The Great Tree

[Montgomery]

Whoa! Put down the pitchforks and put out the torches. Give a guy a few paragraphs to explain himself before you lynch him. Sheesh!

Alright, now that I have your attention let me elaborate. I realize the very concept of a pro-DRC movement is antithetical to the prevailing attitude in the cavern, but take a few minutes and read what I have to say before you decide if the concept has merit or doesn't. What follows is just the seed of an idea; I welcome and encourage lively debate (all points of view are equally desired) to flesh it out. I'd rather promote a more evolved concept to the explorer community -- if indeed it proves to have merit -- than one as raw as this one currently is.

First and foremost: I am not an apologist for the DRC or its past actions, nor do I propose to use this "movement" to that end. I (we?) will be as critical as ever of the DRC, striving at all times to hold it to a high standard. More on this later.

So ....

I’ve been in the cavern virtually every day since December 20th; I’ve listened to Yeesha’s lessons; I’ve read the chatlogs and journals of Douglas Sharper; I was present when Dr. August fired up the pub crowd with his ant-DRC oratory; I read the chatlogs of Tweek’s ill-fated sit-in; and I engaged “Dougie” Sharper, Sydney and DeepThought in a long debate about the evils of the DRC and the alternatives. So I speak from the benefit of a lot of long, deep thinking on this subject. I’ve come up with a few “truths” about this restoration project.

1) There really is no practical alternative to the DRC. No matter how enthusiastic or dedicated the explorer community may be, if the DRC packed up and left it would amount to the same thing that happened in 2004.

2) Without the DRC there would be no new Ages, no new translations, and no Gahreesen Wall. They might pack up their barriers and leave the city wide open, but we would be powerless to clear any rubble or power any equipment; we would have to break down any locked doors we encountered. And guess at what we found behind them.

3) The DRC haw been working on D’ni for years; it undoubtedly knows things we would have to learn all over again -- such as how to hack into the KI network or repair the imagers, as well as countless details about the city, the D’ni culture and its writings which the DRC has learned through painstaking trial and error. There is no substitute for experience.

4) The DRC is more than the half-dozen or so individuals we have met personally – we really don’t know how many. Electricians, archeologists, structural engineers, linguistics experts, divers ... the list is endless. The fact is, there are a great number of bodies we would have to replace. And train them all in an alien technology we ourselves do not understand beyond the rudimentary.

5) We would need lots of money. Lots and lots of money.

Despite the recent unfortunate events in the cavern which seem to have soured the general anti-DRC rhetoric, the community remains divided. Yet only those who oppose the DRC are speaking out. Yeesha gave us those shirts to show what side we are on when sides are chosen … perhaps it is this gesture that motivates the majority attitude, or maybe it was Sharper's journals. Or maybe we would have found reason to dislike the DRC on our own, I don’t know. Whatever the cause, the explorer community is pre-disposed to dislike the DRC.

Personally I don’t think the DRC has done a bad job, all things considered (this not apologizing; this making an objective observation). We may judge it to be too slow in releasing new Ages and areas of the city, but it's just possible the DRC has good reason to move at the pace it moves at. The problem with the DRC – the real problem – is an almost complete lack of communication. It may be that the vast majority of the explorer community would heartily endorse the DRC’s methods if only we understood them. But we are forced to operate in a near-vacuum, and given this community’s extraordinary levels of passion, imagination, eagerness, and predisposition against the DRC, we quickly fill up that vacuum with elaborate reasons to oppose the it.

And the result is that practically the only message the DRC gets from the community is impatience and distrust. Oh, we as individuals are eager to please anytime one of the founders puts in an appearance, but as a community, our "voice" is largely negative.

The experience of writing our Pento letter and reading the various responses to the issue as my argument evolved has taught me that -- with this community, at least -- a soft and measured approach is far more effective than a loud or angry one. And I have learned from the experience of raising two children that praise and support are much more effective than naked criticism. I think that if we are to get anywhere with the DRC, actually supporting and thanking it for its efforts in a nice loud unified voice may be the best road to take. And if my theory holds true, the DRC will be much more receptive of and responsive to a community that openly endorses its efforts.

Case in point: the recent sit-in to protest the removal of the DRC forums. Remember, it was Engberg's end-around that ultimately saved the forums, not the protest itself (with all due respect to Tweek and those who joined him). The protesters' message was not clearly defined, and was nearly drowned out by others with their own agenda who exploited the protest.

On the other hand, a calm, well-reasoned request, written and endorsed by those members of the community who feel strongly about a particular issue then delivered to Cate or the DRC to be read at a time of their own choosing may have had an altogether more positive response.

