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Devoted Pirate

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Narumi Misuhara


Why are staff allowed to participate in contests?
Many staff members are also community members so it's fun to participate in them and feel involved. It's very rare that a staff member wins a contest they have entered. I can recall twice that it has happened in the past 5 years. In each of those cases we selected again so a non-staff Gaian could win, and we will continue that practice.

This has been bugging me for a while. If Gaia was a radio show, and hosting give aways and such - this practice would be illegal, a fine of $10,000 or up to 1 year jail time. As set forth by Section 508 of the Communications Act of 1934.

I understand you just pass the staff member participating, in favor of a user, but honestly, I worry about the legality of even THAT action. I appreciate you do it but...

It seems like it would be more ETHICALLY and LEGALLY sound to not allow staff members, and family of staff to participate in any event that qualifies as a contest.

Lonely Codger

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Jayce Reinhardt
Narumi Misuhara
X_Gokai-Okuzuko_X

please grant the halo to the 11th top donator from that specific kickstart.


Agreed. We'll reply once this has been done.


Zero Omega
Regarding the Creme Cruz Halo. We have gone ahead and changed our plan with this item. We have transferred the item from the staff mule account into the account of the user who was 11th on the list. We will not be featuring the item in the next gold sink event.


Because people might not know this part has been addressed in a satisfactory way.

One LESS thing to complain about.


And Narumi posts this as well.

Narumi Misuhara
Hey guys, we're sorry but there's not much more we are going to say on this incident. It boils down to an initiative was conceived and then poorly executed. Those that participated in it's execution have since been enlightened regarding the sensitivity of the Gaia ecosystem. We will not be explaining all the details to the community. Gaia made a mistake, and we have handled it internally. From a community standpoint we understand this leaves a lot of gaping holes, and for that we're sorry. We locked the threads not to try to silence people, but because of the fact they were turning into attacks against others in the community and staff. It was fueling anger and hate and had long since ceased to be constructive.

To answer some sideline questions...
Why is ZO the one posting everything?
He is an Admin. The role of our Admin team aside from moderation is to be ambassadors to the community on behalf of the company, that doesn't mean others don't come out with posts/statements but simply that it's their official role.

Why are staff allowed to participate in contests?
Many staff members are also community members so it's fun to participate in them and feel involved. It's very rare that a staff member wins a contest they have entered. I can recall twice that it has happened in the past 5 years. In each of those cases we selected again so a non-staff Gaian could win, and we will continue that practice.

Why does so and so staff account have that exclusive/limited/etc. item?
We produce so many items that is not feasible for our QA team alone to test them all. So instead all staff members are able to volunteer to test items. They are then allowed to keep the item they helped test. With the exception of wearing the item we do request staff members not introduce it to the market but this is not a hard rule. As for the halo that is in question that item will be released in the next Kickstarter.

If you have more you wish to communicate regarding "l337Gate" please send it to usertalk@gaiaonline.com We have been responding to inquiries there. If you have done so and not yet gotten a reply, please send in a new one, it may simply have been missed. If you have constructive feedback on the issue then of course continue posting here!

It was good that they granted the Halo to the 11th placer, but there's still one kind of important thing that I just can't get myself to overlook (sorry, I'm not trying to start up anything, but it's been kind of bothering me).

Narumi's statement was that, if a Gaia staff member wins a content, they select a non-staff member to win instead. But... when it came to the Halo, they very specifically didn't do that until they were called out on it. Based on their previous statements, they originally intended to use that Halo as an incentive for the next gold sink. (It's not a matter of interpretation, either; that's flat-out what they said.) So why didn't they award the Halo to the 11th placer in the first place?

I'm just having a hard time reconciling their actions with their statements here. Again, it's good that they did the right thing, but according to Narumi's statement about how these things are normally handled, that should have been done without any prompting from the users. So... why wasn't it?

Divine Muse

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O.T.L.

It was good that they granted the Halo to the 11th placer, but there's still one kind of important thing that I just can't get myself to overlook (sorry, I'm not trying to start up anything, but it's been kind of bothering me).

Narumi's statement was that, if a Gaia staff member wins a content, they select a non-staff member to win instead. But... when it came to the Halo, they very specifically didn't do that until they were called out on it. Based on their previous statements, they originally intended to use that Halo as an incentive for the next gold sink. (It's not a matter of interpretation, either; that's flat-out what they said.) So why didn't they award the Halo to the 11th placer in the first place?

I'm just having a hard time reconciling their actions with their statements here. Again, it's good that they did the right thing, but according to Narumi's statement about how these things are normally handled, that should have been done without any prompting from the users. So... why wasn't it?

I only intended to point these posts out as I didn't think everyone saw them. The halo issue is addressed and that is one less thing to complain about.

