I'm out...

You know what? Drop me off the list of staff. I mean, it isn't like I've actually done anything anyway, but I'm just not seeing a point in having my name attached to this place in any kind of official capacity. I gave the New Regime a shot--but things are turning out about the way I suspected they would. Best of luck on things.

What things do you disagree with?

I won't take him off the staff just yet in case he has anything he'd like to add, but obviously we'll honor the request.

@Volpone: if you'd liked to be more specific, give us a hint at changes you'd implement. I'm not offering anything to make you change your mind, but part of the idea of staff diversity and this shelter discussion is to encourage new and different ideas. If there are changes you think we should make, let's discuss.

Volpone, my political differences with Ancalagul are documented. Is this a Red/Blue thing? I honestly don't know what it is that you see in regards to the way the board is being run.

I'm pretty sure he hates your libertarian philosophy, Flow.

Can't address problems if we don't know what they are, Fox

My reasons are my own and are non negotiable. I've said everything I'm going to say on this subject.

I have removed your supermoderatorship so you are no longer connected to the board in any official fashion but for the time being I'm leaving shelter access.

Not trying to negotiate here, just to understand. You made that odd post in the Red Room a few weeks back then refused to explain yourself, now you appear to be storming off the staff in a huff without explaining yourself. If you think there is a problem with the way the board is being run, we'd appreciate hearing it. Can't fix something we don't know about. Not saying we'll do whatever you want, but we'd at least like to see your perspective and would take any suggestions under advisement.

So spill man, what's your beef?

wow. nothing changed but the names and even that is too much for him. otoh he has bitched and moaned like a champ for a decade now and he's still here, so...

I hate cryptic shit. There are people who are going to be dissatisfied no matter what any of you do. Back when Starscape was its own entity, I had a mod who insisted that I was doing a terrible job running the board because we weren't getting half a dozen new members a day. Finally, after months of hearing him snip day after day after day, I put him in charge. After 4 months, we didn't have a single new member. I took him out of that position because he finally admitted it was difficult to make things work smoothly on a message board. Two weeks after that, he began complaining again that I wasn't trying hard enough to bring in new people. He didn't learn a thing.

In short, Volpone, if you can read this and I'm sure for the moment you can, if all you can do is stomp your feet in protest, and offer nothing to help change what you feel is the problem, then you are a part of that problem. Either offer something constructive, or walk away without comment. The drama is unneeded and unwanted by everyone else.

Nothing's changed? Completely different software, massive upgrade, rule-by-committee and you say nothing's changed?

Is the board operating in a satisfactory fashion?

No, it is not. Gul keeps looking at me funny. Make him stop.

If he doesn't want to say, that's his right. There are just times where someone isn't happy, they want to move on and they don't feel like justifying why to a committee. He says he has nothing more to say on the subject and continuing his Shelter access just to harass him about it isn't really productive or particularly nice either.

I'm sure if it was some easily fixable board problem he would have brought that to attention. It's more likely personal dislikes and he's avoiding pointless drama and hurt feelings by keeping it to himself.

Just let him go gracefully and carry on.

The way to avoid pointless drama is to PM an Admin or two and say "I'd rather not be a part of this anymore, for personal reasons." Starting a shelter thread, saying you're leaving because things are turning out the way you expected them, and then clamming up when asked, that's pointless drama. People are asking because they're genuinely curious as to why the sudden decision to leave. If it was personal, then it didn't need to become a Shelter thread. If anyone asked, "personal reasons" would have been more than adequate as an answer. I've got nothing personal against Volpone, but that's the kind of post you toss out when you want to start something. It's what you do when you want to be seen.

Let's not forget the Red Room thread a couple weeks back. Spare me the grace.

OK. There are actually a couple points raised here worth commenting on and something that it occurs to me a lot of people don't know so I will say one more thing:

Tamar is dead-on in her analysis. When Anc approached me via PM on Facebook I made it very clear that if I decided at any point I wanted to leave, I could--no questions asked. And if he decided at any point that he didn't want me on staff he could dismiss me--no questions asked. I'm exercising that option. And if that wasn't made clear enough in that discussion, I apologize, it was in my thoughts and I tried to convey it when we talked.

Second, I'll address John's second-guessing of the way I approached this. Suppose I did PM someone instead of making a public thread on this. Someone was going to notice I wasn't on staff anymore. Can you imagine the drama that could have created? Heck, I could have had great fun trolling that and whoever I PM'ed would be trapped in that they couldn't reveal our conversation without violating board rules--so either I get to troll or they have to break their own rules. Win-win for me if I wanted to do a drama thread.

The other option would have been to drop this thread in the middle of the Red Room for the entire peanut gallery to comment on. I chose the middle course which, in my opinion was the least disruptive of three options.

Well, in that case, sad to see you go.

Okay, no hard feelings, wish you were staying on, though. When I suggested you to the other horsemen, they all very enthusiastically liked the idea. But I agree, this is a better way to do it than a PM, as this thread will eventually be released, and then there will be no ambiguity.

Oh sure, take his side!

So a couple points to your couple points.

1) While you may have been thinking it, you never stated anything about 'no questions asked' or any similar wording, just that you weren't tied to the position and might quit down the road. The convo took place the early morning of Sep 26 if you'd like to check the FB chat records.

If you had said something along those lines I wouldn't have asked any questions.

2) You did more than just say you wanted to resign in your post. You alluded to differences with the admin on how the board was being run. You're a smart man, did you really think no one would ask 'What problems'?

3) I'm confused by why you won't state your problems over management. Me, Tex, gul and flow are all big boys, we can take criticism. More than that we would appreciate the criticism. We took up ownership to try and make WF a better board. If you think we are going about it wrong TELL US!

4) One of the things we are pushing is openness and multiple opinions. We don't want Eliteforge coming back. As such, even though you are off staff would you like to keep you Shelter access? Ranges of opinions on matters are appreciated.

i'll have a shot at this: he has been ranting and raving against every little change here for the better part of a decade, no matter if it concerned him or not. volpy is the ultimate queen of the status quo.

and now he's supposed to be part of 'the system'? much easier to play the smart guy from the outside. no responsibility at all.

/sieglinde freud out

I'm not sure how constructive that was.

Do you really think much has changed? Seriously. Not just the superficial buttons are in a different place or you do things different, but the board has actually changed.

If so, how so?

Do you think we had a big overhaul?

Well, like I said. New software with a significantly different look and feel. New owner who is actually new owners and has changed some stuff. Merged with Starscape and talking about merging with another board - a big influx of new members. So yeah, we've had a big overhaul.