[monty42]

Hello everybody,

many of you have asked many questions concerning the recent fallout between the CC and the German community that has led to the resignation of Tjark Ott (Tjark) from his CC duties.

During the last couple of days I have spent countless hours talking to people, trying to figure out what has happened and why it happened.
I have tried to reconstruct the events to the best of my abilities and this is a summary of what I could find out. Please keep in mind that much of this is my own personal experience and there might still be aspects to this we have yet to understand.


Sunday, June 28th

As most of you may have heard by now Nicholas Yankovec (nickyank) resigned as Director of Second Edition.
From what I understand, he handed in that resignation on Sunday morning very shortly before the selection committee for the Director of Communications met, to vote on the candidates for the DoC.

During that meeting, the selection committee decided that Scott Baughman (Neelix) would become the new Director of Communications over Richard New (The Guardian) and myself.
As it came to be the vote was a very close call between Scott and myself and during that debate an argument was made that Scott would be a better candidate than me, because I am not a native English speaker.

Some people including Tjark have construed this argument as racism.

At this point I'd like to mention that I personally don't see this that way. Racism is a very strong word. One that should not be used lightly, especially with what's currently going on in the world.
In my opinion the worst thing that argument can be seen as is nationalism. However I, at best see it as ignorance.
I would also like to mention that I hold no grudges over not being selected as Director of Communications.
I can't necessarily say that I agree with the reasoning why the committee has made this decision, but it was their decision, they chose Scott and I will support him as DoC.

Unfortunately also during this meeting the head of the selection committee Maggie Geppert (jadziadax8) mentioned the resignation of Nick and her opinion that I would be a better candidate for Director of 2E than for Director of Communications.

From what I understand Maggie was very distressed by the way the vote was leaning, especially because of previous accusations against her of chauvinism against Europeans. She wanted to find a way to smooth down the ruffled feathers of the two Europeans on the committee. This was a gambit on her part, she admitted that turned out to be the wrong move.


Monday, June 29th

On Sunday afternoon Maggie informed the 2E department heads of Nick's resignation and that the board had decided to put an interim director in place until the search for a new Director of 2E had concluded. She also asked us about who we'd think that interim director should be.
The consensus from the department heads was that it should be Tjark, since he already briefly held the position earlier in the year when he filled in for Nick and it was our opinion that he did an outstanding job.

In the meantime Maggie had taken a phone call from Charlie wherein he told her that Tjark supported him taking on the interim position. So it seemed like Tjark had no desire to take on that role.

Now from what I have gathered from all involved parties, what appears to be the main misunderstanding in this entire case happened in the following meeting on Monday afternoon between Maggie and Tjark.

Maggie intended to inform Tjark that the 2E department heads had chosen him to be interim director until a search for a new Director of 2E had concluded.
During that same conversation Tjark issued his displeasure with the result of the Director of Communications vote. Apparently Maggie then mentioned her opinion that I would be better suited as Director of 2E than for Director of Communications.

Shortly after that meeting, I had scheduled a meeting between Tjark, Michael Shea (The Prefect) and myself to talk about future proceedings with 2E projects.
During that meeting Tjark, very upset and emotional, informed us that he was quitting everything because he believed the selection of the DoC was rigged because I was already flagged to become Director of 2E.
He was also furious about what he perceived was somebody asking him to "do the dirty work" for a job that he had no chance of inheriting permanently because a different person (namely me) had already been flagged to do so.

From what I gathered Maggie had no idea Tjark had any desire to be the Director of 2E. Apparently he told her that he had big career plans on his horizon and so it did not occur to her that he wanted to do that job in addition to his career options.

Given the fact that Michael and I both had very little of the information I have since been able to gather and we had no reason not to take everything Tjark was saying as fact, this sounded very disturbing to both of us, and so we started trying to figure out what had happened.
Personally speaking, it sounded disturbing enough that I deliberated disassociating myself from the CC as well. From what I understand, Michael felt the same way, but we both wanted to know more before we made a decision.


