2018-10-28 23:44:04

This is to officially announce  as of now I will no longer be working as administrator of audiogames.net.
I took up the position in 2007 with the hope of being helpful to the community, and all the decisions I have made have had that aim in mind.
Recently however, matters have become more stressed, and indeed my own personal life has become more involved, leading to perhaps some hasty decisions.
It is in hopes of rectifying one of the decisions which seems to have been most resented by members of this community that Walter’s ban has been reversed.
Evidence has come to light that one of the testimonies which at the time seemed to indicate Walter might be a danger to the community was false.
I therefore apologise to Walter for the mistake, which was made entirely due to misinformation, and not out of any animosity on my part, indeed I am doubly sorry that this matter has taken such a long time to sort out.
I still wish to help the community as I can, and therefore will continue to work maintaining the site database and contributing news on upcoming games, something which I hope to be able to devote more time and energy too when no longer having to deal with member’s behaviour.
I sincerely wish the rest of the moderation team, who I consider to be good friends of mine, the best of luck, and hope, as always that the recent storm of negativity on the forum will die down so we can get back to the more important business of discussing accessible games.

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.)

2018-10-29 00:05:03

It is a shame that you are resigning, Dark, but I am glad that the Walter situation was resolved. We all misstep sometimes, it's what makes us human. You acted reasonably at the time, and it turned out that you were given information later to be found false. You could not have known it, and in light of those further developments, you have acted accordingly.

If your reason for resigning is that you made a mistake, I wish you would reconsider.

If, however, your reasons are more personal, or perhaps you've just had enough of the attacks and unwarranted criticism and whatnot, then I frankly don't blame you. Frankly, whatever spurred your choice, it is yours, and yours alone, and I hope that you do not see this as a means of trying to make you do something you don't wish to do. Ultimately, we're a bunch of hobbyists here, and if being an administrator has gotten to a point where 8it's causing you more harm than it's worth to you, then I support whatever you feel you need to do in order to find happiness.

Speaking personally, I have always thought you quite even-handed and fair, even when I have had small disagreements with you. None have ever lasted long, and none ever spilled over into anything that did any damage, as far as I know. I have always respected your quirky sense of humour and your ability to keep a cool head. Quite honestly, there can be a lot of hell on a forum like this, and I daresay you've done us proud in your ten years of service to this community.

If nothing else, I pray that you don't see the last little while as the defining characteristic of your time here as an administrator. Be well, whatever you do and wherever you go.

Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1

2018-10-29 00:09:58

This actually made me feel a little sad. I'm glad the Walter thing was reversed as that was the only thing I thought needed attention, apart from maybe some clarification of the rules, but if there'd been a vote, I for one certainly wouldn't have voted for you to step down. I think on the whole you're very reasonable. I don't think anyone could do this job without personal feelings getting in the way here and there. I can only hope that this was partly your own decision, and you yourself think it's the right move for you as much as the forum. I wish you all the best.

2018-10-29 00:13:30 (edited by Dark 2018-10-29 00:16:25)

Thanks Jayde.
I will say I made an honest mistake with the Walter situation, indeed I am sorry its taken so much acrimony to be resolved, that however is not  the primary reason for this decision.

When I began as administrator in 2007, moderating the forum and regulating behaviour was a very small part of the actual job requirements. As the forum grew, moderation duties grew, however as of the past few years (especially I might say since 16), the moderation requirements have grown more extreme, disputes have been more heated and things have generally been more stressful, particularly since my personal  life doesn't let me devote quite as much time to the forum as once it did. I tried to do the best I could in various decisions, but I have increasingly felt overwhelmed by criticism and negativity, which is not really how I want to feel in a community which I have long considered my online home, or indeed a good   frame of mind for fair moderation.

Actually at this point my over whelming feeling is relief that I can now check the forum and be concerned with new game releases, not tracking through members reports of other members behaviour and trying  to regulate between them.

I do sincerely wish the mods all the best, and definitely intend to go on helping this community as I can, via maintaining the db and working on news, which is after all the job I signed up for in the first place. big_smile.

