Crunch time, guys. (Please Read)

[Alicia "Atomic" Kitsune]

Everyone who gets involved in fedding has to accept one simple fact; nothing lasts forever. Feds open, grow, prosper... and eventually decline.

I’m afraid that I have to put forward the view that ACW is not just declining, we’re practically deceased as a viable e-federation.

Tonight’s show is one of the shortest I can remember. I’ve just visited the booking committee board, and there is nothing proposed for next week. Not a single match. Two of this week’s five matches have not been submitted in any form, despite the show being delayed for 24 hours. And without wishing to do them any disservice, support from my fellow ACW mods has dwindled to almost nothing over the last few weeks.

Quite simply, it appears that there are only a handful of people who are sufficiently interested in ACW to contribute regularly. That support is much appreciated, at least by me; but in my view we are rapidly reaching a situation where we do not have the critical mass to do their efforts justice.

Now, I don’ t want to jump to conclusions; I know that several people have storylines planned, and that December is traditionally slow; I’m also aware that some people have had specific issues with regard to writing for this show. But it’s never, ever been as slow before as it is now, and we’ve never been reduced to such a thin contributor base. So I need to understand, from those of you who are still here, whether there is sufficient fire, sufficient enthusiasm, for us to continue. I’ve always said that I don’t care whether I’m working for five people or fifty, as long as those involved are having fun. I’m just very concerned that ACW is no longer delivering for those of you who are still writing, and I don’t want to see anyone continue to spend precious personal time working on storylines and matches if we don’t have the drive as a group to do your efforts justice.

So I guess the floor’s open; it’s down to you guys. Do we have a future? Or has ACW run its course? Your views would be much appreciated.

[Jason Freeman]

I for one, want ACW to live. It is extremely important to me, and sure I took a break, but I came back this show ready to enthusiastically return and contribute regularly and do a great job. Only to find that everyone else seemed to stop caring when I was gone.

For one, I think it has to do with attitude. Everyone's been on this attittude that ACW is dead, and therefore there's no point in trying. Well, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If everyone stops caring because they think it will die, then yes it will.

But I dont think it has to.

Come on guys, it's time to pull together.

ACW has lived for five years, and it has had slumps and it has had glory times. The point is, I genuinely think it's the best E-fed there can be. Things have declined, but this can be reversed. It's time for everybody to start trying. Everybody needs to stop thinking it's going to die, and start trying to save it. What it needs? Enthusiasm. That's all.

Okay, so there aren't that many people on the roster. If Thunderkiss writes, CP, Shadow, myself who has just returned albeit with a new character, and Jefferson, that's a decent group of talented writers. And then if Senator would write some more, and if we can pull some people such as Dan back, and maybe if Zero writes as Patrick Starr, and Mark keeps doing the Run Away thing...listen, that's not as thin as it sounds.

The point is, these people seem convinced ACW is going downhill, and therefore further that by stopping.

I for one, do not plan to let it die.

I do think it is in critical condition, if people don't start caring however.

I think people need to exhaust all their resources. Anybody they know who can possibly be interested they need to try to bring them in. The people who are here need to give it their all because ACW needs that more than it ever has before.

This fed doesnt need to close but things do need to change.

I also think that the mods need more precense. Since BK left, things have steadily decreased into what feels like anarchy, no offense. The tell tale sign was when we didnt even know when the supercard was. BK would have been on top of that. But I just think that's because some of them, AK and Senator, are busy people, and Spade and Zero havent had much precense. I think possibly adding somebody such as Dave Shadow would be a great move.

I think all this means is the whole fed needs to pull together. Now. And let's get out of this slump, and start caring again.

ACW is fun if people care. So let's make this fun again.

[Trent Wheeler]

I know I'm not much here but I still am here and wish for it to continue. Like Jason said, there are a ton of talented people still writing, but if you think I has no hope then you'll never try to bring it back. If you could recruit some new, dependable people, it could prosper again.

[Kim Jong CP]

I'm going to be brutally honest here in everything I say and I would hope that everyone else would as well in this topic as it really is crucial. I also acknowledge the length, just over three thousand words but please don't say it's too long and not read because that's what in a way has got us to this point.

