Ding760 is Leaving SGTA Q.Q

Hey guys! I hope you are all well!

Yeah, it's a sad topic, but I think it's necessary I announce it as it is kind of a 'special edition' of someone leaving... SGTA's founder! Yaaaay!

OK seriously though, I feel that I cannot leave without giving the majority of you guys a reason and here I attempt to communicate with all you good fellas one last time. So I hope you don't mind spending 10 minutes of your time reading through my feelings. Plus you may get some deeper insight into SGTA.

It is with regret that I say I have drifted increasingly apart from the direction SGTA is taking. This is not saying your current management is bad or I despise them in any way...HELL NO! In fact, it is quite the opposite, the current management had been, and continues to do an outstanding job.. just in their own way and fashion. This by no means reflect there is a fissure in management or internal turmoil. This is not drama either because nobody told me to leave and I certainly still have good memories of all the staff base individually.

Maybe you guys have not known but there is a secret section of the SGTA forum hidden from students where the staff talks about various things. I think most will agree this is necessary to run a community, as some sensitive topics needs to be discussed behind closed doors to avoid unnecessary offence or a dramatic reaction from some people (like when you have a guy who is being rude to others, you don't want to discuss that openly as that would ruin the atmosphere in SGTA). It is in this secret section of the forums my rift with SGTA management decisions developed. Everything written below is my PERSONAL OPINION, do NOT take everything I say as 100% true (except the facts) as obviously my views are subjective.

To cut excessive detail, I believed SGTA management is focusing too much on processes and procedures (examples are the mandatory rules, the strict enforcement of rules and the general direction recent decisions were made on) rather than the student themselves as a person. But WAIT!!! don't judge yet! This system the current management has developed works tremendously well in processing large number of students, and it is super efficient! No doubt about that. At the end of the day, I deem this a problem of management 'group-think', and NOT...I repeat...NOOOOOOT(!!!) the fault of any one member of staff. They do what is right for them, there is nothing else I can expect.

My personal preference, which is also a founding principle I made SGTA on, is to actually center everything on the student, to an extent that accommodates them as much as possible and as many students as possible. There is a difference here as management decisions and my personal principles regarding SGTA can no longer compromise with each other, and management has given indication they are unable to compromise on this matter due to the current circumstances. In addition, the strict enforcement of academy rules to an extent and basis which I personally deem unacceptable also played a role in my decision. Hence, with this considered, I have decided I can no longer support the SGTA initiative. As while it still delivers on bringing out a better tanker than the one that went in... it no longer has the personal component which is a critical thing I value. I guess I believed in decisions made by the majority of the people, an all inclusive decisions making process!

I know this thread looks increasingly grim and unsavoury, and believe me I did not make this decision lightly. I have invested over 100 euros in contests for tank guides and the provision of the actual SGTA website (http://sgt-academy.com ... NOT this forum, they are separate... so don't worry, unlike Thycos I won't take everything down with me lol). If you count the Academy_Alpha account with various tanks in it. That brings it up to 180 euros lol (yeah my girlfriend gave me some hassle over that 80...). Which I guess is proof I was serious about SGTA and helping to give as much as I can the best experience I can offer (I say 'I' because at that time I was the only one teaching lol). And I am truly happy some people have made use of the AA account and have gained any small improvement from my constant talk lol. Unfortunately, due to this decision, I'm not going to further contribute to the initiative, I'm very sorry but I can't promote something I disagree with fundamentally on principle and I can't justify any more spending to my girlfriend (bad excuse...I know...but it is a legitimate excuse LOL!). But good news is I'm replaceable! Anyone can spend a few euros to host the new website domain, another person can also promote SGTA on the WoT forums and furthermore, tank guides are easily written or attained! And I'm sure someone good will be able to represent SGTA to WG later (although truth be my progress was slow as it is -.- pro tip: don't use WG administrative methods...they don't freaking work!!!)I may leave the Academy_Alpha account with you guys as I do not see the need for me keeping it (I'll come back in a short while when I make the necessary changes to the login details to give you guys the access).