"Flacus, thanks. I am very glad people have understood my intentions here. As I said, I certainly don't intend to be disappearing out right, indeed it'll be a nice change to get back to games and away from Drama.

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.)

2018-10-29 00:26:17

thanks for all of the work you do, I have certainly learned about many games I had no idea could be out there and this is because of good database maintenance. And yes, here problems, and especially melodramatic ones have this tendency to have a great unnecessary deal of amplification. Thankfully you have found peace, which is key to be successful at anything you do.

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…

2018-10-29 00:39:11

Thanks Jay, I'm really pleased to hear the db etc has been of help to you in finding games, hopefully now that I will be able to concentrate my time on maintaining it, it  will be seeing extensive further updates in the future, since there are (as always), lots of games to add.

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.)

2018-10-29 00:44:49

Yeah sir, sometimes even the bravest have to know when to step back. smile Jokes aside, I hope you'll still with us and bring us our highly estimated, overcomplicated, well planned and humorous reviews and announcements. So maybe now you're free to enjoy a bit of your own hard work through all these years. We're a crew sir, so you want it or not, you're still the captain and on we go!
Best regards, a parrot and a ship, Haramir.

The true blind is the one who refuses to see.

2018-10-29 01:00:15

Well I don't know about Captain, just think of me as some crazed old salt telling tall tales and passing on yarns o' the old seas big_smile.

I won't be abandoning ship though, that is for certain, and I definitely hope its calmer sailing from here on out big_smile.

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.)

2018-10-29 01:06:58

Brother, it's been a pleasure reading your posts over the years, i hope you find peace, and i'm glad you still plan on doing news posts and the like.

2018-10-29 01:17:44

One massive thumbs up for you Dark, you have given us 10 years dedication , so much hard work.  This is the big picture, the big story.  In the history of audio gaming, so much is owed by so many, to so few.  You are one of the few.  Keep up the ceaseless dreaming and singing.

Try my free games and software at www.rockywaters.co.uk

2018-10-29 01:24:22

"Rocky thanks for this, indeed Dragon village is on the massive! list of games I need to add to the db big_smile.

"Arq, again, I'm glad my posts have given others pleasure and I definitely hope they continue to do so, indeed I actually find myself looking forward to the chance to get back to writing, which is after all the thing I actually wanted to do for this community in the first place and something I still relish doing.

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.)

2018-10-29 01:34:05

It is truly sad to see you step down from moderation, but if this is indeed the best interest of the community, then it is what must be done. You have been one of my biggest inspirations as far as internet life goes. I would like to thank you for your service, and look forward to your future contributions to the news and database. Best of luck, Dark.

I have a website now.
"C: God's Programming Language
C++: The object-oriented programming language of a pagan deity" -- The Red Book
"There, but for the grace of God go I"

2018-10-29 01:37:56 (edited by Dark 2018-10-29 01:45:56)

"Jaseoffire thanks for this, as I said to UltraLeetJ, I am sincerely pleased when people find what I do helpful to them.

Myself, I see this more as a change in focus than anything else, indeed, I look forward to getting some serious work done on the db, as well  as helping to keep the news uptodate.
It'll also be very nice to take a little time off to play some games too, which is after all the reason why we're all here big_smile.

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.)

2018-10-29 03:36:51 (edited by Socheat 2018-10-29 03:38:16)

@Dark, I've been a member of this forum since 2013, and I can say that you did a pretty good job of maintaining the DB, forum moderation, and so on. I feel quite sad to see you step down from the moderation team. With this in mind, I hope you find peace, and I am looking to read your future news, and your database contribution!

Best!

2018-10-29 04:11:40

Dark, I envy you. smile

Regardless of what others think, I for one am glad that you are now at peace with yourself. Mistakes are inevitable, but by your choice and words I genuinely think you have shown a willingness to admit to them. Even if you are happy with your new role, I believe the circumstances of the Walter case, the way it was handled in the moderation team and your willingness to resign as moderator for the foreseeable future more than compensate for the mistake. I have no doubt that not everybody will be satisfied, but I also know that they will never be satisfied and it is always best not to take it to heart. Many, including myself, are grateful for the hard work you've done to keep up this forum and I'm sure you'll be equally valuable in your new role. Cheers.