For me, ACW isn't there anymore. I submitted my work for this week and am actually ashamed of what I put out because it wasn't my usual caliber. Was it because I didn't have enough time, no, it was because for me at least the spark in ACW is missing. While I still love the people, the writing environment as a whole for me has gone down hill and I think a number of people can attest to that. I still have the thrill to write, an awesome storyline planned but ACW for me, just hasn't clicked. This past week I wrote three promo's and three matches for another fed and had plenty of time to do stuff for ACW but didn't because for me I didn't care and can pin point three root causes.

Note: I will be name dropping here as anonymity makes this very vague

• Rep joining ACW
  
  It's no secret that I had and still have problems with Rep the same as a number of people can attest to. When he first joined I expressed considerable concern to Senator and BK, especially because of the way I was treated during my brief stay in GWF. I was told to be nice to him as he was said to have changed and so I did. I was nice to him, asked him for help, treated him like a human being, afterwards however I was treated like scum by him and nearly deleted my account a number of times but stayed on because of my commitment to Dave and Senator for storylines. After trying to get him banned and then being gregariously warned by a mod that any other action my part would lead to me being suspended that was the end, AK talked me out of quitting and for that I can't thank her enough but the damage to ACW was already done and to me is one of the reasons that we are here today.
  
  Members no longer wanted to write, they felt this was no longer a place to come and fraternize with people, sharing an hour with their friends on the internet they'll never meet. Mr. Red deleted his account only to be talked back. RDK (Adam) just left without a trace, tired of what was going on. Senator became flustered with ACW and I believe it impacted what should have been a good title reign. Flamingo left tired of the bickering and while I can't confirm this, I'd assume it had a big reason in Mark leaving for a while based on his posts in regards to the flaming and I'm sure it also had a large part to do with Jonny Hughes' disappearance. Larger as well was the entire Jake Steele/Mike Fresh fiasco which was sparked on by Rep appearing. Everyone loved the guy before Rep came and he was a large asset to this fed, four segments a show, writing matches, overseeing newcomers, when he changed and ultimately got banned we lost that and was probably our greatest Rep casualty.
  
  Furthermore members that were still around felt that writing for ACW was becoming a chore because of Rep and his inabilities to find any positives in it. Dan, Rob, Myself, Dave, all of us shared conversations where we were looking for a way out despite the four of us being set up for main event runs, it truly was sad but it was the same thing that happened with GWF. Speaking of GWF as well, I had interest from five or six former GWF members who looked at the possibility of joining ACW but as soon as they looked at the boards and saw Rep, dismissed it.
  
  By my count that leaves Rep at having cost us quite possibly ten members which really is a massive sum considering where we are
  now.
  
  But Rep is gone now you say? Not really. The ties are still there, I've still yet to really get that spark back to write to the top and a lot I had planned solo wise which would have made the feuds I'm working now a lot better if I had written things I had planned during that time frame when motivation was at it's lowest. Ask Mainer, I've told him what I was going to do and I can still see his manly jaw hitting the floor, but because I don't have that a lot of my work now seems bouncy as people have pointed out in feedback and that to me is a problem because I'm not bringing the people the story I wanted to tell. Surely I could remedy it and add everything in the past but I highly doubt people would read things as far back as five months and then to re-apply it to everything that doesn't work. Our OOC which also was a major plus for me when I first joined was destroyed by Rep and that damage is irreversible it really is.
  
  
• BK London leaving.
  
  It's no secret that BK did alot for this e-fed and even though by the time I got here it was considerably less than what he had done, he still did the most on the mod front as he was the most accessible. This is not the knock on the other mods as I know AK Jonny and Senator are extremely busy with work and other things and Yoko is well...Yoko. However my one qualm was the mod they used as a replacement, Ben, should have been able to step up and do things yet he fails to do so, while this is probably going to be seen as a personal attack on Ben, I think it illustrates the true drop off of BK leaving.
  
