Woooooooo let me put a break on this one before it gets out of control.
Firstly, I did not step down because any of the mods or staff mistreated me. I stepped down because I felt the staff wasn't acting as it should on a situation that became rather personal for all of us and wanted to sweep a glaring issue under the rug that was definitely there. Please read for further clarification.
Next, if I ever gave the impression that Jayde was the bad guy here? I'll gladly take responsibility for it, but otherwise I feel I've been misquoted somewhere along the line as I think I've stated more than once on various topics that I've always felt Jayde was the best step forward where the forum and its staff was concerned, as he was the one who put forth any effort to get everyone to see the glaringly obvious issue for what it was and call a spade a spade. Bottom line is that when Aprone and I gave up because we thought we'd made no headway, Jayde took up the matter because I honestly believe he saw first hand based on some of the posts I made to the mailing list as well as on the forum just how serious the issue actually was. To be honest, the reasons I believed the first post in the topic I linked to above would be a goodbye was that I had thrown the door open on everything that had gone on within those few years whre the mod panel was concerned and I wasn't sure how anyone was going to react to it, particularly since it had already been stated elsewhere that people were facing the ban hammer for wondering; I know some of them didn't do it properly.
but they were curious. The whole of the forum was. Everyone wanted to know, and I felt that it would be absolutely wrong to just turn a blind eye to that wondering and not be transparent with the forum as a whole on the Walter Laurie situation and everything that came out of it given the BSG article that even brought that whole disastrous thing to the foreground. In some ways, SmokeJ was right and we should have addressed it back then, even if it had meant stepping down when it happened rather than three, four years later to prove a point. I'm not sure why Aprone didn't pursue the issue more heavily back then, but I suspect he probably didn't because he felt like the odd one out in that situation and wondered if anyone else in the staff would be supportive of him and any action he took against Dark on that matter. given what ended up happening, I can't blame him for wondering if in fact that was the case; I'll not pretend to speak for him.
As for my part? I was a young dad, new life, new wife, new kids. I wasn't around enough. IN 2016 I lost a ton of money and personal possessions and for the better part of that year was looking for a place to live. I tried, but I confess I didn't understand the situation all that well and didn't do my part in investigating as Aprone did. If I'm to blame because I didn't take the time to do it then, then I'm sorry now and I'll gladly take the heat for it as such. I think that's why more than ever before once I actually began putting my effort into it and everything became clear to me in late 2018 that I felt the ag net community was owed the whole story and nothing but and did my best to give it to everyone. To my pleasant surprise, Jayde took everything I said seriously and was instrumental in convincing me to even set foot back in this place after all of that went down, but I wasn't fully ready to just put all of my eggs in one basket at the time. PM'ing him with all the information I had collected was, as far as I was concerned, out of the question because I didn't know precisely what he'd do with it. so I chose the hard way and, thankfully, it paid off.
Finally, I hate saying it, but I'm not coming back as a mod. Ag net has meant a lot to me over the years. It still does. Every part of me eagerly, desperately, super badly wants to jump back into it all and cheer and celebrate some of that old nostalgia and make things like they once were because yay things like they once were and it'll be great again and woohoo! since stepping down, however, I've learned that helping people out is not a matter of the hats you wear or a question of the titles you hold, but the actions you perform and the work you do behind the scenes. My goal now is to make successful people out of members of the community; whether I do it through this platform or by some other means I'm going to do my best to get it done. Everyone's sick and tired of the same old same old because it's not working and we all know it. I want change and so do you, and I stand commited to making it happen.
To conclude, I could return to business as usual on the moderation panel that helped me on the way to success, or I can look to broader horizons and a greater goal that will hopefully usher in a new wave of capable individuals who will all collectively help each other out because they see incentive to do so. I can't change everyone; that's paradoxical nonsense and I know I'm not that good. All I can do is my part, and I can't do my part if I'm distracted by helping moderate a community that is constantly divided on many fronts ranging from how gaming should be done and how games should be developed, to whether or not copyright on forum posts should be an issue. I think all of these are, sadly, trivialities and only symptoms of the bigger problem. I'm still here, however, and will do my best to hellp if and when I can, however I can.
When life gives you oranges, demand lemons since everyone else is obviously getting them.