Sicillian Defence
Madeye walks into the Ravenblack Alleyway hall, fire in his eyes and a dark expression on his face. He pushes his way through the throng, making his way to the bar.
In a clear, powerful voice that carries to the edges of the large room he addresses the crowd: “CLAN ARCHANGEL AND LADY TEJAS, I WANT A WORD”. He pauses, waiting for the decibel level to drop a little.
“My original intention was to walk in here, drop my trousers, curl a steaming turd on the bar and walk out. This would have been an appropriate reaction to your behaviour yesterday. But on sober reflection, I realised that my actions would contribute NOTHING to the debate.
“And this, for me, is the key issue: contribution. Most of what you scrawled on my paper yesterday had no value, made no contribution: they were not clear and concise opinions, they were hysterical ranting. It was spam, pure and simple.
“I want each and every page of the Ravenblack Grimoire to be a compelling read. I have no problem with printing criticism or contrary views, as evidenced by my decision to allow Liz Summers to have her say on the Blackdragon article. However, I am not going to publish inarticulate abuse”
“And let us get one thing straight: the content of the stories is not negotiable. I may chose to alter the story in the wake of feedback, but I shall not be forced to do so. If anything, attempts at coercion will harden my attitude, persuade me to flog the horse half to death, as it makes it clear to me that I am on the right track with the story”.
“Now, addressing the two areas of contention that you as a group have with the current articles in the Ravenblack Grimoire. Firstly, I have defined ‘rape’ as forced involvement in an RP of a sexual nature, such as Clan Archangel’s recent actions around the Hall of Binding. This is my opinion, and the opinion of the Ravenblack Grimoire. That isn’t going to change. Whether you consider rape to be an acceptable activity, or whether rape used to hapen a lot in the old days, it matters not: it is still rape in the eyes of my publication. This is not negotiable”.
“Secondly, my paper has claimed that Mandolin and Cadence are one and the same, that they share a soul, to use a Luciusism. This isn’t going to change. I have enough information to support this view, both the traces AND intelligence intercepts from 3 different people, only one of which is Victoire. Additionally, I have supporting testimony from 2 further individuals. This is enough for me to state the link in my newspaper. This is my opinion and the opinion of the Ravenblack Grimoire. It is not negotiable”.
“Speaking more broadly, you, as a group, claim persecution by the Ravenblack Grimoire. I will say this: if the combined might of the Dark Alliance turned up on my doorstep and behaved like you did I would persecute them too. As for the moderation, I always intended for the comments to be moderated to ensure the quality of the words that appear on the page. I relaxed this restriction when I was struggling to get people to contribute, but now they are, it is back in place”.
“You have been painting me as some narcissistic fool who cannot handle criticism. Nothing could be further from the truth. All I ask is that you raise your game to such a level as to be worthy of my time. I saw that at the first sign of concerted resistance to your antics you cut and run, you fled. You are clearly quitters. Clan Archangel (and Tejas) are welcome to criticise me in my own publication. All I ask is you do it in such a way that other people may wish to read.”
– Madeye Black-Wolf The Ravenblack Grimoire
Speech made in Ravenblack Alleyways and a transcript published in The Ravenblack Grimoire
Comments
BG
Clan Archangel (and Tejas) are welcome to criticise me in my own publication. All I ask is you do it in such a way that other people may wish to read.”——-> I would think from the level of activity on your board about a contrivercial subject, would be proof in and of itself that people DID want to read and also express thier opinions. It is true that the opinions varried widely and people wanted to “stick to thier guns” about some things. I would think that this type of intercorse between your readers would only make your paper more popular.
Madeye
My problem with the discourse last night was that it amounted to an attempt to hijack this paper. When I read the comments now, it looks very much to me like “we will keep shouting the same points until you change your article”.
I prize the editorial integrity of the Ravenblack Grimoire greatly. I reserve the right to publish what I damn well please. I do try to keep it accurate, but when it comes down to it is my call.
Last nights antics challenged my right to publish what I please in a very similar way that the antics of Hesu’s associates recently challenged Ravenblack’s right to delete or not delete players of his game.
I am not drawing a comparison between the magnitude of the two sites, just pointing out that the principle is similar. I confess that I got it wrong with some aspects of the Spy article, but a clear and reasoned argument would have addressed the issue far quicker than mob-handed tactics.
I would really like to encourage open debate on this site over the articles that I publish. However, I want that debate to be of a high quality. I have reverted to moderated comments not because I want to censor what people say, but because I want them to think carefully about how they say it.
brent
Sicilian Defense? Where is it? Come on! I was looking for the chess strategies of Vampires. I wanted to know what undead blood-suckers would make of this infamous response to the ho-hum king-pawn push by white.
Here, if you can’t do it, I’ll get you started…
1.e4 c5
The Sicilian Defense has the reputation of being black’s most aggressive response to 1.e4. With 1…c5, black immediately discourages white from playing 2.d4 because black would be able to capture the pawn. In response, white would be reluctant to recapture with the queen because the queen would be extremely vulnerable in the center of the board.
In order to pursue the center, white must instead prepare d2-d4 with 2.Nf3. When white continues with d4, black will capture and white will be able to recapture with the Nf3 rather than the queen.
Black can pursue many different strategies in the Sicilian, but nearly all have one thing in common. Black will usually try to take advantage of the open c-file by placing one or more rooks and sometimes the queen there. Very often, therefore, black will castle on the kingside and pursue an attack on the queenside. By contrast, in part because the black king is on the kingside, white will attack there.
Now should you want to get into the Dragon variation, particularly the Accelerated Dragon, I’m happy to go there with you. I’m no big fan of the Najdorf, though, so you’d have to take that gauntlet up on your own.
– Brent Elskän http://www.elskan.net/
Madeye
The post was called Sicillian defence because it is an aggresive defence, not for the faint hearted, and if you ain’t a master, forget it, you won’t be able to make it stick :P
Hmmmm. Would have thought a man of your calibre would have spotted that :D Hey, and quit hanging around my board hassling the customers, seeing as you don’t play any more :P Or is this the thin edge of the Andronicus roleplay wedge? ;)