  If you ask Ben for something on MSN or AIM, quite often he's "too busy" to do things. My thoughts on this, if it's something minor like calcs or a simple question he should be able to answer them, if he's on MSN or AIM that means he has sufficient time to do something yet often he fails to do so. When Ken and I ask him to do the skin, he says he doesn’t know how to do it and then when I offer to guide him through it step by step he still balks and that is not the attitude of a mod. People have done something to improve this community, put an hour of their life into it and you’re unable to spare one minute when you’re not doing anything to punch in some numbers. For those who have never made a proboard skin before, if someone has already made it a custom design, it is simple as entering a set of numbers into boxes that generate the skin you see. It’s layed out and takes nary thirty seconds to do, yet Ben was unable to do that. We lost a mod like BK who would take time out of his day for the fed and replaced him with Ben who did not.
  
  Furthermore, and this may drum up some controversy especially with TK saying what happened with BK, we lost a mod we could trust. Sure BK did manipulate the tag title situation but even their you must admit he had the heart of the fed in mind when he was doing it. Sure it could have been to keep the belts off of BK, but rather than give them to himself and Zero to push his feud, he tried to give them to Scott and Kudo to keep them involved in the fed. Funny how six months afterwards both members are gone when they probably might still be here as there would have been some really good possible tag team feuds. We replaced him with Zero who ultimately while some could say this was also in the good of the fed, could not keep a secret when he was asked to which ruined things. With my politically incorrect topic, I told Zero what he was and he immediately told Rep about it and I was flabbergasted and at that point lost trust in one mod on the staff. If he can’t keep something as simple as that secret when he had the power to delete or move the topic, how could I trust him with storyline plans, how could I ask something to be placed on the mod board for the mods to discus without worrying that Ben would divulge it. Have I been forced to, yes, but I was not really happy about it because I can’t help but think that someone here knows what my future storyline could be because Ben has blabbed it.
  
  Furthermore, Ben went out of his way to threaten me with suspension if I said another word, which after I talked to Senator about he said Ben overstepped his bounds, that suspensions had to be discussed by the mod’s and approved by all, not by one. I had heard that BK was power hungry and wielded it but from what I have seen, he did it in favour of the fed where Ben used it for personal vendettas. Sure I will admit I did have a laugh when he suspended Freeman and add at the Jason the Giant signature but I felt guilty about it, feelings about Jason Freeman aside because I knew it had not been approved by the mods and was a gross abuse of power.
  
  The final problem I had with Ben that we lost with BK was a straight answer that came right away. With Jonny, AK and Senator being busy if something goes down and you need an answer there was really one mod around, BK, and he would at least say to your face the problem, give you a straight answer and not duck around. Ben however refused to grow a pair and would duck around the issues. For example, after the banning of Steele for his comments on the radio show, I asked Ben why Rep wasn’t banned for his and he said it was because it was on the radio show and they couldn’t control that. When I said what about Steele he initially skirted the question until I persisted and he said it was “different.” When I said I understood that Yoko’s condition is more serious than ADD in fact, but in this case they were one in the same, conditions that affect the lives of people being exploited and used against them he proceeded to lecture me, saying ADD wasn’t a life or death thing as well as that I was no better than Rep creating problems which I took offence to, I didn’t take kindly to the fact that I was being compared to a person who took great pleasure in seeing the distress of the people. When I asked what the consequences of making fun of someone’s sexuality or race was, if I made an anti-African American radio show or a homophobic radio show what the consequences would be and he said a likely ban and I pointed out these were not life or death scenarios he balked, the same as when I asked why a two hour radio show devoted to slamming me was not worse than a two second insult.
  
  We lost a man like BK who lead this fed and in turn replaced it with a person who seemed to only isolate the fed members and make them feel marginalized, who I can safely say aside from creating the welcome PM, which might I add I offered to create and find the code for about two months before hand but he still claimed credit for it, Ben has done NOTHING in the public eye to help this fed, where as I’m sure in six months, despite school and everything else BK did stuff for this fed.
  