Just myself, as usual.

2018-10-29 05:36:50

There are folks who would howl for blood about this whole Walter business. I'm not one of them.
Here's why. it was an honest mistake. Dark had every reason, at the start, to suspect that someone he knew was being truthful. when it came to light that they weren't, he changed his stance. That's not really a bad thing, that's a good thing. I've always said that it's not realistic to expect never to be wrong; rather, a person should be judged by how they deal with it when it inevitably happens.
There are people saying elsewhere that there was blood in the water, that perhaps this was justified, that Dark's choice might not have been the only governing factor. I'm going to hope like heck that he wasn't railroaded in any fashion here, quite honestly, because as I pointed out before, it was an honest mistake which he has done everything he can to redress. The big blog post that helped get all this going in the first place is character assassination at its finest, and I worry a little because if it was used as ammunition to tar and feather someone, as it were, then this sets a potentially dangerous precedent. If the community members scream loudly and incoherently enough, they'll get whatever they want. I just hope I'm wrong about that.

Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1

2018-10-29 05:42:38

Yeah, I must admit I was also sad to see this thread.  still, definitely glad you're not leaving, Dark. 
I also agree with #16.  Well, I agree with all of Jade's posts regarding this subject.  Everybody's pointing fingers at dark for ruining this guy's life on the Internet, but I didn't see anyone saying anything about it immediately after it happened, and all of the info was there.  If anything, to me, that means the entire community has made a huge mistake, not just Dark.

@dark:  I hope with your new found free time, you can begin casting more pods like you used to back in the day.  Those pods you'd cast were hilarious and always found ways to cheer me up! smile

I'm probably gonna get banned for this, but...

2018-10-29 07:21:35

Heya there Dark! I must say, I wasn't expecting to see what I did when browsing this forum as randomly as I do, I could have easily missed it until long after the start of the thread.
That said, I did totally miss the thread mentioning the Walter person, so I don't even know what happened, and don't want to.
Sometimes an admin can go unnoticed because they do their job so well, that everyone or at least most everyone can seem to get along even when things get hot due to a well placed calming influence.
I will never forget when a friend of mine and I listened to one of your casted pods on Blind Cool Tech, Smugglers 2 or some number, but he and I had been up a long time, and we had a hell of a good laugh even as we enjoyed an informative review of said game.
So yes, do cast them thar pods, and glad to know that you're not disappearing from here.
Thumbs up, and tentacles high, and a 21 guitar sollute to ya!
Rock on!

2018-10-29 08:23:39

@Socheat thanks for that, as I said, my feeling at the moment is more one of relief than anything else.

@Sebby, thanks again, I sincerely wish you and the rest of the mods the best of luck.
I never pretended to be perfect, and definitely have made my share of mistakes, since I am after all a human being. I have however always tried to  decide as best I can for the good of the community first. As I've said on innumerable occasions, I would love it if people just got on with each other and moderation was absolutely %100 unnecessary.

I will admit the current mud slinging and all the  aspersions on my motives and my character have been extremely upsetting, indeed if you want a direct link between the blog post and my decision, that is it, it just confirmed the fact that this job is causing me more stress than pleasure these days.
I'd rather not get into the ins and outs of the Walter situation specifically here since its already been discussed at great lengths elsewhere and people already have their opinions on the matter.
As I have said I acted as best I could at the time, and if a mistake was made, it was a completely honest one born out of a desire to do the best I could for the community, not out of any sort of personal animosity.

@aaron77 more casting of the pods might be conceivable, especially if I can look into getting a voice recorder fixed up for my computer, again, this is one  other thing I can look into now that I will be able to get back to games and away from recriminations.

@tseth42, Thanks for the kind words, glad you liked the smugglers 3 review, as I said, hopefully I'll have chance to get more like that done in the near future.