Now lets see if they stop there or actually try consistency for once.

Perfect Knight

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I wish my contribution to the thread could be more, something that brought humor to your day and could help fight against the oppressive overtone now felt around here as well as point in the direction of my personal feelings on all that is sadly happening but ... I've been warned so -shrugs-


-Content Censored-




I think the point is still felt ...

Magical Kitten

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Blackrose_Knight
Narumi Misuhara


Why are staff allowed to participate in contests?
Many staff members are also community members so it's fun to participate in them and feel involved. It's very rare that a staff member wins a contest they have entered. I can recall twice that it has happened in the past 5 years. In each of those cases we selected again so a non-staff Gaian could win, and we will continue that practice.

This has been bugging me for a while. If Gaia was a radio show, and hosting give aways and such - this practice would be illegal, a fine of $10,000 or up to 1 year jail time. As set forth by Section 508 of the Communications Act of 1934.

I understand you just pass the staff member participating, in favor of a user, but honestly, I worry about the legality of even THAT action. I appreciate you do it but...

It seems like it would be more ETHICALLY and LEGALLY sound to not allow staff members, and family of staff to participate in any event that qualifies as a contest.
Especially with the discovery of more than one staff mule. I don't think they should be allowed to participate for rare items at least. It seems wrong for them to do so. But now, at this point, I can't even tell whose a mule and who isn't. :/ This whole thing has shaken my very core on who to trust around here.

Oh well, hopefully Gaia learns from this mistake and not do it again but I'm sure they'll do it just quietly.

Shy Lover

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I am amazed by this thread and the others like it.
I never thought Gaia Staff members could sink so low.
It seems trouble is coming. I see a Gaia dark age coming.

Wild Bookworm

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If they're smart, they'll release a 133TGATE item, then everyone will think they still have a sense of humor xd But they probably won't, because they probably don't.

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Antiq
If they're smart, they'll release a 133TGATE item, then everyone will think they still have a sense of humor xd But they probably won't, because they probably don't.


Or the opposite could happen, where people could be raging how Gaia could turn a serious situation into a joke. There are some users that take offense to every single thing Gaia does these days.

Wild Bookworm

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acoustic-macchiato
Antiq
If they're smart, they'll release a 133TGATE item, then everyone will think they still have a sense of humor xd But they probably won't, because they probably don't.


Or the opposite could happen, where people could be raging how Gaia could turn a serious situation into a joke. There are some users that take offense to every single thing Gaia does these days.

I dunno, Gaians can be extraordinarily forgiving if approached in the right way. They could tag the item with "we're really really really really sorry" biggrin

Divine Muse

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Antiq
acoustic-macchiato
Antiq
If they're smart, they'll release a 133TGATE item, then everyone will think they still have a sense of humor xd But they probably won't, because they probably don't.


Or the opposite could happen, where people could be raging how Gaia could turn a serious situation into a joke. There are some users that take offense to every single thing Gaia does these days.

I dunno, Gaians can be extraordinarily forgiving if approached in the right way. They could tag the item with "we're really really really really sorry" biggrin

That would be a marked improvement over "The cold case of Pietro" description thing that happened.

User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.

Magical Kitten

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Jayce Reinhardt
Antiq
acoustic-macchiato
Antiq
If they're smart, they'll release a 133TGATE item, then everyone will think they still have a sense of humor xd But they probably won't, because they probably don't.


Or the opposite could happen, where people could be raging how Gaia could turn a serious situation into a joke. There are some users that take offense to every single thing Gaia does these days.

I dunno, Gaians can be extraordinarily forgiving if approached in the right way. They could tag the item with "we're really really really really sorry" biggrin

That would be a marked improvement over "The cold case of Pietro" description thing that happened.

User Image - Blocked by "Display Image" Settings. Click to show.
That's not even trying. :/

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Antiq
acoustic-macchiato
Antiq
If they're smart, they'll release a 133TGATE item, then everyone will think they still have a sense of humor xd But they probably won't, because they probably don't.


Or the opposite could happen, where people could be raging how Gaia could turn a serious situation into a joke. There are some users that take offense to every single thing Gaia does these days.

I dunno, Gaians can be extraordinarily forgiving if approached in the right way. They could tag the item with "we're really really really really sorry" biggrin


I'm still skeptical. Gaians could be all "no they're actually not sorry at all fake apologies everywhere" even with that tag. sweatdrop

Magical Raider

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Lame, lame, lame...

Seasonal Leaf

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damn op! the feedback here is so well organized and logical. too bad this site is a soulless business that only cares about scamming users out of money. sad

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Sick & tired of the way Gaia is now. I'm glad someone- like the OP- is actually standing up against this and doing something! Kudos to you.
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