  
• Member Apathy
  
  The two listed above have created the third and that is quite sad considering the environment we once had but I don’t blame people because honestly right now myself I don’t care. Do I love the people here, yes, but I can still keep up with them whenever. I don’t “need” ACW to keep in touch with them, I have MSN and AIM for that. I know people have said they are busy and that time has blown away but I can honestly say that that’s false because I’ve talked to a few people that everyone who was “busy” had one half hour each day they could have devoted to ACW and during our boom time they would have but now they don’t care, they’d rather go onto sporcle or Omegle or write for a Zombie RPG (which by the way Mainer, I’m still considering) or a whole host of other things and I don’t blame them, I myself am just as guilty of it the past three months. Apathy however is a contagious disease that eventually festers and grows.
  We have seen that, it started with Rep demoralizing the group and right now are we into the full on effects of it. Could we beat it, sure we could, but do we want to, that’s really the question we’re being asked here and at present, looking at ACW I honestly say I don’t. I felt the same way with my first fed, that I’d rather quit while we’re at least somewhat ahead rather than flog a dead horse and remember that instead of the good times.

Now am I saying we should shut down ACW permanently, NO! and NO! Again! What I might suggest is taking a three month break and allow everyone’s batteries to recharge. If people have feuds planned and they want they can get some pre-writing done, or as Senator suggested and we really like we could open a “free-writing” board where anyone can post any writing they want to submit for us. We can leave feedback on it, our comments, we can still use this board for a purpose. In three months as well we can set about getting members, new ones and old. A shocking statistic that BK and I came up with was that as of the October Roster Re-Shuffle, the last one posted (hell there’s another thing on Ben, does it really take that long to post a November one) there are three members who were not in ACW three years ago, Shadow, Smart and I. If you go now you can add Criminal and Wheeler to that list, but even then, five members in three years is a shocking, shocking rate. Yes there have been people that have come and gone but you would like to think we could get people to stay that long especially with how good this fed was, and still could be. Even then over the past year since I’ve been here I honestly doubt we’ve added ten knew people to our roster that have written for more than one month in fact, I can honestly see Smart, Wheeler and Criminal as the only ones (I refuse to count Rep for reasons stated above) and three members in ten months is utterly, utterly atrocious. I know TK tried to spark everything with The ACW team but even that has been inactive because honestly TK, Jefferson and I were the only one’s who cared and did anything with it. People figured we’d be fine, we’d always made it through rough stretches but now look at us.

Everyone likes to say TK’s SLA really hurt us but it actually showed us what could happen. He added at least six, people in a span of two weeks who actively wrote and contributed to his fed, even if that peters down to one person a week, that still has us thriving as a fed, and also gets rid of our biggest problem and that’s that if newcomers show up in mid month, they’re often shit out of luck because everyone else has feuds so they don’t have people to work with so they go elsewhere. It gives them something to do and keeps them. TK can also attest though that advertising and making a name takes a lot out of people and that’s why it takes the fed as a whole, not a few people. We can also use this time to get old people back, try and find guys like Flamingo, RDK, FSX, get guys like BK London, Senator, Latino and Dan White. Girls like AK or Sarin to maybe come back and even if it’s on a reduced amount, commit one, maybe two segments a week to the shows and work a feud and we’re gold, we’re adding members. This time can also be used for system reform to make us work better as a fed as well as make it appealing to newcomers. We can also make sure we have the brand new site fully functioning and updated, events archived, give the fed a makeover as well with the old topics, updated guide (I’ve already done this, just needs to be put in at the top.) There’s so much we can do in three months if we focus, if we give it the college try.

This fed honestly saved me, it kept me in this game and probably out of a lot of trouble in my life. It was friends I made here I could count on when I drastically overhauled my own life, it was friends here that took the chill out of the cold days and kept me entertained when I was off my feet when I’ve gotten my two surgeries. No matter the result, ACW will always have a special place in my heart.

Xxx

James

[Dan White]

Well, I'm still about, I'm just not as active as my course allows. But I still have ACW related projects I intend on working on, I just can't at the moment due to time restraints.

