Marshy
Calneon
Oricalcos
Col. Mitch
CILLIT BANG
Chazlene
Target
Setsoru
Joe
Ki
Vicious
Foulkez

[Isphera]

/agree

[Chazlene]

Just for the record, I don't believe a whole new community should be set up if it comes to that... it's just really not practical, would be a pain in the arse to get a Mumble server/forums/etc set up all over again, and would be a waste of all the time, money and effort put into ATK to get it to where it is today. Plus think of the recognition we've gained through appearing at the I-series en masse and by producing some videos of the events, all gone down the drain.

[Setsoru]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95SYdjRVCR0

[Target]

I don't think we want a new community, theres a lot of hard work and dedication gone into creating this one, I just think that we need some change in control so that we can build on this further. In no way do I think chalex should be totally removed, after all the time and effort he has put in, although it would be nice to see him at least once a week, which I don't think is that hard to do!

I think this could be a new beginning for ATK and if we could maybe use BF3 as a platform to advance and expand the community then this could work really well...also I think we should try and expand on our interviews and lochtechmonster idea as I think this is the way to go.

Would really like to talk to you chalex about all of this, maybe not with everyone but just a few of us say Oric Mitch and Chaz or something just so we know what you think / are going to do

no TL:DR :D :D

[Joe]

I agree with Target that we could make BF3 a way to expand the community and get more people involved/expand and also that a new community probably wouldn't be the best idea however it would be nice to have more of a community feel to ATK as all it currently is, is a couple of forums that maybe 5 people check regularly if that, maybe a couple of group games a week or something? Just so we can all have a laugh than sit on mumble doing nothing!

[Kiliv]

i agree with this proposal

[Target]

Also we really need the active members to have admin to mumble because its really annoying when random french people come on and spam the mumble and we cant remove them....

[Hutch]

I agree with the points about sharing control of the community with another person, and I also agree with Chazlene that we shouldn't make a new community. I think this does need to be addressed, so that someone else can take on the burden and actually do things and keep things running and growing.

.... just as long as that person is not Oric :P

[nikoli]

+1

[ez64]

Also we really need the active members to have admin to mumble because its really annoying when random french people come on and spam the mumble and we cant remove them....

Bonjour! :D

[Isphera]

Bonjour! :D

Your never on mumble anymore though (*hint*) :D

[Mr.Big]

a coup ey? /signed agree whatever +1 goforit!

[Vicious Horizon]

Nice tO know my name was added to this without my permission ;)

[Isphera]

Nice tO know my name was added to this without my permission ;)

Blame Moeshi :D I actually said to wait until we talked to you to put your name in.

[Vicious Horizon]

Bumping for great justice!

[Chalex4]

So now it's time for me to chip in on the conversation! I'll try to keep this concise :).

Firstly, thanks for being proactive and all getting behind an idea like this. It makes a lot of sense, and I'm completely happy to admit that. My views on how the community should be run have dramatically changed since we started it 5 years ago. Like any organisation, people have their time, and fresh blood can really help revitalize things.

So why did I not do this before? Indeed I have tried (Siepie & Kata) but perhaps I was focusing too much on technical expertise. I had no idea you were all so keen on keeping ATK fresh and exciting!!

What can be done? Well, I don't think it should all rely on one person at the top. Here are some ideas:

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ATK Manager:
Description: This person needs to have a real vision for where ATK can go in the future, and how to manage what we already have. This spreads from our servers and website to making sure the members in the community have their views heard. They are also responsible for finding sponsorship, ordering merchandise and ensuring that there is regular communication and meetings with the rest of the administration team.
Time: During the week, at least an hour a day. Weekends should be considerably more.

Head of Technical:
Description: ATK is your oyster. You can really make a difference in this role, whether its from the more menial tasks of updating the website and servers to designing applications for mobile devices and tools that make ATK unique. Experience in HTML, CSS & PHP would help. Advanced technologies like C++ and Ajax can be learnt if necessary.
Time: During the week, at least half an hour a day. Weekends should be considerably more.

Community Manager:
Description: Responsible for gaming nights, LAN trips and everything social (online and offline!). They are THE port of call for all community members. This person must keep track of the community's growth and, with the admin, draw up a plan for how to improve it. Current statistics must be taken and targets set. They are also responsible for advertising the community and ensuring that everyone knows all the latest ATK news.
Time: During the week, at least half an hour a day. Weekends should be considerably more.

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So where are you Chalex? Still here, but I won't be in on every meeting. I will need to be consulted though by the "ATK Manager" before major changes are made.

So who's admin? The "ATK Manager" is really the admin position, but I wanted a name that's easier to understand. In fact, all 3 positions would have administrative control (to a degree).

What about current positions? The moderators will report to the "Community Manager". Current "Head of Graphics" roles (Chaz and Vox) would have a slightly adapted role. They will liaise with all three new positions, providing valuable design choices and keeping everything to the "ATK theme". Obviously they're also there to do awesome graphics work too!

Why would anyone give up their time? Having an ATK position will REALLY boost your CV, and give you masses of experience. I found it invaluable and have spoken about it in every single interview I've ever had! I can also write referrals for LinkedIn etc.

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That's it folks! We need to get ourselves back on track by the time BF3 comes along :D.

PS. I REALLY appreciate all the kind words you've said about me. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you guys can do.

[Joe]

I think the ideas about the 3 positions sound really good and getting back on track for when BF3 comes along is a good idea! It's cool you agree that this needs to happen also as you can't be around all of the time now ( not your fault ). Hopefully with the help of everyone in ATK at the moment we can now start to help the community grow and have a community vote on who should be the ATK manager etc... Look forward to seeing what happens as a result of this! :)

[Vicious Horizon]

^ What Joe said.

Also I think one of the reasons we're annoyed about the way that things are currently run is that we're often left out of the loop (I.e. The super secret project that you were working on that you wouldn't release any details about; as well as the fact that a lot of us have been with the community for a number of years and I think most of us have a feeling of ownership of the community, a bit like a business has shares I suppose, so having more community appointed roles would be beneficial to the community as a whole I think.

[Isphera]

Just to pre-emptively answer these questions, a method for selection for these roles as well as nomination is being developed currently and will be published tomorrow evening in a new thread. As it stands, you will only be able to apply for ONE position, so please do not write masses on why you should be both Technical and Community. Current rough process is for interested people to come forward, writing a little bit on why they would like to take on the role, then all candidates to be vetted by Chalex and senior members that do not run for positions. Following this community voting will take place.

Please bear in mind this is very rough and likely to change.

--

Official stuff out the way, I appreciate your input Chalex, and I look forward to resolving this in the next few days. On mumble, the ideas that have come out would make the whole leadership more open and accessable to members in order to see what we are doing and to make inputs into ideas easier.

A quick joke, The ATK Manager role in video form:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NisCkxU544c&feature=related

[Colonel Mitch]

This sounds reasonable so long as this means we really do have the power to change things more than now, like the website etc, say we wanted to add a page and move a link somewhere. :)

[Hutch]

I might run for something, then change the background to a giant picture of Pinkie Pie, demand everyone make meringues and photo them to become a full member, make the movies section just links to My little Pony videos and then quit. That is my campaign promise.