I can attest to that. Best wishes for your life ahead, Rei-chan!

Thanks, Ursus!

Monk Ed wrote:For those wondering, this was a mutual and peaceful agreement.

I did it voluntarily, but not happily. If that makes any sense.

This may be a bit indelicate to bring this up (although I feel like it's relevant time to do so given recent staff changes) but what's the deal with Fazmotron and his moderator status? He hasn't even logged on since June of this year and he hasn't even posted anything since January. It just sort of perplexes me that we have a moderator who doesn't seem to do anything (he may be active backstage, but he feels like a nonentity at this point which makes me wonder why he's still a mod) and whether or not there are any viable options to replace him.

I don't think it's usual to remove mod status from someone simply on account of extended absence. Where I'm admin, there are a couple of mods and an admin who haven't been around for over a year, but we'd welcome if they returned and are happy to keep their seat warm. I think it's sufficient to say that the staff here can decide whether they are too thinly spread, and take steps to get more help in if they feel the need.

Staff status isn't like employment -- it costs us nothing to keep inactive staff on. Sachi, to name one example, spent a long, long time being essentially absent, but one day he returned and got back into the saddle with little fanfare.

We don't really have any kind of policy one way or another, though, and it's been floated here and there that maybe we shouldn't let inactive staff just hang around creating a false impression, or otherwise signal somehow who's actually around on a regular basis. After all, in the rules we do say that you should PM staff for this or that, so who knows how many such PMs are sitting in Fazmotron's or anyone else's inbox going unanswered.

I don't think that's a major problem - it's far more likely that a forum member wanting to PM one of the staff would choose to contact an active staff member about an ongoing issue than one who hasn't posted in several months. If any such issue regarding urgent and unanswered PMs arises, we could just as well switch to emailing them.

Monk Ed wrote:We don't really have any kind of policy one way or another, though, and it's been floated here and there that maybe we shouldn't let inactive staff just hang around creating a false impression, or otherwise signal somehow who's actually around on a regular basis.

This is something like what I had in mind. Some sort of indicator that a staff member is away so to avoid misunderstandings and what not. I just feel it's a bit misleading to have a moderator who hasn't been around in three months without having any sort of indication that they're for all intents and purposes, inactive.

We do regularly keep track of which members of the staff are active/semi-active/inactive, and use it mostly for monitoring our coverage as a team and determining if we need extra help at all. Although, that didn't really start until recently.

When contacting a staff member, the first person to go to is usually the one that's online or was most recently online. I don't think anybody would mistakenly contact Fazmotron with forum matters without being aware that he'd been absent for some time.

Yeah, I don't think there's any danger of anyone becoming confused on this front, so I don't really see the problem. Moderation is a service, not a duty, so best not to make it more burdensome than it already is IMO.

Did Shinoyami65 suddenly become a mod when nobody was looking? (I see there's no green boxes, but...)

Shinoyami and BobBQ have gotten access to our special "training" subforum for new moderators. We'll let you know when we've settled their assigned "beats". (Damned bugged software)

My hearty congrats to the two of 'em! I'm sure they'll do a fine job once they settle into their assigned positions.

Sorry for the confusion and delays, guys, but there seems to be some kind of software bug that's messing things up for the new moderator permissions.

EDIT: BobBQ is now a mod for the OT subforum. We'll make a full announcement about who's going to moderate what for the time being after we've fixed the bugs.

They've been brought on due to a near-term shortage of manpower, but the permanence of their positions is up in the air, so I prefer to think of them as moderator interns. They might wind up honorably discharged after a period of time. We run into "too many chefs" issues so as a condition of bringing them on to help me out (as the only fully active administrator right now), unlike full staff, we won't be expecting them to weigh in on administrative decisions.

I think both will make fine additions to the forum staff. Welcome aboard, guys!

Welcome aboard fellas!

Good to hear that. I think we needed some new recruits around here. Hope everything goes smoothly.

Congratulations you two!

I'm stepping down as an administrator. I am tired and exhausted, I have far more to do in real life, and my obligations here have kept me around for longer than they should. I have plenty to be angry about - but I also have a proper life to lead.

EGF has been an internet home and a support for me since 2007, and I've been a mod since early 2008. For over 8 years now, I've seen this forum grow and develop and I've come to take an active part in it. I've done all I can for it, and perhaps I have done all I could do. My interest in Evangelion is flagging, and my interest in moderation and administration has started to take on a distinctly sadistic tinge in the absence of anything constructive to be gained.

I know many of you here like me and that many of you here hate me for my actions as well, in some cases justifiably so, in some cases not. Whatever it be, what happens on this forum doesn't carry over to real life and stays here. To those whom I've genuinely wronged: I'm sorry I wasn't a better admin.

There's a lot going on that I think could be better, perhaps, but good intentions don't always lead to good results, and can lead to poorly considered actions. I have plenty to anger me and disturb me in real life and I don't want to carry that baggage onto this forum. Enough is enough.

Goodbye to everyone - without any sarcasm or prejudice - and good luck.

Best of luck in your real-world endeavors, Ursus! And hey, I might be in the area in the next couple of weeks. You and I can go grab that coffee we've been talking about sometime.