News about team situation

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News about team situation

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Forceflow
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Post by Forceflow » Fri Jun 19, 2020 5:29 am

Today we bring you sad news. Unfortunately Darksaber decided to leave the team. After a difference of opinions in the private forum things got heated and he apparently felt he no longer wanted to be part of the team. Sadly he left in so much anger that he decided to not only hurt the team, but the project itself. He manipulated the crafts fixes for the XWAUCP which would have resulted in the loss of the whole XWA directory of whoever installed them.
Once we discovered that we were forced to not only remove all of his privileges on the forum, but I could no longer in good conscience allow his private website to be hosted and accessible through my server. (Since it was on that server that the manipulated files were hosted) The timeline and actions of his leave us with no doubt that this was done on purpose. His last post on the forum where he implies he also manipulated the new craft installers make it clear he wanted to do this and hurt the project. Be aware that his account has since been deactivated and he can no longer access it.
We have analyzed the installers and tested them. We could not find any issues other than some normal bugs in them. We are currently seeing on how to best fix those and will post an update once we have new installers ready.

The whole situation has left the team fairly shocked and sad. I have been working with Darksaber on this project for something like 20 years now. And while at times we clashed and had a difference of opinion I always valued his input and advice. He was the driving force behind the project for many years, his installers were an invaluable addition and made things so much easier and more user-friendly. His modelling and opting skills were among the very best of the team and I think he is the single person who contributed the most to the project. He often shared his knowledge and helped a lot of new and old members to advance their knowledge. His models are of great quality and without him the project wouldn't be were it is right now.

Looking back however I have to acknowledge that his actions in the recent past have become problematic and that I have ignored them for too long. Analyzing the moderator and administrator logs it's clear that he was abusing his privileges against community members for quite some time. For this I wholeheartedly apologize. I turned a blind eye towards him, and this has caused damage to the community as a whole, driving people away, or in the very least stop them from further contributing to it.
The team has pledged to do better in the future. Moderator and Administrator guidelines are being created to make sure that this project becomes an open, friendly and fun place to be for all again.

Fortunately the XWAU is and always has been a team effort. As such this in no way an end to the project. The team is hard at work behind the scenes and there are new things in the works to push the game even further. So we all hope that this will make the community stronger and better in the long run!

Please understand that the team really doesn't feel like discussing this further than what has been said. As such the topic will be locked. If you feel there is something that needs to be added please contact General_Trageton and myself via PM. But do not expect to get any more details about what has happened.

Darksaber, I do not understand what pushed you over the edge to burn it all down. I am very sad that you decided to leave, and especially about the way you decided to leave. Never the less, you will be missed. Your insights, your skills, your help. You were a big part of what makes this project so great and I will personally try to remember only the good times with you.
Murphy was an optimist! I am a pessimist!
And always remember that a smile is cheaper than a bullet! (District 9)
Webmaster of the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project

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