Keep Moving Forward - TangoWorldWide Anniversary Announcement

[balon]

On January 2^nd we started the 8^th year of TangoWorldWide. Created on January 2, 2014 we have been a community for 7 years, and over that time a lot has changed. We've had not thousands, but over a million players connect to our servers, our discord, our website and at one point or another. TangoWorldWide has served as a home away from home since its' creation, and in 2021 we intend to capitalize on our foundation and keep moving forward.

The year of 2020 was a challenging one for all of us. From a global pandemic that has had an impact on each and every one of us, to calls against social injustice world-wide, political divide, and overbearing challenges we've all had to surpass. While we've all faced so many things as individuals, and as a community, we are proud that TangoWorldWide has continued on to provide a platform to create friends, develop relationships, and have an escape from real life... especially when everything we know has been contested.


Responding to the Conversation
A few days ago I made the thread Creating Conversation as a response to the community's feedback and outcry against Addressing our Future where we announced our CS:GO servers would function primarily in a legacy state and we would begin to downscale our network and focus solely on Discord. We have since reversed this decision and are thankful for the considerable feedback in Creating Conversation. From this thread, we have received tremendous feedback which is extremely helpful in aiding us to plan changes for our future. Effective immediately the following has come of this thread and that first staff meeting:

• The first staff meeting of each calendar month will be open to the community in our Discord.
• Meetings that have a community related aspect will be more commonly hosted in Discord, over favor of Teamspeak.
• The member system will be adjusted, removing the tiers of Novice and Member ranks, resulting in only one 'Novice' and one 'Member' role.
• Staff Applications will be opened for the first time in our community's history.
• There will be a community survey, and more changes will be presented during Open Staff Meetings for direct and immediate feedback.
• The Supporter role will return to TangoWorldWide in a modified capacity.
• We've outreached to previous developers and contributors to build a team of individuals to continue to push our community forward.
• We will be working towards more TangoWorldWide Member-Exclusive features such as whitelist servers, member only giveaways, etc.

Through the feedback provided, we have already seen significant positive feedback from all aspects our community: our activity, our numbers, and most importantly our members.


Accountability & Realization
This section could be simply left out or modified, but I think it extremely important to stay accountable and express the different thing(s) I've learned as the Owner of this community over the past several years. As far as accountability goes, as I said in our Open Staff Meeting and I will repeat here: I would like to formally apologize to everyone who I have failed over the last several years. To the staff who depended on me for guidance, which I simply brushed past as things in my life got busy and I lost interest in the community. To the members who have relied on an effective and efficient owner to continue to build the network they enjoy being apart of. And to each and every person who I have otherwise not retained, not reached out to, and not shown care to your issues with our community, departure, or otherwise unease. I got comfortable, I stopped, "wanting more". I stopped pursuing growth, and accepted the community as it was. This is unacceptable, and hopefully in these changes and what we will continue to see -- I can prove to our user-base has long passed. Life did get in the way for awhile, but I should have either passed the community on to someone else, shut it down, or stepped back up sooner. Thank you to each and every person who has stood by us and continued to believe in us. You are what makes it possible to write about 7 successful years of TangoWorldWide. For that, I sincerely thank you.

In accepting responsibility and holding myself accountable, there is also a lot of place for growth and realization. It was my error of thought and judgement to assume people would stay for many years. Growing up and maturing myself over the last few years has shown me my time is valuable and scarce at different periods. Some people grow up, and move on. It is something that I (and we all) have to accept. I am so thankful for the things to which @Alex and @Lt.DoomY did to help build this community. I can honestly say I could not have had better friends to have my back and help me lift this place up. It is time I accept they have moved on, and while I hope the day comes they may return, I cannot hold up the community waiting. It was an error of judgement to bring myself down when I saw staff leave around me, it is difficult because many of them are long time friends and seeing them step away due to change of interests, disagreements, or whatever the case is taxing, but something I will need to continue to work on moving forward. To all former staff, not just my previous ownership: thank you for your contributions and helping make TangoWorldWide what it is. If you left on disagreement, peace, whatever the case may be: while we are no longer in contact please know I do still appreciate your contributions.


