So long

I think this is going to be my farewell post. No, its not because I was banned and demodded, but because of a confirmation of a fundamental shift in RMRK's overall personality that I've sort of been aware of for a while now.

I joined this place somewhere between six and seven years ago, and I acted like, and was, an absolute imbecile. Naturally, members who had been here longer than I have, including moderators, were total dicks to me! That included changing my display name, my avatars and signature, my custom titles and relentlessly flaming me. Obviously, I fucking hated it, but I look back on all that and am grateful. The reason I underwent all the unpleasantness of being hazed was because I really liked RMRK; I wanted to be a part of this place so much. It's always been RMRK's nature for a close group of veteran members to be dicks to newer members. It makes them into better, stronger people and it separates those who love RMRK enough to endure the pain from those that probably don't give two shits about this place. It's important.

Some time recently in the grand scheme of things (I don't know when-- my memory sucks) RMRK began losing its soul. It started to transform into a mundane, politically correct message board with a dwindling community where members were afraid to express themselves or offend anyone. I, along with others, started to realize this.

And then I make a bunch of one-off silly posts directed at a new guy, none of which compared to what was directed at me in the past. I didn't abuse mod powers, I didn't even threaten to kill anyone, I was just being a whacky dick. I was banned by Zylos, a person who's not just a hidden mod (which is stupid considering how often he reminds you that he's a mod), but a person who isn't involved in the community much at all. He didn't bring it up in the Mod Hut first, he didn't split the topic into The Sewers, he didn't lock the thread, he just took it upon himself to outright ban me.

Then he makes a topic in the Mod Hut. Modern Algebra proclaims that he's going to remove my Moderator status, backing it up with it "reflecting badly on the site" and me likely "doing something reckless and stupid with [my] powers." I've never abused my powers once, nor would I ever consider it. That's nothing more than a confirmation that Modern Algebra is out of touch with me and every other prominent member of this community. Crankeye knows more about me from the few Skype calls and IRC chats I've had with him than Modern Algebra, despite Crankeye being totally inactive and Modern always being here. When you have administrators and moderators who aren't involved in the community, I think you have a major problem. This isn't supposed to be Gamefaqs, this is supposed to be RMRK. Community is essential.

You have people like Modern Algebra, Zylos and others who either don't know what RMRK is about, don't remember what RMRK is about, are too new to know what RMRK is about, or just want to change RMRK into something else. I realized this long before I was banned and demodded, mind you.

RMRK just hasn't been fun in a while. So many people here these days are afraid to express themselves or say anything that could possibly offend anyone. Every time I visit the forums, I'm reminded of how boring and inactive this place has become. RMRK has lost its luster, its excitement and most of all, its soul. All that remains are memories of when it was the undisputed best place on the internet.

But I guess none of that matters to people who don't have a love for RMRK's community. This has always been nothing more than a message board to them, and they'll likely oversee it as it crashes and burns.

I've made so many friends here, but I don't need to thank them; I already talk to them outside the forums.

I'll still be active in IRC, of course, but this is absolutely the last thread I post in.

I leave you the way I joined, without a membergroup but high hopes for my future. Farewell, RMRK forums.

TLDR: RMRK is going downhill

yeah i'm probably out too. i'll be in IRC. a lot of what Irock said we discussed in IRC and I mentioned in my posts in the other thread, and it's all spot on.

a lot of you mods and admins are so out of touch with the community and then think you can go and make decisions that directly affect the community. don't really want to be a part of it.

 

I call bullshit.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I only did what I thought was best in that given situation, as it felt like you really crossed a line in your hazing/flaming/whatever and showed no signs of stopping short of a temp ban, and only Modern Algebra was online at the time to agree with me. I admit that deleting the posts rather than splitting it was a mistake that I simply didn't think of at the time, and I made the thread in the Mod Hut after cleaning up the Wind Waker thread so that the staff who wasn't online at the time could decide what to do about it whenever they next came on, whether to undo the ban or extend it or what. If any of you guys feel that I went too far with how I handled it, then I apologize, but I wasn't going to let you continue being an ass to Dizturb3d non-stop like that.

You and I have different views about what the community is, if you feel that only the inner circle of friends and IRC regulars deserve to be treated with respect. I love RMRK as more than just a messaging board too, but I'm not going to exclude the people here for just the RPG Maker stuff or requiring the new people to be put through a ring of hazing to be "worthy of sticking around" if they want to chat about video games. We're a game creation forum (despite most of the regulars no longer being into game creation anymore) and have dozens of new members everyday coming for just that, both idiots and cool people alike, and I feel that the real RMRK community is the entire place as a whole, with individual circles and groups of friends. I don't see how stopping you from needlessly continuing your trolling of one member outside of the sewers is stifling to that community, so much as it was just really infuriating for you.



Well, regardless of our differences, I'm sorry to see you go. RMRK won't be the same without you. 

This whole situation is awful. It's depressing to see RMRK split like this... I like all of you.

Talk to you in IRC, friend.

You and I have different views about what the community is, if you feel that only the inner circle of friends and IRC regulars deserve to be treated with respect. I love RMRK as more than just a messaging board too, but I'm not going to exclude the people here for just the RPG Maker stuff or requiring the new people to be put through a ring of hazing to be "worthy of sticking around" if they want to chat about video games. We're a game creation forum (despite most of the regulars no longer being into game creation anymore) and have dozens of new members everyday coming for just that, both idiots and cool people alike, and I feel that the real RMRK community is the entire place as a whole, with individual circles and groups of friends. I don't see how stopping you from needlessly continuing your trolling of one member outside of the sewers is stifling to that community, so much as it was just really infuriating for you.