But the issue that's been laid out on the table is a major one. I know people are busy and that, but of the 74 accounts we have here, barely even a tenth of that is active. That's a serious issue. The problem as well is that so little of that is contributing towards the social boards. I mean I know a lot of people still have accounts here despite not having contributed towards the fed in an act of writing, but that's because the community of ACW was one of our strongest points. Read that again. Was. We no longer have the community that we used to have even just a year ago or so, and this is a major problem. And yes, I do blame the whole Rep fiasco, but that's one person and I think as a group of people, some of us who have now known each other for over five years, have to show that we are stronger than that and that we won't let one person destroy our fed.

This is going to sound a little silly, perhaps, but the first act I propose is that a moderator sends out an email, either specifically to those who haven't logged in in a while/those who haven't posted in a while, or a mass email, asking who wants to keep their accounts. And if we gave it three-four weeks, those who do not reply have their account deleted. I think those that would respond would be shown more incentive to contribute towards the fed, even if it's just in the social boards, and at the same time it gets rid of so many accounts that aren't doing anything. I mean it's nice and all that Shawn and Wyvern have accounts but they haven't logged in in ages. Them having accounts doesn't affect us at all.

So this idea could spark people into thinking, "well actually, I've not logged into ACW for a while. I'll check it out again". What I have yearned for for a long time is to have the community that ACW had in the periods 2004-2006. They were really great days and showed how strong we were. It said it all when I could log in and see over 15-20 topics having been made in the social board.

We do have to remember though that we are an e-fed, not a social message board. And I think that this could be incorporated into the email. But I look and we've had, unincluding guests, 19 members logged in in the last 24 hours. That's pathetically low, considering the numbers we normally got were about 30. But if we sent this email, it could spark those who already have accounts here to come back. A PM wouldn't work because they aren't logging in anyways so they wouldn't read it.

I remember the middle of 2008 and I loved how promising the fed was becoming. Omega Effect IV was a fantastic event and it really made me feel like ACW was here for the indefinite future. Back in early 2009 I felt the same; despite Rep being a bit of a tit, I really liked what ACW was becoming, and we had an extremely healthy roster and I would never have assumed that we'd have had such the downfall that we ended up having. There are reasons why we have had the downfall (I don't need to go into them, everyone knows what they are) but it speaks volumes that even when SLA disbanded and we gathered an influx of about 10 members (that's not even including those members who jumped from here to SLA and back here), that we were unable to keep even one (I believe). In 2008 we wouldn't have let that happen. In 2007 we wouldn't have let that happen. So why did we let that happen in 2009?

I don't know these answers. All I know is that I attempted to play my part by talking to a couple of these new users, but ultimately it did not last long. I don't believe in welcoming committees, but I do believe in welcoming a guy and making him feel at home, and showing him that we are a strong community and have a relaxed attitude. I'm not saying we should all start flooding the boards or whatever, but it's what has kept so many of our members in the past.

It would be a great shame to see ACW shut down. I'm sure that the social sides of things would still be available to us and I'd hope they would be, but it would still be a massive shame to see the e-fed side of things close down. But I don't know how much else we can do. All I can suggest is that over the Christmas period, we cool off, thinking of a nuclear option (or series of options), and if they still fail to work, then we're done. I know it's not fair to set boundaries or whatever but I good idea of where we're trying to aim for is that if we don't have at least 16 user characters in the Fallen Heroes Battle Royale, then we're due for the chopping block.

[VorteX]

I've felt as if ACW was in trouble when I came back. When I joined in 2006, there was a heck of a lot more going on, and the champions that held the belts really felt like champions. When I came back in 2009, I felt none of that, and this was before the whole Rep thing.

I don't think the Rep fiasco alone hurt the fed however, I think the World Title fiasco did just as much. The fact was that SLA split a lot of the roster off, and for no good reason as it was only open for less than a month. Sure, Rep added to this with the radio show, but those of you on it fueled the fire by participating. The only thing that radio show did was stir the pot far more than any of Rep's flame baiting in topics could have. In fact the only thing the topic 'wars' did was turn away new members (which is a big deal but not quite the biggest). What that radio show / the SLA 'split' did was call out the mods and attempt to break down the very system of ACW (which I believe it did in the end).

