2016-10-23 10:55:14

Moderation!

Many people may well be aware that Lukas was made a moderator in 2010. He worked extremely well as a mod for a while, but obviously his life got a little busy and he was absent from the boards for some time.

He's now returned which is great, however we're unsure at the moment whether he wants to continue being a moderator or not. If yes, his help would be very welcome, and if not, well fare enough (it's a voluntary position after all).

We've tried to contact Lukas both by email and by private message on the forum and unfortunately had no response, so Lukas status as a moderator has been temporarily removed until we know what he's wanting to do.

This isn't a punishment, and I hope neither Lukas nor any other members think it is, indeed the only reason I'm making this announcement publically here and now is because we haven't yet recieved any communication from Lukas, and it seemed extremely unfare to give him the boot without warning.

If Lukas wants to come back and be a mod again he'd be very welcome and that would be much appreciated, likewise if Lukas does indeed want to step down that is fine as well, please just contact myself or one of the other moderators.

Btw, this topic will be moved to site and forum feedback after a week, I just post it here to make it more visible.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-10-27 14:55:30 (edited by sid512 2016-10-27 18:34:00)

hello,
I suppose there would have been a long time, because people can get away for a few weeks or a month on vacations and for other reasons.
but apart from that, lukas was a great moderator, and this forum deserves more hard working mods like him. even though he joined around 2010 but from what I recall he used to do a lot of the background stuff including monitoring posts and continuously removing spambots over and over. all that work would be appreciated, and will miss lukas as a respectable moderator if he decides to step down in future.

no, actually I'm afraid I might end up saying too much. tongue


regards.

btw, might I also suggest the title be slightly changed to make it more clear, for example moderator message or information or some such. at once, moderation message sounded like one of those mod warning topics about people who indulge in inappropriate behavior and the likes. actually i was slightly shocked about a moderation topic about lukas before reading it. big_smile

edit

i just saw a topic on general game discussion where lukas just posted yesterday, there could be more such posts as well.

He picked up the wrench and broke the guy’s wrist with it, one, and then the other wrist, two, and turned back and did the same to the guy who had held the hammer, three, four. The two men were somebody’s weapons, consciously deployed, and no soldier left an enemy’s abandoned ordnance on the field in working order.

2016-10-28 15:29:51

Actually sid I said "moderation message about Lukas" precisely because! I wanted to get his attention, since he's still not contacted either myself nor any of the other mods, either here, by pm, or by email.

We'd love to have him back on the moderation team, he was indeed an awesome mod and did a lot of good stuff, indeed the chief reason I didn't alter his status in the couple of years he seemed to be away was because I was hoping he'd come back and be able to take up moderating again.

If not, fare enough, and he's still very welcome as a member of this forum, though if he'd like to continue I'd love to see him back as a mod, still either way some communication from him would be appreciated.

If I don't hear anything by the 30th, I'll move this topic to site and forum feedback and also alter the faq to say Lukas is no longer a moderator,

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-10-29 20:08:42

Hi Dark and all,
I'm sorry this had to get this far. I was going to reply to your e-mail every day since I got it but I always end up either forgetting about it and remembering late at night, or simply not having the time to do so properly earlier in the day when I do have it on my mind. :-)

This is a difficult decision for me. I think I did post about my not having enough time to be a moderator any more, which was really ages ago, but I never really asked to have the moderator status removed from my account officially, or updated you on my attitude towards it ever since. I was really happy to be a moderator back then, although I was concentrating mainly on the administrative issues (spam and such) rather than actual discussion moderation most of the time. That was also a responsible task that someone just had to be doing. If I could, I would love starting active moderation again, and perhaps even writing news posts or database entries. However, I had to seek the advice of a psychotherapist recently because of the huge loads of mess I got myself into in real life, which I really won't be discussing in the public, sorry, and I'm only slowly beginning to recover from that now, so I'm afraid I couldn't be very responsible or reliable just yet. Second, I'm really busy with starting up my own official company to sell the games I've been gradually, silently developing ever since BGT was released, which is currently taking up all of the time I'm willing to dedicate to non-real life matters. :-) And when I do eventually become a developer, I wouldn't want to be a moderator of this forum at the same time as I know I wouldn't simply have enough time to allocate the proper amount of it to moderation. Those who have never done this have no idea how much of a burreaucratic and time-consuming hassle it is to set up a legal company, at least in this country. :-) To tell the truth, I really endlessly admire you and the rest of the site team for being able to do this voluntary job properly and reliably, among actually playing the games listed on this site and real life, especially now that you're working on your doctorate and whatnot. I just don't get how you can do it. :-)

So that's pretty much how things stand for me at the moment. So, basically, although I would still be tempted to say yes, now that I'm once again active on the forum at least semi-regularly, the rational and poorly responsible part of me has to say no, although with regret. I fear I would just fail and neglect my duties of a moderator if I did keep the status, or reclaim it with actions. :-) I hope you understand where I'm coming from and are not offended by my attitude or anything. If the situation changes for me and I ever feel more ready for such a job, I would be glad to let you know if you didn't mind.

