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State of the Academy (Spring Cleaning part 2) -doobie - Apr 17 12:56am |
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I’ll get right to it. DJ and I started this academy almost three years ago as a place to play the Jedi Knight games in a fun, civil way, and to teach others to do the same. We never expected to have as many members as we do and to have the incredible social community that we now have. We’ve added amazing Council members and staff, taught great things, made the transition from JK2 to JK:JA, and continue to go strong. However, all is not well within the Academy. We have lost our focus. A lot of things are much better than they used to be (like, me not having to add all applicants by hand!)… but I’ll be honest, some things have slipped as we’ve grown. In fact, the JAC feel we’ve gotten off course. We’ve moved away from our role as an academy and from our jobs as teachers. We need to get back to basics. That’s why we’re blowing this place up and starting over. WHAT???? You read that correctly. As of April 23, 2005, the Jedi Academy will consist solely of student and Council members. All JAKs, JATs, and staff will have their accounts set to students. We will be introducing new trials, trials that are hard and will make sure that we truly have the best of the best in the upper ranks. This means some of our beloved JAKs and JATs will no longer have their positions. WHY??? Many of our JAK+ are inactive completely or active only on forums or IRC. We also have noticed a disturbing trend of students regularly destroying our staff in battle. The upper ranks of the Academy require three things: Gaming Skill, Activity, and most importantly Attitude. We feel that our ranked members as a whole need to be more skilled and more active. They need to be teaching regular classes, available for help and to take care of difficult situations. They need to have the composure and maturity to handle anything and everything. We want to make this place special again, and make the ranks mean something again, not just have us give out titles and expect to keep them forever. That’s why we cleaned out the Hall of Fame and why we’re cleaning out the ranks. Now, current JAK+, if you are doing your job as a ranked member, you have nothing to worry about. Shortly after the cleaning takes place we’ll be retoggling those who we feel meet our higher standards, including toggling students who did not previously hold ranks but we feel should be either a JAK or a JAT. If you’re one of the current JAK+ not retoggled, don’t take it personally at all. We want to you stay. We’re all friends around here and while we appreciate all the work you have given us, we feel it’s time to move in a different direction. Plus, as a student you get to have lots more fun without people harassing you about random stuff . I hope this is making it clear that our ranked members need to be at the TOP of their line in what they do and that the ENTIRE ranked members without doubt are the people everyone should look up to. Once this is done, we already have a plan in place to rebuild the ranks. Until then, for obvious reasons all classes will be cancelled and we ask that you keep your behavior under control on the servers as well. Along the same lines, we’ll be running a system purge of all inactive members dating back to the first of the year. If you’re a member who hasn’t logged in for a while but are still reading the news page, log in! We’ll be running the purge next week sometime. Now to wrap up, a few other things: We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again… we have no tolerance for swearing. This goes DOUBLE for ranked members, who need to set a good example. If you swear you get warned, if you continue you get tempbanned, if you come back and do it again we’d rather not have you around. Just stop. I don’t care if you think swearing is ok. Do it somewhere else please or there will be consequences. The servers, as we’ve mentioned, are moving to New York, which means there will be east coast pings, which will hopefully be a happy medium for the Euros and the Yanks, as well as everyone else. Also, the server OS will be changing from FreeBSD to linux as part of the transition. There’s a chance the mail server will be down during this transition, so if you need to get in touch with one of us via email, we’ll post alternate email addresses shortly. The website should be unaffected by the move though. Finally, I want to mention that Virtue is working on the schedule for JA Radio DJs, and if any more people wish to apply, please E-MAIL him. DO NOT, under any circumstances PM him on IRC or the servers. If you do, you’ll face the wrath of Virtue, which doesn’t sound very scary but it is. The Academy is a trememdous success. We have a community that I feel is unequaled on the internet. Everything the Council does is done in the hope that we continue to keep it that way, that we can continue to improve the nature of gamers on the internet, that we can continue to gain friendships, and that we can continue to show the rest of the internet how it should be done. Please join us in this quest and live up to your end of the deal. We provide the tools, but it’s the students and ranked members who do the work. Make sure your work is up to standard and that you deserve to be in such a special place as the Jedi Academy. VIVA LA ACADEMIA!!!! |
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Aiddat - Student 
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The "About Us" page looks so... empty LOL. I hope all of you who deserve your old rank get it back!  _______________ -Aiddat, the Gran with the green blades. "You have a right to be angry, but believe me when I say you don't want to feed that emotion." - Kyle Katarn {Owner of Liso Jowol's 550th comment, Conchris Chaotic's 80th, 150th and 350th comments, Pink Floyd's 200th comment Tyrant's 695th comment, D@RTHM@UL's 10600th comment}, accidentally tricked Pink Floyd into giving me his 1700th comment, I also have Alexander D'Kana's 1950th comment, Mindrith Pride's 1850th comment and I used the same accidental trick on Lewis's 100th comment, and I have Aiddat's 1992nd comment (birthyear), and #Elmo's 450th comment. Unsuccessfully tried to prove Senor Hat's theory wrong. Click for screenshots. Padawan of R2-D2. |
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Koyi Donita - Student 
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Is it done? >.> <.< I'm a student again?!? XD _______________ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Rom. 1:16 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Rom. 10:17 I love my babyface. Smilykrazy is my baby and I love her. ...Swimming through the void we hear the Word, we lose ourselves but we find it all... System Of A Down. 