The fact is, if we take a break now we're done. I know in three months I will not want to come back and write as I will be too busy with other things. I've tried to write good matches / promos for the shows and I have talked to new members and done promos with them. The reason I didn't want to move up the card was to promote the ET title. If there is one title that is accessible to newcomers it is the ET title, and I want that one to be sought after. I don't want to drop it arbitrarily because then it might sit there (like the tag titles) or go back and forth between inside feuds (as the other titles seem to).

In fact, I'm not sure what can bring ACW back. Even Torak's return (no offense here) seemed lacking a bit compared to his earlier work. I'm not sure if it is lack of drive, schedule, or what, however I don't feel nearly the fire I remember from this place. I remember actually getting hyped for matches (such as the AK / Stark HIAC) and loving to read stuff from people like Flamingo, Durden, Wyvern, Hunter, and even Starkweather. Now, I don't feel nearly the same connection, and I'm not too sure why.

Whatever it is, we need to fix it and fast. I think CP may be right in part about needing a stronger mod presence, however we need to be more accessible to new people. I know this is the only fed I will be a part of, because quite honestly I've looked at a lot of others and they truly do pale in comparison.

[Commissioner Zero]

Hey CP. You want a straight answer? Shove it up your ass. I told Rep about that because you were doing the SAME goddamn thing he was. You were bitching and moaning about him trolling the boards, and by doing what you were doing, you were just as bad as he was. Every single other mod agreed and that's why I gave you your warning. I warned both you AND Rep and what did you do? You had a little hissy fit like you always do. You threatened to leave and you broke down trying to gather sympathy. That's a move that Jake Steele was once famous for.

So you don't have my trust? Fine. What the hell do I care? To be honest, I've been considering for weeks now just making that one little topic on the mod board saying "Thanks, but no thanks." I know that I haven't been putting the effort I should have into this, but really, this came at a bad time. I'm here in my senior year of high school, dealing with loads of school work, college applications, scholarship applications, and on top of that, having to deal with my track team in which I too have to be a leader there, as Captain.

There are similarities here between being a leader in the sports and I do, and being a leader here. I mean. On the team, there are some kids that I absolutely hate and would love to just punch straight in the face if I ever had the opportunity. On the opposite end of that, there are people that I respect and am genuinely fond of. They're my friends. I've made friends here in ACW. However, what's so different about being a leader there and being a leader here... is that in track - I still care about it.

The moment that my final storyline with BK was over -- so was my interest in ACW. I would love to see ACW live on and prosper, but on the other hand, there's always that part of me that thinks "So what?" I've made memories here, and there's no doubt that ACW has shaped me into a much better writer, which completely translates into how I've progressed academically. But lately... I find myself forgetting to log onto these boards and even check up on the place.

I thought going to one show a week would be for best, but even that couldn't seem to make the change necessary to keep us kicking as strong as we used to. Time's have changed and so has ACW. What happens, happens.

[Jason Freeman]

I would like to add VorteX that you have done a great job with the ET title as you said, and I commend you for that.

Also we should all feedback the shows, as much as possible, and I AM just saying that because I had segments on this one >_>

[TJ]

I got the same feelings as CP. Maybe blame it on the months I took off an didn't RP but was apart of the OOC boards, but when I was setting up the plan me and Dave had, I really was looking forward to it. But the moment i started the 3 RPs I had planned for this show, It all went away. I would write about 100 words and get bored and go do something else, mostly help out with my other fed. But I'm echoing what CP said, when I came in here, I couldn't wait to RP, the one thing that I didn't like about any fed advertised on Gamefaqs, it was either a dead fed walking or run by the same group of people that all are a clique, but deny it, but CP told me about ACW where no matter who you are, you have to work your way up.

Sure the whole thing with Rep kinda pushed me away from the OOC part of ACW, but i still wrote. But didn't enjoy it, knowing Rep was around the corner with some sort of feedback that wasn't going to help, unlike the feedback the Jason, Jefferson, and the other who give feedback.