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.)

2018-10-29 08:49:47

Dark,
Thank you so very much for all you have done to make this forum a civil and fun place to be.
When I joined in 2014, I was amazed at how NON-trollish and UN-snarky it was.
I watched you keep your cool over things that would have made me angry, and I'm not a confrontational person at all.
I watched you moderate with a fairness that was really impressive.
I hope this forum, and its members, will now bring you the fun and civility that most of us have enjoyed during your time as moderator.

2018-10-29 09:41:48

It's sad to see you step down, but at least I'm glad you're still with us and find time to relief yourself in this seemingly dimming day. People make mistakes, and you are a person who makes mistakes just like others.

Why do ghost hunters have to hunt ghosts? Well, there's a fear of being ghosted out there. They may need therapy as well as their ghost hunting kit.

2018-10-29 09:52:03

@Thanks Mata, I have certainly never pretended to be perfect or be immune  from making mistakes. I do hope though that this community will be a less negative place in the future, and one I will still be able to contribute to as I can.

@Mirage, thanks for that, I have only ever wanted the forum to be a fun and friendly place for people to discuss games, that is what it has been for most of the time I've been here and I sincerely hope that is what it will be again very soon.

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.)

2018-10-29 11:34:50

Sir, you've done a pretty good job moderating the forums, serving them those 10 years. When I first heard that from one of my friends, I first said no, I wil protest. But if this decision you made was motivated by a sincere desire to leave the administration for life reasons, of course I respect this very much and won't discourage you from making your decision. Nevertheless, I won't deny that I still wish with all my heart that you reconsider it, since you've always been the best to moderate these forums imo, according to your career with them. Despite the minor mistakes you made, which of course can't be considered as the main reason for you to step down, you've always been a great head administrator and a wonderful person and will remain so. We're humans and thus do make mistakes. Before I thank you from the bottom of my heart for serving this community, helping them and making this site always standing high on its feet this long period, I wish you all the best and that your decision is indeed motivated by an urgent desire from you.
With sincere greetings and respect to you, from a loving member to these forums and its great and distinguished staff and sponsors.

Kind regards!

Add me on battle.net and let's have fun, region is Europe, my BattleTag is: Hajjar#21470
By reading my post, you agree to my terms and conditions :P

2018-10-29 11:47:17

@Dark: it has been an honour with you as part of the moderation team.
Discussions stopped on the list last week or so about the blackscreen topic, and I threw my hat in the ring to get discussions going again, and this is how I did it, by asking if Dark stepped down, could I possibly take up the job of head admin. This announcement got Dark's approval, and one of the things I said when asking to be head mod, is that I wanted Dark to stay on as part of the forum, along with Sebby and the other mods. It would also be up to the other mods if they wish to keep their positions or not.
Dark, you have been, you still are, an inspiration. Yes, we all make mistakes but honestly over the years I have not seen you make that many. I do not know what is going to happen to me if I end up as head admin, but I am hoping, just hoping that we can let this forum grow or at the very least be a civil place once again.
For now, here is what is happening: I have not done an official announcement yet due to the fact that I do not want to jump the bandwagon in case it has not been fully agreed yet, so I have, for now, sent a message to the mods list just asking whether that is, indeed, what has been agreed.
It is, after all, the thing that got discussions going again.

2018-10-29 14:08:37

@Muhammad  thanks for the kind words.
the decision here actually is mine, albeit as I said previously it was partly reached due to how stressful much of the recent crises has been.
I am glad though that I've been able to help on the forum, and will definitely continue to do what I can.

@Aaron, thanks for calling me "an inspiration", I have tried my best for the forum in the past and will continue to do so as I can.

If you and the other mods do decide you are next head admin, I wish you all the best, but I'd rather not become too personally involved in any such deliberations, since if I am indeed going to basically go back to  primarily working on  news and the db, then it probably wouldn't help me getting embroiled too much in discussions about the running of the forum at this stage.

Actually, I'm looking forward to the break big_smile.

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.)