At this stage I feel it is necessary to confess. I have actually had very little involvement in SGTA in-game as I'm sure many of you will know. This is because of my real-life duties and while this is no excuse, it is the reason why I am not contributing. The fact is I pitched my voice in management's decision making without earning a voice to be there. And that is very unfair to staff members who genuinely contribute much more than I. But the reason I did it is I feared they will go a direction I do not agree with, as I dearly loved SGTA as something of my own vision (but rightly not necessarily others'), and obviously they have now done that. Again, I am not placing blame, this is a fact! A fact that I did not earn my place amongst the decision makers now and their direction and mine has drifted very far apart. After some careful reflection, I have concluded the main fault still lies with me, because at crucial stages in SGTA's development I failed to make the necessary decisions to push SGTA towards my vision., and when I realized things were not going the way I had hoped, it was too late. So in a way, I am leaving because of a problem of my own causing. Oh the irony!

Regarding me personally, I will probably still be around. Although without SGTA I have little to do on WoT (still...I need my Alienware 17 to arrive first   ). I welcome anyone to send a message my way and we can play and talk (and teach in my unique style if you want...constant jabber lol). Basically we'll just be friends, no instructor-student mentality, no 'he's better than me' mentality, just two people on equal footing sharing advice with each other. I have a little ego when I do things I consider to be pretty cool...so you may want to forgive me on that in advance loool! What?!...but it is cool! D:

You can almost definitely still keep in contact with me via the WoT Forums! :DWG recently extended my forum mailbox to 1000 messages as part of the Community Contributor programme so I can see all your messages (if any) yaaaay!  

If I don't see you guys in future, then I wish you, and management, the best of luck! The staff in SGTA amazed me with their dedication and commitment and all the students really make me a bit proud every time I see one of you in-game wearing the SGTA tag! ^^ It's as much as a founder can ask for! Thus, many good memories and experience was gained from this journey, thank you kindly for that!

Goodbye and farewell!

(and stay cool! )

On my mobile at work so I'll keep it short.
Ding; many thanks for your initiative, effort but most of all for your inspiring being the one you are.
The king is dead, long live the king!

"Life is about change; to learn about life, learn about change." GW

Our founder and my friend has decided (at least for now) to leave us to our own devices. I, for one, am totally confident in our Management abilities to see this project through.

Thank you Ding for your inspiration and knowledge.

Carry on.

I have already told Ding that I do not agree with this decision, and I think that all the issues he raised could and may be should have been discussed. We could have a "shared" vision of what SGTA could become.

Anyway, I will tell you again, what I told you when you stepped down from Clan Commander a couple of days after I joined the clan (I wanted to copy paste this but the post is lying somewhere in Thycos Recycle Bin...).

"The best quality of a true leader is to know when to step down" 

I admired you for your decision back then, I still admire you now for what you have done, but this time I disagree. Again this is my opinion, if you feel like you should do it, then go ahead with it and you know that you will always be welcome and have a VERY special place within your/our clan. In other words you will ALWAYS be a part of SGTA, this cannot be changed in any way (only our buddy Staline could do this with his famous purges... Oh yes and his Bielo-russian admirers on the forums do so sometimes as well...)

So that statue of yours we are ordering for the SGTA hall of fame, do you like it full body or just the bust? White marble or black? Oh yes and we do need a picture of you naked if we are to go for the full body statue.

Already said what I wanted to say in the pm.

Just one thing to add. You will always be the great flounder of SGTA

gl and hf.

Not been around long enough and don't know about what goes on behind the scenes, so can't say much about your reasons to leave.