Personally, the one thing that isn't helping myself is the lack of in character interactions between everyone. It may be that I'm use to feds that have general RP sections and allows me to see my opponent's RPs, but here, it was hard to figure out an idea. I'm use to bouncing other's idea for the week, whether it be an opponent or someone else's . That's what I am accostumed to and that was the one thing I didn't like about ACW, but the fact that they go into the show are great. it makes the shows better. But the fact that if I want to know what my opponent's gonna say, I have to send them a PM and then wait for them to respond. For example, I had about 4 or 5 days where I had to wait for Dave to respond to a PM about our idea, now he was busy, but what if I asked what he was gonna say in his RP and he isn't on for 4 or 5 days? If I could see his RP and look at what I'm working with, it would help me more in my RP and then if he would need an idea, he could look at mine and what not.

I'm with the 3 month break. I don't want to see this place die because I want to be able to RP here without taking a break.

[Jason Freeman]

I honestly think Zero should be replaced with Shadow as a mod, and Im not saying that because I dont like Zero because I do, Zero's one of the funniest people here and while he messes with me I know there's no dislike from him towards me, as much as he might deny it <_<

But Zero IS busy, and doesnt seem to care much. Shadow would. he should be a mod >_>

[BK London]

With the fed slowly declining and reaching the point of going under, it's easy now to attempt to come to the rescue with ideas of recruiting members and trying to keep things alive and well, but you've got to accept that most people have moved on with their lives or in the process of doing so.

You've got to accept that since a majority of the members have fell off the face of the earth, ACW wise, the OOC experience has become extremely dull - hell, even I try to post a topic now and then and there's little response - but that could just be because people aren't interested, I don't know. With the lack of unity and the family vibe that was once our best quality here years ago, the motivation to keep coming to these boards has damn near completely diminished. With that diminishing factor, people don't have enough motivation to write for the shows - leaving ACW with extremely depleted shows and a bunch of matches undone.

While you may want things to continue to go on, it looks very unlikely that this bad trend will resolve itself in the future. We have had rough patches before, but you've got to face facts that we have reached a level of inactivity not seen ever before in ACW. You could blame it on Rep, but he's gone now - and we haven't looked back since. You could blame it on the mods, and I guess they do have a part in this with their with a level of inactivity themselves, but they are just like you - they too have outside lives with priorities to fufill that are much more important than ACW. You could even blame me, leaving ACW after the whole ordeal was finished - but I truly did not have the passion nor the time to work with ACW and I couldn't see myself attempting to give 100% to school while trying to keep things alive.

I saw the trend that this fed was moving in as I was leaving ACW, and I knew that when I would leave - it would strike a large blow to things, but I tried to have faith in that you guys would pick up where I left off. I had faith in that Ben, who I also know as a hard worker, would help with things around here - but I guess I was wrong in that decision. Nonetheless, Ben - like myself a few years ago - is going through the whole process of applying to college and finishing up high school. He also is very active in extracurricular activities from what I know, which can also cut into things - so you've got to give him a bit of slack.

The way I see things from the outside, it's not fair for people to continue working towards a dying product, people like Shadow, Phenomenal, Vortex, Panther & Jefferson (sorry if I'm missing anyone) - from what I see, are putting in great work, but it doesn't feel right if the motivation and the drive to produce such great creative work isn't there. Even to help, we reduced the shows from twice a week - which I feel was incredibly sad - to once a week, to incorporate the lack of writing and hope it would help some more - but that hasn't even worked.

Three month break? That wouldn't work, people would leave - find other feds, get settled there, and never come back. Try to restore the OOC? For what? No one shows up here nearly enough, or long enough, to post something to garner response from people. The family aspect of ACW went out the door a long time ago ever since the show chats decreased.

No offense to the people who want it to continue, but from what it seems - like with Freeman specifically - it seems like you want it to continue so you can continue your characters and create a name for yourself in ACW like you always dreamed, and that's understandable. But you have to look at it this way, would you rather compete in a competitive ACW and earn your away to the top - or would you rather springboard your way in a matter of months due to the lack of competition.

I do not want ACW to die, which I think it happening right now.

But instead, I want the story to end - because I think it at least deserves that.

[Kim Jong CP]

Dec 10, 2009 20:29:15 GMT -5 Commissioner Zero said:

You want a straight answer? Shove it up your ass.

I didn't ask a question, how could you give me a straight answer?

