If I had to sum up my overall advice / opinion, I'd do it thusly. To be clear, these are not things I think will or won't happen. They're just things I personally happen to think should happen.
• We need an alternative, moderately-sized, many-leader community. A choice of small communities isn't a bad thing but I am not talking about small communities here. Small communities are not a like-for-like alternative to large communities. They are their own thing. They are not everyone's cup of tea. If I was starting tomorrow and small communities were the only option, I would be quitting. Because Balmung's closure is essentially indefinite, we need to create something for the people who would otherwise go to Balmung. That is the core problem: A valid Balmung alternative does not exist. There needs to be one.
• As well, not instead. This isn't about what style of community better and what is worse, who is doing what, who "deserves" what, or whose fault any of this is. It is about creating a parallel alternative to what has been locked - both for the inherent merit of having a choice between similar communities, and for the benefit of people who were just plain old too late to get into Balmung for whatever reason. Getting into tit-for-tat, acting like one side is inherently "better" than the other, like people are trying to "take things away" either from Balmung or from small communities, like people do or don't "deserve" things in return for other things... is the breeding ground for resentment, antithesis to cooperation, and not what we need to be focussing on if we want to succeed. As I explained in my cautionary tale, doing things with spite in your heart poisons them.
• Together. In order to achieve any of this, people will need to start placing aside their immediate concerns and seriously look at what they can and cannot contribute. This cannot rest on the shoulders of one person, or even five people. It will fail if it does - if not now, then in 6 or 12 months' time. For it to work in the long run, every person reading this thread must individually look at what they can do, and actively volunteer their assistance where appropriate.
• We need an alternative, moderately-sized, many-leader community. A choice of small communities isn't a bad thing but I am not talking about small communities here. Small communities are not a like-for-like alternative to large communities. They are their own thing. They are not everyone's cup of tea. If I was starting tomorrow and small communities were the only option, I would be quitting. Because Balmung's closure is essentially indefinite, we need to create something for the people who would otherwise go to Balmung. That is the core problem: A valid Balmung alternative does not exist. There needs to be one.
• As well, not instead. This isn't about what style of community better and what is worse, who is doing what, who "deserves" what, or whose fault any of this is. It is about creating a parallel alternative to what has been locked - both for the inherent merit of having a choice between similar communities, and for the benefit of people who were just plain old too late to get into Balmung for whatever reason. Getting into tit-for-tat, acting like one side is inherently "better" than the other, like people are trying to "take things away" either from Balmung or from small communities, like people do or don't "deserve" things in return for other things... is the breeding ground for resentment, antithesis to cooperation, and not what we need to be focussing on if we want to succeed. As I explained in my cautionary tale, doing things with spite in your heart poisons them.
• Together. In order to achieve any of this, people will need to start placing aside their immediate concerns and seriously look at what they can and cannot contribute. This cannot rest on the shoulders of one person, or even five people. It will fail if it does - if not now, then in 6 or 12 months' time. For it to work in the long run, every person reading this thread must individually look at what they can do, and actively volunteer their assistance where appropriate.
![[Image: tUzrT.png]](https://puu.sh/tUzrT.png)
