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Farewell... is such sorrow.

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Kirthag

Former Stratics Publisher
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
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We hate to see people leave, especially so many at a crucial time in Stratics' existance.

But for the sake of sanity - and to help our (trimmed) moderation staff not burn out - please post your farewells, well wishes, hate posts and vents in this thread.

Our new owner, Ryan "Ron Bron", will be making a formal post to the community sometime tonight - the man is busy protecting our country - so look out for it.

Meantime, Stratics, UO.Stratics, and our community is NOT going anywhere!


If anything, we're here for the long term.

And no, that's not corporate mumbo-jumbo hype. We are not a "corporation" - all of us are just like all of you - gamers with a passion for our games.


A hui hou!

Kirth

*jumps back into server to debug double posting issues*
 

Barok

Grand Inquisitor
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Are we ever going to get more details about the "new direction" Stratics is going? The previous threads have been a little vague. Are the changes really that drastic to force so many to jump ship all at once?
 

TheScoundrelRico

Stratics Legend
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
For some, thanks for your hard effort and community help...for others...don't let the door hit ya...la
 

Captn Norrington

Stratics Forum Moderator
Moderator
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
Thank you to all the newly retired staff, for your many contributions thoughout the years. Whatever the reasons for your exit, we will miss you.

Good luck in all your future endeavors.
 

Kirthag

Former Stratics Publisher
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
We have not gotten any pointed explanation from those who left as to why they left. They simply made their departing posts and went. The only one I personally spoke to was Petra, and she did not leave because of personal issues with new owner, she simply decided to retire.

The direction is not really all that different. We have just gotten things (mostly) under control with the sites and are now having to adjust the direction of development due to this exodus of staff. We're rolling with it - is just all this at one time right on the cusp of migrations was a bit unexpected.

I'll quell some rumors though:
1. UO.Stratics is not going away, being deleted, or becoming "wikified"
2. None of us are "corporate" people. I work from home as a web developer and ecommerce programmer. Ryan is in the Navy. Airmid and others hold regular jobs as regular people. What we all have in common is a love of our games... be it UO, WoW, LoL, EVE, SotA, SWtoR, LotR, RO2, GW2, blah blah blah.
3. Everyone in our structure is a volunteer... to some degree even Ryan. None of us are paid, and Ryan is the owner who stepped up to take the reins when Taylor put them up.
 

Glenny glenn

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
We have not gotten any pointed explanation from those who left as to why they left. They simply made their departing posts and went. The only one I personally spoke to was Petra, and she did not leave because of personal issues with new owner, she simply decided to retire.

The direction is not really all that different. We have just gotten things (mostly) under control with the sites and are now having to adjust the direction of development due to this exodus of staff. We're rolling with it - is just all this at one time right on the cusp of migrations was a bit unexpected.

I'll quell some rumors though:
1. UO.Stratics is not going away, being deleted, or becoming "wikified"
2. None of us are "corporate" people. I work from home as a web developer and ecommerce programmer. Ryan is in the Navy. Airmid and others hold regular jobs as regular people. What we all have in common is a love of our games... be it UO, WoW, LoL, EVE, SotA, SWtoR, LotR, RO2, GW2, blah blah blah.
3. Everyone in our structure is a volunteer... to some degree even Ryan. None of us are paid, and Ryan is the owner who stepped up to take the reins when Taylor put them up.

Well that does clear up some of the matters for sure, if you don't have the answers, which is understandable, can the people who have them step up to the conversation and provide some info as well?
 
T

Tazar

Guest
Nice PR Spin on things. I made it very plain to everyone at management why I left when I did. And I also let Flutter know why so many more were leaving - despite her statement earlier today that she didn't know why... Kirthag - in all honesty - if you do not know why - then you need to wake up.

The one thing you are correct on is that it has nothing to do with Ryan. I wish him the best of luck.
 

Kirthag

Former Stratics Publisher
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
by all means, no one's been pushed out of the forums. just about everyone who retired, resigned, left, taken a powder - they are all still here and I'm sure still playing their games. They're free to post, just like everyone else, so long as they follow TOS of course.
 

Kirthag

Former Stratics Publisher
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
@Tazar - yes, that you did. I'm referencing the current mass exodus not specific people who left before.
 

