Board Thread:The ORG Times!/@comment-2049739-20140303112846

'''Hi there! This is our test issue. There will be much more epic stuff in the second issue, but for now, we want to test a basic format with newsworthy articles. So, enjoy reading. It's been a long road for us, and we really appreciate it.'''

'''Warm regards, Isaac Varcoe Head Editor.'''

Why Relationships Shouldn't Affect The Game
'''Written By Gerda Parkja Journalist'''

'''I am not the biggest fan of Ciera Eastin, but after watching her play in Blood vs Water I can honestly say that she has inspired me and taught me quite a lot about the game. She showed us all that there is no point in being in the game if you don’t really play it. But what is even more important – she showed me and I’m sure to others to that voting out someone doesn’t really have much to do with how much you like someone.'''

She voted out her own mother who is clearly her best friend. I’m sure we all saw that moment and felt emphatic towards he when she cried. But that’s what you must do to stay in the game: sometimes you have no choice but to vote out the people that you like.

Yes, of course there are those who do bad things to others out of malice. But either way, those of us who get to the end always have some blood on our hands. Even Monica who wanted a clean ride to the end had to break some promises. That’s what the game is about. Survivor is a game that never lets you stay fully clean. If you want a game like that, Survivor isn’t for you.

I’ve seen the game mess up quite some friendships. One of the best examples from the more recent seasons is definitely the case of Brenda and Dawn. Yes, Dawn got Brenda out of the game in a really mean way, I agree about that. But clearly this was only a strategic move for her. She didn’t have personal issues with Brenda – she only got her out because she saw her as a threat. And let’s face it: Brenda was a huge threat already because she was super nice and humble.

But a lot of people didn’t understand that. I know that Dawn got so much hate after that episode that she closed her Twitter account. I honestly don’t understand why people behaved like this. Dawn was playing the game – and let’s face it, there is absolutely no point in being on Survivor if you won’t play the game. She did, and got a lot of dirt for it.

And I feel this is an issue in this wiki too. I have seen more than once how the game messes up friendships, and I don’t like it. There is no million dollar prize on the line with our ORG, and from a winners perspective: winning does make you much more famous in the wiki, but it doesn’t really give you a ticket to a better life. It isn’t a prize that we should fight so much over that we let it ruin the friendships we have developed. Friendships are in the end so much more worth than winning the game. Friendships are vital for a good life, and if we let the game ruin them for us, we will be much poorer in the end even if we win a season. All the attention, all the glory isn’t worth as much as is a great friendship.

I think we all need to learn a lesson from Tyson, the most recent winner. He knew from the start of Blood vs Water that he would be the target, and thus he decided he was just going to have as much fun as possible. And that’s what I think all of us need to do. Yes, winning is great, but let’s all also focus on having fun. And let’s not hold grudges if we get voted out. I can honestly say that I haven’t voted for anyone out of hate or anything like that. If I have hurt someone, than I apologize for that from the bottom of my heart. I hope you all can do the same. If the game has messed up any of your friendships, I encourage you to find a way to get along with those people again. After all, in the end Dawn and Brenda and Tyson and Katie did find a way to get along with each other again. Let’s get inspired by those great players and bring some more positivity back into this wiki.

The Joshie Chronicles
'''Written By Chandni Lini Journalist'''

'''Everyone on the wiki hasn’t had this much drama in a while. The last time this occurred was when Luke Spiers was blocked for bullying Zachary. Joshie wanted to plead his case, but he decided to wait it out until the community stopped attacking him.'''

Alfons was trying to get people to try and make some sense and Taylor was also helping out. People didn’t try to make sense of this. They were just focused on making sure people who stop getting hurt. Most people thought that it wasn’t needed; the admins could have taken care of this matter.

What could the admins do? Some of them are biased, in favour of Alfons. People like Taylor were caught to be part of a group, a gossip org group. Eddie was notified that people have been making fun of him; this is one of the reasons the war started. This became a big matter of the group, also known as more drama.

Most people decided not to take part in it. When the matter become serious, an anti-Joshie/Alfons alliance formed with several people who happened to agree that he should suffer like Luke Spiers did. This alliance had two motives: the first was obvious, to demote Joshie. The second was to make Alfons concede as leader of the ORG. They had succeeded in their plans to get Joshie demoted. They didn’t happen to be so lucky, when it came to overthrowing Alfons. People thought that there should be a way to discuss this matter, so a discussion was organised.