But I can give you this: When you create something and it
becomes successful, there is always the "risk" it grows beyond your control. Sometimes this is because your creation has been taken into a completely different direction to what you envisioned and the two are impossible to match. Other times it is because others can more easily see beyond the vision and take things in the direction they must be taken to adapt to changing circumstances. Having a vision is what allowed you to start up this great endeavour, but over time a vision can become somewhat rigid and skew you perception of what is going on. I will leave it to you to decide what is going on here and the conclusions you want to draw from that.

I am sad to see you go but have all faith in the capable hands you leave SGTA in.

Be not sad that SGTA has developed into a direction you have trouble accepting, instead be proud that your creation has been successful enough to grow beyond your control!

o/

When you joining WJDE then ding?

the only thing I'm going to add besides my PM is: if you have to justify your expenses to your girlfriend then you should consider using the term "wife".  

we_just_dinged_em wrote:When you joining WJDE then ding?

Rumour has it that he's starting a new clan called "We just Montied Em". WJME.

On topic: I think Nilz has said some wise words.
I'm sad to see you go and will never forget my first platoons in SGTA, which were with Ding and they taught me some things that still help me today and others that I've still not managed to master!

Not the best while the breakfast read i ever had in the SGTA forum.... costed me 3 cigarettes to read thru and think of what to write here.

This sounds very very strict (at least some passages of your post) like you never ever will be seen in this forum or on SGTA TS again which I hope is not the case because your advice, your trolling and your experimental TC's (why dafuq you spent that load of money without even sending me to death anymore  ) would not only be missed but also be a great loss for the in my opinion awesome community you created with SGTA.

All others I have decided to write you in a PM.

So founder chairman Ding I hope to see you not only on the battlefield  

One of the many lost souls SGTA and you saved so far in and for this game

Greets
Ronin

RoninRage wrote:Not the best while the breakfast read i ever had in the SGTA forum.... costed me 3 cigarettes to read thru and think of what to write here.

This sounds very very strict (at least some passages of your post) like you never ever will be seen in this forum or on SGTA TS again which I hope is not the case because your advice, your trolling and your experimental TC's (why dafuq you spent that load of money without even sending me to death anymore  ) would not only be missed but also be a great loss for the in my opinion awesome community you created with SGTA.

All others I have decided to write you in a PM.

So founder chairman Ding I hope to see you not only on the battlefield  

One of the many lost souls SGTA and you saved so far in and for this game

Greets
Ronin

Don't see the PM Ronin, you liar!!! D:

Ronin I am the kind of person who you do not call 'instructor', but rather know me as 'Ding'.

I will remain as committed as ever to anyone who would like to keep in contact with me. My skills and knowledge is still open to all to consult as my new forum signature shows. All you have to do is contact me, which is easy since I'm always on the WOT Forum. If you don't contact me I may just contact you as I'd love to keep in contact!

As regarding experimental TCs. Trust me, they will still be around, but until now I've kept it exclusively for SGTA to allow students to experience it as much as possible, now it will be publicly available and if you do happen to join you will find a wide range of players entering my TCs from my friends list. That is the only change regarding that.

Yes i am ... no had to rewrite some stuff on it.

Good to hear that we will hear of you from time to time.

Although I do not agree with your decision and some of your reasoning's.
It's sad to see you go from SGTA
BUT if your experimental TC's en rambling platoons continue, I may or may not be more gentle on it.

Good luck in your future life if I won't hear anything form you! (Which would disappoint me immensely and makes me kill Vallu even more )

BehemothNL wrote:Although I do not agree with your decision and some of your reasoning's.
It's sad to see you go from SGTA
BUT if your experimental TC's en rambling platoons continue, I may or may not be more gentle on it.

Good luck in your future life if I won't hear anything form you! (Which would disappoint me immensely and makes me kill Vallu even more )

If you're working with HighFlyer then you will hear from me. Don't worry

Hey mate,
I am sad to see you leave, Ding.
I want to thank you once more for founding the Academy and getting everything started.
You have done a lot of good for the community here and I think I can talk for everybody if I say you will be missed.