Flair

Lore Keeper
Stratics Veteran
not to be a pain but umm there seems to be a problem with them:

This site is privately owned and operated by Valour Corp (“we,” “our”). Use of this site is a privilege--not a right. Affiliation, registration, or use of the Stratics content, products, or services, to include Stratics Forums, constitutes consent to these Rules of Conduct (RoC). We reserve the unilateral right to update this RoC at any time. Changes to this policy will be promulgated throughout the Stratics Network. After changes are implemented, continued affiliation, registration, or use of Stratics content, products, or service reaffirms continued assent to this policy.

These forums are for discussing Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) and the events associated with MMOs. These guidelines are posted only to bring clarification on some issues where there have been questions in the past. Stratics could not be any happier with the quality of posts provided by its participants and it is our desire to provide an environment that is conducive to discussions about MMOs. In general, what we're describing here is a code of conduct and if all of our participants will subscribe to this code of conduct most of these rules will be easily observed.

A. Show respect at all times.

B. Help build the Community.

The success of our forums depends upon the quality posts of our participants. We are proud of the success of our forums and give our thanks to those who have chosen to make our forums their out-of-game home. To ensure continued success we are posting these guidelines so that all participants of the Stratics forums understand what is considered unacceptable behavior in the forums and can result in a temporary suspension or a permanent ban.

C. Personal attacks are prohibited.

This specifically means any text/post that is blatantly attacking another person on or off the forum, especially in a personal way.

D. Trolling is prohibited.

Trolling is whenever someone is clearly, deliberately posting in a manner for the purpose of angering and/or insulting the other participants of the board. Trolling DOES NOT encourage further discussion in the long run, it only encourages personal attacks (if left unchecked).

E. Private conversations are to be considered private.

They are not to be posted publicly unless the sender of the conversation agrees. This applies to any message or communication from any source that is not normally publicly viewable. Please note, also, that private messages are subject to our RoC.

F. Users shall not post messages containing personal phone numbers or addresses.

G. Advertising of player-run shards is prohibited.

Additionally our forums are not designed to provide technical support for shard emulators and as such all discussions related to building and maintaining a shard are prohibited.

H. Posting details of bugs and exploits in such a way that others are able to perform said bug or exploit is prohibited.

In addition, documented involvement in activities that prove to be malicious and/or illegal in nature as it concerns the gaming industry as a whole will lead to immediate and permanent banning from the forums.

I. Publicly discussing actions by moderators or administrators is prohibited.

This includes, but is not limited to: bans, warnings, locks, and moved threads. Any inquiries or comments on bans, warnings, or other moderator actions, are to be sent in private messages or via email. A moderator may choose to publicly inform the participants of a forum about bans and warnings if this is in the interest of the forum.

J. Posting of pornography, racist or otherwise discriminating remarks, threats to cause physical or mental harm, extreme offensive language, material that breaks any law or otherwise totally unacceptable posts or links to pages that contain the aforementioned material may result in an immediate ban from the forums.

K. Deliberately circumventing the censor filter is prohibited.

L. Spamming the forums is prohibited.

This includes not only advertising, but reposting the same message across numerous forums.

M. Please adhere to the following restriction for signature images:



  • Maximum size of image file(s): 100 kb
  • Maximum height of image(s): 150 pixels
  • Maximum width of image(s): 600 pixels


N. Not responding to or ignoring moderator warnings can lead to suspension.

O. Activities that are against any games' Terms of Service or User Agreement are prohibited from being promoted or advertised on our network. This includes, but is not limited to:



  • Third party programs
  • Game item sales for real world goods or currency
  • Power leveling services
  • Unapproved modifications to game clients
  • And/or links to such items


For Ultima Online, "third party programs" is defined as any program having an affect on the UO datastream or software, and not listed as approved

P. Player to player transactions selling in-game virtual items for real life currency are prohibited from being promoted or advertised on our network unless explicitly approve by the game's publisher.

Q. You may not use an alternative user account to promote or support your main user account in a way that implies you are more than one person or to evade disciplinary actions.

R. Images created using shard emulators may be posted on the forum.

Many of our participants create cartoons utilizing shard emulators. These cartoons add tremendous value to our forums and are perfectly acceptable.

S. Off topic (OT) are not prohibited, but should be posted within reason.

There are some topics that are not appropriate for the forums. All posts are subject to these rules. Excessive OT posts will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

T. All forums have a main topic. When starting a new thread, make sure you do so in the proper Forum.

U. Uploading or Linking to Malicious Software Will Result in an Immediate, Permanent Ban

V. You Are Liable When Downloading Third Party Resources

Stratics is pleased to allow users to upload resources for community use, including both paid and free resources. Downloading, purchasing, and/or using these resources constitutes consent to the liability thereof. Only download, purchase, or use resources, or click links to external sites, submitted by users that you know and trust.