Now, to elaborate on what I said earlier, about advocating for the DRC while simultaneously holding it to a high standard. Think of the DRC as a political party, its members as our representatives in government. I may support a given representative, or even his or her entire party (and its platform), but my support -- and my vote -- comes at a high price. In return for those things, my representatives must represent my best interests, communicate to me where they stand on the issues and what they plan to do to accomplish our mutual goals. So it should be with the DRC.

My ultimate goal is to open a dynamic two-way avenue of communication between the DRC and the explorer community (through us). I do not envision ever proposing policy or making demands; instead perhaps polite requests not unlike the Pento letter. I envision this "movement" as more of an advocacy and promotional type of thing, to make the community aware of just what it is the DRC has done and is doing to benefit us.

My short-term goal is to raise a voice in contrast to the constant background noise of dissent in the cavern. While it may not be apparent at first, I believe our objectives and theirs are not too dissimilar. Now may be the time to point out that sit-ins and long-winded rants in the forums are not ever likely to be effective -- particularly when there is no agreement on the actual desired results among the community.

As far as I know, nothing like this has ever been attempted, or even suggested before. Obviously the very name, the Pro-DRC Movement," will instantly turn people off. But if just the right name for the group can be hit upon and an effective way of promoting it to the community can be found, it may become popular enough to have a real voice. I imagine a good way to do that is to hold Town Hall meetings via the D'net and publish the logs.

Details:

I don't think it's necessary to create yet another new Bevin. I'm perfectly happy belonging to my current neighborhood and am loathe to leave it. Perhaps others feel the same. We can gather anywhere and I don't feel it is important that people "join" anything. They either support our philosophy and add their voice to ours when invited to participate, or they do not. Perhaps we could settle on an item of clothing to identify affiliation if one feels it necessary to do so. I'm thinking of blue DRC hardhats. Maybe someday a T-shirt, if that is possible.

That's everything I have. It's up to you to help this idea evolve. If this topic especially interests you, check out mirrors of this topic on the DRC forum and the Uru Obsession forum.

Thank you for reading.
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http://spontinuity.com/Monty_Banner.gif

[Durin Mephit]

I like your idea far more than the Anti-DRC Movement. You've established a groundwork of good reasons to exist.

What you may not know though, is that there is a group that took a very pro-DRC stance around the same time that this group formed over three years ago. Originally DRC Hood #243, they named themselves "Safety First" and ever since then the name "Safety First 243" has stuck to them. They are still a presence in the cavern today. You can probably find a lot of common ground with that group.

Good luck
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
rel.to | Marten KI: 59474 | Durin M KI: 11883768

[Cycreim]

Whose side are you on, Marten!
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KI: 34353

[K'Dahta]

Your ideas seem to be very well thought-out and presented. Bravo for going about this in such a professional and intelligent way. Your movement seems to be better thought-out than any other group I've seen spring up in a really long time (which is definitely refreshing in light of all the knee-jerk and half-hearted stuff we've seen lately).

Kudos
/thumbsup

[Daedalus]

I love how you assumed we'd start a witch hunt as soon as we saw the post title. Are we really looked upon as such extremists?

We have never had an anti-DRC view of things, but rather, as Brian humbly put it, like to see ourselves as the DRC watchdogs. They made some hairy choices in the past, and we simply called them on it. There's been a progression to the DRC's communications with explorers, and we promote that. If things keep moving forward and steps aren't taken backwards, then we can rest more easily.

As for sit-ins. Why is it that the explorer community can only think of staging sit-ins to try to change things? We need to start being more creative if we intend on contributing to the restoration. For now, "things" are moving slower, but forward. Anything is better than nothing.

[Montgomery]

[Daedalus]

The problem with and within the DRC has always been communication. I would imagine it would be partly because they only show up at the worst possible time of day to talk with explorers, and never on weekends.

Anyway, and no offense to you for I understand your intentions, Montgomery, I'm getting rather tired of explorer-created sides altogether. It might be a different story when there's a line drawn in the sand, but right now explorer-created factions are growing quite tiresome, and are for the most part founded unreasonably. We also haven't heard a peep from any of these newly founded "movements" since their inception. Case in point, I'm not saying TGT's own "time" has passed, but it is clear that sitting around (both actively and passively) is purely indicative of where we stand today in the cavern (I'm sure there is an intended pun there ), and that is that there's not much to currently stand for than the progress of the restoration.

Now if something were to, say, hinder the restoration's progress, well... then we would have something to stand for, wouldn't we?

[Durin Mephit]

On a related note, here is a good discussion:
Moving beyond sit-ins: the next step
http://www.mystonline.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7361
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Durin Mephit * Member of Guild of Messengers - Unless otherwise stated, opinions are mine only and not Guild endorsed.
rel.to | Marten KI: 59474 | Durin M KI: 11883768

[Erik]

I have to say, I completely agree with Daedalus about all the sides and factions that have been chosen and "founded" lately...