Quote: "Before assuming anything perhaps it would be best to send a message to the individual you take issue with"
Yes, this was my mistake.
Quote: "rather than creating or adding to threads here?"
You guys seem to think my intention behind creating this thread was to call out the moderation. It was not -- my intention with this thread was to resign the presidency, and I merely stated the moderation as one of the reasons why. Had I just left out the part where I said "especially regarding the bannings of so and so" none of this conversation would have taken place.
Quote: "you are always free to look elsewhere for your personal gratification."
Again, it seems you are looking at this thread with the view point that I am complaining. I am not complaining. I think this forum is a fantastic place, I just don't like its moderation policies. It's always been that way. This forum gives me plenty of personal gratification. I merely resigned because (and this embodies the whole point of this thread) I didn't really care to make the forum a better place anymore. Moderation was just one of the additional reasons I listed.
Quote: "If you choose to return at any point"
I'm not leaving. As I said in my original post, I plan to keep posting here from time to time.
Quote: "assuming you haven't burned your bridges here"
I don't really think I have.
The only people who really seem to have an issue with me right now are moderators.
Quote: "I know I (and I can only assume a few others) find threads like this have become a bit tiresome"
Please let me reiterate that this thread was absolutely not created to call out any aspect of this forum's moderation, I just happened to. It might as well have been an offhanded comment.
People seem to be interpreting this whole post as an attack on this forum's moderation, or VanB, or whatever. It's not that.
Maybe I have never pursued reporting issues with moderators, because
these things happen, I feel like I have no voice here. Keith, you're one of the mods I have more respect for, so I am not intending to argue with you here, I'm just trying to defend my case.
And now that I more clearly understand the case surrounding VanB, I must apologize to him. Based on my (incorrect) understanding that he had banned Yodaman over the argument they had, and that he had also banned Comet, my original stance was justified. Now I know I was wrong. Therefore, VanB, I am sorry that this all resulted. I've been generally on good terms with mods for most of my time here, so I am sad to see this all taking place.
And Seppuku, I've gotta say man, you're a fantastic guy. I've seriously don't think I've ever seen you write a post with anger, aggression, attitude, or any other negative emotion. You just write with wisdom, it seems. That's the kind of moderation we need.
Hopefully that doesn't sound sarcastic or anything, I really mean it.
And I shall reiterate this once more: my intention with creating this thread was never to call out any aspect of this forum's moderation. It wasn't even to complain about this forum; I love this forum. It was just to resign, I didn't feel comfortable holding the position anymore. People seem to think I had some ulterior motive to call out the forum's moderators. And see, this is what really makes me sad -- most of the people posting here have completely ignored one of the last lines of my original post:
Quote: "Over the past six years, this forum has without doubt shaped me in a multitude of positively interesting ways. I've learned a ton, met a lot of great people, and undergone a great deal of internet etiquette maturation (look at my posts from when I first joined ). I'll still be here, of course, and posting every now and then. For the past six years, Geek Culture has always been the first tab in my browser -- I don't expect this to change."
If anything, my original post, and hence a large part of my intent with this whole thread, was to praise this place for what it's done for me over the past six years. My original post contains 19 sentences, only 1 one which actually talks about moderation. And I get reamed for it.
It's also astonishing that I have been on good terms with the mods for so long, and now with such a slight slip-up like this, we have on our hands a thread that's going out of control, with me as the bad guy.
Anyway, why are we talking about any of this? This forum is a place for people to talk about fun technology. Oh, the internet is an interesting thing!
OUT with the ugly campaign signature and IN with some super fancy text.