Tuesday, June 30th

It was intended that early Tuesday morning the announcement of Nick's resignation and his replacement with Tjark as interim director would go live.
That however never came to be as Tjark preceded this with his own resignation.

Everything that followed is openly visible on the TrekCC boards and in the Dojo.

I am hopeful that there is room to be found for a reconciliation between all of the involved parties.

Thank you for reading.


Kind regards,
Benjamin Liebich (monty42)

[Maelwys]

Thanks very much for all of your time and effort in researching and assembling this breakdown. I think all of us were completely confused by the chain of events (especially those expected to be "in the know", that were all just as lost as the public, and so had nothing useful to tell anybody). It's great that a neutral party was able to put in all of the legwork to compile such a report, and so very quickly as well. I'm sure that couldn't have been easy, but it was very well done. And thanks for all your hard work!

[The Prefect]

Based on information I've been able to gather and on conversations I have had, Ben's account seems correct.

Over the last few months, we've all been doing the very best we could with a less than ideal situation. We've been moving projects forward, but we've also all been under a lot of stress.

At this point, it seems very likely that Tjark was left with the impression that an argument made by a single member of the selection committee for the DoC position that the DoC needed to be a native English speaker was ultimately what was the deciding factor in Ben not getting the position. However, it seems based on what Ben and I have been able gather so far that this argument was not supported by other members of the selection committee, and was not supported by the Board.

Further, it seems that an honest effort by Maggie to smooth over any hurt feelings by Tjark - namely that Ben would be a good candidate for the 2e Director position - may have been misinterpreted as a token promotion and as a slight on Tjark when neither was intended.

While I know there might still be more to learn, it seems so far that it's highly likely that this has been an unfortunate misunderstanding, compounded by bad timing and magnified by the stress we've all been under over the last few months as volunteers.

Also, I'd like to add that Nick reached out to me personally right after he communicated his resignation to the Board. While I am not at liberty to reveal the contents of that communication, I can tell you with 100% certainty, based on Nick's direct communication to me, that his resignation was entirely for personal reasons unrelated to Trek CC. I gather there's been some speculation that his resignation and the DoC vote were somehow linked and I just wanted to let you all know that, based on Nick's direct communication with me, this was not the case.

[Marquetry]

Thanks for putting this together for everyone!

[Boffo97]

For whatever it's worth, if I didn't know English wasn't Ben's root language, I would have never figured it out. I don't think it would have been a barrier to him doing the job at all.

[Gorgo Primus]

Ben's English is incredibly good and clear, so I'm surprised that came up as a potential issue.

Had I known something like this was being looked into and put together earlier, I'd have felt a lot better during the chaos of yesterday. Thank you so much for taking the time and energy to put this together for us! Hopefully those involved will all see this and figure out a productive way forwards, including how to avoid these kinds of misunderstandings in the future.

[Honest]

I just read Ben's synopsis. He could do the Communications job better than most. This post more than proves that.

Thanks Monty42 for putting this together. Seems like the round table will be getting a solid workout in the next few months!

Take care all, stay safe

Honest

[Armus]

Thanks for putting together the summary, Ben. It really helps provide some context.

Sounds like Maggie needs to treat Tjark, Ben, and the Euros on the selection committee to a few rounds at the local pub of choice. Maybe bring Nick along - with the year he's had he could probably use a beer or 3!

More seriously, I get that the hurt feelings are real, and words matter, but I have a hard time believing that any of this was done with intent. I've known Maggie for years and I don't think she has that kind of hate in her heart. I know that the way she handled the Andrey situation a few years ago means that the offended euros in question might not be inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt, but I'd also guess that she learned from that experience.

I really do hope that fences can be mended. This whole thing seems like it was a giant miscommunication and misunderstanding, which is regrettable, but seeing the community torn further asunder because of such a miscommunication would be even more regrettable.

So I guess my question for the offended parties is this: What can Maggie, the CC, or the community at large do to start rebuilding the relationship that was very clearly, if unintentionally, damaged by this happening?

