As another (ex) 'Goldmember', I agree that NN have nothing to be ashamed of here; and have done only what any organised and competent tribe should do. I pretty much agree with all the comments made so far, but also sympathise with Ahmad who does occupy the moral high ground. But indeed, all is fair in love and war, and I'm not going to argue otherwise.
What I
do have an issue with is Eknos and Stargazers. Over the last few days it had been noticed (and commented upon in forums) that Leadership had gone a bit quiet. It didn't stop activity, and we were still quite happily organizing support through a packet system which was working quite well; we were sniping and backtiming; nobling a few villages - and losing a few villages too. I hope Potash will have the grace to admit we did a good job on a certain couple of villages, and we were doing the same elsewhere too.
You all, I'm sure, know that feeling when a tribe reaches break point, and 'the end is near' - well, Gold and Dia were nowhere near that point. Please note, I am NOT saying we were winning, and I'm also definitely not saying we were a better tribe than NN, but we were doing as well as can be expected for a Tribe our size. Morale was good and participation pretty decent. Forums active and support requests being responded to promptly in the main. Our major issue was we had too many players in too small an area, and too many allies which was crippling farming and growth, but you sort of come to expect that from smaller tribes who have a bigger neighbour. It's an easy trap to fall into. Mariolover424 and
JunMoXiao, and one or two others were doing a very good organisational job.
So.
Yesterday we got a mail from Eknos, at 15.00, asking for detailed information on our Troop counts per village. I replied, as no doubt did many others.
Then, at 20.45 we get a mail from Eknos which had
obviously not been written by him, saying that he and leadership was disbanding the tribe, effective immediately, due to dead-weight, the ongoing un-appreciation of all the work Council was doing, and the lack of growth of certain members etc.
I don't dispute that we had dead-weight - every tribe does to some extent - but I do have a right to expect that a Duke has a certain care of duty to his/her members. If you take the job and the potential kudos/glory that can go along with it, then you also need to understand that that comes with certain responsibilities too. I also had a MAJOR issue with being told to noble Gold players who were not growing fast enough, or responding to support requests, when those same players had not yet been kicked, or indeed warned. That is the wrong way to deal with players who aren't pulling their weight. It stinks.
I can only read one thing into that mail he sent us at 15.00, so I'm sure you guys can draw your own conclusions; and it doesn't reflect well on Eknos and Stargazers in my very humble opinion. But then again I have the slight benefit of having a shred of decency and self-respect.
Still; who is the idiot here? It seems I'm the idiot who found himself with no tribe at 20.45 yesterday, while Eknos and Stargazers have rocked up at the NN open fire and are happily toasting crumpets and drinking hot chocolate. I'm sure they will be valued and highly trusted members of NN.