Editing CW Discord History

= Cube World Discord Server =

Note: This article was originally written by one author (Ninjasr) for their personal wiki. The original can be found [[http://ninjasr.heliohost.org/w/lb/cw_discord here]]. A rewriting process will occur at some point but for now, this serves as a decent base. Those interested in editing the article should discuss what they wish to change on the talk page first.

The Cube World discord server is the official discord server for Cube World, at least I think it is?

It was formerly the official r/Cube_World discord server.

My involvement with this server arguably turned me into who I am today and, for that reason, I consider it a very important place.

== An Uncertain History of the Server ==

=== Foreword ===

Considering I visit the Bibliotheca Anonoma which is all about preserving internet culture I occasionally "listen in" on their conversations on discord/IRC/Riot. During one such listening session, I heard they were considering expanding outside of the Chanverse and start documenting other internet sites and their culture. A while later, and some thinking, a thought entered my mind - "What if I write down the history of that one server I'm a part of"... and just like that, came this.

I have to get some things out of the way first.

* I don't remember everything all that well and while I ''do'' have access to the full text history of the server... I'm too lazy to look through it. Considering I joined it in 2018 and it is currently 2020, that's about 2 years worth of chatting to go through. If I decide to, I'll go through that history - but until then, have this poor recollection.
* I'll be skipping over a lot of details because I just don't remember everything. I'll also probably remember some things out of order, in which case I'll probably be corrected by my friends on the server.
* While I will be mentioning "the dark times" and how mods were idiots/assholes/whatever, I have no negative feelings towards any of them<ref>With one exception</ref> and I try to get along with them nowadays. All has been forgiven and forgotten, at least in my case.
* I won't be revealing names<ref>Not even pseudonyms.</ref>, if I do reveal them it's because I was given permission to reveal them. This is to prevent "witch hunting"<ref>If this stupid wiki ever grows beyond my 5 readers.</ref>. For this reason, it may be difficult to keep track of "characters" since I'll only refer to them as "that mod" or "that idiot helper".
That's it I think? Let's get on to the first chapter.

=== Chapter 1: Enter Ninjasr ===

I joined the server around late 2018. At the time, I was remembering Cube World and was sad there were no updates. I had read in a comment that wollay<ref>The developer of CW</ref> was posting regular updates on the discord server... so I set out to find it ASAP. That exploration brought me to the Reddit, where I clicked to join the server<ref>Back then, it was still the r/Cube World discord</ref>. Upon getting there I was going to treat it the way I treated ''all'' servers up to that point... stay in it and wait to get @everyone'd for updates.

Then I noticed something - #counting.

The concept of counting caught my attention, so I read the rules and got to counting. Over the next few days, I went from only counting to posting sacrifices in #sacrifices_to_our_lord_wollay and adding messages to the end of my number. Then I got to discussing counting in #off-topic<ref>It should be noted that all of these channels were part of the "off-topic" group and I'll refer to them collectively as the "off-topic channels".</ref><ref>I practically never went into any of the CW discussion channels, and that hasn't changed.</ref> where I got into talks with a certain "Count Mod"<ref>A Count Mod was a moderator that exclusively enforced the counting rules. They could assign and remove the "Counter" and "Can't Count" role.</ref><ref>Said rules were very vague and some count mods ended up enforcing ''unwritten rules'' in counting.</ref>. After a few talks with them, I decided I wanted to become a count mod.

Few weeks passed and counting went well - until I broke the chain<ref>The count was referred to as the "chain"</ref> and I got cc'd<ref>"Can't Count'ed"</ref>. I was distraught, but I got into talks with a guy over the philosophical truth of getting cc'd. We ended this by calling ourselves the "Can't Count Master Race", then we got into a discussion about flags and we disagreed over which nordic flag looks best<ref>He argued Sweden, I argued the Faroe Islands</ref>. Then I went to bed. The next day, I awoke to an invitation to the CCMR server<ref>Although this might be an "interesting" developement, I'll avoid talking about this server since it's a separate entity. More notes later down</ref>. The two of us then gathered followers<ref>Invited anyone who got cc'd into our server.</ref> and requested they do the same.

