[Raion]

I should preface this that I posted this without the other staff knowing, and it's intended to highlight what I stand for going forward. 

With the recent harassment and attempts to character assassinate me over the last few months, I feel that it's important to restate how I feel in the now (June, 2020) regarding issues facing our community, as well as to underline the ethics I use with regards to the situations going on in this community. 

What does IRIX Network stand for? This thought crosses my mind regularly, and as one of the five responsible for keeping things moving forward, I try to keep this in the back of my mind.

I've received a lot of threats of violence against me and the site from cowards in anonymous emails to me, I've had thinly veiled threats pushed towards me from people I thought I could trust, and people I thought were not only level-headed and tolerant enough to be respected community members betrayed my trust and chose to enclave themselves off, and then try to replace what I had built alongside many others here. I've tried in recent times to say as little as possible about this and let things rest, and to let things go, but there are some people who cannot let things go. As evidenced by the sudden visit of MJBurton and Tangiers, who dug up old posts from a defunct blog I no longer run and attempted to doxx me (and got my name wrong), there are those among us who see nothing better than to tear down the well-intentioned attempts by me to keep the community ethical, focused, and peaceful. 

As founder, and the primary system architect of the services here, I believe IRIX Network is an exceptional community full of good, intelligent and thoughtful people. Unfortunately, there are those who take issue with me being a figure in the SGI community and compare me to the likes of ivelegacy/Legacy who has done nothing but torment the community over the last five years at nekochan.net, and then here. I firmly believe that's an unfair assessment, and I have done things for the community unlike him. I had things ready to go here, moreorless, for the inevitable collapse of Nekochan.net 

I can't talk about IRIX Network without bringing that up. Nekochan.net was a great site, but it was spoiled by people who didn't contribute constructively to discussion, posted angry screeds and opinions in topics (I probably did some of these, since I entered the community when I was only 19 years old) and some moderators who wielded power they shouldn't have. Not only that, but Nekochan's rules regarding software and ebay discussions were draconian. I'm sure that sgiseller wasn't happy when he was attacked (he's also 3ddoc on eBay) for his pricing or selling practices, and I certainly wouldn't endorse that kind of attitude here either out of respect for the fact he's done business fairly with people in the community, but there are absolutely people on ebay who should be mocked or talked about if they are bad news. The software aspect was also ridiculous, for the fact that licenses had been cracked years ago and were easily google-able, and it was a bitch to even get SGI media when I first got an Octane.

The main values of IRIX Network however, are:

Factual discussions—Our discussions are based on fact, experience, and know-how. 

Healthy markets—We don't have a culture of price-fixing, or appraisals even. This is because I believe that it's better for people to charge based on what they think something is worth, and let the market decide. If it isn't, adjust the price. I price some things I own (like my Tezro, which I get offers on somewhat often) higher than market value to demonstrate this. I also hide the market from guests because it ensures only people invested in the forum can participate. 

Open discussions—We have to have rules on the books about tough topics like politics, but if you notice, I try to avoid shutting them down unless there's a specific reason to do so, such as the border of civility being breached, or the thread starter requesting closure. I try to avoid censorship because open discourse is important. But other staff here have their own ideas, and well, as part of sharing power, you have to be open to other's views on the topic. We still need rules on the books for when things get out of hand. 

Ethical approaches to software—We need diversity of software, both in distribution, and in philosophy and choice. That's why I think there needs to be multiple approaches to serve people better. People should make their own decisions about what's most effective for them. Some of us clearly want more historical software. Some want software that's more closely tailored to SGI. Some want a kitchensink. That's alright. 

Competition is fine—We are not able to serve everyone's precise needs, and I do welcome competition, either from projects, or other sites. That competition must be healthy, mutual, and not founded in vitriol or hatred however. Of the various sides of a shape, one of them shouldn't be borne out of hate. If one word can describe the side of a shape IRIX Network represents, that would be "Effective". Effective services, that are usable, helpful, current, ample and diverse. Amiga community has at least four boards for Amiga users that I know of: Amigaworld, Amiga.org, Amibay, EAB. They all have different focuses and views on things. There's probably even more. Similarly, I do welcome boards that either offer a different focus, or what-not. I hope a competitor comes along whose healthy, friendly, and headed by trustworthy, ethical people like here.  