Dec 10, 2009 20:29:15 GMT -5 Commissioner Zero said:

Every single other mod agreed and that's why I gave you your warning.

If that's the case I apologize, but pardon me for being skeptic. I've had no instance where Senator has lied to me and he said he had had no say in it and would not be supporting a suspension and that's where my beliefs lie.

Dec 10, 2009 20:29:15 GMT -5 Commissioner Zero said:

You had a little hissy fit like you always do. You threatened to leave and you broke down trying to gather sympathy.

I'd not say broke down, just looking at the double standard between a mod and a member. As far as trying to gather sympathy, I don't think I needed to try, I don't think I need a full fist to count the people who supported Rep so sympathy didn't work. As far as hissy fit like I always do, I'm curious as to when this has ever happened before? If you could, leave some examples, I guess my memory isn't what it once was because I can't remember another incident where a threw a "hissy fit." That's just a slanderous comment is all it is with no fact rooted in it.

Dec 10, 2009 20:29:15 GMT -5 Commissioner Zero said:

So you don't have my trust? Fine. What the hell do I care?

Honestly, I don't understand this. In this game all you have is trust with people as I said above and too lose that, I'd like to think is a problem, and just about sums up everything I said, that you I guess admit to and that it's you don't care about ACW.

Dec 10, 2009 20:29:15 GMT -5 Commissioner Zero said:

The moment that my final storyline with BK was over -- so was my interest in ACW.

Then why did you agree to become a mod? If you say it's because you wanted it to live and prosper than there's a problem because I can't fathom how any one could think they'd do a duty as important as a mod of a fed if they didn't care about it. I know most people had you pegged as the next mod, but why, if you didn't care, just say that and suggest someone like Dan, Jefferson or Shadow, someone who cared about ACW and would put in the time for the position? It makes no sense.

Dec 10, 2009 20:36:23 GMT -5 Jason Freeman said:

I honestly think Zero should be replaced with Shadow as a mod.

I'm going to throw up, I agree with Jason Freeman, who I didn't even mention in my post surprisingly.

[BK London]

Plus if we had a final show, it would be the most epic thing ever. Everyone would show up, and I would help in getting everyone to contribute and end this off right.

[worldbreaker]

I didn’t write today. I had no enthusiasm to do so. None. This month I was to work with the returning Jon Taylor who had every intention of coming back and being a part of ACW again. However, we were both awe struck that his return did not get one single mention by anyone at the Supercard. It had been apparent for quite some time that interest in ACW was dwindling, but that solidified it for me. As Taylor put it, “why waste your time on something nobody is going to care about.”

And therein lies the key point, time. For most of you this is your first and perhaps the only e-fed you will ever partake in. This is my 2nd that matters on a long list. I’ve seen this before. The member base grows up and moves on, which many of you have. You started in high school and now college is either here or it is approaching. Writing has not grown up with you and that, my friends, is just life.

A lot of us have been saying for a while that e-feds as a whole are dwindling out. That remains true. Go check the GameFAQ’s e-fed board and you’ll see that it is the smallest it’s ever been. The birth of the e-fed came about during the birth of the internet. These days, writing and posting your text on a message board isn’t as cool as it was when I started in 1997.

Now, I see that before me that this thread has turned into a finger pointing contest. Guys, let’s not go out like that. I have my own reasons for why we didn’t make it to Omega Effect VI and if you close to me you know them, other than that it’s just best I keep them to myself. It’s time to now focus on the great connections this fed has provided me with. Guys like Danny, Andy, Mark, Ben, Steve & Chris and many more will probably remain on my contact list until I depart or until they decide to take me off theirs.

If you have not realized by my tone, I believe that the show is all but over. That said, I agree with London and say we give it a send off.

[TJ]

In response to what Zero said about his life being busy and all, I too am a senior in high school, leader on the football team, load schedule and I'm still working on many college apps you know what I did. I told people about this and took care of shit. If someone needed me, I made sure that I had a quick answer and if not I would tell them how to figure it out. If you knew you were gonna be busy why the fuck did you accept the spot. Hell if you couldn't be damned after your storyline with BK why did you continue and not just say hey it was nice but I need to take care of life