The staff had no saying on this fundraiser idea. Diana announced to us around the 18th of October that this fundraiser would definitely happen (in a security case mind you, so some staff members might not even have seen it and would then have known around the 31st of October when she told us about it again). She had already decided on it and she was not asking for our opinions, so we did not give it. She is an admin and as admin she has the right to do whatever she wants with her own site. We as staff members are allowed to advice her from doing something, but ultimately the choice is hers and this was something she would have done no matter how much we would have advised against it. She's an old bird, she knew that this would give some backlash, she knew why people would be against this, we did not have to tell her that.
We did not collectively agree to this. Staff is just as split on this as all other members are. Some just doesn't give a shit and aren't talking about it here nor in the private staff lounge. Some have raised their concern or disdain for this fundraiser. Others have happily joined in for reasons only they themselves know. Yes, most of the staff joined in during the word guessing game, but that was because we, just like the members, were fired up cause word guessing is fun. o_o But if you take a look at this thread you will only find one staff member whom has seemed to openly agree with the fundraiser, one whom understands why this is happening but would prefer it if Asmo was just perma banned, and the rest has either not commented or stayed away from talking about their feelings for this fundraiser and ended up just joking around with members instead. (Note that I'm only talking about the staff and NOT admins or CVs. CVs did not know anything about this before Diana published it for all members.)
This childish behavior is a Diana, Tegan and Asmo activity and had nothing to do with the staff above us knowing about it shortly before it went public. We are simply participants in this game if we choose to participate, just like any other member. It will not affect how we do our job nor will it give the staff the power of outing members in the future. And seeing as Diana has never lied to us before as far as I know, I feel it safe to assume this will be the only time this sort of thing ever happens. Whether this is the correct way to do it, if it's morally right or wrong or if Diana has fucked up royally is another matter. I am just here to say that staff as a whole was not involved in this. Whether a few individuals were involved in the planning, we do not know, but as far as our records in the staff office goes, no individual staff member was involved in the planning for this event.
As Diana said:
Whether this is right or not can be discussed. Whether individual staff members agree or not is irrelevant. Diana chose to do this on her own with the blessing of Tegan while Asmo was fully aware of it and not getting butthurt over it (even though his dramatic posts might lead people to believe otherwise).
Note: I am not condemning Diana's actions nor do I make any statement of agreeing with her on this matter. I have conflicting opinions on this matter and can understand both sides of the argument. I do remove myself from any future discussion about the morality of this fundraiser as I have taken no side and won't defend a side I won't can't completely agree with.
