First off, we got four new mods and a new /call command that can teleport the person to another, if they use /bring to accept it.
There’s been certain times when I dreamed about the past of the MRT Server, how it played out to this very day. Being on the server since Day 1, it’s good to know this history.
One piece of history was ActualFacts. A Guest who started like any other, but there was something different about him. When he rose up in ranks to eventually be a Mod, he tried to be over-helpful. I tried to get him to calm down. Though he did, he saw me as a mentor and was of the first to believe I had what it took to be an Admin.
He fell one day, and was demodded and banned later on. That was a dark day for me.
Then about 5 days ago (the 31st of August), I’m bored, so I check the DynMap and see a shitload of the elders on, and wonder if it was “Elders Day”. So I decided to show up to see what’s going on. I had forgotten this was the day of the Staff Meeting; the first staff meeting since I resigned as a moderator.
In Mumble, I was notified that Actual had sent a ban appeal, wishing to come back to the server. I was shocked, yet happy to hear he still cared for the server.
Time had passed, and then Frumple popped into the main channel, and asked if he could drag me into Staff Chat. I agreed and was brought in, and it was about Actual’s ban appeal. They asked Yoshi and I if we felt it was a good idea to bring him back, and told us about the email he sent. I asked for said email, and Frumple showed me it. Went over it, I was convinced that he wasn’t going to go all ‘Dan’ on us again. But what I never saw is he wasn’t the same ActualFacts, before he went bad.
A day later, Actual was formally unbanned by Frumple. And later on, he showed up. I gave him a personal tour of what I’ve done since he was banned. He liked the island that Yoshi helped me with.
He also helped me on a project we had just started, which would had been an dragon-themed adventure map.
Going back to the reason for this blog post, I had told Actual that the “server is going downhill” since he got banned. It really is. But what started the chain of events that lead to Actual getting re-banned (yes, it happened, and I’m the one that pulled the trigger) was what happened south of Spawn. A WorldEdit fail of two lines dug into the ground in a straight line. I checked it out and noticed the pattern. The new mods didn’t want to tell us, not even a former mod (me). They were being all ‘hush hush’ about it.
I felt they were deliberately not telling us, and wondered “whatever Frumple spoonfed the new mods, was effective.” I told Actual, and then the hell started with him saying that they were idiots, and Frumple doesn’t know how to run a server, needs better management yadda yadda yadda.
This was all said in Skype… but some of it was also said on the server which caught Frumple’s attention, who got on me about it and asked me personally, why I felt the server was going in the wrong direction. I actually had forgotten how it was, so I went to the matter at hand. Frumple was all “it isn’t that big of a deal if the mods did or didn’t tell the members, that’s their discretion.”
Then he told me something I couldn’t believe; “what’s the difference between a grief and a worldedit mistake?”… really, Frumple? As long as you owned the server, you can’t tell the difference?
So I told him, then I found out the new mods didn’t know it was a WorldEdit mistake; they thought it was a grief, which is why they kept it secret. And actually, he’s right. It could had been another rogue mod, like Actual was, or giggi or whoever. But going by the pattern, that’s impossible it was done on purpose.
Actual, didn’t believe it. And it got worse and worse to one point, he wanted everyone to go on a ‘protest’ to not come on the server, thinking if we never came on, Frumple wouldn’t have a server.
I talked him out of this, telling him it wouldn’t work due to new Guests showing up everyday, and telling Frumple directly would just make him say “if you don’t like it, find another server.”, and he’d be right. But Actual just didn’t seem to get it through his head.
Then yesterday, it reached the peak as I was working on a new house. There was only one mod on at the time, but he was AFK through this entire thing. Actual came on, and started to troll me for no reason. He even put a void hole in one corner of my basement for no reason. I had to speak up and he finally stopped, then went to the chat. It seemed fine at first. There was only one mod on at the time, but he wasn’t paying attention to the chat.
Then Actual opens that can of woop Frumple’s ass, and says to one member “I think your story is utter bullshit.” Even not being a mod and knowing the current one isn’t paying attention, I step in to defend the server by saying “Actual, language. You can’t use that here”. What I meant by “you can’t use that here”, is what he had said in Skype was leaking on the server.
Two members actually defended Actual, saying “it’s not ‘excessive swearing'”, then I said in defense; “The mods will get you for that. At least I would”.
And then Actual opens the can even wider, saying “they are too pussy to”, and how Frumple will just bad mouth him and if they’re going to ban him then do it, then left.
Later, I tried to talk sense into him. But Actual was saying that I didn’t have the guts to stand up to Frumple, how he was ‘downgrading’ me. Then he acts like he’s more mature than me, comparing our ages.
I also told him, over and over: “I don’t want to lose you!”. But he said that he truly did not know me, acting like this has always been the way he was.
That there, I just couldn’t take it anymore. This is NOT the ActualFacts I remembered. The Actual that was kind and loved the community as much as I did, in the past… he was gone. This person, was nothing but a shell of his former self. It was a relapse of bringing him back on after being demodded for bad-mouthing a guy after him picking on Actual; what started the whole ‘Dan’ thing. I think that’s what made him snap and I still do. Apparently that snap hasn’t fixed itself, as I’d (and I’m sure all staffers) hoped it would by now.
With a heavy heart, I knew what I had to do… I had to undo my mistake of wanting Actual to come back to the server. If my keyboard was a gun, I would be having him at gunpoint until Frumple(the police) showed up to ban(arrest) him. I gathered what evidence I had (logs of the chat, plus what was said in Skype) and wrote a lengthy email to the admins and the mods, stating my request to re-ban him, then sent it and sighed, saying “Goodbye… old friend”. The same words I had said the first time he got banned.
A half an hour passed, Actual logged back in and immediately began to troll me again. Finally Frumple came back on and said he would do the deed. Actual tried to /call me to follow, but I ignored it, then begged me to. I said “I’m sorry, I cannot.”, he said “You can.” My final words were “I must undo, what I have done.”
Two minutes passed…
‘Frumple has banned ActualFacts – Banned!’ showed up on my screen. The other Members understandably were all like “what…?”. Me? I felt as if a burden was lifted from my chest; an over a year burden that was nagging me all of that time. Not anymore. That is gone, like my former friendship with him.
I knew there was going to be fallout after his banning; people being mad at me for not telling Actual what I would do, and/or for getting him banned due to opinions. It did happen, but it was minor and I feel by now (of this edit), It’s blown over. The staffers were worried that the members would not trust them, thinking they’ll ban anyone for no reason. Luckily, that never came true. Well, at least for what I saw.
And so, there you have it. Losing Actual twice, as the old saying goes; “fool me twice, shame on me”. To undo what I’ve done has brought some closure. I will miss him, though. Not as much as I did, but still.
If I had never, brought up about how bad the server was, this wouldn’t had happen. But I did, and he did this. That’s why I had to undo what I’ve done.
The point to this story? Though the past will always be locked in time, bringing it forward to the present and expecting it to stay the same shape as you remember, is stupid and pointless. Things change, even when you don’t want them to… even once long-lasting friendships. The whole ‘server is going downhill’ statement, was just more changes I didn’t want to see.
Some things in the past, you can bring back without incident. This, was one of the things that is best to leave in the past.