[BCSWowbagger]

Thanks very much for all of your time and effort in researching and assembling this breakdown. I think all of us were completely confused by the chain of events (especially those expected to be "in the know", that were all just as lost as the public, and so had nothing useful to tell anybody). It's great that a neutral party was able to put in all of the legwork to compile such a report, and so very quickly as well. I'm sure that couldn't have been easy, but it was very well done. And thanks for all your hard work!

+1

[Fritzinger]

Now that we have Steve as 2e errata lead, can we have tjark as interim director with the chance of going permanent?

[WeyounsLastClone]

Thanks monty, much appreciated!

It is difficult what can or should be shared in such a situation, but this certainly helps providing insights to the people who were confused by the events as they were unfolding.

Communication is not always about words (I really hope language wasn't the perceived barrier), but I think you did a great job addressing the situation. I hope the main players involved feel the same, keep enjoying the game, and as a community we can find a path forward that best serves the players, the different playgroups (or individuals like me), and the game in general.

[Naetor]

In the meantime Maggie had taken a phone call from Charlie wherein he told her that Tjark supported him taking on the interim position. So it seemed like Tjark had no desire to take on that role.

So Charlie was intending on taking on the director role before Tjark quit?

However, Tjark has since resigned from the Continuing Committee, so we must move forward without his leadership in this role. Therefore, the Board has decided that Charlie Plaine (Midnightlich), the Director of First Edition, will step in to coordinate the scheduling of upcoming expansions for Second Edition.

Either Ben is mischaracterizing the situation or this announcement article is gaslighting us. I bet you can guess which one.

[Nerdopolis Prime]

In the meantime Maggie had taken a phone call from Charlie wherein he told her that Tjark supported him taking on the interim position. So it seemed like Tjark had no desire to take on that role.

So Charlie was intending on taking on the director role before Tjark quit?

I guess so, with Tjarks help it seems. In order to fill the temporary gap. That´s how I understand it.

However, Tjark has since resigned from the Continuing Committee, so we must move forward without his leadership in this role. Therefore, the Board has decided that Charlie Plaine (Midnightlich), the Director of First Edition, will step in to coordinate the scheduling of upcoming expansions for Second Edition.

So either Ben is mischaracterizing the situation or this announcement article is gaslighting us. I bet you can guess which one.

Thank you for your suggestive criticism.

[jadziadax8]

In the meantime Maggie had taken a phone call from Charlie wherein he told her that Tjark supported him taking on the interim position. So it seemed like Tjark had no desire to take on that role.

So Charlie was intending on taking on the director role before Tjark quit?

To clarify, the Board was looking at a lot of different options from the start. As of Sunday afternoon, Charlie being interim director was the first option we had considered. This is due to the fact that Charlie knows the technical processes of moving cards through the production cycle better than anyone else on the Board. Charlie's conversation with Tjark and then with me happened before I started getting feedback from the 2E leadership team on what they wanted. Based on their feedback, which came in Sunday night and early Monday morning, Tjark taking the interim role was the preferred option. We were going to go with that option when this all blew up on Tuesday morning.

[DarkSabre]

At this point, it seems very likely that Tjark was left with the impression that an argument made by a single member of the selection committee for the DoC position that the DoC needed to be a native English speaker was ultimately what was the deciding factor in Ben not getting the position. However, it seems based on what Ben and I have been able gather so far that this argument was not supported by other members of the selection committee, and was not supported by the Board.

The reason why language came up was due to understanding American Idium and Culture since the majority of people who interact with the website and social media are from America/Canada/England. We were discussing merits of peoples + and - like how you list the skills you bring to the table on a resume. It was not an argument against anyone NOR was it a deciding factor. If anyone thought that they should of talked to other committee members first to make sure they understood where things stood instead of lighting a match in a powder keg room.

If anyone felt hurt by anything from the selection process then I publicly apologize if I did anything to make anyone feel upset. I believe that the above was a complete misunderstanding and a simple talking to committee members would have reinforced that language or region or country or ethnic or anything else was not a deciding factor in the vote for Scott to be picked over anyone else.

Scott has real life / job experience in this type of position and thats why I walked into the meeting wanting to vote for him and why I voted for him at the end.