IRIX Network is intended to serve as a base for all of these values and the discussions they breed. We have little interest in ideological divides, or standing up solely for one person, project, organization, corporation, or group in the community. I have no interest in fostering a community where users get preferential treatment, or where I or anyone else is looked up to as some divine Caesar-type. I never wanted that, and I encourage everyone to take a step back and look at what I've done over the last 3 years of IRIX Network. Ask yourself if these are the actions of a dictator. Ask yourself if there's any indication that I am a liar, or a thief or someone whose out to do anything less than serve the community. Money? I don't want any. I pay more in than this site ever earned on Patreon or through donations. I'm pretty "poor" as far as people go. There's no fame in being the leader of a community of this size. Thankfully, I have great people who help make the admin decisions of the site. Micrex22, Kaigan, Dexter1 and Dodoid all do a good job, and we don't always agree. Ask Dodoid yourself; he's often critical of me, and he'll say that straight up. He's called me foolish before. But that's alright. I added everyone I did to the group for a few reasons:

1. We all have slightly different experience with the machines here, and different goals. 
2. We all have different commitments to FOSS either in the web stack or in what we use personally. Dodoid in particular was recruited because he was, from the early days, one of those who pushed me to stick with FOSS, and not use something like Xenforo or VBulletin. I know the site isn't perfect, but neither is Xen or Vbulletin. 
3. We all have been here with the intent to stick around. Dexter1 is the veteran here! 

IRIX Network's values are true, and I do not intend to pervert them by abusing my status as a founder. As I've said before, if someone has such a deep seated insecurity because I happen to be part of the community of SGI users, well maybe you should look at another hobby. I simply am not going to walk away, especially due to the actions of a few mean-spirited people. Nor do I intend to step down ever. That's not a value I hold. This is a labor of love for me. Things are changing. Change is good. I have nothing against the changes to come, and I hope those who have stood by the site continue to do so. 

Regardless, I encourage everyone to share their thoughts on this message. I think I covered most of the major issues that are facing us and our history, but feel free to advise on what you think.

[BackPlaner]

That was great! I think it's always a good thing to put your ideas on paper to really help crystallize them, and I think you've come up with a good set of fairly representative ethics here. I had no idea about all the character assassination drama and back stories that had been going on, and I've never heard of most of the people you mentioned (except Dodoid & the gang.) But that's actually a good thing, because it meant that during my weekly travels through the site, I was never unwillingly exposed to any of this, and the fact that (to me) it's always been a very neutral, bias-free site speaks volumes about your moderating style and ethics. Not airing dirty laundry, making a private disagreement public,etc., has really given this site what I consider a very professional, friendly atmosphere, that respects both the veteran and new user alike (much more than NC.) So keep up the good work man! Really appreciate it.

[Raion]

Well I mean, I've pulled some skeletons out of the closets over the years when there's a need to do so. Sometimes, we have issues that need to be addressed and scandals or problems. This is hardly unique to this era of SGI. We had the saga of ivelegacy/Y88099 at Nekochan, we have this saga, and there's probably issues that predate my arrival in the SGI community (Circa 2013)

I won't pretend I'm a person without faults. I certainly can be hotheaded, and I don't always let things I should let go; go, but I do pride myself on being honest and upstanding. One thing that my friends in the community will say is that I'm a loyal and helpful person, or at least I intend to be that. That's why I decided against my own fears to bring others on board to share admin decisions. This has turned out to be a net positive, I've had more time to mentally think things over, and I'm able to recuse myself from issues I can't handle rationally.

[BackPlaner]

Oh for sure, there's nothing lonelier than being the only captain on the ship. Having some support to help spread around the good times and the bad is crucial, especially in an endeavor like this.

