Hello, everyone! After having had a good night's rest, I woke up feeling reinvigorated and better than I ever have in awhile. I'm not sure what it is, but today feels like a good day. So in the aftermath of my triple announcements yesterday (now buried in the past), I want to clarify what happened and where things currently are. I banned a list of people for different things based on private logs I'd acquired from a good soul, including folks who hadn't necessarily done anything wrong but were still associated with the people in question. That was mistake number one. I soon after realized that mistake, and took the entire thread down. I later attempted to rectify the situation with yet another public apology. That was mistake number two. I had become stressed out, frustrated, and removed all the announcements and briefly locked the forum while the server went down for technical issues (of which later were resolved.) I spent that time thinking about what I'd done, was doing, and what I was going to do and decided, ultimately, that I'd messed up pretty hard and hurt some innocent people's reputation. So, in light of all that, I'm now declaring the current state of affairs. These people shall remain banned: skipi, Badstar, JimHarrison, and Felix. Everyone else that were banned have been unbanned. I could try and justify these bans, and I certainly have reasons to justify them. However, I'd like to say something more important instead. This is a whitelisted community. I do what I think is right, and I try to remain as fair as I possibly can. I want people to see me as approachable (and in that I think I've failed), and be open and willing to listen to anyone who wants to speak with me and have them feel like they can do so openly without being banned or something. However, it's important to realize that playing here is a privilege, one that can be removed at any time. I wouldn't remove someone without a good reason, though. I personally feel that these players, through one way or another (over a period of time), have lost their privilege to play here. It shouldn't scare you that these actions have been taken. I understand if the first announcement was frightening, I'd made a big mistake, but I learned a lot of lessons very quickly yesterday and things should be returning to normal now. Some problem players have been removed, while others who were initially wrongfully removed have been let back in. This whole snafu was the result of me trying to ramp up the security and enforcement of our community to try and make it a safer and friendlier place. It's not an easy path to tread, but hey, we'll take our lumps as they come and hopefully through time, effort, and probably more mistakes and lessons, we'll somehow manage to become one of the best communities out there. I know we've got the right people for it, and more join every day. Take care, and have fun!
Holding the hammer is a tough job. Some will agree with your decisions, while others will disapprove. At the end of the day this playground is one you've allowed us to play on. It is a privilege to play on this server and with this community. People seem to take this for granted at times. This communities been getting out of hand. I feel this was needed.
This clarification was heartfelt and I support you coming clean, even though this would not have been needed to rectify. Even though it is nice to see the inner workings behind all this. While I may not be online as much anymore (Waiting on 1.0 with some stopping by to pass time in the evening) I still want to like to return from time to time.
Well this is just another step in your journey of a thousand miles Kazyyk. I approve of your actions though I think that there are still some people who need to learn a few lessons...
You could at least tell us exactly what each of the banned persons did, so that we know their ban was justified. Transparency of people in positions of power is always good..
Well some of us would like to know the banning of people was justified, so that we know to continue to vote, donate and encourage people to join a server that deserves it.
I know this is a bit off topic, but how will the characters of the banned people be addressed? Did they leave, die, fade away? And was it in secret or a public thing? Just asking because one of my characters was greatly affected by one of them, so I'm wondering if he'll gain some kind of closure or not.
If you can, talk with the person who played the character. If you can't, you may have to say they mysteriously dissapeared. Antares is a lawless place.
Ok cool. Since I can't talk with them, I guess I just heard from a passing smuggler or something that they disappeared.
Couldn't agree more. This has been a long time coming. In my view the server was going to change dramatically, but which way I wasn't sure of yet. Now, I think its getting better, and I'm happy about that.
Yeah. The dramatic change we've seen coming is here, and luckily it's for the good of us, instead of being a downward spiral. Hip hip hooray!
It'd be beating a dead horse to re-state the opinions I shared in Kazzyk in private, but I'm glad some of the bans were turned back as many of the original ones truly did not deserve it. And even now, I disagree with three that should stay banned, only agreeing with one but, best not to share to prevent a shitwar. For better or worst, many things have been changed.