Changes & Our Future
It is time to talk about the various changes which have been implemented and will continue to over next several weeks. Some of these changes have been suggested by the community, or long coming from staff. I have included an estimate with each thing coming, which should suggest our completion date:

• [Live Now] New Models added (Waifu Case #1)
• [Live Now] GMOD Prophunt Released
• [Live Now] KZTimer server publicly available
• [Live Now] GOKZ WL server available, exclusive to TangoWorldWide members
• [Live Now] Bhop WL server available, exclusive to TangoWorldWide members
• [Live Now] Minecraft WL server available, exclusive to TangoWorldWide members
• [Live Now] Homecoming applications has opened to invite back old members and staff
• [Live Now][Jan 2021] 2020 Year in Review (superlatives, user content, etc) will be posted
• [Live Now][Jan 2021] MC Division will publicly release with a network of servers for our community
• [Live Now][Jan 2021] New Forum Features & Bug Fixes
• [Jan 2021] KZTimer & GOKZ will be added to global
• [Feb 2021] Staff Applications will open to our community
• [Feb 2021] New Discord BOT will be deployed to our Discord, to which we will begin advertising and marketing our server
• [Feb 2021] Several changes to the channels and design of the Discord server
• [Feb 2021] Release of CoCPEv2
• [Feb 2021] Staff Applications will open to our community
• [Feb 2021] New CS:GO Server (surf server [rotation (or) 24/7 kitsune])
• [Feb/Mar 2021] Model case added (Fortnite Case #1)

Outside of the specific features and upcoming changes we are reviewing more content for the CS:GO store such as: more models, fortnite emotes, auras, and other content. We have changed coming to our website (design and code implementations), as well as changes to events and various plans for our future.


In the coming months, we will be much more vocal and communicative to our user-base. We want direct feedback to know how we are doing, where we are going, and on what is to come. Thank you for another successful year of TangoWorldWide, 2021 we will add new content, continue to rebuild core areas of our organization, and most importantly, keep moving forward.

[Dr.Brandon8506]

I love you @balon


We better be seeing a 6 and 7 year badge

[balon]

I love you @balon


We better be seeing a 6 and 7 year badge

Next badge will be year 10

[xtra]

Glad to see more project clarity with staff and members

[waddles]

Really like to see the changes that are planned and the changes that have already been made that have already made a huge impact. Definitely excited for the future.

[lulu]

Since Christmas we have been making giant leaps of progress, I'd like to personally thank @Adam and @Urbaena as we couldn't have done it without them, with the hours and hours of work they've put in, mixed with the plentiful amount of community feedback, we've turned Tango around and are expanding more than I have seen since joining. If any of you still have other suggestions or concerns that might not have been brought up to Ownership, feel free to DM me on forums / discord / steam. As for @Loo, @ris and @Caribou thank you all for making my life a hell of a lot easier, I cannot thank you guys enough, all of the little shit that I have you guys do for me means the world to me <3. To all the new players and the new staff team that's been built up in the past couple weeks, everyone has been super eager about hopping onto upcoming projects. The good vibes around the community and the majority of users happy to helps makes our live's easier and more fun while around Tango, I'm sure balon can say the same. From the new models and cases we've introduced, to (hopefully) the upcoming Gmod events, there are a bunch of you I have yet to talk to and meet and all of the new additions and features to the community should make this coming year a lot more interesting and fun. I look forward to the future of Tango and the friends I'll meet on the way. As always if anyone ever see me on teamspeak and would like to hang out with us, feel free to message me or anyone else in the channel, chances are if we're not busy we would be happy to have you join.

[balon]

Few Updates to our progress (all live now):
- 2020 Year in Review (superlatives, user content, etc) will be posted
- MC Division will publicly release with a network of servers for our community
- New Forum Features & Bug Fixes