Originally Posted by Trumanator (Post 743845)

I'm glad you've had fun with this thread foodstamp. You've gotten all kinds of thanks from Brooks for being his tool.

Originally Posted by Foodstamp (Post 743843)

This thread has been very entertaining. Let's wrap it up with a ban to Frozen Lama for personal attacks on a moderator so he can join his buddies on the free forums.

Originally Posted by Baalz (Post 743841)

To those who are angry, I'd like to ask that the discussion be elevated above what I'd expect out of other forums. Regardless of your grievance this isn't accomplishing anything other than making people look like petulant children. If you really feel fed up enough to leave then just do it.

To the admins I'd like to expound on the real reason people are angry, and I alluded to it in my previous post. Most of us identify with Sombre, even if we found him abrasive. He was part of the community and (at least those that are protesting think) he contributed much more than his abrasiveness subtracted. Your actions feel unilateral, arbitrary and an attack on our community. If he had been consistently unpalatable then not only would everyone understand why he was banned, they'd thank you for it. This feels like some outsider decided that enough respect was not paid to him and attacked our community, only to be fully supported by the powers that be. Let me be clear that I don't know or particularly care about the specifics of what happend, I'm just telling you why people are mad as they're not doing a good job articulating it.

It's not that there is a feeling that there should be no rules, it's that the feeling is that how this is enforced is an attack on our community. If you banned Sombre then who else? Obviously Sombre is not coming back, and I'd expect that several other people are gone for good over this...and the feeling is why in the hell are you swinging a big club around like that when nobody else saw a problem? This whole thing could have been greatly mitigated by publicly asking, then warning, then being clear about consequences for further behavior and bringing the community along with the decision. *Obviously* important members of the community deserve special consideration - they are what makes the community. If there is a compelling reason that one of the pillars of a community needs to be removed you can't just unilaterally do it with no transparency...unless you want considerable backlash.

Originally Posted by Frozen Lama (Post 743847)

I smell a future moderator in the maiking.....

and what? no infraction? no temp bans? oh.. right. the rules mean nothing lately.

Originally Posted by Annette (Post 743813)

Amongst the Annette and Shrapnel bashing, we have heard some very compelling arguments why the decision to ban Sombre should be reconsidered (and I appreciate those considered posts). The reality is, it's a moot point. As far as I know, Sombre has no desire to return. And if he did, we would reconsider only if he were willing to respect our terms.

Originally Posted by Foodstamp (Post 743791)

Sombre made mods, people like mods. Sombre was rude to people, including new players and forum users, people don't like that.