Back to CW stuff. Time passed and I made many friends among the regulars there<ref>At least those in the off-topic channels</ref>. After sending an appeal to a mod, I got uncc'd and back to counting.

Eventually, I received the Count Mod role and my goal changed to becoming a moderator<ref>This goal was never achieved.</ref>. What happened in-between sending an appeal and getting count mod; I don't remember unfortunately. At this time, the original count mod who inspired me to become one wasn't as active anymore. Since I really liked them though, I tried to enforce in the same way they did<ref>They were very strict with how they defined the rules and technically enforced "unwritten rules". Yes, I was one of them.</ref>. I remained a Count Mod all the way until... a certain something happened.

==== Intermission: The Golden Age  ====

"The Golden Age" is what us CW oldfags call the period before release date. Exactly when it started is unclear<ref>And I'm in no position to say when, since I'm a newcomer.</ref> but most can agree it ended when CW released. This release was the worst thing to happen to the server. Prior to release, the rules were very loose<ref>You could technically discuss porn in the off-topic (and '''SFW''') channels without getting in trouble.</ref> so you could talk about virtually anything with anyone. Everyone was excited for the game back then.

As for when I consider the Golden Age to have ended... it was when the founder and owner stepped down from admin.

==== Chapter 2: The Dark Ages ====

Everything was nice and peaceful, count mods were moderating counting<ref>I ran something of a reign of terror</ref>, mods weren't really doing anything and we all just kept talking and fucking about together. Then, wollay announced the release date. The game received a Steam page and there was an official twitter announcement.

Shock overtook us all<ref>Some, like me, believed the game would ''never'' be released until this moment.</ref> and we suddenly got more people joining the server. Moderation panicked and quickly started hiring more mods. Then, they started enforcing the rules more than before<ref>I got muted for the first time around this time. I was explaining Sengoku Rance to a friend, talking about the gameplay.</ref>.

Interestingly, the admin felt overworked so he asked a friend of his<ref>A regular on the server</ref> to help him out. This was the only time there were two admins.

Admin2 then started fixing up the server. He fixed the ways roles worked<ref>We discovered a Count Mod with an extra role(Sacrificial Memer - just a colour role) had the power to post server announcements and possibly other things</ref><ref>I vaguely remember they may have had the power to grant others the Count Mod role?</ref>, so he came up with a solution - the count mods would use a bot from now on, instead of changing the roles directly<ref>He also added a deleted/edited message log so Count Mods knew when someone broke the rules in that way</ref>. At this point in time, I was the ''oldest''<ref>In terms of how long I was there</ref> Count Mod around and I usually ended up being the only one actually doing anything<ref>My reign of terror was even more terrible during this time.</ref>. Since I was the oldest, I defined the rules and taught the others how to enforce in the same way<ref>The only ones who didn't listen to me were older Count Mods as well, but these all disappeared later on</ref>. There were a few arguments between me and disgruntled users when I cc'd them, I also think some counters didn't like me for always resetting the chain<ref>Around this time I also demanded all the chains start from 0 rather than 1. I ''still'' believe this should be the case.</ref><ref>This only shows how seriously we took fucking counting on this server.</ref>.

Another interesting development was the addition of "Helpers" to the moderation equation. I have no idea how they came up with the idea. Basically, moderators were each free to choose a few<ref>I don't remember the exact numbers but it was something like 2-3</ref> people to help them moderate. Helpers couldn't ban, but they could mute and some other stuff. My friends had "all" gotten helper so I asked the admin<ref>Who I was also friends with at the time</ref> for the role as well and well, I got it. Helpers had their own chat, which was like an unfiltered off-topic. They could also talk in the muted channel<ref>Intended for muted users to beg for forgiveness but actually used for shitposting - something helpers and mods occasionally took part in.</ref>.