Disputes

Stratics carefully memorializes every offending post, every action by moderators and administrators, and all other evidence related to the enforcement of our Terms of Use. If you feel that you have been warned unfairly, you may appeal moderator or administrator actions by e-mailing [email protected].

Thank you for being a part of the Stratics Forums community!
 

Kirthag

Former Stratics Publisher
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
I needs more coffee... :) I admit to that.
 

IanJames

Certifiable
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
How about the part when you had Petra fire all the volunteers for you? Maybe Petra was tired of doing your dirty work and you didn't realize how many others were only putting up with your crap so Petra wouldn't be the only one here to take it.
 

Kirthag

Former Stratics Publisher
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
not to be a pain but umm there seems to be a problem with them:

This site is privately owned and operated by Valour Corp (“we,” “our”). Use of this site is a privilege--not a right. Affiliation, registration, or use of the Stratics content, products, or services, to include Stratics Forums, constitutes consent to these Rules of Conduct (RoC). We reserve the unilateral right to update this RoC at any time. Changes to this policy will be promulgated throughout the Stratics Network. After changes are implemented, continued affiliation, registration, or use of Stratics content, products, or service reaffirms continued assent to this policy.

These forums are for discussing Massively Multiplayer Online games (MMOs) and the events associated with MMOs. These guidelines are posted only to bring clarification on some issues where there have been questions in the past. Stratics could not be any happier with the quality of posts provided by its participants and it is our desire to provide an environment that is conducive to discussions about MMOs. In general, what we're describing here is a code of conduct and if all of our participants will subscribe to this code of conduct most of these rules will be easily observed.

A. Show respect at all times.

B. Help build the Community.

The success of our forums depends upon the quality posts of our participants. We are proud of the success of our forums and give our thanks to those who have chosen to make our forums their out-of-game home. To ensure continued success we are posting these guidelines so that all participants of the Stratics forums understand what is considered unacceptable behavior in the forums and can result in a temporary suspension or a permanent ban.

C. Personal attacks are prohibited.

This specifically means any text/post that is blatantly attacking another person on or off the forum, especially in a personal way.

D. Trolling is prohibited.

Trolling is whenever someone is clearly, deliberately posting in a manner for the purpose of angering and/or insulting the other participants of the board. Trolling DOES NOT encourage further discussion in the long run, it only encourages personal attacks (if left unchecked).

E. Private conversations are to be considered private.

They are not to be posted publicly unless the sender of the conversation agrees. This applies to any message or communication from any source that is not normally publicly viewable. Please note, also, that private messages are subject to our RoC.

F. Users shall not post messages containing personal phone numbers or addresses.

G. Advertising of player-run shards is prohibited.

Additionally our forums are not designed to provide technical support for shard emulators and as such all discussions related to building and maintaining a shard are prohibited.

H. Posting details of bugs and exploits in such a way that others are able to perform said bug or exploit is prohibited.

In addition, documented involvement in activities that prove to be malicious and/or illegal in nature as it concerns the gaming industry as a whole will lead to immediate and permanent banning from the forums.

I. Publicly discussing actions by moderators or administrators is prohibited.

This includes, but is not limited to: bans, warnings, locks, and moved threads. Any inquiries or comments on bans, warnings, or other moderator actions, are to be sent in private messages or via email. A moderator may choose to publicly inform the participants of a forum about bans and warnings if this is in the interest of the forum.

J. Posting of pornography, racist or otherwise discriminating remarks, threats to cause physical or mental harm, extreme offensive language, material that breaks any law or otherwise totally unacceptable posts or links to pages that contain the aforementioned material may result in an immediate ban from the forums.

K. Deliberately circumventing the censor filter is prohibited.

L. Spamming the forums is prohibited.

This includes not only advertising, but reposting the same message across numerous forums.