[weblacky]

Yo Raion,
Really sorry to hear you've been having to deal with people in that manner. You put in all this effort to give collectors a voice back (for free) and you're repaid with threats. I don’t see how you've biased or personalized the site to influence its content at all. For anyone to feel you've exerted undo influence here needs to provide some compelling evidence to show me what exactly what the problem is. Because I don’t see it. It seems open to anyone for the moment.

I'm a long-time SGI user (1998) but never got into the heavy Nekochan stuff to even have a reference on who's who and what's what. The usernames you listed don't mean much to me, just people, I guess. I can't believe people can make a topic like SGI collecting personally! We just need a library of knowledge and a place to look-up previous issues and ask new questions as things develop. Why any of that needs to be threatening is beyond me.

Pricing is about the only place I agree that is getting somewhat unreal. Cherry and working examples demand high prices, trashed and damaged goods...not so much. But owners are free to ascribe any value they want to their item (they own it after all). So when I see an "unreal" price, I just move along. Over time the seller will realize that is no one's biting and maybe they didn't value it properly for the current market. But that's their problem.

Sure, discord can take on a tone, but in the end...we're taking about technical issues and repair/use. When we have open discussions, they are clearly marked and not included in the SGI topics (separate area).

I hate to say this, but if people are doing things (unseen) due to you and the other admins having to clean-up posts and ban people and such (to keep it clean) then maybe we should have a paid section. I mean, I get a least like a couple dollars a month of use and entertainment out of this site, maybe we should have an invitation/paid version?

I don’t mean to just close it off to anyone, but if having a higher tier will filter out people who just want to be anti-social, I’m game. Perhaps make it still free to read and such, but pay to play?

Also, only allow direct messages from paid members? Just filter out the trolls, if they still want to troll, they’ll have to pay you for the privilege.

Maybe this could even lead to paid-for sample parts, bounties, video tutorials, community tools, and other such items like fan/collector software CDs, fan-made merchandise, etc.

Things will keep changing and the challenges are getting bigger now that time (and people) have moved on. SGI support is gone and shredded, people are gone, our old library burned to the ground which reset our knowledge base back 10 years. We’re a smaller group but a good core. I’m willing to put in some resource to move to the next phase to keep my collection and I don’t mind others benefiting fairly from that. You should get something for your time and input here.

Consider it.

[Raion]

Hi weblacky,

Thank you for your kindness towards me. Some allegations are true, as the live discussion form of this site (irix network discord server) became quite a toxic place. I was inexperienced, aspirational, bossy and more. I was attacked, and I retaliated. You know how it goes. That's why I let it go, and then the new owners decided to fold it. So that's what it is. I should have never bothered, is kind of the sentiment I hold there on live discussion. 

A premium section I may consider and bring up, where those of us in the know share stuff. A kind of lounge for VIPs and dev stuff, but I don't like the idea of closing off significant parts of the site or information and I'm sure the others would agree. I also do have plans for CDs and such of nekoware II like in the old days. I do have merchandise available on teespring (shirts, stickers etc) but I've not really pushed it since it didn't prove über popular. I lost money on a few items on there even. 

The threats are primarily by email, not by users here. I did rotate the email address I use for the site but that hasn't stopped everything. Usually it's just messages where they try to call me a narcissist, post what they think my address is and then threaten to come and hurt me. I'm not the kind easily intimidated, so I ignore it.

Yeah pricing is a sore spot here. That's why when I discover caches of stuff nearby I try to organize group buys. You can call me many things, but a "senile salesman" isn't one. I never overprice my stuff if I can help it.

Thankfully a lot of really talented people have joined us and I am happy to say for those who have stood by the site, you're all fantastic people. Solidcore happens to be an engineer in the Amiga community and may one day endeavor to do some stuff for us. We will see. He's also a very talented developer and doing a lot of web dev bikeshedding with me for now. 

One thing you could do weblacky is check over our wiki (wiki.irixnet.org) and see if you think you can improve it at all. I still need to fix the templates, and I'm thinking of switching us over to mediawiki again, but I have to rethink all that soon.

[vishnu]

Painful though it may be, the sad fact is that human behavior always conforms to Pohl's Law: Nothing is so good that somebody, somewhere, will not hate it.