I never chimed in any feedback on the congress, and I spent a lot of time playing with them for most of 2014 and a bit into this year. So this is my take on some things. Personally I never had any problems with any members individually, but looking back I found that it was hard to keep track of who was leading what, since it seemed to not be so consistent as months went on, or those in power weren't actually as active as they should have been. I admit I didn't have the whole picture though, the first while I was still getting to know them. It seemed though that leadership was most present for group activities, which you'd expect, and that brought members together on some regular basis for convoys etc.
I participated in a lot of convoys with the Congress, both conventional and jump trips, and it was always great fun. Everyone involved seemed to as well. But for some reason other players saw it as threatening and didn't think it was all that good for overall activity, that being the perks of being a Junker period. All I know is, the pscrap rush to alpha was a solid time for the Congress, both in activity and as a good inrp basis for a solid presence all over Sirius.
A few things changed and developed that seemed to add up mounting pressure on Congress members, and it's obvious now it has done some damage to their gameplay. The Congress seemed rather split on what to do about Oyster Creek, and regardless of how it was discovered, it wound up being a victory for an enemy faction in what was basically home territory. Also pvp battles that followed seemed to go against their favor too, and factions that were just as enemy to each other, as they were to Junkers (or less), seemed to avoid each other, but always had Congress players to go after.
The economy shift splitting up the buy points for Pscrap also shattered the stable Junkers economy, and with it the mostly unified convoy routine that had been going on until that time. Then Jump limits came into effect as well and longer convoys became much more tedious.
Then there was the legal dispute that seemed to do nothing but exhaust energy and effort that the Congress lead RP'ers could have sunk into a variety of other things, with other factions and players as they usually had. Unfortunately it was like they were thrown against a wall inrp.
The haters hated, and it all added up. Personally, although being good friends with many of the long time members, and most active members (at the time), gaining close relations with the leadership also eluded me. The RP with Infrared regarding Serpentis seemed to go completely unheeded, and I never knew if that was because they didn't like it, didn't follow the lead I was trying to give them, or were just simply far to occupied to give it much thought.
They suffered some defeats, lost strength from their economy, and endured excessive inrp/oorp litigation...if this were a business, what would you expect to happen? I can never ignore irony, and in this case that simply by being big and successful, also did they make themselves a #1 target, and draw more and more opposition with their gains. I could almost guarantee that if changes were reversed overnight, we could get a pscrap convoy for alpha together in no time .
Love you all, still love the congress even if its had its day, and I hope its not over yet. Nothing ever really dies in disco!