The Magician's Tower

I don't particularly like the airing of dirty laundry in public. However, I feel compelled to post something for public consumption.

I've made the Moderator Code of Conduct public so it's clear what is expected of each of the moderators. I'm not going to debate my decision or justify it. It is something that I've given much thought and consideration and I believe I've made the best choice for the community going forward.

However, I would like to reiterate what Voragath has stated. No one is pushing Pie out of the community. He has chosen to not post here. When these boards were put online, after the unfortunately and untimely demise of the old boards, several moderators were chosen to help get the community on its feet again. The moderator team has done an astounding job at helping to keep the boards spam-free and organized since that time. Ultimately, I made a decision that I believe is best for the community for the long-term: to create an inviting, non-hostile environment, where anyone is free to post their comments, ideas, and opinions (within reason, of course).

The moderator staff and I greatly appreciate Pie's contributions to the community. We hope he will reconsider and continue contributing to the community has he has done in prior years. It would be a shame to lose his contributions.

Pie has been an awesome contributor to the mage community for well over 10 years. The mage community, owes him a great debt for sharing his knowledge with fellow mages, as well as key decision makers at SoE and across other classes.

Whether it is in a debate when someone is misrepresenting the facts to the detriment of the mage class, or when negotiating or collaborating with the developers, Pie has always been there for us and does an awesome job of backing us up.

Thanks Pie, we hope you stick around man!

PS. Looking at the silver lining, not being held to the moderator standard gives you the freedom to act and say whatever you want. ..... well within reason.

It is great to have standards. But if you removed my status without warning, I would probably move on as well. Especially if I thought I made a huge contribution to making your website a success (which he has). IMO it is worse than me confronting you directly with abusive language. He could have berated you for your action (removing him as a mod without notice) but took what you call the "high road" and said remove my stuff and I am not looking for any attention. It may be his choice to move on, but it happened due to your action. Some will agree with you, some won't. We will see if in the end if we are better off. I am betting we won't be.

Dam!!!!!

did they remove any of his post???

he is a Staple to the mage community.../rock on Pie!!!

As I read pretty much everything posted, and I can recall nothing offensive from Pie, I don't see how there could be a standard he violated. You may not agree with his opinion or like that he is blunt about presenting it, but those things can't be covered by a standard unless you are wanting everyone to be warm fuzzy people, in which case I would have to say none of the moderators would then qualify - they all bluntly state their views or whatever, as they rightly should. So again I say this decision blows and is a huge negative to the community. You can say he left on his own...he can say he was pushed out. And from each's viewpoint that IS what has happened.

svenalo wrote:As I read pretty much everything posted, and I can recall nothing offensive from Pie, I don't see how there could be a standard he violated. You may not agree with his opinion or like that he is blunt about presenting it, but those things can't be covered by a standard unless you are wanting everyone to be warm fuzzy people, in which case I would have to say none of the moderators would then qualify - they all bluntly state their views or whatever, as they rightly should. So again I say this decision blows and is a huge negative to the community. You can say he left on his own...he can say he was pushed out. And from each's viewpoint that IS what has happened.

How? All he lost was the ability to move, edit, and merge posts. That warrants him having all the info he's provided removed, thus punishing the community? It's fine if he wants to leave, it's fine he wants his posts removed, but it's HIS choice; it has nothing to do about the site or the admin or anything else. It's all PJ.

Explain how PJ losing the ability to edit, modify, or move posts (without members being able to see he's doing such) is a negative impact to PJ continuing to provide info about the class on these boards?

Not to mention, mod status is at will: either party can revoke it without notice or reason.

Vora, if SoE removed you as CRT would you still have the desire, at least in the short term, to help them? Most likely not. I don't know you personally, but I can understand Pie's frustration. Yes, he still has the ability to post on the boards, and yes he still wants to share it (his knowledge), but, at this time, he just might want to share it at a different venue, or by a different medium. I chat with Pie quite a bit via cross-server tells, so it won't impact me , but for mages that might not have my knowledge of the class, or Pie's, this move might not beneficial for them. I don't know if Jedis thought that Pie would react this way, but when you think about it it's human nature. Not really taking a side here, but from observation I have not noticed anything completely noteworthy that would require Pie's moderator status removed; he might be blunt at times, and seemingly rude to some, but in the end he has a point, which is usually beneficial to listen to.

Jedis has my respect as the owner of this board.

This comes from the professionalism he has demonstrated during the years I have spent here as both a community member and moderator.

He has his reasons for what happened which are personal to both him and Pie.

Airing dirty laundry is not in his makeup. Making the correct decision is.

I'm cool with his decision and everything I said in my OP regarding Pie's change in status still stands on it's own.

That's because if it is reason enough for Jedis, it is reason enough for me. It is a matter of faith.

I think this thread has run its course. I don't think it being left open will accomplish anything productive.

Thank you to everyone for expressing your opinions on the matter.