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Gradius - Ex-Student 
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HW and Flash were about the only ones who taught red stance classes, yes. But not the only red users. Others just prefered to mix it up with yellow more often than red. Leif, Jaiko, WolfWood, Virtue, all great red users. _______________ - Proud padawan of Kueller. - We really are at the beginning of it all. The trick, of course, is to make sure we never find the end. - Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything - <gen-e-sis-happy> Liek, you can train, liek, a n00b, but he'll just be a trained n00b... --> Wise words! - "daer SOE me likes your a company i am having your some money for letting me do stuff cos mes the best amd i do it all meself" - Slider |
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Furi0us - Student 
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Well, Flash used to teach red, don't know what happened. _______________ You are not your f***ing system specs. You are not your uptime stats, your script file, or your oversized desktop screencap. You are not your broadband connection. You are not your f***ing post count. |
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NotSoLittleCaesar - Student 
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Quote:
Quote: meh, i do not think this is a good idea...indeed, you state to keep on people that do there jobs, nad certain knights are inactive, so just get rid of them, people like harwire i have heard is losing his rank, he is one of our nly council members who uses red for a solid stance, which for 1 i find rediculous...i could refer you to my bais post..but meh.. Not only is Hardwired not on the council (  ), he's also not the only solid red user of the bunch. hush, and i know i typed wrong about the council, but i havent seen a single red user on when im on not a JAK or JAT _______________ Quote: I mostly agree oh Lord of the squeezy mop
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Setementor - Jedi Master 
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I was looking back through the site, and I found that this type of "spring clean" and trouble has happened before, in the past. Now look at the Academy. It's not going to be much different this time, is it? It's happened before.  |
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Gradius - Ex-Student
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Quote: meh, i do not think this is a good idea...indeed, you state to keep on people that do there jobs, nad certain knights are inactive, so just get rid of them, people like harwire i have heard is losing his rank, he is one of our nly council members who uses red for a solid stance, which for 1 i find rediculous...i could refer you to my bais post..but meh.. Not only is Hardwired not on the council ( ), he's also not the only solid red user of the bunch. _______________ - Proud padawan of Kueller. - We really are at the beginning of it all. The trick, of course, is to make sure we never find the end. - Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything - <gen-e-sis-happy> Liek, you can train, liek, a n00b, but he'll just be a trained n00b... --> Wise words! - "daer SOE me likes your a company i am having your some money for letting me do stuff cos mes the best amd i do it all meself" - Slider |
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OcarinaLink - Student 
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Well, what happens will happen...i'm just a little relieved to see that you're still around, doobie With DJ sith gone for most of the time, you're still one of the few who remind me of the old days _______________ memento mori |
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 - Student |
Did I mention how big my hopes are for this? I'm hoping that this will change the attitude (of the majority) of "Let's see how long I can hold onto my rank and 'power' without actually doing any work" to "Let's make this place awesome again". A guy can dream, can't he? |
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NotSoLittleCaesar - Student 
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meh, i do not think this is a good idea...indeed, you state to keep on people that do there jobs, nad certain knights are inactive, so just get rid of them, people like harwire i have heard is losing his rank, he is one of our nly council members who uses red for a solid stance, which for 1 i find rediculous...i could refer you to my bais post..but meh.. _______________ Quote: I mostly agree oh Lord of the squeezy mop
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El Vee For - Student 
