Hey everyone
I have been asked by Darren to post his reasons for leaving Paradigm, since he cannot use the forum anymore.
He emailed me his post and it is not easy reading so I asked Caylan and Hats for permission to post it here, which they gave me.
Needless to say, I am only the "messenger" here so do not look to me for any expanations. I am only doing my part as social officer and that after having consulted you.
Here is Darren's post:
Hi, it's Darren here, some of you may or may not know me, but in the case that you don't, I am the person that, with the help of good friends (Anne, Paul, Maria and others) started Paradigm. I recently left the guild and I was happy to not moan, I left at night so as not to ruffle too many feathers and when people asked me why I was not too specific about my reasons, feeling it unfair to express my discontent over the dire state of affairs that guild is now in.
Clearly, however, this was not suitable for the current hierarchy of the guild. It has been made apparent to me that people high up in the guild have been bad mouthing me. Dismissing my leaving as pure greed due to the fact that I have applied to Omen. The latter is true, but the nature of my departure is woefully inaccurate. This post, therefore, is to clear the tag that I've been awarded by certain parties of Paradigm and to enlighten everyone to the reason of my absence.
Firstly I do not relish being shouted at. By anyone. Nor do I condone it done to other people that I enjoy the company of. Both of these things have happened, numerously of late, as the raid leaders have deemed this action an effective method of making people do what they want.
Secondly, swearing at people on vent is abhorrent. I would think that a middle aged man who has such a level of qualification in his field would have the basic diplomatic skills required to not have to curse at people who don't really deserve it. Especially people under the age of fourteen which, yes, I have witnessed.
I dislike the lack of basic manners expressed by certain members of the guild.
I think the level of favouritism used when raiding is ridiculous. Not only on invites, but also the fact that some lower members get called on any problem where as higher members may cruise in their inadequacy happily left alone because they have a higher place in the order of the guild.
I think the atmosphere in guild is perpetually terse, tense and generally not enjoyable. As for atmosphere in raids, in place of the old fun, laughter and enjoyment there is now only curtness and the frequent uttering of “shut up”.
Certain, long time members are ignored and treated like dirt. Those involved will know precisely who these people are.
These issues aside, for my self, I am not really know in this guild. Nor do there seem many friends here of late, many having already departed, and respect for me seems distinctly lax. I am not trying to make anyone respect me, however, nor can you expect me to remain in a place which I feel is devoid of any of the aforementioned. Anne herself, after me mentioning this, stated “I find it hard to respect you any more”. This is mainly why I left with Tront. When I started playing Mugatu again I decided to give Paradigm another chance, perhaps I was over-sensitive or a lot of blame was on my part. Alas since playing on Mugatu I have witnessed these events again, and also have had Anne say something which put me directly in mind of what she had said before. I find it unfair her not respecting me.
You might be wondering, if I had all these issues, instead of leaving why not mention it, change it and make it better? Well, mainly because the last person to openly disagree with the leadership in Paradigm was Paul. Where is he now? He is a member. Paradigm may be a democracy, it is just one where you are not allowed to disagree.
I applied to Omen because therein lies some fellow WoW players who still enjoy my company, respect me and want me around.
In conclusion then; I did NOT leave Paradigm because of greed, I left there because being in the guild is akin to torture for me, the way that people, myself included, are treated and because there is no point being in a guild where I have little if any friends. The fact that you had the gall to speak about me in such a way after driving me out of the guild forged by my own hand is astounding.
The fact I was banned in order to not allow me to say my part on the forum after this incident of rumourmongering says it all really.