M. Please adhere to the following restriction for signature images:



  • Maximum size of image file(s): 100 kb
  • Maximum height of image(s): 150 pixels
  • Maximum width of image(s): 600 pixels


N. Not responding to or ignoring moderator warnings can lead to suspension.

O. Activities that are against any games' Terms of Service or User Agreement are prohibited from being promoted or advertised on our network. This includes, but is not limited to:



  • Third party programs
  • Game item sales for real world goods or currency
  • Power leveling services
  • Unapproved modifications to game clients
  • And/or links to such items


For Ultima Online, "third party programs" is defined as any program having an affect on the UO datastream or software, and not listed as approved

P. Player to player transactions selling in-game virtual items for real life currency are prohibited from being promoted or advertised on our network unless explicitly approve by the game's publisher.

Q. You may not use an alternative user account to promote or support your main user account in a way that implies you are more than one person or to evade disciplinary actions.

R. Images created using shard emulators may be posted on the forum.

Many of our participants create cartoons utilizing shard emulators. These cartoons add tremendous value to our forums and are perfectly acceptable.

S. Off topic (OT) are not prohibited, but should be posted within reason.

There are some topics that are not appropriate for the forums. All posts are subject to these rules. Excessive OT posts will be dealt with on a case by case basis.

T. All forums have a main topic. When starting a new thread, make sure you do so in the proper Forum.

U. Uploading or Linking to Malicious Software Will Result in an Immediate, Permanent Ban

V. You Are Liable When Downloading Third Party Resources

Stratics is pleased to allow users to upload resources for community use, including both paid and free resources. Downloading, purchasing, and/or using these resources constitutes consent to the liability thereof. Only download, purchase, or use resources, or click links to external sites, submitted by users that you know and trust.

Disputes

Stratics carefully memorializes every offending post, every action by moderators and administrators, and all other evidence related to the enforcement of our Terms of Use. If you feel that you have been warned unfairly, you may appeal moderator or administrator actions by e-mailing [email protected].

Thank you for being a part of the Stratics Forums community!

Thanks for the reminder Flutte Flair (sowwy, lots of messages flying about - am only human! :S)... another place I gotta go make updates! *skips on over to the ACP*
 

Kirthag

Former Stratics Publisher
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Benefactor
@Flair is that barbarian avatar pic, throws me off hun!
sowwy for typo... gots a lot of stuffs flying around atm.
 

Kayhynn

Certifiable
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Campaign Supporter
I know I have been seen as an enemy from time to time due to my work and affiliation with UOForums. That being said, as a former Stratics' staff member from 2005-2009, it breaks my heart to see this happening, no matter the reasons (yeah there was an exodus then too, I'm not missed, I know).

Therefore, I wish to thank all the previous staff who are resigning, some of whom were staff when I was staff, for all their hardwork throughout the years. Most of the time it's grueling and thankless and some of you probably felt like you were shat on for it. It will be a loss felt by the community for a very long time.

I wish you well in your future endeavors and I hope to still communicate with those of you i know on a regular basis.

Light laughter and sweet water.
 

Jynxx

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
We've been here longer than you. If we want our own farewell threads I think we damn well deserve them.
But this makes it so much easier to say good riddance farewell to all of you at once, instead of a bunch of different threads.
 

G.v.P

Stratics Legend
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I think sometimes I take for granted what it means to have played a game that has existed for over 17 years, as if the pieces should all remain together. I still think back about when I first discovered Stratics, and how excited I was to view the pictures forum on my 56k modem connection, or how eager I was to browse the "Ideas Den," even though my ideas and the ideas of others would probably never come to fruition.

While I am surprised to see what seems like a dozen names drop from Stratics all at once, I, too, have to acknowledge that a change of guard is nothing unusual for a community as old as Stratics, or as old as UO. Especially given Mesanna has, of late, listened to us in ways an eager Ideas Den poster could only dream back in the early 2000s. Or in other words, "things will work out just fine."

Since every thread seems locked, I just wanted to say thanks to all of the mods who are leaving. Some of you, especially, have helped me grow as a person. I know I have not always been tolerable on Stratics. I have been opinionated and immature at times, but I really cannot say one bad thing about how the mods have managed UHall over the years. Always fair, always responsive. Shard mods...shard mods can go fly a kite, I'm sorry, I will never bother to post on a Shard forum lol. I am just so spoiled by my experience here in UHall. You guys did an amazing job, and the new guys have a lot to live up to.

I know it's not easy to make such an experience while those who post here hold such high expectations. No pressure new guys. Thanks old guys ;). I dub thee "Classic Mods."
 