But, as all things, this final part of the golden age ended. Admin2 stepped down and, not long after, so did the original admin. This signaled the end of the golden age. One of the mods<ref>The most active one</ref> became the de-jure administrator<ref>He never received the admin role and only received ownership later on. He was just a regular mod with the others simply treating him like the guy in charge, until he got ownership of course.</ref>. This new guy invited a friend of his to the server, this person is considered by many the one who ruined the server<ref>This is because this person gave the "admin" advice on moderation and the like - completely unaware of the unique "culture" we had, so they naturally got on the nerves of the regulars</ref>. Release date came and it all fucking went to shit.

With the release two things happened:
# An influx of new users (We grew from about 12000 to 22000 in a few weeks).
# Disappointment - the game was "bad" and most of the users were disappointed.

The results were not what you'd expect<ref>Unless you have experience with such things.</ref>. The user-count rise led to even stricter moderation. Since people were disappointed, they were criticizing the game.

The combination of these two things led to moderators muting people for not liking the game<ref>Although I might be misremembering. The rules were redone to disallow "bait" and since the release was so divisive this meant basically any critique could be defined as "bait". I don't think anyone was banned for saying the game was shit though.</ref>. Helpers were also sent in to help here, muting people. During this time, I told the other helpers to ignore the off-topic channels and that I'd take care of them. I became the de-facto moderator of all those channels<ref>Although said announcement was largely ignored by my helper friends. The real reason I maintained control was due to a combination of luck and apathy on the side of the moderators.</ref>, I maintained this position until a certain something happened.