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Whew! Bold move from the Council, yet needed. I know I am new and being such my comments will be brief. I had stopped playing on the JA servers cuz to me they were just as random and undisciplined as the pubs. I guess between immoral password distribution and general lack of supervision (Knights being Knights only in title) is quite likely the cause. One thing that needs addressing, (not sure if this is the right place for my complaint/suggestion but here it is anyways) at least I may speak on behalf of myself and maybe a few others on the west coast of the US. Class times are not exactly complimentary to the average Joe's work schedule. I would love an opportunity to actually learn some styles but with out a weekday class in the evenings (west coast time or GMT -8) I am simply unable. Any chance that an Instructor, any Instructor could accomodate this type of schedule, I personally would be most appreciative. Well done Council. I have been in the upper echelons of leadership in a few different clans and broad sweeping changes are always the hardest to agree upon and execute. Thank goodness for your wisdom. May the Force be with you _______________ “Arguing on the internet is like competing in the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you’re still retarded.” This comment was edited by El Vee For on Apr 20 2005 11:53pm. |
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[E]NaX - Student |
Well if you guys need me im there for ya...Just post me at my profile . I love to train and stuff and i'll be happy to help you guys out if i can do something. I also belive that even if tje JAK's and JAT's are inactive then we others can help too thats my opinion. _______________ NaX - Strength be with you
This comment was edited by [E]NaX on Apr 20 2005 06:50pm. |
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JK13 /// jaws. - Student 
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hehe i didnt mean he/she needed that quality and exclusively that quality, i mean that thats the most important aspect IMO, everything else is very important as well! _______________ It's a false hologram, it IS artificial... |
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Squibit - Student 
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Quote: He/she should have one very important quality, being a good teacher! I gotta disagree with that comment. A JAK+ needs much more than one quality What good is a teacher with no skills? What good is a teacher who nobody feels comfortable talking to? What good is a teacher who is never online? What good is a teacher who knows very little about the JA? What good is a teacher who abuses admin rights? I agree skills isn't the only thing a JAK+ needs, and i'd say not the most important one. But it is definatly needed just as all the other qualities a JAK should have are needed. Things like, Dependability, Trustworthy, skilled, a good teacher, Approachable, experianced, active etc. etc. to pick out one, any one, be it teaching ability, Game skills or whatever, as being the main one, or most needed would lower the focus given to the others imo. _______________ Quote: fiZZe: its SIR Fizzy Fluffy :p Quote: FiZZ[JAK]: that was what I call a counter Ah, things you only ever expect to hear once
This comment was edited by Squibit on Apr 20 2005 12:18am. |
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Tamal - Student 
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I haven't been around all that long but after a year long break b4 being active again, I definitely noticed that this place was different. I am looking forward to the NEW and improved Academy As Vasper said, it may not be easy at first but I believe the outcome will have long lasting positive results. Well done council members for taking the initiative for change. _______________ Tamal 
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Badger Hat - Student 
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Um... one word. Finally. _______________ RL bro to HawkJedi Chuck Norris pwns!(duh) Proud member of Yeah, it's a hat. |
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Vasper Ba'xian - Student 
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I've been here since back in the JO days and I have to say I think this is needed. A bit scary to take in at first but once I got to thinking about it, it will be a great change. Those Knights that are active will keep their positions and those that arent, well others who are could be holding those positions. This change will make us more elite I think. Not to mention how much un-needed data the staff will have to go thru when it comes to inactive members. It'll be a little getting used to at first I'm sure but in the end, I think we'll all be better because of it.  _______________ Brother to: Tamal, Kavar, J.D.,Jermia, Devlin, Ulic, Xiabara, Seij,Tarron Mib,>>>ROCK ON .My Spacescapes art page.My Everything Else art page. MY FAV. Jedi Are: Qui-Gon Jinn, Corran Horn, and Anakin Solo. Unofficial Master to Tamal. and Kavar. Founder of the Wuji Hundun Jian saber style. Proud owner of Tamal's 200th comment!//Proud owner of Refl3x's 300th comment!>>>Proud owner of Tyrant's 800th comment>>>Proud owner of Lucky's 170th comment>>>Proud owner of BDKawika's 444th comment>>>To except Existance is to except Reality.
