With respect to the Maintainers

[Trylon]

Friends,

A while ago there were two brothers. Now the first-born brother, we will call Writer, was nearly three years older than the other, whom we will call Maintainer.
Needless to say, that the first one had a lot more experience than the other, and had acquired a lot of freedom for himself. However, due to a change in their lives, they had to go to the same job. Now Writer had a lot of experience, and was pretty good at what he did, being excellent in creativity, and full of bright ideas. But also, as with many creative people, his work lacked a sense of structure needed in a company. Maintainer tried to help his brother, by giving him advice on how to become more structured, and helped him testing out his work. The two brothers - though having an occasional fight which is unavoidable among siblings - worked remarkably well together. Then, one day the boss noticed how well they worked together, and decided to make good use of their co-operation, and put them in a team, along with three others: Messenger, Cartographer and Greeter. They were to work on a big project, that would ultimately benefit the entire community. Unfortunately, not long after the new team was assembled, the boss went on a three week holiday, leaving the new team on their own.
As the boss was in a hurry, not all the details were worked out or the tasks of the different people assigned. Messenger tried to do the communication, but failed at times. Writer started doing what he was good at, inventing things and creating stuff, without necessarily thinking it through.
Now, Maintainer, who was a person of order himself, tried very hard to structure the team, knowing that things would have to work out when the boss came back. He tried very hard to respect everyone's wishes, but at the same time to bring some order into things.
Unfortunately, Writer, begin the elder brother, felt that Maintainer was trying to take over the team, and naturally, felt like his freedom diminished. Not that Maintainer was trying to do that, in fact, he tried very hard to make Writer and the others understand that he would only ensure the quality of their work, and not trying to take over or hamper creativity. To no avail - a serious fight broke out, and he and Writer argued until deep in the coming night, with no solution in sight.

What will happen next? Will they make up?
The ending has not yet been written.

The ending will be written by us all.

[GPNMilano]

Maybe its just me, but this post, the way it started, seemed like you were talking about two people in particular, with the last name Miller.

[Nek'rahm]

...

I'm... sort of lost. I understand its a review of everything the Guilds are doing and conflicts that have occurred, but I see no problem in the Maintainers' work.

Maybe I'm missing the point of the story? O-o

[Deledrius]

A Parable parable.

[Nek'rahm]

A Parable parable.

...

That made less sense XD

[Tsar Hoikas]

That made less sense XD

Parable == Old Uru Codename

[Nek'rahm]

That made less sense XD

Parable == Old Uru Codename

O-o

O...kay, makes a little more sense now. I still feel a bit confused, does everyone else understand this... parable... and am I stupid, or is it just me :S

[Tsar Hoikas]

Very straightforward IMO

[Dot]

... I see no problem in the Maintainers' work.

Nek'rahm, you don't (thank you!), but sadly others seem to.

I see this sort of thing happen in my real-life work, as an editor. There, you work closely with creative and often strong-minded individuals to help shape and structure their writing -- to ensure it communicates their intended message -- but you can (and often do) get bricks thrown at you by those who misunderstand your role. Yet when there is partnership between writer and editor, the end result can be tremendous.

[Nek'rahm]

Err... is this having anything to do with the fact that the Maintainers do, in fact, critique and try to improve the Ages we write, in order to make them better suited (In their opinions) for the game?

I see no problem with this. Granted, many may not wish to listen to the opinions of another, but that's a partnership. You have to give and take between the two of you, and there's no way around it.

The Maintainers and Writers have their jobs, just as the other Guilds do too. Doesn't matter who came in first or who does the job better, every job is important and every job serves its function.

I still don't understand clearly what the purpose was that the post was trying to get across...

EDIT: Wait, does this have to do with Cyan leaving us without much of a structure. And as such, you're trying to make it clear that we have to work together or we won't reach a goal?