Current situation with MIA FB as well as forums.

[luke213]

The state of the MIA Community. We've been talking in a thread about where to go and what to do to improve the community as a whole. As I'm sure many of you noticed there has been some pretty major changes on the Facebook group in the last 24 hours. I just wanted to say that at the end of the day no one wanted this to occur. It's going to further fracture an already delicate community and at the end of the day hurt the players and hosts within Michigan.

The goal of MIA has always been to keep things going forward and try to keep a civil community and give them a place to talk about all the facets of airsoft. With Facebook that's become a bit more difficult for the reasons mentioned in that thread I talked about above. But that doesn't change the fact that we've got the best interest of the community in mind. The admin and mod staff is made up of guys from all over the map of activity. We've got a couple guys that because life gets in the way don't play very often at all. We've got active hosts and players as well. Myself I was inactive for a long time though I've been very active in the UP the last several years. And I've also been very active here keeping the site running and adding new features etc. The way MIA is setup isn't centralized, it's basically a gentleman’s agreement among the staff on how to do things and how to go forward. It may say admin by my name but that's because I'm working in the background etc on the site. I'm not above or below the other guys on staff. If you've earned everyone's respect your opinion is basically the same as everyone else’s.

I should also mention that people within the normal MIA players are always welcome to start taking some responsibility and modding parts of the forum etc and eventually move up into the higher positions. And I don't mean higher in the sense of "your cooler than them" but rather more responsibility and more trust because that is the primary thing with the MIA staff as a whole. Allot of us have been around the block, we've seen allot of things come and go. But the one thing that keeps up spending time here without making a dime from the effort, is that at the end of the day we love the game. That's why we're here, we like to go sling BB's at one another.

One final little bit I wanted to just thank the guys over the years who have supported MIA and the hosts within Michigan. By posting information here, attending games in Michigan and everything in between. By being a part of the community you're bringing value to the community and it's appreciated even if it's not always acknowledged.

Luke

[Troutzor]

Thank you for doing what you do Luke.

I'm sure there are many like myself that saw a lot of what happened today without much frame of reference or insight as to why things went down the way they did, but the forums still feel like a safe place, for now.

Here's to keeping it going, being respectful, keeping a level head, and loving the game. Cheers!

-Troutzor

[luke213]

I really appreciate that as do the other guys I'm sure.

Just an update for everyone more details will be forthcoming, but the group prior to a few minutes ago that was MIA's facebook page has been taken over and removed from our control(staff). As a result we've started a new open group to be the Facebook presence of MIA going forward. None of us wanted it to come to that, but under the circumstances we felt there wasn't a path forward with the current group and situation.

I apologize to everyone involved in this situation for the headaches this will cause the community. But we're going to keep an open mind going forward, and the group will be open rather than closed as well from here out. Currently there is a plan in place to insure this type of thing can't occur in the future. We've got control of the group in the hands of a trusted long time mod Canto(John from Hole in the Wall). And the agreement we've always held to will hold going forward. Any changes to the group or roles will go through all of the staff not a single person.

I should also mention we don't own MIA, the staff and community we all own MIA. If there is a decision made it's made with those all being a part. Admittedly since the start, Hadoken began MIA and basically setup the framework we've all worked within since then. But since he's not around and active we've continued to follow those rules and move the community forward. But no single person owns or holds control over MIA and given we all are around it will always stay that way.

Here is a link to the new group feel free to sign up: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MichiganAirsoft

Luke

[luke213]

Alright guys I wanted to post an update to the situation here most of you are probably in the loop but if not here is the current situation. We the staff who left started a new Facebook group for the forums in light of the situation above and honestly I really enjoyed myself over in the new group. It was a great atmosphere and I want to thank each and every guy who came over and was contributing to that new setup. I want to say that at the point where we started the new group and just speaking for myself here I didn't think it was possible to reconcile the situation. I know most guys were feeling the same way but I also don't want to speak for them either. So it seemed like the best path forward given the circumstances.

Yesterday negotiations started again, and just to be clear those of us who left were willing to come back so long as a neutral trusted mod was put into the admin position on MIA. Someone we knew wouldn't cause a problem like this going forward and would abide by the decisions of the rest of the staff. The sticking point was who that would be, and I want to say everyone who was suggested would probably have been fine. But after all that had happened I think all of us wanted to insure that without a doubt this wouldn't be an issue again. So Andrew G was appointed to that position over the group by agreement his name is Gimpalong on here and I believe most of you know him from quite a few years as a mod/admin on MIA. So now he is in place as the "owner" of sorts on paper, he doesn't have any more power over the group he just enforces the elevation or removal of power within the group based on a vote from the staff.

For those wondering about positions within MIA, and the age of those guys or their activity. On the staff are some very active guys and some less active guys. That doesn't change their ability to do their job, and it balances the group as a whole with input and a variety of experiences. We have hardcore milsim guys, rec players and everything in between. And some of us play a combination of those things, at the end of the day that helps the community. It also provides a necessary check and balance against teams or players being unfairly treated by staff. We all have different team/field affiliations and that diversity is what insures MIA going forward can keep doing what it's done for all these years.

I know that some guys are frustrated with the apparent slow movement of MIA as a whole, but honestly it's not a bug it's a feature. It keeps it alive long term, and we're one of the oldest airsoft organizations out there. And there is nothing stopping guys from stepping into roles within the community as a whole and getting into leadership positions. Generally if you are a super level headed guy, you're following the rules and respected by the community. You can expect that someone might ask you to step into that role. It's not something done on any schedule, but it does happen as needed, and it can be proposed by anyone on staff who thinks it's necessary.

So to close this out, we are all back in position on the Michigan Airsoft group, because we felt it was the best way to keep the community as a whole together. Speaking for myself I hope we can cultivate the same open and inviting atmosphere going forward on the group, as well as the forums. Less drama more slinging BB's;)

Take care!

Luke