What hit me even more than you leaving is the point, that when you look a SGTA right now you are ashamed what it became to such an extend that you decided you can not support the project anymore.
It hits so hard because we all tried to make this place the best to learn, with the best atmosphere and we tried with all of the energy we have to offer. You turning away now because we did not achieve that came unexpected, at least for me, but you took your decision it seems.

Take care mate
Dan

Wasp wrote:Hey mate,
I am sad to see you leave, Ding.
I want to thank you once more for founding the Academy and getting everything started.
You have done a lot of good for the community here and I think I can talk for everybody if I say you will be missed.

What hit me even more than you leaving is the point, that when you look a SGTA right now you are ashamed what it became to such an extend that you decided you can not support the project anymore.
It hits so hard because we all tried to make this place the best to learn, with the best atmosphere and we tried with all of the energy we have to offer. You turning away now because we did not achieve that came unexpected, at least for me, but you took your decision it seems.

Take care mate
Dan

Oh God no Dan, that not true at all...

Ashamed is not at all the word I think best fits. I disagree with values and vision, which is in my idea a principle I cannot bring myself to support. I think a good example is in a workplace, when the objectives your co-workers seek is so far removed from what you want to achieve and they are resolutely steadfast in their determination to pursue their goals, it makes you uncomfortable to be there working with them, that's the stage where I'm at. In the workplace, in that situation, you have two choices, change your own values to correspond, or simply leave. Unfortunately, I've been changing my values quite a bit for the last several months, it is unfortunate the latest decision is just something I'm no longer willing to give ground on for a variety of reasons. So as in the workplace, I will leave. But ashamed? No, even in that example you would not be ashamed of your co-workers! I merely accept that reality as it is... you guys have a different vision than me and we are no longer willing to compromise with each other, that's why I'm leaving. Because it's a deadlock with things I cannot support, but nothing to be ashamed of!

The vision rift was such it was either me or you guys who goes, and I know which one I prefer to keep here in SGTA lol :PHere's a tip, it ain't me lol.

So take care mate! And keep buzzzzzzzzing LOL!

Ding!
Very sad to see you leave.

I wish you all the best and hope to see you around!

:'(

Hey, same that has been told, I am not here from long time, but it is very sad to see you leaving.

Hope all is going very good for you and good luck.

Cheers.

...and the scales fell from his eyes.........Act 9:18

Read your post yesterday, didn't really know what I would reply.
It's sad to see you leave. I do understand the reason why you decide to leave, I hope it's the right choice for you (and if you regret your choice, you can always come back).

Always loved your experimental TCs (crazy tactics ftw). Haven't platooned with you yet, but I will stay in touch with you for those experimenal TCs and some toons (soon I will own an IS, which I can use to toon with your beloved KV-3?).

Months ago I saw a post on the WoT-forum concerning a Situational Awareness training. Couldn't make it back then, and still haven't been able to join such a training:( , but by getting in contact with you I joined the SGTA. Thanks forthe creation of the SGTA! Good luck in your time outside the SGTA!

we_just_dinged_em wrote:When you joining WJDE then ding?

stronk klan rekrutink!!1

Hi Ding,

Sorry to see you go, was great fun platooning with you!

Good luck wherever you find yourself.

Regards,

Gray.

Hii Ding,

Am still new here and did not have much time to get to know you , but in this short experience i was able to do a CW with you (which is the only one i did) and some experimental these were a very good excuse for my low win rate .

I have to say that since i read this thread i was confused as to what has really happened , but i am sure you have really tried all sorts to not get to this point .

I wish that there will be some kind of compromise and you would reconsider your position .

In the meantime i really hope that this will be one of those instances where there will be a WIN WIN situation, not very easy to get to .

sincerely regards ans will try to keep in contact

Anton

Lol you fellas are hilarious. I'm hardly that far away in the internet age.

Add me to friends list -> see me online -> drop me a message -> ask me anything -> profit lol, simples!