There was a Skype call that was held between Alfons, Joshie, Hunter, Taylor, Eddie, and myself. Eddie and I fought against Joshie, while Taylor and Alfons fought for him. It was time for Joshie to plead his case. Once we started to talk, Joshie explained that he was only doing this because of what has happened to him in the past. These were only jokes, but most of the alliance thought that it wasn’t right, no matter what the story was.

On the other side, there was another Skype call and a Facebook chat for the anti-Joshie/Alfons alliance. There, we tried to hear things out, but things still didn’t manage to work out. We kept our fight after that call. The situation just got even worse. We believed that this was no reason to do what he did, but people didn’t seem to reason with us.

We had been discussing, and thought of how it wasn’t right to do something just because it had happened to you. When matters started to get even more serious, people were starting to leave the wiki, due to this matter. Our goal was to get more people to join, but instead we were just doing the opposite.

The matter was ignored for several hours. There was no talk of anything happening. There were mini fights here and there, but no big ones. Most people were waiting for Joshie to post his big apology speech. Meanwhile, a group was created known as the AHKA (All Hail King Alfons). This group wasn’t made to praise Alfons, but to do the exact opposite.

It showed how biased his was in some problems. Many people agreed, with the issues that were posted there. Soon, that group just became a joke, there was no talk going on about Alfons. Someone had told Alfons of this group and everyone who was in it. He tried to resolve the matter, which he did. A little bit after that, there was a group made, the “Wiki Peacemakers”. This was in order to help the problem but it only made things more complex. Soon, after all the sides were gathered, there wasn’t a point, because issues has already been solved. With the help of Alfons, Joshie was finally demoted.

He will get his rights back to host Survivor: Peru. The plan for Alfons never worked since he found out. People tend to work as group, but smaller groups. We proved that we aren’t a family. We just show that although we fixed the problem, we aren’t perfect. If we worked together, maybe that one day, we would be a perfect family.

ORGASP Formed With Positive Reviews
'''Written By Isaac Varcoe Head Editor/Temporary Journalist'''

After a controversial string of text-based After Shows, the ORGASP has been formed, making it the first podcast of the Survivor ORG Wikia.

The ORG After-Show was created by Zingerace23 (also known as Richie, Richie Pearcy, or RP). It was received well by the community, despite the fact that RP didn’t have Facebook at the time. It had a plethora of guests, and received its own board in the process.

However, that all changed. RP was caught trying to enter a sock-puppet into both Cote d’Ivoire and Polynesia, resulting in a yearlong ban (this was extended to life after another incident involving a chat). The role was then given to Dangrayne (aka Charley), who managed to revive the ORG After-Show from the dark shadow of RP’s legacy.

After interviewing for two seasons solo, she then got assistance from TheHolyRabbit (aka Hunter) to do Anarchy, while she did All-Stars. However, it became more apparent that the two were beginning to lose the time and passion for their jobs. Hunter only interviewed one person (it was me, by the way) and Charley went on an indefinite hiatus.

After a long hiatus, Charley and Hunter both stepped down from their jobs. Alfons launched a wiki-wide search for hosts, and found three, two of which were promoted to admin to fulfil their job. Waterwecna (aka Gerda), Emerald pie (aka Ahad) and TenseTarget (aka Dallas).

The ORGASP is currently going strong, with six interviews and many more on the way. All three are contributing to their best abilities to this day, and it seems that it might start a new era for the wikia.

Will it be plagued with the same controversy as its predecessor? We cannot be sure.

Turkey Revealed, With Another Change To The ORG
'''Written By Gerda Parkja Journalist'''

'''It wasn’t until sometime before Revival that the original bidding system was started. Before that, seasons had been simply chosen by the admins of this wiki and the public did not have anything to do with it.'''

Yet when SurvivorHuey, the first mod this franchise saw, decided to choose seasons completely on his own (such as Survivor: Baja and Survivor: Easter Island), Alfons began the bidding system to make the choosing more fair for other members of the community.

The first season that was publicly chosen was Korea. With Korea and the other bidded seasons that followed, new moderators such as Trace and Wesley and others got the chance to prove themselves as mods.

Yet the bidding system also had it’s bad side. Soon after it was established, it was clear that bidding was in a way like a popularity contest. Whoever was able to convince the most people and was in general the most well liked bidder, won the bidding and got to mod a season. Of course, people still focused on the quality too – but the social aspect of the bidding was wha1t was more noticed.

So the bidding system was ended, for various reasons – and the two next seasons were once again chosen by the admins. We have seasons such as Peru and Turkey coming, which will for sure bring some diversity to the franchise, especially with the Redemption Island twist finally coming to our ORG.