Thanks, and take care,
Lukas

I won't be using this account any more or participating in the forum activity through other childish means like creating an alternate account. I've asked for the account to be removed but I'm not sure if that's actually technically possible here. Just writing this for people to know that I won't be replying, posting new topics or checking private messages until the account is potentially removed.

2016-10-30 14:02:35

Hi Lukas.

thanks a lot for letting us know, and I am sorry I had to raise this in so public a forum.
good luck with the personal issues (I will say I am not exactly a stranger to such myself), and especially with the game development, I very much look forward to playing what you come out with.

The offer to take up active mod duties is very much still open if you ever get to a place in your life where you feel your able to again, and of course in the mean while it's great to see you as a more active member of the forum.


Btw, miner suggestion, if you don't fansy being a full moderator, I could assign you to the group of news posters to write news on the front of site, just to make sure that news remains current (I know this is something I do a lot of, but there's only one of me and these days I can't play everything that comes out).
We've currently got several including Brian P and Cae Jones, who aren't active moderatorss, but do occasionally help this way. Basically it'd mean occasionally banging out some news whenever something accessible and news worthy turned up, or when games got updated.

If your not able to do the full moderating but still fancy helping occasionally, that might be a good way? Though again, if not, that's fair enough too.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-10-30 16:41:04

@lukas and anyone else it may concern,
We plow ahead as best we know how, not to earn a place of honor or to make ourselves seem better than anyone else, but because of our love for gaming.  From the very beginning games have been an important part of my life; I find myself strategizing on a regular basis and contemplating levels, bosses, worlds and puzzles, quests, and everything else in between... I wouldn't be surprised to find I do it in my sleep and don't even realize it because there are times when I wake up feeling refreshed and tackle something I spent hours on previously stummped with.  it plays an important part in my music, audio production and sound design projects as well.
Life, however, does get in the way at times and I can personally tell you that there are days when I feel like I'm letting the community down.  there's more that I can do but never seem to get to because other things get in my face; having a wife and children has changed many of my priorities.  Not too long ago I lost a house to a busted waterline then discovered my wife was pregnant a few months later.  She's now on bed rest which has placed responsibilities on me I previously didn't have and, while I have no problem taking them on, this does slow down creativity and productivity I would otherwise put forth in other areas of interest; I haven't played keys in awhile.
the long and short is that, we do our best with what we're given while trying to minimise our regrets.  Were I able to make a job of this that would support my family, I would gladly do it.  As it stands, I'm glad there are a ton of free titles that require my attention because I don't know how I'd pay for the ones that aren't right now.  The problem?  I've never been good at budgeting time, either... I think I need a secretary, but I don't have money to pay for one, either.

When life gives you oranges, demand lemons since everyone else is obviously getting them.

2016-11-09 13:59:27

@ Nocturnus, thanks for that post. That really moved me deeply and resonates with me in many ways!

That's exactly the reason why I'm reluctant to step up again and accept the moderator duties, though, even if I know it would be okay if I only spent as much time on them as I could afford at any given moment, and did it irregularly, as long as I was still there every now and then. I know I took the offer once and failed, basically just giving up without telling anyone the reasons or at least properly, decently stating that I didn't feel up to the task any more. I know I am pretty unstable at the moment and have to resolve several time-demanding decisions and steps that will result in quite dramatic changes of my life as a whole. I fear I would do the same again as I just know my somewhat irresponsible nature. Learning to become a proper game dev, with all the legal and administrative stuff taken care of and everything, requires even more responsibility and self-organized attitude than being a mod of this site. So, I'll first have to see if I can successfully master this and succeed in that goal. If the answer is yes, when everything has been more settled, then who knows, I would probably be very happy to do as much as I can to help the site again.

Thanks,
Lukas

I won't be using this account any more or participating in the forum activity through other childish means like creating an alternate account. I've asked for the account to be removed but I'm not sure if that's actually technically possible here. Just writing this for people to know that I won't be replying, posting new topics or checking private messages until the account is potentially removed.

2016-11-09 14:26:20

Hi Lukas.

Well I can certainly empathize on personal matters, and I hope your life gets better.

I'll look forward to trying out whatever games your working on, and if you ever fancy taking up moderation or any other duties for the site, your still most welcome at any point, and of course either way you'll always have a home on this forum.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)