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tarpman - The Tarped Avenger 
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Are there any plans for an eventual cleaning-up of the forums too? Deleting really really old posts and such? _______________ Saving the world, one kilobyte at a time. |
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n00b - Student 
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You know, a large number of us, at times 8 or more and at least half of them JAK+ have been playing Instagib on MOTREC's server. It went on for at least 3-4 months (it slowed down after MOTREC wasn't able to be on 24/7.) JAK+ involved were MOTREC, Shadowsith, Gradius, Tido, and 3th regularly. There were some honorable mentions who did not play so regular, like Hardwired, SmilyKrazy, and if memory holds Virtue was there more than a few times. Sure, this may have made the home server a little scarce, but it was a hellava lot o' fun. We played all night until MOTREC went to bed. I wouldn't say these JAK+ were inactive, they were just teaching us to play Insta. Insta takes a long time to get good at so we all became very addicted to it. ShadowSith gave us quite a run for the money and some of us who sucked at first just kick arse at it now, so mission accomplished. Please factor this in before hard earned titles are stripped from people who have been doing their job and doing it quite well. _______________ Gone but hopefully not forgotten... This comment was edited by n00b on Apr 19 2005 03:19am. |
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Battlin' Billy - Student 
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*gives Doobie a standing "O"* I'm just gonna say that this place rocks and I believe I told Doobie that I would never leave even if the JA folded. Not only did I learn to play JK2 & 3 here, when I 1st joined up I was going through a really tough time in RL™, I was really really low. Who knows, I might not be alive if not for the friendship and comraderie(sp?) of the JA. Well, thank you Doobie & DJ, everyone else who keeps this place running and all the friends I've made here for everything. I love all you guys/gals!!! _______________ Midbie Council Member #2 - Profile ID 2073 | Member of B@rtM@ulS@ar | Owner of Monty's 2000th comment & D@RtHM@UL's 8100th comment | Former Padawan of SilkMonkey & Arcuss JA Goaltender & NHL Fan | Fellow Rush fan to Axion|Plo Koon is my oldest JA friend Post your RL pics HERE! | Post you JK2/JK3 screenies HERE! |
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SaZ - Student 
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ahh some life in to academy  hmmm new jaks... lol they will have hard time reading whole knight recommendation thread anyway i hope youll make JA even more cool _______________ playing jk3 since 30th of january (2005), member since 1st of february. [Unofficial Master to Vision and Z�diac ] If you can make a fool of yourself infront of 300 people you can do anything - Jaiko D'kana |
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CuZzA - Student 
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Well done d00bie Mcd00bd00b just out of interest, how long did it take u to type all that? Anyway, i wanna say congratz to everybody for making this a special place and congratz to the soon-to-be NEW JAK's and JAT's as they will be the best of the best, the cream of the crop _______________ - Even if Carlsberg made "w*nkers", Christiano Ronaldo would still be the biggest "w*nker" in the world This comment was edited by CuZzA on Apr 18 2005 04:01pm. |
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Furi0us - Student 
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Finally. _______________ You are not your f***ing system specs. You are not your uptime stats, your script file, or your oversized desktop screencap. You are not your broadband connection. You are not your f***ing post count. |
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JK13 /// jaws. - Student 
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Imma have to agree with phantom.... Yes Game skills are important, but a JAK dosnt need to be l33t! He/she should have one very important quality, being a good teacher! I think that JAK and JAT should have the primary role of teacher rather than "admin" and that yeah classes should be a bigger part of the JA experience. owl tell you that i have been around this place for a long time and the council is right, the place hasnt gotten any worse, it has just lost focus. Things like this tend to happen when you go from a hundred hard core members to thousands of part time players. Things tend to loose some of the find edge as they grow, but its not like the JA is headed for disaster or anything like that, we just need a spring cleaning! and thats just what we are getting _______________ It's a false hologram, it IS artificial... |
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Plo Koon - Student 
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vice versa too Phantom, There are some students more open to help than some knights, but we are a community so we all learn from eachother. _______________ Free Tibet! Click this link,and learn Here too |
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