Hey everyone I just wanted to give an update on the whole issue of Discord moderators given that some of you were asking about the removal of @Topperfalkon yesterday. The crux of the issue for us is that we made it clear, or at least we thought we did, during our last moderator meeting a month or 2 ago that moderators were considered representatives of the company even though they are unpaid. In exchange for this they were given a direct line to us. If, at any point, any one of them had an issue or a question we pledged to be immediately available to them as best we could, even via voice if necessary.
A problem arises when we have moderators, in their capacity as representatives of the company, who openly advocate against the company - particularly if they make little to no attempt to reach out to us directly beforehand. This was the case for @Lomsor and to a lesser extent @Topperfalkon. After speaking with all of our moderators it became evident to us that they were not entirely comfortable with the expectation of being a representative of the company. It seemed to us that they, as members of the community, felt like they were caught between a rock and a hard place when a dispute arises between the company and members of the community they consider their friends.
To that end, weâve decided itâs best if we just remove all community moderators. This is not punitive, we arenât mad at anyone, we recognize our moderators are longstanding community members with significant knowledge thatâs helpful to players both old and new, and we simply want to eliminate the potential for conflict of interest. For that reason we will also be creating a new role, Senior Community Member (weâre open to alternative name suggestions), which all of our moderators, including @Topperfalkon, will receive. This role will not have the authority to kick anyone or anything else. The only expectation will be for them to do what theyâve already been doing by being constructive and helpful members of our community - which we want to highlight.
Lastly, if members of the community think there is someone else who should receive the Discord title of Senior Community Member you can send a proposal to us or post one here. Acceptance will be at our discretion and we may or may not provide a reason for why any one candidate is accepted or rejected.
We hope this alleviates some of the concerns with moderators that have been expressed by both us and various community members over the last few months and, as always, we appreciate feedback.