Captn Norrington

Stratics Forum Moderator
Moderator
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
But this makes it so much easier to say good riddance farewell to all of you at once, instead of a bunch of different threads.
Ok, that was a bit uncalled for. Just like every other community in the world, there's always 1 or 2 people that aren't particularly loved by the community, but the vast majority of the staff who quit are great people who have worked on this site for the good of the community for years.
 

Crysta

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Man, i'm gone for about half a year because things ain't been so great for me and the day I decide to come back I see something happened...? What in the hell did I miss?
 

Captn Norrington

Stratics Forum Moderator
Moderator
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
Man, i'm gone for about half a year because things ain't been so great for me and the day I decide to come back I see something happened...? What in the hell did I miss?
Well, from an outside perspective it seemed like this...Normal....Normal....Taylor left and sold the site....Weeklong server migration downtime....Migration ends, site is back up and mostly fixed.....BOOM 90% of the veteran staff quits within hours of each other for no apparent reason, conspiracy theories begin springing up everywhere and drama explodes everywhere.

In picture form:
:banana:.......:sleep2:.......:thumbup:......:yell:..... :gun: :flame: :sword: :stir: :twak: :fight: :stretcher:.......:tinhat: :tinhat: :tinhat:
 
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Crysta

Babbling Loonie
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Guess I can at least say i'd more or less left my minor role due to personal issues in life as of.. late July-ish anyway and am not really a part of it all, but somehow that leaves me feeling disappointed to have missed whatever happened. Might have been nice to get worked up over something related to UO again. Not really got in an argument on here in a number of years now.
 

Flutter

Always Present
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Awards
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I also let Flutter know why so many more were leaving - despite her statement earlier today that she didn't know why...
I wouldn't allow you to speak for anyone else even if they said "Tazar speaks for me". I didn't recognize your issues as issues and we were pretty focused on disagreeing. That said, everyone here are free to stay or go as they please.

When I have a problem I take it to the person above me. If I do not get satisfaction I go above them, and I keep going until I either am satisfied with the answer or I am speaking directly with the owner.
That said, if anyone had a problem perhaps instead of stewing and talking about it among themselves privately they would have brought it up. Maybe they did and didn't get the answer they liked so they left. Either way, they're gone. You've chosen to leave.

There was obviously quite a few of the staff that weren't "in on" the big exit, and that is why they(we) are surprised as anyone that we lost any of you.

Can we all please move on now?
 

wanderer1origin

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
we should all sign in as guests for a day, in tribute to staff and moterators that recently left as a tribute to them
 

Faeryl

2011 Winter Deco Contest 1st Place
Alumni
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
I was only a lowly reporter for a few years, and I'm sure there aren't really many who knew me or care, but this about sums it up for me:


I'll still be around the forums and UO until the end, but my days of reporting here are finished. See you around, wherever it may be! :)
 

SpyderBite

Lore Master
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
Wow. They weren't killed in the line of battle. They resigned from volunteer positions on a game forum.

They're still here. No need to build a a wailing wall quite yet.
 

Spiritless

Sage
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
As simply a UO player who comes here for no other reason than having to because it is the officially endorsed forum for the game, I can honestly say I couldn't care less why half the staff have left or the silly site politics going on right now. What I can say though is that I'm fed up with these farewell threads/topics about the mods on the front page. Go throw them in off-topic or something and preserve the topicality of this board for UO discussions. Most UO players I'd wager couldn't care less about who is staffing a fan site and for every person who quits about 5 try-hards are probably willing to step up in their place anyway.

Ho-hum.
 

Glenny glenn

Adventurer
Stratics Veteran
Its kind of getting absurd though, the grievance the mods have is like a trade secret, they arnt telling anyone. If you want to solve things this stuff needs to be out in the open because this does involve the community too. It breeds uncertainty, and in a game that is as old as uo that isnt a good thing. Ya i know stratics is not part of the game proper but it intertwined in the support structure around it and to see so many people who were in the know about topics suddenly disappear from the information community causes a vacuum of knowledge and expertise that will slowly get bigger with time
 

Captn Norrington

Stratics Forum Moderator
Moderator
Professional
Stratics Veteran
Stratics Legend
UNLEASHED
Campaign Supporter
Its kind of getting absurd though, the grievance the mods have is like a trade secret, they arnt telling anyone. If you want to solve things this stuff needs to be out in the open because this does involve the community too.
I get the impression there's nothing left to solve. Most who disagreed with whatever it was have already left...and I'm guessing the staff that stayed will never tell us what it was that caused this whole thing.
 
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