“Arigatou, sayonara”

It seems that I have been removed from the MinecraftForge Forums administration team, so ya, I’ll just make a farewell post for the sake of making one 😛

I was first appointed as a global moderator in December 2012, after being a regular contributor, helping out people on the forums and authoring the first iteration of the EAQ.

OvermindDL1 later made me an administrator after repeated requests on my part to ban the regular miscreants and offenders that show up. Using this position, I made numerous changes to the community, to make it a better place for modders to come together and connect to build better mods.

However, it seems that in light of recent events, His Majesty the Emperor LexManos has seen fit to remove me from his court. That, I understand, His Majesty does not want anyone in his court capable of opposing him. But is it too much to alienate the people who do not scrape and bow to you at every turn?

Gorbachev was known for bringing about the end of the Soviet Union mainly through his policies of “glasnost” (openness) and “perestroika” (restructuring). In my opinion, Forge sorely needs some changes. Forge needs a Gorbachev.

Or Forge could go the way of Internet Explorer, stagnate, and a better API will come along and replace it. Just as how Forge itself usurped ModLoader’s position. Minecraft Forge urgently needs new talent. cpw was promising, but he was only one man.

As SpaceToad wrote all the way back in November 2011, more than 3 years ago:

That is, the Forge has failed to create a platform for a community of modders to share their needs. Our organization is too centralized and a-democratic, and the initial core members, starting with me, don’t have as much time as required to organize this community.

Even today, I share his view that Forge has failed. Change is urgently needed, and I hope someone else can bring about that change. Because as of today, and as of the publication of this post, I no longer am in a position to.

To make myself clear, I am not calling for the replacement of His Majesty. I am merely calling for the infusion of new blood who have a more open mind towards change.

And this post, and the strongly worded language within, also does not imply endorsement of NOVA or MinecraftForkage or anything else. I will still remain a Forge modder, and I will continue watching the rise of Sponge, but this episode has made me rethink my loyalties.

Time to get off my soapbox, then. So long everyone, and thanks for all the fish.

PS: Your Majesty, I hope you’re happy now.

EDIT: It seems that my moderation team have also been removed from their posts as well. Well done guys, but it is clear that the Empire does not need you anymore.

EDIT 2: The Twitter conversation surrounding this reminded me of why the Nazi Germany regime collapsed. One of the reasons was because Hitler took too many decisions, both military and civilian, into his own hands, instead of delegating them to the more competent generals and advisors he had. See any similarities?

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PS: For those not in the know, the title of this post is from Sword Art Online, season 1 episode 14, where the female lead dies.