Confusion also arose surrounding the Helpers. The users themselves thought Helpers were tech support rather than meant to help the moderators. This confusion was rarely cleared up, so the tech support channel had a lot of users pinging Helpers((Which annoyed me a lot. Every time this happened, I'd complain about the ping and tell the user that Helpers aren't there to help them and then I'd leave.)). Also, due to a combination of fears and suggestions from that one person, Helpers gradually began loosing power((The first sign of this was a change in how Helpers were chosen. Moderators no longer had "personal" Helpers and I don't know how they picked them afterwards. Then they couldn't talk in muted chat anymore.))((Mods were scared Helpers would abuse their power since they weren't recruited in the same way mods were. This wasn't completely unfounded as even I dicked around with people's nicks as a Helper. Interestingly though, Mods abused their power more than any Helper ever did.)). This was around the time a lot of my friends left the position and even left the server, they were frustrated with how the Helpers were treated.\\
Most Helpers didn't really do anything((Such as myself)) because there was a super hard worker among us((Who is now the admin of the server.)). When we //did// do something a mod that never did anything((In relation to actual moderation)) would come in and criticize that action, saying it was an abuse of power((This was mostly because the server rules were incredibly vague. Especially the "bait" one, so mods, Helpers and users all disagreed on what the rules //were// which lead to conflict.)). A lot of Helpers left because of shit like that.\\
There was "open" hostility between the regulars, users and the mods. It wasn't nearly as dramatic as it sounds - it was more like 5 disgruntled guys yelling((Only 2 of them are actually yelling though, the other 3 are moral support)) at 3 other guys((Only 1 of whom actually cared)). Well, that's what it was like between the Regulars/Helpers and the Moderators. General CW discussion was a shitstorm and I never went there((Well... I did ask the other helpers to occasionally tell me who to mute so I did at least something. This lead to some pretty funny and embarrassing moments when I failed to mute someone. Or very tense moments where I got a lot of shit for muting someone.)).\\
A lot of the regular users started to leave, they had gotten sick of the intensified moderation or become disillusioned with CW. Some of them left for the CCMR, which gained a bad reputation among the Moderators.\\
Eventually, everything slowed down. At this point even I, who had been pretty loyal to the server up to this point, started expressing dissatisfaction with the state of the server. I had been saying that I wanted to leave and well yeah shit.\\
Eventually, I got in trouble with the Moderators((Up to this point I only had two things going against me. 1 - I had linked the cracked version of the game to a user who asked for it in tech-support. (although I never actually said I did that, I dm'd it to him and the mods assumed I didn't actually link it. Hehe, I did though.) 2 - I ran the CCMR, which was not a good thing for me at this point.)). What I did was violate the rule about linking other discord servers. Yes, really. I had been doing it since the CCMR was born, but never got in trouble because I abused a loophole. I wasn't allowed to advertise a //server// but I could advertise a //group//((Those who think you can get away with it now, you can't.)). A moderator((One of those who barely did any moderation)) pointed it out and I got into trouble. I claimed I was in the ok since the previous admin allowed it, the new mods didn't like it though. They acknowledged the loophole as "legitimate" but said I shouldn't abuse loopholes as a helper. Logically, I asked if giving up my helper role would allow me to continue advertising - I got no clear answer. I decided to stop the advertisement anyway. Then I lost my Helper role, so I took that as a yes to my previous question. I was pretty mad and it was the first time I went against moderation in the server((Directly at least)), so I got banned.
==== Intermission: Lull ====
I don't know what happened while I was banned, I was gone from the server for about a year.\\
I heard from a friend that the admin changed and that he had rejoined. So I decided to rejoin just because.\\
Now, obviously stuff happened in the CCMR. I won't get into that stuff in detail because I consider the CCMR a private server. Summarized though, I became a dictator and caused a schism. This schism lasts until today. However, I'm on good-ish terms with those from the other server. <del>I hope I can re-unite the two, but that's probably impossible at this point.</del> I've since come to the conclusion that re-uniting is neither feasible nor desirable, the current split is actually much better for both sides.
==== Chapter 3: Rebirth ====
After rejoining the server, I was met with a culture that was completely unrecognizable. I still recognized most of the regulars but the way they spoke was different. Moderation is not as strict anymore, you can discuss porn again. Counting is soldiering on((One of my "pupils" is now the head count mod and he continues to moderate it. He does it pretty well too. Not sure if he's the only active one though.)). Sacrifices returned((I forgot to mention it was closed after the release.)). Stuff is generally back to how it was before release. I got back in touch with some of my friends((Especially those who didn't join the CCMR.)) and yeah.\\
Helpers don't exist anymore, only as a legacy role that barely anyone has.
Stuff is nice.
===== Notes =====
The server shouldn't really be taken as a "public" discord server. The community((By this I mean the regulars, helpers and moderators)) was very tight-nit((And they remain tight-nit.)). Not everyone was friends with everyone obviously, but it was still pretty nice. The (general) lack of moderation means it doesn't have an "oppressive" atmosphere like other servers do.\\

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Maybe I'll eventually talk about some memes exclusive to the server.

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If I do end up creating archives, and //if// I decide to release them - I'll end up anonymizing it all.
== Trivilinks ==
* [[https://discord.gg/VwXchqtbDA|An invite to the server]]
* Again, there's little hostility between myself and the mods and regulars from before.
* I'll probably rewrite this article, or I'll move it to the Bibliotheca Anonoma so other regulars can edit the history with me. - I would need permission from the guys in charge there first though.
* I maintained the position of Count mod right up until I got banned. I'm still waiting to get it back btw.
    * Similarly, I remained the de-facto mod of the off-topic channels until I got banned.
      * Thanks to that, the off-topic channels were generally ignored and, as a result, had looser moderation.
* I forgot to mention this, but post-release a thread about CW appeared on /v/. In that thread, they were all laughing about how shit it was - not unusual. Someone discovered the server though, posted an invite and suggested a raid. The raid ''might'' have been successful, but it might not have since everyone was shitposting about the shit game. It's just kinda funny.