Yet the bidding system is also returning, only in a different way. Now it is called the offering system, but that isn’t the only change: all the future bids will be anonymous and will not contain any info at all about the host. Neither will they contain any graphics. What will matter now is the concept of the season: the general idea, the twists and other things.

The anonymity alone will cut away the popularity contest part of the bidding system will be cut off. After all, it is the idea of the season that matters the most, not the visuals – which can really make a season rich but cannot alone make a season good – and the mods. After all, we have seen also several bids that have been neglected because one of the proposed cohosts was disliked.

As for cohosts, they will be chosen differently as well. The bidder who wins the bidding of course automatically becomes a mod, but he or she does not choose who else will mod the season. Just like with Peru and Turkey, the other hosts will be chosen publicly.

The offering system will for sure bring some changes into the wiki. It aspires to make the choosing of the seasons more fair and has done the necessary changes of it. But how this all will work out, we will see for ourselves once the bidding for season 17 begins.

Madagascar's Cast Revealed and Chaos Within
'''Written By Isaac Varcoe Head Editor/Temporary Journalist'''

'''Madagascar has begun. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the happy event everyone thought it would be.'''

Madagascar has had a long string of ire from the public. The first was before it even began, after its upset victory over LP’s bid, Van Diemen’s Land. This was due to the controversy of having two returnee seasons in a three season span.

However, after this, the main thing that the public wanted to talk about (minus all the chaotic arguments) was Madagascar’s favourites. There was a gigantic amount of nominees, including some from Anarchy, which was still running. The cast, however, was soon to come.

It was February 16th when the cast was revealed. It spanned from Hawaii to Polynesia, and had something everyone could like. Unfortunately, however, you can’t please absolutely everyone, and to continue Madagascar’s run at bad luck, this was a bad period.

Many people had problems with two things. The first was that three of the cast members were pre-mergers: Chandni, Taylor and Eddie. Chandni and Eddie in particular received ire from the public, due to the amount of post-mergers in Korea that could have qualified.

The second issue was the supposed unfair balance. Many people felt the “Skype Group” between Eddie, Taylor, Chandni, Charley, Jay, Emma and Trace would spell the end for the remaining three, Sinjoh, Lincoln and Tommy. However, this issue was later invalidated, due to the fans AND favourites twist.

The start of the season didn’t fare much better. After a fan in Madagascar flipped to the Faves in Alaotra, the chaos had begun. Arguments became more elaborate in both the game and the viewing circle (I’ll add you if you want :) But it’s chaotic) and people became more pent up.

Things finally came to absolute blows with one single misguided vote. Sliemy1 (aka Mike Fanfan) wrote that Tommy should kill himself on the vote. Eddie, Taylor and Tommy then attacked Mike maliciously and viciously, to the point where Ezekiel had to quit due to the stress.

The newest twist to Madagascar has just been revealed. Will it have the same chaos as before? Who knows. But honestly, I hope not. We don’t need Fans vs. Favourites to be the wiki’s downfall. Good luck, Gerda and the other moderators. I believe in you.

Top Tens Column #1: Top Ten Best Pre-Merge Boots
'''Written By Gerda Parkja Journalist/Temporary Columnist'''

1. Skandi – One of the most memorable players in this ORG, Skandi was by far the strongest player in Switzerland. His boot in All Stars is by far the most shocking first vote off a season in this franchise has had. Still, til this day he is regarded as one of the best players never to win a season.

2. Szymon – Second boot of PNG, Szymon has really proved himself after that season. Soon after PNG, he won Dr Panda’s Antractica. Szymon also recently won Revival vs Korea vs PNG, clearly proving that just cause one gets voted off a season early on does not necessarily make them a bad player.

3. Alejandro – One of the most well known villains of the franchise and one of the best players in Korea, Alejandro’s boot in All Stars was for sure shocking. Although he didn’t make it past the first switch in All Stars, he for sure proved himself as a player in Korea where he was by far the most controlling player.

4. Sole – One of the most memorable players in Hawaii, Sole was the most noticeable treat besides Alfons amongst the Cardenas members in Cuba. His vote off was like Skandi’s one of the most shocking first vote offs of the franchise. Before and after Cuba, Sole has however proved himself to be a force to be reckoned with.

5. Hunter – The eigth person voted out of Korea, Hunter was easily noticeable by his challenge skills already in the start. However, after winning the Qualification season for All Stars, Hunter noticeably improved his skills as a social player. Although he was voted off right before merge in All Stars, he was a much more controlling player in that season, keeping quite many on their toes til he got voted off.