Of course you don't think RMRK is about the core community, because you're not a part of it and you never have been. It really is just another message board to you, whether you want to admit that or not.

Now you just sound like an elitist. You're not in any position to tell anyone else how they feel about RMRK.

If you really are leaving, then I will miss you. You were an okay guy most of the time and I enjoyed talking to you.

 

I am with regret, friend. I did contribute to the end of staff push but after thought I too feel as though I was wrong and haste.

Go well, and with spirit.

You and I have different views about what the community is, if you feel that only the inner circle of friends and IRC regulars deserve to be treated with respect. I love RMRK as more than just a messaging board too, but I'm not going to exclude the people here for just the RPG Maker stuff or requiring the new people to be put through a ring of hazing to be "worthy of sticking around" if they want to chat about video games. We're a game creation forum (despite most of the regulars no longer being into game creation anymore) and have dozens of new members everyday coming for just that, both idiots and cool people alike, and I feel that the real RMRK community is the entire place as a whole, with individual circles and groups of friends. I don't see how stopping you from needlessly continuing your trolling of one member outside of the sewers is stifling to that community, so much as it was just really infuriating for you.

Of course you don't think RMRK is about the core community, because you're not a part of it and you never have been. It really is just another message board to you, whether you want to admit that or not.

Therein lies our difference. You think the core community is just the regulars on IRC and your friends, whereas I think it's all of us together from Anski/Sword to LadyJ/EvilM00s. I have different friends here on RMRK than you do, but that doesn't make me "not a part of the community". It's not "just another message board", when most of my friends are right here.

I call bullshit.

And let me clarify. I say it's bullshit that after a SuperMod deos what he believes is his job that people supposed to be behind him just evaporate or turn tail and sympathise with the a-hole who acted like an immature a-hole even though he's better than that.

Run-on sentence of the year.

Zylos stepped down as mod years ago, he shouldn't be moderating anymore.
He immediately banned Irock instead of locking/splitting the topic or taking any sort of preemptive measure and without consulting anyone. I agree that he should be treated like a member of the community, but his actions aren't justifiable.

Also Anski, are you high?

With respect to the demodding, I did admit I was wrong on that a little later in the thread, but that post didn't get captured in the images. I don't expect it to change anything, but I figured I'd at least let you know. My post was (edited the stuff around it out, but it is still accurate):

[...]As for the de-modding, my primary reason for that was that I thought his status reflected poorly on the site to visitors. On reflection, any person who remains undissuaded by the Sewers would not likely be dissuaded by Irock, and you're right that there is no evidence that he will abuse his powers when he returns.

For those reasons, I am inclined to restore his moderator status [...]

I'm sorry that I misjudged you, and I'm sorry that our differences has contributed to your leaving. You're right that I don't know you very well.

Before you go, however, I did want to say that I've enjoyed the games you've put out. I hope you keep it up, since I believe it's something which you could do professionally if you wanted to do so. Certainly, the world of game design would be better for it. As you said, I don't know you very well and I don't know if that's something you're interested in. I just wanted you to know it because I might never have another chance to tell you. Thank you for creating those games. Thank you for sharing them.

I was going to prepare a boring retort to your allegations that I don't love this community or that there is a magical aura of intimidating political correctness, but I don't want to drown this thread in even more drama. You're wrong, but you're entitled to your opinion and I don't believe I can change it.

Thank you for everything you've done here Irock. The place isn't the same without you, and on most days, I think that's for the worse. I'll miss you.

TL;DR: Irock is mad he got banned, but wants to sound like he's not mad he got banned.

With respect to the demodding, I did admit I was wrong on that a little later in the thread, but that post didn't get captured in the images. I don't expect it to change anything, but I figured I'd at least let you know.

You probably already know, but to make sure, it's not in our images because our mod status was removed (as requested) before we could get a more up to date shot.

Before you go, however, I did want to say that I've enjoyed the games you've put out. I hope you keep it up, since I believe it's something which you could do professionally if you wanted to do so. Certainly, the world of game design would be better for it. As you said, I don't know you very well and I don't know if that's something you're interested in. I just wanted you to know it because I might never have another chance to tell you. Thank you for creating those games. Thank you for sharing them.

Thanks. Making games is really my only passion in life, and I'd love to be able to do it independently for a living.

Also, to anyone who thinks I'm leaving because I got banned or had my moderator status removed, be aware that I was unbanned early by a kind unnamed gentlemen and that I've stated numerous times that I don't want my mod status back. It's a fundamental disagreement on what RMRK is about and a degradation of the forum community that's driving me away. If this had happened and I weren't directly involved, I'd still be leaving.

This is also the first time I've decided to leave permanently since FuMannChu was relevant, so I'm not bullshitting or whatever.

Godspeed, Irock; you may have been a dick, but you were a stiff one, full of vigor.

No, seriously though, good luck. You have been an observable dick since we joined (and long before), but that is a part of how we've been learning to navigate these forums and not take things too seriously, so... in a way, thank you.

in another way, took long enough

TLDR: RMRK is going downhill

Ze doctor... has spoken!

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Peace out Irock