Aces High Bulletin Board
Special Events Forums => Friday Squad Operations => Topic started by: Stoney on May 24, 2010, 09:48:09 PM
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To the FSO Community,
I'm leaving the FSO CM team. I had planned to stay until October, which would have been my 3 year anniversary as an FSO Admin CM, but my batteries died before I could get there.
A couple of thoughts on the way out the door:
This is a great event--the best, in my humble opinion, among the Aces High special events. Its great for 4 main reasons. (1) The vision of the creators that imagined it first, and figured out a way to sustain it second. (2) Hard work by the entire CM team. While the Admins and Setup CMs shoulder the majority of the burden, the entire CM team plays a part. First, the terrain team builds these awesome maps that take us to all of the battlefields we all read about, and over which we attempt to recreate those epic air and land battles of WWII history. That includes the maps, the custom features, and sometimes the custom weather files we use. In addition, each FSO setup is vetted by the entire CM staff. We get input from the Race CMs, Scenario CMs, KOTH, and Snapshots--they all contribute to refining the setup before it goes public. (3) The support of HTC. You guys may not realize it, but HTC bends over backwards to support this event. From uploading terrains and weather files, to trusting the CMs with information that allows us to score and manipulate the event arena in so many ways. They have enabled a number of custom settings over the years that give the CM team even more capability and flexibility to create even more immersive battles. Truly, without their support, this event would flounder. (4) Last, the players. What if we had an FSO and nobody came? You guys and gals showing up each Friday give the event and FSO team a purpose--to entertain, educate, and immerse the FSO community into an intense, historically-based event that has enough of an edge to mean more than 2 hours in the main arenas. Your participation has made FSO the largest, most popular event of its kind in the entire WWII online market. Squadron COs and staff dedicate hours each week to create orders that structure the event and allow the Admin CM's ideas become reality. Your interest helps sustain ours, and to hear someone say they had a kick-ass time in one of my events has truly made all of this work we do worth it.
Since I've been flying FSO, over the last 4 years or so, I've seen the participation levels in FSO sky-rocket. We used to get 150 or so pilots participating. We almost hit 600 for one frame last year. That's a lot of new blood into the event. Consequently, there are many more consumers of FSO now than ever before. In that same period, I've seen about half-a-dozen Admin CMs come and go, with an equivalent number of Setup CMs as well. Right now, we have 3-4 veteran Admin CMs (counting DD) that have been around FSO for a long time. Ghostdancer is a veteran of the event. Squire/Warloc is a veteran of the event. Daddog has been with the event since it started. I'm leaving after almost 3 years. These other 3 have been around the event since before me even.
In my time, I've tried to push the envelope of the event. GVs, new scoring systems, wind, manual calibration--all because I thought they were needed--raised the bar, made the event more difficult and more realistic. Some of you have not agreed with me. Trust me, I have heard some very vocal protests, calls for changes, ideas for improvement, suggestions to spice up the event, and, always the loudest, the folks pointing out exactly where we, the FSO Admins, screw up the event and their personal FSO experience. With that being said, my challenge to the community is for you folks to step up to the plate. It can be your turn. My first public criticism of FSO came in a discussion with then Admin CM Nefarious regarding fog visibility settings. I had some very strong opinions about how they needed to be changed. That led to other discussions about other facets of the event. Eventually, I was offered a chance to try my ideas about how to make the event even better. I was fortunate enough to have that opportunity.
If you find yourself constantly telling everyone else about how FSO would be better by doing this, or by balancing that, or using more of these aircraft, etc.--petition to join the FSO CM Team. Instead of merely throwing darts at the CMs, stand up and allow yourself to be a target of criticism. Let people challenge your ideas, publicly ridicule your historical research and decision making. Learn what it is to be behind the curtain. Daddog is looking for talented people. He may not want you. But, the only way the event is going to get better is for the entire community to take a turn at the wheel.
I've enjoyed the opportunity to do this. I'll continue to participate in the event as a pilot, with very little responsibility, and now armed with a perspective that will help me understand the challenges the FSO CM team will continue to have each month.
Cheers and :salute
Stoney
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:salute Stoney, I think you did a great job. :salute
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:salute stoney and thank you for all the work you've done that's provided me great fun every saturday (friday your time :D )
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:salute
Thank you for the valuable time in volunteer work for these events.
