I didn't want to ban these players, as they're long-standing members of the community and quite knowledgeable about the games, however Polish clearly needed a time-out, and TP has been on his last chance for quite a while due to near-constant trolling and a refusal to encourage civil and respectful discussion in the forums.
We want the forums to be a fun place players can come and discuss the games civilly and respectfully. The reasons we have volunteer moderators is to help keep the forums civil and respectful by moderating according to our Code of Conduct and Moderator Policies. Because this is a rather thankless job with almost no benefit, we allow and encourage our moderators to continue to be regular forum members on top of their moderation.
I agree that Jon could have handled the situation with TP in a less confrontational way, however I also understand that these players had a long-running history of one player (TP) doing what they can to make the other (Jon) miserable in the forums. I took this all into account when deciding how to handle the situation, and did what I felt was best for all of you. The forums aren't for me, they're for you, and even though it may not always seem like it, I'm just trying to make them as good as they can for you.
Some players were calling for Jon's removal as a Mod, but that wouldn't in any way improve things here in the forums, and would in fact be quite detrimental to the community. Again, if Jon had moderated abusively it would have been a different story, however he didn't. He did get caught up in an argument that I would have preferred he not, although he was simply responding to the negativity presented to him by this player time and again.
I'm honestly surprised that he or any of our moderators are still willing to moderate, as I've never seen a community more willing to use moderators as scapegoats simply because they don't like them as players. Moderators are necessary for a community to function properly, and it's incredibly draining and frustrating, and they only do it because they care about the community and want players to be able to communicate civilly and respectfully here in the forums.
You all know that I care deeply about you all and the games in general. I spend more time than I should on these situations (and I currently have an incredible amount of work piling up as I type this) because I want an awesome, civil, and respectful community, and I know we can become one.
Jon wasn't being respectful towards TP. I recognize this, and I don't approve of it, but it was a horrible situation and I need us to move on from it. If Jon continues to disregard forum code of conduct, he, like any other player, will be warned and eventually banned if he can't be civil and respectful. If he, or any other Moderator, abuses their moderator abilities, then they will be removed as Moderators.
I've been working to make all of this clearer through our Code of Conduct and Moderator Policies, and I'll be updating both of these to be even more clear in the future. What I need from all of you is understand where I'm coming from, move on from this horrible situation, and go back to having fun in the forums and discussing the games.
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