This thread is going to break the rules. I understand the potential consequences of my actions. In light of the permanent suspensions of my two counterparts in this community, Merl and Amid, I have a difficult time mustering an appropriate level of respect for those consequences, or the rules themselves.
This thread is going to break the rules because we are going to discuss moderator action. Granted, under section 1, subsection G, the key word is "excessive". I admit that I am opening the floor to that "excessive" discussion - especially given what's been considered excessive in the past. I may mount a paltry defense for myself in saying that relative to actions that have occurred during Reloaded's appropriation of Hawken, it would take a Cold War arms race type of effort to breach "excessive", but my intention isn't to defend myself.
Before these forums came about, I personally reviewed the rules and signed off on them, considering them to be fair and consistent with the rules we had had under Adhesive and Meteor. Come to think of it, I created and assigned most of the names and organization to the subforums and subsections in the same series of events. I had assurances good and plenty that the rules would only be enforced in a manner consistent with the community sense of ethics and camaraderie, and that the subforums would largely be used to guide conversations, not to inhibit or divide them. I received these assurances on the TeamSpeak and in communication by email primarily through LadyTiggs, but on occasion through CapnJosh.
I personally feel a little betrayed. Nonetheless, I feel an apology is in order. I had an opportunity to further communicate the necessary moderator touch for this community, and I let it pass. I have no delusions of grandeur here, it's likely a company would have trudged on regardless of my efforts, but I think I was too eager to trust, and too hopeful; had I been less so, it's possible I might have conferred the solemn (and often not so solemn) joy with which I view, and have viewed this community.
This thread though, is not an apology. This thread is a request. Similar to... well... almost... all(?) requests beforehand, it's a request for communication.
I recall a little while back, our first real shock at the new moderation - the #freepoopslinger event. Along with several others, I was banned for this, and got all pissy. We took to the IRC and bugged Ashfire about the situation and he dragged Tiggs to the channel. What I remember ensuing was civil discussion between the ban-er and many of the ban-ees. It hit a point where Tiggs had made a reasonable argument and at the end of the day, it was a moderator decision. Sometimes they happen under pressure, sometimes they're good, sometimes they're bad, but someone somewhere has to draw a line in the sand. It might be the inebriation at the time, or the inebriation in the present, but I don't recall a response to the question that followed:
"Where's the line?"
That line, it's never been discussed. It usually doesn't need to be. In this case, it does. The reason why is evident in the reason why it usually doesn't need to be. In most forums, the moderators are participants in the community. They are identifiable and human and the community members have a sense for their sense of responsibility and how they use it - they aren't just numbers. We really, really don't need this "I like Japanese things" introduction. I don't mean that to be condescending or offensive, but we need to...
Actually, no.
When I say "we", right now I'm speaking in terms of the existing community. What needs to be said is "you". You need presence. You need to interact with the community. You need to participate in discussions and ask questions and develop a sense of passion for, if not the game itself, the complicated network of people of all manner of ages, locations, religions, and other identifiers that makes up this place. I sure as hell am.
But the reason it's "you" isn't so much a matter of expectations or entitlement as it is the fact that you have a free to play game with a playerbase that has never broken 10,000 CCUs. That's not some critical point, it's just, like, the game hasn't had that many players. The two people you've banned recently, Amid and Merl, were not only some of the most productive community members the game has literally ever seen, drawing in hundreds if not thousands of players with their work, but have individually purchased 50% or more of everything the game has to offer. They've spent money. Those are the kinds of people that spend money.
And no, it's not that they've done what they've done for the community and your actions against them that are so severely disconcerting (though they are certainly disconcerting), it's that you banned them for being passionate.
Passionate. People. Pay.

That was Amid's ban message. I'm not going to trawl through and link everything he's ever posted, but anyone reading this knows that the above is, it's asinine. It's infantile. I feel like Akon or something, trying to find the words to describe this without being disrespectful, and failing.
Please consider your actions and how you got there. Please consider discussing your approach to moderation, and I do mean "discuss", which is not a synonym for "describe".
I'd like to call for a clean slate. Allow everyone a new chance, while simultaneously attempting to integrate into our population.
Or you can ban me. I guess. That's your call.
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