6. Sharky – Although he barely missed the merge in All Stars, Sharky really proved himself in his original season, Cote d’Ivoire. Being the second person with 6 challenge wins he is for sure one of the most memorable players from the recent seasons.

7. Alex – Voted off straight before the merge in Laos, Alex really proved himself as a player in Survivor: Hawaii. Remembered as the first returnee of the franchise, Alex kept quite a lot of the players on their toes in his second season. He was by far one of the most targeted players of that season, but did manage to make it to the end and eventually became the second runner up.

8. Will – Barely making the merge in both of his seasons, Will is for sure one of the most memorable players in Switzerland. Although he didn’t make it to the merge in this franchise, he really proved himself by winning Dr Panda’s season Japan.

9. Maxwell – One of the pre-merge jury members in Switzerland, Maxwell was one of the contestants who significantly improved his gameplay by his second season. Although he didn’t end up winning Revival, Maxwell is still memorable for being the best player from Switzerland in Revival.

10. Jake – Although he didn’t make it far, Jake was for sure amongst the most memorable players in Korea. He took power in the game early on and was leading several vote offs, before he was dramatically voted off the season. He can for sure be regarded as one of the most surprising pre-merge boots of Korea.

ORG Tips #1
'''Written By Kevin Williams Columnist'''

Don’t Hold Grudges I have seen this be the downfall to quite a few people in other ORGs. When the game starts and people are making their alliances, and figuring out who to target, there is usually one person who says something along the lines of, “Lets vote this person, because they got me out in _______.” The way I see it, is that if you go into the game already against at least one of your tribe mates, it gets rid of a potential ally, and could put you on the outs. People will know you are against them, and can exploit that info to gain favor.

Don’t Be Too Strategic or Social Early On In a game like Survivor, perception is everything. If the game starts, and word gets out that you are making many alliances, or you are talking too much with everyone, you usually will be a target at an early tribal. Same goes for the other tribe. If word gets out that you are talking and making friends with the other tribe, you will be viewed as someone who could flip at the merge, and will get you voted out early. Instead, dole out your alliances sparingly, and don’t always talk strategy. Get to know people on a personal level, rather than just game mode. It will make it more enjoyable for both of you.

Don’t Be Afraid to Ride Coattails The easiest way to have a target on your back, is to be viewed as the mastermind behind everything. Someone once said that if you don’t ride coattails at some point in the game, you aren’t playing correctly. That being said, there are people who win without riding coattails, but that is because they made someone else believe they were in charge, or shifted the target. Riding coattails isn’t a bad thing, but if that is the only reason you made it to the finals, then you probably won’t win.

Don’t Make a Big Move Unless You Have To I made a video on this the other day, but this has bugged me for awhile. So many people have made the finals, but then get criticized for not making big moves. If you make a big move, you can lose favor with many people on the jury, and could in turn hurt your chances at getting further. Don’t make a move for the sake of making a move. If you can make the finals without making a move, means you strategically set yourself up to make the finals, so there would be no point to making a move.

and now, for the big one...

Don’t Take the Game Too Personally I see this way too much recently. When someone gets voted out, they take it far too personal. Yes, some of us do play these games to make friends, but it is also Survivor… We also play to win. Out of game, we could be best of friends, but if voting you out because you aren’t my ally, or because it is the best move to make to further myself in the game, it is the best choice to make. I don’t make votes based on personal interests, but on the game. People tend to see getting voted out as a flaw against their character, not a flaw in their gameplay. We need to get rid of all the hate in this ORG, and realize that there is nothing personal with getting voted out.

Anon Advice #1
'''Written By Holly Smith Columnist'''

ANONYMOUS Asked: What do you do when someone who you haven't talk to in a while likes you and someone recently died in their family, but now they are ignoring you?

I would say to just say keep a distance from this person for while, if they truly like you than they will continue talking to you. -Holly <3

ANONYMOUS Asked: What is Survivor?

Survivor is a Real Life Television Show that is located on a island usually, where castaways most compete against each other and outwit outplay and outlast many cast mates until the Final Tribal Council and convince the jury to vote for him or her so be able to be giving the title of Sole Survivor. -Holly <3

Photoshop Thingies
Created by Isaac Varcoe

I decided to do something in tribute to the Oscars. So, here are three of the movies.

Well, that's it for the first issue. Thank you to my fellow helpers in this issue, Gerda, Chandni, Kevin, Holly and the others who had genuine reasons to not help as much. I'll see you in Issue #2. But for now, make your criticisms of my writing and the format below. And be nice :3. 