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My first public criticism of FSO came in a discussion with then Admin CM Nefarious regarding fog visibility settings. I had some very strong opinions about how they needed to be changed. That led to other discussions about other facets of the event. Eventually, I was offered a chance to try my ideas about how to make the event even better. I was fortunate enough to have that opportunity.
Yep, I remember that. In fact that was one of the best decisions we made was to get you on the FSO Team. Your events have been top notch and well played, I will personally miss them.
Thanks for all your hard work. <S>
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:salute :cheers:
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:salute Stoney
Thank you for giving us great events. The FSO is the best part of Aces High.
Cheers,
gus
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Stoney,
I know we didn't always see eye to eye but I appreciate all you did for the FSO. Enjoy the more relaxed experiance you'll have now and thanks for all the work you did for the rest of us.
<S>
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I thank you sir. I :salute your work. I have gotten a lot of enjoyment from your efforts.
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Always enjoyed your work stoney, thanks for all the time you put into this.
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Thanks, Stoney. :salute
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Always enjoy FSO. Great job Stoney <S>
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Your contributions and commitment to FSO have been appreciated Stoney and I can only imagine the amount of time and effort expended by a CM in the creation and execution of an FSO. Again CMs, for all you do, <S>
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Thank you for your contributions to the FSO Stoney, your hard work and commitment are appreciated. You guys behind the scenes are one of the biggest reasons that FSO has been and will continue to be such a successful event.
:salute
Edgar
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:airplane: :salute
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Thank you Stoney, for giving us, your time.
Well done.
:salute
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(http://www.navycs.com/gallery2/d/7691-2/b-flag.gif)
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Well Done ;)
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Thanks Stoney. You will be sorely missed and I am sorry to see you go. It is never any fun when the veteran CM's leave and your contributions to FSO have been significant to say the least. I appreciate all you have done over the years to improve the event and how you have patiently put up with my 'two cents' time after time. ;)
Just wanted to highlight part of your post.
If you find yourself constantly telling everyone else about how FSO would be better by doing this, or by balancing that, or using more of these aircraft, etc.--petition to join the FSO CM Team. Instead of merely throwing darts at the CMs, stand up and allow yourself to be a target of criticism. Let people challenge your ideas, publicly ridicule your historical research and decision making. Learn what it is to be behind the curtain. Daddog is looking for talented people. He may not want you. But, the only way the event is going to get better is for the entire community to take a turn at the wheel.
We are always looking for new blood. If you have any interest in FSO and have been around a while PM me. The FSO team has gone far beyond my talent years ago and it is important we add new members who may be willing to try something new after getting a couple events under their belt. Pay is nothing like you have ever seen. Health benefits are out of this world and you will have a host of CM's that will question everything you do so you will never feel ignored. ;)
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Pay is nothing like you have ever seen. Health benefits are out of this world and you will have a host of CM's that will question everything you do so you will never feel ignored.
:rofl No truer words.
You'll be missed Stoney, enjoy the break.
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Nicely said Stoney. Job well done sir.
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Well done , FSO is the Major reason I flly ( Play ) , My squadmates and I make this our pride and joy to gather on friday nights for FSO .. Job well done SIR.. :salute
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Think we are going to miss Stoney more than first realized...
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400+ guys are not all gonna be happy at the same time, a number of people will always have difficulty seeing the balance and appreciating the problems of the other side. it takes a very special person to want to step into the middle of that situation in an "unbalanced game" to recreate a likely "very unbalanced battle" and try to build a balanced and challenging event for everyone in the face of all the likely complaints from both sides, which is the only real proof that he is doing a good job.
+++S+++
to the Janitors/CMs who feed our addiction so frequently with such meager expressions of thanks and appreciation ...
thanks stoney
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Thanks Stoney. :cheers:
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Thanks Stoney, for the CM work and for listening to the debates that became the norm.
:salute
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Stoney sorry to see you leave as CM.
We will all miss having such a great guy lay it out for us to enjoy!
:salute
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Thank you for your hard work, long hours, good decision making, dedication and service to the AH community.
I hope it is only a much deserved break that you are taking.
:salute Stoney
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:salute Boss. I enjoyed working with you!
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:salute This is why I play this game