>There's only real irony here if you aren't being very
>thoughtful about it. It's important to note that, as a person
>in a position of authority, it's a lot more pernicious for you
>to act under the cloak of anonymity than me; authority and
>power absolutely must come with accountability if they are
>ever going to be remotely just or fair. I also must say that
>I'm cognizant of (and enjoy) the fact that you, Umiron, in
>particular are fond of sleuthing people based on their IP,
>account, etc, and robbing you of context is forcing you to
>look at my actual words and viewpoint instead of making some
>sort of value judgment on me based on my personal history.

I'm fond of sleuthing people based on IP? I don't know what to say besides that I'm probably the most lenient and conservative staff member who currently has the ability to see IPs and/or ban people. If I have such a reputation it's news to me, and surprising. Doubly so, in fact, because most of the players I "sleuth" accuse me of being Valg or Baer.

>I never said that the staff was corrupt to the core or could
>not be trusted. You're twisted my words. I do believe there
>are corrupt members of the staff and that your overall policy
>- which lacks transparency, accountability, and consistency -
>makes it really hard to take your side. Imagine, for instance,
>if somebody had actually made a public statement that, yes,
>Nep cheated, and he was being let go from the staff as a
>direct result. How powerful that would have been! It would
>have been a real human moment, one that inspired actual
>trust.

You're starting with the assertion that Nep cheating is/was a fact and then building an argument on top of that. If we're being honest, I don't know what went down back then but if I'm not going to take Nep at his word, I'm certainly not going to take yours over his. I wasn't around then to form an opinion based on first hand knowledge so I'm not going to assert that I know anything for certain, but I will point out that there have been many other instances where a player made a similar assertion when I knew for a fact they were incorrect. So again, it's not that I feel some allegiance or good-old-boy obligation to side with the staff so much as it is when don't know the truth and I do have to err to one side or another, I find that the players are much less reliable source of truth or an accurate narrative of the past based on what I can verify.

I haven't been at this for 20 years and I just don't know or care what happened one or more decades ago, however relevant or significant you may believe the past is. I've got too much else to be concerned with and it isn't worth the frustration. Remember, at the end of the day this is a hobby that I support for free using time I could otherwise invest in making money, having fun, or contributing to projects that make me feel far more appreciated than CF often does. I try to treat players with the respect they earn and deserve, and to help run a game that people want to play, but ultimately I have to approach CF for what it is, something that has to be fun and not taken too seriously in order to be a rational use of time.

>You want to know why I don't trust you? That, and other events
>have always been simply swept under the rug with no apparent
>consequences for the person who abused their power. It's
>insulting because, at least in some cases, everybody knows
>what happened: why don't you just sack up and admit it? I
>think it is because, in your twisted view, that would be akin
>to giving up some of your power. God forbid a member of the
>staff did something wrong, let's just pretend it didn't
>happen.

Staff members have been caught cheating and forced to leave in the past. All I can say is that in my time here, it's never happened and nor has anything been swept under a rug to my knowledge. In that regard, I think we have a fantastic team these days.

>You know, I do find some enjoyment in CF, just not when I'm
>dealing with most of the staff directly. I'm not going to
>leave just because I think the staff is woefully bad at
>administration, I'm just going to do what I've always done,
>which is avoid dealing with the staff when I can.

That sounds like a reasonable plan and frankly, the feeling is quickly becoming mutual.