About the CC (aka "The CC Is Dying and I Held The Gun) Marin Exley January 16th, 2016. Before the Network Neighborhood, I was part of an online organization known as the Computer Clan. I'd like to tell you the story of how I came to join and leave the CC, but first, I'd like to remind you: This article contains my personal views only, and not those of the Network Neighborhood or other organization. In 2010, I discovered the CC via its live streams, called Computer Clan Live, or CCL. Back then, there wasn't a formal application system, but I asked to join over YouTube messages, and my request was accepted. From then on, I worked on various projects with the CC, including a 3D game called "Project Mission" I worked on with another CC member, Xomies. I also worked on a Minecraft series called White Table, which continued until 2015 under the CC. When I joined the CC, its primary focus was techology and computer related videos, which is something I am personally interested in working on. However, as of late, the CC has shifted its focus to other videos, some of which I do not enjoy and would prefer to not be associated with, whether its because of the lackluster production quality or simply something I'd rather not have my name on. Over the years, I had left and rejoined the CC numerous times, from petty disagreements to homophobic remarks against other members by Ken, the CC's leader and founder. This brings me to the recent events that passed. At the CC's New Years stream, myself and 4 other members left the CC. We had created that Network Neighborhood a year earlier, and had decided that's what we would rather focus our time on, because the Network Neighborhood focuses mainly on technology and computers, the very reasons we had joined the CC in the first place. But moving on wasn't the only reason we had left. Here are the 5 reasons we presented to Ken when we announced our departure: The first one was quite simple. We didn't want to use DropBox for our shared file storage. We tried to have it changed in the past, but or requests weren't important enough to affect anything. I protested by not joining the DropBox account. One of the more important reasons we left was for transparency. Many things happened in the CC that we, as members, were simply never informed of, such as the shift to more comedy videos and when new projects were started. We joined the CC to help out with projects, but most things went up without our involvement, even though we would have been willing to do our part if asked. Ken's reasoning was that it was faster for him to just do everything, but in my opinion, faster does not create a better result, and it shows. I strongly believe many of the things Ken made would have been much better had we been involved, even just to give our opinions. Honestly is very important when working with groups. So is privacy. But lying about yourself makes it hard to trust you and cooperate with you. Ken used faked names and pretended to live in Canada for many years of me being in the CC. Even when he accidentally found out my legal name, and I trusted him with that, he couldn't give the same trust in return. I found his name quite simply. At the time, he had a shared Apple Account with his family, and his Game Center username was the full name of his mother, with his last name. I asked him about it privately, out of concern that the public may see it, and I was told he didn't know who that was, even though it was his email on the account, the very one I had used to contact him prior. Ken also wanted us to believe he lives in Canada, despite his numerous complaints about Charter, his ISP, which, for the record, does not operate in Canada. Privacy had always been a concern for Ken, so the first time his address leaked, I came up with the idea of telling people he lived in Canada. Later on, he even tried to convince me of it, even though it was a joke I had come up with. It made it very hard to trust him and to work with him, because I could not tell what else he could have been lying about. He even avoided talking about this when we sent him the letter which explained why we were leaving. When Ken announced the YouTube channel's shift to comedy-based videos, he did so in a video that seemingly belittled many of the channel's viewers, who were much younger than the audience he intended. The video came across as quite rude and unnecissarily harsh. Then, the video was taken down without warning. Viewers, confused, began asking us what had happened to it. Even we weren't informed of it, and couldn't answer them. It made us look bad, as even we didn't know what was going on inside our own organization. In a group that tries to behave professionally as a company, such events are embarrassing. Another minor issue exists in the CC's membership terms. It states that things that we work on for the CC are property of the CC, which, legally, isn't even possible because the CC is an informal group, and is also highly controversial. Our work belongs to us. I had predicted all of this, and prepared for it in September 2014, when the Network Neighborhood was formed. I called it "Phase One". The CC had recently begun making videos other than techology videos at the time, and Ken had begun focuses on short films and personal project. The short film was later cancelled, and the IndieGogo backers for it had to be refunded. Phase Two was leaving the CC, which has just been completed. Phase Three is just beginning, and I can't wait to share it with you all. I will be publishing the letter we sent to Ken in its entirety, unedited, in case you wanted to read it. The five of us have been out of the CC for just 16 days, and the impact it has made is already visible. The CC has only 2 active members now, as after we left, another member left as well, leaving Ken, another member, his brother, and a member who is rarely active. CCL now has only two hosts, and, I'm not sure if it's always been this way, but CCL is, in my opinion, rather boring to watch. Also, Linus Tech Tips' WAN Show is on at the same time, so there's other, better options. Since leaving, we have created our own YouTube channel, which will become populated with videos in the coming months. I've made a major update to my site, and EncartaXP has launched. The Network Neighborhood is now better than ever, especially now that we have more time to work on it. See you around, - Marin.